Tag Archives: themes

Atelier, Atelier Mysterious

Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey – What I Want to Do

3 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

As we started to explore in the previous part of this feature, one of the things that makes Atelier Firis so interesting as a modern role-playing game is that once you’re into the game’s “second quest”, there’s no set goal where you can say that you have definitively “finished” the game.

I mean, okay, if you doΒ literally everythingΒ the game has to offer, fill out all the collections to 100%, max out all your characters and make it so the only quests available are repeating ones, then yes, you’ve probably “beaten”Β Atelier Firis. But what I mean is that for people who aren’t obsessive completionists, you can pretty much choose what your own personal “win state” is, reach that condition and then, if you choose, set the game aside.

If you’re anything like me, of course, the temptation to just have “a quick look” at what else the game has to offer may be too much to bear, however… so let’s talk about this side of things, with a particular focus on what it means forΒ Atelier Firis’Β overall narrative.

Continue reading Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey – What I Want to Do →

Atelier, Atelier Mysterious

Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey – The Second Quest

4 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

It’s not at all unusual for RPGs these days to contain a significant post-game component: something to spend your time with once the credits have rolled for the first time.

It’s a little more rare for games to take the approach thatΒ Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious JourneyΒ does, which is for what is technically the “post-game” to feel pretty much like a whole new game in its own right.

Yes, you could quite feasibly putΒ Atelier FirisΒ down after you help her pass her alchemy license exam. But you’d be missing out onΒ soΒ much — so let’s explore what this whole “second quest” has to offer!

Continue reading Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey – The Second Quest →

Atelier, Atelier Mysterious

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book – Have You Any Dreams You’d Like to Sell?

3 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book is a story about dreams. It’s a story about ambition. And it’s a story about learning to have trust and faith in your own abilities.

While, as we’ve previously explored, the game takes a deliberately “directionless” approach to its early hours, these themes are nonetheless apparent from the very beginning of the game. And they’re explored not only through our heroine Sophie herself, but through many of the other characters, too.

So let’s take a closer look at the narrative, themes and characterisation ofΒ Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, and ponder how these characters grow and change over the course of their respective journeys.

Continue reading Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book – Have You Any Dreams You’d Like to Sell? →

Atelier, Atelier Dusk

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea – A Socratic Paradox

2 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

And so it is that we come to the end of one of the most beloved subseries in the entire history of Atelier. Every Atelier fan has their favourite installments, but it seems everyone has a lot of time for the Dusk series as a whole.

With that in mind, it seems fitting to bid farewell to this part of the series with a look at howΒ Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk SeaΒ wraps things up after your second playthrough — and what all this has meant for our journey as a whole.

After that, it’s time to explore brave — some might say Mysterious — new frontiers, but that’s a story for another day!

Continue reading Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea – A Socratic Paradox →

Atelier, Atelier Dusk

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea – The Kindness of Strangers

2 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is the final chapter in the Dusk trilogy. Whether or not we’ll see a later fourth installment a la Atelier Lulua remains to be seen, but for now, this is where it all ends.

As such,Β Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk SeaΒ is a game that brings together a series of interesting narrative threads from over the course of the trilogy as a whole — including some that began way back inΒ Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk. So while the story stands by itself and many of its mechanics are a lot more accessible to series newcomers, the game is best experienced in context as the conclusion of theΒ Dusk storyline.

LikeΒ Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky before it, though, you’ll need to play through as both protagonists to get the full story. So let’s start with a look at the main narrative you’ll experience first time around in the game if you pick Shallistera as your protagonist, then.

Continue reading Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea – The Kindness of Strangers →

Atelier, Atelier Dusk

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky – Together We’re Stronger

2 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

As time has gone on, the focus of the narratives in the Atelier series has changed somewhat — and it’s gone back and forth between dramatic, world-saving narratives and more personal affairs.

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk SkyΒ is an interesting one, in that it has elements of both in there. Of course, the very nature of theΒ DuskΒ setting suggests that we may well be looking at a world that is already beyond “saving” in its entirety — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that people can’t make a difference in smaller areas of that world.

And, as we’ve seen throughout theΒ AtelierΒ series as a whole, no-one is better-placed to make a difference — for better or worse — than your friendly neighbourhood alchemists.

Continue reading Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky – Together We’re Stronger →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Bubbles

1 Comment

I recently played through an interesting Taiwanese game called Food Girls. It’s a visual novel combined with a management sim about rescuing a street market from closure and demolition. You can read more about it in my feature over on Rice Digital; there’ll be more about it here when I’ve done a few more playthroughs!

As you might expect from the name, Food Girls primarily focuses on your relationships with the vendors who call the street market home. As you develop those relationships — and train up their important skills to ensure they’re making profit — you learn more about them.

For my first playthrough, I mostly focused on the tsundere bubble tea shop owner Bubbles. What can I say? I have a type. (I have multiple types, as it happens, but tsundere is a particular weak point.) So let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Bubbles →

Atelier, Atelier Dusk

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk – Bonds of People

6 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

As we’ve already discussed to a certain extent, Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk kicks off an Atelier subseries with a noticeably different feel to its predecessors.

While the Arland series was, on the whole, very positive in tone — the more melancholic aspects ofΒ Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of ArlandΒ aside — theΒ DuskΒ series emphasises the feeling that all is not well in this “world that is heading for destruction”, as Gust themselves put it.

And that feeling doesn’t just extend to the overall worldview ofΒ Atelier Ayesha,Β either; it infuses the core narrative and provides it with a very distinctive, highly emotional and deeply memorable feel. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk – Bonds of People →

Nekopara

Nekopara Vol. 4: The Smiles on Everyone’s Faces

8 Comments

This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
<< First | < Previous

The first three volumes of the Nekopara series each focused on a pair of the catgirls from the core cast, and explored a key message or lesson they had to learn.

InΒ Nekopara Vol. 1,Β Chocola and Vanilla learn how to function independently in human society, earning their “Bells” in the process. InΒ Vol. 2,Β Coconut and Azuki both come at the idea of honesty always being the best policy from slightly different angles. And in Vol. 3, Maple and Cinnamon determine that staying true to yourself is a much better way to live your life than deliberately holding yourself back, or trying to be something that you’re not.

InΒ Vol. 4,Β things are a little different. This time around, the core narrative focuses on the series protagonist Kashou, who longstanding followers of the series will know has had a certain amount of conflict brewing in his heart since the very beginning. It’s time for him to finally figure out some answers.

Continue reading Nekopara Vol. 4: The Smiles on Everyone’s Faces →

Atelier, Atelier Arland

Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland – Give Me A Reason to Live

4 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1.pngThis post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

The nice thing about the original Arland trilogy is that although there was definitely a sense of narrative progression over the course of the three games, each one was self-contained and left things open-ended for future development; there was no “grand finale”.

That’s whereΒ Atelier Lulua: The Scion of ArlandΒ comes in, of course. The fact thatΒ Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of ArlandΒ concluded the story of Meruru’s growth into a talented young alchemist, butΒ didn’tΒ spell any sort of “finality” for the Arland region meant that there was still plenty of scope to tell more stories in these pastel-coloured lands. Perhaps some sort of story that answers a few unresolved questions from the original trilogy — and which lets us see how all our favourite characters are getting along?

Atelier LuluaΒ still doesn’t necessarily feel like a “finale”; if anything it ushers in a bold new era for Arland. Whether or not we’ll see any more games in this setting remains to be seen at the time of writing, but for now,Β Atelier LuluaΒ provides an interesting, substantial story to tie things together nicely. So let’s take a closer look — bearing in mind that, of course, there will beΒ spoilersΒ ahead.

Continue reading Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland – Give Me A Reason to Live →