Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm

"Grand Phantasm might not be a grand fantasy, but it sure packs a whole lot of fun"

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm, 3rd game in the Atelier Iris sub-series, 8th game in the Atelier series, has definitely learnt a lot from its predecessors. A lot of aspects of the game are improved/changed, and in general the changes are positive. Grand Phantasm might not be a grand fantasy, but it sure packs a whole lot of fun. A small thing to note is that even though Grand Phantasm is part of the Atelier Iris sub-series, there's not much story or world relation between this and the first 2 games, besides having cameos of some characters from the past games (which is pretty common in Gust games). Fans of the series would most likely enjoy the game, seeing that the style of the game is still quite similar. For the new players, it could be a very different story. Now let's get down to the specifics.

Gameplay 9

This is probably the first Gust game that I find myself really, really satisfied in the gameplay department. Possibly one of the biggest change from its predecessors is the introduction of "Blades". "Blades" is this new class system introduced in the game, where characters can choose the class (called "Blades") they want to play and each class has unique capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. This might not sound anything new to veteran RPG gamers, but the good thing about "Blades" is that characters don't share classes. What this means is that there is not a "Warrior" class that all characters can be, because each "Blade" class is unique to the character. Although this uniqueness might not be a big deal to most people, I personally find that having general classes that all characters share destroy the uniqueness of the characters, because if Character A and Character B can be the same "Warrior", it just feels like your party members are some generic characters created on an MMORPG. As much as I'd like to praise the "Blades" system, one letdown of it is that there are only a grand total of 2 characters that can use "Blades". Although it could sound shocking, it isn't actually that bad when you play the game, simply because of how "Blades" work. Players don't have access to all "Blades" at the start of the game, instead, as the game progresses, you get to unlock more Blades and by the time you get all the "Blades", you probably would have completed about 3 quarters of the game. And by then it would be the time to play around with different class combinations between the 2 characters, to find the most effective party or simply a party that suits your play style the most. A small thing to note is that "Blades" can totally change a character from a swordsman-who-knows-nothing-besides-swords to a full-fledged staff-wielding mage.

Following the tradition, the crafting system is back in Grand Phantasm. Some of the crafting mechanism is changed, but in general, it should not be a surprise to any fans of the series. Crafting requires recipes, which give details about the materials involved in making an item. After gathering the materials, you then combine it in front of a big hot pot and voila, item crafted. All crafted item possess properties that inherit from the materials, and these properties will be very important later on for tackling challenging optional bosses. Also, Like its predecessors, crafting is very practical (pretty much a necessity for the progression of the game), and does not require extremely tedious work (you mostly gather the materials while exploring dungeons) or guides (FAQ). If you explore the dungeons carefully, and put a little effort into it, you should be able to craft almost everything in the game, including the best armors, weapons, etc. Crafting can also be quite addictive when you are playing around with the properties to make effective armors, weapons and accessories for your party members, and I've definitely spent quite some hours in crafting just the right stuff for the characters.

Another good gameplay feature in this game is the challenging optional bosses. One thing that has been lacking in the recent Gust games I've played is the lack of challenging optional fights. One cannot help but wonder the point of spending hours trying to find the best combination of properties for the crafted equipment, if there were no worthy opponents in the first place. Luckily, Grand Phantasm delivers them. Although there aren't many of them, they are definitely quite challenging and without some thinking and the right setup, they will undoubtedly give you some good whipping. Good "Blades" combination, good equipment properties that complement each other, and the right strategy will be the key in defeating these bosses.

The "Blades" system is a wonderful new thing, although it would have been really cool if there are more than 2 characters that can use them. Quantity would be a good thing here. Same applies for the optional bosses. I am very satisfied with the difficulty of these bosses, but a little more of them wouldn't hurt. With that said, Grand Phantasm gets a 9 for gameplay, and it would have been a perfect score if the developers have applied some "More is good" motto.

Story 8

Grand Phantasm made another significant change on the story progression mechanism. Unlike its predecessors, Grand Phantasm offers a mix of questing and story. Players don't progress the story consistently, instead, you are required to do some quests, which are not directly related to the story, to gain quest points in order to advance. Once you have gained enough quest points, major story events will be triggered (called "mission") and the story resumes. Once the "mission" is completed, you get back to doing quests again, until you have gained sufficient quest points to trigger story events again. As an ex-WoW (World of Warcraft) player who has spent 2 years in it, I had all but grown tired to this "questing" system and of course I was pretty disappointed when I first played it. Nevertheless, I played on and it didn't turn out to be that bad. The notion of doing quests for random NPC feels like some pointless grinding initially, but as you play more you actually kind of develop some relation with the people in town. While walking around the town. you'd find yourself thinking "Oh no it's that annoying girl who can't take care of her cats again", or "That funny beastman that worries every single thing in the world that is worriable", things like that. It isn't just doing random quests for random NPC anymore, it can be thought of another way of getting familiar with the people in the town, and in the end, everyone feels a like one big family.

With the story progression mechanism explained, it's time for the story itself. Can't say it actually has a whole lot of story (because most of the time you'd still be questing), but it is enjoyable. Without spoiling too much, the story is about 2 good friends (the hero and the heroine), trying to find parts for a book that can grant the user any wish. Of course you'd expect some twists here and there and things get a little complicated (and possibly cheesy) later on, but all in all, it feels alright. The game also offers 2 endings, one claimed to be "True End" and the other to be "Bad End". I guess having multiple endings can never be bad, but the "True End" is definitely not something that is very hard to get, and if you have been paying attention to quests and completing them, more likely than not you'll get the "True End" first time.

With that said, Grand Phantasm gets an 8 for its story, for a decent questing and story mechanism and an enjoyable storyline.

Graphics 8

I actually find Grand Phantasm's graphics to be pretty good honestly, probably because I have got used to Gust games graphics. Grand Phantasm's graphics is your old school type of RPG's, with colourful landscape and cutesy character models. Even though it is simple 2d graphics, the terrain, environment and everything feels very vivid and scenic. Some of the dungeons are very memorable, and even the town you are stuck in doesn't get old after spending quite an amount of time walking around.

The character design is pretty solid as well. Like all Gust games, you get to see character sprites (and their expression) during conversation, and the art is particularly clean in this game. Ultimately, I am very satisfied with the graphics in the game and would be more than happy to give it a perfect score. But then I gave a deeper thought about it, "Graphics" could actually represent the graphical technology involved, and because Grand Phantasm has not advanced much graphical technology-wise, it loses some points there. So, to be fair, Grand Phantasm gets an 8 for its beautiful old school graphics.

Music 9

Personally, Grand Phantasm's music is my favourite out of the 3 Atelier Iris games. The instrumental especially, is just short of nothing but amazing. Straight away you are thrown into this village/hometown'ish feeling by the title screen music, and I was actually so drown into it I waited to listen to the music before loading the game. Most of the music is pretty light-hearted and peaceful, and it definitely suits the atmosphere of the game very well. Some of the dungeon themes are particularly memorable (Dakascus' theme is my favourite) as well, along with other themes for chaos, danger etc. The only part that I am not too satisfied is probably the battle themes. They aren't crappy or anything, but I think it just lacks the "FIGHT!" feeling for battle themes. All in all though, I am very satisfied with the instrumental in Grand Phantasm. As for the credit, Nakagawa Ken and Achiwa Daisuke are the composers (although Nakagawa Ken compose almost all the songs) and Tsuchiya Akira is absent again. Not a big deal though, I think Nakagawa and Achiwa has done enough to prove their talent.

As for the vocal songs, the opening is good. Shimotsuki Haruka is singing it as usual, and the song is composed by Revo (from Sound Horizon). A good mix of fantasy and rock, it is much better compare to Atelier Iris 2's opening. There's one vocal insert song (by Katakiri Rekka), which is half decent, although it only get used once. There are also 2 ending theme (one for each ending, by Mitose Noriko and Ishibashi Yuuko), a heart-warming one and a sadder one. Both of of them are decent but I find the bad ending theme better for some reason. In short the vocal songs are decent, nothing spectacular but good enough.

As for those who are interested in getting the music, there are 3 albums related to Grand Phantasm. First, the game original soundtrack (2 discs). The OST contains most of the instrumental and all full version of the vocal pieces except the opening. I guess I've explained enough how much I like the instrumental of the game so it's definitely recommended. The next album is the opening single- Kiri no Mukou ni Tsunagaru Sekai. The album contains the full version of the opening, and 2 other beautiful pieces. By beautiful, I really do mean beautiful. Unlike the opening, they are slow songs that have this kind of fantasy/mystery feeling, and I have to say I grow to absolutely love them after listening a few times (composed by Shimotsuki Haruka and Revo). I guess ultimately music is pretty subjective, but if you are looking for my opinion, I definitely recommend it. The last one is Luce ~Another Fantasm~ (contains 4 instrumental and a vocal song). None of the tracks are actually in the game, but they are all composed by Achiwa Daisuke, and I guess you can sort of think it as an image album for the game. It's a good listen, but I can't say I am a big fan of this album. Give it a try if you are interested.

Replayability 5

Probably the weakest out of all sections, Grand Phantasm is a fun game while it lasts, but when you finish the game, there really isn't much to replay. The only reason to replay is probably to get the other ending, but even that doesn't require a whole replay of the game if you have been saving wisely. There is no new game+ option as far as I am aware of, for beating the game you get an extra option to listen to the tracks played in the game, look at a long list of items, missions, etc things you have achieved in the game. There's also one more "CAST" option under the extra that lets you listen to messages left by the Japanese voice actors and actresses. This part is probably useless to most English players because they speak in Japanese, but it is quite interesting if you can understand them. Some of them talked about pretty funny things, like Matsuki Miyu (Iris's Japanese VA) mentioning how hard it was to pronounce few terms in the game ("Escalario", "Dakasukusu Suishoukoku/Dakascus Crystal Valley" etc) and Katougi Satoshi (Ewan's Japanese VA) complaining he was really sad that he wasn't one of the playable characters, things like that.

All in all, Grand Phantasm's replayability is only worth a 5, for lacking contents that encourage re-playing, not to mention the bonus extra option is probably quite disappointing to most players.

Overall 9

Before I put everything together into conclusion, it's good to know that the overall score given is not an average from all sections. Different sections carry different weighting, and the overall score is based on my general feeling for the game.

As mentioned in the gameplay section, I really love the "Blades" system introduced by the game. The crafting system is fun and addictive as usual, coupled with challenging boss fights, the gameplay of Grand Phantasm is no doubt solid. The only drawback is that they are low in quantity. I am satisfied with 2 characters, each with 5 unique "Blades", but the game would have been even better if there is just one more character who can use them. The dungeons are fun to explore and beautiful to look at as well, but there are not too many of them and one might grow bored of them halfway through the game. It would have been good if there were a few more. Same applies for the challenging boss fights. The story doesn't get too interesting until a little later, and the questing mechanism could put some people off, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't actually too bad. I'll not mention how much I like the graphics and music of the game again, since you've probably read enough of them in their individual sections. So here goes the final score for the game...

It was really hard to decide an overall score for Grand Phantasm, I'd want to give Grand Phantasm an 8.5 if possible, but sadly GameFAQs doesn't allow decimals and I was torn between 8 and 9 for a while. In the end, I've decided to give a 9, probably because of how much fun I had when playing the game. And so, Grand Phantasm, despite being not as grand, gets a 9 for its awesome gameplay, decent story, beautiful 2d graphics and music.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/12/07

Game Release: Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (US, 05/29/07)