Superbuu3 plays: Atelier Ayesha : Alchemist of Dusk

OK i know I say I hate playing games that are girly, but Black Chaos Dragon has been going on about this so much I feel the need to give it a try. So nows the chance to see if this can be played by the kind of person who doesn't rally play JRPGs at all these days. New Little King's Story was charming so I'm a little more open to JRPGs at the moment.

Ok so the game opens up, some scary Jpop worries me and makes me secretly loathe the game. But then there ws an old man he had a moustache and he says he's an alchemist (I forgot this game was about alchemy even though it was in the title, I'm dedicated to this game already clearly). OK so I feel a little bit better Ayesha isn't a loli just a teen or young adult they haven't said her age so i don't know. She seems to spray sunshine with eery word, which is irritating, but i think everyone is dead and gone so she might just be hiding the fact that she's dead on the inside. I admire strength so maybe she'll pull out an iron fist later I can only hope.

I mean she looks like someone who'll explode any minute I can't wait:

Spoiler:

You totally sold out man. If Neo goes on about Hatoful Boyfriend enough will you give that a try?

When i'm done with this girl i'll do the elric's proud. I'm gonna rule this world with the power of the flower alchemist.

She discusses her breakfast for a while and forgets she's alchemising, she's a ditz, but this increases the likelihood she might be secretly mental. She says she's going to combine breakfast and lunch and then alchemy with lunch, I think she's going to die. A guy enters and he says the pot looks dangerous, Ayesha has a creepy smile on her face and says its not ok I am about to freak out. I'm interested.

I think this guy is hitting on me, he called me cute (i'll kill him when he's not looking). I don't like that they change to CG stills in some dialogue sections I like the celshaded characters. Oh well.

God this looks copmlex i got a diary to list all my missions and activities and rewards diminish with time. Healing is done through resting and if i take ages i think the game has a ending in 3 years (no clue how fast time passes).

Her run animation is so girlie, i'm laughing watching her. I don't see how i will ever fend off a monster. i check my inventory I have a flower tree staff and a cotton shirt.. i feel under prepared i'm going only to the garden so hopefully i won't die.

Pros:
-Ayesha seems a bit mental and won't care if things fuck up
-Ayesha isn't annoying
-Hilariously fruity run animation
-Somehow the jump animation is even fruitier, she just needs a rainbow behind her to camp this up to the next level

Cons:
-Is this aimed at guys or girls? I don't like guys hitting on me
-Time passes doing everything, this means i can't travel unless i need to or I might waste time i need later

I now love this game.

I go to visit Nio I'll call her Neo now. Its my little sister i find out I sent her out for herbs all that was left was a basket that was 2-3 years ago. So i'm actually visiting a grave, then some creepy ass rainvow ghost appears and talks to me its Neo. Some old full moustached alchemist comes out and is all in my face and says investigate teh gliwigng flowers your sister has 3 years to live he's a bit of a dick. I'm an apothecary not an alchemist. So armed with no clue I ask my cow for advice and he oinks at me making me realise i'm going to have to wing it.

So off to explore the big bad world. Also pressing square makes my flower rod shoot sparkles.

As Neo ohasn't played this game, but he's got a namesake in it. I decide to take his advice and go for putting stat points in MP instead of HP. I think this makes sense Ayesha cn barely run properly, she might as well try and explode things like a sorceress. I'm hpoing in three years I can reach the true echelons of sorcery:

Spoiler:

First enemy encounter, it has a killer look in its eye.  It roars at me "Cue Cue Cue Cue!"  Its a fruit hamster Ayesha wants to run, but no luck.  He attacks viciously throwing an apple taking almost half my health in two turns.  Luckily for some reason he runs away from me, so I get no experience and i'm half dead and basically screwed on my first journey...

I get to the next town where i meet regina she doesn't wear many clothes and tells me to go to that house and helpfully says its that way without pointing.  Great girl.  She's a harbinger of doom and says "Well, I guess you won't get lost in a small town like this."  I'll show her.

This towns great I can't find that girls house, but i find other people's they don't lock there doors and say stuff like take what you like.  I guess this is the first RPG where MC isn't a thief by default.

Women aren't allowed to see the ruins, but Regina can because she's like a guy.  On getting to Regina's house, Regina tells me we can synthesise at her house, and that I sure like synthesising.  She's subtle, classy.  Regina, is great, she's basically Tifa from FF7 and can kill things so battles aren't going to be imminent defeat from now on.

When i get to the next town i meet a flirty store clerk called marietta, the lesbian undertones are heavy.  Then we meet Harry olson best character in teh game he has a moustache and monocle and is described as flamboyant.

I actually played this quite a lot I really like the combat system. The game hasa sense of humour. The fact the MC thinks to herself everyone is a weirdo is pretty cool. Regina is clearly a lesbian.

Linca has pretty decent moves, but i hate the trope of her being silent warrior. Something that seems suprising is that the guys in the game don't seem like they will join me anytime soon, but they all look a lot stronger than the girls.

I've explored some glass building, and gone to a town where everyone was spirited away, I saw Neo again there and she wasn't helpful to me. I don't recall her saying anything useful. I bumped into Keithgriff there the old alchemist he promptly handed my ass to me and my party, one shotting each person and then smoking a cigarette while he blew up linca. I know he was being a dick, but he looked like such a badass. He mentioned the difficulty on going easy on people. I'm assuming he'll join me but much later. Unless he gets nerfed severely.

Some hilarious scenes including Bell (the witch) getting into trouble by telling her great great grandmother she made something I did. Marietta the shopkeeper attempting to stalk Keithgriff, but everytime she gets close it ends up being flamboyant Harry (picture in the above post). Regina being lesbian results in hilarious dialogue, especially as Ayesha is oblivious.

I like the fact te game is all happy and cheery, I mean stuff is bad, but no one is being emo or annoying and no one is overcompensating ith swearing. Also a really good battle system. Wouldn't recommend it to everyone as a lot of people would be put off by the visuals. I think this is more aimed at girls.

Oh nice at long last the day has come
sorry for the delay ive been a little skint for time and just have been posting in bursts
Though i wouldn't say its aimed much at girls but rather i think gust is trying to appeal to both genders well it varies i guess things become easier as you progress or should
Although i do have a question what do you think of the VA's?

Side note

I still keep thinking that neo is a boy .... must be the hat lol:

I loved this game, it was really enjoyable had some great gameplay mechanics, was a pretty relaxing game.  I found myself liking a decent amount of characters to and Ayesha was a great protoganist.  I'm still hesistant to try the earlier games in the series due to things i've mentioned, but I will likely play the sequel to this.  Although the cast looks a lot crapper and the returning characters aren't ones I particularly liked.  Either way though I assume it will be fun.

Harry also deserves his own game.

Decided to get Escha and Logy, and it will probably be the next RPG I play unless I decided to go for Resonance of Fate.

Hold off buying it until tomorrow if you haven't already done it, US store just announced a RPG sale that has it for 50% off.

Neo wrote:

Hold off buying it until tomorrow if you haven't already done it, US store just announced a RPG sale that has it for 50% off.

Oh I bought it already I got it shockingly cheap it was £10, weirdly trade in value for the game is way higher then that so no clue why the store was selling the game at that price.

Thanks for letting me know though.

BTW I suspect all these games will have enhanced vita ports. So i'm going to rebuy the dusk trilogy on that assuming I like them, Ayesha was great.

Id say most likely because rorona plus was due to arrive
And same i'll get em all too if TK decide to make em all on the vita