The Atelier series: fashion progression or lack thereof [now with Yumia and extra back]
cj iwakura
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
I only recently got into this series on the PS3, with the Atelier Rorona series, and it's been fascinating to observe how the series has evolved over the years in terms of fashion... and devolved, recently.
For the unfamiliar, these are mostly cozy slice-of-life-ish games in which the titular alchemist spends most of her(and sometimes his) time in a lab making potions and then wandering out to gather items, farm stuff, and make more potions.
Recent releases, as with most GUST RPGs, seem to be going after a certain demographic though...
To best illustrate the point, I'll start with the very first games in the series(most of which have never been localized):
Atelier Marie (PS1/Saturn/etc., 1997)
Atelier Elie (PS1, 1998)
Atelier Lilie (PS2, 2001)
And so on.
As far as I can tell, the first localized games were the Atelier Iris series on the PS2, which(in a rare turn), featured a male lead.
Then the PS3 era began, bringing us Rorona:
And Totori, and so on:
But I digress, the crux of the discussion comes to the modern era.
Some of the more recent games still kept subdued, low key feel of the originals, like Escha & Logy:
And Ayesha:
But Ryza kicked the doors in, and... well, it feels like the demographic pointedly shifted with her design.
The modern era isn't all bad, since Sophie looks classyish:
It's Ryza's design that primarily feels problematic to me:
So yeah, is the Atelier series going for the lowest common denominator with the pandering designs, or should it be accepted as just wider variety in fashion?
For the unfamiliar, these are mostly cozy slice-of-life-ish games in which the titular alchemist spends most of her(and sometimes his) time in a lab making potions and then wandering out to gather items, farm stuff, and make more potions.
Recent releases, as with most GUST RPGs, seem to be going after a certain demographic though...
To best illustrate the point, I'll start with the very first games in the series(most of which have never been localized):
Atelier Marie (PS1/Saturn/etc., 1997)
Atelier Elie (PS1, 1998)
Atelier Lilie (PS2, 2001)
And so on.
As far as I can tell, the first localized games were the Atelier Iris series on the PS2, which(in a rare turn), featured a male lead.
Then the PS3 era began, bringing us Rorona:
And Totori, and so on:
But I digress, the crux of the discussion comes to the modern era.
Some of the more recent games still kept subdued, low key feel of the originals, like Escha & Logy:
And Ayesha:
But Ryza kicked the doors in, and... well, it feels like the demographic pointedly shifted with her design.
The modern era isn't all bad, since Sophie looks classyish:
It's Ryza's design that primarily feels problematic to me:
So yeah, is the Atelier series going for the lowest common denominator with the pandering designs, or should it be accepted as just wider variety in fashion?
cj iwakura on
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Everything from Sophia on though? Ugh. They pain me so much. Partly for the writing going to absolute pot, but also because they keep fucking up the most basic things that they did correctly in previous games. Sophia 2, for example, has massively excessively complex maps and material distribution because of weather system, and absolutely totally 100% fucks up the entire encyclopedia system on how to find literally fucking anything in game. Or like how the PS2/PS3 games just kept adding more and more monster models as they went. Okay, massive resource reuse is kind of corny, but at least they're adding as they go, and it's something all RPGs do. And then you get to the Ryza onward and it's... you get twelve enemies total, each with eight pallet swaps, seven of which are recycled from past games. This includes all bosses. There are almost more slags types alone in Dusk than there are different models of enemies in all of Ryza 1/2.
Soon they meet a busty rabbit woman wearing cloth bondage gear, along with her companion middle aged man with fancy monocle in an off-shoulder jacket over his fancy vest.
On a spectrum with them on the ridiculous side and "kid with glasses and a bowl cut wearing shorts and suspenders" and "girl in maid outfit" on the boring side, Ryza is pretty comfortably in the middle. She's just wearing shorts a tank top and a loose jacket, nbd really.
Then the internet went turbo horny for her, which unfortunately seems to have been leaned into for 2 and 3.
In regards to the topic of clothes and such, in the offical artwork i have seen Ryza doesnt seem to show off more skin really than any of the others? Like most of the lady leads seem to wear short skirts that show off about as much.
Her shorts are like a spelunking tutorial.
If its something else I will probally need it spelled out cause they dont seem that bad otherwise. I see a lot of people around here wearing shorts about that size, especially in the summer.
But it's anime so this is what she wears every minute of every day in all situations regardless of context.
ETA: can you imagine the chafing
There's a couple of free DLCs that replace her outfit with a cute sundress, at least!
No wonder the PS1 version's logo was framed that way.
That said I'm mostly here for the alchemy and stats anyway.
I enjoy the series, Ryza was a change of pace but also a lot of fun. There has always been some racier outfits usually as DLC later.
The art in these games is always pretty gorgeous.
The second game is all about finding a way to get this cute little creature back to it's own dimension so it doesn't get sick and die.
I've been loving them so far.
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I assume all the decent writers ended up doing Ar Tonelico/Surge stuff which spun off into its own convoluted nightmare. I don't think they're getting back to the high high heights of the PS2 era bog standard JRPGs any time soon. And they have way more technical and design issues to deal with before then anyway.
I felt the time limits actually made sense there.
Khemia had a ton of great mechanics that they then binned and no other games ever really picked up. I would've loved to see them better iterated on, but alas. I'm pretty sure Gust just stumbled into them accidentally though.
Alchemy is:
- A lost art from an ancient civilization that's known to few in the modern era.
- Absurdly, brokenly overpowered.
- Possible to figure out with like 10 minutes of actual instruction.
PICK ANY TWO.Basically every Atelier is all three.
Timing: Bad.
What an awful week for a big sale on a franchise. I'd actually consider picking some of those up if wasn't for the fact that this week I am getting PSVR2, Octopath 2, The Pale Beyond, Venom DLC for Midnight Suns, and I'm still working on the mountain of content that is Hogwarts Legacy.
Ryza 1 & 2 have to be some of the most chill and laid back RPGs I've ever played. Loved them both.
I'm very much looking forward to Ryza 3. I've become attached to the cast of this series. I'm hoping we finally get to complete Bos' arc and he finally gets to adventure with you in the next game.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
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Add me!
Where are their shirts?