Jeremy Parish at 1up has managed to acquire an imported copy of Etrian Odyssey IV, and recorded a 15-minute video. In it he shows some gameplay and talks of some of the features of the game.
The home town menu is the same as in other games; he mentions an inn, a shop, a bar from which to acquire missions and a guild hall in which to recruit party members. Presumably the other options would be point of entry for the labyrinth or dungeons and other such staples in the series. As usual, selling enemy drops in the shop results in new stock becoming available.
There are seven classes available at the beginning of Etrian Odyssey IV, although it may be possible to unlock a few more later. There is the standard Landsknecht, the “Night Stalker” which combines the Dark Hunter, Ronin and Ninja classes, the Paladin, the Sniper which can be likened to the Gunner or the Archer seen in previous games, the Medic, the Rune Master which is like an Alchemist or a Zodiac, and the Bard.
Etrian Odyssey IV contains multiple dungeons which you can travel to via hot air balloon. This works in the same way as the ship in Etrian Odyssey III, except that your movement is not limited, allowing for as much exploration as you desire. There are even things shown on the map that you can collect while in the hot air balloon, and then take back to town to sell.
The monsters in-battle are actually animated. They’ll move and jump around as you choose your party’s actions. When confronted by a FOE, instead of just seeing a giant fireball or the like, you will actually see what type of creature the FOE really is. Gathering items outside of battle within dungeons makes a return as well.
There is a Burst meter in-battle with a numerical value. While in previous games each character had their own individual Boosts, the Burst meter is pooled among the entire party so anyone can access it. After selecting the Burst, the character using it gets to have a Burst attack in addition to their regular attack, allowing for two hits in the one turn. The attacks available for a Burst attack are different from the regular ones.
Unlike in previous games, the skill tree is completely laid out for your convenience. The tree is set out so the player can easily see the prerequisites for unlocking each skill, as well as how many skill points need to be spent to unlock them. Additionally, the skills are split into three tiers; Novice, Veteran and Master. A character must be at level 20 or above in order to use Veteran skills, and at level 40 or above to use Master skills.
The video ends with a boss fight and some pretty cool music.
Etrian Odyssey IV is a 3DS game that has yet to be announced for a Western release. All three of the previous titles have been localised, so here’s hoping this one makes it too.
