Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2)

...you discover that rather than Atelier Iris's previous real time fights, we now have a turn-based battle. This may seem like a bit of a departure for the series, but it does take some of the randomness out of proceedings, enabling the more thoughtful player to take their time and plan a thought through attack strategy. Within this system the character's skills and equipment also have an effect that must be considered and put to careful use if you ...
...powers.

Visually, Atelier Iris delivers the same ensemble of hand drawn backdrops and two dimensional bitmap characters for which the series became famous. Much like we have seen in the ever popular Monkey Island, this gives the game a distinctive style, although one that is not as hard hitting as some of the more impressive three dimensional adventure role play games on the market. These scenes have obviously had an enormous amount ... more

The game is structured around a series of missions undertaken for the guild. Each time you need a new quest you can simply sign up at the guild. These are initially of the 'fetch and carry' type activities, slightly laborious but very useful for developing your trusty brigade. Once you have performed enough of these quests, you can start to try your hand at the more meaty tasks in the guild. Some of these require you to search out the local landscape. Particular areas or 'alterworlds' only allow you a certain amount of time in them before you are transported back to town. This gives your encounters with the forests and dungeons a little more weight as you are against the clock as well as the various enemies you come across. This is well executed and really adds to the whole experience and connects the player with both the world and their task.

When you get to the point of encountering an enemy you discover that rather than Atelier Iris's previous real time fights, we now have a turn-based battle. This may seem like a bit of a departure for the series, but it does take some of the randomness out of proceedings, enabling the more thoughtful player to take their time and plan a thought through attack strategy. Within this system the character's skills and equipment also have an effect that must be considered and put to careful use if you are to come away victorious. This style of battle has been seen many times before and probably better implemented elsewhere, it is testament to the difficulty of delivering anything new or interesting in the genre. It is probably telling that more often than not you will simply do your best to avoid these fights and move on with the game. That said, once you unlock some of the book's powers, the battles take on a new meaning as you are able to posses and command a variety of characters through the old tome's mysterious powers.

Visually, Atelier Iris delivers the same ensemble of hand drawn backdrops and two dimensional bitmap characters for which the series became famous. Much like we have seen in the ever popular Monkey Island, this gives the game a distinctive style, although one that is not as hard hitting as some of the more impressive three dimensional adventure role play games on the market. These scenes have obviously had an enormous amount of time and love spent on them, and the hand drawn quality does help evoke something of the old style pen and paper RPG experience that they are aiming for. Additionally, these backdrops have some impressive spot effects, such as the entrance and completion of various end level monsters. Battles themselves are also punctuated with a number of different effects that makes them some of a high water mark visually for the game.

The music and sound is on a par with the graphics, which if we are honest is not the biggest complement in the world. That said there are some nice tunes to move things along and the in game effects are pretty well considered. The voice work itself could have had more gravitas to it, but the lighter, more quirky tones suit the writing style pretty well. 

...less