by OL » Thu May 17, 2018 11:03 pm
So I'm stepping out of my usual bubble/box/plastic bag lately; sure, I'm still playing Yakuza 6 and all, but after I tried out that game Blue Reflection and found that it actually wasn't making me gag (it's so goddamn girly, and yet relaxing), I got the urge to try something else with a very similar groove to it.
I got vaguely interested in the Atelier series (made by Gust, the same developer as Blue Reflection) years ago on the PS3 when Kenshin posted about it, but it was right about then that my general aversion to anime shite kicked in and I haven't gone near it since. But now that that's subsided a bit, and since Blue Reflection actually proved enjoyable, I decided to pick up the first Atelier game on PS4, Atelier Sophie.
And I gotta say, I'm actually liking it quite a lot. And it's kind of funny; as trope-y and cliche as it may look from the outside, it's actually gotta be one of the most unconventional JRPGs I've ever played. Most of this will count for the entire Atelier series but there's so much here that makes it unusual to me.
The story has absolutely nothing to do with saving the world, fighting some great evil, getting revenge, or any of that; rather, it's about a girl finding a magic talking book, and subsequently trying to help it regain its lost memories. It's very farytale-esque, very kiddy and all that, but it's kind of nice to actually be playing something that isn't centered all around the blanket concept of "fighting evil."
That being said, there is fighting present, but it all basically takes place as you gather materials for your alchemy. Absolutely nothing about the violence is malicious in any way so far, nor is it being used much at all for dramatic effect. It's probably some of the most family-friendly JRPG stuff I've ever seen.
It's also interesting to me that the main protagonist is pretty much the "support" character in your little team of heroes; she's probably the weakest one, physically, but has the greatest access to items and whatnot.
And I never figured this would be the case, but I'm totally addicted to the actual alchemy in the game. It's not the usual for me, but I'm having a lot of fun trying over and over to produce items and equipment with the best stats and traits available and all that; if anything, that's the real focus of the game, and I'm having a ball micromanaging everything.
So yeah, surprised the hell out of me.
It's kind of funny, I look at the bigger-name JRPGs that I could be playing at the moment, and I just don't feel all that interested. They aim to be as grand and epic and emotionally resonant as possible, going on about war and conflict and the effects of violence and so on and so forth... and here I am playing a much smaller, much more "quaint" little game about a small-town girl innocently synthesizing medicine and interacting with always-friendly townspeople.
It's weird how tastes change. Never would have dug this stuff before, but I'm pretty interested in a good deal of the rest of the series now. Definitely want to try the others on PS4, and the "Dusk" series on PS3 looks pretty great too.