Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky is the 15th game set in the Atelier series developed by Gust Co. Ltd. And published by Tecmo Koei. Being a part of such a long line of games, Escha and Logy are up against some strong competition and scrutiny by fans of the series. Can this one conjure up an enjoyable experience, or simple explode in our faces?
Story
The game starts off with one of the main Alchemist Protagonists, Logix “Logy” Fiscario, arriving at the frontier city where the majority of the game is set in. Logy makes his way to the Governmental building in the city and meets up with his new team in the R&D Division. Unbeknownst to him there is already another alchemist there already to work alongside him as a partner. Together with his partner Escha they must create new items, fix broken ones, solve mysteries and ultimately reach the floating ruins the city is famous for.
Coming from Central City, Logy is introduced the city and its inhabitants as well as a different way to alchemise items within the Cauldron in his and Escha’s Atelier. Besides learning the ins and outs of the city Logy is also introduced the wilderness outside of the safe confines of the walls in combination with the sprawling ruins scattered around the area, finding resources around the areas and fending off the monsters that are crawling around.
The overarching goal of this game is to reach the floating ruins to gain fame, fortune and respect that the city sorely deserves. On top of the main goal there is also a set of story quests that follow you through until you complete the penultimate goal. From fixing a windmill, investigating ruins to solving people’s problems you will have a lot to keep you busy.
The story mode will last you over 40 hours per character, with several endings and ways to play the game. Both Escha and Logy have varying cutscenes and backstories to discover as well as spate endings that increase the replayability to be found in this release.
Gameplay
Being an Atelier game we can expect the same from the previous releases with the gameplay, and we are not disappointed. The gameplay is split up between two halves, the alchemy part and the combat part. Alchemy is where you combine two or more items to make a new one, imbue a piece of equipment with the properties of other materials and also disassemble any material or item that is not a base item to find their recipe and some resources to make the item. Combat is where you fight monsters, travel the map and use your skills to survive your trips to the outside world.
Whilst doing Alchemy you are free to make or do anything you have access to or have learnt, which is very limited at the start of the game but opens up with levelling up and progressing in the story. You can use the Cauldron to combine items to create new ones by the use of recipes, which are split up into types of items including fuel, ores, paper, metal etc. You also use a trainer to craft new weapons or imbue existing ones with attributes of other weapons or materials to increase their stats or apply elemental effects. Alchemy has become a bit more streamlined and easier than previous releases, with recipes being unlocked over time and through books and with the possibility of picking the wrong ingredient taken out of the equation.
Battle has been given a slight update as well, with basic attacks and skills keeping their normal effects but adding in support moves that allow you to use a character to defend another from an attack or to follow up on an attack from your team to deal several hits in one turn. The game continues with the ATB style combat, where you take turns based on speed and the CT of attacks, items and skills that require more time after an attack until your next action. Special moves and support moves are also included in this release, allowing for high damaging support attacks to finish off a flurry, or special damaging moves for characters to use when they increase their support gauge.
Besides alchemy and battle you will spend a lot of time talking to the townsfolk, buying items and completing side quests and viewing optional cutscenes to get trophies and new recipes. A lot of these in-between moments can be skipped and even missed if you waste time on the main goals and spend too much time out of town which is a shame as some of the events are quite funny and give some nice background to the characters.
Escha & Logy is one of the few games to include a time clock in the game, meaning you only have a certain amount of days to complete your quests, with around 121 days per term or mission. This is normally more than enough to complete your main mission and then some, I was able to do the story mission within 20 days and use the rest doing the side quests and levelling up my characters ready for the next term to begin.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
The music in this release is rather appealing to the ears, with soothing music for the town screens and high action pieces for the boss battles that get you pumped to fight until either the enemy is killed or you have to run away with your tail between your legs… which is possible for Escha.
The graphic style is very appropriate for the game, and follows along with the previous releases in the look and feel. Though the voice acting can be very poor to start off with, with the two protagonists seemingly having no emotion in their voice for the majority of their first 2 years together, the boss, Marion, shows a larger compass of emotion and voice acting talent which offsets her staff.
I’d give Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky a 5/5, it is a great game in the long line of Atelier games, adding new features and improving on the ones already in the series. The only complaints I could find was the voice acting, but that can be easily overlooked and becomes a part of the game before long so you don’t notice it after a while. For fans of the Atelier series and RPG fans this is a must have… now it’s time for me to alchemise for another few weeks.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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