It took a while for me to really get into it, but Atelier Ayesha was nice! This one's right in the middle as far as ranking it against the Secret, Mysterious, and Arland games. I also wasn't expecting to like Keithgriff as much as I did! I usually don't like characters like him.

I do wish that the games didn't look so brown and washed out. I get that's sort of the style they're going for, but I don't think it looks good. I also think some of the objectives could have stood to be a bit more clear. I felt aimless for much of my playtime. But if you've played through the other trilogies released on modern platforms and still want more, I still think this game's worth giving a shot.

tragedy struck my life the other month when my pc exploded for absolutely no reason whatsoever and all the people who know me know that I basically live thanks to my laptop its become a part of me and when I tell you I had panic attacks and anxiety all the time it was getting repaired i swear I'm not lying here so whatever at least sloth made me download dragalia lost which I'm enjoying too fucking much . so long story short my pc came back and I could go back to PLAYING GAMES !!!!!!!!!! and also study for my university exams but I don't care those are my hobbies my job is playing games 24/7 ok so that being said I formatted my pc because I thought THAT was the problem like some viruses due to me watching and downloading everything gay pornography from the Internet but apparently it was a fan problem so useless now actually my pc needed some sort of cleaning because again literally loads and loads of trash BUT I saved all my game data I'm not fucking dumb and then when it was the time to get back to my sweet little baby totori and complete the game since I was really close to the last third of the game I realised that somehow save files weren't PRESENT I lost an entire day trying to find these fucking save files and they're NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ????

ok so i said fuck totori for now im not replaying all that what the actual fuck imma return on it during this marathon but god am I not gonna go through all that again rn sorry meruru you will have to wait

SOOOOOOO I NEEDED TO MOVE FORWARD in my marathon and I decided that ayesha was the way to go for now actual reason whatsoever I just really wanted to play this because ayesha looked so cute and fun and shit

so ayesha ayesha ayesha let's just say that I had a lot of different expectations for this installment but I deadass thought the dusk series would be closer to the ryza series for some reason even though they are closer to the arland series in time and space so i have no idea why I had that impression

that being said as soon as I booted up the game AND I watched the fucking intro guys . I had goosebumps I KNEW this was gonna be a damn Good Game™ from 15 seconds of that opening im not joking I think they put some drugs in there its so absolutely evoking the music is blissful and the singing is so personal and mind you that's probably my favorite part of the entire game can you even believe that

now i saw some people around in the world recommending ayesha as a very good entry point for the entire atelier series so as I'm basically an atelier connoisseur now (I finished like 4 or 5 installments) I think mmmmmmmmmm mmmmm lemme think maybe they could be right ayesha is perfectly good as a mid point either for the arland series which has the infamous “””hard”””time limit and also for the newer installments that dont have time limits and shit so yeah i guess in general this could be a good entry point yeah i get it also even though the time limit is also present but its reaaaaaaaaaaaally toned down to the point that you actually have a lot of time to do everything you need to do now umhhhhh beware that the time limit is still there I think I fucked around too damn much because I had like 1 month left to kill the final boss and I almost didn't save nio and if that happened I would've (tw/suicide) kms no joke /j

I still managed to get a …… gooooood ending ???? actually I still haven't watched the ending compilation like I do with every atelier but since I saved nio I guess its at least ONE of the good ones I got the one where ayesha follows Keith to become mmmmmm a better alchemist what was that

so anyway yeah for those wondering atelier ayesha is a good entry point for me I still think atelier ryza is the BEST entry point and definitely the installment that made me crush so hard for the entire series theres definitely no fucking reason for you to NOT start with ryza but if you for some reason can get your hands on ayesha first this is good as good as it gets for classic atelier

now since some part of me was expecting some jaw dropping innovations in this installment I was pretty let down to see that most of the game design were still the same of rorona etc NOW I love rorona (and totori but I have no proof for now since I COULDNT FUCKING FINISH IT) and that also means that I ended up loving ayesha but a part of me was like wow the exact same gameplay loop AGAIN ?????????????????

??????

???????????

COME THROUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH

i love atelier gameplay loop I would fucking play 100 installments if they actually ever release them im not joking absolutely incredible games i cant believe that this series didn't get onto my radar thats absolutely buck wild

so first of all I gotta say something about the art direction or else I'm gonna tear my hair out . do we all agree that hidari is the most incredible character designer of the century SORRY I SAID IT literally one of the reasons why fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia is not only my favorite fire emblem (for now) but also one of the games with the most beautiful presentation I've ever played till now what the actual FUCK

when I tell you atelier ayesha art direction is fucking unmatched every single character is beautifully illustrated absolutely brimming with cute details and personality and makes up at least 50% of their character the other half being voice acting and writing its literally such a fucking powerful phenomenon love you hidari teach me some degree of your craft because I really need character design lessons ong

so umh talking game since I've been fucking around the question till now is this game good ??? very

ayesha lost his sis and has a schizophrenic episode where she sees a ghost of her sis in front of her grave and after the help of some mysterious hot old guy she goes on a spiritual peregrination to find cues of where the fuck in the world her sis is

and thats the incipit also she's a 薬師 but obviously gets immediately recontextualised into a 錬金術師 because this is called the ALCHEMIST of dusk not the fucking pharmacologist of dusk get educated

so in general you're left with a lot of freedom in the THREE YEARS (repeating that so that people know when it's time to call quits and accept the bad ending) but if you follow closely the different events that show up in the overworld and just explore leisurely youre definitely gonna get nio back pretty much again I got REAL CLOSE to the time limit due to the fact that I just love fucking around synthesising a lot and get a lot of crops but thats unfortunately something super counterproductive in classic atelier so there's that

that to say that in general the gameplay is pretty cool you got an interesting overworld (albeit smaller than the one you're gonna explore in totori but she IS the adventurer of arland you can't just compare to her) a synthesis mechanic that is pretty simple and pretty addicting at the same time (I still dont fully understand how abilities work but ok whatever I still finished the game) and I mean the gathering is always pretty cool even though getting 2 pieces of crap a ball of fur a carrot a bottle of bull sperm and some rocks will literally make you spend like 3 months im not joking here but whatever and last but not least the combat system is also cool yknow what I read a lot of people during my ignorant days of the atelier series saying shit like “oh yeah atelier ALSO have combat which is probably the weakest part of the game” so yo that guy on gamefaq I gotta say girlie you suck I have no idea if I'm actually insane but I have so much fucking fun during battle in atelier maybe I AM crazy like in particular the combat in ayesha is super cool theres the support system some more skills for the characters the area effects all the special attacks and everything else

and using items is still as fucking fun as ever

this to say that atelier combat isn't something to think of as an addendum but as an integral part of the game and has nothing to envy from other jrpgs in the industry

whatever so the gameplay is still the same if you're already a fan of atelier HEY !!! this is classic atelier probably as classic as it can get apart from like CBT time lines not being present here thank god

while I definitely did not entireeeeeely vibe with the “stick to the old formula” type of progression it has to be said that it still works wonders with the characters in this one most of them has really heart to heart moments and some fun little scenes that really make this feel like an atelier through and through so first of all I want to point out that ayesha and bell have steamy hot gay sex when the cameras aren't rolling I see what's up between these 2 I'm not fucking blind they're like the spiritual successor of the lesbianism that was going between rorona and cordelia or totori and mimi I understand now I SEE it . that to say that bell is probably my favorite character of the entire game there I said it she's so effortlessly funny incredibly well written has some bomb character design and events and probably some of them will think of her as annoying but that's only because people hate to see women winning and there's that

ayesha also has some lesbianism going on with nanaca and I enjoy the country girl x country girl dynamics yknow “let's kiss in the stinky cow farm and squeeze the milk out of tits of every king wandering across the land with your pookie and casually defeating a god of destruction” gf tumblr moodboard

mind you probably one of the reason why I even booted this game was because I really wanted to have a really deep look into the hunk of a man that is juris now juris is first and foremost probably the most beautiful man I've ever encountered in this atelier marathon and if you know me you already know that I got a thing for quiet and dangerous men because I was surrounded by this archetype growing up and as everybody knows trauma transforms into sexual desires soon enough so here we are

forreal tho he's hot but I didnt really vibe with him PERSONALLY he's fine and shit but if I gotta choose a man to simp for in this hame it's definitely Keith now remember what I said about quiet and dangerous men ok add the fact that I was surrounded during my early life by quiet dangerous and OLD men ok now you can see the pattern so since Keith deeeeeeefinitely gets into the damned daddy I was absolutely hooked on this man which is a shame that you actually get a good glimpse on his true nature at like 3 months from the end of the game but its all fun and games amirite hahahahaha now some your dick

sooooo anyway the other people is also fine regina has the heaviest cunt into he game h
but I forgot about her after like 1 year ingame linca is pretty fun and can get a mean dick if it weren't for the fact that IM on the passive side and I want MY woman to control me so the fact that linca has this really laid back servant puppy personality didn't help but she's definitely gorgeous and good in battle and has some pretty fun interactions that made me laugh my gross ASS off definitely an highlight odelia has probably the bombest design of the game just for her to be a fucking bland automaton ok whatever still am interesting character but I hoped they did something else with her apart from like hi im a living library what can I do for you beep boop master the order “sucking dick” you've just requested doesn't follow laws of asimov and then we have marion she's fine I like a girl in power but mmmmmmmm I don't know she never clicked with me I deadass left her to rot never put her in the party (odelia too fyi) and thats fine also she has bdsm sessions with linca

can I talk about nio ok hi nio exists in this game apparently and since she has some massive story implications with ayesha I thought she would be a great character and once you actually save her (if you manage to lmao noob) she's so fucking great I loved her even though I got to know her through like 3 story events because the time limit smacked my face ASAP but the little I saw of her I enjoyed a damn lot her relationship with ayesha is holy and wow she did a complete 180° rotation from the “hi im a ghost im eepy sleepy sis my list wish is to go to a death grips concert” goated

last considerations and then youre free to go they definitely did not NEED to snap so fucking hard with the monster designs theres some incredible stuff here and while they still suffer from the recolor illness there's a lot more variety to be seen in enemies instead of the arland series so thats some good shit and the fuckinf final BOSS is sO HOT IM SOREYYYYYYY IM AORRY WOW do I want a piece of thay wow honestly I didn't expect them to make me tent up but apparently they decided to put some sexy ass goat monster thing you know I fuck wjrh that AND ALSO they did it again . making a fucking masterpiece of a soundtrack out of nowhere literally all the cuts in here are pristine the battle system are battling the sad scenes are saddening the overworld themes are otherwordly and the next time I listen to that FUCKING bagpipe song is gonna be too soon i wont be here listing all of my favorite songs in the game because i would just link the entire ost at that point lmao time management and shit buuuuuuut if i gotta choose one its definitely this battle system every time I listened to this GODDAMN theme i would just get goosebumps I have no idea what kind of hands made this song but you need to be blessed by the gods im not joking here if you don't want to play the game just listen to the ost at that point its just the same level of wonder honestly

soooooo mmmmmmmmm all in all ayesha is a damn good installment I gotta remember to watch the other endings online I need a memo ok made the memo I think this is god tier atelier but every atelier is god tier atelier at this point and I gotta be a little bit critical about this series or else everything's gonna be in my top games of all times and yes maybe a part of me wanted something more~~~ but thats mainly because I ruined my entire progression by playing ryza first which is of course elements the most modern and complete installment in the series in many different ways but for what it is ??? ayesha is a delight absolutely top notch atelier with probably one of my favorite girlies in the entire series (ryza is still first don't @ me) and I have the very distinct feeling that a second playthrough will make me fall in love even deeper into this game but we'll see in the meantime stan ayesha she wants to be a kpop idol

oh also the vocal tracks are bomb

sooooooo mmmmmmm I think I'm done see you in the next atelier review which is probably gonna be escha ~and logy~ which I already booted up because atelier is a drug and an addiction but my adhd said today “nah youre gonna get distracted every 5 seconds” and I was like umhhhh ok we are NOTSSSS doing this rn

If you're into Atelier, it's Atelier. As a newcomer that was POSSESSED with the need to craft cute ointments while browsing the lightbulb selection of a local store irl (I don't know what came over me) I decided that Ayesha was going to be the Atelier game entrusted to that fine purpose.

It's okay! It's cute, it's crafty... it's okay! It's interesting, an RPG where you battle with pretty much items only. Sooo cuuute my fucking bomb that explodes you violently. I made that.
I will forever be fond of this game for satisfying the inscrutable exhortations of my soul, even if just for a few weeks. Jesus, even remembering this is making me feel a bit emotional. What the fuck happened to me at that lightbulb store.