Is this a standalone

[Sorceress]

Do I need to play the prequels, because I plan to just buy this.....

[NightmareHollow]

Not really. You'll need to play the rest of the Arland trilogy for most stuff to make sense story-wise

[fireguardiancoty]

I don't think you know what a prequel is...

[Sorceress]

If I decide to skip previous titles or just buy them later, would this still be playable?

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Sorceress:

If I decide to skip previous titles or just buy them later, would this still be playable?

Sure! This is the story of a character that didn't exist in the Arland trilogy.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Gustfan:

Definitely not. Sure it is technically playable as you can play it. No one will force you.
But what is the point of watching the third movie in a trilogy? Why not start at the beginning?
But sure, if you want it so bad, buy it and "enjoy" I guess...

If this were true, people would be able to make acquaintances only at the time of birth, could not find a place in the formed team, work on already existing enterprises, travel, change citizenship and place of residence, etc.
Absolutely any meeting, film or book - this is only a fragment, and not the whole story.
We easily adapt to the situation. If we do not understand and need some nuances, then we will simply find out what we need, filling in the missing fragments. Or leave it as it is, without going into details.

Originally posted by Gustfan:

...But what is the point of watching the third movie in a trilogy?..

Many people began watching Star Wars, starting with the 4th part. And the world for them has not shattered into trillions of pink teddy bears.
Prequels embarrass someone?

[Monterossa]

It's the fourth game in the sub-series, but you don't really need to play them in order. Each game has a new lead protagonist, and the story focuses on that protagonist. Characters from previous games appear as support characters.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by Monterossa:

It's the fourth game in the sub-series, but you don't really need to play them in order. Each game has a new lead protagonist, and the story focuses on that protagonist. Characters from previous games appear as support characters.

For once, I completely agree.

[strippolka]

You don't need to play the prequels since each game have their own story that doesn't really lead into another game. At worst you might be clueless when they introduce a character from one of the previous games as a character in LuaLua, you might miss out on when old chars meet up and reminisce about old adventures with each other but you won't really miss anything groundbreaking that should effect LuaLua's story.

[NisseDood]

Also you wont miss much in story way anyway since atelier games never really had any good plots to begin with and where mostly about the characters and crafting.

[Sorceress]

I will have to purchase this later than expected. But will definitely be on my radar/wishlist.

[DJukor]

In these series of games the main story from the previous games is not important to understand the main story of future ones seing as each MC of each game has there own story that doesnt overlap whit previous ones.
But all the games in specific shared universess do have characters as sort of guest stars or playable characters so playng the previous games will make it easier to apariciate them.

[2d0x]

Originally posted by KOEI TECMO AMERICA:

Originally posted by Mikoto H. Strife:

Quick question do I have to play the other game 1st to get what’s going on or can or just start one this one then go backwards

I personally feel like its not 100% necessary however you'll miss some moments that others would understand that played the Arland Trilogy

https://twitter.com/DragonWolfMiko/status/1129090963723423746

[Grizzled Grizzly]

Originally posted by fireguardiancoty:

I don't think you know what a prequel is...

No he used the word correctly since this is the 4th installment of the Arland series. Maybe it is you who should double-check the definition of "prequel".

[Monterossa]

Originally posted by Sentinel:

Originally posted by fireguardiancoty:

I don't think you know what a prequel is...

No he used the word correctly since this is the 4th installment of the Arland series. Maybe it is you who should double-check the definition of "prequel".

Some people limits the meaning of prequel for games that came out later but cover the story that happened before the original game's story. IE Resident Evil 0 and Crisis Core.