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| | Title:
Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
Role Playing
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Publisher:
NIS America
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Developer:
Gust
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Release:
April 25th, 2006
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Everyone 10+
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Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny may strike you at first glance as a title for the original Playstation. That could mean two things to different people: nostalgic or under-developed. For those of you who see the glass half full and enjoy the retro feeling of past RPG titles, then Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny (AI2 for short) is your boarding pass on that train. While it's certainly not as robust and epic as the likes of Final Fantasy, it still provides a quaint and charming story with some good ol' fashion turn-based battles.
AI2's story follows two young individuals; orphans to be exact, who live in the realm of Eden. These two youngsters go by the names of Felt and Viese—and their story takes place many years previous to the last Atelier Iris, but still in the world of Eden. Both being orphans—and both being friends—it is only fitting they are both studying to be "alchemists". Alchemists are a mix of scientists, chemists, and sorcerers. They "mix" just about anything to create, well, just about anything.
One day, a tremendous earthquake literally rocks their world – apart! Much of the world disappears...but there is a way to save it. The male protagonist, Felt, grabs up a talking sword (yup, I said ‘talking’ sword) and heads through a magic gate into the world of Belkhyde. Apparently, this world is the key to saving the world of Eden. Now Viese doesn't follow suit, she has decided to remain behind and help out by providing Felt with items that she creates using her alchemy skills. The said items are transferred between worlds through a "share ring" and can be accessed by both of the characters.
Being that both main characters can access the items, it would only be proper that you control both of the heroes separately, but at different points in the game. Most of your time will be spent with Felt and any fellow adventurers that he picks up along the way. Other times you will have to switch over to using Viese and whip up an item that is paramount to your current quest's success. While the idea sounds pretty cool, the implementation is tedious and rather unrewarding because you only need most of the items you make. So, item hunting quests are the name of a fair number of quests: I go here, I need this item to go further, I go back and make an item, I return and use item. Also be sure to watch out for those sinister NPCs that demand a certain item that you don't have in return for their help; never mind that you’re saving the world they live in...
Now that I've scared you off, I'll get to the good stuff. As tedious as some of this sounds, it is still, overall, a good game. The story is pretty enjoyable and the characters are humorous and likeable, which in turn creates a personality for each one that is rather natural and immersive. The voice-overs and scripting are well done and attributes to how easily the story is followed and enjoyed. Aside from the recycled enemies, the characters and environments are keenly varied and colored, portraying some well put together character sprites and detailed backgrounds. As I said, everything is new except the majority of the enemies, which are rendered from the last Atelier Iris. In some ways, I guess that makes sense; they are technically in the same place as the last game. Ok, it doesn't work for us either. New is good, even when making a roundabout prequel. Considering this is an RPG and most of your time will be spent in battle, some fresh enemies should’ve been a priority.
Battles are random, yes. But you have a meter in the left side of the screen (ala LOTR: Third Age) that changes from blue to red when you’re more likely to be engaged by a random enemy. Also borrowed (from Lunar: Dragon Song) is a limit of how many random enemies you will actually encounter. How it works: next to the encounter meter is a number that indicates how many random enemies are left within the area you are currently traversing, and when the number is reduced to zero there will be no more encounters left within that area. So move on to the next area if you want to do some more farming, or go back to a previous area. The gauge will refill once you leave an area and likewise when you revisit an already played area.
In technical book terms, AI2 isn't really a turn-based battle system, but it might as well be so. Instead of a traditional ATB or something like that, you have an ACT, or, an Active Cost Time system.Characters can only take their turns when that little screen at the top, excuse me, the ACT battle gauge, shows the character's icon. But there is a little twist to the formula! Hah! The screen and character
icons pass from left to right and when a character's icon reaches the end of the gauge, he or she can perform an action—simple enough, right? But to go even further, you can manipulate the gauge by using a "break attack". The break attack interrupts your current enemies’ turn and knocks them back to the left of the gauge. If you can knock them back far enough, it becomes "dazed" and you will get a chance to
pummel them mercilessly with some seriously cool combo attacks. It's rather fun to knock the enemy back and pummel them, but it can also make the battle a little longer than you might anticipate and it's a relatively simple maneuver and it takes away some of the challenge.
Instead of Magic Points (MP), you get a skill bar. The skill bar is also shared by the whole party. To charge the skill bar, you have to "charge" the bar by both inflicting and receiving damage. Well that's easy. No more worrying about MP. Just worry about whether that skill you just used is worth the beating you just took to fill up your skill meter. Some of the skills are powerful and great to look at, while others are just plain boring. Never fear; it's still rewarding and good fun to pick your skills when you don't know what they are just yet...well, most of the time.
If you're not battling, you’re collecting items and elements to create other items using your alchemy skills. Unlike the last game, though, the synthesis process is much easier and forgiving. You simply follow the recipe and biggity bam, you're done! You can extract elements for various things, grow and harvest ore and plants, and any of each may be required to make certain items. Don’t pass up an object that you think might not be worthy of your elemental inquisition! And the Mana are still here. This time, however, you don't have to cater to their unnerving and tedious happiness. Good.
While AI2 is by no means considered a lengthy game by RPG standards, it is still a good 30 hours of solid RPG fun. You could probably get more time out of it if you wanted to go out of your way to complete every item hunt and sub-quest. You can decide. The good looking sprites (though barely above Playstation quality), witty, charming, and well-played script make for an enjoyable game that you won't have a problem getting in to. If it wasn't for the tedious item questing, the game would have exceeded its predecessor. It isn't better than the last game, but fans of the series and fans of a decent RPG should still check this one out.
| The Core Score |
Overall
7 |
| Fun |
|
8 |
| Gameplay |
|
7 |
| Graphics |
|
6 |
| Audio |
|
7 |
| Replay |
|
7 |
|
| | | |
