How do anons feel about the Atelier series of games? I personally have beat the Ryza series recently and i'm playing Sophie currently. I like the church lady Pamela so far. Ive heard Yumia is horrible bc of the crafting, but I want to try the previous games first.
Atelier games are kusoge.
>>738231305Sophie and the rest of the Mysterious games are my favorite Ateliers, very soulful, solid world building, the most complex alchemy in the series.
I only played like half of the first ryza game and I thought it was just barely ok.Gameplay sucked, alchemy was dumb but not as lame as it couldve been.The story was passable. What I reallt enjoyed was the atmosphere and tone of the game. I'm a huge sucker for comfy slice of life stuff. I sometimes tear up little from simple stuff like that. OST was great too.
Sex with Ryza
>>738231305I'm used to jrpgs being a drag, but atelier games are the rare case that it usually takes the toll on me and I don't finish. It can be my OCD to craft the best quality RNG items or just the gamplay in general.I did finish the older games way back then. But newer games are just not the same.
>>738231507Not a fan of the world travelling so far since it takes half a day to get where I want, but I'll get used to it at some point. I don't know how far into the game I am. I'm at Plachta's Memories (4) currently. Everything else is amazing so far.
>>738231305Ryza and beyond simplified the item/crafting system too much but overall I like the series.Lydie and Sue are the hottest protags, I also like their game the most because of the family theme.
Is the reason no one seems to significantly age in this series due to a side effect of all the philosopher's stones they all keep making?
>>738231305I only played Rona or whatever the fuck was on the Vita(there's like fucking 9 of these games on that system). It was ok but I preferred the Mana Khemia games. The battle system was a thousand times more interesting. Really wish they'd port them to Steam.
>>738232081I always had loved Ulrika. She's a brat, but she's a cute brat.
>>738231305Enjoy the ride! Sophie 1 has a very comfy vibe, I loved all the characters events in town, and the main story has a few dramatic and very cool moments. Great soundtrack too.>>738232037They do age between each game, Firis is one of the more dramatic examples, by the time of Atelier Lydie & Sulle she's much taller and stronger and much more confident.
>>738231305totori is fucking horrible and i still don't get why all the faggots here keep recommending it.The game fucking sucks and totori isn't even a loli for fucks sake
>>738231507>the most complex alchemy in the series.fucked up.I really hope a new entry takes sophie2's alchemy and continues it.ryza's was fucking dog shit in comparision.
I only played the arland and dusk serie, rorona was a complete suprise for me and I expected all games being similar, then I got hit with totori brutality.making item is the most fun part for me
Totori, Ayesha and Firis are my favorites. I like time limits and adventure.
>>738233914How bad is Totori's time limit compared to Firis? I loved Firis, and bought the Arland pack this sale, might skip Totori if it's really as bad as everyone says, but idk.
>>738232954Totori is one of the best games I've played in the series, second to Firis IMO. But the UI is absolute rancid horse shit. If you aren't willing to put up with it, it isn't going to get better so I'd say just cut your losses.What I liked about it was the time management system and requirements, plus the feeling of adventure from exploring each of the new locations.Meruru is fairly similar but with a less ass UI, so you could try that game if you find some aspects of Totori appealing and others frustrating.>>738233914Good taste
>>738234025Totori is certainly more strict than Firis, but not as bad as it is sometimes made out to be. Just don't blindly harvest everywhere and be mindful of how you travel. Some event conditions can be permanently missed though, so you might want to check for those.
>>738232229>taller and stronger and much more confident.and she put her big girl pantsu on.
>>738234119rorona is all that but way better. I still don't understand why totori and meruru exist
>>738234237I thought meruru was the most streamlined and polished of the three, personally. It's been a while since I played them so I might be remembering certain details wrong.If you played them on steam, I'm pretty sure that the 'Rorona' you played is a remake that actually was released after Meruru and integrated a lot of its' changes. But even with that I felt like Meruru was the most polished of the three.
>>738234237Are we talking about the rorona remake or the og game? Because, the remake came out way later, hence the improved UI.
>>738234385Yeah, this is the reason why Totori feels like dogshit, because it didn't get remade, so it's far behind Rorona DX and Meruru in terms of features and graphics etc.
>>738231305Went to shit when they decided to pander incels with SophieWhile even before they released stinkers(meruru, escha and logy), but with sophie it was clear downhill and point of no return
>>738234385I want to feed Rorona her own chim pies.
>>738235252>Sophie panders to incelsOkay, I'll bite, how?
>>738231305Ryza is too fucking easy and simplistic.
>>738235252>meruru>stinkerI liked that one the most out of the Arlands.
>>738235395That's because you hate arland games and charactersIt literally took dump on every single returning character, and new ones were most boring shit ever, while gameplay is boring "have months with nothing to be done until next project"
I love them despite them being mediocre low budget games. But the crafting system is cool. I like that I have to make my own shit instead of just finding stuff in dungeons and I can highly customize it. The series feels like its getting worse though. Ever since they got rid of the time limits, the other systems in the game feel like they no longer line up and things start to feel aimless. Theres also increasingly less to do late game. They either don't bother or expect you to buy dlc if you want what the older games provided for free.
>>738234025It's not that bad. Travel takes a long time so you have to be efficient to avoid wasting time walking around just for one thing you forgot to grab. Or if you don't load a save on death and let a month or even more go to waste.If you know what you're doing you can get the true ending and (almost) all of the license points in a single save with a year to spare even without ng+ bonuses.
>>738235530The Arland trilogy is one of the rare instances where I actually enjoyed JRPGs but if you say so. The characters weren't as good, that much is true. Been a while since I played it but I remember it feeling like a good midpoint between Rorona and Totori. I did play Ayesha and liked it well enough, but never really dug into Escha & Logy or Shallie.
>>738235740>If you know what you're doing you can get the true ending and (almost) all of the license points in a single save with a year to spare even without ng+ bonuses.I don't believe it's possible to get the true ending at all without a guide or extensive replaying of the game. IIRC Mimi's flags alone are autistically specific and there's like 15 of them, which require her to be present in almost every major story battle. Or am I misremembering that the true ending requires you to be eligible for each individual character's ending on the same playthrough?
>>738236162I certainly don't expect people to get the true ending on the first playthrough, but when people complain about the time limit strict they're usually complaining that they ran out of time and got a bad ending which is entirely a skill issue. There's more than enough time to fuck around and still reach the normal ending.
>>738231305downwards trend in gameplay enjoyment
>>738231305I really enjoyed them for a brief period. I loved the Arland games and Ayesha, but E&L sucked. Afterwards, the series started going in directions I didn't really care for, and the only other one I've liked all that much is Firis.Mana Khemia was also alright, though it has a different appeal.>>738234025It is a fair bit more demanding than Firis in that regard, but it's a fun game that offers a lot of freedom regarding how to approach things.
Bought Sophie 2 this sale.>already clocked 52 hoursWelp, I think I might have a problem lmaoKinda lame that they removed Bottled Misfortune though. What are the go-to debuffs in Sophie 2? I just spam elemental weaknesses, but feels like I'm not using the game's full potential.
>>738235530Don't tell me this. I just started Meruru and am still waiting for the mask to drop. Why hasn't Totori struggled to teach Meruru anything? Why hasn't she dropped the teacher act when cozying up to Meruru to keep the roof over her head? Why is Rufus content to hole up in his study without anyone leering in on him? Why didn't Peter mutter under his breath that Meruru should cover up her damn chest when she's got nothing to show off? So much is going wrong already. At least Filly's still a freak.
I played one of them. The lesbian got a lesbian magic robot pet for her house to play dress up with. And I forget how the story goes but they possibly saved the world or some stupid shit, I dunno. All I remember is the cauldron minigame was kinda shallow, and the combat was kinda shallow, and the characters were kinda shallow. So basically I remember nothing about it whatsoever despite 100%ing it.
>>738237678>I remember nothing about it whatsoever despite 100%ing itSounds like you followed a guide. Games are much more fun when you solve problems yourself rather than just copying what somebody else did.
>>738237797Nope. Weird assumption to make. Also, from what I remember the game was so linear that a guide would be nothing. Like, 'talk to the NPCs you can talk to and then go to the areas you can go to, repeat' and that would be it.
>>738237574you don't get it until close to the end of the game but there's the shadow lynchpin. More importantly than a specific item the color traits that apply random debuffs is pretty strong and you can get by spamming items with those traits.
>>738237797Who needs a completion guide for sophie 1 of all game?
>>738238064The post game boss unlocks don't make sense sometimes. There's some weirdly specific conditions to get all of them able to spawn.
>>738237991>Shadow LynchpinThanks, how do you have it in the first temple though? NG+?Also, are any of the DLC recipes any good? I mage Plachta's umbrella and it's kinda strong and doesn't cost much money to recharge (unlike the tier 2 bombs).>>738237924>>738238064You're not beating the final boss unless you know how to combine traits (like pic related), and that requires some effort.
>>738237991Mayhaps I should learn more of the traits and stuff in order to give enemies a wall of negative effects. I have the motor functions of a goldfish so it'll take me a while.
>>738238142Instead of a proper post game you just get to refight all of the existing bosses again but at a higher level. I never tried it but there's also a boss rush where you fight all of the bosses in a row or something but I never tried it since it was added in a later patch. Assuming you don't get item refills it actually sounds like it might be tough; the high level bosses are pretty easy to kill dumping all your items so making you conserve them would make it pretty tricky.
>>738238110Oh yeah, and the post-game bosses like Light Elemental and Demon Lord are huge shitter filters. IIRC, the first one curses the whole party halfway through the fight making it impossible to heal (healing will kill you), while the other gets infinite turns as the battle goes on. Both have banger soundtracks btw.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq8cDA9UKrMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_t1OFGS1YQAnd there's also that infinitely regenerating dragon in the final boss's lab if you return there after the ending. Requires Plachta's ultimate skill to beat (prevents enemies from healing).
>>738236874I think it is also a question of player expectation. The Atelier series comes from the tradition of simulation games, where you are usually expected to play the game many times for different endings. It is not unusual for there to be a perfectionist ending to reward optimal play, like Shiori in Tokimeki Memorial, that you are not expected to get in your first play. In Ayesha, the arguably canon ending is not the one where you complete a bunch of goals, for instance. However, since the games have gotten very long, and there is no way to rewind apart from saving, it can get frustrating for some people. There is a generous ng+ in totori though.
>>738232037>no one seems to significantly age in this seriesBut Lulua exists.
>>738238756Rorona looks the same at 37 as she does at 17, just slightly longer hair.
>>738231305They need to commit to the yuri for once
>>738238827Nah, she looks like a MILF in the 4th game.>>738238892Play Lydie & Suelle.
>>738232229Sophie 1's cast is such a tragedy, there's only 2 good characters which are Corneria and Harol.Also the book lady was nice. And there's Logy again for some reason.
Totori's true end is awful anyway, you shouldn't get it
>>738238989Funny you say that, because I thought Sophie 1's cast was much stronger than Sophie 2's.>crazy dollmaker>watchmaker turned gunslinger>slutty waitress>autistic kid that talks to plants>honorable knight from France>ghost nunand many othersWhile in Sophie 2 pretty much only Sophie herself and young Plachta were really good. Ramizel was wasted because her relationship with Sophie was never explored, and the other 3 party members were literally who's. Well, Pirka and Kati were nice I guess.
>>738239196Can't agree, the only sin of sophie 2 I can think of is the big tittied innkeeper being criminally under utilized.
>>738239408She had such a sick intro.
>>738231305i only played sophie last year. some beautiful character art, horrible environments. i liked the alchemy once you actually begin to understand its intricacies despite being very poorly tutorialised. the rest of the game, specially the combat was kind of a slog. I did finish it but it took some effort. a lot less comfy and relaxing than i was expecting honestly. i appreciate what these games seem to be going for but i'm not sure they're for me.
>>738239973>horrible environmentsSophie 1 was their final PS3 era game, the later ones have much bigger and prettier environments. Firis is straight up open world, with vehicles and a flying broom. And underwater exploration. Check it out.
>>738231305The atelier formula peaked at Totori since the gameplay loop has already been established while having some fanservice scenes that have been absent since Koei took over Gust.I stopped after playing Ryza 1 cause there's been nothing improving on series and you get exhausted playing the same games for 7 years.
