Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX

Oh my god. I usually would not recommend the Atelier games because their translation isn't particularly good, but this is a whole new level of bad. I am utterly flabbergasted by how awful the localization is. I genuinely cannot recommend this at all. It's on par with the bad localization of the Arland series where a character's name was rewritten into being an STD joke and a young boy's (Gino) character being altered by making him say utterly gross things that he's never said. Genuinely, what kind of a tribal princess - one that is polite, soft-spoken, and formal - uses the word "pissed" to describe someone being very upset? It's extremely infuriating that a character driven game has to receive this treatment. Thoroughly disappointing.

Great conclusion to the Dusk trilogy, with that said probably my least favorite. The alchemy is only ok and its big gimmick doesn't really shine until the end game. With that said, the combat is pretty fun. It reminds me a bit of FFX, with the switching of characters. I also liked the story and loved the characters. It helps that I love the protags from the previous games and they play a big part in this game. The main characters are likable in this game as well. There is also some replayablity, because the 2 protagonists have slightly different stories. If you played Ayesha or Escha and Logy, you will at least like this one (and probably love it).

Probably my least favorite of the PS3 era games. While it was an interesting conclusion to the arc (I would like a 4th game, like we got with Lulua), this game was way too easy. I played on the difficulty above normal that's meant for veterans, and the only time I had to put any thought into combat was during a few boss fights. This is mostly because your charge gauge fills after one or two attacks which makes you melt enemies you otherwise were chipping damage off of. This includes bosses. If the gauge always started at 0 it wouldn't be an issue. The unfun difficulty also applies to alchemy. Once you unlock a few synthesis features, you almost never have to think about what you're doing. While it could be a pain, I actually like that in past titles you sometimes had to synthesis custom items to make more custom items to make the right item or weapon you needed. Unless you are going for the extra bosses that are harder than the final boss, you'll never need to do this. I'm also not a fan of a single play through being as long as it is when to get the true ending you have to play both characters. Granted, the New Game + feature makes the second play through more brief, but it's s…

人设最好看的炼金工房 不过打头目突然出现gameover实在是有点震撼了，掉了半小时的存档 二度震撼：过沙漠自动撞35000血的boss没有gameover，再炼半小时装备终于打过了，打算回家直接再撞出来一个180000血的boss，还带gameover，未免有点整蛊了

While the story is on the weaker side relative to all the other atelier games, its Trait (or "property") mechanics give more depth to the alchemy process of optimizing final products. Instead of the RNG gambling fest that ended up sticking in the main series, in Shallie most traits are found within synthesis products, which never change, thus, the challenge is to figure out how in the alchemy tree you will manage to use Sinth product 1 and use it as material to inherit into sinth product 2 and so on, also you can decompose weapons and armor, using them as materials for the next tier, meaning that your traits get always carried over when upgrading, so you can synthethise away without worrying about your efforts being obsolete in the long run. ps. no time limit FTW

I've played the Mysterious Trilogy, the Ryza Trilogy, and the other two games in the Dusk Trilogy. Shallotte is my favorite protagonist by FAR. She is such a fun character and I love her dearly. Sarah Williams portrayal of her in the English dub is fantastic as well. Makes me so sad that Gust stopped doing English Dubs for the series... anyway, great game!! :D