Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX

 Switch
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX Image
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Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The promise begins. A Dusk era has fallen upon this world many times, yet people have managed to survive and reclaim a meager livelihood thus far. Here, in a remote atelier, there was a lone girl making her living by making medicine. Her name is Ayesha.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Nintendo Life
    Jan 14, 2020
    70
    Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX is a great jumping-in point for newcomers to the series. It's a welcoming start to the Dusk trilogy which hits the ground running whilst dialling back the traditional time limit aspect of the game, gently easing players into its core alchemy as well as firmly establishing the gameplay loops and systems which are carried on throughout the two follow-up games. It's never really going to satisfy the most ardent RPG fan as its exploration is too contained and controlled and its combat not ferocious or engaging enough for battle-hardened players. For everyone else, its alchemy is a thing of depth and beauty which creates a satisfying core to which all these lesser elements feed into in a satisfying manner. With a strong – if rather small-scale – story backing the whole thing up, Atelier Ayesha is an easy recommendation for those looking to get invested in a light and breezy, warm-hearted JRPG series.
  2. NintendoWorldReport
    Jan 21, 2020
    70
    Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX seems to be a decent entry point into the world of Atelier, and its crafting system hides a depth that will satiate more meticulous players. The main story does take a back seat to the character interactions and exploration of the world, but I had some fun seeing Ayesha’s journey (nearly) to completion.
  3. FNintendo
    Mar 27, 2020
    70
    Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX lands on the Nintendo Switch as an improved incarnation of a game part of the Dusk Trilogy within the Atelier series and this work does a lot of things right, starting with the quality of its plot and its developed world. Not all works as it should, though, and the game's performance issues and its rather boring final stretch mean that it's below its full potential but RPG fans and Atelier series followers have good reasons to visit Atelier Ayesha on the Switch.
  4. Switch Player
    Jan 14, 2020
    50
    Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX is a passable JRPG that hardcore fans of the genre will find positives in. However, minimal explanation for the main draw to the game, and the limiting of your time in the world are rough spots.

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. iMustang
    May 13, 2020
    6
    It's been awhile since I've been this conflicted on a game. I decided to try my first Atelier game with one that is now over 8 years old.It's been awhile since I've been this conflicted on a game. I decided to try my first Atelier game with one that is now over 8 years old. Atelier Ayesha. I think I made a good move all things considering, but an equally bad move as well. Ayesha is an adorable main character, who finds very fun and colorful friends along the way and ultimately tells a very charming story. This game is very much meant to be a relaxing experience where you focus on exploring, crafting, and chatting with fun characters along the way. And that would be great if that were the only focus... but they also throw in primitive turn based battles, with an uneven amount of encounters, and a time limit. Even if you clear every area of it's enemies while playing the game you generally do not get much experience, and if you seek out the harder enemies in the optional areas they end up being too hard to take down, so there's no way to grind. This game did not have any boss fights until the end of the game, and I ended up being over 10 levels under-leveled for it because my characters were not groomed to face a bigger challenge. To mention said time limit, if you cannot complete the main objective within a certain amount of time you cannot get a good ending. This is stressful when the game rarely tells you where/how to progress the story, and nearly everything from picking up items to sometimes even talking to characters can made the time fly by. It was just a formulaic mess.

    The reason I'm so conflicted is that I honestly had a good time with these characters as well as enjoying the beautiful art, music, and everything else this game has going for it. If this would have been more like a Harvest Moon style game with no combat, I probably would have really liked it. But though it presents itself like a relaxed exploration game, it really is more of a visual novel with a very outdated combat system. I don't regret my time I spent with Ayesha, but I wish I could have had more control over our journey together so we both could have reached the end with smiles on our faces. Perhaps simply put this franchise was just not yet where it wanted to be when this game came out. I'm going to take what I learned with Ayesha and walk into Ryza with high hopes for what this franchise has become.    … Expand
  2. bladex
    Feb 16, 2020
    2
    this is the worst game in the dusk series. first of all the game DOES not tell or even give you hints that there is a time limit...well therethis is the worst game in the dusk series. first of all the game DOES not tell or even give you hints that there is a time limit...well there is and it's only 3 years! so:

    if you spend time going back and forth gathering up ingredients you will lose you can only gather ingredients ONCE per stage visit if you go back and get more than your done for.

    if you spend time perfecting your healing, attack and equipment from alchemy than you will lose. you are expected to get it done right the very first time than use that gear until you get access to other gear. keep on crafting and your out of damn time!

    if you continue going back and forth across the map yep you guessed it you will lose. your only expected to follow one path the whole game otherwise your done for.

    so to cap:

    - there's not enough time to enjoy alchemy
    - there's not enough time to explore and level up
    - there's not enough time to get the really good ingredients
    - there's not enough time PERIOD which is why this failure of a game gets this score!!

    it only gets one point for lincas swimsuit costume (very nice)
    and one point for the music.    … Expand

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