Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (Ps2)

Reviewed by Kit

This game of course came out quite a while ago. However, we were requested to write a review, and so we have. Atelier Iris is the tale of a young man trying to become a great alchemist like his grandmother. He begins his journey outside a small town where he meets a young woman named Lita, who is a monster hunter. Well then, let's get on with this.

Graphics: The graphics are well done. Inside of cities and dungeons the backgrounds are done in watercolors. In battles the backgrounds are less attractive. Characters and monsters are brightly colored sprites. On the world map, the player is portrayed as a tiny sprite on a giant map. The graphics are attractive but nothing outstanding. 4/5

Audio: The music serves to set the mood, and for the most part it does. You don't really notice it too much. Characters have voice acting in battle and in important cutscenes. The voice acting is well done, though I could be biased since I recognize and like most of the voice actors. 4/5

Gameplay: There are quite a few things to note in this sections. First off battles. You can only have three people in your party at a time, but you are able to switch out characters if you want. Characters will receive some experience if they are not in your party at the end of the battle, and switching out characters does not give all characters who participated equal experience. There are also area ranges for attacks. The monsters are laid out on vertical and horizontal planes. Some attacks will go through the horizontal planes while others go through the vertical. Each character has a weapon best suited for different areas of attack. The main character Klein uses a cane and can swipe monsters in a circular pattern. Lita slashes with claws which hit horizontally. You create items by either learning recipes at stores and bringing them ingrediants or learning recipes that are made through alchemy. Klein meets elementals throughout the game who help him make battle items. However to make these items he needs elemental energy, which luckily you can get by zapping things around you. 4/5

Story: It's a fairly simple story of boy meets girl, girl calls boy a loser, girl joins up with boy, girl is hiding a big secret and nearly dies because of it. Of course in the end you are saving the world. Wouldn't grandma be proud? During the course of saving the world you are hunted down by soldiers, haunted by a ghost, introduced to brownies, meet the lords of the elemental realm, turn into a bunny, and join up with a cat girl. Sounds like fun, right? 3/5

Replay: Once you beat the game you can load your previous save and go do some extra stuff like play around in a bonus dungeon. This of course can only happen if you've done enough side quests and found enough recipes. That is to say, I know peopel have done it, but not I. The game clocks in at about 30-40 hours without the bonus dungeon. It's fun, but you probably won't be picking it up again and again. 2/5

Overall: A fun, cute game with a basic story and a fun cast. It's worth picking up, but don't expect sliced bread. Certainly worth renting. I beat it in slightly over a week, so die hards could do it in three or four days. 3/5