Etrian Odyssey IV:Finally out in Europe. EO I Remake demo, 9/16 on US eshop

Xenogears of Bore

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan



RELEASE DATE: July 5th, 2012 Japan, February 26th, 2013 US, Smarch 32nd, Europe

INFO:

(Official info I'm sure someone at Atlus USA worked super duper hard on.)

For centuries, the tree Yggdrasil has been a constant presence in the lives of the people of Tharsis. It looms on the horizon, visible from everywhere in the city. But its roots are in a far-off land where no one has ventured until the Outland Count of Tharsis sponsors an Explorers Guild to reach Yggdrasil and discover its secrets. You are the latest explorer arriving in Tharsis to seek your fame and fortune. Board your skyship and set out into the clouds in search of treasure, glory, and the answer to Tharsis' oldest mystery.

Guide Legendary adventures Fight and Heal through a dungeon in this fourth volume of the famous Cartography-RPG. You'll either go up or down. Sometimes you'll go down to go up and up to go down. The music kicks ass, your characters are a bunch of lolis that you create yourself. Get loots, die, kill monsters, die some more, map out the dungeon. Get skill points, forge new weapons and armor, find rare items by whooping monsters in creative ways, ride an airship in a weird minigame, retire to the boonies to get more skill points, dual class because you're a real power gamer, die horribly to a deer. This time in 3D.

CLASSES



Landshark


Garchomp has been a top tier threat ever since his introduction in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl version. Terrifyingly fast with great power and the right moves and a Same Type Attack Bonus second to none. Under Sand Veil it is borderline unfair giving it a chance to boost up and sweep your entire team. Sorry about that, got confused for a minute. Your basic frontline fighter with a lot of good tricks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zn2iFzUaAg&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=6



Medic

The class of the legendary Heal character. They do exactly what they say on the tin...plus find extra herbs and do a status effect. They have a chance of auto revive. They got a name for themselves in EO1 by also being capable front row damage dealers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUt1oRutEVw&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=3



Fortress

Protectors, Sentinels, whatever. Your tanks. They provoke, they have shields, they do damage and take damage. They hit stuff with maces like any good holy warrior.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVl5_OPokag&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=2



Dancer

They buff a lot. This time they chase moves and do some other things too. Yes, they're in most EO games and yes, at least one of the female designs is cringe worthy. At least this time around the men don't look so bad....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn6Dun4gPSw&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=1



Sniper

They shoot stuff from the back row with a bow! Arm Binds, Critical Hits, Physical Piercing Damage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WFWelUY6w&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=1



Runemaster

Behold a class unlike any you've ever seen before! Back row magical damage dealers specializing in Fire/Thunder/Ice Magic of various strengths and flavors, plus an Almighty spell that costs too much but is too good to not get! Ok, yeah, pretty much like every mage in almost every JRPG. Their ability to weaken resistance to their holy trinity of elements though is a real nice treat considering just how well spread out the elements are among physical classes this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xci6MZ0vMw4&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=1



Nightseeker[/b]

An unholy (just look at that picture!!!!) fusion of Hexer and Dark Hunter and Shinobi from EO III. Class is built upon status effects and physical damage via dual wielding and extra damage because of applied status effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB_rbJRicjw&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=1

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER CLASSES???

A total mystery to all! Sorry! No clue what they are or what they do. Atlus USA has been showing them once a week or so so I'm sure I'll add them in as time goes along.

Mystic (Hexerish)
Samurai (Ronin/Samurai)
Imperial (Gunblades, combos!)

WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

Hot air balloon minigame to replace ship exploration from EO III. Apparently it's a lot more fun.
Casual Mode: For babies just out of diapers who don't want to be called wussies like Persona 3/4 fans.
Totally rad NON FM-Synth Music from the same composer. Sounds like they got winged by a MegaTen game.
Three-Dee: In one of the founding father genres of 2D 3D.
F.O.E.s are sadly no long blobs but appear on the map as they should. Missed an excellent opportunity here Atlus, should have had the final 6th Stratum FOE be a giant red fuzzy thing.

F.A.Q. F.A.Q.

Cartography RPG?

One of the earliest forms of a graphic based computer RPG was a genre of games commonly referred to as 3D dungeon crawlers. They were hard as shizz and unless you had the spatial memory of a god you basically needed to carry around a pad of graph paper and a pencil to map out the dungeon. This genre is wildly popular for a good decade or so, eventually getting some real nasty dungeons with some real nasty encounters and some real nasty puzzles. Then the genre disappears completely sometime around the end of the 16 bit era. Then someone finally makes a system where you can make your own damn digital map on a separate screen and Atlus decides to take up this genre that they dabbled in before in a big way. Thus the Cartography RPG was born; a mix of old school sensibilities with new school refinements such as class retiring, lolis, sub classes, quest systems.

What is an FOE?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM5MMqNgUzM

What about the previous games in the series?

They're on the Nintendo DS and are awesome. I believe they JUST GOT A REPRINT and are even being sold in a big collection.

I've already played those/I'm too cheap to buy them but want to give this game a shot. Help!

It's getting a demo in two weeks.

DEMO?!?

February 7th on the North American 3DS eshop. It includes the first few floors and has a level cap of ten or so, but all progress made in the demo can be transferred over to the real deal.

Does the game come with anything?

Artbook and mini CD, plus a real manual and that Atlus smell. Digital version comes with none of that jazz.

Digital Version?

Same week brotha. Probably same day. That's how I'm going if it is....but if I have to wait until that Thursday I might change my mind.

Lorahalo

I'm pissed off. This better fucking come out in PAL somewhere.

Lanrutcon

Lorahalo wrote: »

I'm pissed off. This better fucking come out in PAL somewhere.

A-fucking-men. Make it an eShop download or something, and I'll goddamn hurl money at them so fast it'll break the sound barrier.

Dac Vin

I am more than ready to feed young adventurers to wild animals.

PLA

Stupid region-lock.

gameenthusiast

In Europe release date is march??

SightTDW

Can we talk about how awesome the soundtrack is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFB1MwaVr0c&list=PL91JJ3ATNMZoyMvxRRAwCyfT-iahMjvrk&index=46

Cause its super awesome. I have a bad track record with this series, but I'm excited anyway.

Jars

already have this pre-ordered. looking forward to getting my shit stomped by deer and butterflies

Dac Vin

For those who understand Japanese and already played it:

Is poison good again? I hope it is.

Xenogears of Bore

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER:



Sniper

They shoot stuff from the back row with a bow! Arm Binds, Critical Hits, Physical Piercing Damage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WFWelUY6w&list=UU7hgDFSPvJVIUx_b8i1cILA&index=1

Lanrutcon

Is there a Samarai-type class again?

I like the look of the new skill screen!

Henroid

Your Sniper picture isn't loading for me.

Also totally got this pre-ordered with some Christmas cash.

PLA

gameenthusiast wrote: »

In Europe release date is march??

Wait, what, there's a european release?


Anyway, if somebody doesn't want to wait for official reveals of classes:

http://sq4.atlusnet.jp/

http://crazyuncleivans.com/eo4skillsim/EO4Skillsim.html

Henroid

SightTDW wrote: »

Can we talk about how awesome the soundtrack is?

Yes. Yuzo Koshiro is great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTU-jTmWr-k

Xenogears of Bore

Should I have said Nevember instead?

Auralynx

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

What about the previous games in the series?

They're on the Nintendo DS and are awesome. I believe they JUST GOT A REPRINT and are even being sold in a big collection.

Sure looks like it. Just ordered 2 for a price that wasn't unearthly. Yay. Train rides will be fun again. Still can't crack the Dragons in 3.

Henroid

I've gotta say that dancers having chase moves in this game is gonna make me actually use one and stick with it. I never liked the Troubadours.

Frozenzen

I hope they allow a durability based party like 1, instead of the nukefest that is 3.

Although immunize+relaxing+the protector defense up skill was slightly silly I guess.

Drez

Frozenzen wrote: »

I hope they allow a durability based party like 1, instead of the nukefest that is 3.

Although immunize+relaxing+the protector defense up skill was slightly silly I guess.

Heh, I was thinking this too. I'm playing through EO3 now - I have a Meteor-centric party (three Zodiacs with Meteor and Charge), and I'm almost done making a Warrior's Might party. The trio of Meteorettes, as I call them, tear through just about everything in the game without fail.

Also, too many exploits with the sea quests kinda trivializing XP gain. Though I don't mind them so much (and you can ignore them if you wish, of course).

Xenogears of Bore

3 has way more challenges that leveling up only slightly helps for to make up for the easy leveling up.

Henroid

I really resent you guys who treat these games as being easy. Because they're not!

Jars

Chase moves in EO3 were kind of meh, I wonder if dancers are going to be more like WM. just based on past experience I'm probably going to include a protector, medic, and sniper unless they have some sort of royal class because monarch march made EO3 so much better.

Lorahalo

They're easy if you abuse certain builds and combos. Shogun/Pirate was insane in 3, just because of how you could one-shot a guy with a basic attack. It wasn't so great for boss fights, but it made general exploring a breeze.

iowa

so is imperialist more like buccaneer or arbalist. or is sniper arbalist?

also whats the survivalist farmer guy

Jars

well it didn't help that WM was basically a chase move with unlimited charges and more damage. my party was 2x shogun/buc and 1x arbalist/shogun with WM.

Xenogears of Bore

There is a ridiculous amount of chasing and splash attacks in EO IV.

Sniper is Arbalist/Survivalist. Imperialist doesn't really have a great comparison with the previous games but is closest to Buccaneer.

Henroid

iowa wrote: »

so is imperialist more like buccaneer or arbalist. or is sniper arbalist?

also whats the survivalist farmer guy

I dunno if that's how any of the games should be looked at. From the perspective of "oh here's the melee guy, and the archer guy," etc. I mean yeah some of those classics are in there, but I mean the specific prior classes. Buccaneer and the Farmer and other classes from part 3 are very, very, very distinct kinds of characters. And they should remain distinct and it looks like they are. I mean sure, some of the traits are going to be carried over or borrowed. The chasing aspect that Buccaneers had if they were rapier users has been rolled over as an aspect of the "troubadour" character, and we're not even sure if that part of the Dancer will work out exactly as the party-buff class did in part 1 and 2. But don't expect anything to carry over 100% as "oh this is this class by renamed and tuned up." EO3 was remarkable because it stepped away from that and made entirely new character layouts.

iowa

Henroid wrote: »

iowa wrote: »

so is imperialist more like buccaneer or arbalist. or is sniper arbalist?

also whats the survivalist farmer guy

I dunno if that's how any of the games should be looked at. From the perspective of "oh here's the melee guy, and the archer guy," etc. I mean yeah some of those classics are in there, but I mean the specific prior classes. Buccaneer and the Farmer and other classes from part 3 are very, very, very distinct kinds of characters. And they should remain distinct and it looks like they are. I mean sure, some of the traits are going to be carried over or borrowed. The chasing aspect that Buccaneers had if they were rapier users has been rolled over as an aspect of the "troubadour" character, and we're not even sure if that part of the Dancer will work out exactly as the party-buff class did in part 1 and 2. But don't expect anything to carry over 100% as "oh this is this class by renamed and tuned up." EO3 was remarkable because it stepped away from that and made entirely new character layouts.

interesting insight. did anyone really ever roll with a party that was either mostly farmers or no farmers at all though. im asking i really dont know

Survivalist is probably my ultimate fave class but I did like the Monk a lot. I hope there's some sort of pugilist fighter class

also im p sure the buccaneers chase worked with pistols not just rapiers.

Jars

farmers belong at the guild with the exp share skill

Henroid

I never ran with a farmer in my main party. I was tempted to try it out though. I ran with two farmer teams. One was focused on getting the passive exp gain and then the gathering skills (while one in the group was learning the skills needed to get the safe walking). The second farmer team was more short term, focused on just getting some gathering skills ASAP.

Xenogears of Bore

After looking at the three Snipers are basically Dark Hunters crossed with Survivalists, Imperialists are basically something totally new, Assassins are like physical hexers from EO1 with a slight bit of Shinobi mixed in.

PLA

I've heard from a person who played the japanese one and worked on the skill-calculator that the Dancer is damn good at outspeeding things and stun-locking them. Especially with a Night Seeker-subclass.
That person also praised a Swordsman/Runemaster for elemental DPS. Imperial/Night Seeker also spiked high with double-skills, which is counterintuitive because of the Imperial's nonstandard-weaponry.
Speaking of weaponry, bows could be dual-wielded. Bear in mind that mechanics have been changed in localisation before, I think.

Most "Farmer"-skills are just one point, so specialising in it is a less big deal than before.

Auralynx

PLA wrote: »

I've heard from a person who played the japanese one and worked on the skill-calculator that the Dancer is damn good at outspeeding things and stun-locking them. Especially with a Night Seeker-subclass.
That person also praised a Swordsman/Runemaster for elemental DPS. Imperial/Night Seeker also spiked high with double-skills, which is counterintuitive because of the Imperial's nonstandard-weaponry.
Speaking of weaponry, bows could be dual-wielded. Bear in mind that mechanics have been changed in localisation before, I think.

Most "Farmer"-skills are just one point, so specialising in it is a less big deal than before.

That'll be a relief. Farmer would've been cool if any of the giant status AoEs did much, but they largely do not.

Jars

a shogun/arbalist could dual wield crossbows in EO3, but it wasn't that useful.

PLA

There are three classes with passives relating to dual-wielding. They can be subclassed.
Mononofu deals more damage. Swordsman takes less damage. Night Seeker multi-attacks and multi-skills.

Multi-skills.

Wyvern

After spending hours with the skill calculator, I'm having a difficult time coming up with a party that fits in the front row. I think I might need to give up on my Assassin/Mystic idea. Either that or give my Fortress a Runemaster subclass and stick it in the back row, but splitting up the Dancer and the tank seems like a bad idea.

Xenogears of Bore

I love how many luck based skill activation passives there are. I love when random shit activates for no reason!

SightTDW

So, is it worth it to drop $60 on the first two games if I have 3 and 4 on the way? I was under the impression that each game built on the previous ones, and there's no real plot and all.

Xenogears of Bore

1 and 2 share a plot.

Hell 2 reminds me of a really well done full blown expansion of 1. It's like EO: Brood War.

1 has a lot of jank to it but it also sets the foundation for the rest of the series.

So I guess the real question is this: Do you have the 200+ hours it takes to play these two games?

Polaritie

SightTDW wrote: »

So, is it worth it to drop $60 on the first two games if I have 3 and 4 on the way? I was under the impression that each game built on the previous ones, and there's no real plot and all.

The first three are very loosely connected, but that's it. And by connected, I mean similar themes to world history. (Technically, I and II are the same world)

You will absolutely not miss anything plot wise... though the revelations on the 5th stratum in I were kind of cool the first time through. (And spoil the surprise in II, and then in III it's all "wow, so this IS sort of kind of the same world")

I think that's vague enough to not need spoilers.

PLA

I might start with a Medic, but I think I'll eventually replace it with a Fortress/Medic. Try taking out my White Mage now, sucker.
My Protector in EO2 actually carried four corpses while running from two Stalkers once. The cool part is that they did catch up, repeatedly, because I was cornered.