A blast from the crafting-focused previous.
The Atelier sequence of video games is having a surge of recognition, with the current launch of the third sport within the Ryza/Secret subseries of video games and the discharge of the anime adaptation of the primary sport in that sequence, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout. With that momentum, developer Gust is returning to the sequence’ roots with a remake of the primary sport within the Atelier sequence, Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg. As a fan of the Atelier sequence, I used to be excited to present this sport a shot, as that is the primary time this entry is releasing abroad. And whereas I personally actually loved my time with Atelier Marie, this won’t be the sport followers expect if they’ve solely performed the more moderen entries.
In Atelier Marie, you play the titular Marie (shortened from Marlone) who’s informed, as a consequence of her poor efficiency on the alchemy academy, that she has 5 years to develop into a talented alchemist in a small workshop she’s been supplied. This begins the core gameplay loop, the place you spend the following 5 years exploring the world, gathering supplies for alchemy, going again to the atelier to craft objects–which can be utilized to finish quests or utilized in fight to permit for gathering in additional harmful areas–rinse and repeat. The sport’s fight is pretty fundamental, consisting of a easy turn-based system, and the alchemy system is equally approachable. The place the sport’s issue lies is in useful resource administration. Very similar to different early Atelier video games, such because the Arland subseries, Atelier Marie places you on a time restrict. Whereas 5 years appears like a very long time, nearly each motion takes an inordinate quantity of in-game time; touring, gathering supplies, and alchemy all take time. So all through this sport you’re balancing your time, cash, and supplies, making choices to try to optimize this course of. Do you exit and collect all of your supplies, or do you rent a useful elf who will accomplish that for a month-to-month charge? Do you rent a powerful mercenary who can assist you deal with battles with ease (for a better charge) or attempt to make fight work together with your finest buddy, who’s weak however goes out combating free of charge?
Whereas this time administration system has lengthy been a topic of debate amongst Atelier followers (the dialogue of which sport is finest to begin with usually revolves round it), I believe it lends a singular high quality to those early video games that I personally get pleasure from. Nevertheless, it won’t be to each participant’s liking. The opposite facet that this lends itself to is replayability, as a result of it’s unimaginable to see and do every little thing in a single playthrough. In my first playthrough, it says I accomplished 64% of the sport’s occasions that may be seen in sport. So whereas a single playthrough took me about 10 hours, I may simply do a brand new sport plus run to see extra. I plan to take action (although maybe after a break), as a result of the setting and characters had been pleasant sufficient that I’d wish to see the tip of every particular person storyline. Whereas I believe the Atelier sequence’ character writing and storytelling has improved through the years, the characters in Marie aren’t as likable to me because the characters within the Arland subseries, and the world constructing/storytelling isn’t as robust as within the Nightfall subseries. Nonetheless, Atelier Marie Remake oozes with attraction and makes you’re keen on these characters and this tiny city you’re primarily based in.
The sport additionally features a record of all of the cutscenes and occasions and a number of the particulars to set off them, which can make accessing them simpler. I’d personally suggest doing a playthrough with out holding that in thoughts, interacting with characters you wish to work together with, after which utilizing that as a information to get the occasions you needed to see most. It’s simple to overlook sure occasions and days on the calendar (I didn’t expertise an annual occasion till yr 5, and there are characters I by no means met), however the sport’s occasion log lets me know what occasions I can intention for or plan to hit subsequent time.
Visually, Atelier Marie is hit and miss. The chibi artwork fashion is more likely to be divisive, although it is smart coming from a PS1-era JRPG. That mentioned, the 2D artwork for the cutscenes is absolutely beautiful and makes me want there have been extra excuses to see that artwork fashion. The facet that bothers me probably the most with the visuals is a fog/blur impact when shifting across the city and exploring. It’s distracting and doesn’t add something visually; a part of me wonders if that is trying for a stylized impact–alongside the traces of the Hyperlink’s Awakening remake–however not doing a great job with it. It makes me want there was extra of a stylized method to the 3D chibi visuals.
The one gameplay facet that didn’t work had been the minigames. All through the course of the expertise, sport there are a number of situations the place the usual circulation of gameplay might be interrupted; for instance, after you make cheese a mouse will steal it. Then you’ll get right into a associated minigame (on this specific case, chasing the mouse in a maze whereas with the ability to push objects in its path to entice it), with good outcomes leaving you with extra of the merchandise. Passing the sport leaves you with the traditional quantities of the merchandise, and failure leads you to lose the merchandise. These minigames are all uninteresting at finest and unfun at worst. They occur very occasionally, so this shouldn’t be a deal breaker, however it appears fairly clear why these minigames (which had been within the unique PS1 launch) didn’t develop into a mainstay of the sequence.
Atelier Marie isn’t the Atelier sequence at its peak, however I wouldn’t anticipate it to be: it’s the first sport within the sequence, in spite of everything. As such, I seemingly wouldn’t suggest this sport to a newcomer to the sequence. Every subseries (i.e. Arland, Nightfall, Mysterious, Ryza/Secret) is self-contained, so it’s not essential to play Marie earlier than these different video games. Nevertheless, for followers of the sequence it’s enjoyable to see the place it began and the way a lot Gust bought proper from the beginning, contemplating that is nonetheless a really enjoyable, breezy JRPG to play. It makes me hope that different video games within the sequence could be dropped at fashionable platforms and that the Atelier sequence can proceed to thrive!
