Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of a New World is a spinoff in the Atelier franchise to celebrate their 20th anniversary of the Atelier series. Wow, 20 years! The Atelier series really came a long way, yeah? Nelke features many of the iconic characters from the previous games.
A sucker like me would really pick up this game despite it’s disappointing reviews right? Yep, I did. Besides, it was on sale for a really good price— retailing at RM99.00. It’s a very good bargain especially retail games are going for twice/thrice the price.
This game is filled to the brim with an absurd amount of past characters— you’ll not only be meeting characters from the Atelier series, but also Mana Khemia. You’ll definitely encounter characters from the older Atelier games like Marie, Rorona, and so on.
Now, before I continue, I must express my mild disappointment in this game. It’s a first-impression review— meaning I have not completed the game but these are the thoughts that pop up in my head as I play through the first 4 hours.
About the game
Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of a New World is different from all the Atelier series. This game is special in a way that it is actually a town management and town building sim, infused with RPG. Take it as a spin-off or fanservice game for the 20th Atelier anniversary.
You play as Nelke Von Lestamm, an aristocrat who tries to make the world a better place with her power and position as a noble. She travels with her bodyguard Misty, who aids in fighting any monsters. Unlike the previous games where you play as an alchemist, Nelke isn’t an alchemist therefore the game is mostly about town building. However, there are still alchemy involved where Nelke will commission alchemists to craft items needed with the story and town growth.
Storyline
The game is significantly focused on the finding of the Granzweit Tree. Nelke, a young noblewoman has always been fascinated by the legend of the Sage of Granzweit. As she grew up, she found her skills were not in alchemy therefore pushing her to study hard to become a government official. Then her life changes when she hears a rumor that the magical tree can be found within her father's lands of Westwald. To search for the tree, her father grants her permission under one condition— that she develops Westwald into a prosperous city.
Gameplay
Unlike the other Atelier series, Nelke and the other character’s lives are divided into two ways to play: holidays and weekdays. On holidays, you get the chance to visit other townmates and characters to bond, progress with your research and pursue the Granzweit Tree and explore out of town. While on your exploration, you can bring up to 3 additional party members to find materials and explore outside of town.
On weekdays, you’ll be focused on town-building. This part is pretty simple and straight-forward— when you have all the materials, you can plant a new shop and it will be ready. And because reorganizing is a hassle, I always make sure to plan the town layout in my mind before deciding which goes where.
*Important: Take very careful note of the time limit. Every task comes with a time limit (a fraction on the clock and turns) and failure to do so can instantly grant you a game over!
Now with this time limit, it really makes you churn your brains on prioritising the right things— if you use the Holiday to go out and explore when you have a pending task to solve a townsfolk’s problem, you’ll fail the task. Neglecting either one of it for too long and your town growth will decline. This game really plays with your ability to balance each task.
There’s a percentage gauge for each task to show you how much is completed and you should focus on those tasks in order for the story to proceed.
Art style & town design
Similar to many JRPG, the Atelier series focuses on building very anime-like characters with flatter features to fit a 2D definition of animation. Every Atelier series features gorgeous world design and character design to the little intricacies of every sparkle you find on the grass— and you’d think the same for Nelke, right?
BIG NO.
The town building was horrible. A straight patch of land is where you have to build shops and farmland, even a grove?! On the same patch of land?! How ridiculous. Imagine a grove just right next to a pharmacy. It’s just terrible, I feel like weeping when I had to build plots of farmland in front of the city council building. It’s a catastrophe.
I just hope that as the game progresses, we can have a dedicated space to build and group types of land to make things look more pleasing.
I just hope that as the game progresses, we can have a dedicated space to build and group types of land to make things look more pleasing.
Combat system
There are 3 combat systems: manual, semi-auto and auto. Basically if you’re feeling lazy and just want to breeze through the exploration and monster-fighting, you can select auto mode where the characters will battle with monsters without you stepping in to dictate their moves— although you’re still needed to trigger their burst attacks.
Similar to the other Atelier games, it is turn-based and each turn depends on a gauge. Sometimes you’ll miss a turn for your character. The auto mode is good if you’re busy eating, or you just don’t want to waste your energy on combat.
The alchemy
Every Atelier game focuses heavily on synthesizing items as an alchemist. However in this game, you’re not an alchemist hence you’ll only be writing requests to your town’s alchemist and providing them with raw materials. The synthesized item will be ready the next day.
I find this acceptable, I used to struggle with alchemy/synthesizing in the atelier games and if town management isn’t enough of a headache, adding synthesizing to it will double your pain.
Characters
In Nelke, you’ll be required to interact/visit characters on Holidays to interact with them. Here’s the thing, you don’t get to choose which character to visit, you can only visit them if/when they allow you. Also, there is a friendship level where you will have to increase/maintain by visiting or completing their requests. You can delegate tasks or jobs to the characters so beware of which character is good for certain tasks, and their wages. Most characters are recycled from the previous Atelier games. I still enjoy encountering past characters and interacting with them.
This game does not give you the option to directly control Nelke in a normal environment. No running around, No interacting with your surroundings. Let’s say if you want to visit the grocery shop, all you do is select the “grocery shop” from the list and you’re there! Even during explorations, your party members walk in a straight line, as if the entire forest is on only one path! You don’t even move them, they just walk and pick up things automatically. This is a huge face-palming disappointment for me.
Ratings: 2.5/5
Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of a New World is not your typical Atelier game. The game feels more like a mobile visual novel than an RPG. Nelke is at most, a mediocre game that is so automated, you don’t even need to move your character. You’re only needed when you’ve got to make decisions— what to do, where to visit, what to develop and strategize the entire town building sim. It’s boring but oddly, I still want to play it. Overall, it felt lazy and a disappointment— but a fresh look on one of the Atelier games.
Final thoughts, it would have been so much better if we could control the characters directly to interact in a normal environment. Give us the ability to control the movements of Nelke and allow exploration to be more RPG-like. Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of a New World would have been an instant favorite.
Wishes,
Mellie
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