Developer: Gust
Genre: Turn-Based RPG
Release Date: 2012/06/28 (JPN)
I'm pretty excited for this by now... especially since two new awesome characters just got announced.. 8)
The protagonist Ayesha Altuge, who's living by herself after her grandfather died and her little sister went missing, and said sister Nio, who Ayesha spots in some sort of ruins which then begins her journey for the search of her sister, had been announced a while ago already and ever since there's been lots of art and screenshots showing the two. But so far there hadn't been any word for other characters in the game.. until today when these two hotties got announced:
I've always had this slight obsession with red haired girls (I blame you, Ariel.) and therefore Regina Katz, the 23 year old ruins excavator who's looking after her siblings, caters very much to my taste design-wise. And since she's supposed to be sociable girl (and come one, she's selling stuff she excavated from ruins, that's a little like a young female Indiana Jones! *_*) I'm pretty sure I'll like her character as well. 8)
And then there's Keithgriff Bezeldine... or just Keith, for convenience, a 45 year old alchemist from another town, in pursue of knowledge and also in possession of quite some knowledge about the ruins. And who doesn't like themselves an intelligent alchemy gentlemen from time to time... I've gotta admit that he looks pretty badass for an old dude. 8)
Well I hope there will be a few male characters in Ayesha's age range and maybe a hint of romance as well...? Tho I doubt there will be much focus on romance as it sounds so far that the story will be mostly about Ayesha looking for her little sister while "overcoming sadness" as Gust said that's one of the game's themes.
What I'm glad about is the fact that in this new Atelier series game you won't be pressured by time limits like in the Arland series and the DS games. I actually never played the Arland Atelier's (I'm planning to play Meruru tho, as it seems to have made the right changes to please me) but the time limit in Atelier Annie got me a little stressed from time to time, so I think it's good they're getting rid of that element again... I like exploring as much as I can and doing lots and lots of alchemy without having to stop to meet some deadline or otherwise getting a bad end. :<
That said, I can't wait to hear more news about this game. 8)
