Oops- didn’t notice this go up yesterday. It’s pretty heavy going for a Eurogamer review but I don’t care – the dark theorising reflecting my current bed-ridden-with-tonsillitis state of mind.

I’m tired with writing about games this month. Spent, wrung out with few things left to say about them – especially Japanese RPGs – the niche I’ve carved for myself 60% out of necessity (no magazine staff writers have time for them and few freelancers can be bothered) and 40% out of passion (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, 7 and Tactics, Disgaea and…). Those percentages were the other way around at one time. At least the other way round.

No more.

I read Alan Moore’s Smax recently and delighted as it displayed all the things that could be possible with the videogame RPG genre. But then I just felt sick. Moore’s confidence and genius playing with the genre highlighted a kind of cultural osmosis of mediocrity I’ve experienced through playing too many of the darn things. Perhaps it’s time to move on.

On a partially unrelated note: An announcement in the next two days. And no, it’s not that I’m set to review Steambot Chronicles next for the EG lot…

er…anyhow. Where were we? Ah! Atelier 2:

It’s rare for a videogame sequel to really screw up. We’re used to secondary-suffixed movies being dull, trite or rubbish having lost narrative momentum, integrity, directorial vision or a big-name star somewhere in-between the first’s poignant ending credits and the second’s dollar-hungry whored conception. But videogames are usually a little different in that, to be a success (providing the first was), gameplay need only be gently tweaked and streamlined and a few simple new features introduced to meet with player expectations.

Unlike film, it’s not even necessary for the videogame sequel’s narrative to synchronise in any way with the first title’s – Final fantasy’s cyclical and ever-successful reinvention of the characterisation wheel proving that players perhaps find primary comfort from familiar videogame mechanisms more than familiar videogame faces. So when a game like Atelier Iris awkwardly trips and breaks its nose at the second hurdle (at least, second in the West) you have to wonder how exactly things went so wrong.
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For those that missed it, the first Atelier Iris delighted with eccentric humour, brilliantly coloured characters, gotta cook ‘em all recipe gathering and gameplay that occasionally poked its head over the parapet of RPG cliché. The internal market economy (you contributed new concoctions to your favourite restaurants and shops to boost their sales and popularity) turned the traditional smash and grab approach to RPG item consumerism on its head, giving us opportunity to put back into a virtual world that which we are so attuned to just taking. And despite the Japanophile’s dream presentation and execution – the kind of universe all pale-faced, anime-guzzling, black and white kanji emblazoned headband-wearing teenage karate students dream in – the appeal ran deep and wide to the marriage of Nippon Ichi’s usual sparkling localisation work and Gust’s original, solid, universally-appealing storytelling.

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