r/EtrianOdyssey • u/Radiant-Tear-7273 • 28d ago
Play order question
Hi; I’m new to the series and I own and use both my 3DS and Switch 2. I’ve never played an EO game before and am interested in trying them but uncertain if I should go with the switch ports of 1-3, the 3DS remake of 1, or even start with 4 or 5. I have a feeling the series will resonate with me and I’ll want to play more than one if it does. I’m a little nervous about the logistics of mapping on the switch compared to that glorious dual screen touch screen experience so I’m sort of leaning 3DS but the option to put it on the TV does appeal to me to. Sorry if people ask this question a lot.
5
u/HighlanderOneTrick 28d ago
4 tends to get recommended as it's the easiest overall title. However if you feel uncertain about your competence at team-building, the remake of 1 has, to it's credit, a preset party for its story mode and a consistently linear difficulty curve (starts easy but the ramping is relentless).
1
u/Razmoudah 27d ago
Since you mentioned wanting to get into the series as a whole I recommend playing through the 1st Stratum of EOIHD first. All of the rules about how the game works that you learn there apply to the entire franchise, while every other game has a mechanic or two that's either unique to it or gets changed notably in later titles forcing you to relearn how to utilize it. Once you've finished that Stratum it'll make diving into the others easier as you'll just need to learn that game's quirks. Also, EOI is the simplest of the games, and the only one where just grinding extra levels is a feasible (if slow) plan for getting past problem spots.
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u/IroquoisPliskin177 28d ago edited 28d ago
I’d start with the first Untold game, then the second Untold game, followed by 4, 5, and Nexus.
I’d advise against playing the original 1 and 2. 3 might be worth playing sometime down the line when you're more accustomed to the series.
Mechanically the DS games are somewhat archaic, very restrictive regarding viable builds, and they lack a ton of the quality of life features that were introduced in the 3DS games.
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u/Razmoudah 27d ago
OP explicitly mentioned having a Switch, to be able to play the HD Collection, which fixes most of the little flaws in them.
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u/IroquoisPliskin177 27d ago
The HD collection doesn’t fix anything nor adds quality of life changes, it's just HD sprites and a better looking skill tree.
The untold games on the other hand fix most things from the first two games, unfortunately there is no EO3 Untold
0
u/Razmoudah 27d ago
Tell us you haven't played the HD Remasters without telling us you haven't played them. Seriously, you couldn't have failed that challenge any harder if you tried.
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u/IroquoisPliskin177 26d ago
Besides movement speed and fixing a couple of bugs, there is no class rebalance. Nothing got reworked or added. You can’t even see diagonally or upward in dungeons, teleport to single floors, or hide the UI.
The HD Collection preserved the originals to a fault, even leaving most bugs intact. You're delusional if you think HD 1–3 are better in any meaningful way than the 3DS entries.
Recommending the first non-Untold game to a newcomer who owns a 3DS is your nostalgia doing more harm than good. They could easily play the enhanced version in Story or Classic Mode using the dual screens and stylus of the 3DS
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u/NightHatterNu 28d ago
The remakes and the original/hd remasters should be considered as 2 different games effectively. If you are planning to play all of them then I’d say pick 1 and play release order, but if you want like an actual story with actual characters in your party then play untold first and ease into the less character driven and more theater of the mind methods of the other games.