Current Events > Which Atelier game should I start with?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've put off trying this series for long enough I think. There's still a while before Trails Through Daybreak comes out so I can try something new I think.

I think the main 3 that get suggested are Ryza, Sophie and Ayesha. I know some have time limits and some don't, I don't really mind if they do or don't tbh since I enjoyed games with time limits like Majora's Mask, Harvest Moon and the Persona series (if the time limits anything like those)

I liked Atelier Shallie more than Sophie out of the two Ive played

or maybe even rorona

I've played some Sophie and really liked it. That's the one that was recced to me, since I don't really like time limits in games (with some exceptions)

Ryza and Sophie don't have time limits. Ryza has a Active Time battle system with AI partners for combo building. Sophie is more turn based.

theres so much conflicting info. ive read like 4 different pages and they each suggested something different :/

one said to "start with dusk" cause it has the darkest story and is like a stepping stone to the lightheartedness of the series. another said that ayesha is rough and to start with ryza, some say that sophie 2 is the best.. i dunno :/

Rorona is terrible, but you need a little history to contextualize the overall story. So-called 'classic' Atelier has time-limited gameplay which makes some players anxious with the (rather notable) benefit of tightening the game design. Modern entries without time limitations are relative grind-fests due to freedom to gather and fight whatever, whenever.

Because I cannot recommend Rorona to my worst enemy, the Arland starting point is Totori. The game is a little unforgivingly time-limited (actions cannot be wasted), but it is otherwise a solid adventure relative to its predecessor. The protagonist is as clueless as you regarding any carryover from Rorona. Play new game plus to the true ending (guide recommended) or Meruru afterward.

The Dusk series splits the difference between time-limited gameplay and more standard roleplaying game design but also marks the transition from time limitations to modernity. Ayesha is incredible and highly recommneded. It has the time limitation, but one does not have to so carefully budget actions as in the preceding Arland games. The world is also far more interesting to immerse into. Its sequels, Escha to Logy and Shallie, slowly erode away the time limit until it's gone. Gust was experimenting a bit.

Sophie (Mysterious series) and Ryza (Ryza series) are free of time limitations and are not recommended due to being grindy and otherwise kind of pedestrian. Starting with either is fine provided you understand that there are greener pastures elsewhere. Ayesha is the safest bet.

Edit: Please ask follow-up questions.
Edit 2: editing

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

...I liked it anyway.

Rika_Furude posted...

another said that ayesha is rough

Ayesha is rough if you enjoy grinding and take many needless actions. Anyone halfway experienced with the genre does not have that experience.

Regarding Mysterious, start with Sophie. Firis or Sophie 2 thereafter doesn't matter, but get to Lydie eventually if you do start since it's the strongest of the set.

zinformant posted...

Rorona is terrible, but you need a little history to contextualize the overall story. So-called 'classic' Atelier has time-limited gameplay which makes some players anxious with the (rather notable) benefit of tightening the game design. Modern entries without time limitations are relative grind-fests due to freedom to gather and fight whatever, whenever.

Because I cannot recommend Rorona to my worst enemy, the Arland starting point is Totori. The game is a little unforgivingly time-limited (actions cannot be wasted), but it is otherwise a solid adventure relative to its predecessor. The protagonist is as clueless as you regarding any carryover from Rorona. Play new game plus to the true ending (guide recommended) or Meruru afterward.

The Dusk series splits the difference between time-limited gameplay and more standard roleplaying game design but also marks the transition from time limitations to modernity. Ayesha is incredible and highly recommneded. It has the time limitation, but one does not have to so carefully budget actions as in the preceding Arland games. The world is also far more interesting to immerse into. Its sequels, Escha to Logy and Shallie, slowly erode away the time limit until it's gone. Gust was experimenting a bit.

Sophie (Mysterious series) and Ryza (Ryza series) are free of time limitations and are not recommended due to being grindy and otherwise kind of pedestrian. Starting with either is fine provided you understand that there are greener pastures elsewhere. Ayesha is the safest bet.

Edit: Please ask follow-up questions.
Edit 2: editing

What is so bad about Rorona?

Anyway, seems like I should start with Ayesha. Are the other games stories just not as good as Ayeshas?

calling Sophie and the Ryza games grindy seems weird to me. Like I don't remember any time spent in these games actually grinding. If going out in the field for a couple minutes to look for a material or two you're missing for progress or just any recipe is grinding, it's not really that far from what even the time limited games do.

Honestly start with whatever game you want to, who cares!

I'll second Atelier Iris.

Ill also suggest the Iris series.

Rika_Furude posted...

What is so bad about Rorona?

Anyway, seems like I should start with Ayesha. Are the other games stories just not as good as Ayeshas?

The characters are unlikable and exaggerated. The story is virtually nonexistent and otherwise silly. The world and exploration are boring. This was their first foray back into classic Atelier after the PS2 era (where Mana Khemia and Iris are more traditional roleplaying experiences--Iris 2 in particular is very good for whatever that's worth), so it was a transition.

There are some well written personal character arcs across all subseries, but there is just more going on in Dusk than anywhere else due to the end of the world scenario. Arland and Mysterious are generic high fantasy while Ryza has a little more going on with its ruins.

the series is super story heavy. just play them by release order. you're going to be so lost if you play it out of order and even spoil yourself.

I liked Ryza imo

I ended up starting Ayesha, Ill probably play most/all of them at some point if I like this one. I just wanted to actually start something and stop putting it off so much

So, how forgiving is the time limit really? I guess this is the XCom style time limit where you just game-over when you reach it and need to restart. So Im guessing I should keep some backup saves.

what are some tips and Chies? What if I get to say year 3 and made poor progress?

also, normal or hard mode? Im good with JRPGs but this is my first atelier

speaking of rorona there was a guide on this website that was helpful in what you need to do on each particular day.

i was able to use the guide to platinum the ps3 version. i cant say for sure about the future withe the vita or ps4 versions (they're completely changed the combat and added some things).

old: HP was used for special attacks
new: they changed attacks to use MP.

going through firis in the future so i can continue with the journey.

Ryza for a more modern take.
Sophie for sy more classic one.

Both are part of a series if you wanna keep playing them.

Sophie is not classic Atelier--frankly, it's antithetical theretoward--so be careful with that recommendation.

Rika_Furude posted...

So, how forgiving is the time limit really? I guess this is the XCom style time limit where you just game-over when you reach it and need to restart. So Im guessing I should keep some backup saves.

The bad ending is really amusing and should be watched once you finish the game, but I was serious when I said that you have to really squander time. Will you get the Platinum in one playthrough? It's possible but unlikely if you don't have know-how, experience, or follow a guide, but the game gives you plenty of space to fool around and still see much or most of it. In Arland, actions matter. If you go to a field area, you clear it out once and go somewhere next purposefully. That's how tight the time limit is there. You could, by contast, clear Ayesha's main objective within, say, eighteen months and have the rest of the time to kill. It's pretty flexible, and you'll be fine. Good luck.

Rika_Furude posted...

I ended up starting Ayesha, Ill probably play most/all of them at some point if I like this one. I just wanted to actually start something and stop putting it off so much

So, how forgiving is the time limit really? I guess this is the XCom style time limit where you just game-over when you reach it and need to restart. So Im guessing I should keep some backup saves.

what are some tips and Chies? What if I get to say year 3 and made poor progress?

also, normal or hard mode? Im good with JRPGs but this is my first atelier

Ayesha has a pretty lenient time limit. That said I also found XCom to have a pretty lenient time limit as well, so YMMV may vary on that. I wouldn't say that you really need a backup either as you pretty quickly figure out if something screwed you over and you can reload your previous save. Still it's not a bad practice to have a rotating save strategy with older RPGs.

And I would recommend Normal. Hard isn't all that bad if you are used to Atelier, but it's kind of your first game and what makes it easier is your familiarity with alchemy: something you have no experience with whatsoever. As for tips... just go in with the understanding that this is an alchemy-based series and your ability to beat stuff will almost exclusively come from your ability to make OP nonsense with it and not your ability to grind stats. Beating up random monsters is useful for materials, but otherwise you aren't going to see appreciable growth in your character if you aren't putting together armor/weapons/consumables that come with busted traits.

Try Atelier Marie.

Sophie and Ryza, as others have said don't have time-limits.
Would recommend Sophie as a start though since it's cheaper and I have a sweatspot for it personally, the crafting system is more involved than Ryza's since it's a timed puzzle game.
Ryza is more openworld than Sophie, though Sophie 2 is similar.

Dusk Trilogy
Mysterious Trilogy
Ryza Triogy

Time-limits are bad.