Gaming Anyone loving Etrian Odyssey 2 as much as me?

[Suspicion]

My party:
Xerashia-War Magus
Feliora-Troubadour
Yukari-Ronin
Deienna-Hexer
Minamo-Alchemist (specializing in Ice)

All level 6, but I'm considering the idea of trading out someone-or two someones-in favor of a Gunner and/or Landsknecht.

Thoughts, anyone?

I'm not sure if your Hexer is seeming useful, but since I really only felt mine was worth using against bosses, I replaced him with a Gunner, who is both great against bosses (or FOEs) and standard encounters. Plus, since he has elemental attacks you can replace your alchemist (if you feel so inclined)
From my experiences I'd suggest some stronger front row defences, but if you can hold off till you finish floor 5, then you can switch something out for the Beast, which, by the way, I feel everybody should do, as those guys are outstandingly kick ass.

But yesh, as K2Valor said it's really up to you, this game seems to be a lot more forgiving with build and profession choices.

 

[Ruri]

- While it should be obvious there are new skills, there is none that are similar to "Immunize". Get over it!

Granted, Immunize was sort of overpowered. I liked how they had all those fiddly "increased defense against XYZ" or "protect front/back row for one turn", and then they had Immunize, which was basically "Immunity to everything for four turns." Sooo broken.

 

[HeatMan Advance]

I'm using-

(Front Row)
Beast
Protector

(Second Row)
Gunner
Troubadour
Hexer

I had a War Magus in the beginning, but the second I unlocked Beast I replaced him.

This game is crazy hard and it's the best challenge of any DS game besides Contra IV. I got to the second strata which is floor six. I'm not even going through it until I level up my lvl1 beast to lvl 18 like the rest of my party.

It's also a good idea to just increase passive moves in the beginning since there's no more relax skill to restore TP. Only the War Magus and Medic can restore TP to themselves and not the party. The closest thing is having the War Magus transfer his TP to another member, but having no Relax really makes using TP a serious risk since you can run out easy this time.

I also had money problems until I beat the boss of the first strata.

 

[Leamonde.Halcyon]

Regenall has already been a big help saving me TP on healing if I can keep the enemy off the character I need healed, which isn't as hard as it could be thanks to Evil Eye and it's related skills.

Quick question, I never used Retire in the first one and I'm unclear on how it works, really.
What are the requirements to retire (since the option is still grey in the explorer's guild) and what are the benefits?

Also, I was pondering replacing my troubadour. I can't decide if it's worth it but the choice replacements are either the Landsknecht for the Chaser skills or the Gunner. Think it's worth it?

 

[HeatMan Advance]

Retire simply deletes the character completely.

Troubadour is the ultimate support unit. Increases exp, can imbue weapons with fire, ice or volt, increase just about all stats. Essentially a buffing machine that can even equip a bow for attack power. You can do no wrong with this class.

My gunner has the highest attack of all my units so far, but it looks like my Beast is going to surpass him. Gunners can hit twice in one attack and can increase their crit rate. All of this gives them high attack early on which is great seeing how it all comes from a back row unit.

I personally ditched the Landsknecht in the first EO for the Ronin. Even though the Ronin had low defense and seemed prone to die any minute, they have a move that can one-hit kill. I ditched the Ronin in this game for the War Magus since his sword skills add to the effects of the hexer's. Now I ditched the War Magus for the Beast which is like a protector, healer and Landsknecht all wrapped in one.

I seriously feel the difficulty dropping since the Beast joined.

 

[Artheido]

The game's not that hard to get through.... WITHOUT THE RANDOM BATTLES. I mean, the mobs in this game are extremely strong, I can't get through them without using attack skills and healing skills. I'm used to those RPGs where you just button-mash the accept button on random battles.

This is new, I love it. I was playing the first one but before I could finish it, this one got released and seeing as how it's better, I gave up and started this one.

 

[Ruri]

Retire simply deletes the character completely.Not exactly. It deletes the character, but then you get to replace them with a new, "improved" character (who can be of any class.) In the first EO, the improved character started at level 1 and gained stat and skill points based on how high the level of the person you retired was; you had to be at least level 30 to retire, and every 5 levels above that earned you another bonus stat point, I think. Plus a point or two to a stat dependant on what class they were before they retired (eg Ronin = strength, protector = stamina, alchemist = technique).

The rules have been slightly changed in EO2, though, making retiring even better:
QUOTEIf you retire a character at level 70, they go to level 30, with 40 skills points, so 32 + 8 extra skill points, with a final of 81 skill points at Level 71.

So now you don't go all the way back to level 1, necessarily; you get more skill points; and most importantly, the resulting character has their level cap raised by one (which is cumulative.)

The game's creators are obviously fans of wizardry, where the route to ultimate power was likewise going back down to level 1 in a new class repeatedly (although in Wizardry, it was much more absurd, since you got to keep all the spells you learned, plus your HP total -- and level rapidly in your new class, since you're level 1.)

 

[RedIce]

I'm on the 3rd floor atm, a lvl 11 party, and i just can't get past the FOE in the big room

I'm running with these

Leap - 11 - Ronin
Aegis - 11 - Protector
Vladimir - 11 - Gunner
Who - 11 - Medic
Liis - 11 - Survivalist

I use the ronin as the main damage output, since he gets mad damage with a few points in str, i TRY to tank with the protector, the gunner has the medishot to deal with any and all status (which seems kinda... imba), medic has no need for introductions, and i'm going into Apollon with my Survivalist.. but I can't seem to deal with FOEs cept with the force powers, can anyone gimme a hint?

 

[Narin]

You can find many cheats for this game in the cheat database and I'll be adding more in tonight.

 

[anime_junkie]

I'm trying to finish up my first game file. I have 10 monsters left, and 20 items. Getting the scales will be hell.... I've also only beaten 2 dragons so far, as I can't beat the Wyvern in 3 turns. It keeps using tornado, and binding my Landshark so he can't use Allslash.... and my Survivalist needs some leveling, it's only L.39. I could use some more points in Bravery, as well.... off to grind! Not to mention, I haven't even touched B29F, much less B30F. I wanna start EOII with the crown, from my file. It's gonna be a while, though.

 

[Kaos]

I'm trying to finish up my first game file. I have 10 monsters left, and 20 items. Getting the scales will be hell.... I've also only beaten 2 dragons so far, as I can't beat the Wyvern in 3 turns. It keeps using tornado, and binding my Landshark so he can't use Allslash.... and my Survivalist needs some leveling, it's only L.39. I could use some more points in Bravery, as well.... off to grind! Not to mention, I haven't even touched B29F, much less B30F. I wanna start EOII with the crown, from my file. It's gonna be a while, though.

Same here. I just finished floor 25 after beating the final boss, which was a very fun battle.

Although he did crush me a few times before I finally worked out how to beat him.

 

[Suspicion]

I'm on the 3rd floor atm, a lvl 11 party, and i just can't get past the FOE in the big room

I'm running with these

Leap - 11 - Ronin
Aegis - 11 - Protector
Vladimir - 11 - Gunner
Who - 11 - Medic
Liis - 11 - Survivalist

I use the ronin as the main damage output, since he gets mad damage with a few points in str, i TRY to tank with the protector, the gunner has the medishot to deal with any and all status (which seems kinda... imba), medic has no need for introductions, and i'm going into Apollon with my Survivalist.. but I can't seem to deal with FOEs cept with the force powers, can anyone gimme a hint?

I boosted my Protector's Provoke to 10 ASAP, which made tanking with him a cinch, also, the last couple of levels of Provoke actually decrease the TP cost, and it ends up being 6, which is awesome.

If you're going to invest in Apollon, then be careful. You won't get any REAL benefits from it (over a reasonably leveled double shot, or whatever) until the later levels.

L1 Stats: 12 TP, 210% Dmg, 10% Spd, 200% Acc
L5 Stats: 16 TP, 270% Dmg, 30% Spd, 200% Acc
L10 Stats: 21 TP, 480% Dmg, 100% Spd, 200% Acc

And to deal with that FOE in that room, you're SUPPOSED to use a lure bell, I never actually encountered that FOE due to my severely damaged party and my desire to not lose all my work. You can get out by taking a shortcut that's on the right when you get the corner that bends round to the left. Course there's nothing wrong with killing it if you can, but the game heavily suggests using the lure bell.

 

[RedIce]

Thanks for telling me about the shortcut, i never even seen any mention to it anywhere, dunno how i might have missed it o.o
Time to escape that damn stalker then..

 

[osirisFIVE]

I wouldn't have played it if not for cheats.
The battles scenes remind me of Digimon DS.
It's seems quite uninspired... nonetheless, if I was actually good at RPGs, I'd continue with it.

 

[K2Valor]

Can someone tell me what the cheats are for the game? I'm going to update my cheat database tomorrow.
The only reason I want to use cheats is so I can level up a medic, because I screwed my party from the get go by not having one. I chose War Magus instead and he ended up useless without a Hexer.

What are the cheats, any that make it easier to level?

 

[Suspicion]

Can someone tell me what the cheats are for the game? I'm going to update my cheat database tomorrow.
The only reason I want to use cheats is so I can level up a medic, because I screwed my party from the get go by not having one. I chose War Magus instead and he ended up useless without a Hexer.

What are the cheats, any that make it easier to level?

Ha. I used cheats for the EXACT same reason. And yes, there's a whole folder dedicated to making it easier to level, from 2x xp to 1024x xp.

Just to give you a bit of a hint what setting to use, I did it with a 2 person party on the second floor with 128x and I managed to hit level 21 (the level the rest of my party was on) in three fights, but unfortunately the amount of xp per fight fluxuates wildly depending on how many enemies you fight. Lucky there's a rest option if you go over.

 

[K2Valor]

Thanks man.

 

[silverbullet1080]

My cheats don't seem to be working on my R4. I don't suppose anyone can help?

 

[HeatMan Advance]

I'm on the 3rd floor atm, a lvl 11 party, and i just can't get past the FOE in the big room

I'm running with these

Leap - 11 - Ronin
Aegis - 11 - Protector
Vladimir - 11 - Gunner
Who - 11 - Medic
Liis - 11 - Survivalist

I use the ronin as the main damage output, since he gets mad damage with a few points in str, i TRY to tank with the protector, the gunner has the medishot to deal with any and all status (which seems kinda... imba), medic has no need for introductions, and i'm going into Apollon with my Survivalist.. but I can't seem to deal with FOEs cept with the force powers, can anyone gimme a hint?

I boosted my Protector's Provoke to 10 ASAP, which made tanking with him a cinch, also, the last couple of levels of Provoke actually decrease the TP cost, and it ends up being 6, which is awesome.

If you're going to invest in Apollon, then be careful. You won't get any REAL benefits from it (over a reasonably leveled double shot, or whatever) until the later levels.

L1 Stats: 12 TP, 210% Dmg, 10% Spd, 200% Acc
L5 Stats: 16 TP, 270% Dmg, 30% Spd, 200% Acc
L10 Stats: 21 TP, 480% Dmg, 100% Spd, 200% Acc

And to deal with that FOE in that room, you're SUPPOSED to use a lure bell, I never actually encountered that FOE due to my severely damaged party and my desire to not lose all my work. You can get out by taking a shortcut that's on the right when you get the corner that bends round to the left. Course there's nothing wrong with killing it if you can, but the game heavily suggests using the lure bell.

Is Provoke better or the same as EO1? In the first game, even after maxing, it wouldn't always keep aggro. It just made it a little more likely for him to get hit. My Protector already seems to be targeted more just for being in the front row so I don't think Provoke is needed if it's the same as the first game.

I just had to start over after realizing that Defender is gone. I invested points in F.Guard and B.Guard thinking that A.Guard would be the same as defender. Then I realized that I realized that it's just F&B.Guard for the whole party, which basically means it's a skill that you have to activate each round, which means he would be stuck on defense with no opportunity to use Smite unless the creature was stunned. Defender is now a only a Troubadour skill so I guess it's better since most party buffs are all her responsibility.

There's a lot that's change

 

[Suspicion]

Is Provoke better or the same as EO1? In the first game, even after maxing, it wouldn't always keep aggro. It just made it a little more likely for him to get hit. My Protector already seems to be targeted more just for being in the front row so I don't think Provoke is needed if it's the same as the first game.

I just had to start over after realizing that Defender is gone. I invested points in F.Guard and B.Guard thinking that A.Guard would be the same as defender. Then I realized that I realized that it's just F&B.Guard for the whole party, which basically means it's a skill that you have to activate each round, which means he would be stuck on defense with no opportunity to use Smite unless the creature was stunned. Defender is now a only a Troubadour skill so I guess it's better since most party buffs are all her responsibility.

There's a lot that's change

Well... Provoke is sort of difficult, but I think it's definitely worth maxing if you have a Ronin or something in the front row.

At level 10 it 'provokes' 100% of the hits, aside from attacks that target one more person, of course. (which means if you have three in the front row, it's best to put, your protector at one side, next to the guy with the next highest armour.) But there's another issue, the enemies actually choose their attacks BEFORE you cast your skills, so provoke won't work in the first turn. But other than that it's perfect. Level 10 Provoke (combined with the gunner's F.O.E. freezing attack) made the first strata's boss a complete cinch.

It's probably a shit load less useful if you only have something like a Protector and a Pet in the front row though.