Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland

Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland came out on May 20, 2019. It is the 4th entry in the Atelier Arland series and the 20th entry in the overall Arland franchise. For those who aren't aware, the Atelier games are a long-running franchise of games developed by Gust and published by Koei Tecmo. The games all have some common themes, focusing on a female protagonist with alchemy and crafting as the central mechanics. I love this series for its light heartedness and Lulua is no exception, although one should probably play the other Arland games first in order to fully enjoy Lulua.

Gameplay

Atelier Lulua's core gameplay loop consists of what are essentially 'fetch' and 'crafting' quests. You're given a little guidance from an overarching storyline and 'Alchemyriddle', a book full of hints on places to go and things to do, but there's no time limit and you have a lot of freedom in how you choose to play. As a completionist player I found the most enjoyment in trying to fill out Alchemyriddle by following its prompts to explore new areas and craft new things. The exploration and alchemy/crafting systems themselves are not especially deep, but this also makes them fairly easy to grasp. Exploring and gathering is a matter of running around and hitting A on random objects, and this design never really changes; even with different 'types' of gathering like fishing or mining you are just pressing A with a slightly different tool or animation. The alchemy system is pretty easy to grasp and you'll naturally produce better items as you level up. I never found myself struggling to create an item of the right quality that I needed. There is a level of deeper complexity as there are different aspects to master, like using elemental items for better synthesis, but I ignored this for the most part as I didn't find it too compelling.

The combat system was just serviceable. Characters were different enough in combat to where I found myself using them fairly equally for different situations, but fighting still ultimately comes down to maximizing damage with little need for planning or strategizing. The most challenge came from trying to counter some enemy resistances, but even that became negligible especially at late game when your characters are strong enough to steamroll anything.

Visuals

I'm biased towards Atelier's soft, painterly anime visuals and Lulua does not disappoint in this aspect! The character models and urban areas were the most pleasing, with detailed designs and careful handpainted textures. The outdoor environments were a bit more generic, with some maps being a bit too similar imo, but there were some standouts here too of very pretty maps to run around in. I also enjoyed the day/night and weather cycles which added interest to revisiting maps you've been to before. I think this game might be the peak of Atelier character art visuals in my personal opinion, all the character designs are top tier with super cute animations to boot. I really want to get the Atelier Lulua Visual Collection book and see some of the beautiful painterly CG scenes IRL :)

Writing

The overall themes in the story of Lulua are ones of personal growth and inheritance. Lulua is a likeable, relatable character who strives to be as good of an alchemist as her mother, all the while being the fated heroine of a more world-changing plot. I enjoyed the underlying storyline of Lulua wanting to impress her mother much more than the more pivotal plot of trying to save Arland. In addition, the bonus character interactions are charming and entertaining, although you REALLY need to have played the previous Arland games to get full enjoyment of them - many of these scenes are just complete references to earlier games that would likely just seem pointless without that context. I did like all the characters, especially Lulua and her best friend Eve, although I was disappointed by how Eve seems to have been forgotten by the writers after the midgame. Overall, the game felt like a comfy and lighthearted romp with characters I really rooted for til the end, who grew in a believable way.

Conclusion

Atelier Lulua gives me everything I want in an Atelier game: cute graphics, nonexistent difficulty, just a good time picking berries with characters I love like my own daughter. It doesn't excel in any particular aspect. This probably wouldn't be the entry point to the Atelier series I'd recommend to new players, not because it isn't a good representation of the strong points of the series - it does everything an Atelier game does pretty well - but because a lot of its appeal comes from having played the previous games and understanding all the callbacks and recurring character appearances. People who have played previous entries in the Arland series would probably get the most enjoyment out of this, but even if you've never picked up an Atelier game before, I think you'd enjoy Lulua if you like casual RPGs and cute fairy tale settings.