Binding: Video Game Brand: NIS America EAN: 0857823001420 ESRB Age Rating: Everyone 10+ Label: NIS America Manufacturer: NIS America Model: 00142 Platform: PlayStation2 Publisher: NIS America Release Date: March 31, 2008 Sales Rank: 7014 Studio: NIS America
Features:
Mana Kehmia takes place in a campus setting where players can participate in academic courses
Battles that resemble fast paced fighting games
Everything you find in the field is used to craft items with alchemy
Anime style dating simulation combined with classic RPG
Product Description: Go back to school - alchemy school that is. In Mana Khemia: Alchemist of Al-Revis for Playstation 2, you will discover and create items, weapons and even character stats through the use of alchemy. You'll be graded on your completion of different assignments and will receive units for that class. You must gain enough units for the term, or else you will end up with detention. The better your grades, the more bonuses you'll get. You can select which classes you want to take and then get an explanation of your class. You can even earn money by taking jobs, which are posted on the school bulletin board. In this school, your lectures are all field trips to exotic locations, your tests are battles against unnatural creatures, and your homework involves alchemic fusions.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Interesting
I bought this game looking for something new, and that's what I got. I hadn't played any atlus games beforehand, so I didn't know what to expect. All in all, this game is strangely child-like (I blame the anime), but if you can get over that part and focus on the rest of it, it is pretty decent. The game does have some complexity in the alchemy system and it gets progressively better as you go through 'school.' I wish it wasn't so linear, but I think everyone is resigned to that in japanese games.
I stopped playing FF12, if that gives you any indication, but I stopped playing this game when I got Disgaea.
Rating: - fun
old style animation, good play, funny voice track
you'll like it once you get started
Rating: - Great Sony PS-2 RPG Game
It must be a Great Game, my 15 yr old grandson played it all the way thru and my wife is now over 75% thru the game. Both of them said it is a 5-star game. The graphics are typical PS-2, but still looks good. I seems to be a continuation or side story of the "Atelier Iris 3" game and uses the same looking characters, dungeons, locations, etc. and the battle system is much the same except no experience is received and characters do not have levels. Instead they gain better skills and improved abilities thru alchemy which is the main theme of this version of the game. It's a fun game and keeps you busy collecting alchemy ingredients and materials to create new things. I reccomemd it to fans of the Atelier Iris gsme series and RPG fans in general.
Rating: - 1/2 friends sim + 1/2 RPG = all fun
Another 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 beware
Let 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.
- Interesting
- Great Sony PS-2 RPG Game
