A sea of Atelier games

[Arhat]

Which Atelier series/game is considered the very best? Which is considered the magnum opus? i.e. the FFVII of Atelier games

[General Plastro]

Originally posted by Arhat:

Which Atelier series/game is considered the very best? Which is considered the magnum opus? i.e. the FFVII of Atelier games

You should pick a trilogy/series and go from the first game onwards. I would sugest either the Mysterious Trilogy (Sophie, Firis, Lydie & Suelle and later Sophie 2) or Ryza's trilogy.

They are the most beginner friendly in terms of difficulty.

If you want the most cool story tho, it comes down to preference, Dusk Trilogy is amazing for the more darker tones to the story, but if you want much more character to character moments, i feel Arland trilogy might be the best.

[Legendary Mr. Tiddles]

Hey, thanks for giving so many people so many points!

I realize my advice wasn't super detailed but I'm sure if we have even slightly similar tastes you'll enjoy your new game. Good luck, have fun!

I'll add a little "good show" to those who validated me when I wasn't feeling chatty.

[Glory of the Snow]

imo sophie 2 and ryza 3. both has the best gameplay, better QoL, etc

[Ryulightorb]

Arland Series is one of the best
Sophie is good also can't speak for any Ryza game past the first that one was mediocre af tho so not that one.

The dusk series is kinda cool also.

[LuckyToShoot]

I am sure Ryza is the people's favorite cause thicc thighs saves lives, but personal favorite as individual game I think I enjoyed Lydie and Suelle most.

[Sage Pirotess]

Nelke.... the true atelier, all others are servents to her.

[Saiha]

start from arland trilogy
just barely missing the deadlines, getting game over and starting over from day 1 are what defined atelier series for me, lol

[Algester]

I suggest Arland Trilogy just dont get the Steam version of these games its done in a very shoddy manner, after that either go Mysterious (Atelier Sophie to Lydie and Sullie), then Dusk (Ayesha to Shallie) or Secret (Ryza)

[spike86]

I don't know op, but I think most answers actually assume people have an exceeding amount of time to play games, but reality is not always like that.

I think the best advice would be to select for yourself 3-5 ateliers games based on cover art and protagonist alone, then head to youtube and check atelier X hard boss fight, atelier X synthesis, atelier X let's play no commentary (eventually add Japanese dub if like me can't stand English voices for old titles)

then go straight for the one you loved from what you saw.
and play that.
if you stumble on the third or second of the serie, chance are that you'll miss some reference and a-ah moments, BUT IT'S NOT NEARLY as bad as people make it.
for instance I've played atelier lulua without playing the rest of arland.
I really enjoyed it ANYWAY, and lulua is the adopted daughter of the teenage girl from the first atelier in the arland serie, rorona.

did I miss the big wow moment when I saw rorona grown up? of course.
did it stopped me from enjoying the game? hell no, it was great as it was.

this is NOT legend of heroes trail into something. nope.

every entry is build to be standalone, and enhanced in case you played the previous from the same serie.
but still they are standalone.

ryza 2 and sophie 2 both have movies or text to explain the story so far (and they also are good ones because they don't spoil way too much, so you'll have the ability to go back if you want in the future)

many many people started with lydie and suelle, and that's the third one in the mysterious, still enjoyed it anyway (it was the first on switch, so obviously many switch only users never got chance to play the prequels)

so go with gut feelings and get what you like, then you'll decide for yourself if this series are for you and whether to start from scratch or try something else.

unless you're into old games graphics (although they aged pretty well) and lack of modern QoL, avoid arland and dusk, for now.
they are great, especially the dusk serie, but it may be a turn off for you.

finally you can just wait for yumia, it will be the biggest budget atelier game for now, and it will feature (from what I gathered) a vast open world and very dynamic action combat.

if you don't like either, then avoid ryza's secret serie and yumia, sticking to the mysterious series, which is instance world (except for firis) and turn based. or even older entries for that matter.

hope it helps, play what you want and don't listen to the 'start from the first' guys, or you'll never experience the game you wanted at the beginning, trust me

[AI Sin || SinNoAria]

You want us to choose? Ar Tonelico isn't part of the series, technically but I liked Ar Tonelico 1 for the story and 2 for the gameplay. NoSurge series had some of my favorite mechanics.

Atelier Iris is probably one of my favorite ones, but the dusk series had the Shallies. Both of these series can get pretty dark compared to the rest. Unfortunately, one of the jokes doesn't work properly outside of Japan. A15 (Atelier 15) is called Escha to Logy in Japanese. From my personal experience, the second game of each sub-series tends to be the most experimental in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Note: At least in the earlier games, you might see something like "Project A6". That tells you which Atelier game it is in creation order, but some games (Lulua, Sophie 2) were added later and may not match the normal numbering.

I think most of the details about pros and cons of each have already been outlined.

Mana Khemia is one of my favorites because it is one of the few Atelier games that let you play Pamela Ibis, my favorite character, and I especially like her in Mana Khemia.

I think Atelier Firis is basically considered the worst one by most. Ironic since I loved the first and third of that sub-series.

I don't like playing Arland series in NA version because the translation does something I really can't appreciate and found inappropriate.

Personally, I would be a little cautious about what you start with because the QoL in some of the games can make the older games feel more tedious if you get used to those QoL stuff.

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by AI Sin || SinNoAria:

You want us to choose? Ar Tonelico isn't part of the series, technically but I liked Ar Tonelico 1 for the story and 2 for the gameplay. NoSurge series had some of my favorite mechanics.

Atelier Iris is probably one of my favorite ones, but the dusk series had the Shallies. Both of these series can get pretty dark compared to the rest. Unfortunately, one of the jokes doesn't work properly outside of Japan. A15 (Atelier 15) is called Escha to Logy in Japanese. From my personal experience, the second game of each sub-series tends to be the most experimental in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Note: At least in the earlier games, you might see something like "Project A6". That tells you which Atelier game it is in creation order, but some games (Lulua, Sophie 2) were added later and may not match the normal numbering.

I think most of the details about pros and cons of each have already been outlined.

Mana Khemia is one of my favorites because it is one of the few Atelier games that let you play Pamela Ibis, my favorite character, and I especially like her in Mana Khemia.

I think Atelier Firis is basically considered the worst one by most. Ironic since I loved the first and third of that sub-series.

I don't like playing Arland series in NA version because the translation does something I really can't appreciate and found inappropriate.

Personally, I would be a little cautious about what you start with because the QoL in some of the games can make the older games feel more tedious if you get used to those QoL stuff.

Yet you dont own ar norsurge or ceil norsurge on steam. Good games though.

[Chino™]

Atelier Sophie/Atelier Sophie 2
they are the best game in the entire saga
specially Atelier Sophie 1 if you've never played an Atelier game