02/12/2015

Dungeon Travelers 2: The importance of running solo


Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is the definite discovery of a new favourite RPG subgenre. I started Dungeon Travelers 2 a couple of days ago and I've been as intensely glued to it as I've been glued to Class of Heroes and to Demon Gaze not so long ago. At that point, it's safe to assume that I do love first-person dungeon crawlers indeed, and quite passionately at that.

I've been tinkering quite a lot with the game, starting it with a duo run starring Alisia and Melvy. The two were introduced together and I had to clear a dungeon floor with both of them before I was granted the option to alter the composition of my party; as a result, I grew attached to them both and simply couldn't choose between these two lovely ladies when I got the opportunity to do so. Not running solo when it is actually possible is a most unusual move for me, and this could have been my first ever duo run in a dungeon crawler if not for one single element: the chanting time, i.e. the time needed to cast spells. The cursed, horrendous chanting time, which made fighting with Melvy an absolute chore instead of the blast it should have been. Not only does the chanting time delay the unleashing of Melvy's spells, sometimes by a full turn, but any hit endured by Melvy while chanting can cancel the spell altogether. I found this gameplay mechanic extremely awkward and unfilfilling, to the point where the idea of putting up with it any longer simply became unbearable. That's when I decided to wipe the slate clean and to restart from scratch, this time following my good old solo ways.

Since I wanted Melvy out of the picture, my DT2 solo run became automatically synonymous with an Alisia solo run. Any other character would have joined the fray way too late to stockpile the necessary XP for a smooth solo run, and I was not in the mood to attempt a duo run with any of them, so Alisia alone it was. This solo run became a complete dream run as soon as it started: since DT2 is the kind of game in which the amount of XP is equally divided between party members, I was gaining levels literally twice as fast with Alisia alone than with Melvy and Alisia. It took me a mere five hours to reach Lv. 15 and the first class change: presented with a choice between evolving into a Berseker and a Paladin, I wisely chose the latter. My reasoning was that as a solo act, I needed to become my own private tank and to build up defense abilities good enough to be able to sustain many blows in battle, and the Paladin seemed a better choice to achieve that goal than the Berserker, who was very likely all about attack to the detriment of defense. This choice proved fruitful and I kept rampaging through dungeons, taking one boss after the other without breaking a sweat.

After another five hours, I reached Lv. 30 and the second class change; that's when, unbeknownst to me, I made a fatal mistake by choosing the Samurai instead of the Valkyrie. I was lured into the Samurai way by the prospect of being able to use Katana attacks that could strike a whole row of enemies—a technic that seemed tailor-made for a solo run. Alas, this seemingly promising class change didn't produce the expected goodness and turned out to be quite underwhelming instead. For one thing, Katanas are quite rare and often weaker than your average sword, so the attacks targeting whole rows of foes didn't exactly deal an staggering amount of damage. For another, Samurais cannot use Lances and Axes, which are the strongest weapons in the game, and have to content themselves with weaker Swords and even weaker Katanas. Last but not least, the Samurai's defense abilities are simply not solid enough to guarantee a smooth solo run. I suddenly found myself struggling quite a lot during random battles, and gaining levels as fast as ever didn't alleviate my struggling.

After some unsatisfying trudging and plodding, I took the ominous decision to reset my level to 30 and to switch to the Valkyrie class. That meant giving up a handful of levels—I had reached Lv.37 at that point—and putting up with a healthy dose of level-grinding in order to regain my edge over foes, but I was more than ready to make that sacrifice for the sake of a better gameplay experience. And a better gameplay experience was most likely to be around the corner, since the Valkyrie had a)a better defense than the Samurai, b)the ability to use Swords, Lances and Axes, and c)powerful Lance attacks that could target several enemies at once. And thus I proceeded with that run-altering class change, with an ever-so-slight touch of trepidation and anticipation.

To my utter delight, my first steps as a Valkyrie showed a change for the better. Despite losing seven levels in the process, I immediately noticed that random battles were easier and smoother, and they became all the more so as I level-grinded dutifully and regained my lost levels before marching on. Since then, my run has regained its dreamy quality: I'm progressing unhindered, taking down minions and bosses along the way and gaining levels at the speed of light, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

When it comes to assessing the solo run-friendliness of DT2, I can safely assert that this game does indeed accommodate a solo run quite leniently... Providing that you make the right choices, that is. The only viable way to progress smoothly as a lone ranger in DT2 is to choose Alisia as your one and only and to make her evolve first into a Paladin, then into a Valkyrie; deviate a trifle from that path, and your sleek solo run will turn into a trudge before you can say "oops, wrong class!" Given the sometimes insane difficulty of the game, I suspect that wrong choices in a solo endeavour may even leave one completely stranded and forced to reset levels like I did, or even to restart from scratch.

And talking about the difficulty of the game, this is a subject I will cover in my next post about DT2, along with other points not directly related to the solo side of my run. I am far from being done with that wonderful game, both in playing and in writing! Until my next post, thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

6 comments:

  1. Ah, DT2, a game I sadly don't own yet due to it not coming up on sale yet. But the demo for it was really enjoyable, so I'm glad to see you're having fun with it. But yeah, I have to agree that spell casting takes too long. In my demo run I just let her die and then moved on with Alisia only. A pity, as I was hoping to do a full party with the game after my duo run in Demon Gaze, but maybe I'll do that with Tokyo Abyss, Stranger of Sword City or Ray Gigant instead. Most likely Ray Gigant, because the character animations on that game look amazing.

    As for me, I could play Tokyo Abyss since I just finished P3P, but I feel like I need to take a little break from RPGs. I'll focus on Warriors Orochi and Hatsune Miku for a little while. But speaking of Tokyo Abyss, I hope they also localise the sequel, Operation Babel, next year too. Since it's from Exp Inc too, I'm very hopeful for it.

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    1. Yeah, it's a pity all the more as there are a lot of charismatic characters to choose from... But levelling them up takes forever, and the chanting time issue spoils the fun entirely—on top of ruining carefully planned strategies more often than not. Still, it's a fantastic game, just as deliciously addictive as Demon Gaze.

      How long was your playthrough of P3P? I've heard that this was a ridiculously long game, so I'm curious...

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  2. My playthrough took 148 hours, but it's only because I did everything I could do in a single playthrough. All characters level 99, max social links, complete demon list, all sidequests, all optional bosses, ultimate equipment and the ultimate boss, whor is a real pain. If you just want to beat the game, 50-60 hours should do it, depending on your difficulty level.The ultimate boss does take a lot out of you though, which is why I'm currently taking a break.

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    1. Now that's impressive! There must be a huge wealth of content in that game, if total completion took you that long. That sounds very promising!

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    2. Although most of that time is because grinding took a long while, yes, the game is rich with content. Couple that with one of the most touching and beautiful plots in an RPGs I've ever played, and this game was worth every cent I paid and every second I put into it. I normally start to get fatigued with a game after 60 hours, but with this one I played more than double that time in one go.

      But then again, I am a huge fan of the Megami Tensei franchise, so the game might not be as wonderful for you. But nevertheless, it is a tittle I think every RPG fan should look into :)

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    3. Well, I'm definitely planning to play that game, when my gaming instinct says that the time is ripe! :)

      Talking about long games, DT2 is supposed to pack more than 80 hours of gameplay! I don't think I will pour that many hours into it though, given that I'm playing solo... Oh well, we'll see!

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