Really liked it, at first you feel like you aren't progressing and you only get beaten up. But then with time you make some money, fame and skills in both combat and alchemy and it ends up being a very fun journey.
I actually only played this Atelier and Ryza 1 before at the point of writing this review and I wouldn't have expected to like it more than Ryza, while I enjoyed Ryza plenty, I felt like the simplicity behind Atelier Marie's core loop is what attracted me the most.
You have a 5-year time limit but the game isn't pushing you to be fast, I actually finished everything I wanted to do in 4 years, so just enjoy your daily life as an alchemist, I personally had so much fun having people knock at my door for special events related to services I did previously for other people, which in return made me more famous and made more people asking for help, I feel like this is something we lost in recent games, or maybe this is because of Ryza's plot ? While she helps people in the long run, she doesn't interact much with the average person.
In the end the two flaws I could find are the bosses, while you hear about them, nothing really happen while you fight them or after, I know Atelier isn't your typical hero saving the world type of rpg, but there's not a single dialogue related to defeating them and that's a bit of a bummer.
The second flaw is related to all the secrets events : on one hand, finding these feel great but on the other, there's so many important things you can miss which will block like 1/3 of the game easily, like a secret door you have to find behind a wall that open many books of knowledge that would help you solve requests you wouldn't otherwise. I get that this is an older game made with the intention of having people play and play the game again after beating it but... Well, I rarely play the same game multiple times nowadays unfortunately. So it's your choice to play it blindly or following a guide, for my case I did a bit of both.
In the end I still had a lot of fun and I recommand it to everyone who's searching a short retro game with a lot of charm. I will also definitely try the remake coming soon.
I actually only played this Atelier and Ryza 1 before at the point of writing this review and I wouldn't have expected to like it more than Ryza, while I enjoyed Ryza plenty, I felt like the simplicity behind Atelier Marie's core loop is what attracted me the most.
You have a 5-year time limit but the game isn't pushing you to be fast, I actually finished everything I wanted to do in 4 years, so just enjoy your daily life as an alchemist, I personally had so much fun having people knock at my door for special events related to services I did previously for other people, which in return made me more famous and made more people asking for help, I feel like this is something we lost in recent games, or maybe this is because of Ryza's plot ? While she helps people in the long run, she doesn't interact much with the average person.
In the end the two flaws I could find are the bosses, while you hear about them, nothing really happen while you fight them or after, I know Atelier isn't your typical hero saving the world type of rpg, but there's not a single dialogue related to defeating them and that's a bit of a bummer.
The second flaw is related to all the secrets events : on one hand, finding these feel great but on the other, there's so many important things you can miss which will block like 1/3 of the game easily, like a secret door you have to find behind a wall that open many books of knowledge that would help you solve requests you wouldn't otherwise. I get that this is an older game made with the intention of having people play and play the game again after beating it but... Well, I rarely play the same game multiple times nowadays unfortunately. So it's your choice to play it blindly or following a guide, for my case I did a bit of both.
In the end I still had a lot of fun and I recommand it to everyone who's searching a short retro game with a lot of charm. I will also definitely try the remake coming soon.