Thank you Atlus for sending us the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection to review!

The second Etrian Odyssey game I played was, fittingly enough, Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight on the Nintendo 3DS. Like the other Untold game, this was a remake of Etrian Odyssey II, but it was also a significant departure from the original in key ways. This game, Etrian Odyssey II HD, is a remake of the original Etrian Odyssey II on the Nintendo DS, not the 3DS Untold remake. Because of this, none of the many enhancements, like added classes, Story Mode, and Grimoire Stones are present here. Etrian Odyssey II HD is more of an update to modern systems of Etrian Odyssey II rather than a full remake with extra content and balance changes like Untold 2 was.

Like the first, Etrian Odyssey II HD is what I would call a pure dungeon crawler. Your main focus is to climb the Yggdrasil tree, going from one level of the Labyrinth to the next, uncovering the mysteries contained therein. You largely progress by mapping out and conquering what's inside, while being careful to survive - this is no cakewalk, and Etrian Odyssey II is known to be one of the most challenging adventures in the series.

When you start, you form a starting party of five characters. You can create many more, but can only make an active party of five or less. Some players do like to make more characters though, as certain obstacles can be difficult to conquer with only a single party (depending on composition). Making a good party is critical and you can absolutely do it wrong.

Being the very first sequel, Etrian Odyssey II didn't yet revamp the class system, so it borrows a lot from the first game. All original classes return, including Landsknecht, Protector, Dark Hunter, Survivalist, Troubadour, Ronin, Hexer, Alchemist, and Medic. The new classes introduced in this game are Gunner, War Magus, and Beast.

Interestingly, most classes were rebalanced, so the strongest classes in the first game are mostly weak here, with some of the weaker classes of the first game offering nearly game-breaking power in this one. Exploring each game's classes and quirks and coming up with ways to best overcome strengths and weaknesses is most of the fun. For example, do you build a defense-heavy front line to take max advantage of the Beast class? Do you make an ailment or bind-heavy party to take advantage of how overpowered they can be in this game? Do you lean heavily into pure offense with multiple Ronins? There are many ways to play this game, and much of the fun is figuring out what works best for you.

Much of the core gameplay loop and game systems are largely identical to the first Etrian Odyssey. It isn't until Etrian Odyssey III that things start to really shake up. There is a town where you buy and sell your collected loot, an inn to rest and heal, a hospital for reviving dead characters, and places to accept sidequests or missions from the government. You still largely improve through careful skill selection when leveling up, and selling loot drops which unlocks more items for sale. There are also treasures to find and materials to harvest at points throughout the dungeons. The find/sell/buy/explore gameplay loop is well-honed by this point and quite fun to play. Once you start to get the hang of things, it becomes hard to put this game down.

All dungeon crawling is done from the first-person perspective, with a map that you can draw on to make exploration easier. Keeping an accurate map is absolutely critical; if you are lazy about it, you will pay the price later. Thankfully, there are auto-mapping features, and you can use the analog sticks and triggers on your controller for handling mapping, but the best way is to simply use your mouse or touch screen. The PC version is in some ways the best one, because you have lots of flexibility on input; you can use keyboard or controller for text input, or mouse or controller, and so on. It works flawlessly on Steam Deck, and is Verified there as well. The only bummer is the Denuvo DRM, which mostly stays out of the way unless you like to game without an internet connection; it occasionally phones home.

Compared to the first Etrian Odyssey, I noticed more emphasis on F.O.E. (Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens) manipulation. F.O.E.s are powerful enemies that appear on most dungeon maps that can sometimes follow you or move in specific patterns that you can use to avoid fighting them. Shockingly, EOII is the only game in the series where fighting F.O.E.s gives you no experience, though you can get high-priced drops from them. There are several items that you can use to lure F.O.E.s, or stop them in their tracks. This can really help you get past tough points, where fighting that enemy could lead to a swift death.

Outside of F.O.E.s, there are random battles, and occasional bosses to contend with. These all offer experience and drops, and are the primary way to gain levels, allowing you to unlock more skills and weapons along the way. Each class has far more skills available than you can ever earn skill points leveling up, so spending those points wisely is critically important to success. Sometimes focusing points on a few key skills can gain you much more power than spreading your points around so you can do a bit of everything.

On Expert and even Basic difficulty levels, the dungeons can be quite punishing. The Etrian series has always been known for punishing difficulty, and the original difficulty of the Nintendo DS game is available here as 'Expert'. Basic makes the game just a bit easier, but still plenty challenging. Picnic is the final difficulty, and quite simply, it's a picnic. I don't recommend playing on Picnic unless you are powering up a new group, grinding for a specific item, or just stuck and need to get past a difficult section. Having no challenge takes the fun out of the game otherwise; I noticed doing 2-4x the damage against most enemies in Picnic difficulty versus Basic, so it's quite a change. Unless you play on Picnic, you're probably going to have one or more party member die. When that happens, you can take them to the hospital where you can Revive them for a fee. That fee goes up every time they die, so it is possible to get into a negative gameplay loop, but avoidable with careful planning and appropriate use of an Ariadne Thread if you get stuck. Ariadne Threads are an invaluable item that sends you back to town in an instant when used out of battle. One thing I didn't realize while streaming the game is that you can use quick saves to reload in the middle of a dungeon in case you make a mistake. This is quite different than the Untold 2 remake, where the game deletes a quick save when you load it. So, if you aren't sure if you can take a F.O.E. or boss, quick save right before it - then reload from the title screen if you die. This can be a massive time saver.

The game does a really good job of drawing you in, especially once you beat your first boss and get a good feel for the mechanics. It helps that it's a solid port, with delightfully remastered graphics. The music and sound effects seem to be the original; they sound like the retro-styled music from the DS version, rather than the orchestral music from the Untold remake. That is probably what I miss the most; I really love Untold's music. Despite that, the graphics look sharp even if they are simple 2D portraits on 3D backgrounds, and the music and sound effects are great.

Morally, Etrian Odyssey II HD is relatively clean overall for an RPG, with some notable exceptions that definitely puts it firmly in the Teen category. There is violence, but it's quite limited, where you just see sword slashes, magical bursts and so on as enemies are attacked. Enemies vary from various bugs and other real or mythical creatures to the purely magical like dragons. Magic is used by enemies and the player. Minor curse words like 'd*mn' are used on rare occasion. Some character portraits show some or a lot of skin/cleavage, and leave little to the imagination. Some of the skill names and descriptions are clearly hinting towards the sexual. These are mostly the whip skills, like Gag, Shackles, Cuffs, Ecstasy, and Climax. Some characters drink at a bar.

Etrian Odyssey II HD is a great sequel to the first game, and also the last 'simple' game in the series before multi-classing and other more complex game mechanics were introduced. I really like and appreciate this simplicity, as sometimes less choice can be a good thing. I do recommend playing Etrian Odyssey HD first, simply because this is a sequel to that one, and is in many ways just 'more Etrian Odyssey', which in my opinion a good thing, but I can somewhat understand how this middle title has fewer Steam reviews than the others, being neither the original nor the game that changed up the formula; nevertheless, I believe it's worth playing. I think most gamers who love dungeon crawlers should probably start with Etrian Odyssey HD, but I'd encourage you not to skip this one - it's just as much fun as the last!