Atelier (video Game Series)
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is a franchise of role-playing video games developed by the
Gust Corporation is a video game developer and division of Koei Tecmo Games, known for their ''Atelier'' franchise. Company was founded in 1993 in Nagano, Japan, as the first game software house in Nagano Prefecture. The company began by creating ''dōjinsh ...
since 1997, primarily for the PlayStation line of consoles ( PlayStation,
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,
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, and PlayStation 4); portable versions for the Game Boy Color,
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,
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, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable,
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...
and
WonderSwan Color The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released ...
have also been made. Two of the games in the series were ported to the Sega Saturn and
Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...
. The series has been primarily released in Japan, though recent titles have been localized for other markets. The franchise centers around the concept of an
atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...
specialising in
alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
; the gameplay involves finding, collecting, and combining items in recipes to create better items, which allows the player to advance further in the game. A manga adaptation by Yoshihiko Ochi has also been published. As of December 2020, the series has sold more than 5 million copies.


Common elements

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
is the distinguishing theme of the ''Atelier'' series. Players control the game's character, roaming the game world to collect objects to use in alchemy recipes to create new objects, including cooking ingredients, recovery items, tools, weapons, armor, and accessories. Synthesized objects are commonly required in order to create more powerful or potent objects through alchemy. Many of the games feature a method of transferring properties of one item from the recipe to the synthesized item. Recipes also often allow the substitution of items, which can either lend better properties to the final synthesized item, or can lead to the character thinking of a completely new recipe. The games generally feature a turn-based combat system, in which the items made through alchemy come into play, either to boost the character's abilities, or for offensive, defensive, or support items. The games' stories are typically light-hearted and humorous, often deriving
conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
from a source other than an
antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
and the player ends up with a large group of characters to explore the world with. In most games of the series, the player has a limited in-game time to accomplish one or more main objectives and actions like gathering items, traveling or synthesizing spend a portion of that time. Failure to accomplish the game's main tasks in time may cause the game to end abruptly or lead to a bad end, though these time limits tend to be rather lenient. The first entry in the "Mysterious" ''Atelier'' series ''
Atelier Sophie is a 2015 Japanese role-playing video game developed by Gust for the PlayStation 3 (only in Japan), PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita (digital-only) and Microsoft Windows. It is the 17th main game in the ''Atelier'' series and the first game of the ...
'' does away with the time limit system, but the second entry '' Atelier Firis'' has a time limit for completing the game's first story objective, after which players can play at their leisure.


Games

There have been 24 main games in the ''Atelier'' franchise which are subdivided into seven sub-series. There are three games in the Salburg series, two games in Gramnad series, three games in the Iris series, two games in the Mana-Khemia series, four games in the Arland series, three games in the Dusk series, four games in the Mysterious series, and three games in the Secret series.


Side games

In addition to the main games, several side games have been released.


Remakes and ports

Several of the series' titles were remade or ported, mostly for portable devices. * A Gust's official spelling is ''Viorate'', as seen on the manga adaptation's and the original soundtrack's cover.


Other

*Marie from ''Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg'', and Liliane Vehlendorf, Rozeluxe Meitzen, Whim and Rewrich Wallach from ''Mana Khemia 2'' joins many other out of game characters in 2008's ''
Cross Edge ''Cross Edge'', originally released in Japan as ''XEdge'', is a role-playing video game originally for the PlayStation 3. The game was developed by Idea Factory with characters from games by Capcom, Nippon Ichi Software, Bandai Namco, and Gust Co ...
''. *Viorate from ''Atelier Viorate: The Alchemist of Gramnad 2'' appears in the 2009 company-collaboration RPG, '' Trinity Universe'' released in the United States by
NIS America is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' characte ...
(as "Violet"). *Company-collaborative 2010 RPG ''
Hyperdimension Neptunia is a series of role-playing video games created and developed by Compile Heart and Idea Factory. The series debuted in Japan on August 19, 2010, with the video game of the same name for the PlayStation 3, later re-released as an enhanced rem ...
s in-game character Gust displays ''Atelier'' characters in numerous special attacks in the game. Gust also has a costume that directly resembles a costume from ''Atelier''. She also has a hobby of making items out of strange ingredients, a play on the ''Atelier'' series' focus on alchemy. She returns for the
reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
as an important story character but was later replaced by
Broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...
in the remake. She also appeared in the ''Megami Tsuuhin'' manga on some chapters. *As of January 2015, Koei Tecmo's ''My Gamecity Card Collection'' browser collectible card game features more than 170 Atelier themed cards. *Astrid Zexis, Rorolina Frixell, Cordelia von Feuerbach, Lionela Heinze and Pamela Ibis, from ''Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland'' appeared in 2013's ''
Kaku-san-sei Million Arthur is a Japanese media franchise created by Square Enix, consisting primarily of a series of video games. The first release was an online free-to-play card battle game titled , which was released for iOS and Android in 2012. A sequel gam ...
''. *Sterkenburg Cranach from ''Atelier Arland'' series, appeared in '' Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate'', sporting his Meruru appearance and his Rorona appearance as DLC costume. *2013's '' Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends'' has a Rorolina Frixelle-themed (from ''Atelier Rorona'') costume for playable character
Wang Yuanji Wang Yuanji (217 – 20 April 268) was a Chinese noble lady, aristocrat and later empress dowager of Jin dynasty, who lived during the Three Kingdoms period. She was the wife of Sima Zhao, a regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three King ...
. *2014's '' Deception IV: Blood Ties'' has a costume based on Totooria Helmold, from ''Atelier Totori''. *''
Chain Chronicle is a tower defense role-playing game developed and published by Sega for iOS, Android, and PlayStation Vita. It was released in Japan on July 26, 2013 for iOS, August 1, 2013 for Android and on July 16, 2014 for the PlayStation Vita. Th ...
s October 2015 update added Rorolina Frixell and Cordelia von Feuerbach from ''Atelier Rorona'', Merurulince Rede Arls, Keina Swaya and Sterkenburg Cranach from ''Atelier Meruru'', and Totooria Helmold and Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang from ''Atelier Totori'', as playable characters. *In 2016, costumes based from various games by Gust, including the ''Atelier'' series, appeared as DLC in ''
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round ''Dead or Alive 5 Last Round'' is a 2015 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Arcade. It is the third and final updated version of 201 ...
''. *In 2017, Sophie Neuenmuller and Plachta appeared in ''
Warriors All-Stars ''Warriors All-Stars'', (or in Japan) is a hack and slash video game by Koei Tecmo. It is a crossover based on the long-running '' Warriors'' series, featuring an array of cast taken from various titles owned by the company, similar to the ''War ...
'' as playable characters. *In 2017, costumes based on Rorolina Frixell and Hom from ''Atelier Rorona'' appeared as DLC in Gust's game ''
Blue Reflection ''Blue Reflection'' is a role-playing video game developed by Gust. It was published by Koei Tecmo in March 2017 in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and was released in September 2017 in North America and Europe for the PlayS ...
''. *In 2018, costumes of Lydie and Suelle Malen appeared in ''
Everybody's Golf ''Everybody's Golf'', known in Japan as and formerly known as ''Hot Shots Golf'' in North America, is a series of golf video games published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation series of video game consoles. The series ha ...
'' as part of a collaboration. In return, costumes based on the game appear for free for an entire year exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of ''Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings''. *Various ''Atelier'' costumes return as DLC in ''
Dead or Alive 6 is a 2019 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. It is the sixth main entry in the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting series. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 1, 2019, and w ...
'' as part of the "Gust Mashup Costume Set". A separate DLC pack was released titled "Atelier Ryza Mashup Set" that is based on the three female playable characters in ''Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout''.


Anime and manga adaptations

by Yoshihiko Ochi is a five volume manga adaptation first published in Japan by Enterbrain, published in German by Egmont, published in French by
Ki-oon Ki-oon is a French manga publisher founded in October 2003 by Cécile Pournin and Ahmed Agne. It released its first manga in March 2004, the first volume of ''Element Line''. The name "Ki-oon" comes from an onomatopoeia meaning "having the heart ...
, and four of the volumes were published in English by
Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...
. The series was later re-edited and re-released in two ''
tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes on July 25, 2007. The manga later received a sequel titled , as of February 2018 Enterbrain released eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. In 2005 Enterbrain also released a one-shot manga titled . ''Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky'' was adapted into a manga series by
Chako Abeno is a female Japanese illustrator and manga artist. She publishes dōjinshi with the circle . She is also involved in the artwork of adult games. Works Manga * (2002, Kadokawa Shoten), Illustrator * (2003, Kadokawa Shoten) * (2006, Kadokawa ...
. It features some arrangements to the story in order to let supporting characters play a bigger role. As of January 2015 two ''tankōbon'' volumes was released. It has also been adapted into a 12-episode television
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series, produced by Studio Gokumi and directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki, aired on
Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...
between April 10, 2014 and 26 June 2014. A manga adaptation of ''Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout'', written and illustrated by Riichu started serialization in '' Shūkan Famitsū'' on September 17, 2020. A manga adaptation of ''Atelier Rorona'' also exists.


See also

*
Quintet (company) was a Japanese video game developer, founded in April 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, as well as five elements of game design—planning, graphics, sound, programming and producing. Quintet was most active in the 199 ...
*
List of Japanese role-playing game franchises This is a list of best-selling Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) franchises. For inclusion on the list, a franchise must have sold or shipped at least one million copies. For the purpose of this article, a JRPG is defined as a franchise which: (1 ...
* '' Chronos Materia''


Notes


References


External links


Arland Portal
* {{Atelier series Fiction about alchemy Koei Tecmo franchises Role-playing video games by series Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1997