Review + Thoughts on Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland

Review + Thoughts on Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland

Atelier Lulua is my first game of the Atelier series and it will stay as one of my favorites till the end of time— perhaps until I get my hands on Atelier Ryza 2. I cannot express how sad I am to part with this game upon its ending. I’ve taken months to complete this game (not constantly gaming) and I felt like a part of me just left with it.

Atelier Lulua is the 4th installment of the Arland story and talks about a budding alchemist, Emerulia Frixell also known as Lulua, and her journey to surpass her mother, Rorona (yes, Rorona is all grown up!) in the craft of alchemy. Along the journey, she teams up with new friends to complete quests, battle monsters, and craft items. One day, she happened upon a book, the Alchemyriddle that only she can read. She decides to decipher the book and it’s contents to help people and see where the book will lead her.

I bought this game after a long research because it is my first game into the world of Atelier. The art mesmerized me so much where I had to try it out— to my surprise this game is exactly the type of genre I love! Collecting materials, battling monsters and doing small routine quests.

I hope this review doesn’t turn out biased, but I love this game to dust therefore you’ll mostly only see positive reviews for every aspect of the game.

Atelier Lulua brings you on an adventure around Arland with a mysterious book, the Alchemyriddle.

Game

This game focuses on Lulua which you will control and play. Most times, you’ll have missions or quests to fulfill to increase friendship levels with other NPCs or to move along the plot. You’ll be required to synthesize items as an alchemist to create magical items, weapons, food, etc. The only thing I struggled with was, synthesizing. Reaching 999 quality items depend on a lot of factor. While collecting materials is fairly easy, you’ll be needed to find rare materials as the story progresses to synthesize advanced quality crafts.

Storytelling

On all notes, this game is just extremely chill. The story of Lulua progresses as she meets new people who requests for her help and the Alchemyriddle helping her solve the puzzles and quests. No heavy plot or lore (unless you have played the previous Arland series, you might have a few questions answered). I didn’t think much of the storyline or plot flow of this game, it was simple and seems to just scratch an itch I have for a good JRPG game with gorgeous art. The story is simple, as I’ve written above. There’s no deep lore to understand or things to pick out— nothing puzzling. So it was just a very relaxing game to enjoy when you don’t wish to think too much. 

Battle

The battle system is turn-based and you’ll have to equip your best frontliners with the best weapon and accessories. This is when you’ll have to study the characters a little more to see what works with their stats and what they can utilize. Having two alchemists as your support is my hack throughout the game. 

While the supporters cannot actively attack, alchemists have a specialty which is to equip them with one weapon/healing item where they can use at any point of the battle, it’s called the interrupt system. Also, various characters can be paired up to invoke special attacks or battle effects.

Tips: 

1. Rorona and Lulua are weak attackers but great supporters with their ability to interrupt and land light magic/physical attack on a range of enemies. 

2. Upgrade Piana's weapon + armor and have her as your frontliner. She can use items which is extremely useful for immediate healing/attacking. Her physical attacks are great too as long as you upgrade her weapon.

3. Aurel + Sterk ups the physical damages and prevents knockback, giving you additional attacks if equipped with speed up items.

Characters

When characters are simple to understand and adorable, you just have no way to dislike them. This applies to all characters in Atelier Lulua. The characters are adorable in their own way, each has their own quirk and brought to life by the voice acting. Lulua’s love for curry is so prominent throughout the series and Aurel’s motivation to fight is one of his character’s driving forces. Although the characters could be more elaborated, I personally think that it’s enough for the game flow. What you need to know about the character is given to you, nothing more and nothing less.

Also, there are recurring characters from the previous Atelier series of Arland. You’ll see the famous trio of Arland— Meruru, Totori and Rorona all grown up. Piana as well. It’s so wonderful to come across Lulua’s predecessor and see them interact together.

Voice acting

Oh, imagine Kamado Tanjiro in Atelier Lulua? You can see him as Aurel in this game as a lovable, stern cutie. The voice acting is extremely fitting and definitely brings each character to life. The only complaint I have about the voice acting is that the woman, yes not girls, sounds a bit too squeaky and high-pitched for their age? Rorona and Piana has this very cutesy voice which doesn’t seem to fit their age— and it does hurt my ear a little.

Art style

If they released an artbook of Atelier Lulua, along with landscape, character, material, craft items and monster artworks, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Illustrated by Kishida Mel, the artwork has a unique flavor to it. The art style is gorgeous even when translated to animation. The colors blend and tones are especially beautiful and comfortable to look at. It’s gorgeous.

Difficulty

Atelier Lulua is not a difficult game, younger kids can enjoy this game as much as older adults. You basically breeze along the game on easy difficulty (which is my default difficulty setting). I tend to set my games to the easiest difficulty as I want to relax while playing my game, not to cuss over the screen when I mess up something.

Multiple endings

Atelier Lulua has multiple endings, I believe 10 different endings? There is an ending for each important character of the story as well as 3 game endings. It's simple to trigger each ending, as long as you save at the right chapter! Best to follow guides and walkthroughs. Each ending by itself is cute and fulfilling.

Music

The one thing I want to point out is that the music in every Atelier game is so good, I enjoy listening to it even at work. Most times, some in-game music would be a turn off but Atelier Lulua has a lovely blend of music taste. It feels almost magical as if you’re in the game. The music really sticks to you, on days when I play before sleep, it keeps playing in my head refusing to let me rest.

My thoughts

Atelier Lulua is by far, one of my favorite games I’ve owned until today and I cannot wait to get my hands on more Atelier games— Atelier Ryza 1 & 2 being the next one I will be getting. A silly wish that I have is that I want to be part of the game, to embark on a journey and live in their lands. It’s so magical and beautiful. I could imagine myself as a character in the game. Well, if only we get to live in games, I would no doubt select the Atelier series.

Rating: 4 / 5

Till then,

Melody