Gust is going back to its roots with an alchemy school theme for the latest Atelier game. You play as Vayne, a young amateur alchemist who was handpicked to attend the Al-Revis academy due to his incredible potential. You’ll go to classes, participate in school events, pursue little sidestories, accept oddjobs for cash, explore dungeons for rare ingredients, and cook up a storm in your alchemy workshop.
Comparisons to Atelier Iris 3 are inevitable, as MK carries over many of the game mechanics as well as the graphical engine. From a titular perspective, Mana-Khemia isn’t really part of the Atelier lineage, but it was labeled project ‘A9′, whereas AI3 was ‘A8′, so that must count for something. I see it as more of a spinoff, since it feels more like a variation of AI3 rather than a true sequel.
More thoughts, after the jump!
Production Values:
- Whereas AI3 was a large step up from AI2 in terms of graphics (especially the battles), MK is more of a sidestep. Tilesets and textures are nearly identical, and the battle effects don’t look any better or worse. Is Gust reaching a graphical plateau? I wasn’t too pleased with the character designs this time around – they’re a little sloppy compared to the sharp designs in AI3. At least they tried to mix it up though; keeping the same character designs year after year is just as bad (cough GSD cough). The music is…decidedly forgettable. AI3’s music was great, switching easily between catchy town tunes and airy dungeon themes, whereas I find Mana Khemia’s soundtrack to be inoffensive at best. I think they have the same composer, as you can hear some similarities in phrasing choice and instruments, but MK’s music seems somewhat lacking.
Plot and characters:
- The plot is fairly weaksauce, as is the characterization, but I never had high expectations to begin with. I’m getting a strong Kamina vibe from Flay – he even has some drill attacks, and Vayne definitely fits the part of young Simon too. Nikki is probably my favorite character though, due to her penchant for troublemaking. Jess gets the thumbs down – I find pink haired sweet-but-clumsy girls to be incredibly bland, and her bad alchemy (essentially like being a bad cook) is just about the oldest cliche in the book. What is it with the stereotype of heroines being bad at cooking?
Setting:
- Persona 3 nailed the school setting much better – it feels like Gust took AI3 and wrapped each element in an unconvincing school themed container, with sticky labels plastered on the side screaming “college campus”. Those “classes” and “events” aren’t fooling anyone; you might as well just be accepting jobs off of the ol’ bulletin board again.
- The pacing also needs a bit of work. The going is slow at first – you’re essentially playing an extended tutorial, since most game mechanics are introduced very slowly (one per class period). However, once the ball gets rolling and you start getting a large party, things really kick into high gear. You have a lot more combat options, and the alchemy possibilities start skyrocketing.
Gameplay:
- Here, Mana-Khemia’s improvements really shine over its predecessors. The combat difficulty has been balanced through the new battle system; AI3’s burst mechanic made it too easy to plow through hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat, but MK revamps the burst gauge, and the new hot-swapping support system makes battles incredibly fun. Also, no more timed dungeons – instead, there’s a day-night cycle which encourages you to go home after nightfall by making the enemies MUCH stronger and harder to avoid in the darkness, but you can still tough it out if you’ve got a well-developed party.
- I also like the neat sphere-grid style character development system that replaces the traditional leveling scheme. In a nutshell, synthesizing new alchemy items opens up new attributes that you can spend your hard-earned experience points on. Thus, you can’t get more powerful just by grinding monsters; you are forced to constantly pursue the latest recipes as well, which capitalizes on the game’s strong suit – the alchemy system. This was a fantastic idea, and whoever thought of it deserves a pat on the back, a promotion, and a swift kick in the butt for not thinking of it earlier.
Overall, I feel that Gust really tried to increase the complexity of every aspect – combat, alchemy, plot structure, dungeon mechanics – with mixed results. At times, the game feels more like a hodgepodge of cool features than anything else. Atelier Iris 3 was much more streamlined and cohesive in comparison; I expected that level of polish with the sequel, but apparently dreams *don’t* come true. I also found out that Santa does not exist either, so that’s two gut-crushing developments in one day.
Despite all the unfulfilled potential, I still feel the most important factor been preserved; Mana Khemia is quite fun to play, and makes for some easy breezy entertainment. It retains some of the Diablo-style structure of AI3, which means you can jump in, play for an hour, jump out, and feel like you’ve accomplished something. Of course, once you get caught up in synthesizing new recipes, you might find yourself wanting to stick around “just a little longer”. The game difficulty is fairly well-balanced thus far – I’ve never found myself frustrated, though there are definitely opportunities to challenge yourself, should you be feeling gutsy.
Some misc. sidenotes and speculation:
- I was slightly disappointed that there was no more emphasis on shopkeeper backstories – they all have zero personality now. Instead, you get to pursue backstories of your many party members in a Star Ocean 2-ish manner. That means less moe archetypes to go around, which can’t be good.
- Adopting a closer camera perspective is definitely NOT helping Gust’s crusade to preserve 2-D sprites. It’s like showcasing an old wrinkly news anchor in HD.
- Will this be the next victim in Jeff or DiGiKerot’s growing to-do lists? There’s already so much backlog, I wonder if anyone will get around to trying MK out.
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Actually, I do have it on order (it’s waiting on the Jp Phantasy Star Collection to come into stock before shipping), but you would be right thinking that it’ll be going straight to backlog. I should probably play the other Gust games through first, given I’ve only actually got around to playing the first AI game out of all the US released stuff.
I’m only 5 hours or so into the game right now, which seems to be the point at which it starts getting interesting. Or falls into a groove, at least. My thoughts, mirroring your format (tl;dr fodder follows):
Production Values:
It indeed looks a lot like AI3, but there’s a little less variation in the visuals. I think the pseudo-3D environments have something to do with it. And given that there’s some annoying slowdown in the dungeons, I suppose less is better. But, still, I kind of liked the full 2D approach of the game’s predecessor.
I also agree about the character designs being a bit so-so. AI3 designs were more anime standard, whereas the MK designs seem to have a little more manga influence. Also, perhaps it’s just me, but a lot of the text and overlay graphics in the game seems small and overly sharp. I find I’m having a hard time reading things, especially when there’s a lot on the screen.
Plot and characters:
I prefer lighter, less involved plots to “save the girl, save the world” type plots, so the lack of any grand story (so far, at least) doesn’t bother me much. Nikki is probably my favorite character, too, although Jess is a decent enough heroine. I wonder why they changed Jess’ name, though? It’s a little weird, because the original name is retained in the Japanese audio, so you end up with a case of, “see one thing, hear another”. A few other character names were inexplicably changed as well. The Japanese voice acting is pretty good, however.
Setting:
The school setting is a nice hook, but I think it could have been executed better. You’re right that the class/job system is pretty much a rehash of the Guild quests from AI3. Except, this time, you have to follow a set schedule and perform to a certain level in order to progress. Perhaps there’ll be more variety now that I’ve gotten most of the tutorial type classes out of the way.
I also wish there was a little more room for exploration. I’m sure I’ll appreciate the menu-based map system later in the game, when all I want to do is to get somewhere fast, but early in the game, I’d like more opportunity to wander around and stumble upon things. Oh well.
Gameplay:
To be honest, I didn’t screw around with the alchemy aspect of AI3 more than I absolutely had to, so I was worried I’d get bored with MK given it’s strong alchemy focus. However, since you pretty much HAVE to make full use of alchemy in order to level up in the game and complete most classes, I’ve spent a lot of time tinkering with it. And, I’ll admit, it’s kind of fun concocting and synthesizing new items. I hope the ingredient gathering process doesn’t turn into a never-ending snipe hunt later in the game, however. I remember some key ingredients in AI3 being very difficult to come by just when you needed them most (and some recipes being very difficult to figure out with resorting to trial and error).
The battle system works pretty well. Then again, it’s basically the AI3 battle system with some variation in detail, so I knew how to work it to my advantage from the game’s very first fight. The SP budgeting is kind of wonky, though (not much SP in the bank, it costs a lot to use, and it’s not easy to replenish), and combined with the fact the Burst Gauge takes a lot longer to fill up, you can’t just go skill spamming the enemy for a quick victory. So far, this has made for a lot of dull, back and forth battles. It’s also made stronger enemies a lot more difficult to defeat than you’d expect, given that you can only chip away at their total HP with routine attacks, whereas they’re practically killing you every other turn. I’m sure the battle experience will improve with time, but it’s kind of annoying to start the game off with such a tiny bag of tricks.
Overall:
Despite my criticism, it’s actually a pretty fun game, and the easy-going atmosphere really hits the spot right now. Also, I fully expect a lot of the problems I currently have with the game to pass with time… I seem to remember that it several hours of gameplay to get in to AI3, too. And that was a game that just got better the longer I played.
I was thinking the same thing myself regarding the use of a static school map with menus instead of an actual romping ground. Though running around town in AI3 was a bit more tedious, it certainly created a much stronger sense of location.
Also, all the problems with the early-game combat disappear once you get a larger party, since you can then swap characters out of the front lines to regenerate SP automatically, and the plethora of support abilities increase the choices available in combat.
Interesting factoid: apparently Jess’s JP name was Philomel Hartung, while Flay’s name was Gunnar Damm. I wonder how the translator decided on what English name to use?
In the English instruction book, it has Jess as “Jessica Philomente” and Flay as “Flay Gunnar”, so I’d assumed the JP voice track had them as “Philo” and “Gunnar” as a matter of Japanese formality, since you’re less likely to use first names for people of the opposite sex or who are your senior in age or rank. But I guess they actually did change the names.
Maybe I just don’t have the same hate for “nice but clumsy” haremettes as Ender, but I think the pink-haired jailbait makes a decent character. I found the “her bag contains everything” running gag mildly amusing and the “her alchemy is terrible” running gag mildly annoying, so overall a wash on moe modes.
On the other hand, Flay is my hero.
Overall, I give a thumbs up to the cast just because I feel like they have the right mix of characteristics to make for amusing sitcom-style situations and interplays. Sometimes I find that having a light-hearted plot most of the time actually raises the tension more for me when the drama kicks in; if I’ve been genuinely laughing along with the characters, then I actually give a damn when the villain tries to off them. As opposed to the “angst… angst… angst… SUPER ANGST!” of some other JRPGs, which doesn’t leave much of a story thread for you to hold on to if you didn’t buy the angst.
Like Ender says, after a certain early point SP is pretty much free as long as you rotate your members regularly, so the ridiculously high SP costs actually make sense. They’re still annoying up until that point, of course.
LMAO! You almost fooled me into thinking Kabi-kun wrote this, but its a good thing I know your the only one who writes the game reviews. =3 Did you really write that pun? If so, I THINK KABI’S GOT SOME COMPETITION!!! XD
Yuppers, I dids it ma self. Me’s all growed up now!
Hey! Like, for serious, I don’t talk like that all the time yo! (ok, I do XP =3)