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 - 1/2 friends sim + 1/2 RPG = all funAnother great game from NIS america - if you like turn based RPG's or collection games then you will find much to enjoy here. 8 Different endings to earn, a new game + mode and a challenging bonus dungeon for completists. You may want to pick up the strategy guide for the crafting sub-game though. While the game does a good job of telling you what the element of all the different items and gear you collect is, you cannot access that list while crafting. So either a large collection of notes or the guide can be quite useful. Rating:  - Solid title, a few frustrations, but PS owners bewareLet me begin with the caveat: for those of you who own the 80 GB PS3, I simply can't get this game to work with that system. It can recognize that a PS2 game is in place, but the screen remains blank after that. Oh well... Anyway, on to the game. I loved AI:2, and thought that AI was a pretty good, if unbalanced, affair. I thought AI:3 was terrible, but this game is safely in the above average category. It's not stellar, but it does satisfy. Let's begin with: The Good: - Mana Khemia's story mechanics are excellent. I love the idea of progressing through a school, with various missions given the guise of courses. The better you do on the missions, the higher your grade in the course. Get enough units, and you'll pass to the next scenario, after an event that moves along the story. Fail to get the units, and you'll...get bonus missions(!) that are very difficult. There are multiple endings to the game, so the replay value is certainly there. My only gripe here is that the cut scenes move very slowly. -Mana Khemia has no levelling at all. Rather, by creating items through alchemy, you fill in a sort of sphere grid, which then allows you to spend the AP given in battle to increase certain stats or learn no skills. Excellent idea: the very point of the school is to become a better alchemist, and it's nice to see the game make this the central point of character development. In addition, you can gain stats from other events (for example, I was given 10 additional hit points because I died in battle, after being resurrected at the infirmary). All in all, an excellent idea, as the sense of discovery (which should be a centerpiece of an RPG) is there. - Battle is solid (though unbalanced - see below). Skills are prohibitively expensive, but at least physical attacks are again the bread and butter of battles (this was one of my major gripes with AI:3, as physical attacks were useless). The burst factor is again in place, but it's much more difficult to trigger than in the previous installment. - The gamepack itself has a nice bonus - a CD with all of the tracks in the game. I like this, as the game itself remains reasonably priced. The Bad: - The same monsters. Again. This is lazy, and borders on pathetic. - The battles are horribly uneven. Sometimes, you'll be accosted by some very manageable enemies, and then the next set you fight will whip your tail. Moreover, there is a day/night system, and fighting enemies at night can be incredibly difficult. I was wiped out three times in the first half of the game, which is very different from previous offerings in this series. - I would have liked better interaction with the NPGs. While it's early, it again feels like they will say exactly one thing throughout the game. Unacceptable. Nonetheless, this game feels fun again, as opposed to the snorefest of AI:3. The school atmosphere gives a touch of newness to this aging franchise, but it's hard not to notice the cracks in the foundation under the new paint job. If you like the series, you'll probably like this one. If you've never played a game in the series, I would first recommend Atelier Iris 2, but this ranks closely. And I would be careful if I were an 80GB PS3 owner without a spare PS2 lying around (thankfully, I still had mine). Addendum: This game simply does not work on the 80 GB PS3. Rating:  - Another worthy addition to the Gust/NIS library.The ninth game in the popular Atelier series (though only the fourth one we've had here in the States), Mana Khemia shares elements of the AI games as well as the Gust/Banpresto RPG Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia. The gameplay this time around is built around creating items through alchemy. While other games in the series had it as an important part, MK relies on it very heavily. To level up, you must create more and more items. This unlocks new abilities that you purchase with AP earned in battle. The game is divided into chapters, and each chapter is divided into different sections. They start with an Event, which sets the stage for the chapter. Then there are a few Classes, where you hone your alchemy skills by completing quests. Then you have either Free Time or Detention depending on how well you did in your classes - Free Time has a quest system similar to Atelier Iris 3. You do odd jobs for money (and possibly items, I'm not sure about that yet). You can also converse with one of your teammates to build a relationship with them, but it's not really what I'd call a dating sim. If you're a fan of the Atelier Iris series, Gust RPGs or NIS games in general, I highly recommend it. It's fun to play, there's a ton of content (10 hours in and I'm STILL learning how to do things!) The four-star overall rating is due to the fact that it can get a little repetitive at times .. but it's that same gameplay and wicked sense of humor we've come to expect from the series. Besides, a black cat who transforms into a weapon? I like cats, and I like swords, so how could I NOT like this?
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