Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

While the Arland trilogy remains my favorite, Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea finishes out the Dusk trilogy in style. The removal of the traditional time limit actually works, and the series' trademark alchemy and battle gameplay is as strong and as fun as ever. The graphical hiccups and long load times may disappoint a little, but this is a stellar JRPG and the cap to the very memorable Dusk trilogy. For Atelier fans who wait for the Vita versions, this is a no-brainer. For new fans or those who already finished things up on PS3, there may be better choices, but for my money Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea was 50 hours of fun I wouldn't trade for all the water in Stellard.

Atelier Shallie Plus may close the curtains of the Dusk trilogy, but it is a good place to start for those new to the Atelier games and can even be a good way to ease into the series. The story doesn’t get overly serious while maintaining a lighter tone than your typical JRPG.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a remake of the PlayStation 3 exclusive, and finds a fantastic landing spot on the PlayStation Vita with all new secrets and content to explore. The game is easy to learn, fun and well paced, and provides a nice mix of JRPG exploration and battles with an item creation system that serves as the series signature. Colorful, well designed, and only slightly stilted, Atelier Shallie Plus is another great title in the Atelier line.

Atelier Shallie Plus is not all that different from any other Atelier game. There's a brief moment at the beginning of the game, when your characters are adrift at sea, when it doesn't seem like things will be proceeding as normal…and then you hit dry land, and it reverts to the same broad formula. If you've been desperate for the game to switch things up, the simple fact that you can make things move more quickly probably won't win you over now. But if you just want another Atelier game that delivers on the series' usual level of quality, you're in luck. Atelier Shallie Plus lives up to the standard set by its predecessors — for better and for worse.

Its memorable cast of characters and refined gameplay make it a fantastic experience that ties up the Dusk trilogy wonderfully.

Atelier Shallie Plus is a great way to end the Dusk trilogy in the Atelier franchise and suffers from the usual Atelier on Vita problems while still charming me over.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is great way to wrap up the trilogy. This is a perfect choice for someone looking to try their hand at a JRPG, but still offers enough meaty battle challenges and huge crafting possibilities for devout fans of the series. This Plus version is one of the best entries in the series to date, and while Atelier as a whole may not quite measure up to the genre's classics, this is still a very enjoyable handheld adventure that will keep you coming back for more.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a satisfactory addition to the franchise. It smooths out a lot of Shallie's PS3 weaknesses and is a genuinely fun game, though it suffers from being the weakest in the Dusk trilogy. Anyone looking for a solid and enjoyable lighthearted JRPG will find a lot to like here, and almost every improvement is for the better. Some nagging performance issues prevent it from being better than the PS3 release in every way. Shallie Plus is a good buy for fans of the franchise, though newcomers may want to start with Ayesha or Escha & Logy instead.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is overall a pleasurable tale, and even when the overarching story has a depressing theme and the graphical performance is a little lacking, nothing stops it from being just a bliss of fun, a warm bundle of charm in a climate where we kind of need something to give us a smile from time to time.

Atelier Shallie Plus is a great ending to the Dusk trilogy, it has some charming new characters as well as allowing you to see some familiar friends. The combat and alchemy systems are as fun as ever and there's a new Life Task system which allows you to play through at your own pace.

Despite my misgivings, I still had a lovely time with this game. If you’ve stuck around with the series up until this point, I certainly recommend this version of Atelier Shallie. However, if you’re a newcomer, you will definitely want to start with Atelier Ayesha Plus.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea makes up for a lack of challenge by oozing charm through its beautiful characters, fun combat and big crafting list. It successfully manages to both patch up problems from the original, while providing newcomers with an endearing entryway into the franchise.

A technically inferior version of the original Atelier Shallie, but its narrative additions are worth seeking out for hardcore fans.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is the perfect place for series newcomers to start. The various areas of character improvement built into the systems here means that it feels like the player is always making rapid progress, even when completing the most mundane of tasks. Coupling this with an interesting, if not revolutionary, story makes for an engrossing game that would have dug its hooks even if it were not the only digital escape hatch provided for a trip to the in-laws. PS Vita is one of the most important destinations for JRPGs on the market and Atelier Shallie Plus is another major reason why.

A fantastic package that fans of the series definitely shouldn’t miss out on. If you were sorely disappointed with the main story in the original PS3 release, Atelier Shallie Plus is a good attempt at making amends and closing things out in the Dusk trilogy. Even if you’re a newcomer to the series, the story here is easy enough to follow on its own without much need for prior knowledge of other games.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a pretty shoddy port, but the game itself is a charming, arresting adventure with loads of content and depth.

Quotation forthcoming.

With all the Arland and Dusk games re-released on PlayStation Vita, I am happy to have completed this journey all over again. Replaying the Dusk series in particular reminded me why I enjoy this series so much, and Atelier Shallie has a lot of wonderful qualities, even if it isn't the wrap up to the subseries that it needed to be. I still maintain that if you are a newcomer, the Dusk subseries is a great way to start, as the learning curve isn't as high as the Arland games. Atelier Shallie isn't the perfect conclusion, but it offers so much heart and a grand adventure that it's almost forgivable.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea changes the formula for the better but still hasn’t got the ingredients quite right. With the time limit gone the other elements have space to breathe but the story and characters are weak meaning the driving force is reliant on the gameplay which thankfully is varied and enjoyable.

If not for the rather terrible framerates and muddy visuals, Atelier Shallie Plus could have proven a true redemption for what I consider to be the worst game in the series. Still, it is a notable improvement in terms of content, with many more events and playable characters. If you have a high tolerance for poor performing games and feel the need to see everything that transpires in the last episode of the dusk trilogy, do so with a Vita instead of your PS3.

The differences compared to the edition for PlayStation 3 are minimal. Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a good RPG for PS Vita, not particularly memorable, but still fun.

If you know your own tastes in RPGs like I do, if you know what systems baked into these games get your cortex lit up like the dashboard on a 747, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea might be perfect for you. However, if you play JRPGs for their rich story and beautiful game worlds, maybe give this one a pass.

It might not be as hardcore as other JRPGs, but Atelier Shallie's bite-sized bursts of action are a great fit for the Vita.

Unfortunately, so much of my love for this game is ruined by its choppy frame rate on PS Vita. If this were simply on PS3 or PS4, it would be a nearly flawless experience. As it stands, Atelier Shallie is the best version of the game available in terms of content, but having to suffer through a poorly optimised experience for those benefits is too steep a cost.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is a nice RPG, not too difficult nor too complex. This title has the best alchemy and combat systems in the series, and it's a perfect fit for the newcomers.