Inotia IV: Assassins of Berkel Review

Controls: The controls are simple enough though they might look confusing at first. In the bottom left corner you have your directional pad. Tap on one of the four arrows and your character will go in the direction you want. In the bottom right, there is a circular action button. Press it to talk to other characters, opening treasure chests, or battling monsters. Around the action button are hotkeys that contains your spells. One of the hotkeys will contain your potions for easy access when you're in a tight spot and need to heal. In the top right corner you will be able to see your character's current HP, Mana, and Experience progress. On the left flank are three square buttons. The first button will allow you to save, the second to access the in-app store, and the third to go to the menu where you'll be able to see your inventory, equip your characters, along with other actions.


When you first start, you'll be able to choose from six different classes: Black Knight, Assassin, Warlock, Priest, Ranger, and Warrior. Each class has a different array of stats and skills. For example, magic users such as Warlocks and Priests usually have higher Intelligence and Mentality points but weaker Strength and Defense points than those who deal with physical attacks.

More details on skills: At the beginning, your character will have one skill available. Priests primarily deal with healing, while the skills of Assassins can allow them to strike multiple times to deal extra damage. After trying out all of the classes, I have found that Assassins, Rangers, Warriors, and even Warlocks have the best skills. Every time you level up, you will earn one Skill Point, which can be cumulated and used to learn new skills. Skills can also be upgraded, at an increasing rate of required skill points of course. Using skills will require spending mana at different amounts. Learned skills can be assigned to hotkeys as you won't be able to use any spells that aren't assigned. If you're playing on a tablet, I suggest that you assign the most frequently used spell right next to the action button on the bottom right so that you won't have to reach far when battling.

Profile: Whenever your character levels up, you'll earn three attribute points to upgrade your attributes. These attributes are Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, and Mentality. Unfortunately, the game does not explain what each attribute means. Strength and Vitality (HP) are obvious enough, but the others aren't as much. For example, does upgrading Dexterity mean that my character will be able to attack faster? As a result, this can be very confusing when you're trying to figure out how to assign your attribute points. If you want to reassign your attribute points, you can pick up a set of dice to randomize how they're distributed. If you're not satisfied with the redistribution, you can always cancel (though you'll lose the dice).

Quests: Along the way, you'll be able to go on quests to earn experience and coins. Whenever you see an exclamation point hovering over a character, you know that there's a new quest for you. After you've started, the exclamation point will change to a question mark to remind you that the quest is still in progress. Most of these quests are just optional sidequests that will require you to defeat a certain number of monsters in order to collect a certain number of items. Completing quests will earn you experience, coins, and sometimes even good items. When you've finished a quest, a question mark will appear next to the exit so you know where to go to claim your reward. You'll be able to see more details of the quests you're currently on and their progress in the menu.

Shops: One nice thing about the game is that shops aren't limited to just towns. Instead, you'll often find them in the most obscure locations in the game, which is great when you need to unload a few items from your inventory. You'll be able to purchase potions, inventory slots, and resurrection spells at Merchandise stores. There are also Armor and Weapons Shops to upgrade your attack and defense. Some items require you to reach a certain level before being unlocked though. However, I have noticed that all the items in the shop are fairly expensive. After battling so many monsters, I still wasn't able to earn enough money to purchase a sword. Also, the better equipment require silver coins, which can be difficult to obtain just by battling.

Inventory: At the beginning, you are allowed to carry a maximum of 16 items. As the game progresses, you will be able to buy more inventory slots in the form of bags that you can equip. However, these bags are expensive to purchase. You can equip at most 4 different bags (not including your initial). Make sure to upgrade your inventory space as soon as you are able to as you'll find yourself constantly trying to juggle what items you want to keep.

Mercenaries: Along the way, you will be able to recruit mercenaries to add to your party to help you out. Mercenaries can be summoned through Mercenary Badges. You'll gain your first badge on a quest. Other badges can be picked up from monster dropoffs or purchased at a high price. Each badge will summon a different type of mercenrary so you have absolutely no control who you will get. Summoned mercenaries will usually be a few levels lower than yours. Each mercenary, even if you get the same class, will have different skills. Unfortunately, you will not be able to edit any of your mercenaries' attributes or skills. The only thing you can change is their equipment. Mercenaries will automatically attack in battle. You can switch to them but you will not be able to access any potions. You can only have at most two mercenaries active in your party though you can summon more. Once a mercenary dies, you will not be able to switch it out to another mercenary though. In general, mercenaries can be a serious help in the game. Using them can help you make short work of monsters, so summon as many as soon as you get the chance. They have skills that will help raise critical attack and generate better treasure. Unless you're willing to spend real money, you'll only be able to have a maximum of six mercenaries in total. One extremely nice thing about this is that every character that you own, whether active or inactive, will continue to gain experience as you progress through the game. That way, you'll never have characters that are extremely uneven in level because you never used them.

Along the way, in order to complete quests, other characters will join your parties. These characters will disappear after the quest is done, but they lend a great help to your party when they are there. Sometimes, it might be a good idea to use this chance to level up the rest of your characters. They also have really good equipment. Unfortunately, you won't be able to "steal" their equipment as your own.

Fusion: Sometimes you will spot Fusion machines hidden in the landscape. Along the way, you'll be able to collect various Combination Items, that can only be used in a Fusion. You can combine these items in order to create potions and enhance materials. So far, I've only figured out how to make new potions (an inexpensive alternative to getting potions as long as you have Leaves of Life). The rest, such as Jewel Socket Creation, have all escaped me as to its purpose. It also doesn't cost any money to fuse materials together.

Ads: While ads won't bother you during the gameplay, they will, however, pop out when you open the menu. Thankfully, they aren't video ads, and you can just press the Skip button to continue. If you want, you can pay $0.99 to completely remove ads. If you're signed into Com2uS, all your purchases and save data will be rememberd on their website so you won't have to spend more money if you ever remove the app from your device and have to reinstall. Ads will also pop out on the title screen.

Conclusion: For a free app, Inotia IV is a RPG that is very well done. While there are in-app purchases to help make your gameplay smoother, it is completely possible to complete the game without spending a single dime. Right now, Com2uS is also giving out 60 free Gems (the in-app store currency) when you install the game. Character designs are extremely well done and each character has a very distinct personality. Grammar and the overall storyline is also not bad. You don't need to rely on other players in order to complete quests and you don't need to wait for something, such as a potion, to finish brewing. I would say that my main complaints are the extremely strong bosses relative to all the other monsters in the area and the expensive items. Also, the constant reminder to log into Com2uS is kind of annoying but can be easily ignored. Other than those, Inotia IV is an excellent game that will keep you occupied for at least hours, if not days and weeks. There's even extra gameplay after you've finished the game with the game's Infinite Dungeon where you'll be able to revisit bosses that are even more difficult than before. I rate this app 4 out of 5 stars.