hopefully after posting this people will liven up this topic since i personally think this is an incredible ''hardcore/oldschool'' rpg and such a title should demand attention, especially wen it is as well made as this one.

anywho down to the topic: wadid u guys initially pick for a party? i have a few suggestions that i found effective:

i started with a front line of landsknecht and protector backed by an alchemist, medic, and troubador. the troubador proved virtually useless so i substituted it with a war magus on the front line. this made a big difference and the party was very solid. at the moment im experimenting with different combinations such as front line landsknecht, dark hunter and war magus, backed by another war magus and an alchemist. the war magis are mainly for double regenall and cure capabilities. i wus even thinkin of experimenting with parties consisting solely of war magis and protectors for massive health regen per turn and big defenses. anyway thats my two cents fer now so post anythin u guys think would work!

well i just stick with my primary party in etrian odyssey I, a landsketch(?), protector, medic, survivalist and alchemist... though i simultaneously changed my survivalist with a hexer... i'm still thinking if i'm going to get a war magus... but the thing is, some of the skill that the protector and survivalist have in the previous EO is missing... in original EO, there's the skill of the protector that increases the party's defense which was way really helpful! and the quicken skill that the survivalist has really helped me to increase my party's speed... so sad...T_T

Im pretty confused as to why my party get owned - can somebody tell me why they get owned ? my party consists of a lvl 6 landsknecht atk 40, def 17 - lvl 6 protector atk 26 def 29 - lvl 5 Ronin 39 atk 22def - lvl 6 alchemist 23atk 16def and a lvl 6 medic 22atk 15def. all of their hp is higher than 50 all TP ranging from 27 (landskecht) to 60 (alchemist) i deal around 60damage with landskecht , 20dmg prot, 50dmg Ronin (with a nice instant-kill ability maxed, with fire formula around 60 dmg on alchemist and about 10dmg on my medic. please tell me why i die so often !

@kimahri210
Medics shouldn't deal any sort of attack, at least until you get Caduceus, they're best at healing (DUH!). Your defences are also rather weak. At lvl 6, your defence shouldn't be below 20. Get some armor. If you don't have any money, stick to the first couple of floors and farm for some drops. It'll help get money and unlock better weapons and armor.

The Quicken skill in EO1 is now a Force skill with a new name: Airwalk.

My starting party was Front: Protector, War Magus, Ronin; Back: Medic, Troubadour. I also thought the Troubadour was useless, and switched with a Hexer, which improved my overall team immensely. Max Poison was really useful to get rid of certain sturdy monsters, plus War Magus' -Cuts helped deal quite a good amount of damage.

When I unlocked Beast, I switched it with my Protector, for a Beast is essentially a Protector on steroids. Lol. The team did me okay so far, although I have a habit of consuming a lot of TP. ^^;

I have four beasts and a troubadour as my strongest team and they have never died....(the force skills have been key.)

Advice would be that once you can retire people, take off all their equipment and reorganize your party. I'm at this part right now, and its kind of anoying. But, what i found thats fairly useful, is getting a new character with 21+ ap points at 15. Good combo teams are

Protector/Beast + Provoke/Brisle & Preen + Party = Almighty Defence

(War Magus + Transfer + Cursecut) + (Hexer + Corrupt) = Unlimited magic in a dungeon. These are what you shoudl try to train once you retire two units.

The bard class is funny, and good for EXP once you retire people, but beyond that, you don't really need it.

Hexers deal a lot of damage, and their curses are fun to numb enemies. My favorite is one with Evil Eye and Suicide R 5. The enemy attacks itself 3 times in one turn. Easy on bosses if you can get them terrified.

Survivalists and Beasts are nice to get things from gathering points. It'd be nice to think about investing in one or the other if you want to unlock times early on.

Advise on retirement, NEVER RETIRE YOUR HEALER! Its a pain in the butt. I got my healer with a good cure, and R 5 TP regen don't mess that up. TP regen is a huge bonus along with the War Magus' transfer skill.

Overall, Hexers are one of my favorites. Alchemists are great for dealing damage if you can get passed their low defences, but gunners are just the same with lower element attacks. Their riskshot skills are helpful to bring down enemies quick and are great when teaming up with a provoke user.

Um....this is for advanced players but here is my party:

Front line:
Protector(smite,fortify,en garde,aegis)
Ronin(shiraha,midareba{need stat boost luck,speed,strength})
Back line:
medic(cure set,salve set,revive,cpr,phoenix,caduceus)
Hexers,2 of them(revenge...DEFINITELY revenge,Hp,Tp,Tec up--always have your hexer hp low,for revenge can do up to 2500 dmg if hexer has 999 hp,w/1 hp remaning)

This is just for quick boss kills
watch my vids on boss kills on youtube by typing "klonoamouse" and watch them

FYI;when retiring,wait till they hit max level because the 1st level cap is 70,when u retire at 70,u get a level 30 recruit w/ 50+ AP,and the level cap increases to 71,everytime u retire at max level,the level cap goes up by one til 99,and the recruit is always level 30,but the higher level retirer,the more Ap the recruit has.

Fast leveling involves in training one person only when they are ready,OR u can respawn bosses by sleeping at the inn for 14 in game days

Ive been rocking:

Boss/FOEs:
Front: Ronin/Beast
Back: Bard/Medic/Hexer

Normal leveling/Roaming around:
Front: Ronin/Beast
Back: Gunner/Medic/Survivalist

Right now ive got them all in their mid 30's... (Bard and Hexer are a bit lower- but they do what I need them to)

I just use the Bard to buff defense - Mastered the defensive song, and the hexer to decrease strength/defense - Mastered the minus strength.

Then I pick away at them with whatever while the bosses+foes do less than 20 damage/hit to me...

the beast is IMO better than the protector so long as you have en garde+loyalty... its workin awesome for defense - add in the fact that you can put him to sleep to heal him - it saves the medic mad tp=you stay alive longer.

quote xk00zx

Ive been rocking:

Boss/FOEs:
Front: Ronin/Beast
Back: Bard/Medic/Hexer

Normal leveling/Roaming around:
Front: Ronin/Beast
Back: Gunner/Medic/Survivalist

Right now ive got them all in their mid 30's... (Bard and Hexer are a bit lower- but they do what I need them to)

I just use the Bard to buff defense - Mastered the defensive song, and the hexer to decrease strength/defense - Mastered the minus strength.

Then I pick away at them with whatever while the bosses+foes do less than 20 damage/hit to me...

the beast is IMO better than the protector so long as you have en garde+loyalty... its workin awesome for defense - add in the fact that you can put him to sleep to heal him - it saves the medic mad tp=you stay alive longer.

true,putting the beast to sleep is good,but that isn't smart later on--getting hit when it is asleep could prove incredibly fatal,but i guess it's fixed by refresh.Ronin,you should max out the skill called"midareba",it's the strongest skill for a ronin.
the troubador should max out bravery,rather then shelter,but that works too,also,max out stamina for one reason;hexers become godly at 1 hp,with a maxed out revenge,with 800-999 hp,revenge does 1,700-2,538 dmg.

Never use a gunner,they are terrible,alchemists are better and somewhat faster.War maguses are great all-around(support&combat)
dark hunters are much better than they seem