I never played Atelier games. Are they any good? And which should I play on PS3?

I never played Atelier games. Are they any good? And which should I play on PS3?

I dunno, go ask fucking Vitagen.
I tried Rorona plus and just didn't like it. It's not for me, maybe you'll enjoy it more.

It depends on what you're looking for in a JRPG.

Ateliers (in general) are low-stress, low-excitement games. You spend your time crafting items, the main point of the games. The satisfaction comes from watching the girl develop from a complete newb at alchemy to a master of her craft. The games are generally bright and cheerful (except the Dusk Ateliers which have a more melancholic mood to it), so it's a great pick-me-up if you also want to watch cute girls do cute things.

>PS3
Probably the Arland trilogy (Atelier games come in trilogies): Rorona, Totori and Meruru.
Or the Dusk trilogy: Ayesha, Escha and Logy, and Shallie.

Should I play them in order or there's "best" game or something?

Personally I felt that Arland series was a little primitive, so start with the Dusk series, I guess. That means Ayesha, then Echa and Logy, then Shallie.

Sophie is the newest one right? That's a new trilogy?

You'll definitely get more out of them if you play them in order. As such you would want to start with Rorona Plus or Ayesha as they are each the beginning of their respective trilogies. I prefer Rorona and the Arland trilogy more based on characters and story.

Yes, Sophie is the first in the newest trilogy. Firis, the sequel, comes out in Japan this November.

The usual expectation is that Gust will make one new Atelier game per year.

Correct but it's only available in English only on PS4 or Vita, PS3 version is Japanese only.

I'm not OP, I own a Vita. Is it good for newbies?

Yes

Yes, Sophie is one of the easiest Ateliers I've played so far. Even the Despair difficulty was pretty easy.

But don't let that easy statement fool you, the alchemy system in Sophie was fucking fun. You can easily spend hours trying to find the right ingredients to synthesize an item with perfect traits.

I'm not concerned with difficulty that much, I just want to know what will introduce me to the mechanics best.

Mechanics vary from game to game.

Arland series have the hardest and the most complex alchemy, Sophie is pretty complex, fun and mini-game-ish, Ayesha is casual but still pretty good, Shallie and Escha is casual and plain boring.

Atelier is good and super comfy. I think PS3 has some kind of compilation.
Future is on PS4 now though.

>I just want to know what will introduce me to the mechanics best.
The alchemy system varies between each game.
The battle system varies too.

No, they are garbage. Play Atelier Sophie on the PS4 or Vita.

You're garbage.

Only play Rorona Plus on the ps3.

The others were done by NISA and as a result are shitty.

Get the PS2 one instead user.

>tfw best Atelier doesn't even have Atelier in its name

TO THE FLAY CAVE!

You're a stupid redditor that needs artificial bounds like shitty time limits to justify your "difficulty" because you cannot pace yourself normally, or the concept of grinding (in a JRPG) is foreign to you. Every Atelier before Sophie was stupid and frustrating that implemented time limits that achieved nothing. If you want to play a difficult JRPG, go play the last remnant, which is difficult for good reasons. You dont play Atelier and Neptunia for a challenging, mind-wrenching game.

Now, let me play the doubles advocate, NISA translation is good compared to godawful trash in-house translation for Shallie, for example.

People mostly shit on NISA's work because of STD, but the rest of dialogue is done fairly well.

>that one ending where that alien party member takes MC as its queen

Who the fuck are you to tell me what I should play Atelier games for, you casual fuck?
Sick of you millenial retards who can't handle even the slightest stress.
Press X to win degenerate.

>Sick of you millenial retards who can't handle even the slightest stress.
>Atelier ISN'T casual trash

It's a nice change to trying to slay god or the devil or some metaphysical entity with a band of hardened warriors.
Instead I'm in the position of a girl with a dream and trying to get by in life.

That scene in Sophie where she casually tells her friends how lonely she was when her grandma passed away, how happy she was when she met Plachta, how terrified she was that the experiment to move Plachta's soul to the doll might go wrong and lose her only family again forever made my tear up.

>this incoherent, meme-ridden post
>>>/rules/global/2

>waaaaah waaaaaah time limit is too much for me!
>but I'm totes super hardcore gamer, people!
>no, I won't show you my psn profile, my dog ate it!

Your hot pockets are ready, reddit.

>escha and logy
>frustrating

is this yuri

There are endings for every taste. In Arland, at least.

Rorona plus is easily the best one to start with
or Kamidori

>Kamidori
Hahaha

But seriously, though, it was pretty damn good for a porn RPG.

Arland's a pretty friendly place to start. Rorona (Plus, not vanilla, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) in particular eases the player into the alchemy mechanic with the bingo card system where you can get passable equipment just for doing tasks. It admittedly builds some bad habits but you can just approach alchemy at a more relaxed pace if you don't have to worry about crafting good equipment, at least on the first playthrough anyways. It's hard to outright say "start with Rorona" but it is more appealing if you've never played an Atelier game than if you have played one already, plus it's the first in the trilogy. Totori takes the training wheels off and gives you a handful of years to accomplish tasks and damn near anything you want, you gotta make it yourself. Unfortunately, at this point its menus and systems are the most archaic in the trilogy which diminishes some of its appeal. Then there's Meruru which I think combines Rorona and Totori's approach with a dash of land development into something quite balanced and enjoyable. It's my favorite of the trilogy from a mechanics perspective.

>Press X to win degenerate.
That's pretty good.

>Every Atelier before Sophie was stupid and frustrating that implemented time limits that achieved nothing.

I like the time limits in Atelier games. They actively discourage grinding and keep you squarely on the clock so your every action matters. Sounds good to me.

Optional bosses in Sophie actually take a fair bit of planning and a lot of perfect item synthing to defeat.

Mana Khelmia Fuck Yeah.
Japanese Harry Potter if Harry Potter was decent.

Iris was the only one worth a damn, the other ones made me feel like >wtf am I playing this?

No, yurifags just have their goggles permanently embedded in their heads