Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard – NDS – Review

I don’t think many people knew
what to think when they first heard about the original Etrian Odyssey.  A
hardcore dungeon-crawl RPG, with heavy focus on drawing your own map on virtual
graph paper?  Yet when the game released in North America early last summer, it
proved to be a deep, challenging, refreshingly old-school adventure, and quickly
cemented a dedicated cult following.  For developer Atlus, “dedicated cult
following” is their stock in trade, so one year later they deliver with the
sequel, Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard.

Much like the first, Etrian
Odyssey II hasn’t got much of a backstory: there’s a town which surrounds the
entrance to an expansive, mysterious, dangerous dungeon.  The town’s governing
body wants to document the levels of the dungeon, and is recruiting local
adventuring guilds to supply the legwork.  This is where the player enters: as
the founding member of a new group, you’re encouraged to lend your abilities to
the task at hand.  But, first things first, you’ve got to recruit a party of
adventurers.

Players create their party
members by choosing one of twelve classes (the nine classes from the original,
plus three new ones), picking a character portrait, and customizing their
beginning skills.  A well-balanced party is a must, and players have plenty of
character types to choose from.  Sure, you’ve got your RPG staples (the damage
dealing landsknechts, defense-heavy Protector, magically powerful Alchemists,
and ever useful Medics), but some of the others are more original and offer
interesting new combat possibilities.  Take the new classes, for instance: the
Gunner is a well balanced back-row character, equally skilled in dealing out
physical and elemental damage (sort of like a mage and an archer combined), the
War Magus is just as handy with healing magic as they are with attack spells,
and the Beast is a snarling wall of aggression, capable of soaking up damage
intended for your other characters (when it’s not dealing out pain, that is).

You’ve got
plenty of choices to make concerning your adventuring party.

Once you’ve got your
characters, it’s time to head into the labyrinth.  It’s here that the game’s
central focus—punishingly difficult RPG combat—come into play.  Random battles
occur frequently, and players new to the series might be surprised at how
difficult the battles are.  Actually, even Etrian veterans might be surprised,
as Heroes of Lagaard is significantly more difficult than the first (which is
really saying something, considering the first’s legendarily brutal
encounters).  The game’s not impossible by a long shot, but success does require
some careful planning, cautious movement, and a little luck.  Even more
dangerous than your garden variety battles are the wandering sub-bosses known as
FOEs, especially since they no longer grant you insane experience bonuses.
They’re avoidable, but running from them often turns into heart-pounding chases.

Even the
simplest random encounter can turn deadly for your characters very quickly.

The labyrinth is also where the
game’s other key gameplay element, hand-drawn mapmaking, rears its head.  Unlike
modern RPGs with their fancy automaps, Etrian Odyssey leaves navigation solely
in the hands of the player.  As each dungeon floor is maze of twisting,
branching, overlapping paths, a carefully drawn map is oftentimes (usually,
even) all that separates a successful dungeon run from bitter failure at the end
of a monster’s attack.  The mapmaking elements of the game have been streamlined
to be as user-friendly as possible, with new symbols that make annotating unique
encounters easy, and a new feature that follows the characters’ progress through
the maze.  Some complained about the mapmaking elements of the first Etrian
Odyssey, and if you didn’t like it then, you aren’t going to enjoy it now—that
said, they’ve made it as accessible as possible.  As far as I’m concerned, the
mapmaking is a huge part of what makes these games fun, and really delivers the
feeling that you’re exploring this seemingly endless labyrinth.

Your ability to accurately map the dungeon is integral to your ability to
succeed in Etrian Odyssey II.

Of course, all the cartography
in the world isn’t going to make you feel like you’re trekking through
unexplored wilderness without the graphics to back it up; luckily, Heroes of
Lagaard delivers visually.  Much like the first, the game consists of a mix of
high resolution character and monster artwork, integrated into detailed 3D
mazes.  While the game might not have the flashy production values of the DS
Final Fantasy titles, the hand-drawn character art are well-designed and
beautifully drawn; the monster art is equally gorgeous, and the enemy designs
are sometimes brilliantly inspired.  The dungeons themselves are incredibly
atmospheric, and while the DS’s 3D capabilities lead to a draw-in distance
that’s sometimes painfully close, the dungeons look great, with nice
environmental animations and a ton of variety between levels (the dungeon strata
with an autumn theme is especially stunning).  The game has an impressive score
courtesy of acclaimed game composer Yuzo Koshiro (known for Streets of Rage,
ActRaiser, and the Ys series).  Other than the beautiful music, the game is
rather sparse on the audio end, but some nice environmental sound effects add to
the mood nicely.

In the dungeons,
you’re surrounded by dense, lush nature on all sides.

Just like the original, Etrian
Odyssey II is a game that only a dedicated few will enjoy.  The game’s one-two
punch of blisteringly hardcore difficulty and staunchly old-school design will
turn many modern gamers away immediately.  But those willing to persevere
through the game’s more difficult elements will be rewarded with a deep, unique,
atmospheric dungeon-crawl RPG.  For any hardcore RPG fan, it’s the sort of game
that can devour months of your life.

Gameplay:  9.2

The hardcore difficulty will
turn away most gamers raised on more recent, more forgiving RPGs.  Anyone who
braves the game’s high challenge, however, will find an incredibly
well-balanced, incredibly rewarding, incredibly fun dungeon-crawl RPG.

Graphics:  8.2

The characters and monsters are
nicely drawn and uniquely designed.  The 3D dungeons suffer a bit under the
technical limitations of the DS hardware, but remain gorgeous and distinctive,
with the feeling that you’re actually exploring a natural wild environment.

Sound:  8.0

The soundtrack is remarkable
and beautiful, managing to evoke memories of the best soundtracks of early-era
videogames while remaining unique and distinctive.  Sound effects are sparse
(and forget about any kind of voice overs), but this goes hand in hand with the
game’s old-school charm.

Difficulty:  Hard

Etrian Odyssey II harkens back
to the days of old, when RPGs were known for their incredible challenge.  While
the game will definitely punish any player who acts rashly or makes careless
mistakes, it can be overcome with good planning and careful playing.

Concept:  8.5

Etrian Odyssey II is an
unapologetic love letter to the dungeon crawls of yesteryear, yet it improves on
the games it takes inspiration from by streamlining the entire experience and
making every element of gameplay as user-friendly as possible.

Overall:  8.8

This is a game that only a
dedicated few will enjoy, but those players will find a game that’s as deep,
rewarding, and fun as they come.  Etrian Odyssey II is the very definition of a
“cult” game, but for those few that get it, the game promises an experience they
won’t soon forget.