Blue Reflection or Atelier Lydie & Suelle for JRPG newcomer?

[Sirogumi]

I want to pick my first JRPG. Both looks interesting and have similar turn based battle. Which one do you think is more beginner friendly?

[Razgriz]

Blue reflection is very easy, but is a little diferent from every other jrpg, Atelier Lydie and Suelle is the last game of the trilogy mysterius you can still play fine its a self content story , it start very easy and then is going to be more dificult, have a nice dificult curve, both pick are pretty solid, but Atelier lydie and suelle is more complete as a jrpg, Blue reflection its pretty short BUT if you really like magical girls is a no brain pick, but i recoment more Atelier like i said is more complete

[jclosed]

Wow - This is a tough one.

Personally I would say, try both. Although if you really want to get "into" the Atelier series it is best to start with the first game in a series. Atelier Lydie & Suelle is the fourth part of the so called "mysterious" series. This series contains the following Atelier games (chronological seen): Atelier Sophie, Atelier Sophie 2 (the most recent technically-wise), Atelier Firis and lastly, Atelier Lydie & Suelle. Of course you can start with Lydie & Suelle, but be prepared to meet some characters from previous games that are meaningful when you played the previous games, but have no impact at all when you have not.

Blue Reflection is a beautiful game, but it can feel a bit strange at times. There can be long pauses in between conversations, and some behavior feels "over-the-top". It's not very bad, but it can feel strange until you get used to it. Wen you get used to it, it's a game that's very comfortable for newcomers into the JRPG genre. If you like this game I can strongly recommend the successor, Blue Reflection: Second Light. But I suggest you only play that one after this first game.

If you really want to dive into the JRPG "world" I also can recommend the games from Nihom Falcom. There are two stand-alone games with real time battle that are really worth to play. The first is "Tokyo Xanadu eX+", and the second one is "Ys VIII - Lacrimosa of Dana", both games are typical JRPG's with a nice cast and good story. If you are more into turn-based battle, then I can recommend the "Trails Of Cold Steel" series. They are part of a far bigger series, but you can use it as a starting point. A fair warning: If you like this game you risk buying the whole series to get the whole story, just like I did and so many others (and I did not regret that one bit to be honest).

Anyway - To round it up. Blue Reflection is not a bad starting point for your JRPG discovery journey. But keep in mind that the game is not representative for the JRPG genre in general. To be honest, not a single game can do that. The JRPG genre has so many facets, that it's impossible to represent that in only one game. All the games I named are good starting points in that respect. Just take a look at all the games I named at their store page, and then go for what looks the best to you. You can't go wrong with either of them...

[WeissRook]

Originally posted by jclosed:

snip...
Anyway - To round it up. Blue Reflection is not a bad starting point for your JRPG discovery journey. But keep in mind that the game is not representative for the JRPG genre in general. To be honest, not a single game can do that. The JRPG genre has so many facets, that it's impossible to represent that in only one game. All the games I named are good starting points in that respect. Just take a look at all the games I named at their store page, and then go for what looks the best to you. You can't go wrong with either of them...

There is only one game series that I would say is representative, as a whole, of the JRPG genre, and that's the Dragon Quest series, specifically the mainline numbered games. So, for example, DQ XI is pretty much an epitome of a modern JRPG game.

The rest of your comment, I generally agree with.

[bbfloyd]

What got me back into turn based and into JRPG was a random impulse buy during a Steam sale: Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Its a fun game, good story, with some tactical elements and combat variety. It is family friendly G-rated without fan service, panty shots, or costume DLC. Its usually slightly less pricey than the GUST games too.

Ditto, if you pick an Atelier over Blue Reflection, I'll also suggest Sophie to start.
The combat systems are very comparable in difficulty and complexity.
Both have fair story lines; but Sophie's is better IMHO.
Sophie's crafting system is an amazing work by itself and the definition of easy learn, hard to master. Blue Reflection's is pretty simplistic. You play Blue Reflection for the story and costumes; you play Atelier for the crafting, and get a good story and fair combat as a bonus.

If you are actually looking for cute anime girls with a good mix of "story" and "game" this is a great title; do get the DLC costumes. I'll also suggest you go have pudding with Nep Nep in Hyperdimension Neptunia for way cheaper than anything Gust - Koei Tecmo will sell you.

[ciero9]

Originally posted by bbfloyd:

If you are actually looking for cute anime girls with a good mix of "story" and "game" this is a great title; do get the DLC costumes. I'll also suggest you go have pudding with Nep Nep in Hyperdimension Neptunia for way cheaper than anything Gust - Koei Tecmo will sell you.

I'd have to agree with this point here. I started my JRPG experience with Hyperdimension Neptunia and have since bought eight games from that universe.

[Killermoose69]

Blue Reflection for sure. Atelier Lydie & Suelle, there are way too many Atelier games, its just too much for a newcomer to catch up imo.