History VideoGame / EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard

* KingMook: The SkippableBoss Salamander is the large parent of the Baby Salamanders, and can be found in Auburn Thicket.

* OneHitKill: Dark Hunters can use whips like in the first game, and this time they are a favorite for their ability to instantly kill most enemies, including some ''bosses'', once said enemies are at 55% HP or lower.

* SheathStrike: The Ronin's Sayageki ability allows its user to bash an enemy with the sheath of a katana.
* SkippableBoss: The Salamander in Auburn Thicket can be skipped. In fact, it's highly advised to do so at first, due to its exceptional power and defense. The earliest moment to consider fighting it is during the postgame.

* {{Superboss}}: Briareus, renamed Hecatoncheires in the remake, is a chimera-like amalgamation of several other beasts. It can be unlocked by accepting a quest involving a part of the BonusDungeon where the party has to travel across certain teleporters and answer questions correctly (answering incorrectly will inflict them damage); in the remake, this is changed in favor of a straightforward navigation puzzle to approach the boss without it noticing. In both cases, the boss offers a very difficult battle with nasty attacks, including a skill that ''halves the party's maximum HP''.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The TrueFinalBoss has an attack called Begone that it uses after [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13 turns]] that [[TotalPartyKill deals around]] ''[[TotalPartyKill ten thousand damage]]'' [[TotalPartyKill to the whole party]]. For reference, the HP cap is 999. It can, however, be survived with timely use of the Protector's LimitBreak, which negates all damage for a turn.

* DownloadableContent: This is the first game in the series to receive small pieces of DLC based on extra customization options, quests and other small features. However, compared to ''V'' and ''Nexus'', ''The Fafnir Knight'' went a little further by also adding an extra floor to the BonusDungeon, which features {{Legacy Boss Battle}}s against series-veteran opponents and a new {{Superboss}} called Ur-Devil.

** Beasts were built around TakingTheBullet for the party, but there were a few pitfalls in the programming: First, their Loyalty made them tank hits automatically, and second, they would take the damage the defended member would have taken, without taking into account the Beast's own defense. This meant that instead of a party surviving a non-lethal HerdHittingAttack, the Beast would take all hits that are destined for its allies and die as a consequence. Also, when it moves to defend a GlassCannon or SquishyWizard, the Beast would take damage higher than it would if it were attacked directly. ''The Fafnir Knight'' reworked the Loyalty skill tree -- Loyalty Mastery now gives the Beast a chance to halve incoming damage, any damage it would take now correctly uses the Beasts's own defense stats, and any tanking actions from the Beast are player-controlled rather than automatic.

* GameBreakingBug: On [=B10F=] while playing on a file with the OldSaveBonus applied, a guard will appear and offer the party an overpriced Ariadne Thread as a form of expensive insurance if they fall for the nearby squirrel. The event is so obscure that the English version of game (and no others) has some bits of improper color formatting present in the narration. This is just a funny oversight in the DS original... but it wasn't fixed in the ''Origins Collection'' remaster, and talking to the guard in that version causes the game to hang and forces a restart.

''Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard'' is the second installment in the ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series, following up [[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI the first game]]. It was released in 2008, slightly one year after its predecessor.

* WhipItGood: Dark Hunters can use whips like in the first game, and this time they are a favorite for their ability to [[OneHitKill instantly kill]] most enemies, including some ''bosses'', once said enemies are at 55% HP or lower.

* AIRoulette: The Ur Child has a randomized attack pattern if you attack him at night, and averts the trope if you do so during day.

* TheDragon: Colossus/Juggernaut, located in Heavenly Keep, fits this role for being the Overlord's guardian.

* FantasyGunControl: The game introduces Gunners in its series, characters that have above-average attack and technical power, but are slow as rocks.

Many of the gameplay mechanics, features and perks from the first game are retained in this sequel, without much being altered or replaced. However, it does present some novelties to keep the formula fresh. For example, in addition to retaining the original nine classes, the game adds three to raise the total of twelve: Beasts (animals loyal to their human companions), Gunners (hunters who use firearms), and War Magi (sorcerers capable of performing magical actions during battle). Secondly, some frustrating elements from the first game have been alleviated here: The level penalty for resting a character was reduced from 10 to 5, the number of unlockable shortcuts in the strata's floors has increased, the difficulty progression is slightly more forgiving, a more effective LimitBreak mechanic is implemented, a SuspendSave option is added, and the UI and graphics have been polished for a prettier presentation. It also introduces the option to retire a character to replace it with another who, despite not sharing the other's level, does inherit their stats and has the default level cap of 70 increased by one. It's theoretically possible to repeat the process to raise the cap to 99, but it's extremely time-consuming.

** Beasts were built around TakingTheBullet for the party, but there were a few pitfalls in the programming: First, their Loyalty made them tank hits automatically, and second, they would take the damage the defended member would have taken, without taking into account the Beast's own defense. This meant that sometimes they would take several amounts non-lethal damage that the rest of the party would take and die, and any instance of protecting a GlassCannon or SquishyWizard would be very dangerous to the Beast. ''The Fafnir Knight'' reworked the Loyalty skill tree, and now any tanking skills are player-controlled, while Loyalty Mastery now gives the Beast a chance to reduce any incoming damage, making tanking a lot more effective.

* InterfaceScrew: The bonus stratum, unlike in the original, presents F.O.E.s that emit fog so dense that visibility for both the player and other F.O.E.s are drastically hindered, and the map is also turned off. And some of these rooms are damage tile mazes.
* LimitBreak: Compared to the original version, the Force mecnahic now comes in two versions: A Force Boost which adds or enhances a certain attribute for three turns, and a Force Break that applies a very powerful skill but at the cost of disabling the Force gauge until the character returns to the HubCity (there are certain perks and skills that can restore it without leaving the Yggdrasil, but they're difficult to pull off).

** Beasts were built around TakingTheBullet for the party, but there were a few pitfalls in the programming: First, their Loyalty made them tank hits automatically, and second, they would take the damage the defended member would have taken, without taking into account the Beast's own defense. This meant that sometimes they would take several amounts non-lethal damage that the rest of the party would take and die, and any instance of protecting a GlassCannon or SquishyWizard would be very dangerous to the Beast. ''The Fafnir Knight'' reworked the Loyalty skill tree, and now any tanking skills are player-controlled, and Loyalty Mastery now gives the Beast a chance to reduce any incoming damage, making tanking a lot more effective.

* PowersAsPrograms: Like in the first game's remake, Grimoire Stones allow the equipping characters to access skills outside their normal skill set. These stones are normally generated in combat and can feature a mixture of skills from the one who created the stone on top of any enemy skills. They also can be equipped and swapped around your party outside the dungeon.

* MagicKnight: The War Magus, described in-game as a hybrid of TheMedic and [[JackOfAllTrades the Landsknecht]]. Their War Lore gives them access to healing spells and buffs, while their War Edge lets them learn specialized sword slashes which have extra effects on enemies [[SituationalDamageAttack under certain status effects]]... including Cursecut, which can be combined with their unique Transfer skill to become a bit of a GameBreaker when used properly.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Unlike in the first game, where the Yggdrasil Labyrinth aimed downward, the one from High Lagaard is explored in the opposite direction, as the explorers have to climb it steadily upward to conquer it.
* JourneyToTheSky: After the player's character party defeats the Overlord in the last standard stratum (Heavenly Keep, which is itself placed at the top of the Yggdrasil), they can continue climbing further and discover a beautiful, yet deadly location in the high skies: the Forbidden Wood. Serving as the game's BonusDungeon, it is a sacred forest where the Overlord (the then-defeated BigBad) encased his deadliest creations; it takes cues from the biblical Eden, and there are floating islands one can reach by using warp points.

* UnwinnableByDesign: There's a floor in its second dungeon - Ginunngagap - that tells you beforehand that you can't leave, and any attempts to do so will do nothing. What it doesn't tell you, however, is that the area is also full of moving walls that are actually overpowered [[DemonicSpider [=F.O.E.s=]]]. Considering that they're able to trap you between walls where your only way out is through them, and that [=F.O.E.s=] are already extremely overpowered to begin with, your only choice is death if you take a wrong turn. However, the game does place three treasure chests in the first room of this floor, each with an item that allows the player to escape from almost any battle - including F.O.E.s - to the entry point of the floor. There are also one-way shortcuts that can aid a player in escaping a situation before it becomes hopeless, and the F.O.E.s will walk back to their neutral positions when the player leaves the room, allowing the player to make a different attempt at passing through the rooms.

Many of the gameplay mechanics, features and perks from the first game are retained in this sequel, without much being altered or replaced. However, it does present some novelties to keep the formula fresh. For example, in addition to retaining the original nine classes, the game adds three to raise the total of twelve: Beasts (animals loyal to their human companions), Gunners (hunters who use firearms), and War Magi (sorcerers capable of performing magical actions during battle). Secondly, some frustrating elements from the first game have been alleviated here: The level penalty for resting a character was reduced from 10 to 5, the number of unlockable shortcuts in the strata's floors has increased, the difficulty progression is slightly more forgiving, a more effective LimitBreak mechanic is implemented, and the UI and graphics have been polished for a prettier presentation. It also introduces the option to retire a character to replace it with another who, despite not sharing the other's level, does inherit their stats and has the default level cap of 70 increased by one. It's theoretically possible to repeat the process to raise the cap to 99, but it's extremely time-consuming.

!!Tropes present in both versions of the game:

* BraggingRightsReward: Defeating the toughest DLC {{Superboss}} on Expert difficulty awards the Ragnarok, a sword that grants a massive HP and TP bonus and is usable by all classes, while outstripping the ultimate katana. But because you've defeated the toughest boss the game has to offer [[FakeDifficulty complete with all its unfair gimmicks]], you've nothing left to use it on. '''(TFF)'''

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