RopeMaidenKirie wrote:Bluie wrote:
Man, I am adoring Atelier Lydie & Suelle. I haven't had this much fun with the series since Escha & Logy (there's three games between these two titles).
After my backlog is clear I'd like to try an Atelier game; would you recommend this one to a beginner? I know they usually go in trilogies, but I only have a Vita/Switch/PS4 so it might limit some of the older ones that were on the PS3.
I'd recommend Atelier Rorona Plus (Vita and PS3) or Atelier Ayesha (Regular version on PS3, Plus version on Vita) as they're kinda considered the entry points to the series. Rorona is very slice of life - you're trying to make your Atelier popular and you'll do so with your friends you already have and make. Ayesha is a little darker, you go on a journey to find your sister who's been kidnapped by some otherworldly being, and you'll be helped by those you meet on the way. Both are alchemy heavy and have time limits (iirc, it's 3-4 years to accomplish your goals).
With that being said, every game can be played without playing any of the previous entries (trilogies or not), with previous characters showing up as cameos, making references to previous game events, but they're not a super coherent story or anything. Just cute girls (and occasionally a boy) doing alchemy for various reasons/goals.
I'd say the two best games mechanics wise are Escha & Logy and Lydie and Suelle. E&L ironed out all the issues from the previous entry, has an awesome battle system (very similar to FFX where you can switch out at any time), and the narrative is probably the best in the series. L&S is the most recent game, and it's very lax, letting you do as you please for as long as you like, but also having a lot of fun with the cast and mechanics (new and old). I'd say the only downside is there's no english dub in L&S which is a deal breaker for some, but imo, only one of the JPN VA's is overdone, everyone else is fine. (I've also played all the games exclusively with JPN audio so I have a bias lol).
I wouldn't recommend Totori (my personal favourite, but hasn't aged well), Meruru (the characters and motivations are the worst in the series), and Shallie (very boring, feels rushed).
The Mysterious Trilogy (Sophie, Firis, Lydie & Suelle) are available on Steam, PS4, Vita and L&S have a Switch port instead of Vita. They're the easiest to acquire. You could start with Sophie and see how you like it, but I feel like they didn't get the feel they were going for until Lydie & Suelle.
If you have any questions about a specific Atelier, I could give you all the details you need. I'm pretty passionate about the games (LOL AS YOU CAN SEE) and GUST in general. I've played every localized entry except the PS2 titles. I never had a PS2... :p