Perhaps Im just spoiled by Gust's exceptional Atelier Ryza series. Perhaps, for the same reason, I have incorrect expectations for what the game should have been. Nonetheless, I find Atelier Marie to be an interesting but awkward expereince.
Unlike the story driven experience of Ryza, Marie is much more like a life sim. The core loop of the game is picking up requests from the nearby tavern, which either asks for materials you can harvest in the world, or crafted items you have to create. This is still in Ryza of course.
The key difference is that you have a time limit for the end of the game, and ~every~ action ticks down the clock. Want to harvest a material? That costs a day. Want to craft an item? Could take 5 days, or even more. The reason this is such a huge departure from Ryza is because you no longer have time for experimentation, and every action you take has to be strategically considered. Time spent crafting consumables that help survive expeditions to dangerous areas is time that could be spent tackling requests to earn money and reputation. Time holed up in the atelier crafting items is time that could be used for harvesting valuable ingredients, and finding rumors around town that provide valuable information.
The strictness of the design means the game's progression has to be equally tight... but I dont think it is. It took me a few restarts to even understand how the game wanted me to play it, and even then the randomness involved in many aspects of the game can leave you in a rut you just have to wait out. And the costly nature of crafting makes me feel like I need to have a calculator on hand to determine how much time a request is going to take, calculations that could be meaningless if the game's rng ends up working against you.
I can see the potential of the experience the game wants to craft, and I do really want it to work, but its implementation is too messy for me to fully enjoy.
Unlike the story driven experience of Ryza, Marie is much more like a life sim. The core loop of the game is picking up requests from the nearby tavern, which either asks for materials you can harvest in the world, or crafted items you have to create. This is still in Ryza of course.
The key difference is that you have a time limit for the end of the game, and ~every~ action ticks down the clock. Want to harvest a material? That costs a day. Want to craft an item? Could take 5 days, or even more. The reason this is such a huge departure from Ryza is because you no longer have time for experimentation, and every action you take has to be strategically considered. Time spent crafting consumables that help survive expeditions to dangerous areas is time that could be spent tackling requests to earn money and reputation. Time holed up in the atelier crafting items is time that could be used for harvesting valuable ingredients, and finding rumors around town that provide valuable information.
The strictness of the design means the game's progression has to be equally tight... but I dont think it is. It took me a few restarts to even understand how the game wanted me to play it, and even then the randomness involved in many aspects of the game can leave you in a rut you just have to wait out. And the costly nature of crafting makes me feel like I need to have a calculator on hand to determine how much time a request is going to take, calculations that could be meaningless if the game's rng ends up working against you.
I can see the potential of the experience the game wants to craft, and I do really want it to work, but its implementation is too messy for me to fully enjoy.