LP: Dungeon Travelers 2|Update 4.0 - Tower of Pie

[Sana]

So...Dungeon Travelers 2. As the name might tell you, this is a first person dungeon crawling JRPG, similar to Etrian Odyssey. Developed by Sting of SRPG fame, published by Aquaplus of VN fame! The first Dungeon Travelers is actually a spinoff of To Heart 2, and features pretty much every female character as a playable member of the party. Strangely, Dungeon Travelers 2 is in no way related to the first, and Dungeon Travelers 2-2 appears to continue that trend. The LP will be covering the recent Vita version, but the original PSP version came out in early 2013.

Why Dungeon Travelers 2?
I played the first one and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was! So when I heard there was a Vita up port of the second, I got in there on day one...and now I'm LPing it because I'm bored. :V
I picked the second one because the first one, as nice as it is, is a lot less convenient for me to get screenshots of. Vita has a built in screen capture for Vita games, but it doesn't work with PSP games so it's gg.

So what's so cool about Dungeon Travelers 2?
It's EO on Vita and that's good enough for me! :V
Seriously though, it's a first person dungeon crawler that actually has decent character customization, unlike some other games*cough*DEMONGAZE*cough*. The main differences is the class changing system: at levels 15 and 30 respectively, you can change to an upgraded class in the skill tree for that class set(fighter/scout/magic user/spiera/maid), that retains access to all skills learned previously. Unfortunately, there's less class synergy than EO simply because there aren't many skills that directly work with others, along with no sublcassing...So no EO3esque warrior might shogun team shenanigans to be had here :<

What's NOT cool about Dungeon Travelers 2?
FANSERVICE
Yep. It's allllll about the waifus and fanservice over in Japanland, and this game is full of it. Needless to say, I'll be leaving out all the fanservice junk(and most of the story junk, for that matter) in the LP, but even I can't replace particularly bad ingame portraits and monster illustrations...so if any of those happen to show up later in the LP, please accept my dearest apologies :<

So is this an eroge, or....
It's pretty borderline. It's rated Cero D in Japan, aka 17+ aka "we're not showing any 'nudity', but...." mostly because of the questionable CGs that show up whenever you beat a boss. Again, I'll be trying my best to make the LP as family friendly as possible, but if you're at work right now while viewing this thread, be warned!

What's different about the Vita version?
Honestly? Not much. It's prettier I guess? Also you can spend money on DLC DT1 characters, and if you buy the set for 1500 yen, you get 2x exp and 2x drop accessories. I didn't spend the 1500 yen. :V

What's the point?
There isn't really one? I guess that I think people who like EO might also be pleasantly surprised at the DT series if they gave it a shot, but it's in Japanese so it's not like anybody's gonna run out and import a copy ASAP. I suppose the point of the LP is: I'm bored, I'm playing Dungeon Travelers 2, maybe someone will enjoy reading about it.

What are we supposed to do?
Well, the game dripfeeds you new characters every chapter, so if you'd like, you can vote on who you'd like to have in the party. However, there are two conditions:
-Please try to be reasonable: as much as I'd like to, I'm not going to be running a triple dancer double scout team regardless of how much you vote for it >:<
-Ist is a permanent member of the party. Because she's the best.

How long will this take?
The game's pretty long...sadly, there's no ingame timer otherwise I'd give you a ballpark number! In any case, the LP will probably end up pretty long, even excluding postgame(which is basically half the game!) The current plan is updates once or twice a week, but obviously it'll depend on what I've got on the plate that week.

With that out of the way, here we go!



IN A WORLD...WHERE THERE ARE PEOPLE...WHO DO THINGS..

Yeah, whatever. Just hurry up and get to it already.



"......!!" Truly wise words. My life will never be the same again after hearing them.



Oh. So I guess the MC dude's name is...Freed? Lemme look at the manual...



FRIED? Like, fried chicken?! Hahah, poor kid must've been bullied silly at school.

Hey, my mother told me I was a very special child! It didn't matter what the kids told me at school, becau-

Yeah, whatever. Listen, you can go be MC some other time, but in the meantime it's my time to shine! Got it?

...Yes ma'am. :< *shuffles off*

Now that THAT'S over with...



Looks like this "fun" lookin' gal's name is....Irena? Sounds more like Ileena to me, but whatever floats your boat I guess.



Oh hey, a choice. But there's only two choices, and it's a JRPG so the choices probably mean nothing...so I'll just pick the top one.



Hey, she gave me some croissants! Score!



And we're out! Finally. Time to do some dungeon crawlin'.

You know, that's my textbox there, an-

Good for you. Why are you still here?

I...I was just leaving!


SUDDENLY ROCKS FALL! EVERYONE....doesn't die.
Oh great.


And now we're in control! This is the adventuring screen; you can move, turn, and...move. Yeah. Not very exciting. You can also look at the full map like so:


As you can see, there isn't much here. That's what the adventuring's for! Unlike EO, there is no option to alter the map as you see fit, as it autofills itself. This is usually convenient, but can be lame on certain floors like the ones with zillions of teleporters everywhere. There's also no autopathing, which may be a little disappointing as well. Moving on....



Welp. I guess there's nowhere else to go.


Suddenly, an earthquake!


Suddenly, girls!

Wowee! It's like, another girl! With a hat just like you, Melvy!

Ahaha, you're right, Alisia...that's a girl...(I hate my life sometimes.)

Uhhh....who are you guys?

Look Melvy! She speaks our language!!! Hey, can I try on your hat!?

I'd rather you didn-

Yay! Thanks!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY

I'm sorry. She's a little...um...dumb. Listen, I'm Melvy, and she's Alisia and we're a little lost...would you mind helping us find the exit?

You'd better have some pretty darn good incentive to do so, because little miss firebrand over there is already driving me crazy.

Yeah, she does that...Anyway, we can help out in a fight! I'm good at magic, and she's good at...hitting things. Kind of. Sort of.

Heyyy...what are you guys talking about without meeeee?

  BE QUIET, ALISIA

  Aww, fine....

Anyway! You might need our help to get out of here. We should work together until we get out of here, don't you think?

I'll be honest with you right now. I totally failed phys.ed in school. I've never been in a fight in my life. I'm just here because I'm on vacation! All I've got is book smarts. You still willing to fight for me?

Please...please come along. You won't even have to fight. I just can't stand it any longer...being alone with HER. Do you know what it's like? Trying to study with someone standing behind you all the time asking dumb questions? Honestly, I don't even know how she got this far in scho-

Alright, alright already. You've made your point. Let's just get out of here.

Let's! Alisia, let's go.

What about the hat lady? Is she coming???

Uh...yeah. I guess I am.

Hooray! Hello, hat lady!

Yeah, uh...my name's Renko. Don't forget it, alright?

...not Hat Lady?

No! Not Hat Lady! For crying out loud, Melvy's wearing a hat too! How come you don't call her Hat Lady?! GAWD


Alisia and Melvy have joined the party! With their addition to the party comes access to the camp screen. It's got all the basic stuff: items, skills, equipment, learning skills, party status, bestiary, formation changing, save/load, and the ever important "other" section.


First up is items. As you can see, we haven't got many. Just 2 croissants that heal a decent amount of HP for our level, and one ailment healing item.


Next is our skills. The only one who has a skill accessible outside of combat so far is Melvy, who has heal. After that is equipment, but we have nothing new to equip so we'll skip it.



Next are the skill trees. As you can see, both Alisia and Melvy come with pre-baked skills learned: Raging Smash, Heal, and Fireball. The numbers tell you how many points you need for a level, and the boxes show the max levels. The textbox tells you the effects of leveling a skill. Full skill trees for Fighter/Magic User will be posted next time, if you're curious.




Next is the status screen. All the basic stuff is here, like stats, resistances, gear, etc. Note that not-MC's page has no gear and only a book slot because he doesn't fight in combat? There'll be more on that later.


Next up is the formation screen. We've only got two party members so our options are limited. Clearly though, Melvy should be in the back. She's pretty squishy.


Finally, the "other" category. This menu has a list of party skills(skills exclusive to certain party builds), an ingame accomplishment list, changing the roster order, and changing whose portrait appears when you bring up the menu(super important!!!). For now, we'll be leaving the portrait on default, which is random. Now that those menus are out of the way...



Another door. Joy. Maybe this door will summon an earthquake that DOESN'T summon dullards to the party.

Hey!

Okay fine, I take it back. Maybe this door will summon an earthquake that doesn't summon A dullard to the party.

Better.

Did you guys say something? Sorry, I was busy watching this wall crumble here, and...

Nope. Nothing at all.


SUP. The first battle! Apparently, it wasn't enough that all the playable characters get dumb outfits and junk...no, the ENEMIES have to be dressed in dumb outfits as well! And they even get VN style CG sequences where they make suggestive noises and their clothes explode! Well there'll be NONE OF THAT HERE!
Ahem. Anyway. We've got the 5 generic battle options on the left, attack/skill/defend/item/run. It's early in the game, so we'll probably just atta-

IT'S SMASHING TIME!

What? No, I never said to smash anything!

Alisia, you should really listen to Renk-

SMASH!



SMASHHHHH!!


Suddenly, in a startling display of scripted events, Fr-I mean, wait.


SUDDENLY, IN A STARTLING DISPLAY OF SCRIPTED EVENTS, Renko reveals her super secret awesome power of monster sealing, and seals the monster away. Yeah.

Wooooow, that was so coool!!! Do it again! Do it again!

Um...didn't you say you had no fighting ability? That seems pretty useful to me.

You know, I thought the same thing. Must've skimmed past the part in the manual that explained the whole monster sealing thing.

The manual?

SOOOOO HOW ABOUT THOSE CAVES, EH? OH LOOK, AN ENEMY, BETTER GO SEAL IT!


This is...the Oraorange. It doesn't really do much. It has a really weak attack, and it has an ability that reduces ITS OWN DEFENSE. It also drops orange juice, which you can consume to heal a bit of HP/TP.

....

It's an...orange.

Oooo, I love orange juice! Can I smash it?

Yeah, sure. Why not.

ONE ORANGE SMASHING LATER:


Welp, another door again. Wonder what's behind this one...


Suddenly, bears and penguins! This is one of the tutorials in the game, featuring a little double act that explains how the game works with some sometimes funny dialogue. Sadly, I'll be skipping it all. :V


This is a shortcut door, a concept very familiar to dungeon crawler players. Basically, it lets you get someplace you'll be backtracking to faster, but it's usually onesided so you have to get to the other side first before you can take advantage of it. Luckily for us, this one's unlocked on this end, and the party goes through easily. On the map, locked doors are signified with red lines.


One step before the exit of the cave and......Encounter! This is a warcat. It's pretty generic. It just attacks, has an okay amount of life, dies pretty easily.

Alisia? You know the drill.

Yep! SMASHHH!!!

(Why am I even here...)


Finally, the party reaches the exit of the cave. What awaits them back in town? Will Melvy finally get rid of Alisia forever? Will Alisia hound Melvy and Renko until the end of time? Will Renko upload a bad review to fantasyadventurevacations.com? Find out next time on Dungeon Travelers 2!

[Garlyle]

why fanservice tho

why ruin a perfectly good dungeon crawler with fanservice

why

that aside I'm going to stalk this anyway

[Yookie]

I like your style of writing this and also thanks for keeping the silly fanservice stuff out.

So, about the battle system:
EO has everyone choose their action and the turn then plays out depending on the individual levels of speed but here I see this little timeline at the right side of the screen in battle.
Is it a timeline and is the battle-system akin to Phantom Brave and FF10 in that sense?

[Zengar Zombolt]

Well, at least it's not as in your face as Monster Monpiece, right? Right?

[Sana]

I like your style of writing this and also thanks for keeping the silly fanservice stuff out.

So, about the battle system:
EO has everyone choose their action and the turn then plays out depending on the individual levels of speed but here I see this little timeline at the right side of the screen in battle.
Is it a timeline and is the battle-system akin to Phantom Brave and FF10 in that sense?

Yeah, turn order is FFX style where you can see who moves next. It's supposed to be based on both agi and the attack speed of your weapon, but honestly I'm not exactly sure how it works. The bad part is unlike FFX, it does NOT tell you when your next turn will be! So if you're a caster and you cast a spell, you basically have to pray that it comes out sooner rather than later :V
I've gotten wrecked by this way too often, which is why I personally think casters are pretty meh in this game.

[Sana]

The last entry was a lot shorter than I was expecting it to be, so I figured I'd at least finish the "interlude" part of the game before starting the regular update schedule....so here it is :V

But first, the skill lists!

Fighter:
Provoke: draws aggro from one enemy
War Cry: Increase party's attack power
Raging Smash: SMASHHHH
Sword/Lance/Axe Mastery: adds a tiny bit of damage to your sword/lance/axe stuff
Avenger: Chance to counter an attack
Double attack: Chance to double attack(only works on regular attacks)

Magic User:
Fireball: FAIYA BOWL
Ice Edge: AISU EJJI
Thunderbolt: GIVE 'EM DA DUNDABOLT
Air Cutter: EAH KATTAH
Stone Hammer: STOON HAMMA
Heal: HEEL
Poison: Chance to poison all enemies. Exactly what it says on the tin.
All offensive spells casting time goes UP with level along with TP cost...so be careful when leveling them! Healing/support spells still go down for some reason. :balance: Anyway.


The intrepid explorers finally exit the cave and get back to the city!

We're finally out....Thank god.

That was so fun! Let's go again!

How about no? I've had enough of this stupid place. I'm getting out here.

Not so fast.

Holywhatwheredyoucomefrom

Sorry, but you can't leave now.

What?! Why not?!

Did you not read the tour itenerary? You were to meet up with your designated Main Character, and accompany them for the day, correct? But what did you do?

I told him to make like a tree and leave....but so what? That doesn't have anything to do with me! Just tell Kentucky Fried Chicken to get his butt down here and I'll be out of here!

Unfortunately for you, Fried is crying his eyes out up in his room. Honestly, that child....anyway, with him out of the picture, there's only one person left with MC status, and that's you. I'm sure you're unaware, but our region having monsters is not an ordinary occurrence. It's because these monsters have escaped due to the seals on them weakening...so get on that monster resealing, okay~?

This is bull****. You mean I have to seal ALL OF THEM?! No way. I'm not doing it.

Well, not all of them. As long as you seal the boss, it should be fine. They're usually found near altars...in the deepest part of the dungeon.

Joy.

You mean we have to go back in there!? I don't think I can take any more of this...

C'mon Melvy! It's just like an adventure, like all those books you read!

I just wanted to be a magic scholar, Alisia...how did this happen to me?

Well you're in too deep now. If I've gotta do this stupid job, you're coming along too, like it or not!

  I don't even care anymore...do what you want.

Yay!

*sigh * I guess if we're gonna do this, we should do it right...let's hit up the armory or something.

There...isn't an armory here.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Fine. Whatever. Let's just go to...whatever shops you've got.


This is Monica, the shopkeeper. You'll be seeing a lot of her for a while, for obvious reasons.

Oh god, what?! Customers?! This never happens! Um, uh.....(Just think of your training, Monica!) Uhhhh hello! What...will you be buying today? (Great! Just like the instruction video!)

Yeah, uh...do you have anything that's like...really sharp? Deadly? Kills monsters real fast?

I...don't think so? We just sell, um...*pulls out notepad * CroissantsGateauChocolatDanishesBagelSandwic-

What the heck is this, a school cafeteria?! What is wrong with this place?!

Well, it's a school for magic...We don't really have weapons here.

Hey hey Melvy, can you buy me a sandwich? Pleaaaassseee?  I swear I'll pay you back!

No.

Party pooper.

Ugh. Fine. Do you guys do ANYTHING that's useful?

(Remember to maintain eye contact, and keep a polite, yet relatable tone.....) We can identify things for you, for a small cost!

  Okay. Fine. Here's some junk. Anything good in here?





As she says, she sells traveling supplies, and identifies things. We don't have much money, so we'll just be identifying for now, to get...A leather armor+1 and a kukri+1! Kinda nice!

Oh hey, armor. And a knife. Right, we'll be taking these. Ciao.

Please come again! (Please don't, I just work here because it's easy money...)


As we leave the shop, we get a notification saying tutorial lesson #1 is available! Goodie! I'll be checking it out once, and then promptly ignoring it every other time it shows up. :V


Meet Maid-sensei. She is the best tutorial character. Wallow in shame, other, inferior tutorial characters! Sadly, this is the first and last time we'll be seeing her in this LP. :<


After booking it out of the tutorial room, we enter the guild room. This is where you do all your party management junk. You get an item storage box with 999 slots(!!), can change your party, class change, respec, change equipment, learn skills, blah blah blah. The respeccing is different from EO though; you choose a level to reset to(1/15/30/50/70) and restart at your basic class with all your skill points at that level. IIRC there are bonuses if you reset at higher levels, but they're not relevant for a long time.


You may be wondering what the point of MC's book slot is? Well, i-wait why is there another party member in the list

'Sup.

....Who're you?

Name's Ikuno. I'm here because I heard you guys needed a hand.

Well, that's cool and all but uh...what's with your outfit? It doesn't make any sense.

....I don't like to talk about it.


Ikuno here is a DLC character. For the low low price of 200 yen each(or 1500 for the set), you can get characters from To Heart 2, aka Dungeon Travelers 1! Ikuno starts as a scout, which we aren't supposed to have yet. Her skill list is:
Evasion ? Boosts evade.
Cleansing ? Heals ailments(ailment spread goes up with level)
Gold Steal ? what it says on the tin.
Weak Stab ? A guaranteed critical hit on an enemy, daggers only.
Poison Shot ? An arrow with chance to poison. Bows only.
Dagger Mastery ? Dagger damage up
Escape ? Escape chance up
Lucky Mine ? More gold dropped from enemies

Not too useful, sadly. IMO, scouts don't really get useful until you promote to assassin at 15, or wait until you get sniper at 30. But the extra character really helps at this point, so she'll be coming along.

So, we going or not?

  Yeah! Let's gooooo!!!

You know, I think it'd be perfectly fine if I stayed here, I mean, we've got a new party member an-

Nice try. We're leaving.


Anyway, with our new party member in tow and slightly better equipment, we go to the world map! The cave we just left is...the cave to the left, aptly named "nameless cave".

Nameless Cave music
Battle music: Hack and Slash!



OKAY FINE IT'S UNIDENTIFIED CAVE, HAPPY NOW GAME


Anyway, a few steps in and we encounter another Oraorange(who has stupidly decided to use their self defense down ability at the start of the fight). Sounds like it's time for Ikuno to get in dere!

Hold up, I've got this. Probably.




Yep, got it....wait, why are you on the results screen? You didn't even do anything!

It's because I'm the strongest, of course!

You're delusional.

(Sadly, she's not delusional. Alisia will be the strongest member of the party for...probably the entire game, as long as we keep her in the party :V )


After some exploring and a short trek, we get this little message, which basically translates to "DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR UNLESS YOU'RE READY TO GET REKT". Tl;dr there's a boss behind the door and you should get all your out of combat buffs ready :V

Um, guys? I have a bad feeling about this...

You're crazy. See, I'm gonna open this door an-


Boss theme: Tough Fight

  OH CRAP BATTLE POSITIONS!

This boss battle is actually super free, so free that I couldn't even screen cap it. It makes sense considering this is basically babby's first boss fight. Unfortunately, I leroy'd too hard, and....



See...I...told you...guys...*dies *

MELVYYYYYYY!!!!

  Oops. I don't suppose you guys have any phoenix downs, or life bottles, or necta-

  Nope.

  ....oh.

NEXT TIME ON DUNGEON TRAVELERS 2:


Has Melvy already reached the gates of heaven? Who will feed Alisia now that Melvy's gone? Will Ikuno finally find sensible clothes that fit?(spoilers: no) FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DUNGEON TRAVELERS 2

[Raikaria]

Magic User:
Fireball: FAIYA BOWL


NEXT TIME ON DUNGEON TRAVELERS 2:


Has Melvy already reached the gates of heaven? Who will feed Alisia now that Melvy's gone? Will Ikuno finally find sensible clothes that fit?(spoilers: no) FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DUNGEON TRAVELERS 2

FAIYA BOWL FAIYA BOWL FAIYA BOWL METEEEEOR! *shot*

Also Satori makes a guest appearance?

[Yookie]

It's because I'm the strongest, of course!

But she doesn't even have the right colour-scheme for being Cirno! *shot*


But really, increased cast times on the spells with levels? That better pays off with them hitting for massive damage on weakpoints
Can you at least use lower ranks for convenience during random battles or are mages just doomed to petting enemies with their staffs/books/whatever magic enhancing weapon they carry? :V

[Zengar Zombolt]

Trees don't leave- oh goddamn I just realized.

[Sana]

But she doesn't even have the right colour-scheme for being Cirno! *shot*


But really, increased cast times on the spells with levels? That better pays off with them hitting for massive damage on weakpoints
Can you at least use lower ranks for convenience during random battles or are mages just doomed to petting enemies with their staffs/books/whatever magic enhancing weapon they carry? :V

Once you level a spell, it's leveled forever unless you respec, so you'd have to use some other spell with less points invested. To be fair, magic does pretty good damage and is the major source of elemental damage...but it probably isn't worth investing too heavily in magic nukes for a really long time :V

[Garlyle]

Thunderbolt: GIVE 'EM DA DUNDABOLT

gdi

[Third Eye Lem]

Of course, the most sensible character dies. THANKS SANA

I am enjoying this LP though, your character commentary is great. Keep up the good work!

...And the Vita can take screenshots, you say? Hmmmmmmm.

[Garlyle]

...And the Vita can take screenshots, you say? Hmmmmmmm.

Yup.  In game, PS Button + Start at the same time will screenshot whatever you're currently doing.  Sadly this doesn't work while running PSP games.

[Third Eye Lem]

Yeah, I tried that a couple times with Disgaea 3. I'm pretty tempted to do a blind LP of Neptunia Re:Birth 1 once I get it, buuuut I'm not certain on that.

[Sana]

I have homework but I really don't want to do it and I ended up doing LP instead. So here's an early update. Enjoy :V

Last time on Dungeon Travelers 2, our heroes experienced a tragic loss...



MELLLLLVYYYYYY!!!!!

Alisia...just...shut up...al..ready....*dies again *

MELVYYYYYYY!

Alright, you heard her. Just let the dead lie in peace, huh?

We might be able to save her if we can just get out here.

But...she's dead, isn't she? What good will that do?

You'd be surprised how effective magic is.

Well, it's worth a shot. C'mon Alisia, you carry her. We're getting out of here.

O-okay!


GET OUT OF THE WAYYYYY!



Finally, as the party leaves the cave, Melvy's corpse magically reanimates!

I can feel life returning to me....I feel STRONGER!

I'm so glad you're back! If you weren't around, I'd...I'd have to get food money from someone else!

Normally I'd be mad, but right now I don't even care. I feel great! Like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders....

See, told you. Magic is pretty...well, magical.

I guess it is. So how was the afterlife?

Hm...kind of boring, actually. There wasn't much to do there. Maybe it gets better if you're there longer? But you know, it was kind of nice not having to deal with any problems for a whi-

Melvy, Melvy! I'm hungry! Buy me a sandwich!

...Can someone kill me again? I miss the afterlife already.

Basically, leaving the dungeon automatically full heals everyone in the party. Convenient! Now that the party's work in the caves is over with, everyone goes back to the school, and...

Finally, we're back. Again.

I see you managed to seal the boss of the caves! Congratulations! Normally, I'd let you take a break, but I got this notice about a new boss and-

And you want us to go, don't you.

Righto~!

This job sucks. Actually, it's not even a job. Do we even get paid?

Oh, you silly child. Everyone knows an MC works tirelessly for the sake of improving the world! They don't need payment! All they need is the knowledge that their deeds are making a difference....and maybe the loot from the dungeons.

When I get back, I'm never gonna complain about a desk job ever again.

Anyway, enjoy your new dungeon! Tata for now!

*sigh * I guess I'd better get the party ready. Again.


We visit Monica to get stuff identified again. Most of it is junk, except this Nurse's Cap, which regenerates HP and TP every turn. Handy! If it wasn't clear from the beginning, there are no "real" weapon shops in this game. All gear is unidentified when you pick it up, and what you get depends on the loot tables for the dungeon. The closest thing to a weapon shop is a traveling salesman NPC that sells you stuff, but their stuff isn't identified either.




And here's where we finally explain what the point of MC's single book slot is! When you beat an enemy, its name goes into the libra book. Depending on how many you've beaten, you can create seals from them, and all the seals have different effects. Boss seals are special: you only need to beat them once, and the resulting seal can only be equipped by MC. However, the seal tends to have  nice bonuses such as reducing party TP costs or reducing encounter rates. This one...increases encounter rates. You gotta start somewhere! :V
Anyway, we've got no new gear or anything so let's get right to it!

Dungeon Music: Remains of aberdeen
Regular fight: Party attack!

Welcome to....remains of aberdeen. Whatever aberdeen is. As the party walks in, the ground shakes!


WELCOME TO PITFALLS

...woah. Good thing we didn't step in that.

Yeah...I don't think I'd survive that fall.

Aw, c'mon Melvy! You already died once! There's nothing to be afraid of!

Like you're one to talk. You ever die before? I tell ya, this one time, me and my party ran into this kraken...let's just say we didn't exactly get away unscathed.

...Annnnyway, let's not fall down that hole. I bet there's a ladder or something around here somewhere.



See? Ladder.

*pout * I still think falling down would've been more fun.





Afterwards, there's just some wandering and some encounters, but nothing we haven't seen before. Pictured: Locked door, chest found after descending the ladder, another ladder leading back up, that leads to...the room past the pit!

And now look, we're on the other side of the pit, without potentially falling to our deaths!

Laaaame....

Alisia, just....be quiet and follow along, okay?

Fine. But I want another sandwich when we get back! With juice!

Okay, but no more after that. I've got bills to pay too, you know! My family can't pay for BOTH of us!


Suddenly, an encounter! Einsels(?) are pretty obnoxious. They can poison and also their outfit/pose look wonky. :V They hit relatively hard, but aren't that big of a deal overall.



Melvy fireballs one with the quickness, and the rest of the enemies get cleaned up easily.



It's around this point where I realize that I haven't brought ANY warps out of the dungeon. Needless to say, not having a way out once you're really deep in a dungeon really sucks so I book it out of the dungeon as fast as possible to pick up supplies.



Here's my super pro translation of the item list:
Croissant: Heals 60 HP
Danish: Heals 250 HP
Bagel Sandwich: Heals 500 HP
Gateau Chocolat: Heals 100 HP to party
Zahha(German: Sacher I think) Torte: Heals 200 HP to party
Magic Seed: Heals 15 TP
Fairy Apple: Heals 40 TP
Halnire(?) Grass: Heals 1 Ailment
Fumirill...thingy: Heals all ailments
Mui Kuuha thingy: Ressurects one party member at low life.
Some bell thing I dunno man: Removes debuffs
A lantern or something: reveals hidden doors and brightens the area.
GTFO THE DUNGEON ITEM GET IT MAN: SAVES LIVES

Also, we get a claymore+2 for Alisia. Ballin'. Weapons all have a movement speed attached to them, along with different range/weapon classes. The claymore is E+ rank speed(aka almost as slow as molasses), dual handed sword that can only attack close range. Mid range can attack up to: back row enemies from the front, or front row enemies from the rear, and long range has no limits!

Armed with escape items, the party ventures back into the dungeon and gets another encounter!


Here are 2 new enemies, the ghost in the back and the angry looking blue/green apple in the front. As you can see, the ghost can cast(and also apparently has no qualms with floating in the air just high enough so you can see up her skirt '_' ). You can interrupt casting by attacking, and criticals or attacks that do a lot of damage have a higher chance of interruption. The apple doesn't look very threatening, but don't be fooled: for our level and defenses, it can put a reasonable dent into Ikuno or Melvy's life. Luckily, the apple decided not to do much this battle so we beat it easily.




You hear that?

Yeah, someone else is here...

I dunno what it is, but something about this voice sounds particularly....pretentious.



Kyaaa!

Holy-

S-stay away! I'm cursed! None can withstand its effects! Everyone I've ever known has succumbed! If you value your lives, leave this placeeeeee! *runs *

Uhhh....

She was nice!

What do you think she's doing here alone? You think she's really cursed?

Doubtful, unless this is the wussiest curse ever. Back in my day.....

Just stop right there, old man. Let's just leave the crazy girl alone and seal the stupid boss of this place.



Following the girl's advice, the party leaves her alone...and searches for some phat loot.



Suddenly, a new monster! The knocker...doesn't really do that much, actually. She attacks sometimes? Nothing special. The enemies get rekt before we know it, and Alisia gets a level!

After a little exploring...


Oh, it's her again.

D-d-d-d-didn't you hear me? I'm cursed! CURSED! I-I'll smite you all with my dark powers! Just wait! You'll see! *Runs away again *

Sounds like that girl's got a few screws missing. And some clothes, for that matter. How does that dress even stay on? Does she put glue on herself?

I think it looks cute!

I'm sure you do.




Undaunted, our heroes continue their quest for phat loot(and bosses), until...



I've got a bad feeling about this door...Is it just me, or do you guys hear like a crazed giggling?

Oh come on! Okay, last time you might've been right, but this time, I'll prove that you're just overreacting!



AGAIN?! I'm gonna teach you guys a l-l-l-lesson!

....huh.

Boss fight: Protector of the Labyrinth


A midboss! Like the previous boss, Lilian is a pushover...she's only a chuuni with a dagger, after all. :V And Melvy survives this time!

Y-you guys are pretty good...but it's time for me to draw out my true strength! With this m-m-m-m-magic crest, I'll remove the seal on my powers and unleash them on you!!!

....

....

....

Ooooo, I wonder what's gonna happen??

W-why isn't it working?! I did everything the book said!

Sounds like your book and your "curse" are just a load of bull. Who are you trying to fool anyway?

But it's true! I'm c-c-c-cursed! Everyone I talk to always ends up moving away, or disappearing, or not answering their messages! It's because the curse is chasing them away!

What exactly were you talking to them about?

Perfectly normal things! Like curses, or dark evils, hidden powers, past lives, all that stuff!

What're you, twelve?

Seriously, you still in like middle school or something? Nobody talks about stuff like that. Are you sure they didn't just stop talking to you because you were being a weirdo?

N-n-n-n-n-no, I...uh....

Well I think that stuff all sounds cool! Hey Melvy, do you think I have any hidden powers too?

Alisia...are you sure you're the same age as me?

Really? Y-y-y-y-you think it's cool too? 

Yeah! We should hang out together! Hey, can you teach me that cool pose thing you did before?

Well, okay...here, I'll show it to you, it's in this book, and...

.....Hey Renko....can you let that girl join the group?

What?! Why would I do that?

Well, if Alisia has a new friend...she'll start being with her more often and I can finally get stuff done!

Well....sure. Why not? She's kind of annoying but I guess everyone goes through this phase at some point. But are you prepared for the consequences of letting her join?

What consequences?

Just think about it. Lilian spends all of her time wrapped up in these delusions of grandeur, and then talks about it with Alisia who'll believe anything. And who's she gonna talk about it with when Lilian's not around?

....Oh my god. Alisia, don-

  Hey Melvy! Guess what! Lilian goes to our school too! Isn't that great?! She's gonna travel around with us now!

Hehehehehehe....I finally made a f-f-f-friend.....

NOOOOOOOOOO!


Lilian has joined the party!

Next time on Dungeon Travelers 2: Bosses! More DLC! That's probably about it!

[Garlyle]

Out of curiosity, is there a way to full view the maps in this game?  I'm curious to see what the actual layouts are like beyond just tiny sections of them.

[Yookie]

Zahha(German: Sacher I think) Torte: Heals 200 HP to party

Sacher is correct. And it's something that would stop the shortage of clothing on these girls if consumed too much. :V

Maybe the land of Dungeon Travelers suffers from a crippling clothing shortage and at the end of the journey a magical land full of wool and silk awaits our brave heroines.
As if.

[Sana]

Out of curiosity, is there a way to full view the maps in this game?  I'm curious to see what the actual layouts are like beyond just tiny sections of them.

Yeah, if you hit start when you're in a dungeon you can view the full map, along with maps of all the other floors you've been to. I haven't needed to use it in the LP yet though. The wiki for this game also has all the maps available for view, listed per area.

Maybe the land of Dungeon Travelers suffers from a crippling clothing shortage and at the end of the journey a magical land full of wool and silk awaits our brave heroines.

In a perfect world, they'd already be in that magic land :<

[Third Eye Lem]

>welcome to pitfalls
RIP sticklyman, your sacrifice will not be in vain ;__;7

Melvy's pretty much going to be the butt monkey of the group from here on out, isn't she? :V

[Sana]

Melvy's pretty much going to be the butt monkey of the group from here on out, isn't she? :V

Maybe, if you guys keep voting her into the party later :V


Anyway, very short update, just finishing up the dungeon from before. The early dungeons are all pretty short, but as the game goes on they starting getting pretty long.

Last time on Dungeon Travelers 2, we got a new party member!


Lilian is a Spiera(don't ask me what that means). Spiera and their various promotions are pretty odd classes, to say the least. Just check out this skill tree:

Fleetness Foot: Increase speed
Roulette Circus: Random effect on party or enemy(usually an ailment. SPOILERS IT SCREWS YOU A LOT)
Coffee Break: Heal self for a little HP.
Danger Shoot: 0-5 attacks on an enemy.
Weapon Mastery: All weapon damage goes up a bit.
Present for Me: Randomly receive items while walking on the map.

I've leveled spiera up to their second promotion classes, but I've never been able to find a good use for them, since the other classes all seem to do stuff better than them :V
Anyway...


After Lilian joins the party, we find the other side of that locked door, and open it. All hail shortcuts! The party immediately gtfo's the dungeon to do some busywork.





Not much of note here, just small increases over the gear we already have, and a new enemy seal that reduces chance of an enemy targeting you. The party goes back to the guild, and...

H-hello...

...Where'd you come from? How'd you get in here?

I've always been here! I got here at the same time as Ikuno.

I think I'd recall something like that. Anyone else remember her?

I...don't remember you either. I only remember Ikuno showing up out of nowhere.

I don't know you either!

I just got here...heehee.

  No way....

Oh, wait a second. I think I remember now! You're, uh.....um....

...Mio? Mio Hanesaki? I go to the same school as you?

Yeah. Right. Miu or whatever.

It's Mio! Why does this always happen to me...

(That's weird. She should be in the manual here somewhe-wait a second. She's here! I must've skimmed over her.)

"Mio Hanesaki: A classmate nobody can ever remember the name of.(She certainly exists though.) The Zashiki Warashi of the classroom. How long has she been there, and why? How long will she be this way? She appears to have some ulterior motive, but none have seen the face hidden behind her glasses."

(...Well this explains a lot.) Alright, uh...Mio, right? We remember you now. But why are you here?

You know...to help. Like Ikuno.

Uhh...right. Well, why not. We could use the help I guess.

I won't let you down!


Sadly, she will let us down for a while. Probably. She is another spiera, which means it'll take a while before she becomes "good". However, her outfits are way better than Lilian's, real talk!!! (The starting one sucks though.) Also, as we get more members, we'll have to start dropping people, so you guys better get ready to say goodbye to someone :V


]
With their new party member, the group reenters the dungeon! We take advantage of the shortcut door and reach a new door.


The party encounters a new enemy! The Taoxie(??) is pretty generic. It has an attack that can hit twice though, so it's usually good to take it out first.


The party reaches the boss door surprisingly quickly. I want to explore a little more though, so we turn back for now.



A little more exploring takes us to a chest with a free dungeon warp item. Nice!



At this point, there isn't really much left to explore, so we backtrack to the boss door.

There's that feeling again....

Okay, THIS TIME, we'll open the door slowly. Happy now?



Huh. I guess this is the boss room...but where's the boss?

A M-M-M-MONSTER!!!!

Aaaaaaand there it is.

Boss theme: Tough Fight

Yes, Lilian just did 3 damage to the boss. Did I mention spieras are pretty meh early in the game?

Here, let me help!



Here, Mio has used Roulette Circus and SCREWED THE PARTY, and now the entire party is frozen. Frozen is the melee equivalent of silence, all melee attacks cannot be used while frozen. Also of note is her battle portrait; when your character is smiling, it means their morale level is high. High morale gives you small bonuses in combat, and lets you use team skills! Sadly, team morale is pretty flaky, so it's not recommended to depend on team skills. To use a team skill, all members involved have to have a certain level of morale and TP, and all members have to have a turn available before the enemy acts.

Huh?? Why can't I move???

YOU'RE NOT HELPING!

S-Sorry!

Move aside, rookie. I'll show you how it's done!


Ikuno initiates a team attack! I forgot to screencap the description, but this one uses 3 members and does guaranteed critical damage. For our level, it does surprisingly good damage, so the rest of the fight goes without incident.


Victory! And Melvy didn't die again!

  Welp, there's another monster sealed. Let's get out of here.

Wait, you s-s-s-seal monsters? That's...that's so coooool! So, do you put down a r-r-r-r-rune and say magic words?! Do you have any ancient texts filled with spells and hexes?!

  Uh...no? Usually I just wait for you guys to beat them down and they kinda just seal themselves.

...I don't b-b-b-believe you! There's got to be something special about it!

  You just keep saying that to yourself...Anyway, let's skedaddle.

Yes, please. I've had enough of caves for one day.


The party leaves the dungeon ASAP! Next time on Dungeon Travelers 2:


Maids! Forests! Even more maids!

[Yookie]

So who was the "Girl with the third evil-eye" now?
Was it that boss because she had something kinda like it on her forehead, is it Lilian or was that just a meaningless title? :V

The title of that chapter is weird anyway with how it's worded because that makes it sound like there's (at least) 3 special, evil-eyes and that girl happens to have the third of those in her possesion. (I'm reading way too much into this, am I?)

It would be kinda sad if the boss was meant by it because ultimately they aren't more than macguffins at this point with how they are just means to an end. (They aren't actual characters)

Also preemptively voting to ditch Lilian because I don't like her. :v

[Garlyle]

I am not particular about who goes and who stays who am I kidding ditch the spiera who the hell thinks an RNG class in a dungeon crawler is a good idea

[Sana]

I am not particular about who goes and who stays who am I kidding ditch the spiera who the hell thinks an RNG class in a dungeon crawler is a good idea

To be fair, the most effective uses for spiera and their promoted classes don't use RNG at all :V
The spiera tree looks a little something like this:

            Doll Master   Soul Summoner
Spiera       /////          Papillon(lol)
            Trickster         Joker

The bottom classes have some RNG skills, but the real focus is their emphasis on risk. Jokers have an ability that swap their def and atk values, at the cost of your def becoming 0. So they're probably capable of really good damage, but you have to work around the risks. The top classes summon junk to fight for you(no RNG there!), and Papillon is a  weird class that primarily uses battle fans. In general though, the spiera classes are pretty hard to use effectively on their own. Doll summons are kind of good, but they can be interrupted. They are some really useful dolls though, like the ones that heal ailments from party members. The damage output is kind of lacklustre though, and Snipers(one of the 3 final scout classes) also have a damage over time ability that CAN'T be interrupted.

[Third Eye Lem]

"Mio Hanesaki: A classmate nobody can ever remember the name of.(She certainly exists though.) The Zashiki Warashi of the classroom. How long has she been there, and why? How long will she be this way? She appears to have some ulterior motive, but none have seen the face hidden behind her glasses."

Kellam much? :V

I like Mio more than Lilian already, so I say we drop Lilian when we get our new party member. Ikuno I'm not quite sure about, but assassin sounds like a useful class so she can stay too.

[Ghaleon]

This game looks fun as fuu.. and I'm having an Etrian odyssey withdrawl cuz I don't have a 3ds, Seeing this thread gave me hope but it looks like a translation/localization wont happen. BAWWW CURSE YOU FOR TORTURING MEEEeeee!

Anyway looks great, thanks for letting us know about this! =)

[Sana]

It's been a while, but update!
Last time on Dungeon Travelers 2, we beat the boss of Aberdeen!

Welp. We're finally back. Adventuring sucks.

But don't you think it's fun seeing all these different places and stuff???

One word. NO.

Hello~

oshi-I hate it when you do that!

I know~! Anyway, I bet you're all tired, right? I'll give you the day off, how about you all go to the forest for a picnic?

Ooooo, I love picnics! Melvy, Lilian, let's go on a picnic!

Ehhh....

A p-p-p-p-picnic? But I've never gone on a picnic! Isn't that like a....D-D-D-DATE???

Well, it can be a date-y thing...but we're all girls, so it's probably okay, right?

(That's what you think.)

Hold on, this sounds too suspicious. What's the catch?

No catch! Just a relaxing picnic in the forest...while sealing monsters doesn't that sound fun?

....did you just mention "sealing monsters" just now?

Of course not! You're imagining things~

Okay, well whatever. It's not like there's anything else to do right now. Let's go on this stupid picnic.

Yay!



Before we leave, we pick up some stuff: 3 croissants and a new monster seal that improves our chances of escaping from combat.

Dungeon theme: Prizren Wood
Battle Theme: Infinite Battle


Welp, we're here. Now what?

There's a house over there! Let's go see!


Going north takes us to a small cabin. It only becomes relevant really late in the game, probably around the time you've forgotten about it :V

This looks like a nice spot for the picnic.

Hehehehe...a picnic....

Stop doing that, it creeps me out.

Did anyone actually bring any picnic food though?

.....

Oh, Renko bought those croissants!

Those aren't for the picnic, they're BATTLE SUPPLIES!

But they look so good...Can't we have just one?

No.

...Did you guys just hear something?

What did it sound like?

Like....ANOTHER SCOUT

Waitwh-


New monster dudes! The "sakuranbou",(aka cherry boy, pun on sakuranbo(cherry) and -bou(used for young boys)) and the enemy scout in the back. The sakuranbou doesn't do much, its most common attack is healing your party members while causing poison. The scout is pretty annoying since it hides in the back all the time and does way more damage than the dudes in the front here.


We finish the fight and get two level ups!

I knew it was too good to be true. That stupid woman pulled a fast one on us again.

*Sigh * And I finally thought we could relax for a while...

C'mon guys, let's go! I bet there's a boss here too!

Ugh. Fine. Let's just get this over with.


After wandering a little, the party meets another new enemy! The dryad isn't really anything special, aside from its horrendous "outfit". '_'



The party ventures west from the cabin, then to the north. Here I walk through a door and find nothing. This game LOVES to give you doors that lead nowhere, and sometimes it drives me nuts!


Anyway, the party goes north and finds nothing particularly important, so we backtrack and go west this time. And the party finds...



Uhhhh....there's a dead maid lying in the middle of the road. All in favour of pretending we never saw her?

Aye.

Um...well....we can't just leave her here. What if she needs help?

Dead maids don't need any help.

:V : I'm nooooot deadddd you knowwwww....

Oh crap, what?!

:V : I'm just soooooo tired....I'm just gonna take a little nap right he-zzzzzzz.....

I don't think I've ever seen a maid before...wonder why she's so tired?

Maybe she's just o-o-o-o-overworked?

Well, anyway. She's not dead, so let's just keep going.


Another encounter! The girl in blue is a harpy. She casts, which means she is public enemy number 1 to the party right now! Focus her down and the fights will be much easier.


Here, in a stunning display of stupidity, I realize that I have Ikuno equipped with a sword....which makes weak stab unusable because it's only available if you use a knife. I wallow in my shame.









Exploration montage! Just a bunch of filling out the map, and a treasure chest with a warp item in it IIRC.


H-H-H-H-HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER

Uh ohhhhh....You're not here to chew me out, are you?

No. Who are you supposed to be anywa-are you sitting on a shrine?! Are you an idiot?! Now the boss won't spawn here because it's broken!

Eh? Oh, this thing? I dunno mannnn, I'm just here to eat some cake!

I wonder what happens when the shrine is broken? Maybe the boss shows up someplace else?

For all we know, it might just never show up and we have to track it down. That's gonna take forever! Who the heck are you?! I swear, if the boss doesn't spawn because of you, I'm gonna nag your superiors so hard you're gonna be cleaning toilets for years!

Man, y'don't have to get so upset about it! Looks like I'll have to make you chill out for a bit while I make my getaway! *skill activate *

HEY! WHERE DO YOU Think you're...goinnng....

See ya 'round! *leaves *

You know....maybe we should just take a picnic here...

...man, I'm tired....

Say, Renko...does this monster sealing really matter? Let's just take a short break here....zzzzz....

Hehehehe....don't worry, I'll be friends with all of you....*mumble *

You know what? Who cares if nobody knows who I am....It doesn't make a bit of difference.....zzzzz....

30 MINUTES LATER

zzz....HEY! MAID! I, uh...huh. How long have we been asleep?

....eh? Oh! Right! We have to go find that maid! .....where'd she go?

Dunno, I ended up nodding off too.

That stupid maid. That's it, now it's PERSONAL.







The party vows revenge and proceeds further into the forest! Here, Melvy and Lilian are at low morale. It doesn't happen very often, but if you have low morale when you're in combat you suffer a slight penalty. Luckily, we're about to remedy this problem!




This is one of the travelling merchants, who I like to call RAMEN BEAR. He randomly appears in dungeons, and sells you ramen that heals HP and TP, heals ailments, and restores party morale! The prices are also very reasonable, so it's a good idea to buy some when he shows up.





After a little more exploring, we find an area with a very familiar textbox...

Looks like that dumb maid is just up ahead. We should probably make a plan to jump her. Ikuno, you sneak around an-

LEROYYYYYYY! JENKINNNNNNS!

GOD **** IT ALISIA



Wha?! You found me?! Guess there's only one way out....


It's time to fight the mystery maid! She immediately starts the fight by buffing her movement speed, but her attack power isn't much to worry about so it's not much of an issue.


For some reason, she can cast spells(actual maids can't do this), but it's pretty easy to interrupt. Even when she casts, it's just some scrubby wind spell so don't worry if you can't interrupt it.




A few SMASHHHHHes and she goes down easily! The party quickly gtfos the dungeon.



So....mind explaining yourself?

Uh....well, I'm Conet and I'm a maid.

So what else is new?

Why aren't you at your station?

Well...I hate work! It sucks! I clean and clean and I only get paid like once a month! And I can't even eat cakes on the job! The head maid only lets us eat sweets ONCE A MONTH! Isn't that awful?!

Yes. Awful.

So you abandoned your post...because of sweets?

Darn right I did! And I'd gladly do it again!

You realize you won't have a job after this, right?

Yeah...but that job sucked! I wouldn't mind any other job as long as it lets me eat sweets whenever I want! ....And doesn't consist of any hard work or manual labour. That's just too much effort.

How about this? I'll hire you. You can help them seal monsters! They'll probably let you eat sweets too!

What.

Ehhhh, that sounds like a lot of work. What kind of stuff do you have to do?

Well, you have to travel around a bit....but on the bright side, if you don't get into the adventuring party, you have a lot of spare time here at the library!

Oh? What about sweets? What kind of sweets d'ya have?

Well the store here sells some cakes...Gateau chocolat, sach-

DONE. I'll work for you!

Hold on, I never said I'd let her join the party!

Well I did~ Enjoy your new job, Conet! Bye! *leaves *

  ......

So, is it cake time yet?


Conet has joined the party! Now we have an important decision to make: who gets dropped from the party? Vote in the thread(and you're probably gonna want someone out because maids are mad useful)!

Next time on Dungeon Travelers 2: A new party! The rest of the forest! MAID SKILL TREES!

[Yookie]

Let's ditch Lilian for bizarro-Sakuya.

And it just came to me how different the art style is for the portraits of the fruit-enemies and the girl-enemies.

[Third Eye Lem]

And it just came to me how different the art style is for the portraits of the fruit-enemies and the girl-enemies.

Yeah that is a thing...What is this, PAD? :V

I'd personally would like to see what the Maid skills are like before making a decision, but if not I'll go with dropping Lilian for Coronet I mean Conet.

[Sana]

For those on the fence, the maid skill tree is:
First Aid: Restores a little HP
Cooking: Restores a little TP
Dedication(?): Adds the maid's current TP to target. Increases TP restored with level.
Cleaning: Speed up buff on self
Lullaby: Chance to put an enemy to sleep
Maid mastery: Slight buff to all maid skills
Spirit of Service(?): Restores party's HP/TP slightly after combat

Maid skills cannot be used outside of combat, but have no TP cost.

[Yookie]

I would leave Lilian at home for a third Spiera even. even if she was the only other party member and possessed the I-win button. :V
She's just the kinda character that makes me want to close the book/turn off the tv/shut-down the game/whatever with how she acts and behaves.
Twists your words, takes things the wrong way, is horribly fickle, sees innuendos in every other sentence.
Drives me crazy.