NEW TREE, OLD THRILLS

A 30-level labyrinth full of old-school charms and challenges made Etrian Odyssey a cult RPG hit. Now it's time for Etrian vets to lease a new guild-house and journey to a new arboreal deathtrap in Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard.

In the gold age of computer RPGs, classic franchises like Wizardry, Bard's Tale, and Might & Magic looked and played a lot like Etrian Odyssey. But the genre evolved toward mass-market tastes, bringing us to the current era of RPGs packed with user-friendly automap systems, save points at every boss, and a party of characters with prset skills and personalities. Such changes seemed like progress at the time, but they came with unseen costs. Gone was the satisfaction of sketching out a graph-paper map, the tension of knowing that an hour of gameplay was at stake at each tough boss fight, and the nerdy joys of building your own characters and crafting an elaborate backstory for each. The developers of Etrian Odyssey succeeded in restoring those long-forgotten thrills, and won enough fans in the process to build a promising new RPG franchise.

Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard maintains the retro ethos of the original, but does make a few concessions to those who were put off by the original’s clunky interface and needless repetition. There are now warp points within each five-floor stratum - not merely at the beginning - which cuts down on much of the backtracking. There’s also an interrupt-save feature, so players on lengthy dungeon forays will never again need to race against their DS’s dwindling battery life. The “rest” feature that allows you to redistribute a character’s skill points has had its cost reduced to a five-level penalty, make it a lot easier to redeem a badly made character or simply experiment with different skill tress. And finally, there are tons of interface improvements, including several new map icons, the ability to strafe from side to side, and a new shop system that allows you to see before you buy new gear how your characters’ stats will be affected. These refinements promise to make Etrian Odyssey II a far more pleasant experience, but don’t think that Atlus has gone soft on you - the challenges have grown greater still.

Fee, Fie, FOE…Run!

The Yggdrasil labyrinth in the new setting of Lagaard is ever bit as tough as the one in Etria, and in some ways even tougher. The rock stars of Etrian Odyssey were enemies known as FOEs, cool looking bosses that roamed most floors of the labyrinth and were powerful enough to brutally slaughter any party that couldn’t get ouf of their way. (And oddly, fans loved them for it - do a YouTube search on “IOSYS” and “FOE” to se what I mean.) The number and variety of FOEs has only increased in Heroes of Lagaard, and they’re even harder to evade - some FOESs can now disappear from your map or walk through walls. Careful scouting and precise character movements are no longer enough; you’ll need to use abilities and items that can lure FOEs toward you, or stop them in their tracks so you can get through certain areas without a fight. And just to make the FOE encounters all the more unpleasant, you don’t even get experience points for beating them anymore - your only reward for victory (outside of an item or two) is that long, sweet sigh you’ll earn from surviving a close brush with death.

Use the Force, Landsknecht!

There are several new tools that will give you a fighting chance against EOII’s new breed of super-FOEs. The mostly pointless Boost system of the original Etrian Odyssey has been reborn as the Force system, which works similarly but is far more powerful. The Force energy you accumulate in combat can now be expended on Force Skills that vary by character class: the Ronin delivers a devastating attack, the Dark Hunter sticks a foe with all three Bind conditions, and the Medic completely heals the party’s wounds and status conditions - even reviving the dead. These powerful abilities can be a lifesaver in FOE battles, but they can also get you killed if you let them tempt you into getting in over your head - I can’t tell you how man times a full Force bar has lured me to an untimely death when the Force-user was cut down before his skill could trigger.

There are three additions to Etrian Odyssey II’s character-class roster: War Magus, Gunner, and Beast. It won’t be easy to find room for them in your five-man party, but Etrian Odyssey veterans who are tired of the straightforward Medic, Alchemist, and Protector classes will find these to be suitable and interesting replacements (see the sidebars for details). All of the previous title’s character classes have also returned and are initially selectable, but have been tweaked extensively. Each class’s strongest and weakest skills have been rebalanced or removed completely, and each class has been given a handful of new skills to play with. These small changes have big repercussions: Since veterans can no longer rely on previously overpowered skills like Immunize and Relaxing, they’ll have to discard their old boss strategies and experiment with other skills to find a new generation of tricks hidden with the skill trees. (Here’s a hint - check out the Dark Hunter’s heavily enhanced Climax skill. Wow.)

One of the most intriguing aspects of Etrian Odyssey II is how well the new classes work with existing ones. The Gunner provides more targeted binding skills that you can use to set up Dark Hunter Ecstasy combos, and a team with a War Magus and a Hexer can build effective combos around any status condition - say, have your Beast inflict Terror on a foe, have the War Mgus dran the Terror victim’s HP with Fearcut, and then have your Hexer order it to finish itself off with the Suicide skill. Only time will tell if such fancy combos will be as effective as traditional boost/attack/heal strategies, but they’re certainly more fun.

Lagaardian Odyssey

Despite the name, Etrian Odyssey II doesn’t take place in Etria, in the world of Etrian Odyssey, gargantuan labyrinths literally grow on trees, and another thirty-floor maze has sprouted in the duchy of High Lagaard. Instead of plunging into its depths, you’ll be climbing up, in search of a floating castle that is rumored to have acted as a Noah’s ark for a lost civilization. The stand-alone quest makes Heroes of Lagaard a fine place for series newcomers to start, but Etrian Odyssey fans who were hoping for some continuity can still find it by entering the password they earned for beating the first game. That password will unlock new dialogue and quests that tie directly back to Etria, but you’ll need to get cracking - Etrian Odyssey II will be here in June, and that damn password is nearly 100 characters long.

SIDE-BAR ARTICLES

THE ONE THEY CALL DR. FEELGOOD

The War Magus cut med school the day he was suppose to take the Hippocratic oath, and he has since devoted himself to doing as much harm as good. He has most of the Medic’s healing skills, but can fight with a sword in the front row, wear heavy armor, and use a series of attacks that do extra damage or bind the limbs of enemies that have been inflicted with status conditions. He can also cast single-target buff spells, and he has an ability that works just like the Medic’s old Immunize - but it’ll cost you as full Force-energy bar to cast it.

EVERY GUILD NEEDS A MASCOT

The Beast is a loyal, faithful friend - perhaps to a fault. Its prerequisite Loyalty skill compels it to dive in front of attacks mean for other characters, putting it in harm’s way constantly. Fortunately, it can recoup its lost HP with a variety of self-healing skills (including one that puts it to sleep in the middle of combat, Snorlax-style). In battle, the Beast is a front-row fighter first and foremost, but it does have a bit of range - it can forage better than Survivalists and its face-lickin’ Force Skill offers the best healing in the game. Visually, the Best comes in wolf, tiger, grizzly, and panda flavors.

LIKE ALCHEMY, BUT WITH BULLETS

The Gunner is a back-row character that feels like a cross between an Alchemist, a Survivalist, and a Dark Hunter. With the right combat skills, her gun can inflict damage of any element, bind any body part, or unleash a flurry of attacks at an army of foes. And unlike the Alchemist, the gunner can do heavy damage with the basic Attack command - especially if she’s maxed her 2-Hit and crit-boosting Weakshot skills. The Gunner isn’t purely offensive, though; she can stop FOEs in their tracks with a Haltshot and even cure status conditions by firing Medishot bullets at allies!