The Atelier series before the Mysterious games are more of a mystery to most people, and there's some reasons for that, namely the existence of time limits and the lack of various quality of life features. After playing through Escha & Logy, which was my first time with a pre-Mysterious game, I can say this:

Your first Atelier experience should be with Mysterious or Ryza since the streamlined features and mechanics make the barrier to entry much less rough than the older games. However, if this isn't your first rodeo with Atelier, then E&L is certainly one of the games to experience. I can also say you can play the Dusk series in whatever order you desire since the stories are *mostly* not connected to each other unlike Sophie's journey in the Mysterious games as an example.


Let's go over the story first. The Dusk series looks like it's more serious and dark due to it's... well, permanently dusk sky and ruined/post-apocalyptic looking areas. However, this is mostly untrue. The trademark slice of life, lighthearted vibe the series is known for is here and is the center of attention. The background about the world is slightly more grim, but the tone never fully shifts to that. However, that contrast between the world and the actual tone is quite interesting, and is unlike anything I've seen in any other Atelier I played.

Protagonists Escha and Logix (Logy) are both alchemists that become government officials for Escha's hometown of Colset, and their job is to help with the townspeople's troubles and investigate the many ruins around them to learn the truth about them. It's quite an interesting angle that the protagonists are government employees, but it's a unique perspective on being an alchemist and the troubles they face together. The blooming relationship between Escha and Logy is also quite a fresh thing to experience, since very few Ateliers have both a male and female protagonist in the same game. Those two really carry the story; the supporting cast is also quite good, but not perfect across the board. Some characters can be rather one-dimensional or simply not have enough screen time to flesh them out. Regardless, it's still a good cast and there's quite a big number of them, just as much as Ryza 3 if you can believe it.



Now for gameplay. As you might expect for an older entry, there are some hiccups and lack of quality of life features that are present in future entries, but E&L makes up for this with it's own unique quirks that make it stand out from the crowd. The main thing to point out is the quarterly assignment gameplay loop. Like most other older Ateliers, you have a time limit. In E&L, you must complete a primary assignment given to you within the "term", which is 4 in-game months (Think of it like Persona 4 and 5's deadlines). Aside from that, there are also dozens of optional assignments that will give you more rewards and further increase your rank, but will no longer be available to complete once the term is over, as the next term will have an entirely new set of assignments. You can finish the primary assignment in no time, but the real challenge is trying to complete all optional assignments in time as well, since it does require some planning ahead on where to go and what to synthesize. It really gives a different feel to the gameplay loop as it forces you to plan out your actions much more to get the highest possible rank you can. The story is also slightly affected by how many assignments you complete, along with some side activities here and there. Not everyone will be thrilled by this as it may sound stressful to some, but I feel that it's a very interesting way to experience Atelier, and I wouldn't mind seeing a formula like this in a modern entry.


Synthesis is rather simple compared to future entries, as you simply add 2 to 4 ingredients, and spend points of a certain element to enhance the item as best you can. It does have it's depth later on, but the concept is far easier to grasp than something like Sophie's synthesis. It gets the job done, even if I think it could be better.


Unlike Lydie & Suelle which was mostly just cosmetic flair, E&L goes farther with the dual protagonist premise. The biggest part is when you start a new game, you choose whether you want to play as Escha or Logy. You could consider these two different "routes", but it's mostly the exact same story. The only big change is exclusive event scenes here and there, along with exclusive endings for each. Escha uses the traditional cauldron to make synthesis ingredients and consumables, while Logy uses a blacksmith-esque method of alchemy where he can make weapons and armor. It's a really nice way to contextualize each of their own skills and where they grew up. Escha and Logy are also the only ones who can use items, and have unique skills together, so the two working together translates well into gameplay which is neat.



Now I wanna highlight the notable issues I experienced. The writing and/or localization for some of the gameplay mechanics are either not well-explained or nonsensical. For example, Traits aren't actually called "traits", but "Properties" while Traits are something else entirely. I also noticed a fair number of trait and assignments descriptions that are either misleading, vague, or flat out factually wrong. An example is a SPD Increase trait has the description of "Increases the speed on accessories", but you can also apply said trait to weapons and armor as well as accessories. This doesn't ruin the game by any stretch, but it makes certain aspects of the game more difficult to understand than it should be since it's just not well explained at times.

The in-game guide and enemy info is also sorely lacking. Unlike modern entries where you can sort and filter items to find what you need quickly, E&L just has a simple list with no pictures until you roll over the specific item. On the world map, there's no pictures of enemies or monsters in an area, just the name. And in both combat AND guide, you straight up have no information on the enemy, not even something as simple as their HP value. You also know no stats of theirs whatsoever, or even what their resistances are which makes it pointless to attempt to strategize using specific elemental damage.


But all in all, Escha & Logy is an entry that's very much worth playing despite it's few drawbacks. The tonally different world and unique gameplay loop of completing assignments feels so different from the modern entires that I believe it's worth experiencing at least once. Undoubtedly a good game in spite of it's age.

Nobeta is a shockingly well-designed game for appearing so simple and low budget. Despite that, developer PupuyaGames pulled out all the stops and managed to make a nicely crafted souls-like experience. Nobeta primarily attacks through ranged magic which have different properties depending on the element; it's almost like a third person shooter in that sense. Not only that, but they incorproated a skill-based mechanic of not relying on magic too much by being able to recover MP faster by doing dangerous close-range physical attacks with Nobeta's staff and perfectly timed dodges. You can run out of MP very quickly, so you need to not mindlessly spam attacks and put yourself in danger to recover more. The level design is simple but works very well as Nobeta goes through trecherous areas full of pitalls and enemies.

As an added bonus, most of the bosses in the game are voiced by Hololive Vtubers such as Shirakami Fubuki and Shirogane Noel.

Nobeta really surprised me with how mechanically solid it was. It's pretty short, but you'll be getting a great soulslike with some cute anime girl flair.