Ronnie Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 This is my first ever review and I'm doing it on the fly so bear with me for typos and run-on sentences. The review won't go too in-depth. I guess it's more like an initial impressions. I remember hearing about the Atelier games when I was in a Facebook PS Vita group. I looked it up and was immediately interested in trying this series out. I liked that it was a more laid back series where the plot wasn't super heavy. Members of the group pointed me to Ayesha since it was the start of a trilogy and it was a good starting point according to them. At first I was intimidated by the time limit in the game but they said I had plenty of time to do what I needed to do. Anyways enough introductions, let's get on with the review! PLOT Again, not going too in-depth but just giving a quick summary of the plot. Basically there's this apothecary named Ayesha Altugle (the protagonist). She lives off in the countryside in her own atelier (workshop). Her sister Nio disappeared while going out to gather materials to make medicine or whatever. A strange old man named Keithgriff, who happens to be an alchemist, alerts Ayesha that her sister can be found but only really gives her hints instead of outright telling her answers. He mentions that alchemy is the way to find her sister, however she only has 3 years to save her sister until she's gone for good. Ayesha is convinced of it since she went to her herbal garden behind her atelier and noticed a strange phenomena. There was a bed of glowing flowers and what emerged was a ghostly form of her sister Nio. So Ayesha sets off on her journey around the country and travels through several gathering areas (dungeons to collect alchemy materials for synthesis) as well as towns and villages. She gathers a party of friends through her travels and each time she goes through a ruin (unique location in some dungeons), there's these glowing flowers and appear and every time she comes across them, her ghostly sister appears yet again to talk to her. So in an even quicker summary, Ayesha goes around to said ruins, gathers petals of 6 glowing flowers, uses alchemy to synthesize them and uses that item to track down her sister. Where was her sister all this time? In some void known as Yggdrasil. In there lies this trippy astral plane where her sister is being held as almost a host to this giant blue dragon creature who also happens to be named Yggdrasil. Pretty wild turn of events eh? Keithgriff joins Ayesha in the fight and mentions that the dragon must have been the result of some crazy alchemy event. They don't really go into full detail beyond that. They defeat Yggdrasil and her sister is freed and back to her normal human body but she hadn't aged one bit since her disappearance. GAMEPLAY This is a turn-based JRPG that follows a timeline format similar to Final Fantasy X. However that's where the comparison ends. Atelier Ayesha is a whole other beast in terms of gameplay mechanics. Half the time you'll be battling and the other half you'll be synthesizing. Synthesis is basically you selecting an item you want to make, such as weapons, healing items, or armor and then selecting the materials necessary to create said item. You can get these materials by either purchasing them at the various shops or by going to gathering areas to collect them. It's very simple to synthesize, just look the materials you need, choose the ones with good attributes that mesh well together and press X til it's done. Now of course this is an RPG and there needs to be battles. Like mentioned before, you have a timeline like FFX where it tells you who will get to move next ahead of time. Now you can only have a party of 3 and you can only add your friends to your party by speaking to them in their stationary locations. So that can be rather frustrating when you gotta travel across the world map just to use one party member. Now of course if your party is full, just speak to the friend you want to add and then you can choose of the 2 you want to part ways with to make room. So in battles it's 3 against however many enemies on screen, usually 4-5. Ayesha is the only one who can use items so it's best to keep her alive and well if you want to heal your other members. Her attack power leaves much to be desired so it's best to synthesize bombs to give her extra fighting power. Her other party members are fun to use though. They get the job done in terms of power and skills. Another gameplay aspect is the time limit. As mentioned in the plot summary, Ayesha only has 3 years to save her sister. The clock is obviously not real time. Rather, time only moves when you gather materials, synthesize, rest, or walk around the world map. Time doesn't move when you're in towns, battles, or just walking around the gathering area. However it's best to manage your time properly as there are time sensitive events and if you backtrack too much because you forgot to buy an alchemy book or something then it'll give you less time after the final boss to do post-game missions. You start your journey April of year 1 so at April 1st of year 3 the game will end with whatever progress you've made. Bad ending if you still haven't saved Nio, and then a normal or true ending if you saved Nio plus whatever else you did afterwards. The gameplay overall is really fun. Experimenting with different materials to synthesize a better version of a weapon or healing item is addicting and the combat is fun. I just wish the game was more exact on where you're needed to go to progress with the story. Sometimes the mission messages are cryptic so I'm left running around wasting time until I trigger an event or remember what I forgot lol. I wasted like 3 in-game months because I didn't collect 6 glowing flower petals, only 5. GRAPHICS As typical with many games, the character models look amazing with a nice watercolor color look but the background textures leave much to be desired. The backgrounds in terms of aesthetics look beautiful with very unique ideas but the textures look very dated like a PS2 title. Now you may have recognized that the art of the game was done by none other than Hidari, same artist who drew the character illustrations for Fire Emblem Echoes. You get to see plenty of his artwork throughout the game when you trigger more and more cutscenes. The game itself looks rather pretty despite it's budgeted appearance. I absolutely love the character models though since I'm a sucker for watercolor art. SOUND The default sound setting is a mess. The voices get drowned out by the music (think of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle cutscenes) and the movie cutscenes are noticeably louder than the in-game volume. Luckily we're able to change the sound settings so I made it more comfortable for me and never had an issue since. With the technical stuff out of the way, let me gush over how AMAZING the soundtrack is. If it's one thing I love in a video game is it's music and this game does not disappoint. From the battle themes, to the boss themes to even the dungeon themes, just amazing. Oh and the music that plays after you save Nio and go back home? Absolutely beautiful yet somber. I also love that the music that plays during the specific character endings is an emotional remix of the opening theme. Anyways, instead of me praising the soundtrack so much, I'll post some links so you can enjoy the music for yourself! Battle theme:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDc96BpTN_s Boss theme:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJK21-wanY Riding the hot air balloon:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvG4rbQz2BM One of the optional post game bosses:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjJ57edVYMo CONCLUSION The game is not perfect. It's not a very linear game but a little more clarity on where you're supposed to go next or what you need to do to trigger specific events would be nice. The time limit is a bit restricting if you're not careful with time management because you might not have enough time to do everything in one playthrough. The plot is also rather weak but the series is known for being more laid back so I won't gripe on it too much. The plot gets the job done enough for me not to hate it. Plus it's sweet to see Ayesha and Nio reunited. The character interactions are comical and charming. The gameplay itself is addicting and fun. I love synthesizing new equipment as well as running around gathering areas fighting tough enemies and getting new materials. The soundtrack is fantastic and really matches the locations you're in and the battles you face. Overall I enjoyed this game very much and I look forward to investing more time into the series. Now to dive into the next game in the trilogy, Atelier Escha & Logy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) This is my first ever review and I'm doing it on the fly so bear with me for typos and run-on sentences. The review won't go too in-depth. I guess it's more like an initial impressions. I remember hearing about the Atelier games when I was in a Facebook PS Vita group. I looked it up and was immediately interested in trying this series out. I liked that it was a more laid back series where the plot wasn't super heavy. Members of the group pointed me to Ayesha since it was the start of a trilogy and it was a good starting point according to them. At first I was intimidated by the time limit in the game but they said I had plenty of time to do what I needed to do. Anyways enough introductions, let's get on with the review! PLOT Again, not going too in-depth but just giving a quick summary of the plot. Basically there's this apothecary named Ayesha Altugle (the protagonist). She lives off in the countryside in her own atelier (workshop). Her sister Nio disappeared while going out to gather materials to make medicine or whatever. A strange old man named Keithgriff, who happens to be an alchemist, alerts Ayesha that her sister can be found but only really gives her hints instead of outright telling her answers. He mentions that alchemy is the way to find her sister, however she only has 3 years to save her sister until she's gone for good. Ayesha is convinced of it since she went to her herbal garden behind her atelier and noticed a strange phenomena. There was a bed of glowing flowers and what emerged was a ghostly form of her sister Nio. So Ayesha sets off on her journey around the country and travels through several gathering areas (dungeons to collect alchemy materials for synthesis) as well as towns and villages. She gathers a party of friends through her travels and each time she goes through a ruin (unique location in some dungeons), there's these glowing flowers that appear and every time she comes across them, her ghostly sister appears yet again to talk to her. So in an even quicker summary, Ayesha goes around to said ruins, gathers petals of 6 glowing flowers, uses alchemy to synthesize them and uses that item to track down her sister. Where was her sister all this time? In some void known as Yggdrasil. In there lies this trippy astral plane where her sister is being held as almost a host to this giant blue dragon creature who also happens to be named Yggdrasil. Pretty wild turn of events eh? Keithgriff joins Ayesha in the fight and mentions that the dragon must have been the result of some crazy alchemy event. They don't really go into full detail beyond that. They defeat Yggdrasil and her sister is freed and back to her normal human body but she hadn't aged one bit since her disappearance. GAMEPLAY This is a turn-based JRPG that follows a timeline format similar to Final Fantasy X. However that's where the comparison ends. Atelier Ayesha is a whole other beast in terms of gameplay mechanics. Half the time you'll be battling and the other half you'll be synthesizing. Synthesis is basically you selecting an item you want to make, such as weapons, healing items, or armor and then selecting the materials necessary to create said item. You can get these materials by either purchasing them at the various shops or by going to gathering areas to collect them. It's very simple to synthesize, just look the materials you need, choose the ones with good attributes that mesh well together and press X til it's done. Now of course this is an RPG and there needs to be battles. Like mentioned before, you have a timeline like FFX where it tells you who will get to move next ahead of time. Now you can only have a party of 3 and you can only add your friends to your party by speaking to them in their stationary locations. So that can be rather frustrating when you gotta travel across the world map just to use one party member. Now of course if your party is full, just speak to the friend you want to add and then you can choose of the 2 you want to part ways with to make room. So in battles it's 3 against however many enemies on screen, usually 4-5. Ayesha is the only one who can use items so it's best to keep her alive and well if you want to heal your other members. Her attack power leaves much to be desired so it's best to synthesize bombs to give her extra fighting power. Her other party members are fun to use though. They get the job done in terms of power and skills. Another gameplay aspect is the time limit. As mentioned in the plot summary, Ayesha only has 3 years to save her sister. The clock is obviously not real time. Rather, time only moves when you gather materials, synthesize, rest, or walk around the world map. Time doesn't move when you're in towns, battles, or just walking around the gathering area. However it's best to manage your time properly as there are time sensitive events and if you backtrack too much because you forgot to buy an alchemy book or something then it'll give you less time after the final boss to do post-game missions. You start your journey April of year 1 so at April 1st of year 3 the game will end with whatever progress you've made. Bad ending if you still haven't saved Nio, and then a normal or true ending if you saved Nio plus whatever else you did afterwards. The gameplay overall is really fun. Experimenting with different materials to synthesize a better version of a weapon or healing item is addicting and the combat is fun. I just wish the game was more exact on where you're needed to go to progress with the story. Sometimes the mission messages are cryptic so I'm left running around wasting time until I trigger an event or remember what I forgot lol. I wasted like 3 in-game months because I didn't collect 6 glowing flower petals, only 5. GRAPHICS As typical with many games, the character models look amazing with a nice watercolor look but the background textures leave much to be desired. The backgrounds in terms of aesthetics look beautiful with very unique ideas but the textures look very dated like a PS2 title. Now you may have recognized that the art of the game was done by none other than Hidari, same artist who drew the character illustrations for Fire Emblem Echoes. You get to see plenty of his artwork throughout the game when you trigger more and more cutscenes. The game itself looks rather pretty despite it's budgeted appearance. I absolutely love the character models though since I'm a sucker for watercolor art. SOUND The default sound setting is a mess. The voices get drowned out by the music (think of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle cutscenes) and the movie cutscenes are noticeably louder than the in-game volume. Luckily we're able to change the sound settings so I made it more comfortable for me and never had an issue since. With the technical stuff out of the way, let me gush over how AMAZING the soundtrack is. If it's one thing I love in a video game is it's music and this game does not disappoint. From the battle themes, to the boss themes to even the dungeon themes, just amazing. Oh and the music that plays after you save Nio and go back home? Absolutely beautiful yet somber. I also love that the music that plays during the specific character endings is an emotional remix of the opening theme. Anyways, instead of me praising the soundtrack so much, I'll post some links so you can enjoy the music for yourself! Battle theme:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDc96BpTN_s Boss theme:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJK21-wanY Riding the hot air balloon:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvG4rbQz2BM One of the optional post game bosses:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjJ57edVYMo CONCLUSION The game is not perfect. It's not a very linear game but a little more clarity on where you're supposed to go next or what you need to do to trigger specific events would be nice. The time limit is a bit restricting if you're not careful with time management because you might not have enough time to do everything in one playthrough. The plot is also rather weak but the series is known for being more laid back so I won't gripe on it too much. The plot gets the job done enough for me not to hate it. Plus it's sweet to see Ayesha and Nio reunited. The character interactions are comical and charming. The gameplay itself is addicting and fun. I love synthesizing new equipment as well as running around gathering areas fighting tough enemies and getting new materials. The soundtrack is fantastic and really matches the locations you're in and the battles you face. Overall I enjoyed this game very much and I look forward to investing more time into the series. Now to dive into the next game in the trilogy, Atelier Escha & Logy! Edited December 5, 2017 by Ronnie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) Funny you post this now. I was just this morning looking into the Atelier series. But I wasn't decided on which to try first. It would benefit from some paragraph breaks, but thanks for the review! Now thinking I might start with Ayesha too. Spoiler Just wish I hadn't spotted end-game spoilers as I scrolled past the plot section... I should have paid more attention to the thread title. Roughly how long did it take you to beat? Did you play the Vita version? How was the frame rate? Edited December 5, 2017 by lyscalibur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 29 minutes ago, lyscalibur said: Funny you post this now. I was just this morning looking into the Atelier series. But I wasn't decided on which to try first. It would benefit from some paragraph breaks, but thanks for the review! Now thinking I might start with Ayesha too. Reveal hidden contents Just wish I hadn't spotted end-game spoilers as I scrolled past the plot section... I should have paid more attention to the thread title. Roughly how long did it take you to beat? Did you play the Vita version? How was the frame rate? Lol sorry for spoiling the plot (even if I gave a warning) but trust me my summary was very vague. There's more to it but not that much. Still a very basic plot. Yeah I noticed the paragraphs look very chunky. I'll keep it in mind if I ever do another review. It took me around 22 hours to get to the final boss, and about 27 hours to get to the final day and see end credits. I never played the Vita version but I hear it has more frame rate issues than the PS3 version but reviewers didn't seem to mind it too much. The PS3 version struggles to maintain 60 fps. In one specific area of the town the game will chug but otherwise it runs normally between 30-60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 1 minute ago, Ronnie said: Lol sorry for spoiling the plot (even if I gave a warning) but trust me my summary was very vague. There's more to it but not that much. Still a very basic plot. Yeah I noticed the paragraphs look very chunky. I'll keep it in mind if I ever do another review. It took me around 22 hours to get to the final boss, and about 27 hours to get to the final day and see end credits. I never played the Vita version but I hear it has more frame rate issues than the PS3 version but reviewers didn't seem to mind it too much. The PS3 version struggles to maintain 60 fps. In one specific area of the town the game will chug but otherwise it runs normally between 30-60. No worries. My fault for being too eager to check the thread! I don't have lots of time for games, so well under 30 hours sounds great. I just have to decide which version I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 1 minute ago, lyscalibur said: No worries. My fault for being too eager to check the thread! I don't have lots of time for games, so well under 30 hours sounds great. I just have to decide which version I want. I only got the PS3 version because I wanted to own it physically and I like playing on consoles more. The Vita version includes all DLC so you have access to more dungeons, 2 more characters, and 3 more costumes. I had to pay for all that for my PS3 copy lol. Only downside is it's digital only for Vita. At least it doesn't take up a lot of space on the expensive memory cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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