Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky has plenty of new features to show off, such as the dual protagonist combo “Double Down” and a handsome alchemist swordsman with a nifty glove. Atelier developers Gust show off their latest features in a new 46-minute gameplay feature video. Here’s a look at some of the highlights:
The video starts out with Gust showing a little bit of the game and how it has atmospheric similarities to Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk, with more details thanks to the use of the Dynasty Warriors engine. The shortcut feature from the previous titles of the series is still available to quickly find your way around different places. They also say that they’ve increased the number of areas by a good amount compared to past titles.
The adventure parts keep the same flow of going to different maps, fighting enemies and picking up different items scattered around the field. The monsters will vary from cute little creatures to rather cool looking beasts. To make exploring faster, they’ve included an area map feature, that allows you to check out different areas within a dungeon you’ve already visited, for less travel time spent in getting to specific areas.
After switching to Escha, they point out how quick the game loads. This screen shows a support feature that has an icon in areas that have new events. There will be plenty of events, but you can complete them whenever you feel like it and might need to choose certain ones according to how you’d like to play.
This is one of Escha’s main events, where Logy tries to figure out how she learned alchemy. Escha explains that she wasn’t actually taught it by her mother, but simply learned by watching her. She says it was like watching her cook stuff in a pot. The perplexed Logy tells her that it’d help if she could be more serious about it, which slightly frustrates Escha, as it’s the best way she could describe it.
After further explaining, Escha asks if her description was too vague. Logy then replies by saying, “No, I just need to understand things better; don’t mind me.” Then, he kindly asks her to show him from the start and he’ll pay close attention, which results in an enthusiastic Escha. These two characters are quite different from one another, and share many moments such as these.
Gust describe Logy as a kind man, but one who wouldn’t hesitate to scold others for a good reason. He seems to have a gentle ‘older brother’ or parent-like mentality when it comes to that.
Between the two characters, the gameplay isn’t too different, but they also have their differences. For example, Escha’s side focuses a bit more on overall alchemy to create different items, while Logy’s is more about enhancing weapons and equipment.
Synthesis uses the familiar recipe system, where you can try out ingredients in different orders. They say that it starts out pretty simple where you don’t need to pay attention to details as much, but once you get further it will get more tedious.
In addition, there’s a new skill feature that can be used to change the outcome of synthesis. Unlike the past games, ingredients have elemental attributes that add up to the bar (shown in the middle of the above image), which can result in various skills that can be used for the synthesis.
Gust also gave a hint on some new info about being able to use items you create, as many times you’d like. They didn’t reveal much more about that and say they will talk about it next time, but for now, they promise that it’s not something that will break any balances. It will also give players something to think about when synthesizing.
In the next part, Gust explains the basics of combat in one of the earlier boss fights. You can have a party of up to 6 players, and the cost turn battle-system will come in play where actions will have an effect on the order.
The support system will also play a bit role in battles, as it can be used for offense and defense. For example, one can use it to cover allies from attacks. This feature will depend on the gauge shown on the bottom right of the screen. It charges up by doing any actions, but using items will increase it the most. Increasing it more will allow for combo support actions that can be used with all 6 party members.
Speaking of combos, there’s a special ability, called Double Draw, that is acquired after a certain event that allows Escha and Logy to do a tag attack for massive damage. The damage is dependant on the type of item used. For more details, check out our previous report.
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky is slated to be released on June 27 for PlayStation 3.
Published: May 15, 2013 03:30 pm