hackncrazy
The games put out by Exp Inc. / Team Muramasa, of course:
- (Windows PC)
Generation XTH: Code Hazard.
- (VITA/Windows PC)
Operation Abyss / Operation Babel.
*(contains dumbed down remakes of "Code Hazard", and the two following chapters which were never localized: Code Breaker and Code Realize. Play the PC version instead and if so inclined, play chapters 2 and 3 in their "remade" form via this package).
- (VITA/Windows PC)
Stranger of Sword City.
And, of course, the Etrian Odyssey series:
- (Nintendo DS)
Etrian Odyssey 1, 2 and 3.
- (3DS)
Etrian Odyssey remakes of 1 and 2, and EO IV.
Released (so far)
only on the VITA:
- (VITA)
Dungeon Travelers 2 (haven't played it as I don't own a VITA but
Dorarnae and other Codexers swear by it, and I trust them).
For the Nintendo DS:
- (NDS)
7th Dragon (made by ex-employees of the Etrian Odyssey core team; this one is a real good gem of a game that I heartily recommend. It's a perfect 50/50 mix of top-down view JRPG-style game play except using the classes/stats/etc templates from the EO series. Personally I enjoyed this game, 7th Dragon,
much more than the NDS EO games).
- (NDS)
SMT: Strange Journey (1st-person view dungeon crawler set in the Shin Megami Tensei universe. Haven't finished it yet but the 30~ hours I've got clocked so far have been very enjoyable. Only reason I dropped it is because I read they're releasing a 3DS remake soon).
Also for the 3DS, though I have not played them:
- (3DS)
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (made by the EO team, no idea regarding its quality).
- (3DS)
Etrian Mystery Dungeon (no idea what this game is even about; I assume it's a take on the top-down view style of 'crawler like the Chocobo Dungeon games).
- (3DS)
Beyond the Labyrinth (recently got fan-translated into English; zero idea if it is worth playing or not).
And for the PSP, though I have not bothered to play past the first hour or so:
- (PSP)
Unchained Blades (starts out like any other Wiz-clone with a nice 1st-person dungeon crawl introduction, but it switched to a button-mashing mini-game at one point and I lost patience. Someday I'll give it another try).
- (PSP)
7th Draon 2020 (recently fan-translated into English; this is a sequel to the Nintendo DS game "7th Dragon" and IMHO it is much inferior though it's still the same blend of JRPG/dungeon crawler that 7th Dragon was, and for that alone it is worth playing).
On too many systems to count... my favorite non-Wizardry/Elminage series of games:
-
Dragon Quest I & II (recommend playing the SNES remakes).
-
Dragon Quest III (again, the SNES remake is the one you want; btw, this 3rd entry is considered by many to be the best one in the series, though I rank it 2nd).
-
Dragon Quest IV (even though they made the enemies weaker in the Nintendo DS remake, that is the version I would recommend playing; though if you don't give a shit about graphics or updated UI then by all means play the Nintendo version which is
much, much, much harder).
-
Dragon Quest V (the best title in the series IMHO, followed in 2nd place by #3 for the SNES. In any case, the best version of DQ V is indisputably the fan-translated version for Playstation 2).
-
Dragon Quest VI (the NDS remake, no contest: though like the NDS remake for DQ IV they made the enemies weaker, the remake makes up for it with extra character classes and tons of items not present in the original).
-
Dragon Quest VII (above I said DQ V was the best in the series and it is, but that's if I'm being "objective": the really-real best DQ of all time is this one, number 7. It is a masterpiece of a JRPG. If you visit the DQ thread I wrote hundreds of words about why this is so... and although the 3DS remake made the enemies much weaker, same as the NDS remakes of 4 and 6, they did introduce
some ease-of-use UI updates that *might* warrant playing that version but make no mistake: if you're playing the 3DS remake of DQ 7 you are missing out on 20-30% of content that was cut due to space limitations).
-
Dragon Quest VIII (eh, skip it. If you want to play it then the PS2 version is the only candidate, as the 3DS remake had content cut out of it just like the DQ 7 3DS remake).
-
Dragon Quest IX (only available on the Nintendo DS and I heartily recommend it! It's basically an easier-version of DQ 3, and I rank it either #4 or #3 depending on my mood).
(Dragon Quest X is/was an online-only title for the Wii and is thus not worth discussing).
Calling for reinforcements:
Siveon,
Courtier,
MrRichard999,
Helly,
Crooked Bee,
Emmanuel2,
Viata,
Zetor,
an Administrator,
Gamerhenky,
Mustawd