Mana Khemia: Alchemist of Al-Revis

Rating Everyone 10+ Genre role-playing Publisher NIS External Links Official NIS Website

It is always a joy when a new NIS title hits the shelves and Mana Khemia is no different. In what can be described as a cross between Atelier Iris and Harry Potter, NIS has once again taken the console RPG and made it something fresh and interesting. The story takes place in a school for those who have a penchant for alchemy. The young men and women are recruited and taken to the school where they are trained to perform alchemical feats. The main character, Vayne, was found alone with his cat Sulpher outside a desolate workshop. Teachers from the nearby academy invited him to participate in the curriculum. Once there he meets ups with Jessica, a pink haired girl with a love for dangerous alchemy, Nikki, a spunky cat-gil, and Flay, the over dramatic pseudo-hero of the school. Flay recruits the others to follow under his wing at his workshop, where you do most of your alchemical studies.

For those of you who have played the Atelier Iris series, you will recognize some similarities. Alchemy is done by taking various different items (radishes, water, dirt, bones, etc.) and combining them to create something new. Most of the gear you wear in the game is created in this fashion as well as most of the consumable items you will use. As in Atelier Iris, what ingredients you use determines can alter the kind of effects an item can have. This is important when creating armor and weapons, as you want to use materials that increase attack and defense respectively.

The most important thing about alchemy in the game is how your characters grow. Instead of traditional character levels, characters gain points that they can spend on a grid system that is somewhat like the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X. Spaces on this grid are unlocked for certain characters depending on what items you have created so far. For example, creating a weapon for a character usually unlocks a space on the grid. Spending point there can either give you an ability or raise various stats, depending on the individual area. The benefit to this is that you can somewhat plan ahead what items you want to make to make your characters better. On the downside, it prevents you from power leveling. Many of the items the grid contains can only be made after certain parts of the plot. This just means that you will collect a nice pool of experience waiting to be spent until you can finally create the required items.

One of the nicest things about the game is how fluid combat is. At first it starts off quite simple, with normal attacks and a few specials, but as you progress through the game it becomes far more involved. Once you have a few members in your party, they can swap in at the end of a friend’s attack, causing additional damage to the monster and putting them in the main lines. You can also use the switch to remove a critically wounded party member from the line of fire when an enemy attacks. A card bar keeps track of turn order, allowing you to be strategic in how you plan combat. Load times in and out of combat are incredibly short, giving a nice face paced feel when exploring the world.

The music is catchy enough that I find myself whistling the tunes as I play and the story, through perhaps a bit slow in development, is interesting enough. Even after fifteen hours of game play, you still know little about any of the characters' pasts. The little side quests that you can do for the other members of your party help you get to know them better as well as unlock recipes and such as you progress. NIS has kept the bar high and definitely delivers yet again with another fun game.