Part 14: Debrief

Chapter 3 debrief

Chapter 3 is over with, and with that, we’ve seen the twins get their name out there, advance to G rank, and in what you were all waiting for, explore a new Mysterious Painting! We also finally got a new party member!

Speaking of G rank, here are the twins’ ambitions for that:









As you can see, everything here is pretty trivial! And hereafter, you’re gonna start some chapters with (more likely than not) at least some of these ambitions already done! On the flipside, you’ll also run into some ambitions that’ll require you to have synthesize items with a certain trait, and if you don’t have an ingredient with that trait, then tough luck.

Character Art/3D Models:
Liane OA (NOCO)
This is actually a palette swap of her Atelier Firis OA. Which I can let slide since her role in this game is marginal.
Mathias OA (NOCO)
Mathias 3D Model
I really like Mathias’ design because it matches really well with his role in the story: some combination of blue blood, knight, and jester.

…Come on, the dude literally has the name of the country in his surname, he clearly isn’t just some everyday guy!

Location Notes and Memos:
Merveille:

This is a gallery behind Merveille Castle that houses Mysterious Paintings. They plan on displaying other unusual paintings, so maybe they’ll take mine one day! Hehehe!
Dammit game, REDACTED hasn’t even been formally introduced yet!

Mysterious Painting:

This is a very dark painting world. I often hear a whispering coming from between the trees. However, I can never make out what they’re saying…

Speaking of Mysterious Paintings, having traveled into one in earnest, we now have access to a map for them!



You might vaguely recognize the area above the Spooky Forest from the painting in the basement. Are the twins ever going to get back in and investigate it for real? You’ll see much later on!

Music:
Forest in Turmoil -Lydie-
The forest isn’t a true place of horror, but more home to charming and playful ghosts. The tracks that play when in the paintings differ slightly depending on whether you are playing as Lydie or Sue in terms of the instruments used. Generally, Sue’s versions are more cheerful and poppy, while Lydie’s are calmer and more restrained. (Yanagawa)

Forest in Turmoil -Suelle-
Sue is more easily frightened, so the opening of the track has been adjusted to reflect this sense of fear. Incidentally, I myself don’t like horror movies. If the ghosts were a little friendlier it would be fine, but they all seem to want to attack… In fact, ghost or not, I’m afraid of anything that shows animosity towards me. (Yanagawa)

Flying the Nest -Lydie & Suelle-
This is a combination version of the emotional instrumental arrangements. I had no plans to make this, but as both the Lydie and Sue versions are just instrumental arrangements of the opening theme, this combined version appeared as a by-product of just that. (Achiwa)

This song’s respective components didn’t appear during the chapter, but I’m linking them anyway:

Flying the Nest -Lydie-
This is an instrumental arrangement of the opening theme for use in emotional moments. This piece is for Lydie, and features prominent use of piano and violin. It is something of a stereotype, but these are the instruments that go best for a mild-mannered girl like her. (Achiwa)

Flying the Nest -Suelle-
For the fearless Sue, I used guitar and oboe as the central instruments. Guitar is unsurprising, but many of you may find the choice of the oboe unexpected. I tried a few others, like the whistle, but there was just something about the oboe that matched this piece well. Perhaps it’s just that I love the oboe. (Achiwa)

Moving on, character themes!

What Do You Know?
A carefree, handsome man, with a few issues. If you want to last a long time as a male character in the Atelier series, this is actually the position to occupy. He may look flighty and unreliable, but when push comes to shove… The characters who are too cool to begin with always end up meeting some stick end, and are often given some weird fetish to boot. No one wants to become comic relief. (Achiwa)

Wind Chaser (Lydie & Suelle Ver.)
A rearrangement of the theme for Liane. In Atelier Firis, we intentionally made the rhythm for her theme weaker and gentler in order to suggest her internal fragility. This was unnecessary in this title, meaning that the final result is a jauntier, more cheerful feel to the arrangement. (Achiwa)

DEBRIEF debrief:
So far, the twins’ drive to fulfill their promise with their mother—to become the best alchemists in Adalet—has brought them into the Atelier Ranking System, and thus directly in contact with Mireille, Mathias and the agenda of the Kingdom of Adalet. Lydie and Sue are alchemists living and working in a kingdom that, all of a sudden, is proactively trying to attract alchemists, and we’ve already seen this newly implemented system attract powerful newcomers such as Ilmeria (and Liane’s sister?). The Kingdom of Adalet is also going out of its way to collect Mysterious Paintings, and to have trusted alchemists explore them and divine their secrets.

Speaking of the Atelier Ranking System, the twins’ G rank exam required them to collect monster eggs… and take out increasingly prevalent and increasingly dangerous monsters ransacking the countryside close to Merveille. If it’s this bad already this close to the capital, what’s it like in the kingdom’s hinterland? And do these developments have anything to do with the unseasonal thunderstorms the twins and Mathias were grumbling about during the first two chapters?

We’ll see more about that next chapter!

Finally, just for the record:



This right there is how you know the twins are Atelier protagonists