Etrian Odyssey

"Etrian Odyssey, released in Japan as Seikaiju no MeiQ​ (世界樹の迷宮 Sekaiju no Meikyū, lit. "Labyrinth of Yggdrasill"), is a 3D dungeon crawler role-playing video game by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. It was released on January 18, 2007 in Japan, May 15, 2007 in North America, and June 6, 2008 in Europe.

Drawing comparisons to titles such as Wizardry and The Bard's Tale, Etrian Odyssey challenges players with exploring and mapping a vast dungeon. In classic fashion, players navigate through the dungeon a single "step" at a time, moving and turning in fixed increments. Time passes only when an action is taken, causing movement, random encounters, and combat to all be entirely turn-based. The game uses a first-person view to present the dungeon using a combination of relatively simple 3D computer graphics for environments and single-frame 2D sprites for enemies.

Towards the end of 2007, Atlus announced a sequel to Etrian Odyssey. It was reported that the game would feature 12 job classes and that Yuji Himukai, Makoto Nagasawa and Yūzō Koshiro would reprise their roles, with Shigeo Komori taking on the role of director. All original character classes are included, along with three new classes: Beast, Gunner, and War Magus. Screenshots were released showing that the mapping system has been improved, with new symbols that can be added to the map for more detailed and accurate maps.

In early December 2009, the third installment in the series, titled "Sekaiju no MeiQ 3: Seikai no Raihōsha", was announced in Japan. This game will feature ocean exploring in addition to dungeon exploring, both with the familiar mapping system. In addition, the classes from previous games are removed in favor of all-new classes, including Prince/Princess, Monk, Phalanx, Shinobi, and Pirate. The game was released in Japan on April 1, 2010. A North American release has been confirmed in the upcoming July issue of Nintendo Power titled "Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City" set for release on September 21, 2010."

Source: Wikipedia, "Etrian_Odyssey", available under the CC-BY-SA License.