Etrian Odyssey Music Month

[Adoochi]

The Etrian Odyssey series is a long-standing line of dungeon-crawler RPGs, dating back to the DS, and one that I’ve had the pleasure of getting into this last year. Inspired by the Wizardry series, the games feature a cast of player made characters of varying classes journeying through a labyrinth (usually the World Tree) in an attempt to discover what secrets it may hold. In fact, the Japanese name of the series is a lot more accurate; Sekaiju no Meikyū (literally “Labyrinth of Yggdrasil”). By and far the most unique aspect of the franchise is that the player creates their own map using the touch screen, drawing in walls, painting floors, placing doors, all for the sake of helping you navigate. It’s genuinely one of the best implementations of the DS touchscreen I’ve seen in a game and is something that doesn’t feel as good when playing on an emulator, though it still works fine enough.

Over the course of this month, I plan on running something of a series retrospective on the lorums (and maybe on the discord?, admins are asleep), talking about core series mechanics and their evolution over time. I’ll mainly be focusing on the main series (EO1 through EO5), but I’ll probably touch on Persona Q and how that game influenced mainline EO. Of course, even I wouldn’t be able to throw together an analysis of a mechanic or two a day, so I figured it would be best to pair it alongside one of the best things of the franchise; the music!

To be clear, we’ll be going in chronological order of the series, with two tracks being featured a day, alongside an arrangement or two of each. I’ll give my thoughts on the pieces, and maybe throw in a discussion on a series mechanic. When we start a new game in the retrospective, I’ll give my thoughts on it, as well as a general overview of how things have changed since the last game. The breakdown will roughly be as follows:

Dec 1st-4th: Etrian Odyssey
Dec 5th-7th: Etrian Odyssey 2
Dec 8th-16th: Etrian Odyssey 3
Dec 17th-20th: Etrian Odyssey 4
Dec 21st: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
Dec 22nd: Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight
Dec 23rd-27th: Etrian Odyssey 5
Dec 28th-30th: Fan Albums
Dec 31st: Closing Thoughts

Things might shift around a bit, but this is based off the list of tracks I’ve thrown together.
First proper post will be going up tonight (or maybe early tomorrow) since my sleep schedule is wack.

[Adoochi]

Day 1(ish):

To help give context to how the series (and each game) plays, I’ll be including a link to a screenshot LP for each game when we start a new one in the retrospective. https://lparchive.org/Etrian-Odyssey/

The first game in the series, aptly called “Etrian Odyssey” was released in early 2007 in Japan, and mid 2007 here in North America (on my birthday, no less). Now obviously I can’t talk about how mechanics have changed since this is the first game, so I’ll instead briefly touch on how the soundtrack is handled.

The main series composer, Yuzo Koshiro, first creates the soundtrack in a style similar to what the PC-9801 could produce, which is then compressed in order to fit onto the game cartridge. From what I understand, this was done to pay homage to the series’ more retro roots, while also taking up (relatively) little space on the cartridge. When the soundtrack was released, they included both the compressed and uncompressed versions, the latter of which is what I plan on showcasing. I’ll also be showing off the “Super Arrange” versions of the track if it has one (basically just official remixes), as well as the version found in the remake. Speaking of which, Etrian Odyssey Untold gives you the option of using the OG soundtrack, but in its uncompressed glory. Even the new tracks had FM versions made of them which is cool.

Now, as for how the original game holds up?

Ehhhhh….

You can tell it’s the first game, I’ll say that much. Your mapping options are extremely limited, shortcuts for bypassing floors you’ve cleared are few and far between, shortcuts aren’t marked which makes finding them a chore, there’s a lot of bad skills that you can get, etc. Honestly, I think it’s hard to recommend the original game nowadays. While I don’t think the remake is perfect (and we’ll get to it later), I do think it’s a large improvement over the original in most ways. Still, the original was novel for its time, I just think you’re better off playing basically any other game in the series instead.

The music suggestions for today are going to be both* of the town themes. The first, The Roadside Trees Outside the Window, plays during the in-game day, as well as while you’re inside the Inn. It’s a great little track for taking the stress off after spending some time in the labyrinth.



The Untold version is what I felt like the original was trying to be and is generally softer on the ears now that it uses more “normal” instruments. Honestly I’m fine with either version.



The Super Arrange version uses a different instrumentation but is most unique in that it has lyrics now. It’s alright, not my favorite, but not bad either. Also fun fact: you might recognize the vocalist of this track from Nier and Nier: Automata, she’s just using a pseudonym here.



The other track we’ll be talking about is The Lounge Where We Speak of Tomorrow. This plays in the town square during night and will always play in the shop and bar. A trend you’ll probably come to realize over the course of this retrospective is that I tend to prefer the night themes, and this is absolutely not an exception here. It’s such a great jazzy piece.



While I shared similar opinions between the OG and Untold versions of the Town: Day tracks, the same cannot be said here. The Untold version blows the original out of the water. Genuinely one of my favorite town themes in a game period.



Unfortunately, there was no Super Arrange version made.

*There’s actually a third town theme, Bird Shaped Vane on the Roof, but it only plays after clearing a late game side quest, and only during the day while in the plaza. As far as I know, this is the only game in the series to do something like this. I didn’t include it since most players don’t get a chance to hear it, it requires a certain level of context (ie: spoilers) for it to really have impact, and I feel The Roadside Trees Outside the Window is a better track in general. Still, feel free to go check it out on your own time if you want.