Etrian Odyssy series has an evolutionary Mapping system. One that encourages you to explore and know every corner of the world.
Salam (Peace)
There are two reasons I play RPG games... The stories and the worlds, I love the fantasy setting with swords & magic. And I like the turn-based battle system as opposed to the Action system. But one of the things I really like is the exploration, the feeling of "What lies beyond that corner?", it's the feeling you have when you play Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest for the first time.
Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssy series is THE Dungeon Crawler of the NDS/3DS and it's known by two things: Insane Difficulty, and using the bottom screen for it's Map system... Since I saw a trailer for one of the games in the series (probably it was Untold 2) I was like: "I have to play this game!!"
Well for now, the only game I played for now is Untold Millennium Girl's Story Mode on Normal, and they say it's very easy compared to other game in the series. But it's still hard compared to the most RPGs in recent times, as even the normal monster encounters are strong and the F.O.E map enemies should basically be avoided the first time they meat you meet them.
In this post I refer to Etrian Odyssey Untold when I say "the game."
The Exploration
While the story of EO: Untold isn't as amazing as any Final Fantasy game you'd play. But it makes up for that with the good studied RPG battle system and the amazing maps and mapping system. It lets you feel as though you're a real adventurer. And makes you know how hard being one is!!
In this game, you draw your own map.
Part of being an adventurer is to be able to find your way... The game wants you to make your own map of the dungeon and gets you the tool to do so... In the bottom screen You have to draw the map using the tools the game provide. The map you draw can be totally different than the actual dungeon but you want it to be as accurate as possible!!
(Dungeon Screen, F.O.E on top. Player drawn map on the bottom.)
One error in drawing your map could cost you DEATH
Or at least many hours of your time... Imagine that you drew a wall in the map while in the real dungeon it was a free space? Imagine now if you need to go there to reach the next floor.
There are also many times when you have to go back to a set point in previous floor to do something. If you didn't mark everything you see you'll waste a lot of time searching for it... Again!! Etrian Odyssey teaches the player to notice everything and record everything.
The Journey More Than The Destination
Everything in the game is made with "Being Adventurer" in mind... Many quests encourage you to explore the dungeon... The limited slots in bag makes you really think what items to bring with you to the dungeon... And the conversations between people is so adventures like... Even the story mode where the classes are pre-selected, you can choose how to distribute skill points.
The messages you get when you enter a new place:
"You feel a strong monster nearby, you decided to be more careful as you head on. Or maybe you should find another path.
Are There Other Exploration Games?
So, I've been #ThinkingWhileGaming: The closest game that let me feel like this was Dragon Quest IX... EO:Untold is way stronger than it in that regard. I will proably get my hands on all the entries in this series of games (and Persona Q which play the same as this but is Shin Megami Tensei themed game.)
Are there other games that gives this feeling of exploration?... that you want to find every corner?
I think this only happens with Etrian Oddessy because of it's powerful mapping system, I really want a series like this to strive for many years in the future and with the 3DS life span nearing its end, that might not be possible.