Despite its game title, Mana Khemia is a game from the Atelier Iris series. Fans of the Atelier Iris series would immediately notice the similarity in the gameplay and some trademark characters such as the ghost of Pamela used in Mana Khemia. In fact if you are a big fan of the Atelier Iris series especially Atelier Iris 3, you probably have no problem picking up the gameplay within an hour of playing Mana Khemia without having to read the instruction book at all. The only difference here is that Mana Khemia is more of a classroom style rpg game featuring alchemy than an old school rpg story adventure featuring alchemy like in Atelier Iris 3. In a strange way you can even call Mana Khemia the unofficial Atelier Iris 4 game.
STORY
Welcome to a new school year.
The mystery of Mana's past.
Deep in a forest resides a house where a boy name Vayne Aurelius live with his cat, Sulpher. Sulpher is actually a mana that has bonded with Vayne. One day a teacher from the school of Al-Revis Academy paid Vayne a visit and invited him to attend the school to learn about alchemy since Vayne is gifted with a mana. Vayne accepted and headed off to join the school during the fall. At the school after the introduction of the start of a new school year, Vayne was recruited by an older student name Flay to join his workshop group. As part of the workshop group, Vayne became friends with his fellow classmates, Jessica, Nicole, Anna, Muppy, Roxis, Pamela, and Flay. Together these students begin each new week with classes learning how to fight as alchemists, how to gather materials for alchemy, and how to make stuff from alchemy. As time passes Vayne also begins to learn a bit more about himself and his deceased father from his fellow teachers. Hopefully as student, Vayne, you'll be able to pass all your classes and become a full fledge alchemist when you graduate from Al-Revis Academy.
Ok let's face it, there's not much of a story here. It's basically you playing as Vayne attending classes each week for a few years and than you graduate. You learn a bit more about alchemy and the history of mana as part of the schooling in each alchemy classes and that's it. There's really no big adventure quest to save the world or any major villain in this game. Outside of the concept of attending classes, the major plot of the story evolves around discovering more about Vayne and his past. In essence you can say Vayne's background character development is the center plotline of the story. This is where the major plot twist takes place but it too fails because it's not an original plot twist. If you play other rpg games before than you can pretty much predict the outcome of Vayne secret past. The center story is weak and too predictable. And it's not a good sign when the entire story is simply base around the development of a character background. The good sign is that even though the storyline is weak, it does move in a fast pace thanks to the game play that it's not a really boring story. It also helps that the characters are likeable and the gameplay is fun to play to help move this slow story in a much faster pace. Clearly if you enjoy this game, it's not because of the storyline of attending classes each week till you graduate. lol
Score 7/10
CHARACTERS
So we all going to be classmates?
There's a total of 8 main casts of characters with a small supporting casts from the teachers in the game. Vayne is the main character or hero of this story with his classmates, Nicole, Jessica, Pamela, Flay, Roxis, Anna, and Muppy rounding out the rest of the cast of characters. Overall the story work these characters into a group nicely and there's a bit of a fun atmosphere that these character give out when they are together like real friends and classmates in real life. Each of the characters is unique in their own way and their personality in this game shows it. The voice actors playing these characters did a nice job. The developments of these characters are adequate but it could be better. Most of the focus is center around Vayne as his character development is a key element of the main story on where he came from and he who is. The developments of the other characters are done through their individual character quests during Free Time periods. You get a little bit of insight on the other characters on where they are from and why they are at the school but nothing really in-depth at all. The one thing this cast of character lack is a key main villain in the game. You have a couple of rival classmates but they are more of a comedy relief team than a villain duo. I think you'll come to like and enjoy these characters as you play the game but they aren't memorable ones by any stretch. The game gives you just enough to know them but that's it.
Score: 7/10
GRAPHICS
That's a nice view guys.
Like with all rpg games published by NIS America, Mana Khemia incorporates an old school rpg graphical style look into their games instead of the more advance 3D realistic look of the bigger rpg games of today. What you basically have is a 2D world in a semi side to side movement with short anime sprites as characters for the game. It's a basic combination of sprite characters and anime artwork. Story scenes are simply done through character artwork and bubbles depicting what the characters are saying. The background environment is done in 2D rendering with a combination of anime artwork. The game has that simplistic look to it that some old school rpg gamers may love while others may feel the game looks too old and basic. The other problem with the graphics is that the game is actually plagued with a bit of lag as you move around in this 2D environment. Lag in a non online rpg game? Who would have thought of that? This lag tends to occur on dungeon or field zones where there are 4 or more monsters roaming around. The games graphical look isn't its strong selling point as I'm sure the reason for this old school basic look is to appeal directly to the old school rpg gamers out there which are in the minority. Of course that won't bring in the bigger audience for this game. Adequate is the best word to describe the game graphics.
Score: 7/10
MUSIC
Singing Sensation Nicole
Mana Khemia has up to 72 musical tracks for the entire game. So quantity isn't a problem as not many games can boast about having 72 musical tracks. All of the tracks have been kept in their original Japanese state so gamers being afraid that NIS has done some touching to make it more appealing for the NA audience has no fear at all. Even the tracks that feature songs are kept in their original Japanese songs with no dubbing into English songs. The majority of the tracks tempo is in an upbeat cheerful theme that fit the main theme of the game of going to school to attend classes. The music actually make going to school fun and enjoyable. Lol. Of course there are also the more serious musical themes that get you into the mood for boss fights as well. I say overall the music does its job in making the game more fun to play so the quality is there too. You can listen to all 72 musical tracks in the Extra menu of the game. The only downside is outside of not playing the game, you probably don't want to spend much time listening to the soundtrack of this game since the enjoyment of the music is connected to the game as it puts you in the mood to play with the game directly as you are playing it.
Score: 8/10
GAMEPLAY
Lets take this boss down!
Finishing Burst!!!!!
Game Information
Genre: Traditional RPG
Publisher: NIS America
Disc: 1 DVD Disc
Memory: 350 KB
Players: 1 Player Mode
Analog Control: Yes
Digital Control: Yes
Vibration Function: Yes
Rating: Everyone 10+
Release: March 2008
Mana Khemia gameplay isn't like those typical adventure quest rpg games. It's a school rpg game where your main character go to school to do assignments and get a good grade. When you get a passing grade the current semester end and the next semester begins. The end goal of course is for Vayne the main character to graduate from Al-Revis Academy. The game is broken down into 12 chapters. Each chapter represents a school term. In each school term you have time cards. Each time card represents a week or a school week. There are two types of time cards, Event and Free Time cards. Event Time cards are school weeks where classes are in sessions for you to pick up assignments. Upon completing an assignment move you to a new week or time card. Free Time cards are where there's no classes in sessions so you are allowed to do whatever you like such as explore dungeons and fields or pick up jobs for extra money. Think of Free Time cards as summer weeks or holiday weeks. By the time chapter 12 roles around the corner, you or in this case Vayne will be ready to graduate and leave the Academy. So the main concept of the gameplay is attending each class to do assignments during Event Time cards and than do any extra stuff during Free Time cards to end a school term or chapter. You'll be doing this for 12 chapters. Even though the gameplay isn't set up as the typical exploration adventure quests like most regular rpgs, that doesn't mean there aren't exploration involved. You still need to go out into fields and dungeons to gather ingredients and find new recipes. And when you go out there are monsters roaming around. This is where the similarity of the Atelier Iris 3 exploration and battle system kicks in. You'll be seeing two types of monsters roaming around. The blue types represent monsters that are weaker than the party and you can avoid fighting them by just slashing them to make them disappear. The second type is red monsters that represent monsters that are the same level or higher as your party. If you run into red types you will of course get into a battle. The battle system is done in a 2D side to side action with 3 party members engage and 3 supporting party members as back up that you can rotate with the front line fighters anytime. This is done in a turn base action base on active time or speed of each of your party members and the speed of the monsters. You have the basic attack, skills, items, defend, and run away as your battle actions. Typical regular rpg stuff that rpg fans should be familiar with. You shouldn't have any problems understanding how battles work at all. As stated earlier, attend classes and if need be go out and explore dungeons or fields if your assignment requires you to do so. Complete each assignment and move to the next week until you finish a school term, very simple stuff and easy to get into. Of course the gameplay does have some key elements that are worth mentioning.
Synthesis: Ah, the center element that Mana Khemia is build around, alchemy synthesis. In your school workshop you can create and synthesis numerous items and materials through alchemy. First you'll need to have the recipe to be able to create an alchemy item. You can buy recipes, find them in treasure chests, or get them from your classes as part of an assignment. Once you have a recipe you of course need to have the material to create an alchemy item. You can buy materials at shops or gather them in dungeons and fields from crops or as drops from monsters. Being able to create items through alchemy synthesis is very fun and addicting. Athanor Synthesis: Althanor synthesis is the same as the workshop synthesis but the difference here is that instead of creating items or materials through alchemy, you are creating weapons, armors, and accessories with alchemy. I guess you can say Athanor is just another word for Blacksmith in this game. Grow Book Chart:This is probably the most unique feature in this game. Since the game doesn't give experience points like normal rpg games to allow your characters to level up and grow in stats, Mana Khemia offers the usage of Grow Book charts for each character to help accomplish the goal of boosting a party member individual stats as if they were leveling up. Each party member's Grow Book Chart is different but it has the same basic principle. All of the Grow Books are made up of alchemy items that you have learn from classes and recipes. Each of these alchemy items are connected together like a chart. When you create a new alchemy item for the first time, the same alchemy item in the Grow Book gets activated. Now each alchemy item has a predetermine stats boost, skills, and specials connected to that alchemy items. You can unlock that stat boost, skills or special by distributing the required AP to unlock them. Let's say for example you created one of Vayne's weapons called Ragged Collar. The Ragged Collar gets activated in Vayne's Grow Book. The Ragged Collar has a predetermined +20 SP, +10 Attack, and +5 Defense stats boost attach to it. But those predetermined stats boost are still unlocked until you distributed the require AP to each of those stats boost to unlock them. So if you want Vayne to gain a +10 in his Attack stats then you would distribute the AP amount to it to boost up Vayne individual attack stats. This is how each party member basically advance in stats as oppose to the basic of just gaining experience points and leveling up to a level where the character stats increases base on that level. Since the game doesn't use level up, we are required to use the Grow Book Chart to help increase each party member's stats and skills. It works just like leveling up without the actual leveling up. Support Actions: There are two sets of positions for your party members. The first set is the front line characters which are made up of three party members. They are the ones you enter the battle field with. You can call those three your starters for fights. The second set of position is the backline made up of three party members too. They are your reserves in support that you can rotate in during fights in relief of your starters. Now during battles you can rotate in a support fighter in relief of the start fighter after he/she takes an action during offense to line up a consecutive attack. In fact you can rotate in all three support fighters in and out of the original start fighter if you are quick enough to line up four consecutive attacks. You can also rotate in a support fighter in a defensive mode in relief of a starter when they are being attack to help block the blow of the attack from the monster. This is useful if your starter is low on HP and AP so they need to sit out and rest for a bit. Rotating in support fighters in either an offensive or defensive action is know as support actions. Burst Mode:During battles there is a gauge called Burst. Continuously hitting the enemy with chains of attack and hit combos will slowly start to fill the Burst gauge up. Once the Burst gauge is filled up, you will then enter Burst Mode. Inside Burst Mode, all of your party member attacks and magic are greatly increased for a short period of time. The Burst Mode gauge will slowly start to decrease the more actions you take during Burst Mode. Final Burst: Each party member has their very own special Final Burst move that does major damage to an enemy. Once Burst mode is activated, a condition is set for you activate a second mini Burst called Final Burst. An example of a condition is say strike the enemy with what they are weak against during Burst Mode to fill the Final Burst gauge up. So if an enemy is weak toward fire attack and you launch a fire attack against the enemy, the Final Burst gauge will slowly start to fill up. Once the Final Burst gauge is full, you have the option to launch a Final Burst attack against the enemy. Launching a Final Burst attack will of course end the Burst Mode regardless of whether or not the Burst Mode gauge is still full. Variable Strike: This is powerful finishing support chain attack that comes directly from Vayne if you are able to start a chain of attacks by switching and rotating in and out all the support fighters with a current front line fighter. Vayne must be the last support character at the end of the chain to be swamp into battle out of the three possible support characters to deliver the finishing Variable Strike move from a Support Action chain. Day & Night: As you enter dungeons and fields you'll notice that there's a 24 hour day and night time cycle just like in real life. Each dungeon or field starts off at daylight time and slowly cycle from morning to afternoon to evening to late night. The reason why this is worth a mention here is that during daylight time, monsters are in normal mode. But as soon as evening start, monsters become more aggressive and harder to kill. In essence they switch from normal mode to hard mode making battles tougher to win. This is important to keep in mind as you don't want to get stuck out there in a dungeon during night time.
Ok let's talk about the bad of the gameplay first and then we'll end this section with the good of the gameplay to end it in a high note. For starters in terms of the bad, the gameplay doesn't really offer anything new to gamers at all, especially if you've already played an Atelier Iris game. Sure there's Final Burst, the ability to switch characters in and out during battles as part of setting up chains, and the Glow Book but that's it. These are minor new key elements introduced to the gameplay at best. The rest of the gameplay is pretty much a rehash of Atelier Iris 3 but in a different setting. There's also the lack of a challenge from doing assignments from classes. Sure there's an option where you can fail your class due to getting a poor grade and being sent to Detention but seriously, you have to be a total numbskull to not even get a C grade average to pass. If you fail at even getting a passing C grade than you pretty much shouldn't even be playing this game much less rpg games. The final most annoying bad part of the gameplay is the unbalance and uneven flow in difficulties due to battles during day time vs. night time. During day time the game plays like its on normal mode while at night time the game switch to a more aggressive hard mode. To be truthful it's a bit too aggressive and hard during night time that even weaker enemies will give your problems that you can't even avoid fights with them. There's nothing wrong with having a real time 24 hours setting as you travel through dungeons and fields but you should make it a bit more evenly that it doesn't stop the flow of your exploration. Seriously the aggressiveness and difficulties of the monsters at night literally stop you in your tracks to the point where it's too annoying to try and explore areas at night that you will either have to warp back to town to reset the time to daylight or you have to wait it out till its morning again. This just ends up annoying gamers more and stops the flow of the game where gamers have to wait it out. There's nothing wrong with making monsters a bit harder at night but in this case the monsters are too hard. You want the gameplay, especially the battles to be a continuous flow to keep the game moving along in a more even balance pace that make battles fun to play. It's not fun when you are being rushed against the clock to try and explore and do what you need to do in a dungeon quickly before night time fall. But despite all that, this game does have its good spots. Sure the game is a bit too easy in terms of class assignments and it doesn't offer anything really new into the overall gameplay but it doesn't mean the game isn't fun to play. In fact the game is very fun to play. Its addicting making stuff through alchemy and each class assignments or events are short that it keeps the game moving in a speedy pace where you don't get bored of the game. With a simplistic gameplay, a game can easily get boring if it gets too long but in this case Story Events are short and the Free Time events too are short that you are continuously moving the game along in a faster pace than the entire game really is. That helps keep the game interesting for gamers incase some may start to lose their attraction for it. Being able to avoid many fights during daytime exploration really helps speed the game up. And since the game doesn't really use an exp system, you don't really need to mindless keep fighting enemies just to gain exp. The battles themselves are pretty engaging thanks to the abilities of being able to swap supporting fighters in and out with the main fighters to keep the team well protected and doing attack chains that make it fun and interactive. And let's face it, no matter how many times I see it and use it, Final Burst is fun to do. Even though it takes about 40-50 hours of gaming to finish this game, this is assuming you are trying to find all the recipes in the game and doing all the various job quests, the game feels like it only lasted 25 hours or so. And that's a nice feeling to have after beating an rpg game. You don't want to feel exhausted from playing a game too long. The bad stuffs are minor annoyances because in the end, all I know is that I really had a fun time playing this game. It wasn't too short and it wasn't too long, it felt like the game ended at the right time. The gameplay is clearly the best quality of this game.
Score: 8/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
Hmm, I should take a job quest?
When it comes to in-game extras such as extra bosses or side quests, they are done through various job quests that Vayne and his classmates can pick up at the Student Affair during their Free Time periods when classes aren't in sessions. The job quests are broken up into two categories known as Help Me or Bring Me. The Help Me job quests are various extra boss fights that you can do to get some alchemy recipes. The Bring Me job quests are quests that requires you to make a certain alchemy item for the client and then give it to him/her in order to complete the quest. You get money as a reward for completing both the Help Me and Bring Me quests. There are also individual character quests that you can activate with your classmates to learn a bit more about them in terms of their past background as part of their character development. These character quests aren't so much as a quests but mini story scenes that you can do in each different chapters of the storyline during Free Time periods. Of course since these are all extras and not a part of the regular gameplay, you can just skip doing character quests and job quests and just move past all Free Time periods to Story Event periods. There are over 50 job quests to do so that's quite a lot if you choose to spend time on doing extra stuff in the game. Outside of the in-game extras you have an Extra menu mode that you unlock as you play the game. Inside the Extra menu mode you can listen to all of the game music, character artworks, game stats, as well as see some of the different character endings again that you have unlocked.
Now in terms of replay incentive for you, the game does have a New Game+ feature. In the New Game+, your money gets carried over as well as all of the characters Grow Book chart that you have unlocked in your first game. You still need to find and relearn all the recipes in the game once again though as that's part of the storyline. Now the New Game+ does have an extra bonus dungeon that you can explore once you reach chapter 8 again in the New Game+. Mind you that the bonus dungeon is very hard so you probably want to wait till you are near the last chapter in the New Game+ to tackle the bonus dungeons with the extra bosses in them. And of course replaying the game also gives you a chance to unlock a different character ending that you didn't get to see in your first game since you are only allow to unlock one character ending for each game that you finish.
So in the end there are plenty of extras for you to do in the game and there's certainly quite a bit of incentive to replay the game a few times if you enjoyed the game. At the very least there's an incentive to play the game twice. The only downside is that the in game extras are fairly short and easy to do even if there are a lot of them. And as much as it's nice to have a bonus dungeon, it kind of suck to have to wait till the last chapter of your second play through to be able to try and tackle the bonus dungeon. I guess it's a way for the game developers to try and force you to play a second game again.
Score: 8/10
Ok when you look at Mana Khemia in all of its aspects, it doesn't really offer gamers anything really great or new. The gameplay is pretty much a copy of previous Ateliar Iris games such as Ateliar Iris 3 and the story is average at best. You spend most of your time completing classroom assignments than playing through an rpg storyline. And certainly the graphical 2D design of the game isn't going to impress anyone at all in this day and age. Still the game does have its charm despite its average limitation. What makes the game still good is the fact that it's kind of a fun game to play. It's not a serious rpg game for gamers looking for some deep rpg quest but for those that's just looking for a light hearted fun game to play as relaxation, Mana Khemia fit that bill perfectly. After 40+ hours of playing this game, I felt the game was just about right for its concept and context in terms of what the game was meant to be. The pace of the game was also nice too that I wasn't exhausted from playing it like I would from a deep evolving rpg game. It was just a nice fun game to play. A nice break from those typical long storyline rpg game. This game is strictly made for fans of Ateliar Iris 3 or those that enjoyed Ateliar Iris 3. You probably wouldn't want to spend full price on it but it's definitely a great rental rpg game or a good purchase at a sale price.
