History VideoGame / EtrianOdyssey

** Also in ''The Drowned City'', hit Y to bring up the "alternate colors" for the Buccaneers. One of them [[VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland looks rather like he has the surname Threepwood]], and another [[TalesOfVesperia looks suspiciously like a certain Ms. Fleur]].[[hottip:*:Sadly a lot of fans will miss out on the second one since the PS3 version won't be coming to America. NAMCOOOOOO]]

''Etrian Odyssey'' is a delightful first-person tile-based dungeon-crawler series published by {{Atlus}} and developed by Lancarse that currently consists of three games, ''Etrian Odyssey'', ''Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard'', and ''Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City'', all for the Nintendo DS. Atlus has also just announced ''Etrian Odyssey IV'' for the 3DS in Japan; no word on a release overseas just yet, but it's a safe bet we'll see it.

* FanService/ FetishFuel: Some of the character designs are very... [[{{Stripperific}} questionable]]. When {{Lolicon}} mixes with UnderBoobs, you know this is in play. Male fanservice isn't uninvited either. Check out the first male design for pirates in the third one. Now double back and realize he [[WalkingShirtlessScene isn't wearing a shirt under his vest.]]

For similar games to compare and contrast, see the UrExample, ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'', and or the main-series ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, including the fairly recent DS spinoff, ''StrangeJourney.''

[[caption-width-right:350:[[OhCrap What do you]] [[{{IOSYS}} mean you forgot]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck to buy]] [[BigNo the warp wire?]]]]

* KatanasAreJustBetter: Played straight, katanas have a higher output damage than normal swords, however, can only be used by one class, which just happens to be [[GlassCannon the class without any defense on the front line.]]

The series' original designer and director admitted in numerous interviews that he was directly inspired by old retro-era dungeon crawler games, specifically ''VideoGame/DungeonMaster''. He lamented that no one made games like that anymore, and set out to create ''Etrian Odyssey'' in the hope that it would catch enough interest to revive the genre. While it was not an overnight smash success in that regard, there was enough interest in the first ''Etrian Odyssey'' to spawn a sequel. These days, a few more examples of first-person dungeon crawlers are starting to pop up here and there, such as ''TheDarkSpire'', ''ClassOfHeroes'', and ''TheSeventhDragon'', so who knows? [[strike:They just might have succeeded.]] In ''Etrian Odyssey III'''s first sales week in Japan, Atlus has sold over [[OverNineThousand over 88000]] units. Genre revived, claps for Atlus and game team.

** Also in ''The Drowned City'', hit Y to bring up the "alternate colors" for the Buccaneers. One of them [[TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland looks rather like he has the surname Threepwood]], and another [[TalesOfVesperia looks suspiciously like a certain Ms. Fleur]].[[hottip:*:Sadly a lot of fans will miss out on the second one since the PS3 version won't be coming to America. NAMCOOOOOO]]

For similar games to compare and contrast, see the UrExample, ''{{Wizardry}}'', and or the main-series ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, including the fairly recent DS spinoff, ''StrangeJourney.''

The third game, ''Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City'', has now hit western stores. ''The Drowned City'' features entirely new classes including the [[{{Pirate}} Buccaneer]], {{Ninja}}, [[FarmBoy Farmer]], [[SquishyWizard Zodiac]], [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Prince]]([[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses s]][[DistaffCounterpart s]]), Gladiator, [[StoneWall Hoplite]], [[{{Beastmaster}} Wildling]], [[WarriorMonk Monk]], [[TheArcher Arbalist]], and the two unlockable classes, the {{Ronin}}-replacement Shogun, and the [[ArtificialHuman Yggdroid]].

* ArtifactTitle: Only the first game takes place in Etria. The second and third take place in Lagaard and Armoroad, respectively. A result of the direct translation of the Japanese name (''Yggdrasil's Labyrinth'' or ''Labyrinth of the WorldTree'') to English sounding too much like the names of multiple existing games.

''Etrian Odyssey'' is a delightful first-person tile-based dungeon-crawler series published by {{Atlus}} and developed by Lancarse that currently consists of three games, ''Etrian Odyssey'', ''Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard'', and ''Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City'', all for the Nintendo DS. Atlus has also confirmed an Etrian Odyssey 3DS title.

* DownerEnding: The first game, with a healthy dose of NiceJobBreakingItHero for good measure. Once you've completely filled the codex by logging every single drop and enemy in the game, Subaltern Quinn comes to see you and offer recognition of your feat - which, she adds, will result in Etria eventually turning into a ghost town now that the Labyrinth no longer holds any mysteries.

* RandomlyDrops: You can bring anyone who tried to get it in ''Etrian Odyssey'' to tears with the phrase "Shinryuu Sword."
** ''Heroes of Lagaard'' still has RandomlyDrops but with much better drop rates. Its Shinryuu Sword equivalent, the Dragonbane, is comparatively painless.
** The [[RareCandy skillbooks]] in ''The Drowned City''; See just below.
* RareCandy: Stat Books in ''The Drowned City''. They can be found in treasure chests, given as quest rewards... and [[RandomlyDrops dropped from powerful FOEs after they are slain]]. Thankfully, there are items and skills that can be used to ensure that they are dropped.

* CallBack: [[YourMileageMayVary In a sense]], ''The Drowned City''[='s=] BonusDungeon is this to ''Etrian Odyssey''[='s=]. [[spoiler:organic dungeons, invisible pits all over the second floor of the stratums, with said second floors given subtitles indicating the presence of pits, plenty of damaging tiles on the third, with the subtitles implying that as well, the TrueFinalBoss being the core of the stratum... there may be more.]]

* FauxSymbolism: [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]], but check out the strata layering in ''Etrian Odyssey''. [[spoiler: From the bottom, we have ''Lost Shinjuku'', which implies what the world was like pre-Apocalypse. Said apocalypse reduced the world to a pretty-much-inhabitable ''Sandy Barrens''. But then there was water, and ''Cerulean Woods'' shows signs of life beginning anew. Life blooms, covering the ''Ancient Forest'' with thick vegetation and plenty of life. Then humans came to prominence once more, co-living with nature near the green but less-dense ''Emerald Groves''.]]

* {{Retraux}}: This whole series more or less came about because a certain game designer really wanted there to be ''VideoGame/DungeonMaster'' for the DS. Every aspect is lovingly oldschool, even down to the music, which was actually entirely composed on a {{PC88}}. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRxsqajkw0&fmt=18 Example from the third game.]]

* {{Retraux}}: This whole series more or less came about because a certain game designer really wanted there to be ''Game/DungeonMaster'' for the DS. Every aspect is lovingly oldschool, even down to the music, which was actually entirely composed on a {{PC88}}. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRxsqajkw0&fmt=18 Example from the third game.]]

The series' original designer and director admitted in numerous interviews that he was directly inspired by old retro-era dungeon crawler games, specifically ''Game/DungeonMaster''. He lamented that no one made games like that anymore, and set out to create ''Etrian Odyssey'' in the hope that it would catch enough interest to revive the genre. While it was not an overnight smash success in that regard, there was enough interest in the first ''Etrian Odyssey'' to spawn a sequel. These days, a few more examples of first-person dungeon crawlers are starting to pop up here and there, such as ''TheDarkSpire'', ''ClassOfHeroes'', and ''TheSeventhDragon'', so who knows? [[strike:They just might have succeeded.]] In ''Etrian Odyssey III'''s first sales week in Japan, Atlus has sold over [[OverNineThousand over 88000]] units. Genre revived, claps for Atlus and game team.

* AttackItsWeakPoint ForMassiveDamage: Played straight in all three games, but generally not so noticable in the first. Most enemies have an element they are weak to, and receive about 50% more damage from an attack of that element. Alchemists in ''Heroes of Lagaard'' had the skill Analysis and Zodiacs in ''The Drowned City'' have the skill Singularity, both of which further increase the damage you do when you hit a weakness.

* GlassCannon: The Ronin. Also the Combat Medic from the first game. The Shogun from the third game is an extreme example, toting skills further sacrificing defense for attack on top of their already weak armour.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj9COPsEsoc#t=0m31s Take a look at this vid]] from the indicated point on, and look at the names of the [=PCs=] that were chosen for the demonstration. [[{{Homestuck}} Terezi, Kanaya, Gamzee, Equius, and Karkat]]. All of them from {{Homestuck}}'s fifth chapter. And three of them were only revealled a few weeks before the vid was released, at most. Someone at Atlus USA must really like MSPaintAdventures.