Love of map drawing and uncovering the map yourself is 50% of the greatness of EO and why the game will never last past the 3DS. They really should just stop making them after V.
I was waiting for your post!
I actually just played EO and EO2 before this. I know both those games have remakes but I really like seeing how these series start and how they evolve over time. I've played several dungeon crawlers from Experience and I had played Persona Q/Strange Journey/Etrian Mystery Dungeon so I knew what I was getting into and I pretty much already knew I would be fond of the series. The first two games are definitely pretty straightforward but I enjoyed both. There are some key differences introduced in 2 - FOEs dont give EXP, more warp points, less secret areas - but I don't know if I preferred one over the other.
EO3 definitely changes things up even more, and I haven't gotten to the subclasses yet so I'm not exactly sure how they are implemented. But it's much snappier now, and very colorful, and the music is great.
Reminds me of something else 3 did well but they sort of messed up in 4. The way they present the story. I'm mainly a story over mechanics guy when it comes to RPGs. EO 1 and 2 are very barebones with how they deploy the story but they also tell it very competently by showing the player the aftermath and leaving them to guess what is actually going on. Very small hints here and there. This obviously works better in 1 than 2 as they have basically the same plot taking place in different areas of the world at roughly the same time, so anyone whose played 1 knows what they are in for, but it's still done well and tells it in such a way that fans of the first will still enjoy how it unravels. 3...is when they started trying to tell a story with the NPCs instead of almost entirely with the environment. This coincides almost to the year when Pokémon started doing the same thing, and it just complicates the experience. 4 is much worse in this regard. It cares too much about its NPCs and not enough about this weird
wacky horrifying world they are in.
EO Untold is a series that amps up the character driven story by having an anime ass mode that is entirely character driven...and interestingly enough this actually works better than 3 and 4 in a way by going over the top with it. The characters are funny and I'm in the middle of the story mode of both games when I left off despite having the choice to play them basically straight up like I did a decade before. Atlus is pretty good at that type of anime writing that makes me giggle. My reasons for not getting super far in either one aren't from lack of desire but lack of the life I used to lead where I could sit still and play these games from dusk to dawn for a week or two in a row.
As far as the difference between EO 1 and 2 it's mainly the story of refinement. All of the classes that sucked in EO 1 are good in EO 2. Most of the new classes are unbalanced on the weak end of the spectrum. The only class to get noticeably worse is Healer, but that's because of how various behind the scenes mechanics changed more than anything. Drops are more fair in EO 2. Grinding is based on repeating bosses more than anything, though if you explore every nook and cranny naturally you'll be appropriate/over leveled. FOEs not giving EXP added more of a reason to avoid them for normal parties. They also made them more threatening in general. EO 2 also doesn't have that awful font that one does.
EO III is great because it has a fun minigame in the puzzle map, the classes are new and weird (this continues into 4) and the map design (this sadly doesn't continue into 4) is basically as good as it will ever be.
It feels like I'm harping on 4 a lot when it's still the game I'd suggest for anyone who is interested in the series to start with. The demo for it is fantastic. The levels look good and the classes are better balanced for the sub class system. It's generally easier and more friendly than the first three games. It's the story and for the first time the dungeon design that really lets this one down. Not having one uber labyrinth stinks presentation wise, but I could live with it if the floors of the main dungeons were as good as the ones in the previous games. They by and large do not. Nor do the mini dungeons make up for it like say in BotW where the 120 shrines are the real dungeons of the game. They just feel like chores. Battle mechanic wise I really like how everything in four works, and I find the class system here a bit better balanced overall, but still maybe a bit too much for me.