Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is the last game in the Dusk Sea Trilogy. It is nice to get to see some familiar faces from the previous games and I do like some of the changes. However, other new implementations aren’t things that I enjoyed.

When I first started up Atelier Shallie, I was a bit shocked to see that it was cel-shaded, as the majority of the previous games have not been. This is a plus for me as I really love the dynamic colors and the beautiful feeling of everything. The clothing was done perfectly. You can tell just by looking at the characters which ones are city folk and which are from the smaller towns. Raoul’s pirate look is a bit over the top, but it does fit well with his personality.

While I like the music, I tend to prefer the background music of some of the other Atelier games as this one had a tendency to make me very sleepy, for some reason. I kept getting up to walk around just so I didn’t fall asleep on my couch. However, I love the voicework. The characters feel real. Their conversations are a bit heavy at times, but you have to remember that a lot of them are just kids trying to solve big problems.

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea deals with a world where the water is mysteriously drying up in areas, leaving a dusk world full off sand. The game opens with Kortes and Shallistera (Shallie #1) on a ship. It is a "sand ship" that they use to cross the deserts easier. Shallie is the chief of Lugion’s daughter and she is also an alchemist. They are headed to a much bigger city, Stellard, to see if they can find out why the water is drying up. Teokhuga is a bodyguard for Shallie (and Kortes’ father). Before you even get to the city, you will meet Jurie Crotze. She’s a treasure hunter and a friend of Kortes. She joins them for a ride to Stellard. Meanwhile in Stellard, Nady Elminus is Shallotte’s (Shallie #2) mom. Raoul Pireit is Shallie’s boss and Solle Grumman is an official checking out ruins. Shallie has so far only been given trash cleanup duty, but she wants to do more as she is also an alchemist. Miruca Crotze (Jurie’s little sister) is Shallie’s friend and she does Imbuing, which is a new form of alchemy used on weapons. Miruca is basically your advanced blacksmith. These are just some of the varied characters that you can play with or talk to. There are a lot of complex interactions and relationship in Atelier Shallie. After playing just a little bit with each Shallie, you will choose one of the two to play as in the game. While they do have separate beginnings, for a lot of the game, you will have control of both of them. Indeed, you will need both Shallistera and Shallotte to figure out how to save the village (and possibly the world).

Atelier Shallie is a turn-based RPG where you will need to wisely balance your time between exploring, battling, and synthesizing. While exploring, all of the characters that are available to battle will follow into the field. You can only take six into battle (three active and three for assists) and these six can be swapped around in the battle. Any extras you can change formation in the field anytime you aren’t in battle. This makes it really easy to keep your characters on hand. While you are exploring, you will see enemies that you can battle. There are a set number of enemies, so once you kill them all, you have to exit the area and enter it again to get more. You can run away from them if you want.

Of course, you are going to need items to take with you into battle. You will need to synthesize these items at your workshop and equip them before going into the field. You can also synthesize accessories to equip on your characters. Plus, you will need to synthesize, gather, or buy the items Miruca needs to imbue your weapons, so obviously synthesis is pretty important. The more you synthesize, the higher your level gets, so the better items you can make. While I haven’t beaten the game yet, as Atelier Shallie is a very long game, I am hoping that in the end, we will learn what’s happening to the water and save the world.

After you choose your character, you will then get to choose a difficulty level. You have Story Watcher (meant to be easy to get through so you can see the story), Game Fan (a "Normal" difficulty), and Hardcore (the name makes it obvious). In Story Watcher, the enemies have reduced HP and stats. Game Fan is your base level to measure by. In Hardcore, enemies have higher HP and an enhancement skill. The benefit to Hardcore is that your experience is 1.5x normal, money is 3x normal, and you can get rare items from battle. Personally, I like to start on normal mode. It feels like it’s a bit harder at the beginning, when you’re still trying to get the hang of the characters, but once you’ve leveled up a bit, you shouldn’t have any trouble playing. I only had to run around grinding for a few levels when I got to the sand dragon and I think that was only because I went through the previous two chapters really quickly to try and get my Motivation back up.

If you’ve played any of the previous Atelier games, then you know about the time limits that keep you on track. Atelier Shallie has done away with the time limits (which personally, I like). Instead, they have added in Motivation. Motivation is shown as a face on your information screen. It goes from frowny to really happy. Granted, you can ignore Motivation if you want. It will not end your game, but when your Motivation is low, Shallie’s speed is lower and your gathering skills are very poor. You raise Motivation by completing Life Tasks. Life Tasks are the things that Shallie needs or wants to do. You can press (Select) to see your tasks. You can do quite a few optional tasks before completing the main goals if you want. It is usually good to do these.

Obviously, the higher level your characters are, the better they will do in battle. The problem is that for most battles, you will get very little EXP, 1-50 maybe. Then suddenly you will earn 8000+ for a single battle against a really easy enemy. I have yet to figure out what triggers these, but it’s quite frustrating if you’re trying to level up a bit. Once you do get to the higher levels, you will unlock things like Field Bursts (which can be really handy, especially for healing) and Ultimate Attacks (which are quite devastating).

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea has a turn-based battle system. Your turn will depend on the character’s speed and what action they did before. I love that you can easily see where the character will be in the attack order before you perform the move on the far right side of the screen. This means that you can choose what to do when, based on how long it will take if you want. If you trigger a break, the enemy will miss their turn and you can do more damage. Build up your battle gauge (on the upper right) to perform a Burst after it is full. Shallie (both of them when you have both in your party) is the only one who can use items. Your battle options are Attack, Item (Shallie only) or Skill (as everyone else), Defend, Swap (if you have more than three in your party), and Run.

You have a gauge in the top left corner that fills up from battles and gathering. When it gets to 100%, the directional buttons will spark events. I highly recommend remembering to use them as 3 is the max and if you don’t keep an eye out, you’ll waste an opportunity. These events can give you useful items, trigger a powerful enemy encounter, or make it so that you will gather rarer items. When you come up on an enemy, use (Square) before touching them to get an advantage. Eventually, your swing will be upgraded so that you will simply kill the lower level enemies instantly. Note that you will not get the experience or money if you choose to kill them with a swing rather than fight.

As I mentioned at the beginning, there is a lot that I like about Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea. I love seeing the characters from the previous games and finding out how they’re doing. I love that there is no time limit. I like that the battle and synthesis are still pretty much the same as what I have been used to in the other games. However, I don’t like the EXP system. There are also things in there that appear to be added just to make the game longer, like the optional boss Lamlost (who really made me want to quit the game just to stop the insanity), which were a bit frustrating. Overall though, I still enjoyed the game. The good definitely outweighs the bad. If you’re looking for an RPG with an intriguing story and amusing characters, check out Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea today!