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A fun and refreshing RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I found this game to be more fun that any other RPG I've played. While the story doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat, it is interesting and takes many unforseen and amusing turns. The items system is the best thing about this game. It is based off of the use of alchemy, where you create items as Visse using components. Once you have unlocked an item by creating it once, you can make more of them wherever you are using elements which are found across the world. The result is that you are not afraid to use items, which makes the game far more enjoyable. At the same time, money is still important as you need it to buy recipies so you can create armor, accessories, and more expendable items. I suppose the item system makes the game less challenging, but I was too busy having fun to notice.

The battle system is innovative, and still remains simple. You can use a break attack, which delays the enemies turn and can allow you to do critical damage if you keep the enemy broken. You can use a charge attack which increases your skill bar, allowing your team to use powerful special attacks or healing magic. Or you can a skill or item. Simply breaking an enemy is not a path to victory, as bosses will not stay broken for long and will just bash you while you are doing small amounts of damage because you are not using skills. Against normal enemies, they show up in groups so it is rare you can keep them all broken unless they are so weak they die in one or two hits anyway. A combination of breaking, charging, and skills is required to effectively defeat enemies.

A large part of the game is spent playing as Viesse on Eden where there are no battles. However, even this part is surprisingly fun. As Viesse you go around Eden making pacts with Mana spirits to increase your alchemy abilities and to help the people who live there. Her part of the game is primarily character development as you learn about those who live on Eden and what Felt, the other main character, is up against.

The characters are an amusing group of rebels freeing a Kingdom that has been conquered by a foreign empire. The graphics are not amasing, but suit the world very well. The voiceovers add alot to that characters, giving them a great deal of personality. Between the item system and the skill bar systems, I never found myself worried that I'm running low on mana and items deep into the dungeon. Overall, I would describe this game as easy and convenient. It's the kind of game that doesn't challenge you too much, but also doesn't have any of those frustrating moments that usually accompany a more challenging title.

Almost Got It Right...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: April 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Atelier Iris 2 is a unique kind of RPG. It has an interesting system and basis for doing things, but what keeps it from being great is it seems to be behind as far as current console RPGs are concerned. This is good and bad. It's good because it still works. It's bad because the things that people expect from RPGs in this day and age just aren't here in full force.

Atelier Iris 2 takes place in the world of Eden. A place where a giant earthquake had happened and has made most of the world just... disappear! It's up to two orphans, Felt and Viese to see what's going on, and try to save the world.

Most of the game is spent playing as Felt. Viese isn't really all that adventurous, but she can help Felt out in many ways. She makes items Felt can use on his quest, and while she isn't physically with him, they have a share ring which allows them to possess the same items. As Viese you'll mostly just go to the store to get the required items for a recipe to make an item.

The battle system of the game is pretty interesting, though. In each area there is a guage that lets you know when you're going to get into a battle. What's nice about this is eventually the random encounters in a certain area will stop. Completely, giving you time to explore without having to worry about battles. If you want to reset the gauge, just leave and come back.

When in battle, however, it's fast paced and overall fun. The name of the system is Active Cost Time. Each character goes based on where they are on the Active Cost Time guage. It's basically a turn based battle system. When a character reaches the end of the guage, they can perform an action. What makes battling interesting, but a drag at the same time is being able to use a break attack. This will offset your enemy, and sometimes even stun them enough to lose turns. The bad thing about this is simple: the game is almost no challenge at all this way. You can keep using break attacks to offset enemies and then go through an entire battle and never get hit. If you're looking for a challenge, this is not going to be the RPG for you. It is a fun battle system, but the game is just too easy using it.

There is also a skill guage in battle. Each character has a set of skills. However, they all share the same skill guage, which isn't all that astonishing. The skills themselves probably won't be needed anyway, but it's kind of daunting that when you use a skill, it detracts from a guage which everyone shares. Indiviual MP would've done nicely.

What really bogs the game down however is more than just the ease of the game. It's the repetative gameplay. Felt and his crew will travel along and suddenly they come to a point where they can't go further. Perhaps someone needs something done for them, or there's an obstacle in your way you need destroyed. This is where you'll have to go and find items, then give them to Viese so she can make an important item for you so that you can advance forward in your quest. At first it's okay, but then you start to feel like some kind of errand boy. Some of these items are not easy to get either. That doesn't mean they're hard, it means they're frustrating, and annoying. It's rinse and repeat through the whole game, and gets in the way of the story numerous times. It's just not fun running errands for the entire game. And the rewards for doing this are rather bland and not worthwhile.

This isn't the worst of the gameplay outside the battle system. The game, compared to the standards of today, is rather short. It isn't exactly jam-packed with secrets either, and that's a shame. There is the idea of mixing lots of items together to see what you get, but you won't need these items, nor is it particularly exciting in the long run. It's simple and easy to do, but just not worthwhile.

Graphic wise the game is gorgeous looking. The anime style graphics are neat, but outside of the animation and artwork, it looks pretty similar to a Playstation One game. Upon looking at your character move around on the field, I was instantly reminded of Legend of Mana. It's not that it's a bad looking game. It's very beautiful in terms of artwork and whatnot, but it feels like a setback in graphical output by RPGs today. Cel-shaded graphics would've more than likely looked spectacular for this game rather than animated backgrounds and character sprites. At least, however, the look works for this game. It just could've looked better. Several games with a similar feel make better use of the graphics.

The sound isn't so bad. It's okay, but not great. The voice acting is very well done, and it really helps the characters come alive. The character development isn't so bad either. There are moments when the dialogue is laughable, but for the most part, the voice acting is top notch.

Put simple, the game isn't really bad. It just feels unfinished at times. The graphics could've used a push, but that's alright, RPGs aren't about graphics, they're about storylines. Unfortunately, the game isn't really story driven. The stories pace takes a backseat to running errands and trying to find items so Viese can help you along.

It could've been a fantastic game. It had more than enough potential to be something good. It isn't bad, mind you, just not what an RPGer should expect.

The Good
+It's a lot of fun to play
+Great character development
+Good Voice Acting
+A little room to breathe in dungeons with the way the random battle system works
+Unique item creating system

The Bad
-It feels more like you're an errand boy through most of the game
-The graphics look like those found on the Playstation One
-There aren't enough side quests
-The game is short
-The game is ridiculously easy, one can go through battles without so much as a scratch. Even bosses

I can't believe I overlooked this series.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm an RPG buff, through and through. I've been playing RPGs ever since Dragon Warrior I and I just love a certain style to my RPGs. I played Atelier Iris 1 and, while the game was enjoyable, it had flaws. It seems that those flaws, all of them, were fully addressed in part 2.

The positives:
- if you're an SNES fan this game is right up your alley, as the games feel like they're fresh from that system, just with anime clips throughout.

- The music is outstanding. It just gets better and better with time, like a fine wine.

- The storyline is a little confusing at first, but as you progress through the game, you'll unravel quite the thread and everything will start to make sense.

- Dialogue is hilarious at times. Especially with a certain other character who keeps messing up Felt's name, and even at one point calling him Klein (from Atelier Iris 1).

- Felt can actually fight on his own, unlike Klein who was useful for only one thing - alchemy. This got you killed, because Klein was the only one who could revive others with items. If he died, your battle was done. In this one, there are revival items that anyone can use, plus ones that Felt OR Viese can use. Much improved.

The bad:

- Viese is horrible to use at first. All she does in the beginning of the game is make items for Felt to use during his quest in the opposite world. Though some of her storylines are interesting, it starts to get old. Fortunately, a plot twist will happen which will finally thrust her into the real gameplay, and that's when the game starts to get really interesting.

- Either Felt is a pimp or something's wrong with the game direction. Viese seems to think of Felt like a brother who she's attracted to, as sick as that sounds. The other females in the story seem to be attracted to Felt but don't really show it, and Felt is just in the center kinda breezing through with no real bond to any of them.

- The map was removed in exchange for a point-and-click interface. You tell them where to go and they go there, and new locations are opened as you progress through the story. I call this a negative because I like free roam, though I understand why they did it; it speeds up the game play significantly.

Do I recommend this game? Absolutely. The best part is that you don't need to have played part 1 to understand part 2, it just gives you a little bit of insight, but part 2 is light years ahead of part 1 in terms of gameplay and graphics.

Great RPG Better than the first

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: October 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

the first thing that got me started on this Video game was buying the first of the series. Atelier Iris 1 wasn,t even close to how good the sequal is (so if you bought Atelier iris one and didn't like it you should by this one). You Also don,t have to know the story of the first of the series! In my opinion they might as well change the whole name because there is not much in common with 1&2. New characters new gameplay and so on. over all this game is much beter than the first and you should by it if you like RPGs (Like Me).

Disappointing!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 14
Date: May 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Good storyline and sound
Too much repetition going back and forth to the same areas
Probably not buy another product from this software company!

ATELIER IRIS 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Very enjoyable game.Make your own accesories and synthesize your weapons. Excellant story line.

A Children's Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Graphically, I really enjoyed the look of this game. It is vivid and colorful, and has cute looking anime style characters who are very friendly. Controls are very easy, and the danger from enemies is very low. It can be frustrating to find certain items in the world which are required to move the story forward as this game is quite linear. The combat difficulty is very easy, and I felt bored playing through the battles eventually. I would say that this game would be good for children, but they may become as frustrated as I was with the hunting and gathering of certain items. With a walkthrough or strategy guide, this game might be entertaining for children or those who are new to RPG and strategy games.

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