Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

Another JRPG hits the Nintendo 3DS handheld portable console and this time it’s the fourth installment in the first-person dungeon-crawler Etrian Odyssey series. The Etrian Odyssey games have enjoyed cult classic status since the original, brutally difficult DS title hit, and, while the formula looks familiar at first, after only an hour or so it becomes abundantly clear that it’s evolved into something else – something old and new.

The main thrust of the game is exploration. You are a keen explorer and the newest in a line of adventurers hitting up the city of Tharsis to seek fame and fortune by answering the call of The Count of Tharsis, to unravel the mystery and seek the truth of Yggdrasil – the gargantuan tree visible throughout the land. To do this you must build a team of explorers and descend into and explore the many treacherous dungeons, whilst killing FOEs (enemies) and looking for treasure.

while you are certainly encouraged to do certain things, it’s rarely, if-ever, the only way to play

Managing each class in your group can be quite involved, with each having their own unique skill tree, within which, multiple tiers of skills encourage you down certain branches. Instead of staying in one tier while learning and leveling up all available skills (which, of course you can do if you so desire), further tiers offer more complex and more powerful skills thus making each skill point go towards carving out a personalised class. Certain skills and classes are more effective than others in different dungeons so it helps to have backup units and these you can create back at the hub of Tharsis. Doing so allows you to build teams that are better for different tasks, for example, a group built for exploration isn’t necessarily good for bosses and vice-versa. The best thing about Etrian Odyssey IV is that, while you are certainly encouraged to do certain things, it’s rarely, if ever, the only way to play; it always feels as though you are doing things your way.

Some classes, like the Dancer, specialise in moves that buff your party and/or weaken the FOE while other classes can raise the power of certain Elemental skills for the whole group. If you have the basic melee class Landsknecht, who has learned a melee-based Elemental Link skill, you can essentially use one magic skill that boosts both magic and melee skills. It’s all about teamwork, as using multiple classes together is imperative to success because, even on the new Casual difficulty (when defeated you return to Tharsis injured instead of losing everything and Game Over), you need to stay alert at all times. This extends to the new Overworld feature which also has it’s fair share of threat.

Upon departing Tharsis, to travel to the dungeon of your choosing, you will find yourself in a hot air balloon and tasked with piloting it across the plains. Whirlwinds, FOEs, maze-like areas, and even an occasional dragon keep things from getting boring and, upon reaching your destination, you can warp to Tharsis and back again. The plains have their fair share of valuable loot in the form of items from other pilots, various food-types that give you a boost throughout your next dungeon, and handy weapons/items for slaying the FOEs. You’ll want to explore the whole area but you don’t have to right away. Again the element of choice comes in to play here making it feel like your own, unique experience.

Reaching a dungeon puts you in to first-person view and this is how you will experience both exploration of the dungeons and battles. It’s a strictly horizontal plane as you inch your way through the dungeon and descend its strata. As you do this the 3DS’ second screen comes in to play when it acts as an interactive map. You can chart your progress on each square tile of the map, marking points of interest, stairs, hazards, water areas and even where you met the occasional NPC, of which there are about four. This was a major sticking point with me as the game can begin to feel a little isolated, especially as you’ll be spending so much time in the world. This, coupled with your team being completely mute, make the game feel lifeless at points and you can begin to wonder why you even care at this point. That said, the characters you do meet are enigmatic and believable and even the briefest of interactions can encourage you to push on.

Visually the game lacks any kind of spark. The Overworld can be downright ugly at times and the repetition of over simplified level design in the dungeons makes it largely humdrum as there’s no real sense of atmosphere which, in turn, removes a sense of being lost which is crucial to exploration. Descending to lower strata involves no change in light or mood, making it seem like you’ve not actually traveled or progressed much. The changes between dawn/day/dusk/night help allay this samey feeling. However, the promise that was hinted at, that exploring at different times will impact your experience, didn’t seem to do much that wasn’t simply a higher encounter rate and slightly stronger enemies. This is a real shame because fighting the same handful of enemies in each dungeon gets tired fast and having a roster of nocturnal FOEs would’ve been really cool, adding a sense of time and dynamics.