Inspired by Jeff’s recent acquisition of a PS2 and positive first impression of Atelier Iris 3, I decided to give it a whirl as well, since Grim Grimoire isn’t readily available yet.
Though reviews are extremely mixed, I have to say that I am actually enjoying AI3 quite a bit. Being rather sick of the big-budget interactive movies that pass for RPG’s these days, I thought this throwback was a nice change of pace. For those who like dungeon crawling, it at least deserves a look. Extra incentive if you like femmes, as AI3 has a good amount of fanboy potential.
Allow me to address the major points of contention:
Production Values:
- Sure, the graphics are a bit old school, but they are still well-done for 2-D, and are extremely colorful and lively. Character portraits are expressive and battle animations are fluid. I think that many professional video game reviewers have been spoiled by all the next-gen graphics on x360 and ps3; not all of us play games for a living and hold graphics to such a high standard. For the casual gamer, AI3 has graphics that get the job done and are reasonably pleasant.
- I’m glad that NIS left the Japanese voice track in, much like Atlus. That gets them major points in my book. One minor nitpick is that the dialogue is only voiced for important plot-advancing scenes, which I think is rather stingy. Dialogue for the major sidequests is something low-tech that could have been added without too much compromise. I really like the Celtic-infused soundtrack; the bgm’s are extremely catchy and really hit the mood. The town music is especially cheerful and energetic! And no, it does not drive me nuts, although it grates on some people’s nerves.
Plot and characters:
- I have to admit, the main storyline is fairly uninspiring thus far. However, the sidequests are amusing, and the NPC shopkeepers are unusually well fleshed-out. The characters aren’t especially original, but their designs are sharp, and they do a fair amount of back-and-forth banter. If you’re a fan of harems, there’s a bevy of female characters that are sure to tickle your fancy. There’s Anna for the Siesta-maniacs, Phenyl for the tsundere loli faction, Ella for the introvert fans, Eva for the nee-san crew, etc. There’s even a ghost girl, winged angel girl, and bunny girl. No meganekkos though.
- The main character Edge is a fairly typical no-nonsense swordsman, but at least he isn’t an annoying brat or spineless wuss. He’s serious and devoted to Iris, and their relationship never devolves into SD-squabbling and Naru-punching (a particular pet peeve of mine). And unlike many female childhood friends, Iris isn’t tsundere in the least bit. The most bothersome aspect is that your party member Nell is a bunny-girl loli with massive breasts. There’s just something incredibly wrong with that, and it makes me wince every time she shows up on screen.
Gameplay:
- This is probably the biggest mixed bag. People often complain about having to repeatedly enter the same dungeons for different quests, but I find that this is not that big of a deal. First of all, the dungeon areas become larger as you gain access to enabling items like the flamethrower or the hammer, so you’re frequently encountering new areas in the same dungeon. Think of it like Castlevania; essentially you’re playing the same level over and over again, but somehow this never gets old because of area-unlocking. Secondly, the time-limited dungeons runs mean that you’re constantly on the move, never able to dawdle and enjoy the scenery or get too used to the area, so it can take multiple runs to become accustomed to the layouts. I’m sure eventually I’ll get tired of repeatedly running the same levels, but at 20+ hours into the game I’ve yet to burn out on them. Then again, I did beat Odin Sphere, so I might have a higher tolerance for that kind of thing.
- I do have a bone to pick with the alchemy and combat systems, though. The battles are way too easy. Once you find a good battle tactic and a suitable set of equipment, the item synthesis and class-changing features become fairly pointless since you only need to keep doing the same thing over and over to defeat mobs and bosses. I hear that Ar Tonelico (Gust’s other recently released PS2 RPG) suffers from a similar problem, where there’s a deep weapons system, but in the end their damage is insignificant compared to the limit break song spells (pretty much the equivalent of the burst meter here), so weapons exist just to buy time till the mega-attack is ready. Which is a shame, since the alchemy system is very fun to play around with, and the variety of character classes are interesting as well.
- I found the Diablo-style structure (single town surrounded by dungeon entrances, tons of items to collect) and World of Warcraft-style questing to be incredibly addictive, though your mileage may vary with that. More than once I was telling myself “Just one more quest!” at 1:00 AM in the morning. Oddly enough, there’s a huge Seiken Densetsu vibe going on as well; the lush colorful greenery, grass-cutting/sword-swinging, blasting out of cannons, cutesy monster designs, and evocative soundtrack are incredibly reminiscent of the SNES classics. Another game that seems to share a lot of common traits is my personal favorite, Dark Cloud 2. The alchemy system reminds me of the photography-based invention system in that game, and once again there’s a lot of component collection and dungeon romping.
- I also enjoyed the fast-paced platformer style of dungeon running, which features smooth jumping controls and responsive mid-air turning. Avoidable monsters is always a plus; in fact, it’s a critical part of the metagame since you’re on a timer that doesn’t stop during battles.
Thus far, I’d say Atelier Iris 3 is a charming and enjoyable romp that manages to cohesively combine a large number of interesting features for those casual players who aren’t burned out on RPGs. Great soundtrack, great alchemy system, fun dungeon crawling. Cute characters are a big plus. It loses points for not being very different from previous Atelier games or other older RPG series, but it’s not nearly as formulaic as the Dynasty Warriors games (all of which somehow manage to get a better rating at Gamespot…the mind boggles). Worth picking up if you’re an anime fan. After this, I might consider playing Ar Tonelico.
Ender’s rating: 7.4/10
Some parting thoughts for those who have played:
- Is it just me or is Edge’s Fanatos-form incredibly useless? I find myself using Jiptus-form constantly, as its incredible damage potential makes boss fights a breeze.
- Finally, a tsundere that has a good reason to be tsun-tsun! Phenyl claims that she used to be nice to all the customers, but then all the freaky old men started following her home. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he’s stalking you.
- Iris’s wardrobe is incredibly non-functional. Her split tank-top reminds me of Nadie from El Cazador.
- For some reason I really like scenarios where you are part of a mercenary organization and have to carry out nonlinear missions to rank up and gain prestige. Armored Core got me hooked with that structure.
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6 Comments
This game should be out for the UK this time next month, I’m very tempted to pick it up but I think with all the games I’ve yet to play or finish I should leave it for now. A few months down the line it will probably be available on amazon market place for half the price anyways.
In the mean time I’m currently deep into Atelier Iris 2 – Azoth of Destiny and I’m loving every second of it.
Edge’s Fanatos’ blades are good for the high all-around stats, but yeah, its skills do suffer from lack of utility in normal battles. You’re unlikely to find yourself in need of Sacrifice/Auto-Ressurection unless you don’t have any other means of healing. The latter weapons for it are pretty good though(both stat and hit-wise), especially since they tend to come with the speed stat boost which is the only stat boost the class is missing. God Beam salvages it for being a hit-all magic damage+attack/m.attack down skill, but it’s still pretty much up to how you want your team to be. I use Jiptus’ blades more anyway XD
About Ar-tonelico, I find that the normal encounters get much harder later into the game, unlike Grand Fantasm. While they do share the ’single strategy focus’ flaw, normal encounters in GF can be won quickly just by gearing your party for ‘fill Burst Gauge -> Skill spam’ and you’d get out unscathed. Later on in Ar-tonelico, you’re not likely to kill everything quickly without spending an expensive limited Song and you’ll want to dispatch most enemies while the Song charges. The real reason to charge up a big damage Song and use it is to collect Dive Points.
Anyway, Ar-tonelico is worth it if you like Grand Fantasm. You’ll likely to find it better in story, character development and music.
Meanwhile, I’m waiting to hear if NIS will pick up Gust’s latest PS2 RPG, Mana-Khemia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNha3gFxxU
20+ hours? You’re already a good bit ahead of me in the game. I intend to put in a lot of hours this weekend, however, so perhaps I can catch up. Or come close.
I agree with pretty much all of your points. I think the best way to describe the game is to say, “it’s fun.” This is especially so compared to, as you describe, “big-budget interactive movies that pass for RPG’s these days,” which are often so focused on being “deep” and “serious” (and failing, as the writing simply ain’t that good) that you can never kick back and relax with them. I get a kick out of pretty much every AI3 session, and as I get deeper into the game and become better acquainted with its features, the more fun it becomes. “Just one more quest!”, indeed.
The anime look and feel is nice, too. I especially like how they’ve made room for the standard character archetypes. The first time I encountered Phenyl, I thought to myself, “Short… pigtails… disaffected look… she’s gotta be a tsundere!” And, sure enough, the minute she opened her mouth, it was a flood of tsun tsun. Perfection.
As for the gameplay, the easy battles don’t bother me much, as it means I don’t have to worry as much about grinding and get my levels up and can focus more on exploring and completing quests. I haven’t quite mastered the burst system, however, as I’ve found I finish battles so quickly (I get a lot of “Fast Kills”) that I can never get my meter up and accumulate Skill Points. Then, I encounter a hefty enemy and end up having to do a lot of back and forth fighting before I can get my burst meter up and start wailing on them.
Sounds like a great game, I will definately have to have to take a look at it. With your review the game sounds promising, so i will also recomend it to other people.
The game is indeed promising for I have played the game as well. The sidequests are very fun and cute at times.
Ps: i like to use dark mana’s blades though (cant remember her name :P)
Hayate, I could probably use some drama after all the silliness that is AI3; I’ll definitely look into Ar Tonelico.
Jeff, glad to hear that you’re enjoying it as well! Concerning the burst meter, I think the early game is where the alchemy system really shines, since you need it to create the good multi-hit weapons (4x and 5x hit at least) and incorporate +1 or +2 hit bonuses into your accessories in order to get bursts in every battle. After that, the game becomes ridiculously easy though.
oOgA, the dark mana is Plua I think. I agree that her Blades class (shinobi) is actually much more reliable for prolonged fights since you can fill the burst meter really fast with Edge’s kagebunshin clones. However, I find for most boss fights, it’s just simpler and faster to use Jiptus.
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