Buying advice: Etrian Oddesey 4 vs Persona Q?

Hey duders!

I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my next 3DS purchase and was hoping I could get some help.

Persona Q and Etrian Odessey 4 are both on sale on the eShop and I've been eyeing them both. I played the heck out of the the EO4 demo and really enjoyed that system. However, I like many other Giant Bomb fans, I enjoyed the heck out of the P4 endurance run, so I'm kinda itching at the chance to play a game with the investigation team!

Has anyone here played both? I'd appreciate some guidance. Other factors that play into my decision: this is my first Etrian Odessey buy, I've never actually played P4 or P4 golden.

Thanks for any advice!

Edit: The sale actually ends today. PQ is $40 (usually 50) and EO4 is $15 (usually 30).

The games are both pretty long and you'll be spending more time in the dungeons drawing maps and getting into the same random encounter every 5 steps, so just be weary that you will be doing a lot of that stuff.

Did you care about the characters and story in P4? Because Persona Q sure doesn't. It's all pretty passable, and the gameplay is good (again, there is a lot), but the characters are reduced to one-note caricatures of their former selves (Chie's character is "Meat! Meat gum! Meat jelly!", Teddie is "I'm hitting on you!" followed by "Please don't kill me for hitting on you!", etc).

I'd say go with EO4 since it's less of an investment, and PQ is only worth $40 if you're way into that series (the fact that it's a crossover of P4 and P3 is the biggest appeal, so if you haven't played P3 there's even less reason to be interested in it).

PQ does some interesting things both with the Persona formula and EO formula, but not all of it panned out.

EO4 felt like the better realized and more mechanically solid game. It's only lacking in story and characters, but that's mostly because it's intentionally minimalistic, and even then EO4 kinda does better with what it has, in some ways.

PQ is for story and wacky characters that also has solid rpg dungeon action . While EO4 is no story or characters but sweet uninterrupted rpg dungeon gameplay . Sure PQ characters get a bit one note but im a story guy and the story along with the wacky bits made me stay interest in PQ . While EO4 was great but i keep losing my drive to finish at times.

I've been considering PQ, but only based on the GB endurance run of P4.

In Persona Q, the characters aren't quite as fleshed out as they are in their respective games, but there are a handful of moments that really ring true with the sort of thing the series is known for. This is mostly the relationship between Kanji and Ken if you choose the P4 protagonist, the P3 cast coming together if you choose the P3 protagonist, and in either when some mysterious pasts are revealed towards the end (which actually got me pretty emotional). However, there's plenty of light-hearted, cute, and funny moments peppered in throughout the game had me smiling.

Also PQ has got styyyyyyyyyyle. The vibrant use of colour, j-rap, trumpets, guitar, as well as the delightfully bizarre enemy design that gives the series its distinctive aesthetic. Then again, bosses aside, you're probably familiar with all the enemy designs already.

I haven't played EO4 yet so if there's an argument for it someone else will have to make it, but I loved Persona Q.

I've never played EO4, but I've put quite a bit of time into Persona Q. The presence of the P3/P4 cast isn't enough to make PQ worth $25 more dollars if you already know you really like the system in EO4. I would go with EO4 for the $15 and come back to PQ later on down the road if you want.

If I'm correct, they're both old-school dungeon crawlers. I guess it all depends on how much you like Chie.

I really like Chie.

But I think what I'm going to to is get Eo4 and maybe get to Pq later. PQ sounds like a decent deal but eo4 is an absolute steal. And also I don't care too much about the p3 characters. I'll probably look for PQ later though, when maybe the price is more reasonable, or maybe I'll look into a used copy.

Etrian Odyssey 4 is the better dungeon crawler.

I loved my time with Persona Q, but Etrian Odyssey 4 is a *much* better dungeon crawler/game.

Persona Q is a solid purchase but, unless you're a massive Persona 3 and 4 fan, Etrian Odyssey IV is the game you should play first.

Worth noting that Etrian Odyssey IV only has one save file and PQ has three. If you're planning on sharing this game, might want to take that into account.

You probably made the right choice picking up EO4 on the cheap before dropping $40-50 on Persona Q. The Etrian Odyssey flavor of dungeon crawling isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. Some people love it, and some hate it.

I bought EO4 a few months prior to the release of Persona Q just to try it out, and I was personally so turned off by some aspects of the gameplay that it completely unsold me on Persona Q. I am however still interested in trying out Etrian Mystery Dungeon at some point, as it seems like in some ways the fusion of those two franchises may actually alleviate some of the problems with EO.

One big difference between PQ and the core EO games, that could sway somebody one way or the other, is that the characters in PQ are a lot more interchangable. What I mean is that aside from weapon type, base stats, and a few core skills, you can basically use any character in PQ for any role you want. If you give a High Pixie or Virtue to Chie, she'll (probably) be a healer. If you give her a Pyro Jack, she becomes a mage. There's less structure, but it allows you to use pretty much whichever characters you like most without worrying too much about their viability as a team.

In the core EO games, the character classes were/are a lot more concrete. Your Fortress has skills that lets it soak up damage to protect the rest of the team. Your Sniper has skills that deal damage and that bind enemies. Your Medic is... a medic. The skills and roles are locked more to individual characters, which can be helpful or restrictive, depending on how you want to play.

Hope that helps someone.

EO4 is a better dungeoncrawler in almost every way. The things PQ brings to the table are great aesthetics, musik and hilariously bizarre dungeons. Seriously, I friggin love the themed dungeons and personality in PQ and I think it wins in that regard (the second boss especially is amazing), but overall gameplay i liked EO4 more. Not to say that PQ is bad, it's still a great dungeoncrawler that I had alot of fun with, but EO4 felt more solid.

And it's true that many of the characters don't feel as fleshed out as in their respective games, especially Teddy, but I thought there were some good moments between the characters. Liked the dynamics between the velvet-room attendants especially.