Information about the third installment of Etrian Odyssey [世界樹の迷宮Ⅲ 星海の来訪者] has been slow over the past week or so, but that’s to be expected. The good news: just two months remaining until its release!

The latest development blog post (January 4th) unveils the results of that voting competition that was held some time ago. Director Komori had encouraged readers to e-mail about which character class they’d like to see and know more about, and after 24 hours had to go through and figure out which e-mails could be counted as legitimate votes, since there was much confusion.

1st – Shinobi
2nd – Pirate
3rd – Zodiac
4th – Phalanx
5th – Monk
6th – Beastking
7th – Farmer
8th – Ballista
9th – Princess/Prince
10th – Warrior

The lower tier fared badly; places 7 – 9 had only single vote differences between them and the counts aren’t even given because they’re so disheartening. The post mentions disappointment for the Farmer boy, a fondness for the pink-haired, female Ballista design (to be seen in a future issue), and discusses how close the race was between the Pirate and Shinobi and thanks everyone for their enthusiasm and participation. Evidently, the Shinobi would not have won had they not counted in votes for “ニーハイ”…

In the post from January 1st,  Yokomichi tells us his first task of the year is to design the booklet for the EO3 soundtrack. He then talks about the graphic design of the game, noting the importance of keeping it in line with the previous two games of the series. The graphics and design members of the development team overhauled the interface and replaced the green hue with a brighter blue to better fit the fresh, oceanic theme. Previously, a staff member was each assigned to interface, backgrounds, and effects, but there are now additional members to aid with the pixel art and effects. Yokomichi is the only original member remaining, but does like to ask former art staff their opinions, too. The post ends with links to more wallpapers and a clip of the new credit roll music.

A short post from director Komori was also posted on December 31st, providing a small clip of his favorite tune that will appear somewhere in the game’s dungeons.

All the new wallpapers and music clips are available on the official website!