Platform : Playstation
Genre : Role Playing (?)
Release Date : 1998
Developer : Gast
This is the second release of the Atelier series. You (Elie) is a alchemist-in-training. But since your grades are so bad, your "professor" requires you are to run a lab as a special assignment/test to develop your alchemy skills.
In your lab, you have to help the peasants to make different type of things (e.g. sleeping potions, cheese cakes (?), bombs, etc.). In return, you will get money and experience. Money are used to buy text books (to make other items) and lab equipments. You will also have occasional exams from your academy.
You also have to go out of town to collect materials for your experiments. Of course, this means monsters, so you have hire people to escort (which means money) you.
How well you do in your lab and exams will determine whether can you graduate (+ other endings).
Atelier Marie (Gast)
Atelier Marie/Elie for Gameboy (Gast)
There are some story materials the game, but this game stresses a lot more in the role playing and lab part. You got events like special commissions, festivals. I will say the story is pretty decent.
For those who are familiar with Atelier Marie, the game is not something new. But for people who are new to this series, you will definitely find the game very interesting. This game has a lot of original ideas like lab experiments are rarely found in other games. Sometimes a certain game tries a new fancy idea, but it does not work; but the Atelier series tries a excellent "fancy" idea which leads hours of gaming fun and high replay value.
The characters and graphics of the game is done by shoujo manga artist Ouse Kohime in water color excellently. The special color tone gives the game a very special atmosphere (very "medieval-looking").
This game can be classified as one of those excellent game that got lost in a lot of North American causal gamers' eye. This game is highly recommended to all import gamers.
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