➤ Vintage according to Atlus 🎮

Etrian Odyssey is a franchise that hasn't been seen in our country for a long time. After the very first Nintendo DS episode dated 2008, Europe skipped the release of the two direct sequels (Heroes of Asgard and The Drowned City)

and it is almost a miracle that Legends of the Titan has arrived on the shelves, probably driven by the enormous success of the new Nintendo laptop. The reasons for the long absence of Etrian Odyssey are easily understood, given that that first chapter did not meet the hoped-for success, however, it had both in Japan and in North America. The series, in fact, has always been a bit indigestible to the players of the last hour: not only because of the extreme difficulties and complexity that have always characterized it, but also because of its rigid foundations of "retro RPG", a term with which more and more often lately are defined timeless adventures such as Eye of the Beholder or Wizardry. This time, however, something has changed.

Who needs a story?

Despite its somewhat childish appearance, colorful and full of extravagant characters with an exquisitely Japanese character design, Etrian Odyssey IV is the furthest away from the typical jRPG that we are used to knowing in the form of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or Tales of . To begin with, we could say that "the story is there but it is not seen": it is one of the main differences that distinguish it from the much larger competition, and which risks deceiving users who do not know the franchise. The incipit of the story is very simple:

Eager to find out what lies beneath Yggdrasil, the world tree that is said to have created humanity, a guild of explorers sends its best adventurers to explore its surrounding area and foundations to reveal all its secrets. The plot then evolves indirectly, while we are busy fighting monsters and exploring dungeons; we will be updated on what is happening in the world once we are back in the main hub, when we can have a conversation with some NPCs. It is not us - understood as a group, since there is no real protagonist - to intervene directly on the events that take place around us, influencing our adventure and opening up new areas to explore. Our party is then composed of five characters that we will create at the beginning, first choosing the class and then the name, to which others will join as we get closer to the finale. The dialogues of these traveling companions are very few and skimpy, mostly useful in defining their role in battle; there is no interaction between them, no loves blossom, no conflicts emerge. The story, in short, is reduced to the bone, and the player explores the world "just for the fun of it". It is a spell that cannot work on everyone, and many may already feel out of place by reading these lines, rightly more likely to look for an RPG that thrills them with dosed twists and well-characterized characters. However, if the Etrian Odyssey concept is already intriguing you and you are curious to find out where the gameplay wants to go, read on, because that spell could pleasantly affect you too.

Etrian Odyssey IV is not an adventure for everyone, but it will appeal to those looking for a great RPG with a vintage flavor

The 3D effect

The stereoscopic effect in Etrian Odyssey IV is not very effective, probably thought of as a mere visual tinsel that would have had no use at a playful level. On the one hand it is true, on the other hand it could have been better exploited to make enemy attacks or certain scenarios more incisive in moments of exploration.

A little imagination is enough

Landsknecht, Nightseeker, Fortress, Dancer, Medic, Sniper and Runemaster: there are seven classes that allow us to create our party at the beginning of Etrian Odyssey IV, to which three more (Bushi, Arcanist and Imperial) are added gradually that continues in the adventure and in the story. At a certain point it will even be possible to unlock a secondary class to be associated with the main one of each character, and at each level up you can increase the skills of that character / class in one direction or another, enhancing certain aspects at the expense of others or not. It is immediately clear that, from the start, Etrian Odyssey IV requires good planning of the development of the party; It is certainly possible, albeit at the expense of a small penalty, to reset the development of one or more characters, but the entire structure of the game and its fights relies on the synergies between party members and their skills.

The player is not invited, he is really pressed to think about who to bring into battle and where to place him: the interface, clear and clean, perfectly explains the function of each skill, and it is physically impossible to get through just with sword strokes and spells. attack chosen at random. You have to play strategy, under penalty of Game Over. A logic that is valid not only for normal enemies, but also and above all for FOE (Field On Enemy); these enemies roam freely around the map and represent real minibosses that keep more delicious objects than usual. The search for FOEs, treasures and the entrance to the next floor of the "dungeon" on duty is the core of Etrian Odyssey IV's gameplay, occasionally interspersed with the exploration of the sky through a special aircraft that will be able to climb higher and higher. with the succession of events. Every now and then we return to the city, produce some items, sell the collected treasures (unfortunately, the limited inventory will often require more than a few turnarounds) and buy new accessories to improve the skills of our heroes. Then we dive back into the adventure: following the tradition of the aforementioned "retro RPGs" such as the aforementioned Eye of the Beholder, Etrian Odyssey IV develops everything in first person.

The upper screen of Nintendo 3DS allows us to look around and explore the location of the moment, while on the lower one the route is automatically traced on a squared and completely empty map. It will be up to us, in fact, to place icons, notes and symbols, taking advantage of an interface at the beginning a bit difficult which will however prove to be decidedly practical and intuitive. That of cartography is a feature dear to the franchise, which in this episode perhaps finds its definitive expression thanks to the greater capabilities of the hardware. Also from a technical point of view some steps forward have been made, but not as clear as we would have expected: dungeons and settings are much more colorful and rich in details, thanks also to the better screen resolution, but perhaps still a little too repetitive. , mostly made up of corridors and rooms that are all the same depending on the current theme. Different speech regarding the fights: once again we will never see our party, whose attacks, spells and abilities will be visually translated into special effects and short explanatory texts. Enemies, on the other hand, are now fully polygonal and well animated - especially in the case of bosses and FOEs - although we would have expected a greater variety of creatures. The usual, excellent soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro closes the technical frame, which makes exploration and battles definitely more enjoyable and compelling.

Comment

Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (12)

8.5

Your vote

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan once again shows off all the talent of Atlus in conceiving incredibly complex and balanced RPGs, capable of giving enormous satisfactions. We are also facing a concrete turning point in the franchise, not so much from a technical point of view as thanks to the optional Casual difficulty level that simplifies the life of the new generation, making the experience even more enjoyable and accessible, for example by eliminating Game Over. encountered far too frequently at the default difficulty. However profound, Etrian Odyssey IV is aimed at a narrow niche of players, and could still be indigestible to those looking for a real jRPG. Stay away, in that case, but if you are looking for a different experience and you want to feel like an explorer free to do whatever you want, give it a chance.