Atelier Series - a mysterious gust in a forum of tropes

Atelier Ayesha now has a NA release date of March 5th.[1]

I enjoyed the crap out of the entire Atelier trilogy on the ps3, and will probably pick this one up as soon as its available.

Got a lot to look forward to this march.

I'm really looking forward to this one too. I didn't like Rorona or Totori much, but I loved Meruru. My family thinks I'm insane for liking it, but it's so nice to play a game that doesn't have a big epic plot that, while containing RPG battles and all that, doesn't emphasize violence.

On a scale from 1 to Instabuy, how good is the Atelier Iris-series? I got in on the PS 2 a little late, and I'm looking for classic games and series I've missed out.

Atelier Iris is about a 6-8 on a scale of 10. They're kind of clunky, the stories are nothing special, and the third is completely unconnected to the first two with the exception of one character's name. If you've ever played Mana Khemia, the Atelier Iris games are leading up to them in terms of gameplay structure.

The first game has a problem with the stakes feeling utterly disconnected from the story and it's really easy to get confused about where to go. The third game seems to think that it's stakes are much higher than they actually are, and the opening seems to want to make the game seem much more intense than it actually is.

Essentially, the three of them were among Gust's first attempts to make more traditional jRPGs. They were followed up by Ar Tonelico, which is rather different in execution and style.

edited 17th Jan '13 12:15:08 PM by Zendervai

I see...and Mana Khemia?

I tried Atelier Iris, but got bored with it pretty fast and moved on to other things. It just didnt have that same compulsive draw the ps3 titles had for me.

Mana Khemia is a lot of fun. As long as you get the PS 2 versions. The PSP version of the first one stinks. It's one of those school-based series, but the alchemy and all that gives it a nice twist to the formula. The characters are fun, the battle system is great and the plots, while somewhat thin and easily sidetracked, are interesting. On the surface it looks like there's time management, but there isn't really. Once you finish an assignment, the day changes, but before the assignment is complete, you can take your time. Some of the assignments are timed, as in finish the dungeon in this span of time, but most of the time it doesn't really matter. You can wander around in a dungeon for three days, judging from the day-night cycle, and it would stay the first day of the week.

I forgot to mention this. Atelier Iris 2 IMO is the best out of the trilogy. The plot is consistent and coherent, the battle system is good, and it doesn't have some of the problems of the other two. Although, Atelier Iris 3 has the best battle system. It's not a trilogy you want to play out of order if you do play all three. The plot of the first two barely connects as well.

edited 17th Jan '13 12:42:45 PM by Zendervai

I hate how Tecmo Koei is screwing things up for us. I mean, mandatory NO JAP VOICES?? I don't know what I'll be after enduring the talentless English voice actings.

EDIT: I'm talking about how Ayesha will be localized.

edited 17th Jan '13 3:13:57 PM by Cassie

I found the PS 3 Ateliers to have some pretty good voice work, for some of its characters at least. But YMMV, so having the option is always preferable. Oh well.

It's a pity that there won't be a Japanese option, as I prefer original voices over localized ones. The English version will better be good. Or at least decent.

At least, there is little chance that there will be character derailing-shit like in Meruru, since it will have a new setting.

Bought and finished Atelier Ayesha.

Good game, although I liked Totori and Meruru better. The game play had a lot of quality of life improvements, but by the end of the game it had almost gotten too easy, and I had way too much time to spare with all the best equipment already.

Sadly I missed a few key event flags, otherwise I could've gotten a platinum trophy on my first playthrough. Closest I've ever gotten to something like that.

Story was nothing to write home about, but they never are. Characters were relatively entertaining. The voice acting was actually top notch, with a lot of voices I recognized, but a lot of scenes were sadly left unvoiced.

Ayesha is my introduction to the series; it hooked me good and quickly. However...

I'm very quickly running out of time, so I'm probably headed to the "bad" ending.

So on that note... what do I keep for my inevitable "Let's try this again now that I know what I'm doing" New Game Plus?

I've decided to get one of the Atelier games for PS 3, since I played Lina for the NDS and enjoyed it more than I'd expect, but I'm having a hard time on deciding on which one to get. The reviews are a bit all over the place, especially since most of them were written before all the games even existed.

So I decided to ask here, what do you people think of as the best game in the series? Is it the same game as the one best to start with?

Don't get Atelier Rorona, it was badly made but allowed the series to go in the right direction to start the trilogy. Unless you get the Vita remake then it's cool. You could start with Tortoi but I think maybe 4 characters will be over your head with their interactions since they mention past events I think. But it shouldn't be terrible. Meruru takes characters from Rorona and Totori and is considered the best in the series trilogy. If you enjoyed Totori this should be your next choice. Atelier Ayesha is set in a different universe from the previous trilogy so if you want to play something and understand it all go to Ayesha. All 4 games are on or are currently being remade for the Vita. I know for sure that Tortoi and Meruru are already on the Vita in the states but you can also find it on PS 3. I hope this helps.

edited 5th Feb '14 8:48:26 AM by mega-dark

Rorona's Vita remake is also on PS 3 due to how much it changes.

IMO, best game to start on is Meruru. Do not start on Ayesha.

edited 5th Feb '14 10:54:35 AM by burnpsy

Story wise don't start with Ayesha or did they change so much from Meruru to Ayesha?

Ayesha is a good story place to start, but the alchemy system is (as expected) unlike the previous set of Atelier games (think Mana Khemia's without the roulette).

For a lot of the game, you're left to your own devices with no direction to either spend time or progress, which fits perfectly with the plot. I'd suggest a title that at least quietly prods you along first. Ayesha's a fine second game in all respects.

Oh, Atelier Meruru also feels like it moves a lot faster than the other games because of the Kingdom Development system. There are a lot less short time limits and you can see the changes you make on the kingdom map and in the different areas. Also, Meruru gets to beat up like three dragons if you do well enough at the game.

Meruru it is then. Found it for a good price and seems like it doesn't have obnoxious amounts of DLC either.

Thanks for the help.

I figure this thread's due for a revival, given the frequency of recent Atelier localizations.

We have Atelier Shallie slated for March and Atelier Ayesha Plus slated for January. Not to mention that Japan recently announced Rorona for the 3DS.

I'm a bit wary of picking up Shallie due to how glitchy the Japanese version was until it got several patches. Not to mention we might have "excellent" localization QA like with Escha & Logy and Rorona Plus again. Anyone wanna chime in?

Having beaten Rorona Plus twice, what exactly bad about it?

Rorona was handled much better than Escha & Logy or, say, Ar nosurge, since all they had to do was alter an existing script.

But that didn't stop typos in multiple tutorials, I caught a line left in Japanese, and things of that nature. Like with Escha & Logy, the story text was fine.

I guess I should have used Ar nosurge as my example instead. It and Escha & Logy were clearly not proofread.

How big are the Vita games? The memory cards are a bit too expensive to invest in, so if they're too big, I'll have to go with the the Japanese versions.

Around 3GB each.

nvm

edited 17th Jan '15 6:37:16 AM by Memers