In Etrian Odyssey, a Fortress Is a Person

[Ocelot]

Some folks like shields, and some folks really like shields. We strongly suspect that Etrian Odyssey's Fortress is the second type of person.

[lolwhoops]

I have always liked more defensive characters in these games. Typical party involves a front line tank, a front line warrior and a back row healer. Probably will be the same here for me. I'm thinking of starting out with a magic user which I haven't done before for some odd reason. I can't wait to get into this game.

[TG Barighm]

My only issue with tank/DPS/healer mechanics is they have a bad habit of making every game play roughly the same way.

[Ocelot]

Yeah, plus I usually find tanks pretty boring. My parties tend to be DPS, DPS, DPS, and one poor overworked healer.

[smacd]

I'm getting rather excited for this game. It'll be nice to start getting some good RPGs on the 3DS. I haven't played any of the EO games, but I just ordered the EO trilogy pack reprint a couple of days ago.

[Gideon Zhi]

The headline made me think of this.

[TwinBahamut]

My only issue with tank/DPS/healer mechanics is they have a bad habit of making every game play roughly the same way.

I'm not sure that applies to Etrian Odyssey, though... Classes in that series are not exactly divided into a DPS/tank/healer framework, and two different parties built using different strategies can play very differently. Things like elemental vs. non-elemental damage, status ailments, buffing and debuffing, interrupting attacks vs. absorbing damage, and so on are all very, very important. A team can split its healing duties among three different characters just as easily as it can have a dedicated healer who does everything, and most characters are robust enough that having a tank is not strictly necessary with the right team set-up. EO3 sub-classes make this even more complex.

It's a lot more flexible and built upon building a synergetic team than games like, say, WoW, where you have dedicated and interchangeable specialist character and not much else. This complexity made EO3 really stand out as a unique and great game for me, and is why I am looking forward to EO4 very much. It's good precisely because it does do something different than make classes into a boring damage/healing/tank system.