History VideoGame / EtrianOdysseyI

In the idyllic town of Etria, there's a large, mystical tree known as Yggdrasil. For many years, it has piqued the curiosity of explorers, wanderers and researchers alike. Some wish to learn about its muysterious nature, others look for the riches that are said to lie within, others want to test their bravery by facing its well-publicized dangers. No matter the reason, people come to venture through the labyrinth that lies beneath this WorldTree. The player control a guild of adventurers, each of a different class and talent, ready to test their wits and strengths. Over the course of the game, many fascinating discoveries are done, but many dangers are faced as well. What lies at the end of the labyrinth? There's only one way to find out...

The game received another remaster in 2023 for UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, along with remasters of ''VideOGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard'' and ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIITheDrownedCity''. It is based on the DS original, lacking ''Untold''[='=]s Story Mode content, and some -- but not all -- of the quality-of-life touches from ''Untold'' and other newer games are kept, such as skill flowcharts, multiple difficulty levels, the option to choose character portraits other than ones specific to their class, and the upgraded map interface.

The game received another remaster in 2023 for UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, along with remasters of ''VideOGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard'' and ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIITheDrownedCity''. It is based on the DS original, lacking ''Untold''[='=]s Story Mode content, and some -- but not all -- of the quality-of-life touches from ''Untold'' and other newer games are kept, such as skill flowcharts, multiple difficulty levels, and the upgraded map interface.

* EarlyGameHell: Patching up party members and replacing your [[EscapeRope Warp Wires]] [[PerpetualPoverty takes up all the money you earned getting the injuries]], giving you no cash for even basic equipment. Running into [=FOEs=] means an instant game over. Skill-heavy characters like mages and healers run out of TP after only a few battles, reducing them to plinking with daggers for ScratchDamage. It's not until you can level up a few times and get some decent skills that you can start saving for better gear. Even worse, ''this'' game in particular does not let you reset your skills until halfway through the adventure, meaning if you made bad decisions assigning skillpoints before the first boss, you may have to either train an entire second team almost from scratch or just restart your playthrough.

** Protector's Provoke, a skill to goad enemies into attacking the Protector instead of anyone else, has a success rate ''way'' too low even at level 10 to be reliably used for the usual keeping-everyone-else-alive tank purposes.
** Medic's [[VideoGame/TraumaCenter H. Touch]], a skill that heals the party for very low TP, but can only be used outside of battle and can only heal up to a certain percentage of their maximum health -- for example, if the cap is 10% and someone has 100 HP, it will only heal for as much as it takes to bring them up to 10 HP, and is completely useless if they have more than that. The cap at level 10 is 40%.
** Fortunately, Provoke and Arm Heal (renamed "Unbound" as it is now no longer arm-specific) are dramatically improved for the sequel, and H. Touch is removed entirely. (The Medic's LimitBreak in the sequel is technically called "H. Touch," but the actual move and effect are ''extremely'' different.)

** This level has the biggest level penalty for using Rest (resetting a character's skill points), with 10. The second and third only lower the character's level by 5, and all 3DS games (including this game's own remake) only lower it by 2.
** Neither this game nor the second have subclasses. This game also lacks any form of LimitBreak mechanic, the closest being the "Boost" system that gives a one-time amplification to a character's skill.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[spoiler:Visil]] is posed as one in ''The Millennium Girl'', though it's not obvious until [[spoiler:after you're forced to kill him]]. This contrasts his portrayal in the game's original version as well as the remake¿s Classic Mode, whose inner intentions are unambiguously sordid.

* SupportingProtagonist: Story Mode puts you in the shoes of a highlander recruited by the Radha in order to investigate the Yggdrasil ruin. However, the subtitle of the game, ''Millennium Girl'', refers to Frederica Irving, an [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesiac]] gunner whom you awaken from a capsule while exploring a different ruin that's connected to the one you're searching. Your goal is twofold: assist the investigation team and unlock the secrets of the ruin, and help Frederica regain her lost memories.

** Arthur: Shares the same name as Creator/ArthurCClarke.
** Raquna: Her name is based on one of [[Creator/JamesTiptreeJr Alice Bradley Sheldon's]] pseudonym "Raccoona Sheldon".

* DownerEnding: The game's story ends somberly, 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, he adds, will result in Etria eventually turning into a ghost town now that the Labyrinth no longer holds any mysteries to attract adventurers. The ending for beating the boss at the end of the fifth stratum also counts, since [[spoiler:killing that boss ''killed Etria's Yggdrasil''.]] ''The Millennium Girl'' averts this by having Quinn only praise the party for their feats and deeds, as well as the other [=NPCs=] being fairy optimistic of Etria's well-being [[spoiler:since mystery certainly can't be the only factor keeping the town alive like Visil thinks.]]

* BadassLongRobe: The Hexer class has all its members wear robes to signal their power and talent to inflict debuffs, body binding and status ailments to enemies and bosses.

* {{Cernunnos}}: This mythical creature serves as the boss of the second stratum, the Primitive Jungle. In this game, it is a humanoid creature with massive ram-like horns rather than stag antlers.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Hexers have a spell called [[MeaningfulName Revenge]]. The lower their HP, the stronger it becomes, and a high HP hexer with a single digit of health and a boosted up agility stat can blow through everything. Justified in that it's BloodMagic.

* DesperationAttack: The Hexer's Revenge ability is straight defense-ignoring damage based on how little HP the Hexer has remaining. It was toned ''up'' and made even more powerful in the sequel.

* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Ren and Tlachga, fought together in Lost Shinjuku]]. The paired characters use skills based on certain explorer classes, so they also qualify as {{Mirror Boss}}es; and by the time you face them you realize their intentions aren't as benevolent as you originally thought.

* EscapeBattleTechnique: The Protector can learn the Flee skill, which always escapes the party from any battle where they aren't trapped, and has a chance of dropping them at the last staircase they used.

* OneHitPointWonder: Hexers can become this, if you try to maximize the damage for their Revenge skill -- [[CriticalStatusBuff 255% of the health they've lost will be dealt to the enemy]], but the Hexer will not survive a single blow.
* ThePaladin: The Protector class (actually called Paladins in the Japanese version). They can equip the heaviest armor and most of their abilities revolve around protecting the rest of their party from harm. Their offensive power is decent at best compared to other classes, being bolstered by a ShieldBash skill, and they possess some basic healing abilities.

* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Hexers have the ability Evil Eye, which grants them control over an enemy. Once dominated, they can follow up with Suicide Word, which forces the victim to attack itself.

* {{Sarashi}}: Female Ronin (Bushido) characters wear what looks almost like a standard {{miko}} outfit... with the top open to show a sarashi underneath. Male Ronin, meanwhile, are {{Walking Shirtless Scene}}s.

* StoneWall: The Protector class. While their offense will sometimes be the weakest of the front row, most Protectors will simply laugh at hits that would have overkilled other characters a few levels higher than they. They have skills that further increase their/ally's defense, attract enemy attacks towards themselves, resurrect themselves automatically once per battle, take hits for other, squishier units, and nullify, to add insult to (non)injury, physical attacks.

* WolfpackBoss: A literal example. By itself, the Fenrir is merely a powerful boss (in a game where ''every'' boss is difficult to some degree). However, if you don't take care of the nearby Skoll F.O.E.s before challenging it, they will quickly join the fight and cause even more trouble for you. The VideoGameRemake ''Etrian Odyssey Untold'' makes Fenrir much worse; he'll actively prevent you from dispatching the Skoll before the fight, forcing one of your characters into spamming Flash Bombs (and the occasional Sonic Bomb to prevent Fenrir from summoning a trio of Forest Wolves who, by the way, are immune to Flash Bombs) just so you aren't overwhelmed by numbers. The ''Nexus'' version is more forgiving: Every Skoll minus one can be dispatched without Fenrir or the other Skolls being alerted, which allows you to carefreely inflict damage to Fenrir for many of the first turns as all it will do is summon extra Skolls until a total of four is present in the area.

* InsectQueen: The Queen Bee serves as the second boss of the remake-exclusive Gladsheim. She's not aggresive by nature, but since she's nesting in the power source (which your party needs to activate), fighting her will be an unfortunate necessity.

* RobotNames: M.I.K.E., the AI who watches over Gladsheim and [[spoiler:becomes the last boss found there]], stands for Memetic Installation Keeper Engine.

* EarthAllAlong: The game is set up as taking place AfterTheEnd and leaving a more fantasy-medieval world, but it's not until the fifth stratum -- Lost Shinjuku -- that it's revealed the games take place after Earth suffered a massive ecological disaster. It turns out that [[ScienceIsBad recklessly advancing science and technology]] brought about global warming and miscellaneous environmental calamities to the point that Earth was an uninhabitable wasteland, killing off almost everyone. The few survivors started something called the [[MeaningfulName Yggdrasil Project]] to try to restore the environment, eventually leading to the low-population, completely lush greenery-everywhere medieval fantasy-looking world you're used to. The subsequent games, most of which take place on the same planet, subtly expand on how the rest of the world responded to the disaster.

* AbandonedLaboratory: The newly-added stratum, Gladsheim, is an overgrown research facility that was involved with the Yggdrasil Project. It is guarded by M.I.K.E., an AI who used to have good intentions but is now an antagonistic figure.

* BalkanizeMe: The game has the Canadian province of Ontario as an independent kingdom. The rest of North America, [[AfterTheEnd and presumably the world]], is in a similar state, Ontario is just the only one still going by its original name.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: Despite being a remake of this game in the series, ''Etrian Odyssey Untold'' has late arrival spoilers for the series. The intro features scenes of futuristic technology, and early on in the story mode you visit a ruined high-tech facility, and Raquna reveals she's from Ontario -- which is heavily implied to be exactly where it sounds like. The fact that series is set in a post-apocalyptic future Earth was originally a twist revealed ''extremely'' late in the original version of the game.

* TimedMission: The final area of Gladsheim gives you 50 turns to reach and defeat M.I.K.E. Each step you take counts as a turn, and each turn in combat counts to that limit as well. The area has a few chokepoints guarded by hardy [=FOEs=], and if you reach M.I.K.E. the countdown keeps ticking during the fight with him.

* CombatMedic: The Medic class isn't any good for physical attacks... ''at first'', but later they can deal some of the best damage in the game. Simon Yorke, and any other Medic you choose to give an appropriate Grimoire stone, can become Combat Medics much earlier in the remake.

* SelfRecoverySurprise: The Golem. Aside from being way overpowered in general for the time you can first access it, it heals to half health on the first mortal blow. And when it gets into the last 25% health area after that it casts Regen, which further heals it. However, it is possible to get around all that if a one-hit kill technique triggers. If fact, doing so is required to get a secondary drop from the Golem.

!!Examples that apply to both versions of the game:

** Neither this game nor the second have subclasses, nor any sort of LimitBreak mechanic.

* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Corotrangul, a higly evolved manta ray that can hover in the air and take control of water as well as wind; it serves as the boss of Azure Rainforest. There's also an orange clownfish-like creature with blue fins that appears in Sandy Barrens.

* LimitCreak: The "Boost" action, which increases the effectiveness of a normal skill during the turn when it's executed. When entering a stratum, the Boost gauge for each party member starts empty; but during battle, any action performed (attacking, defending or using an item or passive skill) will gradually increase it until it's full (and only then can the Boost be performed). How effective the Boost is will depend on how leveled up the applied skill currently is. When a character is killed or knocked out and then revived, their gauge will reset to zero and has to be filled up again.

** The Ronin's poor Luck is not going to help with the OneHitKill factor of Beheading Cut, and there's very little reason investing in the Alchemists' Pain Formula series when it requires you to put your SquishyWizard in the front line. This shows up more often in the Untold games where the player is encouraged to create Grimoire stones in order to pass those skills to classes which can make better use of them.

* WhamEpisode: The game seems like your typical fantasy dungeon crawler slash EasternRPG. Then you get to the Fifth Stratum, which is [[spoiler:the ruins of Shinjuku, Japan. Then you find out that the game takes in the future, [[AfterTheEnd after the collapse of civilization]] forced humans to rebuild from scratch.]]

* BalanceBuff: The Ronin's Stance System alternates between buffs and {{nerf}}s a lot between games. From the first to the second, the stances became pure passive effects and let them not waste turns setting up. This had GoneHorriblyRight and made the Ronin the strongest physical DPS, so ''The Millennium Girl'' reverted the Stance mechanic but also gave them an attack skill that temporary enables all stance-specific ones for the next turn. ''The Fafnir Knight'' spliced the above two features and had the Ronin assume stances using damage skills so they don't lose out on damage output, on top of allowing a Ronin to occasionally begin the fight in a Stance. ''Nexus'' refines the system even further, letting the Ronin always begin the fight in their best Stance on top of improving the less-used Stances, along with a CriticalHit factor for their Stance-related skills.

** This being the first game in the series, it's also the one that introduced this trope to it. Not only are there three types of elemental attacks (fire, ice and volt), but also classes that relate to it in some way: Alchemists can learn to harness all three, specializing in area-of-effect attacks that reach most if not all enemies; however, the player may decide it's better to focus on one or two than [[MasterOfNone spread their precious points across all three]]. Protectors, being tank-based combatants, can learn their element-based skills that focus on reducing or negating the elemental attacks coming from enemies and bosses (Antifire or Fire Wall, Anticold or Ice Wall, and Antivolt or Volt Wall). Landsknechts can perform stab attacks imbued with these three elements, but require the allies' attacks to target the enemy the former hit first for the resulting follow-up hits to work.

** In the True Ending for [[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI the first game]], [[spoiler:the loss of the dungeon via destruction of the berserk Yggdrasil Core means that the inhabitants of the base camp town would drift off to other locations with the loss of a steady income of materials]]. The remake fixes this, instead having you [[spoiler:save the woodsfolk from a deadly disease, stopping a pointless apocalypse started from a rogue AI (due to it deciding bullheadedly to fire the Gungir despite there being too much collateral damage from its blast), and capping it all by destroying the EldritchAbomination lurking at the final bottom of the dungeon (The aforementioned Berserk Yggdrasil Core that the Gungnir was meant to terminate in the event of the Core going crazy)]].

* BrutalBonusLevel: The Claret Hollows is easily cited as one of the most brutal bonus levels in the series, packing enemies that quickly classify as DemonicSpiders and unforgiving level design like fiendish teleport mazes or pitfalls to a floor half-covered in damage tiles.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDunbgeon: [[spoiler:Lost Shinjuku]], whose existence provides the horrifying reveal that [[spoiler:the characters are living in a post-apocalyptic world]].

[[redirect:VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey]]