Part 40: Debrief

Chapter 6 debrief

So, yeah. A lot of things happened in the last four updates of the chapter. A thunder god from 300 years ago reappeared, the twins nearly got turned to paste fighting him the first time around (and would have been if Sophie had been even a second later), and then they investigated the first Mysterious Painting, won the trust of the recalcitrant alchemist therein and gained the key to defeat Falgior, and then in the rematch, they emerged victorious. And now they’re revered as heroes.

Anyway, speaking of Sophie, her joining means I have seven party members… but I still only have six slots for battle formations!



In this screen, Alt, Sue and Mathias are listed as attackers while Lydie, Firis and Lucia are listed as supporters, and Sophie isn’t listed as either (yet). But…



I just put Lucia in reserve (gotta have cutscene canon for the climactic Falgior fight, after all); she’s still tagging along with the rest of the party in the field, and I can change my formation to have her fight instead of any of the OG six at will. She even gains EXP for battles she’s not actually participating in! But of course, this info is only relevant if you bought a DLC character.

Anyway, ambitions!









Also for the first time since Chapter 1, we have new CGs! Posting in the order they appear:

CGs
Warm Shadow 1
Manly Smithy
Meat Lover
Protected
Protected (Part 1)
Protected (Part 2)
Protected (Part 3)

Character Art/3D Models
Sophie OA (NOCO)
Sophie 3D Model
Plachta OA (Yuugen)
Neige OA (?)
I actually can’t tell who drew Neige! She’s got kind of glimmery eyes but nowhere near those of most characters easily recognizable as Yuugen characters (Lydie, Firis, Alt) and she’s also kind of got a bit of a blush like NOCO’s girls (Sue, Sophie, Corneria). It doesn’t say who drew her on the official Koei Tecmo website either.

Location Notes and Memos:
Mysterious Painting:

This world contains a very large palace. Something must’ve happened to freeze everything in a coat of ice. Remember not to run or you’ll slip on the floor!

Bestiary Notes:

I still have trouble believing how smoothly the fight went this time around, since for my first playthrough the fight took like 20+ minutes and Sue was the last woman standing at the end. But there’s a few hard and fast rules: definitely milk Extra Mix as hard as you can - there’s a reason the game gives you the mechanic right before the fight - and don’t use physical sources of damage (e.g. Sue or Mathias’ skills, or Craft) or else Falgior has a reaction move that can put the hurt on you. It also helps to have Sue in front since she’s the fastest member of the party by a country mile, and to have two other frontliners who aren’t Lydie up so they can tank and use items to debuff Falgior or chuck bombs at him or heal injured party members, but at this point I’m getting into more general battle strategies than anything specific to the fight.

Music:
A Town Shrouded in Shadow
How are you, everyone? This is Daisuke Achiwa! This piece is for the moment the town is in crisis! The first version of this I made actually played up the tension too much, so that more than impending doom, it practically played as battle music. I was told to tone it down, and this less-panicked, less-intense track is the result. (Achiwa)

Frosty Dream -Lydie-
I wanted to somehow replicate the feeling of Neige’s closed-off heart in this piece. My first run at it was affected by the cuteness of Neige’s design, and ended up being too warm. I quickly scrapped that and started again. (Yanagawa)

Frosty Dream -Suelle-
This has nothing to do with the music, but did any of you ever used to get served frozen mandarins for school lunches? I loved them, and ever since I’ve been living on my own, I eat them every year. Just some local flavor for you. (Yanagawa)

Let’s Try It! (Lydie & Suelle Ver.)
Sophie’s theme yet again. The original version of her character theme expressed her naivety and innocence as a novice alchemist, but by this title she has become an alchemist of some renown and ability, and she comes across as a very grown-up, reliable young woman. This arrangement takes that growth into account, and reflects that maturity. (Achiwa)

Prism
The title, “Prism,” is meant to suggest something that, with a little effort, can turn a single thing into a wide range of varied possibilities. It also relates to the central theme of colors, tying in nicely to the image of the mysterious paintings. I’m quite proud of it. […] This is a featured in-title track, with Mami Yanagi on vocals, and Dani on guitar and bass. We have been privileged to have these two talented musicians perform several numbers in past titles as well. For the title, my first impression when I saw the character designs of the protagonists was that they looked like baby birds, so the image I had for this track was that of baby birds learning to fly and leaving the nest for the unknown. (Achiwa)

Beyond the fate
Hello, my name is Odaka. This track has a very distinct story and dynamism, representing the transition from a world dominated by darkness and black, filled with despair, to one emblazoned with the bright stripes of hope, dreams and peace. The clean, clear vocals and the track’s sound, calling to mind the rapidly changing emotions of the story cape, serve to draw the listener into the story of the game. […] The alluring clarity of Hiromi Kajiwara’s vocals and the rapid changes in the track’s sound represent the power of courage, conviction and love to overcome fate itself and bring dreams to fruition. This is an expression not so much of the concept that good things come to those who wait, but that good things come to those who claim them for themselves. (Odaka)

DEBRIEF debrief:
With the end of Chapter 6 comes the end of the first story arc of the game. We were introduced to Lydie and Sue, two scrappy, inexperienced twins striving to fulfill the promise they made to their dying mother: to run the greatest atelier in the country. They get a false start with a painting in the basement that somehow has a fantastical world within—a world that sports unusually high-quality materials. But almost as soon as they return to the real world, their dad locks them out of the basement. They’re denied the ONE WEIRD TRICK to become master alchemists instantaneously.

But all isn’t lost, for the morning after, the Kingdom of Adalet implements the Atelier Ranking System, kicking the first story arc off in earnest. The ranking system serves as a vehicle for the twins to realize their dream, and brings them in contact with the royal family, introduces to them a valuable mentor and friend, affords them the chance (and even responsibility) to investigate more mysterious paintings, and ultimately, drags them into the royal plan to deal with an impending civilization-ending threat. Everything about the six months after the introduction of the Atelier Ranking System builds up to the awakening of the Thunder God Falgior of yore: the top brass of Adalet intended for the ranking system itself to attract powerful alchemists to the city (and it successfully does so with Ilmeria, Firis and Alt). The kingdom also enacts a policy to attain more Mysterious Paintings, as Neige, a national hero of Adalet, not only created the Mysterious Paintings, but used their power to defeat Falgior to begin with. The rank up exams themselves also serve as a useful means to deal with mounting problems directly related to Falgior’s coming, namely increased rain and thunderstorms, and monsters fleeing from Falgior’s pending return at Braisewest and drawing closer to the capital as a result.

As the Ranking System attracts new, powerful alchemists, it arguably introduces a quandary: while it serves as a vehicle for the twins to realize their dream and brings in many experienced alchemists who help the twins become better alchemists, it also means the twins will eventually have to surpass those same alchemists if they’re to fulfill their promise to Honette. Sophie’s prowess speaks for itself; Firis and Alt both were experienced enough to see what was on the horizon, and were researching and preparing accordingly; and Ilmeria was good enough that she was personally invited to Merveille to serve as the court alchemist.

Speaking of the Ranking System, now that its stated purpose - to attract powerful alchemists who can help defeat Falgior - has been seen through, what comes next for it, for the Kingdom of Adalet, and for the twins?

…Tune in later to see the aftermath of the climactic battle with Falgior!