Review: Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX (Reviewed on PS4, also on Switch and PC)

[@606hunter1]

I just finished cold steel 3 (absolutely loved it but the wait for 4 is going to be painful) and was ready to officially start Atelier Ryza but saw this upload. You've somehow managed to make me even more interested to dive into this series. Also, the atelier art style is so soothing to look at. It makes me think of storybooks.

[@JRPGJungle]

I love the art style too (and there are storybook references in the plot of Escha and Logy which makes it even better) :) the character artist Hidari is really good!

[@erylaria398]

I just finished cold steel 2 :D and I'm going to leave it at that because I've heard about the cliff hanger after 3. (Plus I still have to go back and play the sky and crossbell games x.x)

[@606hunter1]

Erylaria I played through the cold steel 1-3 first but there's a lot of past references/characters in 3 (and I'm assuming 4). Good luck with trying to catch up through 5 games worth of content cause I'm also going to try to do the same before cold steel 4 is inevitably released in the west. Hoping to get through the sky games by then.

[@josflorida5346]

Dude I started 1 like 3 days ago and it was removed from ps plus 😔 wampwamp

[@Leirsonpkk]

I can't believe how good is your review, you said everything I wanna know! Wish you success and keep up making videos about Atelier series, it awesome!

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you so so much :33 thank you for watching!

[@joilynnloner897]

Watching all your Atelier reviews 🥰 i love the way you review it.

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you so much ^__^ 😊

[@joilynnloner897]

@@JRPGJungle You're always welcome 😊💖

[@kamuiyu7387]

You deserve a million subscribers your an awesome reviewer very informative

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you so much :33

[@DapaChrons]

Excellent review, I'll check this out!!! One of my friends loves this series but I've never played any of them. Your accent is super interesting btw, you say words like "half, part, character" like you're English but then "perspective, powerful" like you're Aussie and the rest like an American

[@Axel181]

My 2nd favorite Dusk game, and arguably 3rd favorite Atelier game for me. Having the story be seen from 2 perspectives, helped a lot in closing out most of the plotlines that Ayesha started and Eschalogy continued. Shallotte focusing more on the town's history in relation to the dusk and Shallistera diving more into the mystery of the dusk itself helped the story flow better. I can't imagine both of these elements working well in a single story without it feeling too bloated or throwing too much at the player. Dividing it helped a lot in the pacing and giving the player the final pieces to understand everything in a satisfying conclusion. I do admit, I do feel Gust could have easily gone for 12, maybe 13 chapters instead of 10. It bothers me that some parts of the map are just empty, like the eastern part and northwestern parts of the map feels like something should be there to explore, but there's nothing; and it rubs me the wrong way for some reason. But I'm not sure what else could have been expanded upon. Maybe Shallotte's father? kinda odd that he's hardly mentioned, and he was the alchemist of the family that taught Shallotte. Maybe more about the spirits in general, or heck, it would have been interesting to explore Shallistera's village, but I doubt that could have worked given the map's limitations. Like the Arland series, I do feel like a 4th Dusk game could work. There's plenty to explore in this world, like Central for example, and any more lore to expand the Dusk world's history is more than welcome. I wholeheartedly accept a 4th entry if its ever made. I want to see more of the Dusk world in general. Its so fascinating.

[@JRPGJungle]

I agree with a lot of your points, but especially that a 4th Dusk would work. There seems to be room for it plot-wise and I would love if we could finally see Shallistera's village in that one or something :3 I'm crossing my fingers, new year means new Atelier(s) haha :)

[@hardgorechunchunmaru9349]

Great review. I really like your videos about Atelier series.

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you so much :')

[@magicalcat-girl5272]

Great review. I'm going to buy atelier shallie for the nintendo switch. It really looks great too. I'm also thinking about buying the other two atelier games of the dusk trilogy too.

[@lavayuki]

I have only played Sophie years ago on the vita and recently bought Esca Logy in the GW sale. I am curious about the other titles. I was thinking of seeing how I like Esca and Logy first before investing more in the dusk series. I do plan on playing Sophie 2 and the Mysterious trilogy at some point though

[@chamaemelumgardenia2329]

Shallie brought back part of Mana Khemia's battle system, which is why Shallie is my favorite of the Dusk trilogy

[@avalon_amy]

I’m so excited to play an Atelier without a time limit again. I love playing these games to their full completion (or as close as I can get). Just finished Escha and Logy and I am loving how into the Dusk world I’ve been 🥰

[@TheDeathOfLucifer]

Removing timelimits is why I no longer play. I miss how it was

[@zennabella1676]

I HAVE JOTTED DOWN THIS GAME TO GET BECAUSE IM GETTING A PS4 VERY SOON. IVE ORDERED IT. AND I LIKED ALTERIER IRISH 3 ON THE PS2 SO I SHOULD LIKE THIS ONE. IT LOOKS VERY PRETTY, VERY COLOURFUL AND CLEAR AND I LIKE THE FACT IT HAS BATTLES IN IT. THANKS FOR UPLOADING.

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you for watching, hope you enjoy it :)

[@andr0zzsenpai]

My first Atelier game back on the PS3

[@acebreaker7]

I hear that this title is the peak of modern atelier games and so far Shallie seems the most appealing to me of most modern atelier games and will enjoyed it when i get to it

[@TheGunmanChannel]

Im having fun playing this on RPCS3

[@Grayard]

I agree I may beat it soon x) BTW rusty sky, best op x) Ty for making this video Have a nice day =)

[@JRPGJungle]

Thank you so much :) enjoy the rest!

[@TheCompletionist]

One trilogy finished, is one less you need to worry about and then you can move on to the next game you want to play. At least they got rid of the time limit so you can pretty much please leisurely and at your own pace especially if you decide to get everything or if you just want to play the game for its story. Good to hear that the trilogy was beyond a positive experience for you.

[@kosterix123]

For switch Shallie is only available as a trilogy edition. The shallie dx is japanese only. great video. TL;DR: play 1 then 2 then 3. And the witch with the hat is soo cute ♪

[@Ngamergal]

I just brought the trilogy on the Switch Can't wait to start playing them.

[@hikikomorigaming2419]

I just start play this game yesterday so I can't tell much about this one. I can say only this will be number 12 in Atelier series that I (will) finished. All in PC. BTW I pick green hair Shallie to be my main character cause I like her more.

[@JRPGJungle]

She's a good choice :D enjoy the game!

[@erylaria398]

My physical deluxe edition finally arrived last week, and I immediately went out to get a switch for it. I've been playing ayesha for a few hours now and I'm pretty scared of the time limit. Especially because you mentioned that shallie expects me to achieve the true ending. I don't want to play with a walkthrough (I've just gone through trails of cold steel 1 and 2, and 200h of playing with a walkthrough was really draining) but I'm also worried I'll miss like half of the game(s) if I don't. I don't have tons of time for multiple playthroughs either because I work a full 40h week in a draining job and I also have a massive backlog of other games. I hope I'll still enjoy shallie, even without the true endings of ayesha and escha&logy ._.

[@JRPGJungle]

You'll enjoy it! I played with just the good endings, not the true ones from Ayesha and Escha/Logy, and enjoyed it just fine. It's more if don't want the true endings to be spoiled during your Shallie playthrough. I didn't mind and it was no problem :3 I probably could've been clearer in the video, but I hope that clears that up :3

[@nyn2k259]

Nice review. I have this game & Escha & Logy since 2019, I now started to play Escha & Logy lol & the time limit thing is a drag I hate that as I can't enjoy exploring. I hate synthesizing as well in all games. Happy that Shallie don't have a time limit cuz once am stuck or get fedup or E & L I'm off to Shallie lol. I notice no one doh I haven't watched all reviews, don't touch on how Super Mario 3 grid like the traveling is. I always thought it was a normal adventure game till I started to play it.

[@manikaditha6308]

Escha and logy time limit isn't that hard, but it sure makes new players struggled. The worst part of the game is, there's no post game. Even after beating the final boss, the time limit wojt dissappear or anything and once the time is hit, you forced to choose an ending. I don't have problem with the segment time limit, but the end game sucks since you can't experimenting or just enjoy the game, geez.

[@seanbcusack]

Shallie was pretty well done. It was a pretty easy-going game most of the time, taking a lot of pointers from previous games and improving upon them. The synthesis system was about as good as EschatoLogy, tho I think I still preferred the other better - but both were a vast improvement over Ayesha. While I was glad for the removal of the time limit in theory, in practise it was not as good as EschatoLogy, imho. The "gain depression points" system was quite annoying if you wanted to do a few more syntheses at the end of a chapter before the next one. It was especially egregious when synthesizing was not on your list of approved non-depressing tasks right before the sand dragon fight, where you need to grind synthesis, which meant that I had a bottomed out happiness meter for most of the rest of the game as a result. They also present new recipes at the END of every chapter rather than the beginning, making that particular grind extremely frustrating, as the million new recipes you get literally moments after the midboss is finally dead would have all been critical to making things to prepare for said midboss. In fact, the way they hand out recipes was very unbalanced, like Ayesha - they're begrudging with useful recipes for most of the game, while handing out dozens of useless recipes, and then you suddenly get everything useful all at once. The Mysterious games mete these out at a much more even pace. This is the only Atelier game that was a serious challenge on hard mode from the beginning, though it was a fun experience most of the time - however the random insertion of superbosses in the final third that you can run into without warning and just get annihilated by was a bit unfair, as was their unblockable "exhaustion" attacks that can party-wipe you no matter your preparation - and some of the bosses having full-party instant-death spells. The balance in EschatoLogy was much better, and the enemies much fairer. I think my final gripe was the lack of closure in the endings - they're REALLY open ended. I was hoping for a lot more closure from both secondary characters as well as the issue of The Dusk. The Mysterious trilogy does a much better job at closing all the character plot threads and providing a closed ending for the main series plotline. It makes me wonder whether they plan a 4th Dusk game just like they just made a 4th Arland game, since they left so many questions unanswered.

[@Darksider087]

Well it's highly possible they may make a fourth game, no reason why Arland would be the only 4 part game series.

[@seanbcusack]

i really hope so, too

[@someperson1]

I heard that upgrading Shallotte's Assist Guard to Broom Counter stops her automatic items from activating. I take it that this is still the case?

[@JRPGJungle]

I'm not actually sure, if it did happen I didn't notice (if I ever notice that though, I'll let you know :3)

[@someperson1]

@@JRPGJungle Thanks for the reply. I heard that in 2 topics in gamefaqs and a guide in neoseeker saying to not get that skill in it's battle section. They are referring to the original Atelier Shallie. gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/778830-atelier-shallie-alchemists-of-the-dusk-sea/71451054 gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/778830-atelier-shallie-alchemists-of-the-dusk-sea/71562921 www.neoseeker.com/atelier-shallie/faqs/1512855-walkthrough.html#h3

[@JRPGJungle]

Interesting, thank you for the info! I have a feeling I may have unlocked that skill but I think some of my auto-activation items weren't very good so I probably didn't mind them not going off lol but again, I'm not 100% sure. If I ever do NG+, I'll test it :)

[@UCOMISS]

I just got physical copy for Switch, it's time to dive in. The only thing i am concerned about is item dupe system that was mentioned in previous review. Ability to dupe items kinda ruined Lulua's game for me. Does it exist here in any form?

[@JRPGJungle]

I haven't found any homunculi in this one so you can just have a bunch of stuff waiting in duplication. you do get your items for battle back once your return to the town though :3 hope that answers your question!

[@francescosiragusa1135]

I don't understand one thing. Can i play this one withouth having played the other two from a story perspective?

[@JRPGJungle]

Atelier's are typically made with players who know the trilogy and don't in mind, but since this is the third one and I'm pretty sure it assumed you got the better endings from the previous two endings, I'd recommend playing them. But, I don't think I got the top endings in Ayesha or Escha and Logy (at least from memory, I know I got good ones, just not the best) and just accepted the spoilers for them, but I was happy to enjoy the events with the many characters who come back thanks to having playing the first two. It's up to you of course and you can enjoy it enough without, but Escha and Logy is also personally one of my favourite in the whole series so I'd recommend trying it or at least going back to it at some point if you get the chance :))

[@Heroinedown]

I miss the original Atelier games on ps2 but I am probably the only one who played them in this comment section...

[@JRPGJungle]

I hope to try the PS2 ones someday! :3

[@someperson1]

I enjoyed playing Mana Khemia on the Vita.

[@JRPGJungle]

Your comment pointed me to the fact that Mana Khemia is on PSN, thank you :'D

[@someperson1]

@@JRPGJungle Not a problem. Here is a tip if you decide to play it. If you want voices in battle, go in the option menu on the title screen then save the jump start data and turn it on even if you download it. Also, there is a glitch with the recipes in the post game dungeon. You might not get a recipe in there even if the game said you did. The last boss of the post game dungeon can be fought multiple times for another chance at the recipes in there, but they still might not be able to be synthesized. Those recipes are weapons and armor that are exclusive to each character and accessories for everybody. Regardless, I still liked my time with Mana Khemia.

[@Dokuji]

[@gmanawesome5773]

THE SERIES IS STILL BRIGHT

[@dynastystar5515]

4:29 it sounds like you said "fart bubbles"