The Fifth installment of Etrian Odyssey is upon us, and it is certainly a brilliant RPG. This RPG is different from most in that you get to create your party and make them whatever you wish them to look like. While there are four core groups and each have their own job types, you get to design the rest.
This RPG is not the first of its kind that I have played, as I greatly enjoyed Persona Q which was of the same vein. Exploring the dungeon in a first person view makes for quite an exciting experience. Never knowing when monsters will appear is also quite magnificent.
Jumping into the game, I created my party, and decked them out as I saw fit. It was a little hard, figuring out what types of characters to bring to battle, but eventually I decided to pick one from each group. I found that each group had different powers that would aid me, though I had no idea if I had chosen right.
Etrian Odyssey V then tasks you with a quest and after some shopping and maybe a save, you are sent to the dungeons. With beautiful, yet, somewhat funky music blasting, you find yourself in a forest. This is where the fun begins, and you begin your dungeon trek. Exploring this forest you learn that you need to make a map of your surroundings. Quite a novel experience really. You need to place down markers, so that on subsequent journeys into the areas you will be able to get through them easier. It might be time consuming but it also makes you very aware of your surroundings.
The battle system is fairly simple in that you have three characters in the front and two in the back. Choosing the right characters and classes can break or make it for you. You’ll need to know where characters need to be to effectively fight these foes. There are also unison skills which can help your team as well as skill points to buy individual skills.
All in all Etrian Odyssey V Beyond Myth, is a good game. While, it might not be up everyone’s alley, it is certainly worth trying the demo. The sheer ability of customization is great, and the fact that you can give any character any voice is hilarious and actually quite nice. So, boot up your 3DS or 2DS, form a party, and get dungeoneering! This demo is available right now on the 3DS Family of Systems.