Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-RevisGust/Nippon Ichi
This was the first game that came to mind when I considered what review to post. Anthony and I were quite disappointed that a single review from IGN (whose main argument was "it's too easy" - never before have I seen a game receive a 5.7 for that) has caused this game's ratings to absolutely plummet on GameRankings. We almost didn't buy the game because of that review, and we're very glad that we took the risk anyway. Needless to say, we couldn't disagree more with the final score that Mana Khemia received, and we'd like to share our thoughts on this little gem.
Lauren:
I loved this game. The graphics were cute and colourful, the battle system was very fun, and the music was enjoyable. I suppose the dungeon-crawling could be considered simplistic, but I had no problem with that. My only issue was the night-cycle being a little pointless, but even then, it's barely a problem. My favourite part about the gameplay is that you don't need a walkthrough. Ever! It's so straight-forward and all the info you need is right there in the game's handbook and encyclopedia. What enemies drop, what certain abilities turn them into, what you need to do next, etc. Love it! That's so rare in a time of you-need-a-guide RPG quests like FFXII's Zodiac Spear.
The music is wonderful. We got the version with the soundtrack CD and loved it before even playing. Some are simple melodies, but they're adorable, catchy, and will never ever ever leave my head. Seriously, it's some of the happiest game-music I've ever heard.
I had no expectations for the storyline or character development, but I ended up surprised. By the end of it, there had been numerous plot twists that caught us completely off guard. And having watched the beginning again after beating it, I like how everything ties together. It was a lot more than I expected the plot to be. The characters were likeable and fun, too. Anna, for example, seems like the typical tough-girl, but then you see that she's absolutely nuts when it comes to jumping to conclusions, often to the point of humorously threatening people's lives. Even the more serious ones served an amusing role as the fourth-wall "voice of reason" at times, which added to the humour.
This game had awesome dialogue that reminded me of La Pucelle and the like. It was very well localized, too. The dialogue is probably the main reason why I'd rate this game very high. It was just that enjoyable. (Flay the superhero-guy comes to mind first - "Today, we graduate, as we spread our wings to leave the nest of academia! And as we flap our wings, we must ride the updrafts of justice!") Muppy deserves a special mention, too. Major bonus points for his transition to a diabolical British accent. Throughout the game, his "reminiscing" on events that couldn't have possibly happened to a pink alien glob are some of the funniest things I've seen in a game. I won't spoil anything, but if you play this game, pick Muppy first when given the option. The game makes it amusingly clear that you weren't supposed to pick him. It's absolutely worth going back and watching certain scenes with multiple characters.
All I expected from this game was a fun little playthrough with a simple story, and I got a lot more. Apparently this is a spiritual successor to the Atelier Iris series, and we'll be playing through those soon, too. Very neat that Pamela is a recurring character within all of them. So fun. So cute. And we enjoyed every single ending. You can play it on PS2 or PSP - if you don't mind a simple semi-old-school RPG, I'm sure you'll have fun.
Anthony:
Although I’d at times had issues with IGN’s reviewing, this was a game that was a significant turning point in how I look at “professional” reviews and why we’re doing this right now. I remember seeing Mana Khemia in stores, looking very cool and cute, but remembering in my mind that it got bad reviews. Except, it didn’t get bad reviews. It got a bad review from IGN. When I realized this, given its affordable price and other moderate praise on the internet, we decided to give it a shot.
Now we know though - IGN didn’t beat the game. In fact, they appear to have made it barely halfway through before passing a final judgment on it. Even then, the main criticism was “too easy”, which I believe is a bad argument given it hinges on how much dedication one devotes to the alchemy system for growth. Should they have gotten further in the game, they would’ve found some bosses that even with you fully powered up, can genuinely slaughter you with a few bad moves. Oops.
So because they were a very trusted site, I apparently thought I’d heard enough and almost missed out on what’s now become one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Wow.
The truth is, this is a very fun RPG that absolutely won us over with a pleasing story, numerous genuinely hilarious moments, great characters, pretty graphics, impressively pretty music, and battle/alchemy systems that give an excellent feeling of progression. And as Lauren said, it deserves serious bonus points for being a game full of depth that doesn’t require you to dodge between a guide to figure things out. I’ve never seen an item creation system before that didn’t require me to look up recipe and item lists to make the most out of it. Add that to the student handbook and map-marking features, and you have a game that can be detailed and challenging without being a jerk to the player.
No, it’s not perfect... the day/night cycle feels largely tacked on, farming areas for items is a bit less exciting later in the game, and the bits of slowdown seem odd. Yet Gust deserves some serious credit for this game, and we hope that more people will give it a fair shot.
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