Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (PlayStation 3) Review

In the latest entry to the Alchemists series, a drought has spread out and is threatening all life. It has entirely consumed all water in a small remote village, meaning they have to send out their representative, Shallistera, or Shallie for short. Her quest is to go to the Oasis town where there is still water and make them give their village support. However, the Oasis town has troubles of their own that need to be resolved.

When starting off, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea starts off with a short tutorial, and then the player gets to choose which Shallie to play as, either the calm and reserved Shallistera, with heavier focus on the quest about finding a solution to the drought problem, or the wild and outgoing Shallote, who comes with a quest more in the usual style of an Alchemists game, developing herself and exploring her talents. This basically turns into a choice between world lore exploration and personal evolution.

There is a lot of focus on making Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea tailor-made towards the player themselves besides just the choice of their main protagonist. Earlier additions to the series had time limits restricting the gameplay. Not anymore, though, with those being replaced by life task checks instead. The life task system is built upon micro-quests that range from "Killing 'x' boars" to important story events. The non-story ones, however, are unlocked through doing different feats, such as killing 100 enemies in a specific zone, and it would take hard work to get them all. However, that is not the idea. The idea, and the ingenious thing about this, is the fact that these are made to trigger quests that the player themselves finds important and fun. If focusing heavily on developing alchemy skills, resultantly it will show that in the life task system and offer a lot more quests in that department. This makes for a naturally tailor-made adventure for each and every player where focus rests on the enjoyable aspects. It is inventive, yet simple and easy to understand.

Other than a great questing system, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea also offers great combat and crafting systems, both of which the series is well known for. The turn-based combat system has heavy focus on different combos, power-up meters, and time management that make the fights very complex, yet pleasing as those introduced are done so with very even pacing that never overwhelms. The same goes for the crafting; as the character levels up their alchemy, likewise the alchemy skill tree grows and more complicated skills are added to the repertoire, making it one of the most intriguing found in any game on the market, and definitely one worth investing time into developing it further.

Most things in Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea are extremely well made and player-oriented, ranging from the story to all the battle and crafting systems. However, there is one great bug to be found. There is a growth system that, whenever opened, makes the game crash and, hence, nobody can actually access it - quite the annoyance and a stain on an otherwise beautiful and well crafted title.

Overall, though, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a great title. No matter if wanting a story focused on world events or personal development, gamers will be able to find what they want within, and whenever wanting to focus their energy on combat or alchemy, they can find a path that bends to their preference easily enough. It is a great experience that no one has any excuse to miss now due to the removal of the time limits, and Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea will serve as a great opening point for anyone new to the Alchemist franchise.