| Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Gust Co. Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Series | Atelier |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network |
| Release | PlayStation 2 PSP
|
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy[a] is a role-playing video game developed by Japanese developer Gust Co. Ltd. for the PlayStation 2. A "Portable+" version for PlayStation Portable was released on 1 October 2009 (Japan only). The game is the direct sequel to Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis, as well as the tenth installment to the Atelier series.
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CGR Undertow - MANA KHEMIA 2: FALL OF ALCHEMY review for PlayStation 2
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Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy ... (PS2) Gameplay
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Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy (PS2) - Ulrika Route, No Commentary #1
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Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy (PS2) - Raze Route (NG+), No Commentary #1
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Ps2 Review: Mana Khemia 2 Fall of Alchemy
Transcription
It occurs to me that there are only two Atelier games released in the States that I haven’t covered yet, and I don’t feel like falling into the time pit that is Atelier Annie again. Thus, we’re left with Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy, a game which turns the kinda Harry Potter-esque Mana Khemia on its head. Imagine if Hogwarts’ suddenly found itself in a budget crisis - I mean, they can’t really raise property taxes or anything - and had to start accepting muggles and handing out mundane degrees in things like TV/VCR Repair or Accounting. That’s basically what happened to Al Revis Academy in the years before this story, and a new cast of students have arrived to get into wacky misadventures befitting a JRPG. Difference is, now you get a choice of students! That’s right, in the manner of Star Ocean: the Second Story or Tales of Xillia, you get to choose whose story you wish to follow, as Raze - it’s probably not really pronounced that way but “Raze” is actually an English word so I’m going with it - and Ulrika each have their own workshops and attract their own groups of absurd characters independent of one another. While playing through one side of the story, you’ll occasionally bump into your counterparts - often in the context of a boss battle - while the actual stories and motivations diverge more wildly than other games with similar mechanics. Yes, that means you’ll probably have to play through the game twice to understand everything that’s going on, but each playthrough will feel significantly different. Not that you weren’t just going to New Game + the heck out of it anyway, since... well, it’s an Atelier game, and that’s kinda what you do. This being the last of the PS2-era entries in the series, it represents the last gasp of the adorable, sprite-based artwork that would get rather unceremoniously binned in favor of the hyper-moe 3D of Rorona and beyond. I, for one, mourn the loss. From the Iris trilogy through Mana Khemia, the game centered around tight RPG mechanics; adorable, intricate sprite work; and combining the stuff you find into recipe after recipe of alchemical doodads for use in combat. In the manner of its predecessor, character stat development is less dependent on EXP and equipment; instead, your students power up by spending AP to buy powers unlocked by crafting stuff. It’s a unique way to bind the basic premise of the game - kids learning to be alchemists and making stuff - to the mechanics of an RPG. Said RPG feels a little bit toned down from the original Mana Khemia - there isn’t nearly as much playing around with attack speed, and the jump-in attacks by your teammates are a little more vanilla rather than being the tactical toolbox available before. Still, the battle mechanics are one of the best parts of this game, partially because combat tends to turn the soundtrack up from “awesome” to “really freakin’ awesome.” Namenloses Licht - the final battle theme - easily makes my “Top 5 Boss Battle BGMs Evar” list, while the rest of the soundtrack - conveniently provided in CD form along with the game, mind - makes me think the reason we didn’t get any new Guilty Gear titles for a while was because the REAL Daisuke Ishiwatari was chained up in a basement at Gust, forced to pound out music for these games. Overtop of this music, you’ll hear a very familiar cast, including Laura Bailey practicing the southern drawl she’d eventually use as Gemini Sunrise, Liam O’Brien as a fluffy Casanova dousing every line in a thick layer of sex, and Vic Mignogna as an enormous fairy. That’s not slander; that’s fact. We’re talking about the second Mana Khemia game, the ninth overall Atelier title, and about as insular a JRPG as you can get without doubling back on yourself. A large chunk of the action isn’t even menu-manipulation in battle sequences, it’s menu-manipulation in your own workshop, trying to alter an ingredient or two in the hopes that your teammates might think it’s a good start and chime in with an idea for a previously-hidden recipe. Obviously, it’s not for everyone. This is more of an AP course than a primer, a capstone project for your PS2 RPG collection. Or, hell, you can buy it just for the soundtrack, and no one will judge you. I certainly won’t. Maybe a little judging. A minor judgement. Like, two episodes of Night Court.
Gameplay
Mana Khemia 2 is classified as a console role-playing video game and is a direct sequel to Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis also created by Gust.
Like its predecessor, the core of this game focuses on alchemy through which players can create items, weapons, armors and accessories to be used throughout the duration of the game. These alchemy recipes can be attained through field explorations, completing certain jobs or bought in shops. Each item has its own special properties, from elemental attributes to special skills (called "Common Skills") which are useful during battle. Like the previous installment, the quality of an item depends on its "Ether Level" which starts at 50 and can either increase or decrease according to the selected elemental attributes on the "alchemy wheel." New recipes can be derived from older ones depending on the ingredient selected during item creation.
In the field, players are confronted by visible monsters. Once the player bumps into a monster, one of the four PlayStation controller buttons will be displayed. If the player manages to quickly input the corresponding button, the player gets an advantage in battle allowing the characters to strike first. Unlike the first Mana Khemia, players will only have five permanent characters in their group (three in the active party, two/three in reserve), the sixth being a "Guest" character which will only participate during certain events. Guests are playable during battle but feature inaccessible equipment and status parameters. Players can call in the reserve characters for an extra attack or to defend against an incoming attack. The switched-out character will have to wait a certain amount of time before being available to switch again.
As more hits are inflicted upon the enemies, the battle gauge will build up; "Unite Mode" will initiate once it maxes out. The "Unite Mode" is akin to the "Burst Mode" from the previous game in which damage dealt will be critical and the amount of time reduced for reserve characters to act again. In Mana Khemia 2, the "Intimate Attack" (known previously as "Co-op Attack") can only be executed during "Unite Mode." An "Intimate Attack" is a combo attack achieved by switching in both characters in reserve consecutively, dealing more damage than an ordinary attack (much like "Variable Strike" from Mana Khemia). Also returning from Mana Khemia is the "Finishing Burst," a powerful single character attack which requires the player to fill up a separate gauge only available during "Unite Mode."
Like the previous game, this game has no levels and instead depends entirely on "Grow Books" to increase the characters' stats. A "Grow Book" requires the player to create items through alchemy to unlock slots containing stat boosts acquirable by distributing AP (Ability Points) gained during battle. Mana Khemia 2 adds another layer to the Grow Book by requiring an Ether Level of 100 (the highest) for an item, weapon, armor, or accessory in order to unlock the third slot for that specific creation, thus encouraging the player to plan out the synthesis before using any ingredients in alchemy.
The game is presented as a series of terms at Al-Revis Academy. Each term is made up of several weeks, typically starting and ending with an event and ultimately leading to a key battle at the conclusion. Between main story events, the player is generally required to complete two or three courses, earning grades for how well each course was completed. Once in free time, the player is free to take jobs with Cole (money) as a reward, initiate a "Character Story" (known as "Character Quest" in Mana Khemia) which reveals more about a particular character, or participate in the "Bazaar" which allows the sale of items the player has created and leads to the resale of those items later (bypassing the need to recreate them in the alchemy workshop).
Story
At the start of the game, players are given a choice between two characters: Razeluxe Meitzen (or Raze for short) or Ulrika Mulberry. The events that play out following the choice of characters differs greatly as Raze's route deals with his past while Ulrika's route deals with the origin of Mana. But in either character's playthrough, the core events will still remain the same (taking alchemy classes and school events), though the jobs available may slightly differ.
The game prologue describes Al-Revis Academy (アルレビス学園 Aru-Rebisu Gakuen), a famous alchemy school which used to be floating, separated from the Lower World (where ordinary humans live). But due to the weakening power of Mana which kept the school afloat, Al-Revis Academy plummets down to the Lower World. It soon manages to adapt to the surroundings with the help of students and teachers and resumes its activities in teaching alchemy.
But due to the school's dwindling budget, they have to search for sponsors to keep the school running and Marta Schevesti was given the position of 'Chairman' (理事長 rijichou) of the school due to her being the spokesperson of the sponsors. She proposed to start a new class; 'Combat Class' (戦闘技術 sentou gijitsu) so that more students will enroll in the school to boost the school's finance. But her main goal is to remove alchemy from the school's syllabus stating that "it's a waste of money" (a rough translation).
Al-Revis Academy's principal, Zeppel (of the previous game), was a little too weak-willed to stop her and he seeks Flay (also from the first Mana Khemia) to help and appoints Flay as the classroom teacher for the new class, which Raze and Etward enroll in. Tony (the third recurring character from the previous game) is the homeroom teacher for the alchemy class, with Ulrika, Chloe and Lily under him.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke Achiwa. It was released May 21, 2008 in Japan by Team Entertainment.
Opening Song
- My Silly Days by Marie
Insert Songs
- 希望告げる風～合唱版～ (Kibou Tsugeru Kaze~Gasshouban~ / The Wind That Reveals Hope~Chorus Version~) by Gust Staff
- Namenloses Licht by Yuto Izumi
Ending Song
- Sail by Mami Yanagi
Reception
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 70/100[1] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Famitsu | 32/40[2] |
| GameZone | 6.7/10[3] |
| IGN | 8/10[4] |
| PlayStation: The Official Magazine |   [5] |
| RPGamer | 2.5/5[6] |
| RPGFan | 89/100[7] |
The game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[1] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40.[2]
Notes
References
- ^ a b "Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
- ^ a b "マナケミア2 〜おちた学園と錬金術士たち〜". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ Bedigian, Louis (September 8, 2009). "Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ Bishop, Sam (September 4, 2009). "Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ "Review: Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy". PlayStation: The Official Magazine. No. 25. Future plc. November 2009. p. 76.
- ^ Young, Billy (September 25, 2009). "Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy - Staff Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
- ^ Gann, Patrick (August 26, 2009). "Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy". RPGFan. Emerald Shield Media LLC. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
External links
This page was last edited on 8 May 2024, at 07:55