Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

"A good but flawed RPG."

Atelier Iris is one of those games that tries to be different but makes a few mistakes along the way. Does this make it a bad game? Not by any means. It's actually a really cute and fun RPG that offers a lot to do but it has its share of flaws. Oh and for some reason I had thought that this was a SRPG but it's a plain ole RPG with some platformer thrown in.

Klein is an alchemist. A rare breed of human who is able to gather mana out of objects. He runs into a girl and they set off on a journey to open a gate that leads to a big castle on a mountain. I won't go any further than that but I must say I am glad for once that I got a play a RPG that didn't have the typical save the world plot. Atelier is kind of border line but whatever. I really liked the main characters. They actually had personality. As did some of the sub characters, like the item collector who had me laughing with her constant need to rub a certain character somewhere odd. However, the enemy in the game is rather weak and has almost zero development.

Graphic wise Atelier is nice to look at. The towns and dungeons feel slightly larger than life, as do the bright and colorful characters. The game has an anime opening which looks nice. I found spell effects to be a bit lackluster but the enemies all looked nice, even if a few of them were repeated a lot. But like the story, graphics have a problem as well. The world map is not only really bland, it's also way to foggy and kind of bleh all around.

The game does deliver in the sound department. While sound effects are anything new or impressive, they work and I had no problems. Voice acting was actually good and I liked everyone's voice. No one had an odd voice or anything. Music wise the game is decent. I like the opening theme during the anime cut scene and some of the tunes are mildly catchy but the battle music by really getting on my nerves by the end of the game.

Control wise the game is almost fine. Fighting is menu based, everything is responsive. Moving around the world is easy for the most part but I did find going through the skill ring was tedious at times. I also wish that the game had put the mana summon skill on its own button since you use it so often. The problem with control is jumping. It's odd and awkward and at times it just does not do what you want it to. Oh and the final skill in the game is a pain to use, so make sure you watch the tutorial, as I wasn't paying much attention and was greatly confused.

Now, Atelier Iris plays different than most RPGs but you can see where it has borrowed from some. The battle system feels like Tales of Symphonia minus the whole free roaming line based combat. This is purely turn based and my one complaint is that there is no way to tell who attacks next which I think makes things a bit trickier. In battle you can do a number of things, depending on a character. You can use items, make items and use it right away, use skills, attack, guard or whatever. Kind of basic but the skills are what breaks the game up. I found the lack of mana use by the characters that weren't magic based really caused problems in a number of dungeons which were full of enemies that could only be hurt by mana attacks. Battles are all random. I found most of the bosses fairly easy except the last boss gave me a number of troubles.

I must state though that the game offers a fair amount of dungeons and some are rather complex. Some have fairly simple puzzles while one or two had me confused because to solve the puzzle you had to do something that normally wouldn't have stayed when you leave the area. But it is nice to play a game with actual dungeons since my last one had almost none.

Now, the game follows a basic structure. You have a home base of operations. It's actually in the center of the "map (there is no viewable map that I could find). Now the game hand feeds you where to go and it actually puts up big green blobs in your way so you can't go further than where it wants you to. Now, kind of imagine the world as hallways leading to places as there really isn't a lot of free space. Also, the game is so kind that when you are told to go somewhere new you get the option to view directions. The game actually starts you off on the world map at your current location and slowly moves and shows you exactly where to go and how to get there. So yes, the game is fairly easy.

The game has something going for it that most games don't have. It has a unique magic system. You make items, using mana. These items are needed. You get mana from defeating enemies with Klein or sucking it out of items all over the world. There are about 10 different kinds of mana. Not only does the game have the mana thing though but it also allows you to create items in a simplistic manner. Find items in the world, go to select stores and they allow you to create items from a pre-selected list. New items are added as you get further in the game and the more new things that you create.

So, the game has a lot to off. Sadly, I don't think it has many side quests besides those I just listed. Upon beating the game you can unlock a secret dungeon. No clue as to how that is because my game froze during the beginning of the credits so I was unable to save and continue on. The game took me just over 12 hours so expect a solid 18-20 hours. You level up rather quickly in the game as well so the game doesn't require much power leveling, if any at all.

Is Atelier Iris worth buying? Well, that really depends. If you enjoy a simple RPG that adds a few new things then its worth checking out but it is rather short. A rental might be best for those who are looking for a quick RPG fix. I really can't recommend this title though to any specific type of person as it isn't for everyone. Some may be turned off by the style of the graphics, the plot, or the fact that it is rather easy and short.

Story - 8/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay Value - 3/10

Final Score 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/06