Help me choose... this or the Atelier series?

[RavenHeresy]

I'm trying to decide which game to jump into next and I've decided to go for a JRPG.

I'm hesitating between this and Atelier (I own the Ryza one).

I have not played any game in either series, but I do enjoy the genre.

Anyone played both? Pros & Cons? Advices?

Cheers.

-R

[Gin-chan]

Play this if you like a ton of story and worldbuilding, better characters, plus a better combat system . It also has a ton of likable characters including appearances from previous entries in the series and by cold steel 4 you practically HAVE to play trails in the sky 1/2/3 and trails from zero/azure in order to get every references and recognize every character that makes an appearance and why they were important enough to show up . so it is a pretty significant time investment. Oh and some of the cutscenes in these game can take up to half an hour long or more depending on your reading speed and theres a lot of dialogues.

Play atelier if you want a more relaxing jrpg where the story usually takes a backseat to slice of life segments of the characters ( seriously in some of the atelier games the final boss literally just pops out of nowhere just so you have a final boss to fight in the story) , a pretty comfy and fun crafting system and pretty standard good old turn based combat where your items and equipments matter a LOT more than your character levels meaning you'll be spending a ton of time on the crafting screen (which is a good thing if you like crafting).

Honestly both are pretty great series. Just depends on what you want from your jrpgs .

[RavenHeresy]

Thanks, that's actually very helpful. Not sure I'm in the mind space for walls of text at the moment, and I do like crafting. So I think I might give Atelier a swing, keep my options open after a single game. Based on what you tell me, knowing how I stick, I'm very afraid that once I start trails, I'll be in for 10 games worth... =D

[Barefoot]

depends on how much you like your buns XD

Atelier 5/10

cold steel cold steel games 9/10

sorry had to throw a joke at it

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by RavenHeresy:

Thanks, that's actually very helpful. Not sure I'm in the mind space for walls of text at the moment, and I do like crafting. So I think I might give Atelier a swing, keep my options open after a single game. Based on what you tell me, knowing how I stick, I'm very afraid that once I start trails, I'll be in for 10 games worth... =D

Well, if and when you do finish, just keep this series in mind, it's also a keeper.

And the production values are very high.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSfjo_QbOvU
This is from 2 but 1 and 2 form one arc of a story. 3 and 4 is another arc.

[oxybeles]

Play both when you get the opportunity, but start with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the complete story...

[Gin-chan]

Originally posted by RavenHeresy:

Thanks, that's actually very helpful. Not sure I'm in the mind space for walls of text at the moment, and I do like crafting. So I think I might give Atelier a swing, keep my options open after a single game. Based on what you tell me, knowing how I stick, I'm very afraid that once I start trails, I'll be in for 10 games worth... =D

Yeah glad to be of help :D . And yeah the trails series will probably do that to you . especially not helping that they like to end their games with cliffhangers lol . Oh and keep in mind since you mentioned Ryza in the OP i forgot to say that Ryza's battle system is more similar to ff7 rather than true turn based . They kinda decided to change it up a bit starting from Ryza. It also has more of a story than usual atelier games but still not all that much comparatively to a trails game or other jrpgs so still pretty relaxing overall XD . No idea if it will stick until after the Ryza games though as they tend to change things up a bit here and there with each trilogy/series entry in the atelier franchise.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by oxybeles:

Play both when you get the opportunity, but start with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the complete story...

Going to be painful to start from there, CS1 is a decent place to generate interest first before deciding to slog through a 300 hour series. Interest makes a grindy chore go by faster.