Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny (PS2)

Atelier Iris was original, so it is no bad thing that a sequel was released that lives up to its predecessor. Atelier Iris opens with Viese, a qualified alchemist and Felt, an idealistic man who live in Eden, a land where men and mana live happily together. Until-pieces of Eden start collapsing away, Felt obtains a magical sword, (The Azure Azoth) and is transported to another world. WOAH-what an intro! It is a million times better than its originals!
The graphics are unchanged. The characters are still original and cute with one annoyance, a lot of them are exactly the same as the originals, especially the mana-which could be interepeted as lazy, or as a tribute to the original. They are very cartoony, but worlds are beautiful and detailed-except for desert regions, but there are some incredibly stunning forests, towns and cities, and castles to explore so you should be happy.
The gameplay is virtually the same, the game is a turn based RPG-which means you can choose from a number of options, attack, run, defend, special attacks etc, except because there is a new action cost battle system, you need to become conscious of what attack to use, and when in order to get the most from your characters. However, the ability to obtain mana from any where is still there, from rocks, from baskets, from trees etc yet this is dramatically reduced from the first. You can still synthesise items, but again, this is done through books, as opposed to trial and error so a massive chunk of the game is missing which will dissapoint fans. However, the game now has actual in game manga cut scenes which is a bonus for those who love that sort of thing.
The soundtrack is excellent, (and this comes with the bonus soundtrack!) AND the voice acting is excellent too, plus the game is redeemed through a trully excellent story line. Personally for me, this is another great outing for Atelier Iris and a dream for any fan of RPGs or the series! However, avid loathers of this genre should as always, stay away because you are not going to love the cutesy, massive storyline of such a game-but please for those who like this, GET IT NOW!

In the year 2004 Gust released Atelier Iris : Eternal Mana for the Ps2. This game was the first of the Atelier Iris series to have been released in America despite the series long run and popularity in Japan. Its arrival in America and good response from both the costumer and critics gathered enough funds for Gust to release it in Europe and to do the same for Atelier Iris 2 : The Azoth of Destiny (and later Atelier Iris 3 : Grand Phantasm)

And for that I'm grateful. You see, the Atelier Iris series is without a doubt extremely enjoyable RPG experience. From voice acting to graphics the series are simply wonderful. The voice acting is top notch, the graphics are wonderful (even in 2d), the story is good. Now add in a great cast and an exceptionally well crafted alchemy system and you might have gotten a taste of what Atelier Iris really is. And I can't stress enough how great the cast really is, as anyone who has ever played a RPG knows that a good cast is important for the overall quality of the game and Atelier Iris 2 doesn't let down (some of the characters in this game are simply way to great (not to mention overly-cute) to express with words).

Be warned though, if you tend to like the extremely ultra-graphics based RPGs (an obvious example FF) you might be turned off by the extreme cuteness of this game (and the series for that matter) but you see, that's one of the great aspects of the series.

The story (as you've most likely know) follows the chilled-out, caring, apprentice alchemist Felt and the fully-fletched, worried alchemist Viese as one day parts of their homeland (a land up in the sky,Eden) disappears. Felt picks up a sword (the Azure Azoth) which appearantly has been stuck and immoveable for centuries at the same place and travels with it to try and find out what's happening.

Sounds simple enough right ? But here's where the story shines. Felt goes to try and find out whats happened but Viese is left behind ! So you actually experience the story from both sides. One is the adventure-filled arcs with Felt, the other is with Viese where she is stuck at home. This reminds me of, for example, when a man goes to war and the women is at home waiting, worrying. But don't worry, both of them have a ring simply called the Share ring which allows them to communicate via letters and/or use items and money which they both gather.

For example, if you get stuck at a door which is locked, requiring a key called "The key of Hermes" you simply find the recipe for it and have Viese create it !

And another thing worth mentioning is that even though Viese is stuck at home, she isn't a character whom you simply use for her alchemic skills. She has a purpose and story arcs of her own to experience so when the player switches characters it won't dull down or become boring.

Overall, this game is great. The atmosphere is cute and enjoyable (nothing too dramatic here), the characters are awesome. The music is actually great, really reminds you of the old style rpgs. Oh and one thing, you have the option to play the game with either English and Japanese voice-acting and that's always a huge plus (added that you can actually change at any given time).

Definitely an RPG everyone should experience. So, go now and support Gust !

Having loved Atelier Iris I couldn't wait to play this game. Apart from the story line and the characters it is very similar to the first, but as I have often played a part 2 game because I loved part 1 and been very disappointed because everything I liked in part 1 has been over-tweaked or even dropped completely, this was fine by me. What I particularly liked is that having reached what I thought was the end baddie (I never look at walkthroughs so have no idea how many chapters there are to play) I was delighted to discover that having killed it there was still a fair amount of game play left. As with the first game I found the very end boss quite easy to beat, in fact I managed it first time, but again I like the fact that I could actually finish the game instead of having to abandon it at the last fence because I cannot beat the boss. As with a lot of games of this genre there is a stadium where you can compete against various villains to build up experience. Make sure you compete and clear all rounds because when you finish the game after all the credits have played out you can then save 'bonus material' and this means you can go back into a previously saved game and there are many more rounds to play in the stadium. You do not have to have played Atelier Iris to enjoy this game, but if you haven't played it then definitely buy them both!