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Atelier Shallie Plus (Vita) coming west in January 2017; physical LE available

K

Kresnik258

Member
... and there's also a standard edition available at retail in Europe, wat o_O

http://gematsu.com/2016/10/atelier-shallie-plus-coming-west-january

NIS America selling limited physical edition.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

Atelier-Shallie-NA-EU-Jan-Ann.jpg


Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea for PS Vita is coming to North America on January 17 and Europe on January 20, publisher Koei Tecmo announced.

The game will be available digitally in North America, and both physically and digitally in Europe. In both North America and Europe, however, NIS America will sell a $54.99 / £49.99 limited edition via its online store. It includes:

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea for PS Vita
30-Track original soundtrack with jewel case
Microfiber cloth (6″ x 6″)
Full-color, 48-page softcover art book
Collector’s box (Includes all the above)
Here’s an overview of the game, via Koei Tecmo:

Specs

Language Audio: English, Japanese
Language Text: English
About

In this game, the player will assume the role of Shallistera and Shallotte, who are alchemists seeking to solve the issues within their village and city. Shallistera is the daughter of the ship family’s leader. She is in searches for a means to save her home village from a severe drought and travels to the main town to seek help and assistance. Shallotte on the other hand is a novice alchemist who is taking on odd partime jobs at the main town. She ends up meeting Shallistera by accident and agrees to help her solve the drought issue.

There are also additional story chapters that goes deeper into Shallies daily life and also the mysteries behind the dusk, a phenomenon that is causing the worldwide drought. Also the new story chapters introduces new characters like Ayesha, Keithgrif, Escha, and Logy. There are also additional dungeons to explore and new enemy bosses to battle.
 
P

purseowner

Member
I couldn't be happier. If anyone reading this thread hasn't played an Atelier game - go do it - most consistently fantastic JRPG franchise over the last decade.
 
T

tiebreaker

Member
I still have the PS3 Aarland Collection laying around unplayed..... need to get into this series, but there are just too many games.
 
BigEmil

BigEmil

Junior Member
Surprising despite making far less profits on physical vita as its costly and near 2017 a vita release too, bought
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
purseowner said:
I couldn't be happier. If anyone reading this thread hasn't played an Atelier game - go do it - most consistently fantastic JRPG franchise over the last decade.
Click to expand...

Wholeheartedly agree. Its had its ups and downs but for a yearly franchise, it's remained a remarkable level of quality and if you're a fan of the kind of JRPG that's on offer here, it's been an incredible franchise over a number of gens now.
 
N

Nachtfalke

Member
It's interesting to see the shift for physical Vita releases at some publishers. Bandai Namco is already doing the "physical only for EU" way. I never thought we would see that happen for an Atelier game, or a game from KT in general in 2017.

Will double dip! LE pre-ordered.
 
C

chrominance

Member
Passing on the LE, since Shallie is my least favourite Atelier game to date, but glad to see it exists.

And that's it for the Plus line, right? I can't imagine anyone will have the appetite for a Plus version of Sophie, considering it already has a Vita version.

Nachtfalke said:
It's interesting to see the shift for physical Vita releases at some publishers. Bandai Namco is already doing the "physical only for EU" way. I never thought we would see that happen for an Atelier game, or a game from KT in general in 2017.

Will double dip! LE pre-ordered.
Click to expand...

Didn't this already happen for Escha & Logy Plus? It definitely didn't get a standard physical release in North America, at least.
 
Toadthemushroom

Toadthemushroom

Member
purseowner said:
I couldn't be happier. If anyone reading this thread hasn't played an Atelier game - go do it - most consistently fantastic JRPG franchise over the last decade.
Click to expand...

Shallie arguably represents the decline of the modern series. That removal of time flow takes away from how a lot of the previous games' systems were set up to play nice together. It robs the game of resource and time management qualities and turns it into something where you're only really playing to tick boxes, unlock story events and watch stats and numbers go up.

Before, every action you made had a trade-off or a cost, so you couldn't really afford to mindlessly accomplish tasks, battle monsters or gather everything.
 
N

Nachtfalke

Member
chrominance said:
Passing on the LE, since Shallie is my least favourite Atelier game to date, but glad to see it exists.

And that's it for the Plus line, right? I can't imagine anyone will have the appetite for a Plus version of Sophie, considering it already has a Vita version.



Didn't this already happen for Escha & Logy Plus? It definitely didn't get a standard physical release in North America, at least.
Click to expand...

Yes, but Europe got this game just digital only. No LE, no standard edition.
 
A

Aru

Member
This was my first Atelier game and it was quite alright. Nothing mind blowing but enjoyable. Some of the end game bosses are insane though.
 
E

Ermac

Proudly debt free. If you need a couple bucks, just ask.
Is this website not working for anyone else? I can't click the links up top.
 
M

Moofers

Member
I've never played one of these before, but I'm a sucker for Vita stuff and I really enjoy Tecmo Koei's stuff. Can somebody explain what they're like? I have it in my head that you run an item shop in a town like you'd find in a JRPG or something. I have no idea.

I almost bought Sophie because I adored the character designs, but I never pulled the trigger. Help a new guy out! Thanks in advance!
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Moofers said:
I've never played one of these before, but I'm a sucker for Vita stuff and I really enjoy Tecmo Koei's stuff. Can somebody explain what they're like? I have it in my head that you run an item shop in a town like you'd find in a JRPG or something. I have no idea.

I almost bought Sophie because I adored the character designs, but I never pulled the trigger. Help a new guy out! Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Games are mostly comprised of three elements: Alchemy; Combat & Exploration.

- Alchemy - you make things in your workshop by combining different items to make other items, which uses up in-game time. The items are either used in combat or to complete quests people give you in the various towns you come across.

- Combat - turn-based, starts out very simple but by the later entries gets increasingly complex. There's always a turn-by-turn bar so you can see who's attacking next.

- Exploration - in order to make things with alchemy, you have to venture out into the world to get the items you need. Means exploring a variety of small zones across a world map.

In general, the games take the structure of you've given a long-term goal, then you set out into the world achieving little goals along the way. For example, Totori's long term goal is to find her long-lost mother, but along the way she'll attempt to become an Adventurer; build a boat and carry out various tasks etc.

There's always a large amount of characters you can recruit to take with you and you get various cutscenes depending on what you've done with each characters at a certain time.

They're very, very good and if they click with you, you'll be in love. It's one of my favourite series and I find they work absolutely best on Vita due to being able to play in short chunks.
 
fallingdove

fallingdove

Member
Kresnik258 said:
Games are mostly comprised of three elements: Alchemy; Combat & Exploration.

- Alchemy - you make things in your workshop by combining different items to make other items, which uses up in-game time. The items are either used in combat or to complete quests people give you in the various towns you come across.

- Combat - turn-based, starts out very simple but by the later entries gets increasingly complex. There's always a turn-by-turn bar so you can see who's attacking next.

- Exploration - in order to make things with alchemy, you have to venture out into the world to get the items you need. Means exploring a variety of small zones across a world map.

In general, the games take the structure of you've given a long-term goal, then you set out into the world achieving little goals along the way. For example, Totori's long term goal is to find her long-lost mother, but along the way she'll attempt to become an Adventurer; build a boat and carry out various tasks etc.

There's always a large amount of characters you can recruit to take with you and you get various cutscenes depending on what you've done with each characters at a certain time.

They're very, very good and if they click with you, you'll be in love. It's one of my favourite series and I find they work absolutely best on Vita due to being able to play in short chunks.
Click to expand...

The only other element I'd add is gathering. That is a big part of the experience.

The Atelier games are excellent though. I started with Rorona, played through Totori, and most recently finished Escha & Logy. They are really unique and Gust is always refining presentation/gameplay with each entry.
 
B

Blackleg-sanji1

Banned
Congrats to people waiting for this. I'm pretty new to the series only played Sophie. Any idea when we'll get Firis? Been keeping a eye on it and the fact Sophie and co are in it makes it even better for me since it was my first one
 
P

Pellegri Testament

Member
I may have been pretty neutral on Escha and Logy, but I'm a sucker for physical and will likely buy this anyway because I want to try and get into the series more.
 
R

Ryan95

Member
I hope European distribution of the standard edtion is handled by NISA as well, so that it will reach my country.
 
S

squall211

Member
I was starting to catch up on this series. Played the Arland trilogy and Ayesha. Still have to play Escha & Logy, this and Sophie. Nice to see that we're getting Shallie+ localized, though I never really doubted it would happen.
 
N

NecroWalrus

Member
Well, there goes my money.

I wish Ayesha Plus would have gotten a physical release, though. The incomplete set is going to be annoying.
 
C

chrominance

Member
SarusGray said:
Disagree! Atelier rorona the original was the worst hehehh
Click to expand...

I'd take even the original Rorona over Shallie, personally. It's the first game in the series, so it's easier to forgive it its mistakes. But more importantly, there's not actually that much wrong with it from what I remember. Yeah, it looks like crap, especially compared to the later games, and yeah, not having a mana system made it much more difficult to use skills in battles, and yeah, having to replay at least part of the game for each ending you've unlocked in a single run is annoying. But everything else worked pretty well, in my mind, even the three-month assignments.

I agree with the post above about how removing the time constraints left Shallie a weak shell of an Atelier game, and would add that the Life Tasks system Gust added was probably intended to add back some structure to the game but failed miserably because of how arbitrary the shift from Free Time to the next chapter's Story Time would be. Often you'd end up trying NOT to accomplish certain tasks because it would mean being forced to play through the next stroy section, which conveniently DIDN'T track progress towards your life tasks.

Sophie is so much better at removing the time constraints while still providing an Atelier-like experience that I'd almost suggest that people skip straight to that game instead. It doesn't solve the general issue of pretty much never feeling pressured to do anything because of the unlimited time, but to be honest that largely ceased to be a significant element of the series after Totori anyways.
 
M

meppi

Member
Physical in Europe? Sweet! I'll pick this up day one then.
Wasn't expecting this.
Guess not buying the digital versions of previous games till they drop to 20€ or lower actually worked?
 
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