Atelier Annie: Alchemist of Sera Island (game:NDS)
Galen
DS is about a girl who is chosen to manage a resort. The general
playstyle is RPG, but combat is not emphasized. The US release
is subtitled, with a Japanese language voice track.
The goals of the game are:
1.
take orders for alchemic goods
acquire needed materials from gathering spots or the store
make goods, then fill the order
use the money to buy more tools/better materials
repeat
2.
build close friendships with all the people who help you
3.
Choose facilities for the resort;
provide your managers with the materials they need
to operate their facilities
This game has been billed as easy, because no matter how
you play, you always reach an ending. The "true" ending
requires befriending *everyone*, which is a lot of work.
After the first playthrough, you have the option of leaving
your materials for the next game, or cashing them out and
leaving just the gold. Either way, it saves a lot of time in
the next playthrough.
It is possible to win with a cold start - I just did it - but
there are a few things you need to know that the rules
don't tell you:
Keep it balanced; this game is all about multi-tasking.
Friendship levels are established by Events, and leveling up;
BFF status can be achieved by level 12, if every event goes
well.
When a character is in your party, you will not see the events
related to that character; it is necessary to swap them out
every so often in order to win. Some events require that a
specific character be in your party.
Claus will not appear when Hans is in your party until Hans
is deliberately looking for him.
When you buy a recipe book from the library, you will
recieve requests from your friends for the items within it;
the materials needed to make those items may not be
available until later in the game, so don't buy books carelessly.
(Or anything else; money management is critical to victory.)
When making something, make it in the smallest possible quantity
consistent with efficient production. Don't buy materials that you
don't immediately need, and don't buy more than you need.
You can sell gathered materials to the store if you have an excess.
The most of anything you can have is 99; this is a problem
if you need a purple fish and already have 99 orange fish,
so sell anything you have too much of before you go out gathering.
The mascots at a facility will gather materials for you if you
ask them.
When you open a facility, new areas open up; these areas
may be too high in level too use if you pick the wrong
facility to open. Facilities have different costs; opening an
expensive facility means a delay in opening the last one,
which reduces your facility income.
Income from a facility is related to its fame, so assign
a high priority to the requests of your managers.
Facility wealth is unrelated to your personal wealth.
If your friends die, it damages your friendship.
When characters level up, they restore all Hit points;
if you routinely need to use healing items,
your characters are under-equipped.
The True ending involves the project running out of money
and the heroine has to save the day; this means you have
to finish all of your goals well ahead of the project deadline
to qualify for it.
rot13 [lbh zhfg or svavfurq ol lrne guerr zbagu gra].
A note on timekeeping:
the game begins in year 1 month 4
after 9 months, you reach year 1 month 1 -
it's a Japanese school calender; years change in April.
Other ending are possible, such as
becoming the royal alchemist (default ending)
reaching level 50 as an adventurer
becoming wealthy
becoming a writer
failing
I find this game to be worth the time and money
I spent on it. It is unrelated to Atelier manga, and
there is no anime.
-Galen