Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

"A flawed gem"

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana reminds me of the silly RPGs of the 16-bit era, like Tales of Phantasia, Breath of Fire I and II, and the Phantasy Star series. There is no epic storyline, no jaw-dropping FMVs, no deep character development, just a group of wackos trying to save the world.

Having said that, it's safe to assume that it'll blow you away with an awesome combat system and lots of cool items, just like old-school RPGs, right?

Half-right. And I'll explain why.

Graphics/Sound - Nothing special here. The characters, enemies, cities and dungeons are all handsomely-drawn 2D models. Vivid colors abound, and there are no signs of "exploding pixels" (remember Xenogears?), even when the camera zooms in. The only blemish here is the 3D overworld, which is overwhelmingly bland. Sound effects and BGMs are ok. As I said, graphics and sound give a feel of the kind of RPG you played when you were 9.

Story - So Klein is an alchemist and he must save the world. Then he meets the tomboyish girl, the taciturn swordsman... you get the picture. As cliche'd as the story is, there are a handful of fun moments, and the characters are quite likeable. This is another department that just gives that old-school feel. All in all, I consider this mostly a backdrop for the...

Gameplay - I heard wonders of this, and not all of this hearsay was without merit. The synth system is quite enjoyable and has some depth: I spent way too much time messing with the weapon synthesis system and improving Veola's shop's rating. The sidequests are rewarding and the unlockables, while they do not increase replayability, can be fun to look into.

But the gameplay is plagued with minor issues that end up tainting the rest of the experience. There is no easy way to teleport between locations. You can't carry more than 9 items of a type at a given time, and very few of them are useful for healing/support. Backtracking is a constant, and it is not fun: for instance, after beating a boss, you'll have to exit the dungeon you just explored. Then there is the main flaw of the game, in my opinion: the battle system.

And is it problematic. You have only one character who can heal consistently: Klein. If the enemies take him out, either you defeat them or it's game over. This almost led me to madness when fighting some bosses. You'll see yourself avoiding using the cooler skills when facing regular enemies, since most of them cost a LOT of mana. Also, the enemies always dish out a high amount of damage, so prepare to constantly heal the party between battles.

These all could be corrected with minor fine-tuning by the development team, and it's because of this lack of polish that Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana's gameplay-driven RPG premise almost fails entirely. Almost.

In Conclusion... - Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana isn't a bad game, but it saddens me to know that there is a lot of wasted potential in there (would it hurt to include a teleport spell?). But, even with the less-than-stellar battle system, the synth system still makes for a better than average RPG. If you like fast and intense battles and do not have much regard for completing 100% of a game (like me), then run away from this, but if you prefer to collect items and work hard to pimp characters' stats over long periods of time, then this is for you.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/06