Etrian Odyssey II HD Review Summary

Significant Improvement Over Predecessor: Players generally agree that this installment is a significant improvement over the first game, offering a more fleshed-out story, better world-building, and enhanced gameplay mechanics. It's considered a more pleasant and enjoyable experience overall.

Balanced and Accessible Difficulty: The game offers a well-balanced difficulty, with new options like 'Picnic' and 'Simple' making it more accessible for newcomers, while 'Expert' retains the original challenge. Players appreciate the sense of achievement from overcoming difficult encounters and the strategic depth required.

High-Quality HD Remaster: The HD remaster is highly praised for its quality-of-life improvements, enhanced visuals, and optimized UI. It successfully updates a classic DRPG for modern players, making it more accessible and enjoyable while preserving its core charm.

Engaging Core Gameplay Loop: The game offers a unique and engaging gameplay loop that keeps players invested from start to finish. Its blend of classic adventure, free exploration, and rich professions provides a fresh and interesting experience.

Improved Class Balance and Diversity: Significant effort was put into refining class skill trees and adding new skills, leading to more balanced and diverse class combinations. This allows players greater freedom in team composition and enhances replayability.

Excessive Difficulty & Tedium: Players found the game's overall difficulty significantly higher and more frustrating than its predecessor, Etrian Odyssey 1. This includes increased combat difficulty, more tedious encounters, and a general feeling of being overly harsh, leading to a less enjoyable experience.

Poor Design & Balance: The game suffers from numerous design flaws, including poor balancing, clunky mechanics, and a lack of quality-of-life features present in later titles. Many changes from the first game were perceived as regressions, making the experience frustrating and unpolished.

Vague & Tedious Quests: Quests are frequently criticized for providing insufficient information, requiring players to guess objectives or consult external guides. This leads to tedious backtracking, aimless wandering, and a general feeling of unrewarding effort, especially for side missions.

Unfair Ambush Mechanics: Players frequently encounter frustrating and unfair surprise attacks, especially during gathering activities. These ambushes often result in instant party wipes or significant setbacks, making resource collection and exploration unnecessarily punishing.

FOEs Grant No EXP: A major point of contention is that FOEs (Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens) do not grant experience points upon defeat. This design choice makes battling them feel unrewarding and often leads players to avoid them, despite their role in the game world.

Expanded Classes & Rebalancing: The game significantly expands on its predecessor by introducing more classes, bringing the total to 14, including new additions like Gunner, War Magus, and Pet. Class skills have been rebalanced, and some previously hidden classes are now available from the start, enhancing team composition possibilities and replayability.

Deep Dungeon Exploration & Mapping: The game is primarily a first-person 3D dungeon crawler with a strong emphasis on exploration and manual map drawing. Players navigate complex labyrinths, encountering monsters, traps, and treasures, with the core loop revolving around repeated dungeon delves and map completion.

Adjustable Combat Difficulty: The game offers varied difficulty settings, from the very easy 'Picnic' mode to the challenging 'Expert' difficulty, which was the default in the original DS version. Expert mode provides close, strategic battles, requiring careful party composition and skill allocation.

Material-Based Progression: The game's progression loop involves defeating monsters to acquire materials, which are then sold to unlock new equipment blueprints. Drop rates for items have been improved, and the 'Scavenger' skill is impactful for material acquisition.

Quality of Life Improvements: New quality-of-life features include an auto-drawing function for maps, which can be toggled for different player preferences, and a 'Picnic' difficulty mode that simplifies gameplay and removes item consumption for a more casual experience.

Enhanced HD Graphics: Players consistently praise the significant graphical overhaul, noting the game's high-definition visuals, improved textures, and overall enhanced fidelity compared to the original. The visual upgrade is a major highlight.

Improved Performance & Stability: Reviewers appreciate the removal of bugs and performance issues that plagued the original game. This includes the absence of crashes and the elimination of significant lag, leading to a smoother experience.

Faster Loading Times: The remake features noticeably faster loading times, which players find contributes to a more comfortable and seamless gameplay experience.

Good Performance Despite Denuvo: Despite the presence of Denuvo, players report that the game runs extremely well, indicating that the anti-tamper technology does not negatively impact performance.

Mixed reception, consider EO3: Player opinions on this game's standing within the series are mixed, with some finding it enjoyable and others considering it the weakest entry. Many suggest playing Etrian Odyssey 3 first or instead, or recommend it only to existing fans of the series.

Use Picnic difficulty for casual play: For a more relaxed experience, players are encouraged to utilize the 'Picnic' difficulty setting. This allows for a focus on story and exploration rather than intense grinding, making the game more accessible.

Not for series newcomers: The game is generally not recommended for newcomers to the series due to its difficulty or specific mechanics. However, some believe newcomers can still find enjoyment, especially if they are open to the genre.

Strategic party composition advised: Specific class recommendations are provided for optimal party composition, such as including Alchemist, Dark Hunter, Medic, or War Magus. These choices are suggested for efficient map progression, special item drops, and resource management.

Consistent core gameplay for fans: The game maintains the core gameplay mechanics consistent with the series, appealing to long-time fans. It's recommended for DRPG enthusiasts or those who enjoyed the first Etrian Odyssey game.

Mixed reception for remaster: Players have mixed feelings about Etrian Odyssey 2 HD Remaster, often comparing it to other entries in the series. Some view it as a classic DRPG and a good remaster, while others consider it the 'black sheep' or an experimental title, preferring other games in the series. There's also a sentiment that this remaster might be a test for future series installments.

Significant playtime for completion: Players report varying completion times, ranging from 30 hours for the main story to 60 hours for 100% completion, especially on Expert difficulty. Many players dedicated significant time to achieve all in-game accomplishments.

Player strategies and tips: Players shared tips for managing the game's challenges, such as using specific party compositions for gathering, managing exploration and combat carefully, and utilizing the auto-mapping feature to reduce tedium.

Map design and controls: A common point of feedback is that the game's map design feels very similar to the first installment, almost like an expansion pack. Additionally, the controller mapping controls for the map are noted as unwieldy, likely due to the original DS design.

High difficulty and frequent wipes: Players frequently experienced game overs and party wipes, even on Basic difficulty, indicating a challenging combat experience. The difficulty curve, particularly around the 3rd stratum boss, was noted as a significant hurdle.