Etrian Odyssey IV

An airship opens the sky in this Etrian Odyssey entry.

Atlus developed and published Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, a dungeon crawler RPG for the Nintendo 3DS. It follows Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City and marks the series’ first release on that handheld.

Quick Facts

Developer

Atlus

Publisher

Atlus (JP)
Atlus USA (NA)
NIS America (PAL)

Series

Etrian Odyssey

Platforms

Nintendo 3DS

Released

July 5, 2012 (JP)
February 26, 2013 (NA)
August 30, 2013 (EU)
September 12, 2013 (AUS)

Genre

Role-playing, Dungeon crawler

Modes

Single-player

Director

Daisuke Kanada

Facts from the source article.

Story

For generations, the massive tree known as Yggdrasil has dominated the skyline of Tharsis, always in view from anywhere in the city. Its roots, however, stretch into a distant, unexplored region. To finally reach the tree and uncover its mysteries, the Outland Count of Tharsis establishes an Explorers Guild. The player character, a fresh explorer arriving in Tharsis, seeks personal glory and wealth. Journeying across many lands, they uncover a lost, sealed-off empire possessing advanced technology. There, they meet Prince Baldur, who aims to rouse the Titan, a being called Heavenbringer that is Yggdrasil's humanoid form. The tree, along with other non-human servitor races, was engineered by an ancient civilization to cleanse the world after some unknown disaster. That civilization died before completing the work, causing the project to eventually run out of control. Baldur manages to awaken Heavenbringer inside the ancient capital beneath Yggdrasil, but the Titan corrupts him. After the player defeats Baldur, they must battle the Titan from an airship. Victory causes the Titan to revert to a tree, which then refrains from releasing the dangerous toxins it had absorbed, sparing Tharsis from destruction. A hidden post-game area, the Hall of Darkness, is a facility where ancient researchers tried to create a backup plan in case Yggdrasil became uncontrollable. Their attempt failed, producing an even more monstrous entity that they were forced to seal away.

Gameplay

The core gameplay sticks close to the first three games, though a few things have changed. A sky overworld is now explorable via an airship that can gradually reach higher altitudes. Out in the overworld, FOEs are typically far tougher than the ones lurking in dungeons. Dragons also appear up there from time to time; if your airship gets too close, they'll instantly wipe out your whole party, usually ending the game. For the first time, enemies are rendered as moving 3D models instead of the static 2D sprites seen before.

Release

The game was officially announced during the Japanese Nintendo Direct on February 23, 2012, with the price and release date of July 5, 2012 confirmed during that Direct. The official blog and Twitter account were unveiled the same day. A downloadable demo was released on the Japanese Nintendo eShop on June 22. In Japan, the preorder bonus included a soundtrack of seven songs not used in the game, titled Etrian Odyssey IV: Soundtrack Rough Sketch ver + Outtakes. In November 2012, Atlus USA confirmed a United States release on February 26, 2013; the launch edition came with an art book and music CD. A downloadable demo was released on the US Nintendo eShop on February 7. In April 2013, NIS America acquired publishing duties for Europe and Australia, providing a demo before launch and releasing the game in both retail and digital format.

Reception

The game earned a 35 out of 40 from Famitsu, with individual scores of 9, 9, 9, and 8. Metacritic classified its international reviews as favorable. In Japan, Media Create reported first-week sales of 100,000 copies, the franchise's best opening at the time. By October 2012, that figure reached 150,000 units, and as of July 2013, it remains the series' top seller.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…

Open in the interactive codex →