This week Famitsu announced new information for Etrian Odyssey  II Untold: The Knight of Fafnir. The game will be released on November 27 of this year and will retail for ¥5,980. First-print copies of the Etrian Odyssey II Untold: The Knight of Fafnir will come with a music CD which includes the game’s main theme and a handful of other selections. To note, Etrian Odyssey Untold, the remake of the first game, came out on June 27, 2013, and Atlus has been working on other games such as Persona Q and Persona 5 in the meantime.

Famitsu also mentioned some interesting new additions to this version of Etrian Odyssey II. A cooking system is being introduced which allows you to make up to 70 different food items using materials from gathering points or defeated monsters. So far as we know, the food is meant to be sold and the money from those sales meant to expand the town. There is also a new character named Regina set to make an appearance. She is an elite chef and the cabinet minister’s granddaughter.

It also appears that an updated version of the Grimoire Stone system introduced in Etrian Odyssey Untold will be present in this game. Players will now be able to exchange Grimoire Stones with other in-game characters, with other players via StreetPass, and even “recycle” the Grimoire Stones, though the meaning of recycling has not yet been fully explained.

There is currently no official announcement on whether or not this game will be localized. All four of the mainline entries received at least a North American localization and Untold was also localized. Hopefully Untold’s continued presence at eShop’s sales help to support the franchise’s continued presence outside of Japan.

Credit to Gematsu for the coverage.

Atlus has been quick to roll out content in promotion for Etrian Odyssey 2: Knight of Fafnir. The official website has been updated with character bios and plenty of artwork. There are even some Twitter icons here for those interested. If you visit the blog (last updated on the 11th, as of this writing), you can also check out some preview BGM’s!

Recently, Siliconera translated the character bios for the accompanying party characters. Currently there are five bios up on the site, describing the same five you see in the picture above. Two have already been introduced: the protagonist, who is second from the right and a bit obscured, and Princess Arianna in the center. We know now from this other Siliconera writeup that the protagonist’s power is called Fafnir, as referenced in the game’s subtitle. Hit the break to learn more about the other three characters pictured, and to sample one of the background music pieces!

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After Etrian Odyssey 2: Knight of Fafnir’s initial reveal, Famitsu has released a little more information on the game. Like the original Etrian Odyssey II, the game takes place in the world of Lagaard. Gematsu shares the details in their writeup. The plot starts with Princess Arianna (pictured left) of the Duchy of Caledonia traveling with a party to Ginnunga, a land of mysterious ancient ruins, for a special centennial ritual. Soon after arriving at their destination, the protagonist appears to be stricken with some sort of ailment, prompting him to transform. His eyes go red, his skin hardens, his colors change and his sullen countenance takes on more of a demonic face. This was an ability initially given passing mention in the game’s initial reveal, and it seems that not only will the ability be available early on, but it could perhaps be a central plot point in this essentially newer story.

The plot is supposed to be an “expanded story” of sorts based on many of the elements already present in the original Etrian Odyssey II. Etrian Odyssey Untold added quite a lot compared to the first game, so it will be interesting to see how this second enhanced game turns out.

Atlus recently announced additional details for their European release of Shin Megami Tensei IV.  The game will be made available on the eShop at €19.99 or £17.99 sometime during September 2014. It was also noted that all of the game’s downloadable content, with the exception of an armor set made available in North America as exclusive preorder content, will be available for download in the game’s European release, too.

Earlier this year we interviewed UDON Entertainment about their experience with translating various Sega artbooks, and based on their announcements during their Comic-Con 2014 panel they are continuing to release additional books for Sega fans.  UDON is translating another Shining Artbook: Shining Blade and Ark which is a collection of both Shining games illustrated by Tony Taka.   Border Break Artworks, meanwhile, showcases mecha and background designs of the arcade game.  An Atlus book has also been picked up.  Gungnir Official Art Chronicle is based on the PSP Dept. Heaven game.

So far Border Break Artworks is the only one with a product page on their site.  You can look forward to this one sometime in December for $39.99.