The Atelier series is very special to me.
What seemed like a cute anime girl simulator at first glance actually turned out to be a series with themes of motivating yourself to work hard in order to accomplish your personal goals.
Aside from these philosophical aspects the games also feature impressive worldbuilding, huge customization options for equipment and items as well as (mostly) authentic and lovable characters.
In this review, I want to talk about my favorite game in the series: Atelier Ayesha which is also my all-time favorite piece of fiction.
Unique to the Atelier series is the alchemy system. Outside of town, you can gather materials and then use them to synthesize your items like different kinds of potions or bombs.
What's especially interesting about this is that, since the beginning of the Arland series, these materials have additional traits which can be transferred to the crafted item.
These can include the ability to inflict status ailments for a weapon or increase the damage dealt with attack items to name a few.
On top of that, the effects of the items themselves can also differ based on the quality of the materials used (in Arland) or their elemental values (in Dusk).
This ultimately means that every item you synthesize will be completely different most of the time, even if you craft the same one twice.
The Dusk trilogy features an alchemy skill system which allows you to further manipulate the synthesis after choosing the materials.
This does not only give you even more freedom with item crafting but also fits narratively because you get to experience first-hand how Ayesha's alchemy improves.
Thanks to the games' emphasis on crafting, the level difference between monsters and your team usually doesn't matter and they never force you to grind levels.
Synthesizing new/better equipment and items completely overpowers the stat boosts gained by level ups, so the solution for being stuck somewhere is, instead of grinding, alchemy!
Plus, grinding is heavily discouraged by the time limit anyways.
Atelier Ayesha has a time limit of 3 in-game years to complete your main goal.
Crafting items, picking up materials, attacking monsters and moving around on the world map all consume time which encourages you to be as efficient as possible.
The request system allows you to make money for handing over certain items or materials which blends in beautifully because it constantly makes you think: "do I want to earn money but lose the time needed to craft the requested item or do I want to use that time for something else?".
The time management mechanics and ending structure of the game synergise in communicating the games themes.
The player gets motivated to spend their time well and work towards a good ending.
This might also inspire them to apply this mentality to their real-life decisions and thus change their outlook on productivity and hard work being rewarded.
The more effort you put into the game the more possible futures and careers are unlocked for Ayesha.
In contrast, the lazier you decide to be the more likely you are to get the bad ending instead.
The bad endings of the series usually consist of the protagonists living their lives pretty much just like before the game started, so there are no physical consequences for these.
However, they are left with a sense of regret for, probably, the rest of their lives.
They didn't use the opportunities that were offered to them and don't experience a sense of accomplishment after achieving what they could have.
As a jrpg, the game's battle system is turn based but still offers some interesting twists.
In battle, the characters can use a refillable ressource to assist the others called the support gauge.
For instance, they can follow up an attack or defend allies from incoming enemy attacks.
The follow up attack has two forms: the pursuit which is an extra normal attack that doesn't change your position.
The other is the back attack which positions the user behind the foe, attacks them from behind and deals additional damage (back attacks have a 100% chance to crit).
However, this is risky because, while back attacks deal more damage, they leave the user on the opposite position of the other characters from which they cannot be defended/supported.
As a response to an incoming enemy attack, you can defend the targeted character with another which can also be activated from adjacent positions.
Important to note is that defending changes the position of the defender to the same as the defended's which leads to having to use this option carefully.
For example, if two enemies are about to land aoe attacks on Ayesha's spot and Linca is on an adjacent position to Ayesha's: you could use the defend command on the first attack and protect Ayesha from that one.
But the second attack can now target Ayesha and Linca and if both of them are out of support points they will be left vulnerable to that attack.
The more careful option in that scenario would be to make Linca defend Ayesha on the second attack.
This will heavily reduce the damage Linca takes in comparison to the first outcome.
The OST adds a lot to making you feel like you are in a world that's slowly but surely rotting away where humanity, however, hasn't lost hope and tries to live its final moments normally.
The track "Yesterday's opponents are today's ingredients" (https://youtu.be/1uWLJvhtWRY) is a good example for that: the e-guitar gives you a feeling of impending doom while the flute part adds a sense of hope and happiness.
This concludes my review and I'm glad I could experience this beautiful piece of fiction, shit changed me man.
What seemed like a cute anime girl simulator at first glance actually turned out to be a series with themes of motivating yourself to work hard in order to accomplish your personal goals.
Aside from these philosophical aspects the games also feature impressive worldbuilding, huge customization options for equipment and items as well as (mostly) authentic and lovable characters.
In this review, I want to talk about my favorite game in the series: Atelier Ayesha which is also my all-time favorite piece of fiction.
Unique to the Atelier series is the alchemy system. Outside of town, you can gather materials and then use them to synthesize your items like different kinds of potions or bombs.
What's especially interesting about this is that, since the beginning of the Arland series, these materials have additional traits which can be transferred to the crafted item.
These can include the ability to inflict status ailments for a weapon or increase the damage dealt with attack items to name a few.
On top of that, the effects of the items themselves can also differ based on the quality of the materials used (in Arland) or their elemental values (in Dusk).
This ultimately means that every item you synthesize will be completely different most of the time, even if you craft the same one twice.
The Dusk trilogy features an alchemy skill system which allows you to further manipulate the synthesis after choosing the materials.
This does not only give you even more freedom with item crafting but also fits narratively because you get to experience first-hand how Ayesha's alchemy improves.
Thanks to the games' emphasis on crafting, the level difference between monsters and your team usually doesn't matter and they never force you to grind levels.
Synthesizing new/better equipment and items completely overpowers the stat boosts gained by level ups, so the solution for being stuck somewhere is, instead of grinding, alchemy!
Plus, grinding is heavily discouraged by the time limit anyways.
Atelier Ayesha has a time limit of 3 in-game years to complete your main goal.
Crafting items, picking up materials, attacking monsters and moving around on the world map all consume time which encourages you to be as efficient as possible.
The request system allows you to make money for handing over certain items or materials which blends in beautifully because it constantly makes you think: "do I want to earn money but lose the time needed to craft the requested item or do I want to use that time for something else?".
The time management mechanics and ending structure of the game synergise in communicating the games themes.
The player gets motivated to spend their time well and work towards a good ending.
This might also inspire them to apply this mentality to their real-life decisions and thus change their outlook on productivity and hard work being rewarded.
The more effort you put into the game the more possible futures and careers are unlocked for Ayesha.
In contrast, the lazier you decide to be the more likely you are to get the bad ending instead.
The bad endings of the series usually consist of the protagonists living their lives pretty much just like before the game started, so there are no physical consequences for these.
However, they are left with a sense of regret for, probably, the rest of their lives.
They didn't use the opportunities that were offered to them and don't experience a sense of accomplishment after achieving what they could have.
As a jrpg, the game's battle system is turn based but still offers some interesting twists.
In battle, the characters can use a refillable ressource to assist the others called the support gauge.
For instance, they can follow up an attack or defend allies from incoming enemy attacks.
The follow up attack has two forms: the pursuit which is an extra normal attack that doesn't change your position.
The other is the back attack which positions the user behind the foe, attacks them from behind and deals additional damage (back attacks have a 100% chance to crit).
However, this is risky because, while back attacks deal more damage, they leave the user on the opposite position of the other characters from which they cannot be defended/supported.
As a response to an incoming enemy attack, you can defend the targeted character with another which can also be activated from adjacent positions.
Important to note is that defending changes the position of the defender to the same as the defended's which leads to having to use this option carefully.
For example, if two enemies are about to land aoe attacks on Ayesha's spot and Linca is on an adjacent position to Ayesha's: you could use the defend command on the first attack and protect Ayesha from that one.
But the second attack can now target Ayesha and Linca and if both of them are out of support points they will be left vulnerable to that attack.
The more careful option in that scenario would be to make Linca defend Ayesha on the second attack.
This will heavily reduce the damage Linca takes in comparison to the first outcome.
The OST adds a lot to making you feel like you are in a world that's slowly but surely rotting away where humanity, however, hasn't lost hope and tries to live its final moments normally.
The track "Yesterday's opponents are today's ingredients" (https://youtu.be/1uWLJvhtWRY) is a good example for that: the e-guitar gives you a feeling of impending doom while the flute part adds a sense of hope and happiness.
This concludes my review and I'm glad I could experience this beautiful piece of fiction, shit changed me man.