Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana
As a young alchemist named Klein it’s up to you to learn all you can and defeat evil with the friends you meet along the way. The story is humdrum RPG fair, but it takes place in such a fun and upbeat world that you won’t care. Every character has a strong personality and the entire game exudes a marvelous sense of humor that no other RPG can emulate. I lost count of how many times I found myself laughing out loud because of something a character said or did. It’s because of this that it’s easy to overlook the fact that much of the gameplay is standard to this genre.
Gameplay:
If you’re an RPG veteran you may be asking yourself what I mean by “gameplay standard to the genre”. Well, for one thing Atelier Iris is all about the infamous random battles on both world and dungeon maps and turn based combat. I’m sure that little tidbit may turn some of you off and yes, battles can sometimes feel a little stale at times, but if you would ever enjoy a game with that style of fighting you will love Atelier Iris.
Everything about the game is user friendly and it has a very easy going just-for-the-fun-of-it attitude. Sure the challenge gradually increases the further you get, but it still maintains that happy go lucky attitude that keeps even killing your 100th Puni from getting stale. As fun as it stays though, sometimes the fighting can get tedious until you get to the next point in the story.
As is the standard with other turn based RPGs, you have a menu of actions to choose from for each character when it’s your turn. When you’re not attacking, defending or using innate skills with your three playable characters, you’ll be mixing up some elements thanks to Klein’s alchemic abilities. While all characters learn special skills that are active or innate, Klein is the lead guy when you want some powerful stuff at your disposal.
One of the unique things about Atelier Iris is that its world is interactive in the sense that Klein can extract elements from various objects. By using his cane on a basket of flowers he’ll take in some wood and water elements, or by striking a rock, he can get some stone. There are a vast amount of elements and items to tinker with so don’t be afraid to go around bashing things with your staff (just leave the old ladies alone).
Because Klein is an alchemist he can also join forces with mystical spirits called Mana. Each of these Mana specializes in a specific element and assist with the synthesizing of items and strong spells. This can be done both in and out of battle and yields some very helpful results, so be sure you search for the many Mana and items to synthesize that are scattered around the world.
While characters gain experience like in any normal RPG, these Mana can be equipped to a character. Doing this adds helpful stat and skill bonuses that increase as the Mana gets experience along with the character. Keep in mind during all of this that the more one of these spirits does, the more energy they will consume so it’s important to feed them some of the items that you find.
Some of them also give you abilities that can be used outside of battle in the dungeon and town screens. For instance, the Mana of Stone turns into a stepping stool so you can get higher, the Mana of Water creates a barrier to protect you from harmful environments and the Mana of Fire lets you cast a fireball to destroy some stuff. All in all there are a lot of elements to track down and horde, plus Mana to seek out and use, but the real collection kicker is in the sheer amount of items themselves.
There are easily over 300 different objects that can be won in battle, found in dungeons or created at a shop. These are not only helpful because they can be fed to Mana to keep them happy, but they can be used in battle and for other purposes. Tracking these down also serves the purpose of unlocking some bonus material like character introductions, galleries, musical selections and even some movies.
Overall, Atelier Iris may feel very familiar in respect to its combat and overworld map exploring, but there is enough unique bits tossed in for flavor that it stays fresh most of the time. The Mana and vast amounts of items definitely helps keep things going, but it’s the personality of the game as a whole that really makes the experience shine. Ultimately that will be what keeps you going through the game since the gameplay can get somewhat stale after a while.
Graphics:
The first thing worth mentioning is that Atelier Iris has a fantastic anime presentation with a lot of standards. From magical transforming girls to spikey haired heroes and even overly cute cat-girls, this is a game that has a visual charm and personality unlike many other RPGs. The graphics are a blend of 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds that all mix together extremely well for a colorful and bright world that looks alive.
Unfortunately what the game makes up for in style, it lacks in quality. Sure the characters and environments are unique looking, but they are nothing that couldn’t have been done on an early PS2 or PS1 development. On top of that the framerate is choppy and skips at various action points and loading times. I loved the visual style of the game; unfortunately it’s just not without its flaws.
Audio:
Sound-wise there is as much personality as there is in the graphics with a lot of upbeat voices, jokes and an overall sense of fun. There are some very memorable lines and performances but as you’d expect there are some pretty bad ones as well. For those of you with sweet home theater set-ups you’ll be pleased to know that Atelier Iris supports Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby Digital 5.1. Also for you purists out there the game includes both Japanese and English audio depending on which you prefer.
My only real problem with the audio is that occasionally lines will skip or stop all together. There was no particular trigger for this occurrence and it just seemed to be completely random. Other than that the audio is pretty good quality even though the soundtrack is typical RPG fare.
Conclusion:
The road for Atelier Iris may be a little bumpy thanks to random battles, RPG clichés and some spotty visuals/audio. Overall though this is one of the most memorable and enjoyable RPGs I’ve played in a long, long time. The personality that oozes from the game’s ever facet entertains and keeps you interested in between cut scenes.
If you’re looking for a new RPG series to keep you busy or just want something that feels familiar, yet slightly different, definitely check out Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. Highly Recommended