The Etrian Odyssey Thre- EVEN IN THE SUBJECT LINE F.O.E.!!!

[TheSL]

I think he just means because there's a stand-alone one for Nexus.

[Destil]

Wait it is E.O. Three or E.O. Thread?

Why not "Etrian Odyssey Thread you Forgot to Buy Before Setting Out, Again"

[q 3]

The other Etrian Odyssey thread was stolen by a squirrel.

[conchobhar]

Originally Posted by Daikaiju

Hm...

"The Etrian Odyssey Thre- EVEN IN THE SUBJECT LINE F.O.E.!!!"

That IS a puzzler.

There's a dedicated thread for Nexus, which you should know because you actually crossposted of estragon's posts there to this one instead. So you're correct— it is a puzzler.

[aturtledoesbite]

yo conch

it's ok

if it matters so much to you, why not cross post what's in here to there

[Vaeran]

turtle, no, it's not okay

This is a diabolical mystery and I for one will not rest until the guilty parties are properly punished for their crimes

[conchobhar]

Originally Posted by aturtledoesbite

yo conch

it's ok

if it matters so much to you, why not cross post what's in here to there

You're really attributing much stronger feelings to me than I actually hold. I asked a question because I'm confused what the goal is here; that's all.

[estragon]

How do the bosses in EO5 compare to Untold 2?

I'm approaching the end of Untold 2 and it really feels like Oops All Puzzle Bosses to me, and in a kind of tedious way that just encourage me to FAQ patterns in advance. Almost every boss is just about avoiding a secret and unknowable until it happens arbitrary condition that will activate an Instant Game Over attack. Does EO5 continue this trend?

I feel like this wasn't as prevalent in EO1-4 and Untold 1. I'm not a huge fan of bringing Atlus post-game boss design into the main game. (I'm sure some people are, though.)

Whether or not the puzzle bosses continue to be this arbitrary, I'm still excited to play another EO game where the characters will finally shut up.

[q 3]

I haven't gotten too far into EOU2, but 5 was pretty mild with bosses from what I recall. There aren't a lot of them and they're not much of a difficulty spike. Heck, even with the optional bosses the game is kind enough to give you a big boost the first time you fight them.

[estragon]

Awesome, thank you, good to hear!

I honestly like hard bosses in these games, I just dislike so many bosses in Untold 2 having a surprise Instant Game Over gimmick if you don't know in advance of the fight that you absolutely have to have a way to resist AOE sleep on every 5th turn of a 6 turn attack pattern, or that you absolutely have to actively dispel the buff the boss will cast on you because not dispelling it triggers an Instant Game Over attack on the fourth turn they're stuck on you, or whatever. Keep that kind of instant death condition and turn pattern memorization silliness in the postgame, IMHO.

[conchobhar]

I can comment on 5's bosses, though I haven't played 2U and can't make a direct comparison between the two. So I'll just describe them and let you decide:

In 5, each of the stratum bosses has a unique gimmick attack that's basically impossible to anticipate, thus virtually guaranteed to take a player by surprise and probably cause a party wipe on the first attempt. However, once you know the behaviour, the move is clearly telegraphed and simple to counter. There's no need to start counting turns, nor to adjust equipment.

So, for example, the first boss has a gimmick where it explodes when it's fully assembled… which includes the very first turn. But once you know that it does that, dealing with the attack is as simple as defending when it's in that state.

[estragon]

Originally Posted by conchobhar

I can comment on 5's bosses, though I haven't played 2U and can't make a direct comparison between the two. So I'll just describe them and let you decide:

That kind of thing seems more fair to me. I'm to the final boss of EOU2's classic mode (so in story mode I still have one more after that), and it has some similar moves that will probably kill you the first time they happen, but similar to your example they are telegraphed more explicitly, or they happen at the very start of the battle in a way that feels more fair to me.

(Well, there are also a series of very strong elemental attacks that happen in a predetermined sequence, but they're not necessarily an instant game over so that bothers me less. Just a case where on the second try a Paladin can 100% negate them.)

This feels more like what I expect from EO bosses before the post-game.

edit a few days later: I was so ready to be done with Untold 2 that I just fought the final story mode boss while looking at a the turn order. I think Untold 2 is tied with the original EO2 for my least favorite game in this series. Partly this is due to the Oops All Puzzle Bosses design, but it's also in no small part my own fault for playing on story mode, even though I knew the characters would talk way too much and that I wasn't into the story mode party. I probably would have enjoyed it on classic.