Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth

Basic Controls

The Analog Stick allows you to observe the surrounding field and navigate while drawing the maps. The D-Pad lets you move on the field and navigate while opening the menu. The A Button confirms actions, while the B Button cancels them. Pressing the Y Button opens the main menu, shows buffs/debuffs in battles, and offers various controls in the inventory or shop. The X Button zooms the map in and out, with other controls available in the inventory or shop. The L and R Buttons allow you to move sideways on the field and switch characters when checking equipment or navigating shops. The Start Button creates a temporary save point.

Character Stats

Characters have several stats that influence their performance:

• HP (Hit Points): The character is incapacitated when HP reaches zero.
• TP (Talent Points): Required for performing skills and casting spells.
• STR (Strength): Increases physical-based damage.
• INT (Intelligence): Increases magical-based damage.
• VIT (Vitality): Increases physical-based defense skills.
• WIS (Wisdom): Increases magical-based defense and/or healing skills.
• AGI (Agility): Increases speed, accuracy, and/or evasion rate.
• LUC (Luck): Increases critical hits rate, evasion, status ailments rate, and/or binds rate.
• ATK (Attack): Base physical attack power.
• MAT (Magic Attack): Base magical attack power.
• DEF (Defense): Base physical defense.
• MDF (Magic Defense): Base magical defense.

Battle Screen Commands

During battle, you can choose from several commands:

• ATTACK: Inflicts physical damage based on ATK and STR stats.
• SKILLS: Perform skills whose damage or effect depends on their STR, INT, VIT, WIS, AGI, or LUC stats.
• DEFEND: Reduces all physical and magical damage taken for one turn.
• ITEMS: Use any consumable items from your inventory.
• MOVE: Switch a character's position between the front and back rows.
• UNION: Perform Union Skills, which are cooperative moves requiring multiple characters.
• ESCAPE: Attempt to flee from battle. This may require several attempts to succeed.

Union Skills

Union Skills are unique cooperative moves that require several party members. Some are unlocked by default, while others must be learned. The character activating a Union Skill must have a full Union Skill Gauge (shown on the right side of the screen), but assisting characters do not need a full gauge. After a Union Skill is performed, every character who participated has their Union Skill Gauge reset to 0% and must recharge it by performing commands until it reaches 100% again.

Ailments and Binds

Status ailments and binds can significantly impact battles. There are nine types of ailments and three types of binds:

• Stun: Cancels any action for one turn.
• Instant Death: Instantly kills the target. Incapacitated members do not receive EXP or Adventure Results, cannot activate Gathering skills, and cannot be selected for certain events.
• Petrification: The character is unable to move, attack, or evade, but all received physical damage is decreased by 40%.
• Curse: The character receives damage equal to half of the damage inflicted on the enemy, provided the enemy is not killed.
• Sleep: The character is unable to move, attack, or evade. Any attack will wake them up, but a physical-based attack that wakes them up gains a 1.5x bonus multiplier.
• Panic: The character randomly attacks an enemy, an ally, or themselves. They are unable to evade incoming attacks.
• Paralysis: Has a chance to cancel the inputted action. If cancelled, the character is unable to evade incoming attacks.
• Poison: Receives constant damage at the end of each turn, which cannot be mitigated.
• Blind: Decreases accuracy and makes it harder to evade incoming attacks.
• Head Bind: Decreases INT-based damage and prevents the use of skills that require the head.
• Arm Bind: Decreases STR-based damage and prevents the use of skills that require the arms.
• Leg Bind: Decreases AGI, makes the character unable to evade incoming attacks, prevents escaping from random encounters, and prevents the use of skills that require the legs.

Alright, let's get you started on your adventure in Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth! When you boot up the game for the first time, you'll be faced with a couple of choices right off the bat, mainly concerning difficulty. You can pick between Basic and Advanced. Think of Basic as your Easy Mode, and Advanced as the standard Normal Mode. The cool thing about Basic is that it gives you a 1.2 EXP boost, which can really help you get going. Don't stress too much about this choice, though, because you can change the difficulty at any time later on.

After you've sorted out the difficulty, you'll find yourself at the Forest Entrance, where the game will give you a quick rundown of the story. Then, it's off to the city, Urbs Septem Collium - City of Seven Hills. You can't really explore much else at this point, so your first stop is the Explorers Guild.

Inside the Explorers Guild, a friendly Man in Armor named Egar, the guildmaster, will greet you. He'll suggest you start your own guild and help you recruit your first party members. You'll get to choose from four races: Earthlain, Celestrian, Therian, and Brouni. Each race has unique classes associated with them:

After picking your character's race and class, you'll get to customize their appearance further, like hair, eyes, and skin color, plus their voice. Honestly, you can just stick with the defaults and pick a voice if you want, since you can change most of this stuff later. Don't get too bogged down here!

You can have up to 30 comrades in your guild, and there are 10 classes in total. It's a good idea to recruit at least two of each class to start, maybe even three, just to have options. You can always dismiss them later if you need space. Once you've got your crew, you'll need to set up your active party. Go to PARTY - Arrange and pick 5 members, deciding whether they'll be in the front or back row. Generally, Fencers, Pugilists, and Masuraos do best in the front, while Warlocks, Necromancers, Shamans, and Botanists are better in the back. Dragoons, Harbingers, and Rovers are flexible and can fill in where needed.

When your party is set, leave the guild. A Loud Man will announce that all new guilds need to head to the Council Hall to accept their first mission. Head on over there.

Inside the Council Hall, you'll meet Ramus, an Earthlain Royalty. This is where representatives from all four races gather. You can take on missions here, and later on, register monster and item information. For now, just select MISSIONS and accept the first one, the Iorys Qualification Exam. The mission objective is to create a map of the first floor of Yggdrasil and collect root and soil samples.

After accepting the mission, you'll get a Map of the first labyrinth. Ramus will give you a hint about where to find the items, and a big red square will mark the spot on your map. Before you head out, Ramus suggests visiting the Iorys Marketplace to grab necessary gear. So, let's do that.

In the Iorys Marketplace, you'll meet Syrik, a Brouni merchant. He sets up shop here because of the treasures in Yggdrasil. Any materials you find in the labyrinth can be sold to him, and he'll update his inventory with new equipment and items. You can also forge equipment here later to improve its stats, but that's not a priority just yet. You start with 300 en, and it's highly recommended to buy equipment for all your party members to get a nice defense boost before you dive into the labyrinth for the first time.

Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth is a role-playing game developed exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS console. The plot kicks off with the introduction of Yggdrasil, the massive tree that grows and manages to reach the heavens. Since it's considered a sacred tree, the Arcania Council forbade anyone to approach it. However, that particular ban has been lifted recently. Now adventurers are allowed to do a full exploration and climb the tree as high as possible. People from all over the continents gather to take on the challenge, and you are one of those people. It's a very simple yet interesting story.