Whoa! Didn't see this thread coming. More views in it already than any Atelier OT. You guys should try out Atelier Ayesha when it comes out in NA, um, next year I'm guessing.
I'm playing Atelier Ayesha right now and it ROCKS! Especially the music. Daisuke Achiwa at his best! Props to the other two composers who contributed to the game's soundtrack as well. Quite possibly the best OST I've heard this year. Right up there with Kid Icarus: Uprising and Beyond the Labrynth, and I definately prefer it over Xenoblade's.
I don't think the majority of people think those like me who like the Atelier games are into that nonsense. I mean, I honestly don't know who is enjoying panty shots and all that crap, especially in these games. If your looking for a sexual fix, these games kinda suck for that. But what do I know. There is no denying, however, that the Arland games have there share of bouncing and bare toes. I've yet to see any in Ayesha, but I'm only 13 hrs. in and I'm sure that stuff is lurking somewhere, and I have no idea why Gust puts that stuff in there at all or who they're trying to pander to (themselves probably).
These games are not Ar tonelico or your usual Compile Hearts/Idea Factory games though. The gameplay is not only fun, but addicting. It's one of those "okay just one more level!" kinda games. Watching the days/clock pass in the in-game timer adds to the tension felt while playing. I really enjoy it.
That said though, the games skits and characters are what you would expect from your usual slice of life anime, complete with the old comedy routines. A good editor could go in and cut a lot of the garbage out and have a better flowing story.
I really like these PS3 Atelier games though and I strongly recommend you guys give 'em a try or a rent and see if it's for you. Personally, I sometime dreamed of how a western studio would do an Atelier game, complete with Patrick Doyle or David Downes music, but with an artsyle more suitable for a western crowd and the bullcrap removed.
Biggest potential audience for the Atelier series to expand, in my opinion, are females. I'm thinking mainly about Japan, but in the West your typical FPS male isn't going to browse the Gamestop PS3 section (one of the few places you'll see an Atelier game on a store shelf), see a young girl with a crown on her head, and say "oh, I gotta have that." Princess's as stars are generally percieved to be more geared toward young girls. That's why movies like the Little Mermaid back in the day, and recently Brave from Pixar get a lot of chatter about how they'll do at the box office as the movies may be perceived as being for young girls and unappealing to men of any age.
Back to Japan, one youtube commenter commented for a video showing a convention or something where Gust revealed A14 (Atelier Ayesha) that the entire audience in attendance are all guys. The only gal there was the one on stage. When I see Harvest Moon and now Rune Factory scoring with the ladies, I have to wonder why the Atelier series, starring girls in the main role, are only attracting men in Japan. Perhaps the main problem is the marketing, but I wonder if the problem has anything with the games themselves too.
Atelier Rorona, Totori, and Meruru (when it first shipped) were all rated CERO A in Japan, which is like rated E in NA. Rorona and Totori sales ranged from mediocre to okay, but Meruru, starring a pink haired princess, was where the real sale success was. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm drawing this from memory, but I believe Meruru scored 130k units sold total according to famitsu data. Totori and Rorona were 90k or under, and the recently released Ayesha is currently sitting somewhere in the 90k area trying to crawl six figures. All famitsu data.
My question is, where did those extra 30k Meruru sales come from? All otaku? My growing guess is that girls played a role in the increase fueled by the fact that for some reason, children were getting their hands on Atelier Meruru and suddenly parents were calling CERO telling them that they deem some parts of the game inappropriate for there child. Thus Meruru had to be re-rated to CERO B. Atelier Ayesha, of which 13 hrs in, appears far more modest than any of the Arland games, is also rated CERO B. Of course with Ayesha, I can't understand most of the chats so I don't know what their talking about for the most part, but there is nothing that leads me to believe their talking about anything beyond Alchemy, Nio, candy, flowers, animals, and stuff like that. Everything's in good taste.
I think Rorona and Totori managed to escaped a rating change because they were less popular and primarily purchased by older users who could afford a PS3 at those times. But Meruru got more customers, and I speculate a number of those people have never played an Atelier game before. I highly doubt those old Salburg players who played the PS1 Atelier games (didn't some of those sell over 200K?) decided to finally jump back on board the Atelier bus after so many years had past. I speculate a number of little Japanese girls added to Meruru's total. How many? I don't know.
I may have gotten way off topic here. I'd like to see more people play and enjoy the games, and we who already do most certainly are not pedophiles, but if that perception that little girls is the sole selling point of these games is anywhere near common among fellow gamers, then that mis-information is just that, mis-information. These are solid games that could always have more improvement.
And, man, that music baby!
Listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJK21-wanY&feature=channel&list=UL battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfEpWgjjzc&feature=relmfu world map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuuiMUuIdzs&feature=channel&list=UL battle
I could post the entire first disk. Everything's awesome. I listened to it during my trip up and down the east coast. Haven't listend to disc 2 yet though. Have to beat the game first. Can't wait to hear the vocal songs too.
