When Light hits Night

As any fan may know, I find Atelier Iris 1: "Eternal Mana" to be the worst of the 3. Why is that? Simply put, Klein is an awful alchemist. It did not help that he didn't really have a strong support cast behind him either. This time however, we're going to look at why the characters around him didn't help his case since they were nearly as worthless as he. Now I know I'm gonna take some heat for this... but I do have a certain love of this game, even though it was the one I found to be the most awful game in a very wonderful series I enjoy very much.

Starting with the easy part... the lead female, Lita Blanchimont, was actually rather useful to me. I found that she was at least 3 times more useful than any other character in the game other than Arlin. (We'll look at him later.) Lita doesn't look like she could be a powerful character, though when you line her up, her physical powers are top-notch. Being the mana-daughter of Iris you'd expect that she SHOULD be able to use the mana items of the game... wrong. Another resounding reason why Klein is such a bad alchemist. If it wasn't for Lita and her unique powers from the Ruby Prism, this game wouldn't be possible. Granted I don't remember 100% of the game since it has been several years since I've played it... But I'm sure any readers will now what I mean; her power about the wings that appear and such.

Norn the cat girl? No. I'm sure SOMEHOW she has a use to the game and its battles... but I never found it. She annoys me far too much to keep in a party. Throws her mage staff and meows a lot. I've got nothing for the creativity on her design... but esh, not a cat.

Delsus? Well while he wasn't the WORST (that's reserved for Klein!) he still wasn't all that exciting either. For a crossbow user, I'd have expected some techniques that may have been unique since you rarely see crossbows as a characters prime weapon. His damage output just can't compare to Lita or Arlin... and when you get Marietta he pretty much loses completely. ALl in all, just not really all that useful of a character.

Speaking of Marietta, she's alright. Healing and semi-powerful attacks pretty much ensure that she should make a party. Granted she suffers from the same problem that Delsus did, a lack of impressive physical strength. Like I said, she has some good techniques, though her strength just can't make them really stand out as amazing like Lita. She does fit the role of a 3rd party member in a standard build because of her healing. Just maybe would have liked to see a little more out of her in the end I guess?

Finally there is Arlin. Arlin fights just like Felt does from Atelier Iris 2 with Mana Strike and other wonderful techniques. His normal physical attack is quite good and proves that his job is to be REPLACING Klein in a final party. But guess what... WRONG AGAIN! Why would the best character in the game be allowed to stay with the party to fight the final battle? Eventually through the game he gets turned to stone and you lose him. Now I've seen youtube videos of him having english dialog in the final scene vs. Maul but I've never figured out how to get him out of that statue and back to my party and I've been through the game twice back then. Since Arlin is gone... you're stuck with Klein, Lita, and Marietta as your best hope for the game. Heaven help you if Klein dies in the final fight, then you are stuck with no hope of revivals or the other mana items to be used. If he wasn't such a bonehead his mana items could be used by the rest of the party! Take Viese from AI2 or Iris from AI3... Both were great alchemists that knew how to make their stuff function for the rest of the party. In conclusion Klein was just awful and his team really couldn't help him out too much. You basically go the entire game expecting Lita to do everything for you... Just so long as she doesn't run out of mana; don't forget to recover it once in a while before she gets the Ruby Prism!

In our final installment of Ateliers we will be looking over Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm. The game that caused much wonder and confusion to the already well established line of "Iris Blanchimont" by giving you a photo replica girl named "Iris Fortner". All this in preparation for the grand release of Mana Khemia 2 soon! Stay tuned for more!