Atelier (franchise): Difference between revisions

This game is about '''''her'''''.|[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=953050&topic=52080680 Anonymous Internet poster], succinctly summing up the spirit of the entire franchise.}}

 

 

Based around the concept of the "atelier", or "artist's workshop", the main character in the games is usually an alchemist looking [[To Be a Master|to be the greatest in her field]] (or his, for the ''Atelier Iris'' and ''Mana Khemia'' sub-series). [[Item Crafting]] is a major component of every game in the series, as the player is tasked with finding ingredients and recipes to create new items/spells.

** Liese Randel was in fact, an expy of Minakami Misao from [[Asura Cryin]] (only with redder hair), in which the light novel illustration was done by Nao Watanuki (the same character designer of the Atelier games which feature Liese). Coincidentally(?), the anime adaptation of [[Asura Cryin]] was done by [[Seven Arcs]] of ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]''' fame.

** Ash in ''[[Atelier Iris 3]]'' is basically the exact same character as Arlin from the first ''Iris'' game, albeit an antagonist this time. So are Crowley {{spoiler|or should I say the Shadow Gem possessing him}} and Mull from the same two instalments, although Crowley isn't a [[Smug Snake]] (whether or not he reaches [[Magnificent Bastard]] is up to you) or a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], thus making him a much better character.

* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: A fairly odd case. "Explosive powder" is a very common and easy to make item, and the bombs you can make get rather powerful; cannon are also mentioned briefly in the Salburg games. The guards and armed forces of the various cities in the classic games ''never'' use even an arquebus, however. The later games go kind of all over the place with it and make it even weirder; on the one hand, [[Atelier Iris 2|Poe]] prominently uses a "magic" gun, but none of the soldiers in that game use firearms at all.

** ''[[Atelier Rorona]]'' finally does away with this, as befits [[Victorian Britain|its setting]]; most of Cordelia's special attacks utilize her exquisitely-crafted pistol, and you do encounter enemies who are armed with guns. The other party members don't use guns simply due to a preference for other means of defending themselves.

** "Marth Syndrome" has now struck the franchise ''twice''; ''Trinity Universe'' has been released in the US, and it features characters from Gust, Nippon Ichi and Idea Factory games... including the titular heroine of ''Atelier Violet''. This means that Violet joins Marie in debuting in America in a game ''not directly produced by her home company''. Frothing, possibly rabid gamers [[In Joke|armed with carrots]] have been spotted outside NISA's offices at this point.

** And, of course, there's the fact that, thanks to bringing ''[[Atelier Annie]]'' over first, this trope now applies to Liese Randel, the heroine of ''Atelier Liese''.

** Interestingly, while a lot of Japanese MEF features a rather higher standard of health compared to what actual medieval Europe was like, in the Atelier games this is actually [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that, well, with practical science-based alchemy being so prevalent, the standard of medicine is quite a bit higher in this setting than it was in real life. This is even a quest in the first game (where you have to create a medicine to save a friend from a crippling disease) and a plot point in the second, where the protagonist of that game was saved from death's door by the medical skills of the ''previous'' game's protagonist.

* [[Medieval Stasis]]: ''Hilariously'' played with in various parts of the franchise. In the "classic" games from ''Elie'' on, this trope is generally averted because '''''you''''', the player character, are often discovering new items that become popular and imitated later on and are thus a force for change and progress. ([[Multiple Endings|Generally]]). In ''Atelier Iris'', {{spoiler|things are in fact [[After the End]] and the world is slowly regaining the progress lost when Avenberry fell}}, and in ''Iris 2'' {{spoiler|1=the enforced stasis of both parts of the world is a large part of the ''problem'' and you, uh, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|inadvertently set up the catastrophe that precedes AI1.]]}}

* [[The Renaissance]]: The architecture, clothing (mostly) and government in the first five games is meant to feel like Renaissance Germany - specifically post-Westphalian Baroque Austria, [[Lighter and Softer|sans the rampant warfare and killing]], complete with some words being pronounced in a [[Gratuitous German]] style (see [[Spell My Name With an "S"]], below). The Iris games and beyond tend to be a bit more blatantly fantastic with their settings but still retain some elements of this. The Arland games, meanwhile, go in a [[Victorian Britain|different direction]].

* [[Running Gag]]: Player characters often shout "[[Captain Obvious|Barrel]]!" whenever the player searches one. Yes, this dates all the way back to Marie.

** This is all ''[[Lampshade Hanging|poked fun at and lampshaded]]'' in ''Atelier Rorona'', where a previously Renaissance-level civilization has discovered the ruins of a [[Precursors|more advanced culture]] and is slowly integrating technology as it is understood. By and large they have so far advanced to [[Victorian Britain|the steam age]] and firearms are becoming increasingly common, but a few more advanced pieces of technology appear throughout town, like ''a computerized bulletin board, complete with touchscreen'' in the town square.

* [[Screwed By the Network]]: The original games were reportedly brought over to Sony for U.S. release approval several times, and shot down every time because "Americans won't get a 2D game that revolves around [[Item Crafting]]". This despite the games selling six-digits in Japan and influencing how the industry approached [[Item Crafting]].