Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

One of the most enjoyable RPGs I’ve ever played. It’s got a leisurely feel and pace to it unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Like an old shoe: you know it so well, and it's made so sturdily, that every time you slip back into it, it feels like it belongs there. It's a comfortable, deeply satisfying game, the type of game that you'll find yourself taking more from than just a fun story, despite yourself.

A more-than-solid RPG throwback that does much more right than it does wrong.

The innovation is there, and what’s expressed is done well. But Atelier Iris suffers from some really stupid mistakes. In a genre that relies heavily on keeping gamers interested, the backtracking, silly errand missions and slow progressing story don’t help at all.

Patience with Atelier Iris, however, comes with its own rewards as the game manages to open up in more creative ways (besides the mastery of the simple but solid fighting system) once you begin amassing Mana and mana. [Sept 2005, p.106]

Unfortunately complex systems and a light atmosphere can’t replace the features it needs to be a solid RPG.

The game is still plagued by most amateurish of design blunders, being less than adequate in every aspect save for its "depth" (and even that is put to shame by most of the stat-based Nippon Ichi titles released in the past few years).

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

My introduction to the Atelier series. Cute game with lots of goofy characters. Story was just okay, but I really enjoyed the crafting system. Story 5.5/10 Graphics 7/10 Gameplay 7/10

Atelier Iris certainly is an interesting game. A lot of it is the standard RPG fare, but the extensive item creation system really makes this game stand out from the rest. Going around to the different shops of the world, and creating dozens of new items never seems to get old. The characters (particularly some of the NPCs) make you care about them, and you might spend more time trying to advance their mini-stories than advancing the main story. As for challenge, the game is overall easy, though a few bosses might hold you up for a bit. It's worth a look for any RPG fan, though anyone else may want to do some more research before picking this one up.

Very interesting RPG with an easy to use battle system. Some of the dialogue can be cheesy, but overall a good story with good voice actors (Japanese anyway, I couldnt really stand the dub). The battle system is fairly straightforward and allows you to swap out team members while in combat, which can really come in handy during certain fights (or if a team member dies). The Synthesize system, which although very interesting, can also be very tedious. Getting new recipes can sometimes require you to check back into a shop several times before a new one pops up. Some recipes require rare monster drops and thus need to be farmed. And of course, you will get new recipes which require ingredients from recipes that you do not have yet (and need to keep checking back in or synthesizing new items). I would rate the game overall a 7/10, but the ending felt very lackluster and short.

Clunky game mechanics, generic & linear plotline, gamebreaking bugs, and shoddy localization. This game probably got everything that you won't like in a JRPG. Even this game is a disgrace to the Atelier series since the alchemy system in this game are really bad, they wanted to make things simple but ended up with a lacking & barebones one. The character portraits in this game also looks hideous as if the illustrator for this game finally learned how to draw by the time they make Atelier Iris 2. Overall 0/10 a total disappointment.