These days I tend to stick to series that I know and love; Mario, Zelda, Pokemon... you know. It's not often I willingly dive head first into a completely new series that I know nothing about. But with Etrian Odyssey IV, I'm glad I did. At first glance, this game appears to be another standard RPG; beat monsters, level up, beat bigger monsters, rinse and repeat. However, there's so much more here that I think Etrian Odyssey IV deserves to be called one of the 3DS' top RPGs.
Despite being the sequel to Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (which us Europeans sadly never had the luxury of playing), the story here seems pretty simple and RPG-like. There's a tree called Yggdrasil that lies beyond the city of Tharsis. The Count of Tharsis has sent out a challenge to all explorers: "Reach Yggdrasil and uncover the truth!". The group of explorers you assemble is among many who have accepted the challenge.
To start off you'll need to assemble a guild and create a party, which is simple enough to do (that said, I did spend a while messing around with all the customisation). You'll then be tasked to collect some ore from a dungeon by the Count of Tharsis. Here's where the gameplay begins. Thrown into a dungeon, your party will need to fend for themselves... and create a map of the place. This is where Etrian Odyssey IV really starts to make a name for itself.
Standard RPG adventures often task you with finding maps and after finding one you can find your way around the dungeon with ease. However, in Etrian Odyssey IV, it's you who will be creating the maps. Using the touch screen, you can layout walls and place landmarks to create your very own map of the area. On paper, this idea might sound tedious... but I assure you, it's quite the opposite. Okay, so you don't need to make a map... but most dungeons will require more than one trip, so a map will make your life a lot easier. Besides, in my opinion, this is one of the more fun and unique parts of the game and map making is a whole lot more interesting than it sounds.
So after you've collected the ore from that first dungeon, you'll be given an airship. Like your guild, this can be named whatever you like. I called mine the Skyblimp. Very original, I know. Anyway, using this airship, you can traverse larger areas, called lands (the first land is called Windy Plains... because they're plains... and they're windy. Hey, the game's almost as original as me!) in-game. These lands are essentially pretty large hub-type areas, which will be your access point to the many dungeons and mazes. And yes, you also get to map them. Hooray! These areas (along with the dungeons) are also home to bigger monsters, called F.O.Es. These are essentially really tough mini-bosses and you'd better avoid them at the beginning of your adventure, because they meant trouble! Luckily, they can be lured away using harvested food or just avoided altogether.
This food I mentioned can be harvested from a number of places on the Windy Plains; groups of animals will give you meat, crops will give you carrots and such; the large F.O.Es on the Windy Plains can be lured away using a certain food... which I won't give away because you can find out in-game. Etrian Odyssey IV has a large amount of things to do besides the main quest too. Selling specific enemy drops to the armoury unlocks new weapons/armour for sale; eg. selling three Grasseater Legs might unlock a sword (pretty sure it doesn't, just for your information).
Besides that, there are a number of side-quests to be under taken, such as using a key given to you by someone, go and open an old chest inside the dungeon. Even some of the dungeons are technically side-dungeons, since you don't have to go there... but it helps to do so to level up your team and reap quest rewards. Plus there's a nice StreetPass system in place; swapping guild cards with other players also swaps treasure maps, with which you can use to find hidden treasure throughout the world.
So that's enough about the gameplay. Etrian Odyssey IV's visuals are stunning. I was absolutely blown away as soon as I saw them... it's simply beautiful. The 3D is perfect as well, featuring some of the best 3DS graphics I'd only seen in first-party titles beforehand. It's musically very grand as well, you'll definitely be humming along to the tracks in no time at all.
In conclusion then, Etrian Odyssey IV is easily one of the best 3DS RPGs to date. It's graphically and musically sound (pun most definitely intended) and its gameplay feels very unique. The only problem I have with it is its difficulty; it's a very tough game. However, there's more than one difficulty setting which can be set at the start of the game, so if you're having trouble, try again! Luckily even on the hardest difficulty, you can save your maps, something I feel would be very annoying if it weren't in place. And so after playing just one Etrian Odyssey title for a relatively short time, all I can think it... I wish II and III were released in Europe. + Daniel Godfrey
9/10 - Possibly too challenging for some, but for those who enjoy a challenge, Etrian Odyssey IV is the freshest RPG experience you're likely to have for some time.
Despite being the sequel to Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (which us Europeans sadly never had the luxury of playing), the story here seems pretty simple and RPG-like. There's a tree called Yggdrasil that lies beyond the city of Tharsis. The Count of Tharsis has sent out a challenge to all explorers: "Reach Yggdrasil and uncover the truth!". The group of explorers you assemble is among many who have accepted the challenge.
To start off you'll need to assemble a guild and create a party, which is simple enough to do (that said, I did spend a while messing around with all the customisation). You'll then be tasked to collect some ore from a dungeon by the Count of Tharsis. Here's where the gameplay begins. Thrown into a dungeon, your party will need to fend for themselves... and create a map of the place. This is where Etrian Odyssey IV really starts to make a name for itself.
Standard RPG adventures often task you with finding maps and after finding one you can find your way around the dungeon with ease. However, in Etrian Odyssey IV, it's you who will be creating the maps. Using the touch screen, you can layout walls and place landmarks to create your very own map of the area. On paper, this idea might sound tedious... but I assure you, it's quite the opposite. Okay, so you don't need to make a map... but most dungeons will require more than one trip, so a map will make your life a lot easier. Besides, in my opinion, this is one of the more fun and unique parts of the game and map making is a whole lot more interesting than it sounds.
So after you've collected the ore from that first dungeon, you'll be given an airship. Like your guild, this can be named whatever you like. I called mine the Skyblimp. Very original, I know. Anyway, using this airship, you can traverse larger areas, called lands (the first land is called Windy Plains... because they're plains... and they're windy. Hey, the game's almost as original as me!) in-game. These lands are essentially pretty large hub-type areas, which will be your access point to the many dungeons and mazes. And yes, you also get to map them. Hooray! These areas (along with the dungeons) are also home to bigger monsters, called F.O.Es. These are essentially really tough mini-bosses and you'd better avoid them at the beginning of your adventure, because they meant trouble! Luckily, they can be lured away using harvested food or just avoided altogether.
This food I mentioned can be harvested from a number of places on the Windy Plains; groups of animals will give you meat, crops will give you carrots and such; the large F.O.Es on the Windy Plains can be lured away using a certain food... which I won't give away because you can find out in-game. Etrian Odyssey IV has a large amount of things to do besides the main quest too. Selling specific enemy drops to the armoury unlocks new weapons/armour for sale; eg. selling three Grasseater Legs might unlock a sword (pretty sure it doesn't, just for your information).
Besides that, there are a number of side-quests to be under taken, such as using a key given to you by someone, go and open an old chest inside the dungeon. Even some of the dungeons are technically side-dungeons, since you don't have to go there... but it helps to do so to level up your team and reap quest rewards. Plus there's a nice StreetPass system in place; swapping guild cards with other players also swaps treasure maps, with which you can use to find hidden treasure throughout the world.
So that's enough about the gameplay. Etrian Odyssey IV's visuals are stunning. I was absolutely blown away as soon as I saw them... it's simply beautiful. The 3D is perfect as well, featuring some of the best 3DS graphics I'd only seen in first-party titles beforehand. It's musically very grand as well, you'll definitely be humming along to the tracks in no time at all.
In conclusion then, Etrian Odyssey IV is easily one of the best 3DS RPGs to date. It's graphically and musically sound (pun most definitely intended) and its gameplay feels very unique. The only problem I have with it is its difficulty; it's a very tough game. However, there's more than one difficulty setting which can be set at the start of the game, so if you're having trouble, try again! Luckily even on the hardest difficulty, you can save your maps, something I feel would be very annoying if it weren't in place. And so after playing just one Etrian Odyssey title for a relatively short time, all I can think it... I wish II and III were released in Europe. + Daniel Godfrey
9/10 - Possibly too challenging for some, but for those who enjoy a challenge, Etrian Odyssey IV is the freshest RPG experience you're likely to have for some time.
Review copy provided by NIS America