Etrian Odyssey X dev talks returning classes, sub-classes, after-images, skill tree, and more

The following info comes from a Famitsu interview with Yoshida Jounosuke of Atlus, the person in charge of Etrian Odyssey X’s battle system.

- the 18 returning classes were chosen by seeing which popular classes would fit with the game
- they also wanted to include classes to cover roles that the roster was lacked
- the Pugilist class was added because the first group of classes selected did not include any with bashing and binding attacks
- War Magus was added because the Medic was the only healer class in the roster at that point
- they couldn't simply include all popular classes as that would have skewed the balance of the game
- as for the Hero class, they with balanced offensive and defensive capabilities, but this made things to similar to other classes
- this was rectified by adding after-images and other skills with good synergy
- when an after-image appears, it does the same skills as the Hero, except on the following turn
- it becomes possible for skills that usually cannot be used multiple times in a row to be activated multiple turns in a row
- it also means skills that only have an effect for one turn can be extended to two
- after-images use not only the Hero’s own class skills, but also their subclass skills
- if the subclass is an Imperial, the Drive skill can be used multiple times in a row
- when using Hero as a subclass to Nightseeker, the character can cover the Nightseeker’s weaknesses of having low defense
- after-images can also help increase the chances of inflicting status ailments
- subclasses can be used to make up for weakness
- Swordsman, a class that can learn speed and accuracy boosting skills, would be a good subclass for the Gunner
- Reaper as a subclass for War Magus would allow that character to use the scythe’s skills to inflict status ailments
- the skill tree is slowly unlocked as a character grows
- there are more skills that make jobs’ individual styles stand out more, or expand the player’s choices
- the skill tree is also made so that there are less requirements to learn specific skills as compared to 5
- this makes it easier for players to get the skill they want without spending large numbers of skill points on lower skills
- it's now easier to put points into skills, which makes re-specing easier
- the team faced difficulty in balancing classes that were never meant to be alongside each other
- they are doing their best to ensure that they keep the individual classes’ identities intact