Part 22: Debrief

Chapter 4 debrief

Yeah, yeah, each chapter progressively needs more updates to cover everything. It comes with the territory of more of the cast showing up (another Mysterious series protagonist and three more characters) and the plot picking up. On that note, Firis joining and formations being introduced really gets the battle system going, and it’s gonna be more fun than ever once the party fills out (and since I have the two DLC characters, fills out and then some).

For ambitions, here are F Rank’s ambitions:





Gee Sue, I wonder why Mathias doesn’t have better luck with the ladies what with his master pickup artist mindset



Character Art/3D Models
Corneria OA (NOCO)
Fritz OA (Yuugen)
Drossel OA (Yuugen)
Firis OA (Yuugen)
Firis 3D Model
Firis’ outfit should look a bit familiar if you’ve played the previous titles; it’s a combination of Liane’s blouse and Sophie’s coat, as homage to two of the most important people in her life.

Location Notes and Memos:
Merveille:

This is Firis’ atelier. It sure is convenient to be able to have your atelier in a tent. I wonder if we could do the same…


This is Fritz’s house. There is a system in Merveille of leasing houses cheaply to travelers. That is why so many people visit.

Outskirts:

This is a damp forest with lots of swamps. Fall here and your clothes are in for a world of dirt. I hear there’s always a bottomless swamp out there, so we should be careful.
Hey, Lydie, could you tell me a bit more about who the hell Gurm and Adis were? No? Okay. Game doesn’t care beyond mentioning them, and so neither does Lydie.

Mysterious Painting:

This painting world contains ice that looks like crystal. It’s very beautiful, but it’s extremely cold to the touch.

Bestiary Notes:

It’s a hell of a dick move that this thing’s got resistances to Fire and Ice, which neuters my best source of damage output (Firis’ follow-up attacks), and a weakness to Air, in a painting world where your entire frontline gets chunked whenever you use a Luft. Did I mention that the first time I fought this boss, I got someone knocked out that way?

Music:
The Glittering Blue Depths -Lydie-
This is Lydie’s music for The Luminous Ice Grotto. The sound director made me retake the piece several times, saying he didn’t want to hear any liquid in it - everything had to be frozen solid! But actually, there are parts of the map where the water isn’t frozen… In the end, I almost overused the synth pads which gave a sense of cold to the atmosphere, and eventually got the okay. (Yano)

The Glittering Blue Depths -Suelle-
This is Suelle’s music for The Luminous Ice Grotto. The drums here aren’t synthesized, but are recorded live, and the baseline is a little more jumpy. The atmosphere of the piece is a little more speedy. By the way, can you see a little visual warmth in the scene, perhaps due to the reflection of the light, that counteracts the cold? I tried to reflect this element as well when selecting my instruments. (Yano)

Gemini Wing
Lead and backing guitars are played by series regular Toshinori Hiramatsu, with his usual panache. This piece was ordered for use in generic scenario boss battles. Personally, I like the way we managed to achieve that balance between the light touch of a standard battle and the heaviness of a boss battle. (Achiwa)

Song of Leaving Home (Lydie & Suelle Ver.)
Firis’s theme returns. Her character theme in the previous title incorporated her loneliness and uneasiness at journeying into the unknown, but in this title she has grown into a fine alchemist, so this version reflects her newfound confidence. (Achiwa)
The themes for the returning alchemists so far (Ilmeria, Firis) really put on a much more mature air compared to when they were maybe a year or two older than the twins back in their debut games. Which is fitting; they get to play the role of reliable, supportive adults in the twins’ lives, which is pretty welcome given pretty much the entirety of Roger’s screen time thus far.

Camellia Sazanka (Lydie & Suelle Ver.)
Corneria’s theme again. She still seems to be operating her shop, and there hasn’t been any dramatic change in her appearance, so I was at a loss as to what changes to make to the piece. In the end, I took inspiration from her clothing, and incorporated something of a Japanese taste into the music. (Achiwa)

Bright Girl (Lydie & Suelle Ver.)
This is the theme for the puppet-loving family Fritz and Drossel. Checking their events in the game, I felt that Drossel’s “Bright Girl” theme would serve well as a base for the track. Come to think of it, there was a secret message hidden in the comments for that track… (Achiwa)
I do not have a copy of Atelier Firis, and thus have not beaten the game and do not have access to the composer’s notes for that game, so no comment.

Softly Turn the Page
An arrangement of the opening theme for use in an event scene. A large part of the reason it is difficult to arrange a piece written by someone else is that many tracks are almost designed to work only in the way they were originally intended by their creators. How to arrange them without breaking that balance is the true challenge. (Yanagawa)

DEBRIEF debrief:
The twins have their rivalry with Lucia, who’s competing with them in the race to S rank. But at the same time, as the Atelier Ranking System has brought more alchemists to the city, it’s brought characters such as Firis and Ilmeria who serve as reliable, supportive mentor figures for the twins—but who are also, for the time being, eminently much more experienced and powerful alchemists than they are. But if the twins are to have any hope of fulfilling the promise they made with their mother, then they have to blast right through that tension.

Meanwhile, it seems the Kingdom of Adalet’s monster problems keep getting worse! The twins didn’t have to fight the rampaging dragon in the Great Woods of Gurm-Adis, but ultimately for the F Rank exam, they still had to put down a small company’s worth of monsters there. What’s with this worsening monster problem, all of a sudden? Is something terrible about to happen?

…We’ll find out soon enough! Maybe some of Merveille’s powerful newcomers, like Ilmeria or Firis or that strange silver-haired boy who showed up at the tail end of this chapter, might know something.

Finally, just for fun…
BONUS: Bug Catcher Sue