I’m supposed to be playing Phantasy Star Portable right around now. But I still hadn’t had enough item synthesis after Atelier Elie last week, so I played Atelier Annie
This is actually my third or fourth playthrough of Annie. I played it quite thoroughly when it first came out in Japanese, but I didn’t (and still don’t) have a very good opinion of it. Still, I wanted to see what NIS did with the English version, and my memory of most of the events was quite hazy, so I gave it one last go.
Playing it immediately after Elie was quite an experience, because they’re so different. I played all the Atelier games out of order so I didn’t notice how radically the items had changed over the time. I’d say roughly 50% of the items in Annie didn’t exist in Elie, and vice-versa, and those that are present have very different designs. Only a few basic staples even look anything like they did back then, mainly the bombs, buffer, pure water and supplements. Very interesting.
That aside… Yeah, I got nothing. While I’m usually a blind fan of anything Atelier, this game has never done it for me. First, there’s Annie herself. I don’t know why NISA picked the game with the least representative heroine for localization. Most of the other Atelier heroines are hardworking, focused and determined. They love alchemy, they have a sense of adventure and their main goals in life do not necessarily involve “marrying a rich guy so I can live in luxury.” Yet it’s the game starring the whiny, unattractive, gold-digging slacker that made it over. Made it over and poisoned the well so none of the other, better handheld Atelier games could follow it. Way to go.
Second thing I’m not crazy about: the rest of the cast. They’re even pushier and crankier than I remembered, barging into your workshop any time they please with all kinds of unreasonable demands. It’s especially jarring after I just finished Elie, where your friends and party members respect your time. They knock before they come in (and if you’re busy you can ignore them), they don’t touch anything, they state their business quickly and politely and they don’t get mad if you refuse their requests or fail to turn it in on time. It’s the same/similar in all the other Atelier games I’ve played and even Nora was the same. Basic respect and decency cost nothing.
Third problem, and an issue I have with most of the other Atelier games: not enough time for alchemy! They kept me busy from start to finish fulfilling contest assignments, resort quests, guild quests and character quests and grinding in battle to unlock new gathering points and get the other characters to like me. The resort quests were particularly time- and money-consuming and spectacularly unrewarding. Not to mention I dreaded even entering the workshop because for 90% of the game the cast likes to waylay you there and boss you around while talking your ear off. You know it’s really weird, but when your Amity (friendship) level with them goes up to “Best”, all of a sudden they leave you alone and stop hounding you. In other words they were pestering you before because they didn’t like you? What a bunch of ***holes.
Anyway, I’m done with this game. Although I didn’t get to synthesize nearly as much as I wanted to because I was too busy currying favor to get a good ending, I still got the alchemy bug out of my system. The next games I plan to play are, in order, Phantasy Star Portable (already started, will probably soon quit), Harukanaru Toki no naka de 4 and Saiyuki: Journey West (gotta have my SRPG fix). These should keep me busy through the end of March.
I think I only enjoyed Atelier Annie because I was using cheats, so I had enough time for Alchemy, didn’t have to grind and could skip the interaction with characters… XD
I’d really like to play one of the old Atelier games, it’s a pity they never got localised. I really liked the manga back when it got released over here and alchemy in general is something I rather enjoy as a gameplay element (I was pretty addicted to that Alchemy game for Android/iOS phones.. ^^;;) – the next games I’ll play are The Second Reproduction (spiritual sequel to Queen of Darkness, which is an otome eroge RPG, the sequel is an all ages otome game without RPG elements, not sure if there’s any kind of gameplay besides making choices, but it’s a short game and it got a strong heroine and I loved QoD, so I’ll definitely play through this, even if it’s a pure VN) and the other one is Kamidori Alchemy Master, an eroge game with turn based battles and focusing on Alchemy. Not sure if I’ll completely play through it, as most eroge heroes and heroines annoy the hell out of me, but the system sounds interesting and the art looks nice enough. And there’s a skip function. ;>
I still have to finish Fate/Extra as well.. but the game is so.. mediocre. At least I no longer have to grind since someone was kind enough to add some cheats to my savefile. I’ve never been so bored by grinding like I was in this game. Persona 3 and 4 never made me even think about cheating, since the easy mode was perfect for grind-lazy people, but still challenging enough to keep me interested in wanting to engage in battles. Hahh.. can’t wait for Persona 4 The Golden. Wish they had added a female MC this time as well tho.. I so would have gone for Kanji then.. :>
Anyway, I’ll be looking forward to what you’ve got to say about Harutoki 4 when you start playing it! 🙂
Did you play any of the PS3 Atelier games btw? I know you complained about the pastel art style (which I actually quite like ^^;) but I wonder if they are fun gameplay wise.. I’m quite interested in the 3rd, Meruru, as I like building development stuff about as much as alchemy. XD I don’t think I’ll play the other two tho, as I don’t like the MC girls that much..
I don’t have a PS3 so no, I haven’t played any of the PS3 Ateliers. I didn’t like the art-style on paper, but it might grow on me if I ever get to actually play it.
What alchemy game on Android/ios? Sounds interesting.
I’ve heard about Kamidori Alchemy Meister, but anything eroge is out for me. If they ever release a non-ero version, I’ll be all over it.
PSVita and P4 Golden… not a P4 fan. One playthrough was enough for me. I do plan to buy a Vita once I’ve exhausted my stock of PSP games (which won’t be for a long while). I really want to play Ciel Nosurge.
Rorona is obvious “PS3 launch title beta” game. Personally speaking I think it “opens” up way too slow. Gotta knife fight you on the art though.
Totori supposedly good enough to be considered a top tier RPG in several RPG-focused review site apparently. Boy, that sure is a change from the series being obscure and/or only in Japanese. Having not personally played it, I don’t have any real comments.
Kamidori’s not really focused on Alchemy in the Atelier style. It’s just a huge mini-game that you use to fund/outfit for Fire Emblem type battles (which is what it’s more comparable to). Oh, remember when you said that Atelier games with fairies are the best because they remove the tedium of farming materials when you’re really established and just want to focus on creation? Yeah, in this game you get walled by “I got to go back to an extremely early battlefield to stock up on super common ingredients to alchemize” a lot.
Fire Emblem-type battles? Do you actually get to fight yourself or do you just outfit adventurers and watch the battle play out? I love Fire Emblem! I really don’t want to play an ero-game, but… I LOVE Fire Emblem!!!
There’s (almost) always the skip function in eroges. I think the only game where I didn’t skip the sex scenes was Sengoku Rance, they where just so hilarious they made me crack up each time. XD
I still haven’t tried Kamidori, so I can’t say much about battles (but from what I know you really direct them and don’t just watch) and alchemy, but I read that the first one focused more on battles while in the second one there was more more alchemy but still lots of battles?
I’ll post my first impressions on my blog whenever I get to play the game, I’ve got my bro’s PS3 for the weekend, so I’m quite focused on playing Agarest Senki.. ^^;
Ooh, Agarest Senki. You’re so lucky. All the PS3 owners I know are FPS lover so even if I borrowed a PS3 I’d have to buy all the games from scratch.
Agarest Senki is just $29,99 on the PSN store, which I find quite fair for an SRPG of that massive scale. My only complaint about the game so far is that the battle grounds look piss ugly. I remember the Japanese demo having the same battle map for each fight, no matter where you are (http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/10/agarestfights.jpg) and I was hoping that would be changed in the full game, now I wish they would have kept the boring map. (http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/Record_of_Agarest_War/ss-002.jpg) The textures look crappy. 🙁
And there is way too much customisation in this game. But it’s certainly a good and fun SRPG! I think I might enjoy the newer titles a bit more tho, from what I’ve seen. ^^;
It’s going for even less on Amazon right now ($18.09). I just like to borrow free games whenever I can get them.
Btw that first screenshot you posted make the battle system look uncomfortably similar to Blazing Souls: Accelate, an SRPG so messed up even I couldn’t play it.
You get to fight the battles yourself.
The company actually makes a lot of Fire Emblem clones… actually the word “clone” implies inferior but some of them are probably better than the average FE game.
Hmm. I’m sorely tempted, but no. If the game is any good, maybe it’ll get a non-ero port to a console/handheld one of these days. And if it doesn’t I’ve got other games to play.
Atelier Annie! I loved this game! haha. The American DS market rarely has atelier games like these so I played the heck out of Annie. I TOTALLY agree with you about the annoying guests barging in. And the competition thing took away from me enjoying the synthesizing and mixing of items. But this was my first introduction to the Atelier series and it really made me curious for the other Atelier games you reviewed! I love the bright and happy art style of the whole series. I thought Annie and her little guy helper were so cute in their chibi ways. :b
Yeah, I suppose as a first introduction to the “traditional” games Annie is not too bad. It’s probably the only taste of those games that Western handheld gamers will ever have… which is why it bugs me that it’s so non-representative.
To give a random senseless analogy, it’s like if you keep boasting about your cooking, and then the one day everyone comes over for dinner is also the day the stove goes crazy and burns everything in sight. Your reputation is shot for life.
Still, take my complaints with a pinch of salt. After playing it 4 times, I’ve lost the right to whine that much.
Hah, commenting two years later with the condition of Atelier in the west obviously being different, I’ll still speak in Annie’s defense because I discovered this blog entry, it was the first Atelier I played and I’m feeling nostalgic right now. I also don’t tend to see many people who like this game for the same reasons in this post, and I don’t really get it.
I really liked how non-typical the cast and main character was; Annie’s personality set her apart from later protagonists, and she had to grow into her love of alchemy instead of just starting out with it. Not to bag on the later protagonists, but aside from switching some of their interests (Violet likes carrots, Escha likes apples) around, their personalities are pretty interchangeable a lot of the time. On that note, I liked the characters being jerks. Jerks just tend to be amusing characters, and I ended up getting getting a deeper sense of camadarie between them just because they reminded me of my own jerk-but-still-legit friends. Several games later, it’s still my favorite cast.
Atelier’s pretty great, and this game got me into the franchise.
If it’s your favorite cast, then it’s your favorite cast, end of matter. I go out of my way to avoid jerk-y characters in games, but I know they exist because someone out there likes them. Lo and behold, that mythical creature is you! ^_^ J/K I haven’t played any of the PS3 Ateliers, but of the games I’ve played so far, Annie still has my least favorite protagonist, cast and main story. Different strokes for different folks, eh?
Hey! Just want to leave a comment, thanks for keeping this blog up, playing this game in 2024 feels rather lonely so it’s nice to read about other people’s opinions! I’ll be checking ur reviews out on other games as well haha
Thanks for stopping by! Over the years I’ve come to resonate more with Annie the “gold-digging slacker,” and marrying a rich guy and living in luxury doesn’t sound so bad any more, haha :D. It’s still not a great game, but it has its charms.