Atelier Iris Trilogy Retrospective

The Atelier series began in 1997 with Atelier Marie: Alchemist of Salburg, and stayed in Japan for the next 7 years. In 2005, Gust teamed up with a publisher to get their games to an international audience, starting with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. Followed the next year by Atelier Iris 2: Azoth of Destiny, and the year after that with Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm. These games stand in sharp contrast to what the series would be from Rorona onwards. They were closer to what was commonly seen as JRPGs, with a linear story and heavier emphasis on combat rather than laidback exploration and item creation. In 2023, I started covering every game in the series released in English, and this is a compilation of those reviews with a few minor edits and some extra overall thoughts on the trilogy at the end.
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