[DS] Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard

I've heard War Magus is pretty useless, and I can see why. Specialization is almost always better than "Jack-of-all-trades" types.

I'm a little skeptical of the whole map thing, but I'll probably pick this up on Wednesday. Seems fun and appropriately brutal in difficulty.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Honestly, I'm a huge fan of the "less is more" storytelling. At the absolute very least, it contributes to an artsy-fartsy feel. At best, it contributes to immersion by letting you interpret events.

I didn't know the game was 30 bucks, either. Everyone usually charges 35 or 40, so that slightly smaller pricetag is very encouraging.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Etrian Odyssey II is out, folks. I guess Atlus bumped up the shipping date, because my Gamestop had it in-store. Popping it in right now, so I'll give impressions soon.

EDIT: The Options menu has a selection for Auto-Mapping. I guess I don't have to draw my own maps on the screen!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Still putting together a team. The hardest part is the name creation, to be perfectly honest.

EDIT: All done.

Me - Paladin Protector, sorry.
Isara - Ronin
Lenneth - Landsknecht
Nero - Medic
Lezard - Alchemist

As backup, I have:

Heimdall - Survivalist
Saga - Troubadour

Additional Post of Acceptable Quality:
Wow, this game is fucking brutal! First guys I fought, a snail type dude and some weird little... thing, each take a whack at my Protector (who has the Town Crown and a the best defensive equipment from the shop), and boom, he's down to half health. I like it!

And yes, I was cheap and added another person's code to get the Town Crown. I can't stand the prospect of missing out on an item, and none of the names from the first game will stay (unless you choose to keep the Guild name the same).

As far as the Auto-Mapping goes, what it does is automatically fill in the tiles you've moved on. Walls, landmarks and all that must be done on your own, and I happen to like it quite a bit. Feels much more natural than I thought it would.

How ya doing, buddy?

People have posted their codes up on GameFAQs, too. The only drawback to using another person's code is occasionally hearing mention of that person's original Guild name from the first Etrian Odyssey. The Town Crown is worth it, though.

I decided to fiddle with my party, so I dropped my Landsknecht for a Gunner (making my party's formation 2-3). I found that having three in the front row disperses too much damage for my Medic to take care of quickly, and Provoke is a bit more effective when only one other person is competing for damage in the front row.

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Atlus pushed the game up, it's not a broken street date. Along with GameFAQs saying the release date was June 13, Etrian Odyssey II is still shipping on Gamestop.com. If it really was a broken street date, Atlus would have stopped it at this point.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

My Protector has been doing his job and then some. Mastered HP Regen + Town Crown and Guts Ring has been incredibly useful, and he only needs healing against some of the stronger enemies (and FOEs of course). Problem is that it looks like he needs a shield in order to use his Force Skill.

I also was able to squeak by and beat that first floor FOE (Gashnor or something) at level 7. Provoked the crap out of it and kept spamming Cure with my Medic. Lost my Gunner, but FOEs don't give experience anyway. Next up are those annoying floor two FOEs that patrol all the rooms.

FELIPE NO

Make sure your Ronin's elemental Skills don't overlap with the Alchemist's. For example, I have my Alchemist specializing in Fire, while my Ronin learns Seigan moves, which are Lightning.

And am I the only one who prefers the 2-3 formation over the 3-2?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well, if you're more concerned about damage than manipulating the dungeon (FOE movements, item collection, etc), then drop the Survivalist and go with a Gunner. I find the Medishot and decent back row damage to be pretty damn useful.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Like I said, Provoke most likely works more often if there's less competition in the front row. However, as far as the FOEs go, I'm not sure if it does work. Not that it matters much though, I've been clearing out those Ragelopes pretty easily. If I clear it fast enough, I can usually take out two of them before I have to go back down to use the inn.

My Protector seems to work really well, though. I've been putting Skill Points into HP Regen and Riskwall (HP Up and Vitality Up on the side), and he's more or less self-sustaining in regular battles. He can barely do any damage, but that's mostly because new swords have been scarce thus far.

How ya doing, buddy?

I happen to like passive skills in any game, so I don't have any problems with En Garde. Seems like it'd only improve upon what HP Regen and Riskwall do (as would Aegis). I haven't learned it yet though, since I don't have a shield equipped.

As for me, I was the other way around and dumped my Landsknecht (which I usually call a Knight or Soldier, since a Landsknecht is really just an unmounted warrior) for a Gunner. I have a Ronin for damage dealing and my Protector for soaking damage and saving TP for my Medic, so I preferred a class to move into the back row.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wow, I'd be pissed if my Protector really ever used TP (and I still chose to go with HP Up).

As far as En Garde goes, an almost 1 in 3 chance is... decent. Although 1 in 5 is still pretty acceptable, too.

Where are you getting these stats, Lace? I wouldn't mind seeing the odds for an Aegis activation.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I happened to walk into the store and pick one up (I was really only there to preorder it and was pleasantly surprised), but I could see they didn't have very many copies. I got lucky.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

Is there any sort of bonus or save-game thing with the first game? Not that I expect it, but it would be kind of neat to have some extra stuff for a completed save game from the first one.

Yeah, we were talking about it earlier. The name of your Guild carries over (at which point you can decide to change it), dialogue and some quests are changed slightly, and you can get one of two items depending on how far you got in the first game (Town Medal for simply completing the game, Town Crown for basically doing everything).

I found a bunch of Terence's statistic threads at GameFAQs, mulling over a lot of them now. A lot of bugs in the JP version-- to the point where like half of the Survivalist's skills were worthless.

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You've only listed four people. You can have one more person in your party, so put some thought into it (I'd consider Alchemist or Hexer).

FELIPE NO

Honestly, after your very first run, the difficulty is manageable. After that, pacing yourself is very easy and non-FOEs will rarely have you take it up the butt.

Still on Floor 3, trying to see if I can't beat the Ragelopes in the Mission room without them all joining in the fight. I think I'm supposed to use that bell to just lure them out, but eff that.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You can't find bent twigs until the Chopping item points on floor 3 at the earliest. Don't worry about it for now.

And yeah, at level 7, don't fight Gashtor.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You don't need to step on every tile, so just scan the area with your eyes and fill in the spaces that way. The only other thing (besides running away, of course) would be to stay out of their sight and be sneaky.

Aside from that, there's the Gunner's Warning Shot, which will freeze FOEs in their place for a certain amount of steps, and the Lure Bell, an item which can bring them within three tiles of the place where you used it.

As you sure you're getting chased, though? The very first FOE to chase you (besides Gashtor in that Quest, since you're supposed to fight it) is the Stalker, which doesn't show up until Floor 3. Furyhorns, the guys you find in Floor 2, patrol an area in a circle and don't actively chase you.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Lacerta

You do if you want to have it count as being "mapped"

It's a requirement for a few quests/missions. Kind of crappy, but yeah. The game doesn't register filling it in with the stylus as you actually mapping it out.

Ah, shit.

It should only be for specific floors (...right?), so I'll just continue along until they ask me to really map it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Update: I forgot to add that when I defeated the two FOEs, they disappeared from the game. Do they ever come back?

Yes, after a certain number of days.

Level 13 is good enough to do the Mission to rescue the guard on floor 3, if that's what you're wondering. Just don't try fighting the Ragelope that stands in the way unless you head into it with a lot of Force Skills ready to go.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Eh, only finish the first if you really want to use your own code to input for the Town Crown (Atlus even has an official code for those who couldn't get their own to work). This game is better than the first in most aspects, and I don't see much of a point in burning yourself out on Etrian Odyssey by hurriedly completing the first game.

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Spoiler:

Did everyone in Guild Beowulf die? Even the cute wolfie?

By the looks of it, yes.

Spoiler:

It's mentioned that only two members of the guild survived the first fight against the Chimera, and it must mean Flausgul and his wolf. Seeing as Flausgul was the one who kept the bracelet, his wolf carrying it likely meant that he died fighting the Chimera. His wolf took the bracelet, fled, found you, then gave you the thing and croaked when it knew that you had defeated the Chimera.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You're right at about my pace for leveling, Saka. Beating the Chimera put me at about 22 for most party members, though I felt that I sort of rushed the process in doing so.

And it doesn't surprise me that your Ronin's Issen missed. My Ronin's misses all the damn time. Pisses me off, since you'd think Force Skills would be a guaranteed hit.

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Really, there's no way to effectively level them besides grinding like crazy. Not fun, but them's the breaks, sadly.

What I do is keep one person from my main party in (usually my Protector, but anyone who can soak up damage or dish it out in fair amounts can be used), use a Medic with Scavenge (ie, not my main Medic, who focuses solely on healing skills), then bust out three Survivalists. At level 8 or 9, they have enough to master two of the three item-gathering skills, which is plenty to turn a profit on item runs. The party member from your normal team and your Scavenging Medic will also help keep your party alive through most fights, as well as net plenty of drops to give you that little bit of extra cash with the experience.

That's been working out for me pretty well.

How ya doing, buddy?

Hexer is the kind of job that works best later in the game, when battles don't go by so quickly. Only Poison has any real use in the beginning (when 25 HP every turn is absolutely brutal), and other classes have Poison abilities.

Gunner is just an all-around good class. It's an important back row attacker, its' Medishot is quick and easy to learn, and it can use 2-Hit.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yeah, I make sure to scout out on the top screen, then draw open ended points at the paths I don't take the first time through. Sometimes I might overshoot the length of the room or the corridor, but it makes it very clear for me that I haven't explored that area yet.

And, in the event that I have a blank spot in my wall on the other side of the floor, I can simply close that gap without having to walk all the way back over there just to confirm that I'm not drawing a wall where there's a hallway.

Jam it back in, in the dark.