Almost the Right Recipe
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis brings alchemy back to the fore. Perhaps a little too much.
Published: March 20, 2008
I'm going to try to fight the urge to do the usual rambling bit of introductory filler here in describing why Mana Khemia is familiar territory for Japanese developer Gust. Nearly every other review out there will probably have already made references to the Atelier Iris series (and if not, well, there's the link right there), but suffice it to say that alchemy is Gust's... milieu.
Placing a wide-range of ingredients and recipes and resulting items into a crafting system without it all getting a little unwieldy is actually a fairly nuanced process, but after a slew of games, Gust has pretty much gotten it down pat, which may explain why they were so eager to put alchemy front and center in a game that otherwise doesn't really deviate from their previous works all that much. We got into the specifics of what a typical semester was like right here, so by all means read up to see how it all flows.
Going to school in a game, ordinarily, wouldn't exactly qualify as "fun" for most, but it's really just an elaborate construct for initially spoon feeding players with the basic skills to start whipping up items with basic ingredients, then those items (sometimes with special properties) with other items to make new items (again, with special properties based on the special properties of your initial special item) and on and on. You'll learn how to forage for ingredients in the wild and how to fight enemies (the battle system of which is a near-clone of Gust's other games, right down to the turn order being displayed, the ability to go into an overdrive mode and a magical character for support -- in this case main character Vayne's cat Sulpher), discover recipes and meet an eclectic cast of classic Gust archetypes.
To say that this is familiar territory -- even despite having an artificial timeline that isn't especially strict about when you get back to class or complete your objectives -- is an understatement. As decent as Alchemists of Al-Revis is, it looks and plays like Gust RPG 101. Gust makes some really great RPGs, so this isn't a bad thing, but with the relative ease of the fights and semi-structured layout for all the quests (sorry, sorry, "lessons"), I couldn't escape the feeling that maybe this was meant to be My First Synthesis RPG. I'm not saying it's the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest of PS2 RPGs, but it does skew decidedly toward the easier side of things.
I suppose that's because the game is less about level grinding and some kind of massive world-ending plot (though it has its moments) and more about character interaction, following the structure of a typical semester at an alchemy school where humans are hardly the overwhelming majority, and balancing social, item fetching, item creation and side quest activities than your normal JRPG. There are certainly times when the social part of things adds something to the whole experience (using your free time to learn a little more about your friends, or paying money to start a rumor and then going through the motions to actually make it true both end up producing some great dialogue), but this isn't a game for the power-leveling hardcore.
It is, however, a fine example of why NIS America seems hell bent on keeping traditional sprite-based RPGs alive and well, In a time where 3D world maps and elaborate, epic-scale battles are dealt with polygons rather than taking the time to inject a little more personality into some hand-drawn sprites, the bulk of NIS and their developers' projects are still primarily 2D-based. Mana Khemia is definitely not the kind of awe-inspiring feast of 2D artistry that, say, Odin Sphere, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's charm.
The battle system is quick, replete with tons of little effects to spice things up, overworld exploration is bright and cheery, the character portraits are hi-res and detailed -- hell, even the text in the game is in a big, clean font (and yes, you'd be amazed at what a difference that makes). The game's simplistic, at times almost borderline amateurish, visuals nearly always work in its favor, which means you may not be blown away, but what's there blends with the tone of the game perfectly.
Speaking of tone, the voice acting, effects and music are, again, very, very familiar stuff. Your ability to stomach the typical cutesy Japanese RPG voice acting will play a large part in just how much of the game you can stomach, though if you'd prefer it, there are Japanese voices that can be toggled on at just about any time. That leaves Gust's stock chimes, slaps, whooshes and refrains to fill in the effects work, and though there are moments where the soundtrack pulls from the familiar choir-based sustains that made the Ar Tonelico such a treat to listen to.
In the end, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis is quaint, it does what it's supposed to do without ending up feeling especially offensive or even lacking in any way and yet its by-the-book nature also means that there's nothing to really latch onto. The clichés of the amnesiac lead character, his meek/hyper-extraverted sidekicks and cocky rivals pass by without ever really feeling interesting. NIS America's localization has peppered the game with plenty of great bits of humor, but even those don't gel in a way that makes the game feel memorable seconds after you've finished playing it.
If you're clinging onto your PS2 in the hopes of riding out one more year with arguably the greatest RPG system ever created, this might just tide you by, but for those seeking a meatier, more sustainable role-playing game, you might have to start digging into the back catalog. Might we suggest one of the Atelier games, perhaps?
Placing a wide-range of ingredients and recipes and resulting items into a crafting system without it all getting a little unwieldy is actually a fairly nuanced process, but after a slew of games, Gust has pretty much gotten it down pat, which may explain why they were so eager to put alchemy front and center in a game that otherwise doesn't really deviate from their previous works all that much. We got into the specifics of what a typical semester was like right here, so by all means read up to see how it all flows.
Going to school in a game, ordinarily, wouldn't exactly qualify as "fun" for most, but it's really just an elaborate construct for initially spoon feeding players with the basic skills to start whipping up items with basic ingredients, then those items (sometimes with special properties) with other items to make new items (again, with special properties based on the special properties of your initial special item) and on and on. You'll learn how to forage for ingredients in the wild and how to fight enemies (the battle system of which is a near-clone of Gust's other games, right down to the turn order being displayed, the ability to go into an overdrive mode and a magical character for support -- in this case main character Vayne's cat Sulpher), discover recipes and meet an eclectic cast of classic Gust archetypes.
To say that this is familiar territory -- even despite having an artificial timeline that isn't especially strict about when you get back to class or complete your objectives -- is an understatement. As decent as Alchemists of Al-Revis is, it looks and plays like Gust RPG 101. Gust makes some really great RPGs, so this isn't a bad thing, but with the relative ease of the fights and semi-structured layout for all the quests (sorry, sorry, "lessons"), I couldn't escape the feeling that maybe this was meant to be My First Synthesis RPG. I'm not saying it's the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest of PS2 RPGs, but it does skew decidedly toward the easier side of things.
I suppose that's because the game is less about level grinding and some kind of massive world-ending plot (though it has its moments) and more about character interaction, following the structure of a typical semester at an alchemy school where humans are hardly the overwhelming majority, and balancing social, item fetching, item creation and side quest activities than your normal JRPG. There are certainly times when the social part of things adds something to the whole experience (using your free time to learn a little more about your friends, or paying money to start a rumor and then going through the motions to actually make it true both end up producing some great dialogue), but this isn't a game for the power-leveling hardcore.
It is, however, a fine example of why NIS America seems hell bent on keeping traditional sprite-based RPGs alive and well, In a time where 3D world maps and elaborate, epic-scale battles are dealt with polygons rather than taking the time to inject a little more personality into some hand-drawn sprites, the bulk of NIS and their developers' projects are still primarily 2D-based. Mana Khemia is definitely not the kind of awe-inspiring feast of 2D artistry that, say, Odin Sphere, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's charm.
The battle system is quick, replete with tons of little effects to spice things up, overworld exploration is bright and cheery, the character portraits are hi-res and detailed -- hell, even the text in the game is in a big, clean font (and yes, you'd be amazed at what a difference that makes). The game's simplistic, at times almost borderline amateurish, visuals nearly always work in its favor, which means you may not be blown away, but what's there blends with the tone of the game perfectly.
Speaking of tone, the voice acting, effects and music are, again, very, very familiar stuff. Your ability to stomach the typical cutesy Japanese RPG voice acting will play a large part in just how much of the game you can stomach, though if you'd prefer it, there are Japanese voices that can be toggled on at just about any time. That leaves Gust's stock chimes, slaps, whooshes and refrains to fill in the effects work, and though there are moments where the soundtrack pulls from the familiar choir-based sustains that made the Ar Tonelico such a treat to listen to.
In the end, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis is quaint, it does what it's supposed to do without ending up feeling especially offensive or even lacking in any way and yet its by-the-book nature also means that there's nothing to really latch onto. The clichés of the amnesiac lead character, his meek/hyper-extraverted sidekicks and cocky rivals pass by without ever really feeling interesting. NIS America's localization has peppered the game with plenty of great bits of humor, but even those don't gel in a way that makes the game feel memorable seconds after you've finished playing it.
If you're clinging onto your PS2 in the hopes of riding out one more year with arguably the greatest RPG system ever created, this might just tide you by, but for those seeking a meatier, more sustainable role-playing game, you might have to start digging into the back catalog. Might we suggest one of the Atelier games, perhaps?
