REVIEW

Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal Review

by Rob Pritchard, September 16th, 2015

The theme of roaming dungeons and defeating monsters have been a role playing game staple for many years, but the idea of capturing the monsters that you find inside for use at a later date is limited to a select few. Sting Entertainment’s latest release, Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal borrows from a lot of previously released roleplaying games such as the Tales series and Ni No Kuni, whilst at the same time offering new twists that will rise the eyebrows of even the most open minded JRPG fan.

In the kingdom of Romulea, powerful monsters have been appearing and causing distress to the residents. In order to combat this problem, several groups of heroes are sent to the dungeons where they reside, along with a special class of scholars known as Libras. In a similar vein to Pokemon and the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, these individuals have the power to seal the monsters inside magical tomes. The player follows the story of Fried Einhard, a newly qualified Libra who joins with a ragtag group of adventurers with a range of abilities and personalities to help neutralise the growing threats.

The meat of Dungeon Travelers 2’s gameplay is inside the labyrinthine dungeon areas outside of the Royal Library. Anyone who has played Etrian Odyssey or Persona Q will feel right at home here, as you navigate the mostly subterranean areas in first person view, and encounter monsters within the same perspective. The mini-map is filled in as you go, and although you do not receive special items for exploring every inch of the dungeons, it is worth looking a little bit harder, as vital weapons and healing items can be found in some of the harder to reach areas. For the bigger maps, helpful shortcuts are provided, which saved my bacon on more than one occasion when I didn’t have an escape item in my inventory.

This is why you should always return your library books.

The random encounters within each dungeon comprise of several kinds of monster, but there are some which you may not believe are monsters at first because they resemble scantily clad females. While some of the ‘monsters’ on offer are slightly unorthodox, they offer a unique change to the usual ensemble of randomised slimes and elementally charged spherical objects with a face. Defeating the monsters earns you experience, and when you level up you receive points to add new skills to each of your party members. Each character that joins your group belongs to a specific class, such as the melee focused Fighters and the spell throwing Magic Users. As each of your characters mature, they can change their base class, allowing you to learn exclusive moves and obtain unique stat bonuses. This proved useful when I accidentally obtained two characters of the Magic User class, and wanted to differ the moves that I chose to obtain. As well as experience, the monster is ‘sealed’ into your tome so you can use them to build special equipment that boosts your party’s stats.

One of the interesting mechanics in Dungeon Travelers 2 is the Identification system. When you find some equipment inside dungeons, it will have question marks before its name. These need to be taken to the Libra Shop where you can pay to find out what they are. Sometimes these items will be better equipment, whereas at other times you can sell them to buy some of the more expensive items. The items seem to be given at random, and although it can prove to be slightly aggravating to identify several weaker items, it is a nice alternative from simply finding pre-determined items in a specific place. The difficulty level spikes from moderately easy to hard on more than one occasion, so be sure to save up for expensive items when you can, because the revive items require at least twenty times the average amount of gold that you receive at the end of a battle.

Graphically, Dungeon Travelers 2 takes place in a medieval fantasy world, mainly presented in two dimensions. Some 3D views are included, but they only come into force in certain areas away from the Royal Library. All the art for the characters and enemies look fantastic with the traditional anime style, as do the walls of the dungeons that you will walk through along your journey. The visual designs for the costumes and the backdrops for the stationary scenes are especially creative, in particular the Item Shop and the Classroom areas, and the accessories worn by the NPCs in the library’s rooms.

It’s not the Aberdeen we know. At least I think so.

Like Danganronpa that came before it, Dungeon Travelers 2 was originally released on the PlayStation Portable some years ago as a Japanese exclusive. Thanks to the efforts of ATLUS and NIS America, the game has received a translation. All the visuals have been slightly upgraded, but it is hard to tell if the music has received the same treatment as they sound relatively identical to the original tracks. The soundtrack itself sounds well composed and fits where it should, but some of them do sound slightly low quality compared to others. The voice acting is top notch, but like many late bloomers, there is no English dub in this remaster, so you will have to rely on the subtitles that have been helpfully provided.

Overall, Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & the Monster Seal is a unique entertaining RPG with a lot of offer both visually and in terms of gameplay. While there are a few sharper edges to go along with the smooth, it is an enjoyable journey that can be treasured as something to remember, provided that you can accept the fact you are being attacked by semi-naked women as well as personified random objects.