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Atelier Iris : Eternal Mana
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Game Name:
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Atelier Iris : Eternal Mana |
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Console:
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Gameboy Color |
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Reviewed:
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Unknown |
NIS America has an interesting track record in the United States. Despite their mother company having huge success in Japan, their American department hasn’t been selling too well. But then again, similar to American games in Japan, Japanese games and their flair and unique style don’t seem to attract a huge crowd no matter how good they are. NIS America falls into this category. They have developed and published a lot, not just a lucky few, but a lot of amazing role playing games. They developed Disgaea and La Pucelle Tactics and published Phantom Brave and the upcoming Makai Kingdom, all of them being solid, fun RPG’s. Can their newest title, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana repeat the success of its predecessors?
Not only can it, but it does with flying colors. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is the game that really defines NIS America as being a quality company. Every company can have a couple solid games, but when every game they have put out is of the utmost quality, each with its own unique style and flavor, that company becomes truly special. Indeed, Atelier Iris is an amazing game that should be enjoyed by all fans of the genre. However, that brings up another question, one that only time can tell. Will Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana suffer the same fate as previous games and only manage mediocre sales despite obvious quality?
Hopefully any readers of this article who happen to be RPG fans will not disgrace the game but will rather honor it by giving it the playing time it deserves. But why does it deserve it, you ask? That is a question that is answered by simply putting it into one’s PS2 and playing a few minutes with it. But, this article will try to answer the question anyway.
Developed by a small game developing studio named Gust, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana puts gamers into the role of Klein Kiesling, a badass, self-doubting hero (why do they always have to give RPG characters such strange names?). He is accompanied by many friends, travelers, and basically fellow warriors who each have a very unique, compelling personality. However, this aspect of the game also brings up its first downpoint: no character background. The game does an extremely poor job or drawing the game into relating and understanding the characters in the game. RPG’s are built on player-character relation and that is the one of the only aspects where Atelier Iris went terribly wrong.
Despite that shortcoming, Atelier Iris still has plenty to offer. While the story isn’t overly original, a bad guy who wants to destroy the world and the hero has to prevent this, blah blah blah, the way its presented still helps to make up for where the character background failed. The storyline, despite being predictable, is still powered by excellent dialogue, great character interaction, surprisingly deep, witty NPC’s, and solid voice-overs. The translation from Japanese to English, an area that usually haunts such games as this, only flourished and the amazing dialogue and character interaction does much to make gamers stay intrigued and into the game, a necessary factor with successful RPG titles.
One of the biggest upsides of the game is a concept that most games in the genre overlook, rewarding players for exploring. While some games become tedious because exploring yields absolutely nothing, Atelier Iris commends players for going out of their way and exploring every nook and cranny. Players will be happy to find literally hundreds of different objects and combine them in specific shops to make incredibly fun, unique items. This aspect of the game, if enjoyed, can add hours upon hours of extra play time to the game.
The battle aspect of the game, the last main point in the gameplay department, is pretty typical of most RPG’s. As with most RPG’s, the battle system basically just puts the players onto a battle screen and lets them choose different attacks for different characters. Since the game is actually a little on the easy side, gamers will blow through much of the game with no problem in most cases, however this is somewhat offset due to the fact that leveling up is very slow compared to some RPG’s and since the later part of the game becomes quite difficult, it pays immensely to spend time leveling up.
Graphically, Atelier Iris brings a unique look to the table, at least in terms of modern RPG’s. Atelier Iris has the look of Final Fantasy Tactics, cartoony in essence but yet still very detailed and polished. Likewise, the effects aren’t nothing to brag about, but the game obviously wasn’t going for that. While gamers can knock the game for not being overly prominent in its visual area, the game still accomplishes what it was going for: a polished, unique look to compliment its stylish characters and fun gameplay.
As mentioned earlier, the voice-overs in Atelier Iris are amazing and do well to set the tone for the audio of the game. The dialogue was just excellently written and acted out supremely. The music isn’t overly epic by any means, yet, like the graphics, it matches the theme of the game perfectly and compliments it very well. The sound effects, on the other hand, are crisp and sharp, doing well to draw gamers into the battles.
While nobody may know what it means, Atelier Iris could easily become a common name amongst RPG gamers who are lucky enough to play it (considering they learn how to pronounce it, a feat that not even this writer has overcome). It has fun, deep, intricate gameplay that will appeal to hardcore gamers, and a witty, funny, interesting group of characters that will keep casual RPG fans interested as well. Overall, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is just a fun RPG to play.
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