Games by Gust

[wakka]

Gust make the Atelier and Ar Tonelico series, which I know next to nothing about. I'm sure plenty on here know more, so maybe we can discuss them in here?

I've always been intrigued by these games, and they seem to be almost always available in English. From what I can tell on Wikipedia you've got 4 series in the Atelier franchise: Iris, Mana-Khemia, Arland and Dusk. And then there's another standalone game called Atelier Annie.

I get that they're RPGs, and they're focused on item creation, but how does it all actually play out? Are they just standard JRPGs?

Then you've got Ar Tonelico, which seems to be JRPGs blended with some kind of relationship/courtship sim? Again I'd be very interested to learn anything more.

More to the point, are any of these games any good? Have at it JRPG fans!

[briareos_kerensky]

You've got four series in the Atelier franchise in the west...the Atelier games started all the way back in the Saturn/PS1 days, and many things have carried over all releases, with Iris and Mana Khemia being probably the most distant from the franchise's roots.

Iris was the first Atelier to be released in the west, and it's also the first to have a male protagonist (despite the game being named after the main heroine). All Iris games are structured as fairly standard JPRGs plus alchemy, whereas the others (with the exclusion of Mana Khemia) are focused on alchemy, with JRPG elements supporting the rest.
Among the three Iris games, I prefer the first; it has likeable characters and the focus is not particularly skewed toward combat, like Iris 2 is; Iris 2 is probably my least favourite, and barely more than your run-of-the-mill JPRG: alchemy is only a fraction of the game, and it plays only a support role to the combat. In Iris 3 tries to balance things out, but it's still more fighting than other Atelier games.
Overall, all three Iris games are enjoyable (I should have started a first play thread for all of them), but the Alrand series (Rorona, Totori, Meruru) are more interesting, and extremely well refined in their Vita versions. Rorona on the PS3 is particularly unrefined, still a fun game, but Gust progressily made the game system sleeker and more user friendly as the Arland series progressed, also incorporating new ideas. Meruru is the finest, but all three games are linked together, so it's better to start with Rorona (my favourite alchemist in the Arland series) and follow the sequence. About the three Iris games, there are overarching elements, but they aren't as close as in Arland (though the third can be considered as a prequel to the other two).

Mana Khemia...I hated the first. I'm not particularly fond of any "high school" setting, but the problems with the game go beyond that; alchemy and fights are well balanced, some characters are interesting, and there are interesting, but it's like Gust threw away everything they did in Iris and Ar Tonelico on user interface. I've only played the first, and not to its end, so I can't comment much.

Ar Tonelico, also known as the "innuendo games": you might not like a lot of the humor found in these three games. I found the first funny when I played it, but probably I'd find it tiresome and unnecessary now.
Again, I like the first the best. It's more classic than Atelier, with Grathmelding (the local variant of alchemy) playing a support role, but among the Gust PS2 games, it's by far the most userfriendly.
All Ar Tonelico are connected, but that is unfortunately lost in the translation and the lack of support material. They can be played as stand-alone games, but you'll miss links between, in fact, all three games, as the third Ar Tonelico (on the PS3) also acts as a sequel to the first (PS2). The two Ar Tonelico are also infamous for the very rough (or non-existent) quality check they received: in the first it's limited to text going outside boxes or disappearing completely, while the second has text left untranslated from Japanese, voices cut from cutscenes (though you'll only notice if you know the whole story of the world), and even a game-breaking bug during a boss fight. Only the US version is affected by this, so getting hold of an European version or an "undubbed" Japanese version, will let you play the game without problems.
About Ar Tonelico's "dating" part: all games have a minimum of three girls, each with her separate storyline. During a storyline, you can "dive" in the girl (a Reyvateil, for precision's sake...a sort of android able to deliver magic by singing) to know more about her and unlock more powerful spells. Dives, in all three games, are best part, because they are well written and especially in the third, they offer something different.
Part of the combat system has been ported to Iris 3 and Mana Khemia, and the first two Ar Tonelicos have probably the best fighting system of all Gust PS2 games. The third Ar Tonelico is in real time, and very shallow compared to the others; the third game also feels unfinished compared to the other two.

In short: play the first Iris, the first Ar Tonelico, and Arland. Haven't played Dusk yet.
More impressions can be found in my first play threads, going in detail on every game would require way too much time.

Random bits:
* it's rumored that the first Iris games was named Atelier Veola, after a secondary character, that should have been the main heroine and main character of the game. Veola's storyline is almost as detailed as the main storyline, but it was changed due to the planned western release.
* the apparently gibberish language in Ar Tonelico is a real language, created for that universe. That language has grammar rules, pronunciation rules, and an alphabet. A lot of the songs in all three games have portions sung in that language, that would actually make sense if translated.

[ETC]

I like the Atelier games they are very good as is the 5th which is due in March (Escha and Logy iirc)

They are on vita too, well I think Totori (2nd one) and Meruru (3rd one) are at the minute

I had Annie as well there is a US version but its only average.

[wakka]

Very interesting. How does the alchemy actually work?

[briareos_kerensky]

It's very simple: item A + item B = item C. All items have a quality rating, and sometimes special effects. Better ingredients yeld a better result. Details vary from game to game (for example being helped by a secondary character), but that's essentially the gist of it.
Ingredients are obtained through fighting, shopping, and exploring, and of course more advanced items require a simpler item and/or more ingredients.