Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Fantasm
Developer(s) Gust Co. Ltd.
Publisher(s)
Director(s) Kazushige Masuda
Producer(s) Tomohiko Yoshida
Tadanobu Inoue
Programmer(s) Yuji Higuchi
Artist(s) Yuko Tsujita
Yasuhiro Nakai
Jun Futaba
Writer(s) Teruo Akaike
Kazushige Masuda
Composer(s) Ken Nakagawa
Series Atelier
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date(s)
  • JP June 29, 2006
  • NA May 29, 2007
  • AUS July 26, 2007
  • EU August 3, 2007
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm, released in Japan as Atelier Iris: Grand Fantasm (イリスのアトリエ グランファンタズム Irisu no Atorie Guran Fantazumu) is a role-playing video game developed by Japanese developer Gust Co. Ltd. for the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay

Players guide their party of adventurers through the town of Zey Meruze which acts as a central hub and five different areas called Alterworlds, acting as the dungeons. In order to progress through the game, players must undertake quests which are obtained from the Raiders Guild in town. This system is a departure from previous games in the series, and allows players to undertake multiple tasks at once and to choose their own way through the game to an extent. As tasks are completed, the party gains guild points. Once enough guild points are gained for the next rank, the next part of the main plotline follows, before more side-quests in the form of tasks are made available.

When the party moves from the town to an alterworld to complete a task, a timer starts counting down. If the task is not completed before the timer runs out, the party is safely removed from the alterworld and must attempt the quest again.

Alchemy forms an important aspect of the story and gameplay, as with the other Atelier Iris games. Items are combined in the party's workshop by the character Iris, forming new items and equipment. This system is used to create attack items for combat, healing items, status attack or restoration items, weapons and armor for characters to equip and various other items.

The game also features some side story characteristics, that allow Edge to engage in conversations with some of the townspeople upon the completion of certain quests. These conversations provide additional details about the townspeople.

Characters

Playable characters

Unlike previous games in the series, the maximum number of playable characters is 3. However to compensate for the fewer number of characters, once a certain point is reached in the game, Edge and Nell can equip various "Blades" which can change their combat style and skills.

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (Japanese); Vic Mignogna (English)
The male main character, aged 19, who works as a Raider exploring the Alterworlds. After losing his family at a young age, he has since been living with Iris. He's quiet and his honest personality makes him seem unfriendly but deep down is kind and sensible at heart. He is also revealed to have romantic feelings for Iris.
Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)
The female main character, aged 16, who works with Edge as a Raider. Growing up in an alchemist family, she can do simple synthesis. She has an optimistic and straightforward personality but is a little clumsy. She shares a namesake with Iris Blanchimont from Atelier Iris and Atelier Iris 2, but aside from similar looks, the two are completely unrelated.
Voiced by: Natsumi Yanase (Japanese); Jessica Straus (English)
The third playable character, aged 15, who works with her older sister Yula as a Raider to rebuild their family wealth. A very energetic girl often lacking seriousness. After getting into a fight with her sister, she joins the party in Chapter 3.

Other characters

Voiced by: Daiki Matsubayashi (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)
The highest ranked Raider in the world, who always works alone.
Voiced by: Junko Ueda (Japanese); ? (English)
A Guild receptionist, who handles normal quests. A shy and gentle person, she always gives a warm and friendly "Good work." to every Raider at the completion of their quests.
Voiced by: Sayaka Narita (Japanese); Sandy Fox (English)
A Guild receptionist, aged 12, who handles combat quests. Phenyl is a rude and unfriendly person, who has a bit of a complex about her height: she takes extreme offense at comments made about it.
Voiced by: Satoshi Katôgi (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)
A womanizing researcher who works at the Scripture Library. Ewan is an intelligent person, but his carefree and narcissistic attitude never makes him seem that way.
Voiced by: Hazuki Nishikawa (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)
A daughter of a wealthy family. Yula comes to Zey Meruze with Nell to work as a Raider in order to rebuild their family wealth.
Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
An overly proud Raider, of below-average skill.
Voiced by: Miwa Kôzuki (Japanese); ? (English)
The Guild Master. Once a highly ranked Raider herself, she is optimistic person who often smiles despite her busy work schedule.
A retired female Raider who is always seen standing sadly at the memorial stone and says very few words.
A ghost librarian in Grimoire Castle. She has a bubbly personality, but is painfully forgetful. She also has a rather amusing habit of appearing in front of people out of thin air, sometimes resulting in her scaring the bejeezus out of them. Pamela is a recurring character in the Atelier series.
Voiced by: Kunihiro Kawamoto (Japanese); Derek Stephen Prince (English)
A mysterious ex-Raider who currently hires other Raiders for his own secret agenda.
Voiced by: ? (Japanese); Sandy Fox (English)
Owner of the Grocery Store. Manna is a hard worker with a bright smile, but she has a slow personality.
Voiced by: ? (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)
The bookstore owner. Ella is bored of her job, and is unfriendly to her customers. She is a childhood friend of Iris.
Owner of the General Store. A merchant from a faraway land who loves rare items who has a bit of a greedy personality. Yach also appeared previously in Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny and Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, but it is unknown if they are the same people.
Voiced by: ? (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)
The owner of the weapon store who is passionate about weapons whose only concern is his bald head. Hagel is a fixture in many of Gust's works, appearing in both previous Atelier Iris games as well as Ar tonelico.

Mana

The TIME Mana, who can be optionally unsealed by seeking the Shadow Stalker in Ishtar's Uroborus Seal area. The Shadow Stalker is the most difficult boss but when destroyed, Luplus casts HASTE on the party, also allows Edge the CHRONOMANCER BLAZE—specializes in high-arcane magic attack upgrades using ancient tomes.

Music

The soundtrack was mainly composed by Ken Nakagawa with the opening song composed by Revo and two other vocal songs composed by Daisuke Achiwa. It was released June 21, 2006 in Japan by TEAM Entertainment.

Ending songs:

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings64.78%[1]
Metacritic63/100[2]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer5/10[3]
GameSpot6.2/10[4]
GameSpy[5]
GamesRadar[6]
GameTrailers6/10[7]
IGN6/10[8]
Console Obsession7/10[9]
Gaming Nexus7.1/10[10]
PSX Extreme6.4/10[11]
RPGFan84%[12]
Total PlayStation5/10[13]
Worthplaying6/10[14]
ZTGD7/10[15]

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm received mixed reviews, resulting in an aggregated score of 64.78% on GameRankings based on 39 reviews[1] and 63/100 on Metacritic based on 34 reviews.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  3. Parkin, Simon (August 3, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  4. VanOrd, Kevin (June 1, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review". GameSpot. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  5. Joynt, Patrick (May 30, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm". GameSpy. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  6. Vassar, Darryl (May 30, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review". GamesRadar. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  7. Webber, Garry (October 19, 2006). "Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny Review for PS2". GameTrailers. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  8. Sullivan, Meghan (February 28, 2008). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review". IGN. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  9. Wigham, Simon (May 31, 2010). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm PS2 Review". Console Obsession. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  10. Mirkovich, Matt (May 21, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review". Gaming Nexus. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  11. Dukta, Ben (July 12, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review". PSXextreme. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  12. Gann, Patrick (May 28, 2007). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm". RPGFan. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  13. Bishop, Sam (January 17, 2011). "Third Time's Almost A Charm - Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm". Total PlayStation. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  14. McDonald, Tim (September 30, 2007). "PS2 Review - 'Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm'". Worthplaying. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  15. McKown, Ken (January 17, 2011). "Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm". ZTGD. Retrieved November 28, 2014.

External links

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