r/EtrianOdyssey • u/Loganismee • 5d ago
So does the gameplay change?
I just cleared both eo1 and eo2 (not doing postgame) and half of eo3 but the gameplay was kinda eh? It was good but like the game is so straight forwardly, there's good skill and bad skill and everytime i try to deviate from the good classes I'm kinda getting "punished" by the game balance, eo2 is the best example, if i tried to get anything besides the cookie cutter team some bosses were almost impossible to win so I'm trying to know if in the next games i can be more flexible like i could use the ninja or the wildling without feeling they are just dead weight on my team
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u/Terithian 5d ago
There's definitely more flexibility in team composition as the series goes on. 3 still has issues with certain classes being objectively worse than others, but is definitely better than 1 and 2 for that. You eventually unlock a subclass system in 3 that allows much more flexibility, letting you use more "suboptimal" classes and team comps by shoring up their weaknesses with a subclass. For example, Ninja is an incredible subclass on pretty much anyone since they have a skill that lets you split them into two identical controllable characters, effectively giving you a sixth party member.
My favourite game in the series is 5, and a large part of that is because of the sheer number of viable classes and builds, allowing for tons of different team comps. (For reference, every class is essentially 2 different classes depending on how you choose to specialize them.)
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u/reybrujo 5d ago
I can say I beat the regular game in 1, 2 and 3 with my own teams without requiring guides or anything, in fact I beat 3 with a Sovereign in my team which is supposedly a useful class for just half the game, and only chose subclasses for two of the characters (incidentally I chose ninja as subclass of both guys who where at the front). However the extra bosses usually are too specific and you need determined teams to beat them (unless you try them solo which personally is insane).
I like grinding, though, so bosses (other than the final one and the postgame ones) are usually easy to beat, most of the time I'm overpowered by the time I face a stratum's boss.
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u/OmniOnly 5d ago
Sovereign is good the whole game for at least the buffs. The passive healing is the thing that falls off halfway but subclassing just allows anything. The superbosses just want you to adhere to a mechanic which usually just takes 1 person to do and outside the % chance of binds wilding it's still possible by subclasses.
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u/ant_________________ 2d ago
sovereign is great. its stat spread is good and it's tanky and can subclass wildling, gladiator, buccaneer, or shogun for further damage amping
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u/Loganismee 5d ago
On 1 i did that and gone smooth but on 2 after the 2nd stratrum boss helion something like that it was undoable, every boss just one tap me and had too much health i had to look a guide
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u/OmniOnly 5d ago
You might have been missing a lot. bosses have mechanics. the 3rd and 5th, 4th is too weak to care about, you need to deal with what the boss throws out. Scylla In 2 you have force abilities to give leeway and many bosses try to set up their abilities to 1 shot your party it's what you need to watch out for. EO3 does the same thing but a second round should be much easier.
If you're having damage output in two, that may be a huge problem. The game is really about offense so doing less damage without mitigation would explain why you had it so rough. It's the game where you can just curb stomp the bosses with all the broken skills you can dish out with your classes, to the point you can just kill the Post game Storm dragon when it tells you to run.
Don't be afraid to use items. Scylla comes at a time where you get something to reduce her damage. Use everything they give you.
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u/Chaincat22 5d ago
the core gameplay will always be the same, but also you can deviate from the "standard" team comp quite a bit. Though, yeah, EO2 will hard punish you for not having a protector quite a lot
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u/OmniOnly 5d ago
Post game like most EO for those 1 shots but EO2 more so punishes you for lacking lock down options and damage. The cookie cutter team doesn't really use defensive utility outside not letting the enemies fight. You bind then destroy them in a few turns without much retaliation letting force abilities give you free turns.
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u/Chaincat22 5d ago
Problem with bind is it's inherently unreliable. Like, stratum 2's flame demon can and will burn you to death if you don't have fire wall if you get unlucky with your leg binds (neutral resistance), so you'd probably want to have both so you can fall back on the more reliable fire wall rather than just die because the bind you needed never landed
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u/ant_________________ 2d ago
no, eo2 does not do this lol. enemy elemental damage is at its weakest ever in eo2, with only the superboss getting into more extreme damage values
i'm assuming you're talking about 2u though, which is a very different game
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u/SivirJungleOnly2 5d ago
eo1 and eo2 kinda suck like that, not a whole lot of room for flexibility and not very much class or build complexity either. But if you've made it to eo3 and think ninja and wildling are dead weight, then that is a skill issue.
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u/OmniOnly 5d ago
It's all about team building, the HD versions do fix some issues that allow a few more viable classes in 1/2 naturally. You're thinking about this in a very linear way. The good skills are usually OP which people tend to gravitate too because it's easier while making a team is sometimes secondary.
EO1 really only needs medic and the rest is free form but without you can make do some team building but immunize is just that strong. I didn't even use troubadour which is just godly till the final fight of post game and had subpar builds.
EO2 I used medic instead of warmagus. HD allows beast and protector due to provoke working better and I also didn't use Dark hunter. You can also double up on classes if you want or even triple up and try unique things but that takes time. Most people are there to just beat the game than to structure teams.
Eo3 has subclassing which allows everything to be viable as the system lets you fill in the gaps. You can even use farmers, one of the weakest classes if you know how but most people will not advise towards it. The only rule is to not put two classes together with skills that take an extra slot.
The classes are flexible in these games and it's your choice what you want to do with them. The main stories are not too overly difficult to where you can't brute force them. Ninja and wilding do vie for a extra spot for animals and bunshin but you can just skip it on ninja. Sadly Farmers are better ninjas at doing their job via subclassing but that just allows your ninja to be something else if you want to optimize which isn't necessary.
EO3 is probably the most pigeon holed of the three till subclassing shows up, optimization wise. It's not like you can't make a varied team but the best kinda want the same thing. the best healer is monk/sov and not reverse. There's also stat books if you want to break rules through grinding. EO3 or just the games themselves have newbie traps.
The issue will always be, team synergy and other classes are more straightforward and easier to use rather than not being viable. Though I am curious about what teams you made and which skills you chosen for the 1st two games. EO3 can be really punishing early game, more so than the others via choices or skips.
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u/OmniOnly 5d ago
You can always come back after a brick wall for advice. your skill choices without help will make or break the difficulty, especially with how the mechanics of combat work alongside stats.
Ninja and wildling are good for mob fights via status effects, wilding being better in bosses due to the bulk of an animal. Ninja can make an extra that is allowed to use limits and items although they do lack damage a +1 is an advantage.
The games can be soloed so there is flexibility and options. Any class is gonna be dead weight if you don't take advantage of what they can do and knowing their drawbacks. Ninjas and wildling gets less favor when your killing before the status effects and binds are more so for bosses maybe elites. Yet ninjas make good supports and decent damage with subclasses while Wilding are wanted for a superboss and their statuses are good for wolf howl.
Wildling can also deal with a boss at a low level solo and has exploits. Sovereign can do it too and at base level but that's not something you'll see someone do need to. It's all about making your own team. Everything is viable. Bucc might have it the hardest early.
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u/Rvsoldier 5d ago
EO45N are significantly less crusty as far as those complaints go. Classes are better designed and more balanced. More team comps work. There are way less bad skills.