Can someone explain this series?

[Karsk]

I see it on sale, and I keep seeing various 'Atelier' games over the years. I know what an atelier is but as for the series? No clue

Certainly no clue where to start or what the gameplay is like.

Can anyone explain this to me as someone who has zero information about these games?

[Calm Hostage]

Atelier games are JRPGs, most of them feature turn-based combat with the exception of the Ryza series which are semi real-time. Very light-hearted subject material, featuring a lot of cutesy characters.

Compared to most RPGs, there's a little less focus on combat and a lot more focus on item crafting. The crafting system is very deep and a core aspect of the gameplay. It's sort of like a puzzle game, and will take some time to master, but it can be very addictive once you're into it. The ingredients you gather while exploring have a wide variety of traits which make their way into the final product, meaning the weapons, armor and consumable items you make are highly customizable.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the Dusk series (Ayesha, Escha & Logy, Shallie), but Ryza and Sophie 2 are good choices too if you're looking for something more recent.

[jclosed]

I agree completely with the above. However, don't get the impression that with "puzzle" he means "like a jig-saw". Yes the crafting has puzzle-like elements in the sense you have to carefully balance how to use the ingredients to make the final product. Those ingredients have more aspects than only quality. I leave it at that and let you discover the rest for yourself.

A word of warning about Atelier Ryza 2, and Atelier Sophie 2. Both games are really sequels from their first game. I strongly advise to play Ryza before Ryza 2, and (although less strongly, because there is a resume in the second game) Sophie before Sophie 2.

[Karsk]

Very interesting thanks for the help! Are these games really easy? If I were going to start where should I?

[Razgriz]

Are easy in general but a lot of game have dificult option in the menu and you can swap when you want , if you want easy mode do it there no penalty if you want hard mode do it , i personally like the hard mode because require use the crafting , you need craft good thing if you want survive , in this series all dmg and defense is via crafting , lvl dont matter anything , and this is the only rpg or jrpg series you always are using items more than skills

[Razgriz]

And for where to start https://youtu.be/oh4P9Lzplfg this video explain is a clasic in the fandom for show newcommers

[PureRok]

You can absolutely start with this game. It begins with a whole "last time on..." introduction for the first Sophie game.

[Blazeymix]

Originally posted by Steve The Meme Thief:

I see it on sale, and I keep seeing various 'Atelier' games over the years. I know what an atelier is but as for the series? No clue

Certainly no clue where to start or what the gameplay is like.

Can anyone explain this to me as someone who has zero information about these games?

There are certainly a lot of these games on Steam now, something I was overjoyed about when they started releasing them on PC with the Mysterious series. Then they released DX versions of Arland and Dusk which was friggin great, but again I can see why this might seem overwhelming for someone new to the series in general.

So with Atelier I'll start with the basic principle of the series: Which is Alchemy. Every game focuses on this, even the Mana Khemia games which were sort of a midway point between the old Atelier games and the newer stuff.

Alchemy in these games involves crafting things, recipes out of materials. Every game follows a bit of a gameplay loop of Gathering, Fighting, and Alchemy. You need to gather materials to make things through alchemy, but you need to fight baddies along the way, some of which drop materials useful for alchemy. So the best way to be effective in battle is to make weapons, armor, healing items and offensive items(like bombs) with Alchemy.

It all comes together and progresses really well like that, it's very satisfying to play, but each game varies in how these loops are done, plus you have a major gameplay mechanic that was a staple of the older games that is not present in the newer; which is the Time Limit mechanic.

The Dusk series was where they started to really drop the time limit stuff altogether and allow plays to just enjoy the game at their own pace, but before that... every single thing you did, for the most part took time out of your day, and the days were limited. Typically you would have an assignment that would be due by a certain date, and if you completed it, yay! Next assignment, story progression, etc. If you didn't.. Bad ending, game over..? etc

This is the biggest difference between the modern games and the older ones. The newer games focus more on less restrictive gameplay and exploration. Whether you prefer how the gameplay loop works in having time limits or complete freedom is totally preference. Personally, Mana Khemia was my first game in the series, and I loved it. It had a unique school setting and it focused on neat ideas. It had time limits and days that would pass by, but it also gave plenty of days off where you could just do anything without having to worry about the time.

And the gameplay was super fun. Particularly the battle system, which seemed to evolve and get deeper just when you thought it was at its max potential. Then Rorona came out, and.. man, once I learned it was made by Gust, I was shocked, because what the hell happened? The combat system was so simplified and bare bones, the time limit was way more restrictive, the maps you explored were far more small and bite sized... The graphics were better sure, but everything else felt like it got dumbed down to make up for it.

Then Totori came out, and I was hooked. The time limit was still restrictive, but it improved on a lot with Rorona and the story and gameplay was a lot more fun. I played it until I beat it. Meruru.. I never knew existed. Same with Ayesha. Then Escha and Logy came out and boy.. I was blown away. It was Mana Khemia's battle system, they finally brought back the depth that had been lost since Rorona, and on top of that, the time limit was basically removed after so much progression into the game. It became my new favourite in the series. Shallie was just more of this, and it was amazing, except even more freedom from time.

Finally came Sophie, which did a lot of new things, introduced a lot of cute new characters, and was overall just a very good time. The sequel, Firis, decided to try something new by focusing on exploration and a big journey, so the bite sized maps suddenly became huge and open.

There were a few more games in between before Ryza, but by now maybe you can understand a little better about what this series means to a fan like me, and many others who've enjoyed the series over the years. We all started somewhere, with one of the games, and we typically become a fan and wait for the new game to come out.

Each new game, which typically comes out a year after the last, usually features a new cast of characters and tweaks the alchemy, battle system, and other gameplay choices to make things fresh and interesting, and most of the time, Gust improves on what needs it, and takes the best qualities of every installment into the next. Obviously what qualities are good could be considered subjective, but what is objective is that Gust attempts to improve on the formula every title to make it stand out from the rest.

Which is why I would recommend trying them all, really. Some might be better than others for your first go. I'd avoid the Arland series to start with because they're the weird.. starting point after Mana Khemia that sort of reset the whole series and started from scratch, so they are still great games, but they're more restrictive and difficult in some ways. If you're interested in Sophie 2, try Sophie 1 to start with, because this one as a sequel vastly improves on the original, and getting invested in the lore and characters is decently important just for the sake of understanding the gravity of the situation you're thrown in.

Ryza... is a weird one. Gust finally decided to give the series a much needed makeover and they definitely delivered, but they also tried to modernize the battle system and made a ton of QoL adjustments to things that were for the most part good. The problem is just that it's so heavily story focused that it lacks a bit of direction and purpose. At least for me. The nice thing about the time limit and heck, everything that came before Ryza was that you had a clear goal and strong gameplay loop that once the pacing started, it just didn't stop.

You'd start crafting, and crafting, and crafting, and then you'd go accept quests and gather and hunt monsters so you could go back to crafting. Every goal was clear, you just had to work to get to it, and when you did, it was satisfying, but then you'd get another goal and you just want to keep going. Ryza changes the pacing quite a lot, but who knows.. I need to play it more and see how I like it once and for all.

Anyway, hope this is more an answer you were looking for? I saw this question and thinking about how to sum up this series from my perspective seemed fun but daunting, and even then I don't think I did a good job at all. BUT if you like JRPGs, addictive gameplay loops, crafting, cute characters, light hearted stories and settings and incredible music, try these games out. Also, Totori was the first to allow you to change the BGMs of the town, atelier, battles, etc into anything from the older games in the series and every game since kept up with this tradition, and that's amazing.

There's so much more to say about the topic but I'll leave it at that. :)

[Hyperdimension]

I hate the time limit glad they removed it in newer games I bought Sophie 2 eBay can’t wait my second atelier game played nelke kinda hard an time pressure