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Atelier is a series of JRPGs released roughly yearly with (as of this post) 23 mainline entries and a dozen japan-only spinoffs. The best words to describe the mood of (most of) the games are "cute" and "chill". They almost exclusively have low stakes like "stop the government from eminent domain-ing my small business" or "don't get fired from my job". You (almost always) play as a young woman starting her career as an alchemist. What this means in game terms is crafting. Lots and lots of crafting. You craft your own weapons and armor, you craft bombs to throw at the enemies, you craft healing items, you craft everything. The trend in modern games is to have the crafting be a fully-realized puzzle minigame where the outcome is shaped by the exact details of the items you put in. Besides the crafting, the gameplay is fairly standard turn-based JRPG fare, often with a subfocus on exploration. Some of the older games also have a time management component, of varying levels of difficulty. The games are also known for having kickass soundtracks and heavy lesbian undertones. Most of the games are linked to each other in trilogies (or the occasional duology or quadrilogy). Generally speaking, you don't need to play a trilogy in order--they're designed to be playable individually (with varying levels of success). The series started on the original Playstation but it wasn't until the PS2 that the games started getting localized. The PS2 games are also huge outliers; in the PS3 era the series returned to its roots and the PS3 games are much more similar to the PS1 games than they are to the PS2 games. This means that the PS3 era is the start of the "modern" Atelier series. Thus, rather than talk about the series in chronological order, I'm going to talk about the modern games first and then go back to the older games. Arland Quadrilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch for the first three; PC/PS4/Switch for Lulua)
Dusk Trilogy (PS3/Vita/PC/PS4/Switch)
Mysterious Quadrilogy (PS4/Vita/PC/Switch)
Secret (?) Trilogy (?) (PS4/PC/Switch)
Iris Trilogy (PS2)
Mana Khemia Duology (PS2)
Other stuff
cheetah7071 fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jun 23, 2023 |
# ? Feb 6, 2019 00:36 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 07:27 |
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I'm happy to have a thread for this series again, since I've come to favor the series far more than other more popular ones like FF and Persona. I just started L&S and it's really nice to have two main protagonists who are together from the start, unlike in Shallies where they did their own thing for like the first half of the game. Their dynamic is really fun, and Sue in particular is an amazing and funny atelier protagonist who probably wouldn't work in any other game because you can't be a solo atelier MC if you hate reading with a passion.
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 00:49 |
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The next entry being released is Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists. It just released in Japan and will arrive in the west March 26th NA and March 29th EU It's a town building game featuring every alchemist ever in the 20 game series along with select side characters. It's not representative of the main series. https://twitter.com/KoeiTecmoUS/status/1062461480585445376
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 00:52 |
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For the Arland trilogy on Vita, PC and Switch, one thing to keep in mind is that Rorona was remade after the release of the other two, which means that it has some QOL improvements that the other 2 do not, like choosing which ending you get. That feature first made its debut in Ayesha. I wish they would add that feature in to all ports. For more information on some of the reasons Firis is disliked, I have the following problems with it: -There is no wholesaleing to make it easier to mass produce items with certain traits -the recipe leveling system: as you craft something more, you gain experience in it to unlock various traits making it more difficult than necessary to craft good items -it is really easy to miss whole characters and events since you are wandering without much direction -it is a buggy mess, especially the Vita version. It crashes at the drop of a hat.
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 01:02 |
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In on the ground floor of this thing
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 01:35 |
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After making a decision to try and play a lot of my backlog games this year instead of buying new games, I'm plowing through a bunch of Atelier games. I'd bought several but never finished one before this. I've finished the Arland games, Ayesha and am now working on Escha and Logy -- and I have to say, from a gameplay perspective this might be my favorite so far. Support attacks are fun, alchemy is relatively straightforward, there are timed elements but they aren't stressful and so many rough edges have been sanded off. Best of all: the markers for where there's an event waiting! Ayesha was the first one where I got a character ending; maintaining the friend score wasn't too hard, and I found all the events without any trouble. These games are just so relaxing to play. Minor stakes, nice characters, great music...
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 01:53 |
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lol sue owns, i made a flask to carry water and her first reaction was "oh hell yeah a porta potty"
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 03:00 |
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I am playing Totori and am enjoying it a lot and I can't believe there was a democratic revolution woah. I can't wait to meet adult Rorona and her gf.
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 03:03 |
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Snooze Cruise posted:I am playing Totori and am enjoying it a lot and I can't believe there was a democratic revolution woah. who is Rorona's gf in your mind
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 03:04 |
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cheetah7071 posted:who is Rorona's gf in your mind cory they have powerful friend ship stones they wear on neck
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 03:07 |
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tiny rorona is a war crime
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 04:56 |
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they can only recompense us with huge rorona
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 05:13 |
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Atelier L&S is good, even though my playthrough ended kind of abruptly because I didn't realise I was triggering the ending. Will go through the last bit again eventually when I get the chance.
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 08:57 |
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Sientara posted:For more information on some of the reasons Firis is disliked, I have the following problems with it: In Australia, Rorona and Totori got rated R18+ for "references to sexual violence". Is that something to be concerned about, or a case of the Classification Board going off half-cocked?
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 09:41 |
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There's a few scenes where adult women get drunk and gropey with the teenage leads. They're bad scenes but not worth a rating bump by themselves
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 09:49 |
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Outside of the standard Otaku bait: Rorona https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eojl19S4gkA Totori https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rk0JD5N2hA Meruru https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH8me_2wJxs Later games have the characters drinking but handle it much better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD0S65M7UXE Dehry fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Feb 6, 2019 |
# ? Feb 6, 2019 18:29 |
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It should be Making Bombs With Your Moms
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 18:53 |
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corn in the bible posted:It should be Making Bombs With Your Moms
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 18:59 |
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those original rorona character models are weird to see, glad they didn't stick with that look
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 20:41 |
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corn in the bible posted:It should be Making Bombs With Your Mombs
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# ? Feb 6, 2019 22:12 |
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but totori and mimi, and sophie and plachta, are childless though https://twitter.com/4GamerNews/status/1093132241423618048 i think this means that nelke sold 31k in its first week or something? Jerry Manderbilt fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Feb 7, 2019 |
# ? Feb 7, 2019 03:08 |
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https://twitter.com/KoeiTecmoUS/status/1093509690749800448
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 16:59 |
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:but totori and mimi, and sophie and plachta, are childless though I think that's higher than L&S first-week sales were, but then that game sold a lot later on and ended up being fairly successful. I'm... not sure the same will be true of Atelier Nelke: Not Even Making Bombs With Your Mom
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 17:02 |
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corn in the bible posted:I think that's higher than L&S first-week sales were, but then that game sold a lot later on and ended up being fairly successful. I'm... not sure the same will be true of Atelier Nelke: Not Even Making Bombs With Your Mom 180k over 3 months puts L&S as one of the best sellers in the franchise, even but yeah i've said this at length in the RPG thread but nelke strips out all the crafting and combat that makes atelier games fun (like seriously the montages i've seen of combat in nelke look really dull and uninspired), and i dunno if the game tripling down on character interactions or the townbuilding stuff makes up for that
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 17:06 |
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seems like they've given up on dubbing the series, too bad i kinda like the side view combat presentation in nelke but overall i'm not interested
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 17:08 |
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There aren't even any preorder bonuses for Nelke which makes waiting a couple months for the $20 price point to hit appealing.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 17:36 |
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Man, with this release schedule, I'm kind of all-Atelier for the whole beginning of the year.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 17:55 |
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Dehry posted:There aren't even any preorder bonuses for Nelke which makes waiting a couple months for the $20 price point to hit appealing. The NISA store has a big old LE set https://store.nisamerica.com/preorders/nelke-the-legendary-alchemists
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 18:00 |
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KariOhki posted:The NISA store has a big old LE set https://store.nisamerica.com/preorders/nelke-the-legendary-alchemists lmao jesus christ
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 18:08 |
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Wow I can't believe Plachta turned back into a book and moved to Arland
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 18:57 |
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cheetah7071 posted:Wow I can't believe Plachta turned back into a book and moved to Arland She dumped Sophie?? I don't know what to believe in anymore
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 19:16 |
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I like how in Rorona the tournament arc event has no item restrictions so you can end up firing cannons, chucking bombs, and rolling barrels into Sterk
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 19:59 |
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CYBEReris posted:I like how in Rorona the tournament arc event has no item restrictions so you can end up firing cannons, chucking bombs, and rolling barrels into Sterk I just 2hkoed with auto attacks. I might have been a tad over geared or leveled
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 20:47 |
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cheetah7071 posted:I just 2hkoed with auto attacks. I might have been a tad over geared or leveled yeah if you've been exploring a bit and getting stat stamps she's a complete juggernaut by that point it's just funny to think about pulling out a cannon in an honourable duel with a friend no less
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 20:50 |
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yeah i didn't realize that getting all the stat stamps in Rorona would make her so OP, it kinda upsets the purpose of the game when your basic attacks are hitting for as much as bombs. Totori has been a lot better tuned on the difficulty since it doesn't let you do anything of the sort.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 21:08 |
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KariOhki posted:The NISA store has a big old LE set https://store.nisamerica.com/preorders/nelke-the-legendary-alchemists Yeah those are relatively normal for the series. This one is actually a duplicate of the "Premium Box" offered in Japan except the character stand replaced an 8x11 metal poster. Usually there's a preorder bonus costume like Lydie & Suelles Marie and Ellie outfits. Those never get re-released.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 21:09 |
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At some point I kinda want to replay Rorona and Totori cause I didn't feel like I really understood the crafting system, top to bottom, until Meruru. That said, the equipment you buy from Esty is only a smidgen worse than optimized stuff so Rorona at least is operating at almost full power even if you don't do any equipment crafting beyond the bare minimum.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 21:26 |
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Mana Khemia is a lot of fun. You gather your buddies, you kill crap, and you craft stuff for grades. Mana Khemia 2 is kind of IMHO, but you can choose between two main characters. I started playing it, but kind of lost interest. I really enjoy Sophie. It's a really pretty game, and the world is bright and pretty easy to explore. You don't have to worry about a time limit, and you can grind and craft to your heart's content. That's a plus for me because time limits would always stress me out and I'd obsessive-compulsively make new saves. Some of the bounties in Sophie are really tough, though.
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# ? Feb 7, 2019 21:40 |
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Firis livepost: Sophie taught me how to craft and this system seems really interesting. The lines system seems better than L&S' zodiac sign nonsense and this really rewards thinking about the order you place items in. I'm looking forward to trying to do difficult projects in this system.
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# ? Feb 8, 2019 08:10 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 07:27 |
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Finished Rorona recently. Really sweet game, enjoyed it a lot except the drinking/groping cutscenes, which were out of place and weird. Also Esty is good and doesn't deserve to be the butt of a translator's joke. Rorona is great and I want the hot gossip on who Lulua's father is. Sterk? They'd be a cute couple if they got together when Rorona was older and Sterk mellowed out a bit. Hope it isn't Iksel, that jerk had no respect for Rorona's responsibilities when he forced her into his competitive cookoff. Even Tantris might be a better option. Just started Totori, already missing the trimonthly assignments. Having the clearly laid-out goals and subgoals and plotting ahead how to divvy up time was a fun system. Clearly haven't gotten out of the tutorial section for Totori, but hope the main game has a similar goal structure to it.
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# ? Feb 8, 2019 14:51 |