Part 79: Debrief
Chapter 10/11 debriefStrides made, promises made, promises kept, paintings explored and saved, and a crushing, sobering truths revealed… and now S Rank is finally in sight for the twins!
But of course, the twins had a huge spat before getting there, which the game treats as a huge oh shit oh shit oh shiiiiiit moment.
All side events are off while the twins are having their spat…
Probably because nobody in the entire city of Merveille knows how (or wants) to deal with them when they’re at each other’s throats, I guess. But of course, this spat doesn’t happen until after you finish the A Rank exam. And to take that exam, you need to complete enough ambitions:
To get All-In Super Bomb, you have to do this request. You get the Ashes of Origin with Top Fashion by catching an Old Master with the Liebel Crown Gold Rod, using it as (Oil) for Blue Neutralizer, using this Blue Neutralizer to make Zettel, and finally using this Zettel as (Fuel) for Ashes of Origin.
For Super-speed Wind-up Key, you have to do this request and defeat a pack of Man o’ War in the Dawn Realm. Firis bomb them fast and hard, because they have some nasty debuffs that’ll really put the hurt on you if you let them attack.
Now, CGs in the order they appeared! So fair warning: that one CG with Lucia comes first.
CGs
D-Don’t Forget!
Roar…?
A Mysterious, Mysterious Tale
Hey, Are You Listening?
Urgh…
1.03 Scene:
The Merveille Endurance Race
Combination Arts:
Rainbow Codex (Lydie/Sophie)
Avars Order (Lydie/Lucia)
Firis and Sue Surprise (Sue/Firis)
Crimson Treasures (Firis/Ilmeria)
Since the Composer’s Notes has nothing for Combination Arts added as DLC, the track that plays during Crimson Treasures riffs from Determination to Strike from Atelier Firis.
True Twin Power Attack (Lydie/Sue)
Location Notes and Memos:
Mysterious Paintings:
This painting world lets you watch the beautiful night sky. Flowers and fruits of stars… You’re assured of seeing many star-related items here.
This painting world was painted over by Remplir. The previous world has lost all of its sights and vistas. It’s so sad…Bestiary Notes:
Not much to Firis as a boss you beat for her letter of recommendation; you can easily stall her out with Lightning Crystals until she goes down.
At this stage of the game, I had plenty of game-breaking items up my sleeve (Lightning Crystals for stalling, Blizzard Weave with 999 Quality and +5 Use Distilled Water, the Firis bomb juiced up by a Lucky Coin and a Magic Stone Chain, and the Star Sprinkler) that I could easily stall the Remplir Core out until I was ready to let loose with the Firis bomb. I didn’t want to let it land a hit, because if it does, it can inflict the Seal ailment on its target, which disables all commands except for Attack and Switch. No items, no skills, no nothing. As you can imagine, your frontline getting sealed can turn this fight from a breeze into a miserable slog, and it has an attack waiting in the wings which can instantly KO your entire frontline.
If it comes to a point where you have to tank a hit, then I recommend equipping your frontliners with an Ange Parune with the first (yellow) effect maxed out for Nullify All Ailments, so that the Core can’t cripple your frontliners.
Music:
Gazing Upon the Same Star -Lydie-
A plain beneath a beautiful starry sky. I felt that Lydie would keep gazing up forever if she could, so I kept the tempo nice and slow. In reality, there are very few situations in which you find yourself genuinely moved by natural beauty. Somehow, there’s always an element of embarrassment holding you back… (Yanagawa)
Gazing Upon the Same Star -Suelle-
I can imagine Sue crying out “It’s so pretty!” and scampering around like a puppy. I think I’ve written this before, but I believe the image of a girl on an open field is such a picturesque one! It’s not the sort of thing you ever see in real life. And if you did see it, staying and staring at it could get you in trouble… (Yanagawa)
Pursuit of the Truth -Lydie-
This is Lydie’s music for The Black Horizon. “Make it sound like the final dungeon!” That’s what I was told, but how to do that…? After much thought, this is what I came up with. I did this in the previous title too, but it shares the introductory phase with the music for the boss battle. (Yano)
Pursuit of the Truth -Suelle
This is Suelle’s music for The Black Horizon. The drums in this version are recorded live, giving the piece a more “rock” feel. I wanted to really suggest her determination to settle matters with the Black Paint, and to make the player feel that the game is reaching its climax. While maintaining this sense of drama and drive, I also took care with the arrangement to make sure it didn’t sound like battle music. (Yano)
Hydrangea -Part 3-
This is the first eight-beat piece of music I have been involved in in the Atelier series. The chorus has a singalong feel featuring a call-and-response rhythm, so in order to make this more easily understood, I decided to arrange the piece in a piano rock style. I really got into it, and pounded the keys so hard that by the time the deadline was upon me, my right middle finger was bleeding internally. It really hurt. (Yano)
Sunflower -Part 3-
The battle music from the latter part of the game. It seems at first that Sue's newfound maturity is reflected in the fact that there is an intro… but then that intro ends up moving first into the straight verse - as impatiently as ever. The subsequent melody is taken from Etel Nepica. That's right - she's been through a lot, and grown up. Oh, and the wild base line - that's just me having some fun. (Yanagawa)
Albireo
In terms of the story, I guess this is the battle music from near the dramatic climax. Flow-wise, this is where you want the music to rise to a crescendo, so I strove to create a heroic tone, to which I added a range of twinkling, sparkling instruments to suggest fairies fluttering around. (Achiwa)
Journey to the Beyond
This is Firis’s battle theme. It’s an arrangement of the grand ending theme of the previous title in the series. The original track featured a complex time signature, but this time we have kept it to a simple, catchy four-four beat. The instrument selection differs slightly in general between the previous title and this one, but for this track only we have stuck to the style of the previous title. This is one of the unique joys of working on a long-running series. (Yano)
So yeah, this track samples from the (second) ending credits theme to Firis. Have a listen, if you’re interested.
Passionate Twin Attack
A short jingle used when executing a special move. These are similar in use to the finishing jingles from earlier titles in the series, but in this title they are played when combination moves are used. This one is for the protagonist twins, Lydie and Sue. Obviously, this was always going to be an arrangement of the theme song. (Achiwa)
Seven-Colored Codex
This is for Sophie and Lydie’s combination attack. It samples the melody of a certain tune - I wonder if anyone can tell which. (Achiwa)
The answer being the last section of Sophie’s theme.
Firis Surprise
Firis and Sue’s combination move jingle. This piece has a really typical Atelier feel - fantastical and yet comical at the same time. Based on Firis’s personality, it is a cheerful march. (Achiwa)
To My Unborn Child
Another featured track, which plays during the family trip event. Aoi Tada is on vocals. The sound director asked us for something with lyrics from the point of view of the mother, so we decided to do that here… Little did we know that Aoi Tada herself was due to give birth just after the recording! […] I’ve written a lot of lyrics in my career, but this was the first time I’d ever tried to write them from the point of view of an expectant mother… I have to admit it was a difficult birth… If you know what I mean. Aoi Tada entered the recording booth together with her own unborn child. I remember fondly her commenting to me that the two of them had recorded this song together. (Yano)
Filling the shade
This soundtrack for the final boss fight! It’s the first time I’ve ever written one of these. Vocals are provided by Anna Okazaki! I made a conscious effort throughout the title to reduce the amount of electric guitar used, and this track is no exception. In its place, to represent the image of the worlds within the paintings, synthesizers are used more frequently. HIROTOMO is on bass, TAM on violin, and SI.V on guitar. […] Along with the motif from the main theme of this title, this track also features the motifs of battle tracks from the two previous titles in the series. I wonder if anyone noticed that? Thank you so much for playing the game to the end. It proved a challenging title musically in many different ways, but I hope you enjoyed it. I am very much looking forward to meeting you all again someday, somewhere! (Yano)
The two tracks from Atelier Firis and Atelier Sophie featured are Blue Skies and (I believe) Warrior’s Strike, in that order.
DEBRIEF debrief:
So where was the story to go after the twins had their emotional reunion with Honnete in the Heavenly Flower Garden? Many places, as it turned out—not least because Honnete’s soul fragment is slated to disappear in the near future! So this shadow of a second death for Honnete hangs over the twins as they now enter the final stretch of their quest to fulfill their promise to her, and as they begin to ponder how to fulfill their new ambition and new promise to her: to use alchemy to make others happy, as Sophie and Firis decided before them. It also meant that even though the twins destroyed the Remplir Core and saved the Heavenly Flower Garden, they didn’t accomplish they really sought out to do: to save Honnete once and for all, after they’d finally gotten her back after all these years.
But this can’t be how it ends, right? For Honnete to just die again? After all, it’s the twins’ catchphrase, and their most important promise with her: “Don’t give up before you even try!” And there are more loose ends with the friends the twins have made along this journey: how will the succession to the throne of Adalet be resolved? Will Sophie and Plachta finally achieve their dream? Will Firis ever get over the atelier she ran with Ilmeria? What of the teacher-student relationship between Ilmeria and the twins? And just what skeletons does Alt have in his closet? Could resolving these loose ends be key to helping the twins achieve the ultimate happiness?
…Tune in for the final chapter to find out!