Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is a console role-playing gamedeveloped by Gust and published by Koei, Gust and NIS America, released in 2004 in Japan, in 2005 in North America, and in 2006 in the rest of the world. This is a single-player game.
This game belongs to the Atelier series of video games; it generally received positive reviews from the gaming press; it was praised for its complex items creation system, its well-detailed environments.
Eternal Mana takes place in the fantasy world of Regallzine; this place is the home of alchemyand mana (source of magical powers). In the past occurred wars and internal quarrels have separated the realm of Esviore and at the beginning of the game is divided in two.
The gamin is set in the Southern part and this part is no more ruled by the King. Instead, each separate city-state of South Esviore runs their own affairs, trading with one another but remaining mostly separate.
The situation with Regallzine is also tied with the fate of Avenberry, a legendary city of alchemists that existed many hundreds of years before the game s beginning. No one knows exactly what happened, but it is said that Avenberry fell because of the misuse of the alchemy that ran their lives.
Alchemists today are few and far between, most basing their research on the studies of Iris, an alchemist who lived before the fall of Avenberry. The manas are a race of beings that allow alchemists to use their power. They augment the power of the elements which Alchemists extract from objects in the world and use them to create new and powerful magical items. Mana have feelings, emotions, and personalities just as people do, and many become good friends with their alchemist, although some people do forget about this fact.
The protagonist of the game, the young Klein Kiesling, is one of these wandering alchemists, particularly talented. His adventure begins when he stumbles across a monster in a forest, is rescued by a girl, and gets wound up in her fate and eventually, the fate of the world.
You will have to face a mad alchemist who is trying to resurrect an ancient god, on the purpose that he is the only able to bring peace and happiness to humanity. You will use your character abilities to create manas, and other magical items and also equip it to lean special abilities and to gain bonuses when leveling up.
You will see that some manas must be given gifts to obey you more easily and to become more powerful. In addition to this when you equip your mana they can also grant you physical abilities that you can use to solve puzzles in the dungeons you will have to explore.
Eternal Mana features in-game actions, as well as traditional RPG games elements, that help you while exploring the game s world, it includes also several enjoyable and unusual ones such as flying, changing into a rabbit, using a mana as a footstool, or healing the whole party.
With its simple, turn-based battles, storybook universe, and saccharine characters, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana feels like a throwback to the glory days of the SNES role-playing games.
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