RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Part of the joy of writing for an RPG-centric website is that I can draw comparisons to some rather eclectic, obscure, and niche material, knowing that the reader will be able to follow my gist. It’s an amazing power, and one that I try to wield judiciously and in the name of good. However, Atelier Annie makes me wish that, rather than your standard RPG fare, my readers were versed in the equally insular world of German boardgames, particularly resource-management-centric, action-limited strategy titles such as Agricola, Stone Age, and Settlers of Catan. I’d probably have a much easier time of describing the cost/reward analyses, transportation efficiency concerns, and development strategies intrinsic to this Gust-developed JRPG. In lieu of such assumption, though, just take my word for it: Atelier Annie is an awesome, horizon-expanding game.

At first blush, the story seems to be a brazen attempt to justify the rest of the game’s mechanics: Annie, a lazy girl whose only ambition is to marry into power (and avoid all responsibility while doing so), meets with the disapproval of her grandfather, the Royal Alchemist of Orde. Said grandfather, being a Royal Alchemist after all, conjures a couple homunculi to carry her away in her sleep and deposit her in a workshop on Sera Island, where the royalty of the region are about to kick off a three-year development project to improve tourism and make Sera Island a top-rate resort destination.

I’ll give you a moment to reread that. I’d certainly have to.

Back with us? Good. Assisting you in this massive story shock are Tutorial Fairy Pepe and Development Admin Hans, who quickly acquaint you with the Alchemist’s competition going on as part of the program and how you compete. You’re given a rundown on how to build resort facilities, how to manage those facilities, how to use your own workshop, and then…

You’re on your own. 1080 days. Go.

Aside from handing you an assignment every 6 months, the game then doesn’t care what you do or how you do them. You have a time limit, you have fetch-quests to fulfill for fame and profit, you have friends to recruit at your leisure, you have locations to scour for resources and random battles, and (most importantly) you have the freedom to do whichever of the above suits you at the time. Unlike the strict, schedule-based linearity of Annie‘s cousin Mana Khemia, you control the direction at all times.

See? It’s kinda RPG-ish! It belongs on this website! Honest!

Whereas most JRPGs will start with the story and develop game mechanics to suit it, Annie takes the opposite route: It starts with a mechanical ideal, puts together a story to justify it, and then gradually develops atmosphere to flesh out what would otherwise seem contrived and painful to bear. Your three years on Sera Island are peppered with vignettes and sketches, there to highlight the supporting cast, the Island itself, and generally give credence to this far-fetched premise. As you progress, you come to realize the many facets of your companions, from the ridiculous to the respectable. In turn, they begin to depend on you, which begins to show Annie the importance of having responsibility.

Or not. You always have the option of neglecting your friends’ requests. When you don’t come through for them, they will call you on it. It may not be the robust morality system advertised by Fable or BioShock, but it’s present nonetheless. Rather than exist for its own sake, these choices exist as a result of much greater freedom than would be expected in a JRPG. How many games can you think of where you’d be called upon to find a MacGuffin for such-and-such, even if it means dropping your world-saving quest to take the time. Annie asks you for the MacGuffin, but time marches on; whether or not you’ll be able to process this request while adhering to your existing plan is a matter of your own skill in time management.

1080 days may seem like a lot, but they blow by faster than you’d think. Every time you synthesize an item, at least one day passes. (Depending on how many of that item you produce, several may pass.) Traveling between locations on the island takes between 1-3 days, depending on your starting point and destination. Gathering resources in the field takes up days, and may spawn random battles. (More on those later.) Pretty much the only things that don’t chew away at that 1080-day limit are accepting and receiving jobs, and traveling within the city limits. You soon find yourself lumping together tasks based on geography; “I’ll be gathering out there, which means I can stop by there and drop off these, then pick up more jobs and return home.” It’s a vicious cycle, and you’ve got three years of it.

While in the field, combat happens. It seems a little more glazed-over than combat in most RPGs; many battles can be fast-forwarded through (by holding the Y button) and hold little consequence (other than to drop items and award EXP). Though it seems simplistic enough, there’s actually more at work here than immediately appears. There’s an elemental strength/weakness system (where most weapons and armor can be modified to exploit certain Achilles’ heels), weapons which deal area damage (and key off of one of two attack stats), and differing special commands depending on whether that particular unit is in the front or back line. While it might not be particularly inspired, it must be remembered that the RPG aspects of this game are not – repeat: NOT – at the forefront. This beast is more SimCity than Star Ocean. Combat exists as a challenge to a means, more than a means to an end.

The resort facilities, however, get the spotlight. Throughout the game, certain funds (orders of magnitude greater than your pocket cash, mind) will be earmarked for development projects. By speaking to your Tutorial Fairy, you can choose which facilities to build (you choose one of two options for each of five sites on the island), remodel facilities once they’ve achieved a level of notoriety, and check detailed statistics on sales trends and clientele numbers. Once a resort attraction is up and running, you can begin to take jobs from there, with each completed task bringing fame to the facility (and rewards to Annie). However, neglect a building for too long and its numbers will begin to slip; a balance must be struck between the shiny newness and keeping people interested in the venerable oldness. Also available at resorts are minigames, which can provide fame or resources through intuitive, touchscreen-based bits of fun.

Graphically, this is one of the better examples of DS RPGs. Most cutscenes are rendered in the new-standard “Anime-style Portraits On Top of a Text Box” motif, though said portraits are a little more mobile and dynamic. Not animated, just… “animated.” Said portraits are colorful and detailed, with wide ranges of emotions. Certain elements, such as the synthesis animation and opening titles, are rendered in full-motion video… tragic, though, that you’ll watch each of them once and then skip through them every other time. The music is unoffensive but not terribly memorable, though it’s overshadowed by the vocal performance. Yes, a vocal performance on a DS cart. Entirely in Japanese. Figuring that a dub cast would be too expensive, an English dub would necessitate the removal of the Japanese voice work, and that the fans would be fine with or, indeed, prefer the Japanese track, NISA has retained the original dialogue. If that’s not your thing, an option-menu item offers to eliminate the voices altogether.

I suppose I should round out this review with a few gripes. The problem is, I don’t have that many. The vocals can get muddled with the BGM in a few places, but the options allow you to adjust that problem away. The game is short – 12 to 15 hours on the first playthrough, and scarcely 10 in subsequent runs – but that’s the price of a finite time limit. (Also, with 7 possible endings, it ultimately facilitates multiple playings and thus improves replay value.) The drop rate on some items is abysmal. (That, I can’t explain away.) If you’re looking for a crystal skull or ancient coin or something along those lines, be prepared to save and reset a couple times.

Was that it? I think so. Two justified gripes, and one really glaring one. Oh, and I found a typo once. That’s about it. In Annie‘s defense, though, she does get a few of the small things down to perfection. The Y button functions as a fast-forward in almost all circumstances, and when I say “fast,” I mean fast. (Again, improving replay value.) As you progress through the game, every item, person, and foe you come across is automatically added to an in-game almanac which can be referenced from the main menu or title screen – a very handy way to recall where to find that one rare item you’ve been looking for. Finally, the minigames that are occasionally offered at resort areas for fun and profit (and, occasionally, fame) are, by and large, genuinely entertaining… perhaps not so much in the case of the “pull a rope and get hit on the head with something” game, or the “3×3 Memory” game. The “Happy Spiel” game, in which you have to tap on a megaphone when a gauge reaches its maximum, can get downright white-knuckle at higher difficulties, while the Whack-a-Puni challenge is always good for some stress relief.

Atelier Annie ~Alchemists of Sera Island~ is a strange bird. A JRPG-but-not-quite, it takes some familiar combat and item elements and uses them to season what is, at its core, a robust strategy game. It stands an example of a big idea that, despite its uniqueness and scope, doesn’t neglect the small things that make it really shine. I’ve been told that Atelier Annie is closer to the spirit of the (Japan-only) original Atelier titles; if such is the case, I can only hope that this is the first step in getting them to our shores.

This game was reviewed using a copy provided by the publisher. Played to completion, twice.