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New review!
Rating: 83/100
The Atelier series has always been a rather niche series, especially in America, where gamers tend to favor more action packed and violent games rather than more low key affairs, especially story-driven games that have more to offer than that. That doesn't necessarily apply to every video game lover in the States, as I myself love JRPGs for their rich stories and often three-dimensional characters. My love for game franchises such as Pokemon, Kirby, Harvest Moon, and even visual novels such as Phoenix Wright and Clannad, is an attestment of that. Once I decided to branch out into playing other games, the Atelier series piqued my interest, and I have wanted to check it out, but I didn't have any of the consoles needed to play them. Once I saved money via my job and got a PS Vita, the opportunity to get the games presented itself, but I was always curious about whether which Atelier game was considered the best. Opinions varied among Atelier fans, but out of all of them, I thought Atelier Escha and Logy: The Alchemists of the Dusk Sky seemed the most appealing to me (Though I did wind up playing one of the spin-offs, Mana Khemia, first, because of a friend's recommendation). So now that I've played it, what do I think of it? Well, after playing this and a couple other Atelier games, I can safely say that I really like this one a lot!
A direct sequel to Atelier Ayesha, in a tiny apple orchard village called Colseit, two young, fresh-faced alchemists, Escha Malier and Logix "Logy" Fiscario, have been given government jobs by their local administration at the Central R&D Division. But the two alchemists have different personalities and experiences with alchemy, which both exasperate and compliment each other. Together, Escha and Logy take on various jobs, such as running errands and fighting monsters that come too close to town. But the biggest mystery their world has to offer is that there are mysterious ruins floating in the sky, and no airship has been able to penetrate the turbulent winds that surround it. After a while, the duo, with the help of their friends and families, hope to build an airship strong enough to reach the floating ruins in order to uncover its mysteries once and for all. By the way, for anyone wondering, you don't have to have played Atelier Ayesha before playing this, as I played Escha & Logy before Ayesha and was able to understand it just fine, but Ayesha provides some context for why some events in Escha & Logy happen the way they do, especially in regards to Nio's presence and some of what she does later in the game.
Like all the other Atelier games, Escha & Logy's main gameplay mechanic is item crafting. You have to explore various locales to gather materials, both in the overworld and winning them as prizes if you defeat monsters. Coming off of Mana Khemia, which I happened to play first, the way the game goes about item crafting is different from how the former does it. For one, you still have to use materials to craft certain items, but instead of spinning a wheel and matching the element to the material's element to get the best results, getting the best properties involves changing around the materials you use and using various items to manipulate the properties of the item you're making. As you get better at alchemy, you're also able to use special alchemy skills that can either increase an item's elemental attributes, get rid of certain attributes you don't want, get more of an item you want, and so on, though some are only unlocked through buying experiments from Marion. While I do admit I prefer Mana Khemia's take on alchemy, Escha & Logy's take on it is pretty fun in its own right, especially once you get the hang of it.
Since Escha & Logy is a game that came out on the PS3 back in 2013, it's graphics are pretty good for its time, though anyone playing modern games now might consider them to be outdated. I personally don't think so, as I think they do their job well. The backgrounds and different areas are well rendered, the in-game sprites for both the humans and monsters look great, and the game has some pretty cool dungeon designs. Some might take issue with the fact that Escha & Logy uses more muted, earthy colors compared to more colorful games that have come out before and after, though I think it makes sense considering the world the Dusk trilogy takes place in and the lore behind it. From a gameplay standpoint, Escha & Logy's battle system is slightly similar to Mana Khemia, being turn based while also allowing for all kinds of strategies to make battles more varied and fun, such as support attacks, guarding, using items in battle, and unlocking new skills. But if you're coming into Escha & Logy thinking just leveling up will help you win battles, don't count on it, because similar to other games in the Atelier series, increasing your strength, defense, and magic abilities is heavily reliant on crafting the best items with the best properties, ingredients, and attributes, making you really have to use your head in regards to how you want to construct your equipment...though I found Escha & Logy's take on it to be far less obtuse and tedious than Atelier Sophie's. I don't have as much to say on the soundtrack, as it does its job, the various songs range from okay to amazing (Sky of Twilight in particular is a great battle song), but I do think it should have toned down the high pitched woodwinds somewhat, as they hurt my ears a bit.
The Atelier series has always prided itself on being more character driven stories than heavily narrative focused, and Escha & Logy is no different. I will say that I feel Escha & Logy's cast of characters is better than that of Mana Khemia, mainly in that they have stronger, more consistent writing that fleshes them out more, and since the game has a lot of character events you can activate, you have plenty of time to get to know them and learn about their strengths, weaknesses, what motivates them, and so on. And they don't have moments where they act needlessly mean-spirited and cruel for no reason. Sure, the cast still adheres to some rote stereotypes at first, but the solid writing and the sheer number of events that you can unlock flesh them out and develop them much more. The only character I can say that I truly hated was Katla, mainly because she's an annoying brat who's constantly lying to people about the stuff in her shop, and she's pretty useless in battle, though even then she's NOWHERE near as bad as Mana Khemia's interpretation of Pamela. God, never make me think of MK1's Pamela ever again. Though...will anyone kill me if I say I prefer playing this game with the English dub rather than the Japanese audio? Because...as much as I hate to say it, Escha's Japanese voice actress can get really loud and really shrill a lot of the time, to the point where sometimes it hurt my ears just listening to it. Sorry, Rie Murakawa.
As far as the main story goes, Escha & Logy doesn't have much in the way of an overarching narrative at first, with a lot of your time being spent fulfilling assignments like fighting monsters, synthesizing items, or gathering ingredients. I say at first, because there does come a point where the game does introduce an overarching conflict later on, though it comes in bits and pieces, and doesn't come into focus until near the end, and that's only if you manage to activate certain events before the game's deadline. Like previous Atelier games, you're given a time limit of three in-game years to get everything you need done, though from what I've heard, Escha & Logy's time limit is the most lenient out of all the Atelier games, especially since Atelier Shallie would go on to nix the time limit entirely from that point onward. I do think the game's story isn't as strong as Mana Khemia's, and by 2020's standards, it can very much be considered by-the-numbers, but that's not to say its bad in any way, and it makes sense for Escha & Logy's narrative scope. I know some people might take issue with the fact that you have to play the game twice to unlock the best ending, especially since your second playthrough isn't going to be much different than your first one other than your lead character and some bits of dialogue, along with actually allowing you to fight the final boss. The New Game+ option does remedy a lot of this, as it carries over everything from your previous playthrough, like levels, armor, weapons, items, recipes you bought, quality of life features you unlocked, and so on. The game does remedy a lot of issues that Atelier Ayesha had, which others have already pointed out in their reviews, so I won't repeat myself here.
Honestly, my only real complaint about Escha & Logy as a game is that while I appreciate that the game as a ton of character events and cutscenes to unlock, the sheer number of them can be really overwhelming, and many of them are just comedic filler that don't really add anything to the characters or story in question. It's not fun wanting to just go to a shop and get a new recipe book, only to get hit in the face with a long cutscene that seems to drag itself out, and there are times when several play back to back. I know Katla's events are particularly annoying to get through. But everything else about Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky more than make up for the few shortcomings it has. As of this writing, I've finished four Atelier games total: This, Atelier Ayesha, the first Mana Khemia game, and the Atelier Marie remake. I'm currently in the process of playing Ateliers Lulua and Sophie, though I'm almost finished with the latter. After all this, I still think Atelier Escha & Logy is my favorite Atelier game, but that might change since I own more of the games, especially now that many of them are on the Nintendo Switch, which for me is the easiest way to play them. Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky is a cute, relaxing game that's true to its core franchise's ethos and a pretty solid game in its own right, and I feel it was the best point of entry into the franchise for me.
Rating: 83/100
The Atelier series has always been a rather niche series, especially in America, where gamers tend to favor more action packed and violent games rather than more low key affairs, especially story-driven games that have more to offer than that. That doesn't necessarily apply to every video game lover in the States, as I myself love JRPGs for their rich stories and often three-dimensional characters. My love for game franchises such as Pokemon, Kirby, Harvest Moon, and even visual novels such as Phoenix Wright and Clannad, is an attestment of that. Once I decided to branch out into playing other games, the Atelier series piqued my interest, and I have wanted to check it out, but I didn't have any of the consoles needed to play them. Once I saved money via my job and got a PS Vita, the opportunity to get the games presented itself, but I was always curious about whether which Atelier game was considered the best. Opinions varied among Atelier fans, but out of all of them, I thought Atelier Escha and Logy: The Alchemists of the Dusk Sky seemed the most appealing to me (Though I did wind up playing one of the spin-offs, Mana Khemia, first, because of a friend's recommendation). So now that I've played it, what do I think of it? Well, after playing this and a couple other Atelier games, I can safely say that I really like this one a lot!
A direct sequel to Atelier Ayesha, in a tiny apple orchard village called Colseit, two young, fresh-faced alchemists, Escha Malier and Logix "Logy" Fiscario, have been given government jobs by their local administration at the Central R&D Division. But the two alchemists have different personalities and experiences with alchemy, which both exasperate and compliment each other. Together, Escha and Logy take on various jobs, such as running errands and fighting monsters that come too close to town. But the biggest mystery their world has to offer is that there are mysterious ruins floating in the sky, and no airship has been able to penetrate the turbulent winds that surround it. After a while, the duo, with the help of their friends and families, hope to build an airship strong enough to reach the floating ruins in order to uncover its mysteries once and for all. By the way, for anyone wondering, you don't have to have played Atelier Ayesha before playing this, as I played Escha & Logy before Ayesha and was able to understand it just fine, but Ayesha provides some context for why some events in Escha & Logy happen the way they do, especially in regards to Nio's presence and some of what she does later in the game.
Like all the other Atelier games, Escha & Logy's main gameplay mechanic is item crafting. You have to explore various locales to gather materials, both in the overworld and winning them as prizes if you defeat monsters. Coming off of Mana Khemia, which I happened to play first, the way the game goes about item crafting is different from how the former does it. For one, you still have to use materials to craft certain items, but instead of spinning a wheel and matching the element to the material's element to get the best results, getting the best properties involves changing around the materials you use and using various items to manipulate the properties of the item you're making. As you get better at alchemy, you're also able to use special alchemy skills that can either increase an item's elemental attributes, get rid of certain attributes you don't want, get more of an item you want, and so on, though some are only unlocked through buying experiments from Marion. While I do admit I prefer Mana Khemia's take on alchemy, Escha & Logy's take on it is pretty fun in its own right, especially once you get the hang of it.
Since Escha & Logy is a game that came out on the PS3 back in 2013, it's graphics are pretty good for its time, though anyone playing modern games now might consider them to be outdated. I personally don't think so, as I think they do their job well. The backgrounds and different areas are well rendered, the in-game sprites for both the humans and monsters look great, and the game has some pretty cool dungeon designs. Some might take issue with the fact that Escha & Logy uses more muted, earthy colors compared to more colorful games that have come out before and after, though I think it makes sense considering the world the Dusk trilogy takes place in and the lore behind it. From a gameplay standpoint, Escha & Logy's battle system is slightly similar to Mana Khemia, being turn based while also allowing for all kinds of strategies to make battles more varied and fun, such as support attacks, guarding, using items in battle, and unlocking new skills. But if you're coming into Escha & Logy thinking just leveling up will help you win battles, don't count on it, because similar to other games in the Atelier series, increasing your strength, defense, and magic abilities is heavily reliant on crafting the best items with the best properties, ingredients, and attributes, making you really have to use your head in regards to how you want to construct your equipment...though I found Escha & Logy's take on it to be far less obtuse and tedious than Atelier Sophie's. I don't have as much to say on the soundtrack, as it does its job, the various songs range from okay to amazing (Sky of Twilight in particular is a great battle song), but I do think it should have toned down the high pitched woodwinds somewhat, as they hurt my ears a bit.
The Atelier series has always prided itself on being more character driven stories than heavily narrative focused, and Escha & Logy is no different. I will say that I feel Escha & Logy's cast of characters is better than that of Mana Khemia, mainly in that they have stronger, more consistent writing that fleshes them out more, and since the game has a lot of character events you can activate, you have plenty of time to get to know them and learn about their strengths, weaknesses, what motivates them, and so on. And they don't have moments where they act needlessly mean-spirited and cruel for no reason. Sure, the cast still adheres to some rote stereotypes at first, but the solid writing and the sheer number of events that you can unlock flesh them out and develop them much more. The only character I can say that I truly hated was Katla, mainly because she's an annoying brat who's constantly lying to people about the stuff in her shop, and she's pretty useless in battle, though even then she's NOWHERE near as bad as Mana Khemia's interpretation of Pamela. God, never make me think of MK1's Pamela ever again. Though...will anyone kill me if I say I prefer playing this game with the English dub rather than the Japanese audio? Because...as much as I hate to say it, Escha's Japanese voice actress can get really loud and really shrill a lot of the time, to the point where sometimes it hurt my ears just listening to it. Sorry, Rie Murakawa.
As far as the main story goes, Escha & Logy doesn't have much in the way of an overarching narrative at first, with a lot of your time being spent fulfilling assignments like fighting monsters, synthesizing items, or gathering ingredients. I say at first, because there does come a point where the game does introduce an overarching conflict later on, though it comes in bits and pieces, and doesn't come into focus until near the end, and that's only if you manage to activate certain events before the game's deadline. Like previous Atelier games, you're given a time limit of three in-game years to get everything you need done, though from what I've heard, Escha & Logy's time limit is the most lenient out of all the Atelier games, especially since Atelier Shallie would go on to nix the time limit entirely from that point onward. I do think the game's story isn't as strong as Mana Khemia's, and by 2020's standards, it can very much be considered by-the-numbers, but that's not to say its bad in any way, and it makes sense for Escha & Logy's narrative scope. I know some people might take issue with the fact that you have to play the game twice to unlock the best ending, especially since your second playthrough isn't going to be much different than your first one other than your lead character and some bits of dialogue, along with actually allowing you to fight the final boss. The New Game+ option does remedy a lot of this, as it carries over everything from your previous playthrough, like levels, armor, weapons, items, recipes you bought, quality of life features you unlocked, and so on. The game does remedy a lot of issues that Atelier Ayesha had, which others have already pointed out in their reviews, so I won't repeat myself here.
Honestly, my only real complaint about Escha & Logy as a game is that while I appreciate that the game as a ton of character events and cutscenes to unlock, the sheer number of them can be really overwhelming, and many of them are just comedic filler that don't really add anything to the characters or story in question. It's not fun wanting to just go to a shop and get a new recipe book, only to get hit in the face with a long cutscene that seems to drag itself out, and there are times when several play back to back. I know Katla's events are particularly annoying to get through. But everything else about Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky more than make up for the few shortcomings it has. As of this writing, I've finished four Atelier games total: This, Atelier Ayesha, the first Mana Khemia game, and the Atelier Marie remake. I'm currently in the process of playing Ateliers Lulua and Sophie, though I'm almost finished with the latter. After all this, I still think Atelier Escha & Logy is my favorite Atelier game, but that might change since I own more of the games, especially now that many of them are on the Nintendo Switch, which for me is the easiest way to play them. Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky is a cute, relaxing game that's true to its core franchise's ethos and a pretty solid game in its own right, and I feel it was the best point of entry into the franchise for me.