History YMMV / AtelierSeries

** Another was ''Judie'' to ''Viorate'': ''Judie'' was a fairly disappointing game that took away some of the elements of previous games in an apparent attempt to broaden franchise appeal (and failed badly); ''Viorate'' took the few good things from Judie, wedded them to the systems of the older games, and is generally seen as being in a dead heat for "Best [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]] Atelier Game" alongside ''Mana Khemia''.

** Finally, many fans claim that the Arland series, ''Atelier Meruru'' in particular, is this to ''most of the franchise''. As [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 PS3]] games which went nearly full-on 3D while still bringing the old alchemy-centric gameplay back to consoles after half a decade out in the cold, a lot of gamers on both sides of the Pacific took a shine to what the games did. The fact that the Arland games were [[CashCowFranchise first time since the PS1 era that the franchise sold six-figures consistently]] has not hurt this perception.

* FanPreferredCouple: It is a ''sniff'', a ''hair's breadth'', from 100% universally-accepted {{Fanon}} that Totori and Mimi are in a long-term, monogamous romantic relationship. ''Atelier Totori'' itself gives Totori several fairly-equally-weighted "romantic" options, but all others are virtually nonexistent in fandom, on both sides of the Pacific. In ''Atelier Meruru'', Gust gave these fans [[ArmedWithCanon some additional canon to arm themselves with]], while still not outright saying the two are a couple (partially to ensure the Gino option from Totori wasn't totally invalidated).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Or, as one might say, "Alchemy Is Unoriginal". Quite a few prospective fans and consumers have pooh-poohed the games that have made the trip over the Pacific over the years for being unoriginal in story and for crafting and alchemy being "nothing really special". While the story criticisms for the ''Iris'' games are, well, [[ClicheStorm probably not entirely unwarranted]], the early games were the games which introduced robust crafting systems into [=JRPGs=] in the first place and were also among the first ones to use alchemy as a central world-framing concept in Japanese pop culture. Thanks to [[NoExportForYou the sluggishness of the series]] in crossing the Pacific, however, everything influenced by the series got here first and made ''Atelier'' look comparatively unoriginal, especially in the [[TurnOfTheMillennium earlier noughts]] when the series was only represented by the ''Iris'' games. Later titles would shake off this reputation by developing an identity of their own, which entails making the alchemy system more complex to the point where it's as important as exploration and combat, while also telling SliceOfLife-oriented stories that feel refreshingly lighthearted among all of the serious SaveTheWorld RPG plots.

** Gillian Clout of ''Atelier Annie'' is another good one; her name was initially given in Japanese sources as "Jalia Kraut". Thankfully NISA had the good sense to put that to bed quick-smart.

* WidgetSeries: A lot of debate as to whether or not this even applies. Many in the industry certainly seem to think so, given the obstinance with which they refuse to bring over the earlier games; however, those very earlier games especially were meant to be as ''Western'' as possible to Japanese audiences what with the [[LowFantasy down-to-earth plotlines and characters]] and conspicuous [[GratuitousGerman non-Japanese language]] and all. The ''Iris'' games and ''Mana Khemia'' tend to be a little weirder, but not confoundingly so by any measure.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Good lord, this series has had [[AwesomeMusic/{{Atelier}} a lot of good music]]. Gust Sound Team is only ''slightly'' less well-known than [[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Falcom's JDK Band]] in this regard in Japan.

* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: In theory, you're supposed to balance alchemy, exploration, and combat. In the games where you don't have a time limit, however, it's easy to get absorbed into the alchemy mechanics and end up spending way too long creating the perfect item, looping syntheses into each other to bump up your quality and get the best traits. The ''Mysterious'' series, where item crafting involves fitting tiles on a grid like a PuzzleGame, can be especially fun yet time-consuming.

** The one most English-speakers will be familiar with is Veola from ''Atelier Iris 1''; there are [[EpilepticTrees suspicions]] that said game might have started life as "Atelier Veola" and then gotten development shifted partway through into what went to print. The result, though, is that this one shopkeeper, who doesn't seem all that important initially, has as much story content tied to her as the ''main plot'', and many find it ''more'' engaging than the actual plot of ''AI 1''. A lot of people don't play the game for Klein or Lita, they play it for Veola, and she's far and away the most popular ''AI 1'' character both in Japan and overseas.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Or, as one might say, "Alchemy Is Unoriginal". Quite a few prospective fans and consumers have pooh-poohed the games that have made the trip over the Pacific over the years for being unoriginal in story and for crafting and alchemy being "nothing really special". While the story criticisms for the ''Iris'' games are, well, [[ClicheStorm probably not entirely unwarranted]], the early games were the games which introduced robust crafting systems into [=JRPGs=] in the first place and were also among the first ones to use alchemy as a central world-framing concept in Japanese pop culture. Thanks to [[NoExportForYou the sluggishness of the series]] in crossing the Pacific, however, everything influenced by the series got here first and made ''Atelier'' look comparatively unoriginal, especially in the [[[[TurnOfTheMillennium earlier noughts]] when the series was only represented by the ''Iris'' games.

* SurpriseDifficulty: These games are full of {{Moe}}, cute girls, and SliceOfLife plots (except for the [=PS2=] games, which are closer to traditional [=JRPGs=]). So you'd expect a laid-back, relaxing experience, right? Wrong. It varies from game to game, but usually, if you don't take the time to master the complex alchemy mechanics and craft good equipment, you won't stand a chance against most enemies. This is compounded by the fact that in many of these games, you're on a TimedMission, so you absolutely need to find the correct balance between gathering materials, completing requests, and synthesizing new items. This alone is enough to scare off many potential fans from the earlier installments. And once you've beaten the game, don't think the challenge is over, because the {{Bonus Boss}}es are NintendoHard, and will absolutely ''annihilate'' you if your equipment isn't optimal.

** The Arland games have a tendency cause this. Certain fandom sections often describe the Arland games (and thus the wider franchise) as "[[HGame eroge without the actual ero bits]]" and are mostly in it for [[{{Fanservice}} the girls]] and, uh, [[ADateWithRosiePalms what they can do]] [[{{Squick}} with them]]. This makes many older ''Atelier'' fans '''bristle with rage''', as the games have ''never'' been intended to be erotic; [[MsFanservice Marie's odd chest... thing]] aside, the hottest any pre-Iris game got was having Lilie in a nightgown for one scene. [[note]]And really, the hottest any ''post''-Iris, pre-Arland game got was a chest-and-up BarbieDollAnatomy scene of Lita in a tank in ''Iris 1''.[[/note]] The actual Arland games don't help ''at all'', either; on the one hand, there's the occasional scene with, uh, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atelier_tentacle_ohdear_5207.jpg what can only be called "overtones"]] (possibly NSFW), but on the other hand, Arland games are nowhere near close to actual eroges, and the actual ''occurrence'' of "fanservice" is less than contemporary [=JRPGs=], to boot. At this point many people aren't quite sure what to think, but the debate [[FlameWar rages on]] even today.
** Are [[TimedMission time limits]] a good or bad thing? One part of the fan base feels that the timer adds to the challenge, [[AntiGrinding discourages grinding]] in favor of encouraging making better items, adds a sense of consequence to each of the player's actions, and just paces the game better in general. The other part finds the time limit overly stressful (to the point where some players are scared off from trying the games where time is limited), claim it takes away from the player's freedom, or that it [[FakeLongevity forces them to replay the game multiple times]].

** As popular as Veola is, though, the absolute ''queen'' of Atelier Darkhorses is, without a doubt, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Helmina/Hermina]] of the original series. Introduced as a kind of pseudo-villain in ''Atelier Elie'', she was ''so'' well-written, so engaging, so interesting and so casually evil (she even [[spoiler: comes close to ''killing'' Elie with a narcotic potion that could stop her heart, and she applies the antidote just in time for Elie to not die; she does this out of ''curiosity'', to test the poison's efficaciousness, and is perfectly confident that the antidote will stop Elie from dying, which Elie has mixed feelings about]]) that the Japanese fanbase fell in love with her immediately. Her portrayal in supplementary materials, such as various spinoff manga, only cemented her popularity further. She became so popular that she (and Ingrid, from ''Atelier Marie'') were put into ''Atelier Lilie'' as the {{Kid Sidekick}}s to the heroine of that game, and the popularity of the more innocent Helmina portrayed here compelled Gust to release ''Hermina & Culus'', a product that is essentially an expansion to ''Lilie'' and finally features Helmina in a starring role (and portrays what would become Helmina's StartOfDarkness... [[LighterAndSofter sort of]]).
*** She ''then'' shows up as a wandering alchemist party member in ''Atelier Judie'', which still takes place some time before she becomes a teacher in ''Atelier Elie''. This would be her last appearance, however, as after ''Atelier Viorate'' Gust began to create continuities separate from the original "Salburg" one. Helmina still held the record for consecutive product appearances, however, all due to fan demand, before ''just barely'' being edged out by Pamela Ibis thanks to ''Mana Khemia 2''.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Or, as one might say, "Alchemy Is Unoriginal". Quite a few prospective fans and consumers have pooh-poohed the games that have made the trip over the Pacific over the years for being unoriginal in story and for crafting and alchemy being "nothing really special". While the story criticisms for the ''Iris'' games are probably not unwarranted, the early games were the games which introduced robust crafting systems into [=JRPGs=] in the first place and were also the first ones to use alchemy as a world-framing concept in Japanese pop culture. Thanks to [[NoExportForYou the sluggishness of the series]] in crossing the Pacific, however, everything influenced by the series got here first and made ''Atelier'' look like the unoriginal one.
* {{Sequelitis}}: Even the most die-hard Gust fanboy has to admit that, with no less than one release every year, the franchise has ached at times due to all of its sequels; even attempts to legitimately mix up the franchise such as ''Mana Khemia'' or ''Atelier Annie'' (which added a little SimulationGame to the mix, with its focus on helping to develop an island) sometimes came off as a bit stale, and quality assurance took a ''precipitous'' dip in the [[TurnOfTheMillennium late Noughts]], as evidenced by ''Atelier Liese'' and ''Mana Khemia 2'' and their '''evisceration''' in the Japanese gaming press (to say nothing of the ''titanic'' voluntary recall that ''Atelier Liese'' saw at one point). The series was on a roll again up to ''Shallie'', which ended the Dusk trilogy in a disappointing manner, with ''Sophie'' selling mostly because of the promises that Atelier is going back to its roots. People then found out that ''Sophie'' was anything but that, which led to the low sales of the other two of the Mysterious trilogy. It doesn't help that ''Firis'' launched in, once again, a horribly buggy state. ''Lydie & Suelle'' was more well-received, but it was too late for the trilogy.

** The one most English-speakers will be familiar with is Veola from ''Atelier Iris 1''; there are [[EpilepticTrees suspicions]] that said game might have started life as "Atelier Veola" and then gotten development shifted partway through into what it is now. The result, though, is that this one shopkeeper, who doesn't seem all that important initially, has as much story content tied to her as the ''main plot'', and many find it ''more'' engaging than the actual plot of ''AI 1''. A lot of people don't play the game for Klein or Lita, they play it for Veola, and she's far and away the most popular ''AI 1'' character both in Japan and overseas.
** As popular as Veola is, though, the absolute ''queen'' of Atelier Darkhorses is, without a doubt, Helmina of the original series. Introduced as a kind of pseudo-villain in ''Atelier Elie'', she was ''so'' well-written, so engaging, so interesting and so casually evil (she even [[spoiler: comes close to ''killing'' Elie with a narcotic potion that could stop her heart, and she applies the antidote just in time for Elie to not die; she does this out of ''curiosity'']]) that the Japanese fanbase fell in love with her immediately. Her portrayal in supplementary materials, such as various spinoff manga, only cemented her popularity further. She became so popular that she (and Ingrid, from ''Atelier Marie'') were put into ''Atelier Lilie'' as the {{Kid Sidekick}}s to the heroine of that game, and the popularity of the more innocent Helmina portrayed here compelled Gust to release ''Helmina & Culus'', a product that is essentially an expansion to ''Lilie'' and finally features Helmina in a starring role (and portrays what would become Helmina's StartOfDarkness).
*** She ''then'' shows up as a wandering alchemist party member in ''Atelier Judie'', which still takes place some time before she becomes a teacher in ''Atelier Elie''. This would be her last appearance, however, as after ''Atelier Viorate'' Gust began to create continuities separate from the original "Salburg" one. Helmina still holds the record for consecutive product appearances, however, all due to fan demand.

** Barrel!

* SurpriseDifficulty: These games are full of {{Moe}}, cute girls, and SliceOfLife plots (except for the [=PS2=] games, which are closer to traditional [=JRPGs=]). So you'd expect a laid-back, relaxing experience, right? Wrong. If you don't take the time to master the complex alchemy mechanics and craft good equipment, you won't stand a chance against most enemies. This is compounded by the fact that in many of these games, you're on a TimedMission, so you absolutely need to find the correct balance between gathering materials, completing requests, and synthesizing new items. This alone is enough to scare off many potential fans from the earlier installments. And once you've beaten the game, don't think the challenge is over, because the {{Bonus Boss}}es are NintendoHard, and will absolutely ''annihilate'' you if your equipment isn't optimal.

* ThatOneBoss: Beginning with Prism, almost everyone in the latter half of ''Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana'' and the Slaith Reincarnation in ''Atelier Iris 2''. Averted in the third Iris game where Shadow Stalker, the One Boss, is completely optional (although you'll miss out on the Luplus Blades.)

* GameBreaker: Since in some of the games you can craft your own weapons and armor or items with certain properties, knowing the right combination of ingredients and synthesis steps will allow you to craft equipment and items that just do absurd things. Like how about having a healing item that restores all HP, MP, status, and does it again f after everyone else has had a turn?