Alternate Character Interpretation: ...just what exactly is the Main Character's personality? Why is he The Determinator? Is it justice, simplicity, desperation, stoicism? Given how many times he has Sweat Drop due to the people around him, players have actually pinned him down as a Deadpan Snarker who just keeps his mouth shut, which may have something to do with the fact that one of the default names you can get by selecting the random name option is Darius.
Anvilicious: Most of the Aesops are tolerable, but the one about America-as-Eagleland is just... over the top. To the point that Etranger even lampshades just how over the top it is.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Level-9 ends with the protagonist's family finally realizing that their son is a hero and that they've all been colossal jackasses to him. For the past eight years. The kid's been their personal Butt-Monkey for over half his life; the idea that he could reconcile with them so easily, let alone learn the "True Power of Love" from the experience, seems painfully contrived.
Nothing really due to the restart at level 1 mechanic, but Cadaver spamnote equip an item that regenerates your EN based on enemies killed, and kill infinitely-respawning undead and the Tiger Dennote Recruit 10 employees in a Mastery Dungeon, your employees will now level up as you do more dungeons stand out. Leveled employees can allow you to do stuff like send back 3-4 items at a time, 9 times in a row, get a good collection of food from your home, or insure 6 items for free. Unlocking the den and figuring out how it causes levelups is a major point of the mid-late normal game and early postgame.
Unlosing Speed. It gives you extra turns based on your speed. If you've been using good parts and some chips...well, you can get about ten turns in a row, and FRAG the last boss.
Heartwarming Moments: Most of the chapter endings qualify, but especially Chapter 9, as well as the ending.
Iron Woobie: The main character. Given a chance to be a superhero, he ends up becoming the No-Respect Guy, getting his ass kicked over and over again, only gaining a name from himself because he's too stubborn to stay down.Then you realize what his home life is like — He did the same thing to save his sister from a serial killer, only to have her get amnesia from the sight, leading to it effectively destroying his family, having them turn on him, and them blaming him for everything that ever goes wrong with their lives.
Nightmare Fuel: The kidnapper that kidnapped Choco and the main character 8 years before the game was said to be a serial kidnapper, so this wasn't the first time he struck. He threatens to eat them alive. Think about that for awhile.
Scrappy Mechanic: If your power goes out or the game is otherwise turned off in the middle, the game treats it as you having died, meaning you lose all items and money on hand. This is to prevent Save Scumming (turning off the system and restarting from the last save) but does little to help if your PSP has a flaky battery, for example. Luckily, players are able to upload their save files onto a computer and then copy it back onto the PSP when things go bad, so it hasn't completely eradicated Save Scumming. Plus, the PSP has a good sleep mode setting, which minimizes less inconsistent battery lives. It isn't nearly as big of a problem with the PC port (short of a system crash).
That One Boss: Although the game's already known for being a Nintendo HardGrindfest, Level-4's boss fight against Bizarro Prince Geo has gained the reputation as being the hardest story dungeon of the game.
The Un-Twist: Etranger is Super Baby. Given that Etranger is, effectively, wearing scaled up baby clothes, including the same clock-toy that Super Baby is...
