If there is one thing that Etrian Odyssey 2, a.k.a. Sekaiju no Meikyu II, succeeds in doing, it is throwing in additional content. After only a short time playing, I can honestly say that if Atlus chooses to release the sequel to this first-person RPG in North America, fans of the original will be quite pleased.

The first additions come in the class section. At the very beginning there are 11 different class options available, as opposed to the original, which featured only 7. All of the 9 original classes (landsknecht, protector, survivalist, dark hunter, medic, alchemist, troubadour, ronin and hexer) are available from the beginning for party creation.

On top of that, the gunner and doctor magus/shaman jobs are also initially available. The only “hidden” profession is pet, but players don’t need to worry. Where the ronin and hexer jobs in the initial game required players to delve into over 10 floors, the pet job is unlocked after defeating a boss on the fifth floor and returning to that area.

For my personal party, I chose to go with a slight alteration to my original Etrian Odyssey party. I replaced my dark hunter with a gunner, and then created a party filled with a landsknecht, alchemist, troubadour, ronin and gunner all named after Nana characters. (I’m a dork, I know.)

Like the original game, the only thing you can do after that is go to the guild. It’s a whole new town, so everything looks slightly different. Everything is still in the same place though– there’s the inn, an herbal academy, a trading post, a bar, a guild and Lagaard Palace. Once again the first mission involves mapping part of the first floor of the dungeon and proving you can handle yourself, functioning more as a tutorial than a challenge.

After that I did what any good Etrian Odyssey veteran would do – went to the trading post and loaded up on potions. The first game was renowned for its difficulty levels, and I had heard that the sequel delivered more of the same.

Then I went into the dungeon. I was quite impressed heading in, as the graphics seem improved somewhat. I know that is difficult to comprehend and even think of, since the Etrian Odyssey games are first person RPGs when wandering through areas, but everything looked better. There seemed to be a lot more detail in the forest stage.

Also the mapping functions have some significant additions. There are three different colors which can be used for floors (helpful for identifying water or poisoned areas), new arrows to identify one-way paths between areas, new door icons to represent locked and unlocked entrances and a wide selection of assorted new markers to add to the map. This really delighted me, as in the first game I found myself getting frustrated that I’d actually have to click an area to find out if that sparkly place was a mining area or a gathering spot.

Moving forward causes a 2D palace guard to appear. He talks a bit, then teleports you to a random spot in the maze. You then have to find your way back to the entrance. I figured this would be fairly easy, as the first mission in the original game involved a fairly small, straightforward initial level and the enemies weren’t too menacing.

Then I ran right into a pack of wolves, followed by some mole creatures. Let me take a moment to say that Etrian Odyssey 2 is not forgiving. I was a little slow when doling out potions, and so Junko the ronin had to take a dive. Thankfully that was the only real hardship, and I managed to maneuver my way through the area back to the entrance. A nice point worth mentioning is that the first F.O.E. enemy lay behind a closed door, so it doesn’t pop up out of nowhere and join your battle.

Returning to the entrance, the knight congratulated me. My party went to the hospital (manned by a doctor bears a striking resemblence to Trauma Center Second Opinion’s Derek Stiles) to revive Junko then to the palace to claim rewards and glory.

From my brief playthrough, I can honestly say I am impressed with the way the sequel turned out – even if my ronin was owned by a troop of moles. It is clear that the creators really looked at what the fans of the series liked and disliked, and did their best to leave the good and fix the mediocre. If Atlus chooses to release Etrian Odyssey 2 in North America, it could very well receive more attention than its sleeper hit predecessor.

Screens courtesy of NCSX

Tags: Japanese, RPG

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