Jrpg Jungle

As a Slice-of-Life JRPG, Atelier Lydie and Suelle brings something different to the JRPG genre. It focuses on collection and synthesis as its main mechanics, partnered with a light-hearted story that managed to turn what could be a sad story about two girls without a mother into one with plenty of humour and lively characters that make it standout from other JRPGs. Although its pacing felt a little slow at times, Atelier Lydie and Suelle ’s deep synthesis systems and fun story made it an experience that was pleasant to play and with lots of side events still waiting for me, there’s plenty to do in this fun, collection-based JRPG. Atelier Lydie and Suelle is based around the two girls from its title: the smart, slightly older twin Lydie and the fun, energetic Suelle who have big goals of making their Atelier the greatest one in the country. At first this is a lofty goal with their lack of alchemy skills resulting in lackluster creations and their Dad’s unreliable nature as their onl...

I’d always been interested in the Atelier series for its pretty art style, but there seems to be more to Atelier Lydie and Suelle than its pretty paintings. Atelier Lydie and Suelle’s delightful looking world contains plenty to collect and find to synthesise and make items with, with the charming and well-designed characters backed by interesting alchemy systems. While the Japanese PS4 demo was a mostly visual experience for me, the world and alchemy systems of Lydie and Suelle have kept me curious about this new addition to the Atelier series. Atelier Lydie and Suelle is based around two young twin alchemists called Lydie and Suelle who work at their father’s small Atelier. The two girls, the fun tomboy Suelle and the quiet and kind Lydie, share a common goal: they want to turn their Atelier into the best one in the country. This goal is set in motion when one day they somehow end up inside one of their father’s paintings with many rare and wonderful ingredients for alchemy at their d...

Since 2015, it’s been my own tradition to make a few JRPG resolutions to improve my gaming life for the year ahead. I do this to encourage myself to play the experiences I think I don’t have time for and to finally catch up with any JRPG urges I had throughout the previous year that I didn’t take the time to cater to. These resolutions always come with mixed levels of success , but they always help me improve my gaming time and are a fun way to start planning what I want to play each year. While keeping up with new releases is a challenge in itself, there are a few things in my JRPG life I’ve been wanting to do since I found some new things I liked last year and also things I’ve been wanting do for a while and never got around to. With those things in mind, these are my three JRPG resolutions for 2018. 1) Play an Atelier game In 2014, I saw the trailer for Ar nosurge and was flawed by it . First from its music, then from its stunning visuals and all together with its interesting premis...

Blue Reflection promises a lot at first glance by seemingly drawing inspiration from popular series like Persona, along with taking the wonderful high school magical girl trope into JRPG land. As a magical girl JRPG, it succeeds in a lot of ways with its enjoyable combination of a traditional turn-based battle system combined with active elements and a unique overdrive mechanic. In school life, it's an enjoyable social sim with clear progression that encourages exploration, even if it can feel a little repetitive sometimes. But this didn’t bother me much as between school and magical girl life, Blue Reflection’s enchanting story about emotions and wishes kept me fully engrossed and although it is not without imperfections, there’s a lot to love in this story heavy, magical girl JRPG. Blue Reflection’s emotional story follows the worthy protagonist Hinako, a high school girl previously known for her ballet prowess that has injured her knee badly, preventing her from being able to da...