Your party members are completely malleable; skill points are used to level up characters’ skills, and right from the beginning you can see how to unlock each one, allowing you to plan your skill allocations well in advance. A second set of skills opens up to characters once they hit level 20, and again when they hit level 40; a number of these skills will have prerequisites from the previous skill levels, so these must be levelled up a certain degree before the more advanced ones can be learned. One skill point is gained with each level, and additional ones can be acquired by retiring characters at the Guild Hall.
Pouring more points into a skills can either increase its potency or decrease the amount of TP required to use it. Skills are based on the character’s class, and each of the 10 classes has their own set; the Medic has a host of healing spells, the Runemaster attacks with magic, the Fortress has loads of defensive spells, the Landsknecht is a fierce attacker, and so on. Later on it becomes possible to set a sub-class, which gives your character five extra skill points and allows them to gain skills from another class. The skills they can gain via their sub-class is limited, and each skill cannot be upgraded as far as it could if it were their main class.
The music in Etrian Odyssey IV really surprised me. The music in the first game was okay, but I fell in love with the soundtrack this time around. It was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, who has been doing game soundtracks for over 25 years and has worked on such games as the Ys series, Time and Eternity and much more. Each labyrinth has its own theme for battle and also for when you were just walking around, as does each land; I especially loved the track from the fourth land, embedded below. The boss themes are fantastic as well, and I’ve found myself listening to a few of these as I’ve been studying for my exams.
There is quite a bit to do after you finish the main story of Etrian Odyssey IV, especially if you’re a completionist. A whole new dungeon opens up for exploration, and more sidequests get posted as a result. There’s work to be done in maxing character stats and filling out your Monstrous Codex and Item Compendium; they act as an encyclopedia for monsters and for items respectively, telling you where to find them and what weaknesses they have. There’s also a superboss to be found in the postgame, so it will definitely be keeping you occupied even after you save the world.
Etrian Odyssey IV will satisfy all the needs of the dungeon-crawling gamer. I always looked forward to battles as I loved the classic turn-based combat. The skill point allocations and sub-classes were fun to manipulate, and the music was incredible. However, the story is most certainly lacking, and those who do not enjoy dungeon-crawling games will probably want to hurl their consoles across the room in frustration. In all, this will be an amazing game for a few, but is definitely not for everyone.
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Overall |    |
This review was written using a PAL copy of the game supplied by the publisher.
Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan is available for purchase on Amazon:
