Gameplay Notes – Eye of the Beholder II

To start off your Eye of the Beholder II adventure on the right foot, you should check out this section to learn a thing or two about the game’s many quirks and secrets. This includes some helpful advice on rebinding the controls, general party-building info, and a few miscellaneous tips.

Starting Out

A useful tool when playing Eye of the Beholder II (EOB2) is the All-Seeing Eye (ASE). It provides auto-mapping, save backups, item identification, and more. It makes EOB2 much friendlier to play, which might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view. We used ASE when writing the walkthrough.

EOB2 has a problem with the numpad-9 key, which is used to turn right. If the key doesn’t always register for you, then you can use the PgUp key instead. That would leave you with an awkward set of keys to manage, but you can use DosBox to remap them (by pressing control-F1). We always remap the numpad keys to WASD for moving and turning, plus QE for strafing:

• A=7, S=5, D=PgUp, Q=4, W=8, E=6

If you use DosBox for this mapping, then you’ll also need to map the reverse (7=A, 5=S, and so forth), or it won’t work.

To import your characters from EOB, you’ll need to move a saved game file from that game into the EOB2 directory. EOB2 will then allow you to import any four characters from that save into the game.

Party

The Quick Start Party is pretty good, with nice stats and maximum hit points.

The Quick Start Party and any newly created party will have a lower level and much worse equipment than an imported party. EOB2 seems like it was tuned for an imported party, so if you don’t use one then you’ll have a much tougher time.

If you create a new party, we’d recommend going with a Paladin, Ranger, Cleric and Mage/Thief (or build a pure mage and then recruit Amber later).

In many places in the game, certain classes and races can notice things. For example, thieves will notice hidden buttons, and mages will notice illusionary walls. So it’s a good idea to have a variety of classes and races in your party.

Miscellaneous

EOB2 includes the Improved Identify spell, so you no longer have to rely on orbs and oracles. To identify an item, the mage must be holding it when they cast the spell.

There is no time limit in the game, so you can rest as much as you want.

There are no special quests in the game.

You’ll encounter cursed items in the game, so always identify an item before equipping it, or have a Remove Curse spell available.

The EOB2 maps have a lot of levels and sublevels, where the difference is arbitrary. We’ve tried to make our maps as clear and sensible as possible, which means they don’t always follow the game’s Cluebook or ASE.

Spells have been changed slightly from the first game, so be sure to memorize and pray for spells at the start of the game, and then rest.