Just a short little post for closure. Especially since I never finished Atelier Judie, it feels pretty good to get at least some closure in the Gramnad series of Atelier games. This so-called “third best ending” I got for Atelier Viorate has Vio and Bart’s parents moving back to Karotte Village after 5 years and Vio taking off with Eisel to go traveling around the world so she can learn more about alchemy. It’s a short ending scene, but it’s actually animated, which is how you know it’s supposed to be a really good ending. I should be thrilled to be so honored and favored by Gust.

And I am, really. Mostly. It’s hard for me these days to find games I enjoy enough to finish and I thoroughly enjoyed Atelier Viorate. A really good ending would have made it all the better so I was a teensy bit disappointed because in my game, at least, Viorate hardly spent any time at all with Eisel. I maxed out affection from Rodefried, Bart and Roland and got pretty far with other characters like Katharina and Milvis. I’m okay with Viorate going on a journey, but couldn’t it be with someone she actually likes? It’s very sudden and unnatural because this same Viorate adamantly refused to leave Karotte Village at the start of the game, now she just ups and skips town with a virtual stranger? What’s gotten into her? Weird.

Also, not related to the quality of the ending but a major peeve nonetheless: because I didn’t get the PSP-only “Sufia ending”, I don’t get to play New Game+ or Unlimited Mode. A proper New Game+ would have let me carry over all my money plus useful synthesized items like my flying boards and bombs so I could hit the ground running. That would have given me the incentive to play for the two better endings, both of which require me to beat some really tough bosses. As it is, the thought of starting over from scratch puts a huge damper on any desire I might have had to replay this game, so I’ll call it a day here.

Final thoughts: Great game, lots of areas to explore, very likeable characters, not too hard for the most part but with some very tough areas for those who want real challenge, not quite as many alchemy recipes as I would have liked but playing with attributes can be interesting, etc etc. I want to say “It scratched my alchemy itch” but that would be a lie – nothing scratches my alchemy itch. I wanna make more stuff now!! But I’m not going to get that satisfaction from Viorate any more, so it’s time to move on.

What I’m playing now: Finally picked up Sakura Taisen 3 where I left off. I picked Erica to be my No. 1 girl (but my heart belongs to you, Kanna!) and headed out to what claims to be the final battle but almost certainly isn’t because I have at least 2 more bosses and one superweapon to defeat. I’ll see what I can do this weekend towards clearing this game once and for all.

I also started Crimson Empire ~Circumstances to Serve a Noble~, partly because I’m curious about the board game & bribery gameplay and partly because I don’t want to blast through all my RPGs and be left with nothing but otome games on my backlog. Contrary to popular belief I do actually like otome games, but in small, occasional doses, like a fattening snack or a decadent dessert. I haven’t played a really good one since…Hanayaka nari Waga Ichizoku last year? Not counting my replay of La Corda d’oro. It’s been too long. Here’s hoping Crimson Empire will be good.

Btw, you might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned the 3DS in a while. There’s, uh, a reason for that but, umm… it’s not a very happy story, so I’ll spare you. I’ll play those games eventually but it’ll happen when it happens, more or less. Until then I still have lots of games in my backlog clamoring for my attention so I’d better get to work.