A return to school.

This time as Alchemists!

I've never played an Atelier game despite them being a top JRPG franchise. So it makes sense to start at a game, unlike the rest of the franchise! I had no predispositions, so I can't go into a preamble, so let's see what the game is about.

You play as Vayne Aurelius, an amnesiac teenager found in the forest alongside his talking cat. He was discovered by a teacher at the Al-Revis Academy, a high school teaching kids the ways of alchemy. The teacher, Zeppel, knew Vayne's father, Theofratus. Vayne and his cat/mana, Sulphur, attend the three years of school. While there, they make friends that change his life, form rivalries with students and mysterious teachers, and discover hidden truths about everyone involved. It leaves me asking questions, but that's for later.

The gameplay is a combination of Persona, Final Fantasy X, and Dragon Quest IX. Although, Mana Khemia came out before DQIX, so maybe Vagrant Story or Star Ocean 3 are better comparisons. It's akin to Persona in that you attend class, but that's only as a framing device. The classes are a background for you to explore the academy grounds, finding crafting materials as you do, and setting up the story. You also spend a lot of time with a handful of classmates, dealing with their fun and engaging personalities. It's my favorite part of the game.

It's like FFX since the combat is turned based, but you can switch in backup characters (for the most part) when you need to. Unlike FFX, each time you swap characters, they can perform a bonus action. These grow as you engage in the other FFX similarity, the Grow Book. Levels don't exist in Mana Khemia, and all stats are linked to items you have crafted, similar to the sphere grid. Every time you make a new item, more stats, abilities, or passives become available to buy with AP, the de jure EXP. You make these items by finding new recipes or figuring out how to change an already known one. It can be a lot of fun, but crafting can get painfully tedious towards the end of the game.

The music is a bit hit-and-miss. The most common theme is a fitting and very peppy orchestral school band, which I hated. I heard it too often and found it annoying from the first time it passed my ears. Fortunately, "dungeons" each have their unique theme, many of which are great, and battles have plenty to offer throughout the journey. Even every character has a cool tune!

Graphics work for the PSP version I played. It reminded me of Disgaea, so add that to the list of comparisons. There is plenty to see between the assortment of enemies, dungeon designs, and spell animations.

Overall, it's a pretty standard game that has plenty of fun moments. But I do have critiques, largely with the story. Most of the plot is backloaded for the final two chapters. So it takes 5/6th to get started. The character driven narrative can carry you to it, but I'd also like something more to sink my teeth into. And when it does pop, it leaves me asking too many questions. Who really is Vayne? And who really is Sulphur? I won't go into too much detail, but that real cat can turn into a sword! And because it takes so long to get into, I felt the game lingers too long, especially with the crafting tedium, and I don't want to replay it.


Plot: Disappointing. The characters are fun, and the villains are few but detailed. But the slow plot and unanswered questions really killed it. 4/10

Gameplay: Perfect. If you combined all those games above, this is what I'd expect to see. And Gust went all out for it. 10/10

Sound: Nitpicking? I hated the main theme, but there were plenty of other songs to distract me. Go have a listen to the dungeon tracks! 8/10

Art: Another Drop. I got too angry at how many times a pillar was in the foreground, obscuring the sight. There were also a few too many pallet swaps, and it's a standard PS2 sprite game. 5/10

Charm: Fitting. While the NPCs can expand on the detailed enough world, the length and plodding story make it something I doubt I'll replay. Also, many reviewers talk about their disdain for the load times, but I didn't have an issue with them. But I can also fast forward...

And now the negatives. Alchemy can get tedious if you're not into the gameplay loop. And it turns out that you can only get one character's "arcana" level to max. I found that really disappointing. It makes sense for the ending, but it really killed my mood. -7

Mana Khemia: Student Alliance gets a middling 25/50. I was really enjoying my fifty hours, but I kinda hit a wall towards the end. I used a few cheats to keep me in, but I didn't expect a fifty percent score. There are just a few too many errors at the end.

Mana Khemia isn't like the other Atelier games, so I might circle back eventually. For now, though, Crowns of Power is about to patch (hopefully), so I'll figure out what I'm doing later.