Each occasionally, as a deal with, Gust’s Atelier sequence of alchemy-adventure RPGs permits itself a fan service recreation. Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & The White Guardian is one such effort. Ostensibly, it is a follow-up to the mobile-only (and now defunct outdoors of Japan) Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Polar Night time Liberator, however within the probably occasion that you simply didn’t play that recreation and even learn about it, don’t sweat it an excessive amount of. This recreation largely stands separate from that one regardless of a couple of inconsequential callbacks right here and there. On the identical time, I doubt that is meant to kick off the following chapter within the Atelier franchise. This Change model can also be not one of the simplest ways to play it.
One factor this recreation shares with its cellular counterpart is that it’s, at its coronary heart, a crossover recreation. The final one in all these we noticed on consoles was Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, which was a clear-cut spin-off specializing in city administration relatively than the tried-and-true crafting RPG core of the principle video games. Atelier Resleriana opts to have its cake and eat it, too. In most methods, it’s a throwback to the pre-Ryza period of the franchise, however with a bit streamlining right here and there for good measure. Nevertheless it’s additionally a easy city builder, as your efforts feed into rebuilding your hometown, which has fallen on laborious instances. As you play, every kind of acquainted faces will present up. A few of them are comparatively deep cuts, relying on how lengthy you’ve been with the sequence.
There are two protagonists to select from right here off the hop, although after a brief prologue, they’ll meet up and issues roughly proceed the identical from there. Conveniently, they each have ties to the city of Hallfein, which performed host to a mysterious occasion twelve years up to now. Rias is an brisk younger girl who rapidly develops an curiosity in alchemy, and Slade is a younger man who actually likes to combat. He has the flexibility to open Dimensional Paths, that are primarily procedurally-generated dungeons the place you may go to collect goodies, have interaction in battles, and find obligatory gadgets to maneuver the plot ahead. The 2 group up as a consequence of their mutual pursuits and find yourself working to revive Hallfein whereas unraveling the thriller behind what occurred in that fateful occasion years in the past.
The loop, because it had been, sees you going right into a Dimensional Path, gathering up stuff, combating some battles, heading again, performing some alchemy, promoting some issues, checking off quests, and investing within the city. Because the city grows, you’ll be capable of make extra progress within the story. Extra folks will be a part of your occasion, extra folks will transfer into city, and that’s about how issues work. The battles are conventional turn-based affairs, albeit with a small timing-based blocking mechanic. It incorporates a system the place sure turns could have results tied to them, and you’ll manipulate who advantages from that by eradicating enemies from the equation. There’s additionally a cool system the place you may set off particular actions by doing particular combos.
And hey, all of it works fairly effectively. I believe the alchemy system is a bit too streamlined, however in any other case, I had a reasonably good time going via this recreation. There are numerous indicators that this recreation is making an attempt to make a whole lot of soup from a barely thinner broth than traditional, similar to some visible components wanting beneath the sequence’ requirements or some overly-simplified techniques. On the identical time, I think about most Atelier followers are going to search out the core expertise satisfying sufficient to look previous such issues. The cameos really feel very gratuitous at instances, however I believe Atelier cameos normally are usually like that. Properly, it’s a crossover. what you’re entering into.
What’s a little bit of a bummer is how Atelier Resleriana runs on Change. For essentially the most half it’s in step with what we’ve seen from many different Atelier video games on the platform. You’re getting a worse picture high quality than different platforms, and the lighting particularly is a bit grungy this time round. The distinction right here is that Atelier Resleriana must load much more typically than the standard Atelier recreation, and people load instances are fairly chunky on the unique Change. When you play on the Change 2, the loading instances are considerably higher. It’s the one apparent enchancment you’ll get on there, although. It’s not sufficient to spoil the sport by any means, however if in case you have different choices, you might need to discover them.
Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & The White Guardian in all probability shouldn’t be anybody’s first entry within the sequence, and the loading instances on the unique Nintendo Change can get fairly annoying over time. The charming characters and breezy set-up are factors in its favor, nonetheless, and longtime followers of the Atelier video games will probably get pleasure from each the cameos and traditional fashion. It’s additionally a relatively respectable selection normally in case you’re in search of an RPG to zone out on and don’t thoughts in case you can’t decide up on all of the references. Of the three Atelier releases this yr, it’s in all probability the one I’d suggest least, however ultimately? I’d nonetheless suggest it. Good consolation meals.
Model Examined: Nintendo Change
Overview Copy Offered by Koei Tecmo
