Atelier Shallie

Shallie is on sale on PSN this week. Is it decent? Should I play the other Atelier games first/instead? I love JRPGs, I hate time restrictions, and Shallie seems to have none.

Shally is probably the weakest of the PS3/4 ateliers.
It's decent the crafting system is still there, but the story and gameplay make a few questionable choices.
It's worth about 10-15$ IMO, but I'm saying this as a fan of the series trying to compensate for you not knowing if you like it.

It's not a typical JRPG though, basically levels don't do shit and what's more important is making better gear/items.

Atelier games are a cancer feeding off the JRPG carcass

I've heard that the game has some notable issues, to the point the Plus version in Japan apparently adds a fair bit more to the story to try to wrap things up better, or something. Haven't heard anything about the Plus version coming west yet, but considering that we've gotten all the other Plus versions of the PS3 entires that have them, I'm guessing it's only a matter of time.

Also, while I haven't played the series just yet, I assume that the fact that time limits have been going away lately might be considered a source of annoyance as that's been an aspect of a fair number of the prior entries (though I hear the Iris games are more standard JRPGs and lack them; probably why they were the first to be brought west) and part of what has set the series apart from a lot of other JRPG franchises.

Maybe take that with a grain of salt though, as again, it's a series I still need to give a go. I do know that Shallie is the end of the Dusk trilogy though (unless Sophie continued it; I hear that Logy is a character in there, but I'm not sure if it's actually same world or just him getting a cameo role), so maybe playing Ayesha and E&L first might be more ideal?


Atelier's been around since the PS1 days to my knowledge. Not as if they're a particularly new IP.

rerelease of the trilogies in VITA and PS4 when?
PC port when?

This is the first time they've released an Atelier on Vita in the west before the Plus version comes out, but I'm not going to play it because I haven't finished the Dusk trilogy yet and can't because Shallie isn't on the Vita yet.

Also Ayehsa>Totori>Everyone else.

Is Gust even all that keen on PC anymore (though I suppose maybe TK is the one calling the shots these days, so maybe the question is more if TK all that PC friendly)? I mean, to my knowledge they used to do PC ports with some of the older entries, but I think that stopped with the PS2 or something. I suppose the PS2 entries can at least be emulated, though the only ones in English from that time are the Iris trilogy and MK duology, and those are a bit different from the rest of the main series from what I'm aware. There is a fan translation effort for a PS2 dual pack of two of the older games, but to my knowledge it's just being translated into French now rather than English.

I have to wonder if Sophie will even see a Plus version since it was released on the PS3, PS4, and Vita in Japan as is. Just strikes me that it would be weird to see an improved version of the game released for the same system it was originally on, though I suppose that didn't stop Rorona Plus.

Well Rorona+ was basically a complete remake from the ground up.
But they said they have no plans for a plus version of Sophie

Hey, thanks for the reminder.

I've been playing atelier sophie. fucking great jrpg. Its addictive for the same reasons monster hunter is.

except instead of good action combat, it has good turn based rpg combat. and it has great voice acting. nepgear voices sophie, and kaori miyazono voices monika.

oh that's who monika was.
That was bugging me for the past bit.

Actually they are one of the only decent JRPG that are left.
I'm never gonna buy a Atelier game on release though, I hate playing the inferior version of a game so I'll just wait for the plus version.
There will always be plus versions sooner or later

what would be a good starting point for getting into this series?

Start with Rorona plus and work your way through the arland series.

There's a number of different iterations, at least as far as the English ones go. Rorona (you want the Plus version, not the vanilla one) starts the Arland chronology, though to my knowledge it has some post game content that spoils events in the later Arland games. Ayesha is the start of the Dusk trilogy.

If you have an interest in playing some of the less "atelier" style ones, the PS2 saw the Iris trilogy (which to my knowledge handle more along the lines of a standard JRPG; I don't see them brought up much, but I've heard good things about The Azoth of Destiny), as well as the alchemy school focused Mana Khemia games (I've also heard pretty decent thing about them, slight NISA induced bugginess aside). There's also a DS spinoff we got featuring resort management called Atelier Annie.

Nothing earlier than the PS2 games is in English. On that note, as mentioned earlier, I haven't played them myself yet, so I'm just going off of what I've heard. Maybe take it with a grain of salt.

I can into moon, but I can't into consoles so only emulation for me. Guess I won't be playing most of these games until much later

Liked it, but removing the time limit was a mistake

If you have a PSP, I think some of the PS1 and PS2 ones saw PSP ports, if that might make them easier to get to playing. The only one the west saw was a port of Mana Khemia, which to my knowledge ranged from a subpar port (the PSN digital release) to really bad (the PSP physical UMD), mainly due to the loading. Not sure if the Japanese version was the same or not; wouldn't surprise me if NISA somehow caused it.

If they run on PPSSPP then I'm gold

The problem with the PS2 ones is they're just JRPGs with a very gimped crafting system compared to others in the series.


ye they run on PPSSPP

It looks like Judie and Viorate saw PSP ports. Might be worth him playing if those are main series style?

if you know moon those are more in line.

Don't you mean anything compileshit shits out?

The shmup bros left to form MileStone (RIP)

What kind of tasteless moron wants to play a modern JRPG?

Might as well play cellphone games.

compile shouldn't have give away puyo puyo rights

so we could play dogoo dogoo

they didn't even merge with anything and they still went to shit after their name changed

is there any dev studio that didn't go to shit entirely after a merger?
squeenix doesn't count

CyberConnect2?

I don't know what a merge is

It's great fun provided you play it in Japanese.

I came a few times.

Nah Atelier has been around a long time and they're solid.

Trash like Pokémon or Neptunia is the real cancer.

Meaning to ask—is Sophie cross-save capable?

I felt like it was really weak. Bought it on release and expected to love it just as much as E&L (the only previous game in the series I had played), but it just never clicked. Made it to about the halfway point in Lotte's story and just dropped it for no particular reason, though the lackluster story, forgettable music and boring characters sans Wilbell and Lotte definitely contributed to that decision. I've actually recently gone back to Atelier and am filling in the gaps I missed by starting with the Arland trilogy and that's only dropped my opinion of Shallie even further after experiencing decent story and characters like Totori and top-tier presentation like Meruru /E&L. The lack of time limit combined with a handful of other minor gripes all piece together to make it feel like a really rushed and mediocre game, not a continued labor of love that's willing to try new things (instead of removing staple features) like past entries. Between my experience with Shallie and a brief look at Sophie, I think Gust is really headed in the wrong direction and it's sad for how much fun I'm having with the older titles right now.