#oneaday Day 675: Lulua!

Calories: 1978/2040
Ring Fit? No
Water consumption: OK

I've played a few hours of Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland over the last couple of evenings and I'm very impressed so far. You can tell it's a game from nearly a decade after its previous installments, but it also feels nicely true to the previous Arland games in a lot of ways… although Keina's new voice actress is taking a bit of getting used to.

I'm actually feeling a surprising amount of Atelier Iris vibes in this one. I mean, hell, there's even a character called Mana who is obviously a lot more than she seems, and there's a lot more "mysticism" going on. Plus I get the impression there's going to be a greater sense of going on a "journey" than some of the others — though both Totori and Meruru have this to a certain extent.

Lulua herself is a charming character. Judging purely by the artwork of her I'd seen, I was expecting someone rather meek and shy, but she's actually charmingly tomboyish at times, overexcitable, reckless and obsessed with curry. A perfect Atelier protagonist in that she combines all these personality traits with being one of the most beautiful fictional women on the planet. They did well with this one.

I haven't delved far enough into things to really get to grips with the mechanics as yet, but the alchemy system appears to have an interesting "elemental balance" system going on rather than the "effect" bars from the previous three games, and the battle system brings back stun and knockback mechanics from the Atelier Iris games, which I'm delighted about. There's also a super-fun "Interrupt" mechanic which isn't quite the same as the support attack system from previous games, but instead allows alchemist characters to jump in and fling bombs around outside of their normal turn order. It's a lot of fun, and I sense the battles will get quite hectic as the game progresses.

So far I'm well and truly charmed, then. It's a bit of a shame this game got overshadowed by Ryza, but I also understand; people would have found it much easier to latch on to a new subseries than the fourth installment in a decade-old trilogy. If you're curious, though, don't sleep on Atelier Lulua; it doesn't really require knowledge of the previous Arland games, but there is plenty of series fanservice to enjoy if you have played them. I'm finding it particularly pleasing going straight from the old Arland games into this one — the reappearance of somewhat more minor characters such as Piana from Atelier Totori and them having a much more important role is a delight.

Haven't met Rorona, Meruru or Totori as yet, but I'm looking forward to it. And I still don't know who Lulua's dad is. If indeed she has one and is not some sort of magical creation. I'm ruling nothing out at this point.