Mana Khemia
 

Anyone else played this? It's a spectacular game. I'm suddenly very tempted to play the Atelier Iris games.

Really nice soundtrack, and it was nice that they had so many battle themes. It never got monotonous. The story Bosses often had personalised music.

I really liked the battle system. It reminded me of Grandia. In the beginning, it seems like a normal turn based system, but as the game unfolds, more and more options are added that allow you to seriously alter the flow of battle. If you're clever about it, there are ways to get your whole party attacking at full strength multiple times with 0 interference from the enemy. Of course, these options are all available to your opponents as well. All in all, it's a complex battle system with a lot of options, but really easy to use. I enjoyed it a lot.

The characters were great. I'm in love with Nikki, and I find myself relating to Flay very easily (which is a bit disturbing).

Chapter 11 really needed a "kill the bitch" option. Because that's what I would have fucking done.

Never heard of this. What system? I just finished P3FES and on SMT:N now, so I might look into this one once I'm done with that.

PS2. It's by NIS and Gust.

It's getting a PSP port with extra content soon as well but who knows if that'll be localised.

I got that, but got bored in seconds. My ps2 is gathering dust because my DS and MMOs eat all my free time.

I dislike the ones that turn it more into a mission-based game. Of the alchemy-based games they have my favorites have been Atelier Iris 2 (phenomenal!) and Ar Tonelico, though that is also something of a dating sim game at the same time......unfortunate

Yeah.... that sounds crappy.... I mean, what kind of nancy likes dating sims? They suck and I hate them....

*pauses Tokimeki Memorial and goes out to buy Ar Tonelico*

I didn't mind how they broke things up in this so much, because the "missions" existed alongside the plot, not as the plot. The game just happens to encompass the day-to-day (well, week to week, technically) life of the characters, which made the most sense for the story it was telling.

So... by encompassing the daily/weekly lives of the characters, is that like... P3 FES where you go through days, or does it simply go like a standard RPG where the events happen at more or less your own pace?

Sort of like P3, except in weeks instead of days, and a bit more linear.

Atlier Iris 3 has the game broken up into missions. Basically all the town NPCs get their development in the side missions with some main character development, but most of the main character development comes from the end of chapter sections were you fight a boss.