Etrian Odyssey II HD
- June 14, 2023
- ATLUS
Get on Steam"Etrian Odyssey II HD" is a role-playing game that takes place in a floating castle above the five remaining islands after civilization sank beneath the seven seas. Players must build their own party from twelve different classes and climb through the Yggdrasil tree to uncover the truth of High Lagaard. The game features touch screen mapping functionality, newly remastered graphics and soundtrack, and difficulty selection for a personalized experience.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- Etrian Odyssey 2 introduces several new classes and improves the balance of existing ones, making for a more engaging combat experience.
- The game features enhanced quality of life improvements, such as better mapping options and more memorable characters, contributing to a richer exploration experience.
- The music and aesthetics of the game are praised, with many players enjoying the atmospheric soundtrack and visual design.
- The game suffers from balancing issues, with some classes being overpowered while others are rendered nearly useless, leading to frustration in party composition.
- FOEs no longer grant experience points, which diminishes their role in gameplay and forces players to grind bosses for leveling, making the experience feel tedious.
- Many quests and events require specific classes to complete, leading to excessive grinding and backtracking, which can detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.
- grinding22 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding in the game to be excessive and often tedious, particularly in postgame content, where progress feels artificially limited by tedious objectives. While grinding bosses can provide experience, the overall balance is criticized, as some enemies are disproportionately difficult compared to others. This design choice discourages experimentation with different classes and builds, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment in the grinding experience.
“Doing all these quests will also involve making and leveling each class to some extent to fulfill prerequisites, so be prepared for some extra grinding.”
“The biggest reason for this was that the progress doesn't feel balanced at all; the game artificially limits your progress quite often by brute force (e.g., can't go to the next floor until some tedious objective is completed) and when combined with weird balance, some of the stuff can be blazed through while some of the foes are harder than the final boss at the regular level cap (70).”
“The normal content is fine, but the post-game content for the 6th stratum is just tedious and annoying.”
- story22 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story in the game is more fleshed out compared to its predecessor, featuring a diverse cast of characters and engaging side quests that enhance the exploration experience. While the quest chains can be lengthy and require significant grinding to meet class prerequisites, they contribute to a richer narrative environment. However, some players noted that the execution of the story and quest mechanics could be smoother, impacting overall gameplay flow.
“The story in this game feels much more fleshed out than the first installment, while still maintaining a lack of detail that allows you to imagine how your party feels about the situation.”
“While the first game had you talk to more generic characters with a few exceptions, and didn't have too much world-building surrounding Etria, the characters in the second game are incredibly fun and varied. The various side quests offered give you a fantastic scope of High Lagaard.”
“Even though there isn't a colorful cast of main characters or a strong plot like in a traditional JRPG, these adventure episodes (as EO5 calls them) help make the exploration much more memorable.”
“Even little stuff like the way the story is executed, how shortcuts are placed (including the new geo pole mechanic), and how end content is accessed doesn't work as smoothly.”
“Doing all these quests will also involve making and leveling each class to some extent to fulfill prerequisites, so be prepared for some extra grinding.”
“For example, if you take a class-related 'come to the bar' quest and don't turn it in, your game will lag immensely.”
- music12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is consistently praised, with many reviewers highlighting its improvement over the first installment, particularly the dungeon and background tracks. Composed by Yuzo Koshiro, the soundtrack is described as stellar and integral to the game's atmosphere, complementing its focus on strategy and challenging gameplay. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, enhancing the overall experience with its quality and production value.
“The dungeons and background music are great.”
“This isn't even mentioning the fantastic music done by composer Yuzo Koshiro, whose work on the Etrian Odyssey series is always stellar.”
“Amazing production, beautiful sprites, brilliant music.”
- graphics6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are praised for their improved visuals and aesthetics, showcasing a significant upgrade for modern systems. However, some players feel that the recycling of elements from the first installment, such as identical floor layouts, detracts from the overall immersion.
“Amazing game, great aesthetics.”
“A great trilogy, brought to modern systems with tons of quality of life features and improved visuals.”
“The graphics are stunning and really enhance the overall experience.”
“Another major reason is how much stuff is recycled directly from the first part; enemies are one thing (all of them have new graphics too), but having floors with identical layout sections really breaks the immersion.”
- gameplay6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally robust, but the execution of story elements, shortcut placements, and access to end content detracts from the overall experience. While dungeon crawlers are expected to be grindy, the mechanics in this game feel excessively so, suggesting that ambitious design choices may have negatively impacted the gameplay flow.
“Even little stuff like the way the story is executed, how shortcuts are placed (including the new geo pole mechanic), and how end content is accessed doesn't work as smoothly.”
“I know dungeon crawlers are meant to be grindy, but this mechanic is well over the top.”
“The base gameplay is robust; it is just that a lot of good intentions and great ambitions ended up making the game worse in other ways.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The optimization in "Origins" shows significant improvement over previous entries, with characters like ronins and hexers now performing exceptionally well. This installment serves as a trial for future games, indicating that developers are likely to incorporate player feedback to enhance optimization and customization in upcoming titles.
“Origins is very much a 'testing the waters' sort of deal, to figure out how they're going to make these games work going forward, so I'm 100% sure they'll take the feedback and experience from these ports to make the next game, or a future collection, even more optimized and customizable.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the humor in the game is largely absent, with players feeling that the fun has been significantly diminished. This sentiment is underscored by the ironic claim from the game master about personal growth and improvement, which contrasts sharply with the players' experiences.
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been criticized for retaining several glitches from the base version that remain unaddressed, indicating a lack of polish in this area.
“There are a few glitches that were in the base game that did not get fixed.”
“There are a few glitches that were in the base game that did not get fixed.”
