Important Note: I just written about my one year with Resleriana's English version, and they announced End of Service already. My first-year reviews are cursed! The post is essentially complete with no screenshots, so I will be posting it for the sake of posterity.
Last year, I covered Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, the Atelier series' third game on the mobile platform. In that review, I concluded that story and characters are Resleriana's main strength, with easy-to-do daily activities, if not a bit lacking in the gameplay department. Since that review, I stopped playing the Japanese version of Resleriana, but immediately jumped into the English version when it got released around 4 months after the Japanese version (and with Steam version). With the English version reaching its own first anniversary, I set out to give another look at this mobile game, because Resleriana has changed quite a lot since its first release!
If you're not familiar with it from my first review, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator is a RPG where you gather materials and craft items and equipment so that you can go to battle with your creations, which has been the core of the Atelier series since the beginning. Resna and Valeria are the dual protagonists to this game... then the game threw a curveball by saying that Resleriana is a coined term with a specific meaning in the game world. Whether you think it is a coincidence or not, I'll just let you think.
How I do reviews
This review will be using the same format that I first used in the first Atelier Resleriana review! I review mobile games based on those criteria:
- Gameplay: Core mechanics, and the feel of the game
- Appeal: Characters, story, and other additional elements that contribute to appeal of the game
- Routine Activities: Activities that are routinely done, such as dailies and weeklies
- Events: Limited-time content updates, and the variety it offers.
- Progression System and Gacha: The progression of an account, and gacha system.
Gameplay
The core of the game is still an Atelier game, where you gather materials, craft items, and face enemies with your alchemy items, and Resleriana leans towards the turn-based RPG genre, which is a staple of old Atelier titles. A major addition to the Synthesis system is the addition of Simple Synthesis. Simple Synthesis allows you to craft items without choosing characters and additional material, at the cost of more unpredictability to traits. For the good items, you still have to rely on regular Synthesis, but if all you need to getting to 300 Synthesis runs for the newly-added Synthesize Synthe-prize monthly missions, Simple Synthesis will save you a lot of time!
Resleriana also added an idle system, where the game will automatically gather for you while it is closed, without a time limit, and you can claim the rewards on your next login. This increases the amount of materials you harvest, and you might even find some treasure inside, giving you actual pull currency!
The core of the battle system is still the same, where you bring 5 characters and 3 or 5 items, depending on the mode. All characters have two skills, with different turn delays, and one Burst skill, which is activated when your character lands on a Burst turn. Since the first release, Gust has added many more characters with new gimmicks, capabilities, and even more turn types. Some enemies' skills now apply debuffs on a turn, and some characters' skills can buff or debuff particular turns too! The core battle remains the same, but now Gust give you the tools for manipulating turns yourself!
A new addition to the team-building is the leader skill, where setting a character as a leader will confer bonuses to other characters on the team. Some of the leader skills require a certain team setup to activate their buff, and others has special requirements for buff activation.
Appeal
For mobile games, I believe the principle that gameplay is what makes you start playing, but characters and story are what makes you stay. Since the game's first release, Resleriana has added more characters and stories, and with their first anniversary, the latest chapter is Chapter 16. The story and worldbuilding is actually the most compelling out of the mobile Atelier games, and this is further proven by Gust releasing a standalone game in the same world, titled Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian! The Resleriana worldbuilding is clearly good enough for Gust to base a mainline console game on that world!
As for the characters that made me stay, Sophie has gotten a few more costumes since her first launch (which is the first banner of the game!), and they're all very cute. Resna, meanwhile, is still the energetic furball she is, even with the additions of new versions.
Routine Activities
Routine activities in Resleriana are still similar to the first game, where the important ones are dailies and weeklies. However, if you feel like testing your damage, there is another regular mode available now: Roman's Grand Tournament. This mode has a leaderboard, and rotate between different elements each period! Other than, daily activities are still the lightweight activities they were in the first release, which can be a pro or a con depending on your preferences!
Events
Events in Resleriana have become slightly more varied since the first release, with dungeons now a valid event type. However, most of Resleriana's events still consists of grinding event currency through score battles or dungeons, and spend it on the shop. This makes events also lightweight activities, and again, this can be a pro or a con depending on your preferences. In addition, some Resleriana events, especially the big, seasonal ones, give more than just grinding event currencies, with dedicated missions and even new mechanics.
Progression
The highest level available on release is around Level 50 or 60, if my memory serves correctly. The current level cap? Level 80! The game also gets a level sync system, similar to idle games, meaning you only need to level your primary 5 characters for those levels to apply to everyone, since leveling to 80 is a massive resource sinkhole. The recipe book has been further simplified as well, making searching for specific recipes to unlock a breeze.
Meanwhile, the gacha system is still using the "spark" system (getting medals to exchange for a character of voice), but contrary to the limited availability of the first banners, in today's Resleriana, every single character is pullable and permanently available. This is quite a refreshing practice compared to the "always limited banner" schemes that some notable mobile games have adopted. Resleriana is still a pretty expensive game to whale for, however, with the highest available pull currency package is only sufficient for 20 pulls, again, similar to Memento Mori, another mobile game I've played.
Conclusion
Ever since I moved to the English version, Resleriana has become a friendlier game than at its first release, thanks to new features that makes the game not a huge time-waster and easily playable on the go. When you need to go deeper with the gameplay, too, Resleriana now has more tools at your disposal. Events has improved quite a lot too since the first release, with new events actually feeling like a proper game event! A year after release, I can now recommend Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, as a mobile game that doesn't waste your time, and can heal your soul after work!
Important Note: I just written about my one year with Resleriana's English version, and they announced End of Service already. My first-year reviews are cursed! The post is essentially complete with no screenshots, so I will be posting it for the sake of posterity.
Last year, I covered Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, the Atelier series' third game on the mobile platform. In that review, I concluded that story and characters are Resleriana's main strength, with easy-to-do daily activities, if not a bit lacking in the gameplay department. Since that review, I stopped playing the Japanese version of Resleriana, but immediately jumped into the English version when it got released around 4 months after the Japanese version (and with Steam version). With the English version reaching its own first anniversary, I set out to give another look at this mobile game, because Resleriana has changed quite a lot since its first release!
If you're not familiar with it from my first review, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator is a RPG where you gather materials and craft items and equipment so that you can go to battle with your creations, which has been the core of the Atelier series since the beginning. Resna and Valeria are the dual protagonists to this game... then the game threw a curveball by saying that Resleriana is a coined term with a specific meaning in the game world. Whether you think it is a coincidence or not, I'll just let you think.
How I do reviews
This review will be using the same format that I first used in the first Atelier Resleriana review! I review mobile games based on those criteria:
Gameplay
The core of the game is still an Atelier game, where you gather materials, craft items, and face enemies with your alchemy items, and Resleriana leans towards the turn-based RPG genre, which is a staple of old Atelier titles. A major addition to the Synthesis system is the addition of Simple Synthesis. Simple Synthesis allows you to craft items without choosing characters and additional material, at the cost of more unpredictability to traits. For the good items, you still have to rely on regular Synthesis, but if all you need to getting to 300 Synthesis runs for the newly-added Synthesize Synthe-prize monthly missions, Simple Synthesis will save you a lot of time!
Resleriana also added an idle system, where the game will automatically gather for you while it is closed, without a time limit, and you can claim the rewards on your next login. This increases the amount of materials you harvest, and you might even find some treasure inside, giving you actual pull currency!
The core of the battle system is still the same, where you bring 5 characters and 3 or 5 items, depending on the mode. All characters have two skills, with different turn delays, and one Burst skill, which is activated when your character lands on a Burst turn. Since the first release, Gust has added many more characters with new gimmicks, capabilities, and even more turn types. Some enemies' skills now apply debuffs on a turn, and some characters' skills can buff or debuff particular turns too! The core battle remains the same, but now Gust give you the tools for manipulating turns yourself!
A new addition to the team-building is the leader skill, where setting a character as a leader will confer bonuses to other characters on the team. Some of the leader skills require a certain team setup to activate their buff, and others has special requirements for buff activation.
Appeal
For mobile games, I believe the principle that gameplay is what makes you start playing, but characters and story are what makes you stay. Since the game's first release, Resleriana has added more characters and stories, and with their first anniversary, the latest chapter is Chapter 16. The story and worldbuilding is actually the most compelling out of the mobile Atelier games, and this is further proven by Gust releasing a standalone game in the same world, titled Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian! The Resleriana worldbuilding is clearly good enough for Gust to base a mainline console game on that world!
As for the characters that made me stay, Sophie has gotten a few more costumes since her first launch (which is the first banner of the game!), and they're all very cute. Resna, meanwhile, is still the energetic furball she is, even with the additions of new versions.
Routine Activities
Routine activities in Resleriana are still similar to the first game, where the important ones are dailies and weeklies. However, if you feel like testing your damage, there is another regular mode available now: Roman's Grand Tournament. This mode has a leaderboard, and rotate between different elements each period! Other than, daily activities are still the lightweight activities they were in the first release, which can be a pro or a con depending on your preferences!
Events
Events in Resleriana have become slightly more varied since the first release, with dungeons now a valid event type. However, most of Resleriana's events still consists of grinding event currency through score battles or dungeons, and spend it on the shop. This makes events also lightweight activities, and again, this can be a pro or a con depending on your preferences. In addition, some Resleriana events, especially the big, seasonal ones, give more than just grinding event currencies, with dedicated missions and even new mechanics.
Progression
The highest level available on release is around Level 50 or 60, if my memory serves correctly. The current level cap? Level 80! The game also gets a level sync system, similar to idle games, meaning you only need to level your primary 5 characters for those levels to apply to everyone, since leveling to 80 is a massive resource sinkhole. The recipe book has been further simplified as well, making searching for specific recipes to unlock a breeze.
Meanwhile, the gacha system is still using the "spark" system (getting medals to exchange for a character of voice), but contrary to the limited availability of the first banners, in today's Resleriana, every single character is pullable and permanently available. This is quite a refreshing practice compared to the "always limited banner" schemes that some notable mobile games have adopted. Resleriana is still a pretty expensive game to whale for, however, with the highest available pull currency package is only sufficient for 20 pulls, again, similar to Memento Mori, another mobile game I've played.
Conclusion
Ever since I moved to the English version, Resleriana has become a friendlier game than at its first release, thanks to new features that makes the game not a huge time-waster and easily playable on the go. When you need to go deeper with the gameplay, too, Resleriana now has more tools at your disposal. Events has improved quite a lot too since the first release, with new events actually feeling like a proper game event! A year after release, I can now recommend Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, as a mobile game that doesn't waste your time, and can heal your soul after work!