Jae Lee writes: When I reviewed Atelier Shallie a few months back, I was greatly disappointed.
From its numerous technical issues to its questionable game play direction to abandoning the tried and true time mechanic the series has all but become synonymous with, I felt it ended the trilogy on a sour note.
Revisiting Atelier Escha & Logy once more accentuated those feelings, as I was reminded just how good the Atelier games can be.
Atelier Escha and Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dark Sky is a rather sedate if no less meaty role-playing game that was originally released in Europe on PlayStation 3 back in 2014. It may be the second part of a trilogy but in true JRPG fashion, the game chooses to simply carry on the themes and style of the first game rather than opting for an all out sequel. Offering a calmer, more elegant tone than the apocalyptic Final Fantasy saga, it breaks the mould by offering up some intriguing gameplay additions to an otherwise formulaic genre. Ported to PS Vita, this version offers some additional characters, enemies and missions to provide an overall definitive version of the game.
Travis Bruno of Capsule Computers writes:
"Over recent years we’ve seen the Atelier series move from the Arland trilogy into the Dusk trilogy and soon we may be seeing past the Dusk trilogy in the West. Until then, Koei Tecmo is continuing with their set of Plus titles from the original PlayStation 3 titles and this time around we have one of my favorite games from the series arriving on the PlayStation Vita as Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky. Has the game managed to make the transition to the Vita successfully with enough new content for fans to sink some time into?"
The Gust developed JRPGs have always obtained a good score, and certainly this one is no less. Escha & Logy, in fact, is a remaster of the game released on PS3. In short, the story follows two alchemists, appropriately named Escha and Logy, who in their quests to become better at their trade, are recruited by the government into the Research and Development department at a small town called Colseit, which also happens to be Escha’s hometown.
