Bernhardt
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Bernhardt's Mana-Khemia Review
Mana-Khemia basically takes the formula that Atelier Iris ~ Grand Fantasm (that's right, "F" Fantasm, like in the original Japanese title, none of this "Ph" Phantasm nonsense!...and they didn't put the "3" in there, either!) followed, and expands upon it; you have a home base (the Academy), and then you have mission-based gameplay that branches out to the dungeons, which, there are many more of them this time around.
Mana-Khemia also re-uses Atelier Iris ~ Grand Fantasm's concept of having to walk into/slash enemies to initiate battles, as opposed to the old random encounter systems used in earlier installments of the series; the menu-based map systems used in Ar-Tonelico are also re-used.
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LEVEL BUILDING
Gust has really made this game challenging by putting limitations on level-building. It goes like this: you get recipes for Alchemic items, you make those Alchemic items (weapons, armor, accessories, medicine, other ingredients, etc.), and then you invest AP (Ability Points) into these items (the AP is earned from battles) to increase your stats, but you must have the item in order to do it, and each piece of equipment only offers about 1-3 stat boosts; you also learn new battle skills in the same manner, as well.
DUNGEON GRAPHICS
Honestly though, while there are many dungeons in the game, most of them have the same forest motif (Living Forest, Old Schoolhouse, Mana Ruins, Bone Grove, etc.); only the Wind Corridor and Heaven's Road present graphics that are truly unique to the series; even the Millenium Tree graphics were used in Grand Fantasm, the big tree in the Posporia Battlegrounds).
That said, the graphics are done more three-dimensional; this means that scenery becomes "larger" as you approach, or "smaller" as you walk away from it, because now a point-of-view exists. While this seems like a small improvement, and this's what most PS2 games have been doing for years, this little improvement that Gust is making on their series really helps me better immerse myself into the game.
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SIDE COMMENTS:
PACKAGING IN FRENCH?
I thought it was strange that the packaging and instructions are in both English and French. Oh well. So long as they're in English, but the game itself doesn't have text available in French, let alone a French voice track...whatever.
COVER GRAPHIC
First thing I notice, is that the game cover on the case that actually holds the game is horizontal rather than vertical. That just looks stupid, especially when the manual image is vertical, it shows more of the picture that way.
MAIN CHARACTER: Vayne
Vayne's character in-game is a hell of a lot less bad-ass than any character artwork of him shows,which always show him standing in a menacing, anti-hero pose; but all of his in-game dialogue shows him as a mild-mannered young man who gives into other's whims (peer pressure) easily. I was just hoping for a hero that was bad-ass, especially after the roster of token bad-asses that comprised the entire male case of Atelier Iris ~ Grand Fantasm (I'm talkin' 'bout Edge, Alvero - even if he was a loser, Ash, and Crowley)...and yes, I'm getting paid $50 for every time that I type the words "Bad-ass."
OF BLACK CATS AND DEMONIC SWORDS
Still, the fact that Vayne's black cat transforms into a demonic sword is damn well bad-ass. It is one awesome-looking demonic sword; it has a blinking red eye and everything! It's just so rockstar!
I still wished Sulpher was voiced-over, even if he's only communicating telepathically with Vayne; after all, telepathic voices usually sound cooler!
Last edited by Bernhardt, 4/14/2008, 6:25 pm
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4/14/2008, 6:14 pm
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GibbBoy
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Registered: 02-2006
Location: Dallas, TX
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Re: Bernhardt's Mana-Khemia Review
Decent review Bernhardt.
Mana-Khemia is my favorite GUST game of the ones I've played (Atelier Iris 1, 2, and Ar Tonelico). I really like the characters, the sprite work, the battle system, the alchemy system, the storyline, and the voices.
As for Vayne, I don't want to give away too many spoilers or anything, but he starts off as a semi-pathetic wimp who doesn't sound tough, but he slowly grows more reliable and strong as the game goes along. I acted didn't like his character when I first started the game, but I think he's quite awesome now (I'm about 50 hours into the game, playing slowly).
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5/8/2008, 10:25 am
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