One of the main reasons I got myself a DS is the rich selection of unique role-playing games like Atlus’ Etrian Odyssey series. Its map-making feature and challenging gameplay are something I am really looking forward to. With only two months to go before its Japanese release (I will wait for the yet-to-be-announced US version though), let’s see what’s new in the third game of the series, Sekaiju no Meikyuu III: Seikai no Raihousha (my rough translation: Etrian Odyssey III: Visitors From Star Ocean). This article is based on all the Weekly Famitsu reports so far, including comments from the developers.

If you’re like me, new to the Etrian Odyssey series, the game lets you form a party of five members, march deep into dungeons which you create (using a Paint-like interface with icons for various tools) as you move forward. Leveling up, something we’ll spend plenty of our time in the game, will have different effects depending on your job class, which make it important to set-up your party accordingly. It also worth mentioning that the previous games have been hard and this don’t seem to be any different.

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