You play as Resna, a young alchemist set to take her final exam to graduate from her apprenticeship. Meanwhile, a bunch of alchemists from other worlds (previous Atelier games!) have appeared in Resna's world, and she couldn't be more excited to meet more alchemists! Alchemy is a dying art in this world as all of the mana seems to be disappearing. But now with her new friends, Resna is out to save alchemy!
You also sometimes play as Valeria, a fighter stuck in a bad situation. At least until she meets Resna and has something worth fighting for: friendship!
Visuals
This game is gorgeous! I've always liked the way Atelier games look as they have a very distinct style, but I doubt the Switch does them justice. I don't know if all of the games look like this on PC, but Atelier Resleriana looks incredible. From the backgrounds to the character models to the monsters, even the attack affects. Everything is bright and flashy and pretty and I love it!
However, there aren't as many area details as you're probably use to from these games, since there aren't really areas to explore. Everything is either a gorgeous cutscene or a gorgeous menu. You don't actually control Resna. She just gets a screen saying "Destination: [Place]" and then she's there with a new set of menus. It is a bummer, but it makes sense for this Gacha format. I do like how there are actually people walking around in town though, since the frozen NPCs were always a bit uncanny.
The only exception to this is the Dungeon quests, but even those don't allow free exploration. It's just a left-to-right line through a gorgeous scene, but still static.
Sound Effects + Music
I immediately fell in love with the music of Atelier Resleriana. The opening music is gorgeous, and became very familiar with the theme song, since my game took two hours to update and it was playing on loop. It's a good song.
The game is fully voice acted just like previous games, and the voice actors give really good performances. I wouldn't expect anything less. Yes, it's only in Japanese.
Gameplay + Controls
Even though Atelier Resleriana is considered a mainline game, it is not quite like the others in the series. It's not a full JRPG, as it's a Gacha game. You still have alchemy and battles, but they take on a much different form here.
You don't go out exploring to gather materials anymore. Materials are now locked between Materials Quests, which are further locked behind how much stamina you have, This is also how you earn Cole (money) and Exp to level up. You go to the Cafe, or rather click on Quests and get presented with the interior of the cafe, and select which type of quest you want to do, as long as you still have enough stamina.
Battles are similarly locked behind quests rather than having monsters out while you explore. You also get some battles as part of the story progression. But battles are still turn-based. This time you see a timeline at the bottom of the screen which shows the turn order and upcoming battle effects. You choose which attack you want each girl to do and she carries it out immediately. Or you can just use Auto, which has worked out really well for me thus far.
As for the story progression, you actually have to select Story from the menu just like you would for Quests and other menu items. Then you get some gorgeous cut scenes of the girls, and maybe a couple battles. You'll also discover dungeons this way, which are kind of equivalent to gathering spots. You get materials and face monsters, but you're still not free to explore. You just move Resna right until she comes to an action point. Even this can be set to Auto once you complete that dungeon for the first time.
In fact, there's a lot of automation in this game, which I'm conflicted about. On one hand, it makes the gameplay kind of useless, since you can win pretty easily with auto battling, and you can skip the training quests entirely once you clear them for the first time. Just set how much stamina you want to use, and then you'll simply receive all of the rewards. But it also makes it easy to get back to the story which I was more invested in anyway.
This game feels pretty hands off. That's not necessarily bad. It just means you can simply chill out and watch things unfold. Almost like a visual novel, which Gacha elements.
Replayability
This is not a play and beat and start over type game. I mean, you can if you really want to. But it's a daily check in, collect rewards, use up your current stamina, then pop back in, kinda game. You will be grinding away for awhile, or just drop a lot of cash to unlock everything. If you do the latter, I definitely wouldn't restart.
Overall
I enjoyed Atelier Resleriana. It's good for what it is, but obviously does not compare to other mainline Atelier games. It is the most beautiful, but the gameplay has been stripped down to the bare bones, with no room for exploration or trial and error. It's a nice game to zone out with, but I'd rather play a tradition Atelier game for a more well-rounded experience.
You also sometimes play as Valeria, a fighter stuck in a bad situation. At least until she meets Resna and has something worth fighting for: friendship!
Visuals
This game is gorgeous! I've always liked the way Atelier games look as they have a very distinct style, but I doubt the Switch does them justice. I don't know if all of the games look like this on PC, but Atelier Resleriana looks incredible. From the backgrounds to the character models to the monsters, even the attack affects. Everything is bright and flashy and pretty and I love it!
However, there aren't as many area details as you're probably use to from these games, since there aren't really areas to explore. Everything is either a gorgeous cutscene or a gorgeous menu. You don't actually control Resna. She just gets a screen saying "Destination: [Place]" and then she's there with a new set of menus. It is a bummer, but it makes sense for this Gacha format. I do like how there are actually people walking around in town though, since the frozen NPCs were always a bit uncanny.
The only exception to this is the Dungeon quests, but even those don't allow free exploration. It's just a left-to-right line through a gorgeous scene, but still static.
Sound Effects + Music
I immediately fell in love with the music of Atelier Resleriana. The opening music is gorgeous, and became very familiar with the theme song, since my game took two hours to update and it was playing on loop. It's a good song.
The game is fully voice acted just like previous games, and the voice actors give really good performances. I wouldn't expect anything less. Yes, it's only in Japanese.
Gameplay + Controls
Even though Atelier Resleriana is considered a mainline game, it is not quite like the others in the series. It's not a full JRPG, as it's a Gacha game. You still have alchemy and battles, but they take on a much different form here.
You don't go out exploring to gather materials anymore. Materials are now locked between Materials Quests, which are further locked behind how much stamina you have, This is also how you earn Cole (money) and Exp to level up. You go to the Cafe, or rather click on Quests and get presented with the interior of the cafe, and select which type of quest you want to do, as long as you still have enough stamina.
Battles are similarly locked behind quests rather than having monsters out while you explore. You also get some battles as part of the story progression. But battles are still turn-based. This time you see a timeline at the bottom of the screen which shows the turn order and upcoming battle effects. You choose which attack you want each girl to do and she carries it out immediately. Or you can just use Auto, which has worked out really well for me thus far.
As for the story progression, you actually have to select Story from the menu just like you would for Quests and other menu items. Then you get some gorgeous cut scenes of the girls, and maybe a couple battles. You'll also discover dungeons this way, which are kind of equivalent to gathering spots. You get materials and face monsters, but you're still not free to explore. You just move Resna right until she comes to an action point. Even this can be set to Auto once you complete that dungeon for the first time.
In fact, there's a lot of automation in this game, which I'm conflicted about. On one hand, it makes the gameplay kind of useless, since you can win pretty easily with auto battling, and you can skip the training quests entirely once you clear them for the first time. Just set how much stamina you want to use, and then you'll simply receive all of the rewards. But it also makes it easy to get back to the story which I was more invested in anyway.
This game feels pretty hands off. That's not necessarily bad. It just means you can simply chill out and watch things unfold. Almost like a visual novel, which Gacha elements.
Replayability
This is not a play and beat and start over type game. I mean, you can if you really want to. But it's a daily check in, collect rewards, use up your current stamina, then pop back in, kinda game. You will be grinding away for awhile, or just drop a lot of cash to unlock everything. If you do the latter, I definitely wouldn't restart.
Overall
I enjoyed Atelier Resleriana. It's good for what it is, but obviously does not compare to other mainline Atelier games. It is the most beautiful, but the gameplay has been stripped down to the bare bones, with no room for exploration or trial and error. It's a nice game to zone out with, but I'd rather play a tradition Atelier game for a more well-rounded experience.