Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny

« It's the kind of game that made me feel disappointed it was over. If all games that were just polished versions of older games like Atelier Iris 2 is, then I'd never want for an original game again. »

« If you're looking for a fun 30-40 hour game to play, Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny is a clear choice. It's nothing like those state-of-the-art 3D RPGs from Square Enix and the like: this is oldschool glory. »

« This game is a lot of fun, and offers all of the humor, charm, and personality we have come to expect from NIS America. This is the kind of game you won't want to end. »

« A Japanese console RPG fans wet dream. It manages to incorporate incredibly creative and new ideas into an old formula with amazingly fun results. »

« Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny doesn't break the mold for RPGs but it still contains some very inspired moments. »

« At times, the slow-paced item-hunting can get boring, but the colourful graphics, good charactes and fast-paced battles more than make up for it. [Oct 2006] »

« A fun role-playing game that fans of the original should welcome with open arms. »

« Atelier Iris 2: Azoth of Destiny may seem out of place on the PS2, but it has a simple charm that will win over anyone with fond memories of the 16-bit RPG era. [May 2006, p.47] »

« Great follow up to Eternal Mana, with the crafting part of the world and the battle part of the world in Belkhyde being separated. Very engaging storyline fun battle system and great characters. Being stranded in Belkhyde was an amazing choice, allowed you to explore and brand new world - the character and the player were in sync. »

« Atelier Iris 2 isn't the most deep and complex RPG, but this is an RPG that is just plain comfortable to sit through. The story is cliche to a fault, but given the tone of the series is more light-hearted, this is acceptable by my standards. I am totally OK with a cliche story in my personal feelings. And I do love the two side perspective as that game has and it's not like our heroes can't keep in touch thanks to some magic communication rings to also provide a valid excuse to why the protagonists share inventory space. The cast of this game is competently executed and while not the most deep cast, that's OK. Almost every character is likable despite that. (Though I will say my favorite of the main party is the dragon man. He's the most static character, sure. But he's a man that got cursed with this dragon form but this is a Cursed with Awesome scenario. And the icing on the cake is that for once, the cursed beast doesn't face prejudice. Great subversion for a change!). The gameplay loop of gathering materials and crafting with them is simple and to the point. And a small upgrading weapon system was a welcome choice to have. And the combat has a satisfying loop of charging your tech gauge while keeping the enemy stunned and it fixed game 1's issue of only having its protag be allowed to use items which I felt was a dumb choice. I do think the difficulty curve is a bit too jarring by the halfway point where enemies did over half of your health, but I can tank some grinding to get there. As for the presentation, I'd say it's miles better than the first for having a more consistent style throughout and the map system in this game is in a drawing form so that that part in the game doesn't feel outta place. Sprites got a nice upgrade in the style, character portraits lean more on the anime side and it doesn't feel wrong to look at, and the backgrounds while static do their job pretty well. And I'd consider Iris 2's music to be the most memorable for me by series standards. And plus we got some great actors in the cast. To show off my inner actor nerd, Spike Spencer and Michelle Ruff are the protags, the late Bob Papenbrook being the dragon man, Mona Marshall being the annoying fairy (Though I still love Mona's voice work), and Liam O'Brien basically playing as the Jerkass Rival villain. Not one performance was awful per se, but the line cutting got pretty annoying. That's the only other gripe in this game that bugged me. All in all, Iris 2's a much more refined game and fun to come back to if ya want some cliche, but still fun RPG goodness. And this is what I'd consider to be a prime example of an RPG that is just plain fun without deep tones. »

« Definite improvement from the first part of the Iris trilogy. Music was good, story was better if a little predictable. Crafting system was much improved, I love the smithing addition. The story playing out form two different perspectives was very fun and a unique little twist I'd like to see more of in games. Story 7/10 Graphics 7/10 Gameplay 8.5/10 »

« [SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.] »

« The very reason I became an Atelier Iris fan. Good and Interesting story. The second entry in the Atelier Iris game, it is certainly more interesting than new games in ps3. Has two focuses and, by far, is more interesting than escha and logy. Synthesis and Battle, the two later unite in the story, even though it's not two stories, it has more of these elements than the ps3 one. Overall, a very decent game for Ps2. Interesting and very well done story. »

« While it follows the style and tone of it's predecessor. It lacks the charm and innovation AI1 had. AI2 seems to be a bit more combat focused this time. While the combat is greatly improved upon from the game before it, it's still a little dull. None the less, AI2 is far prettier than AI1 also has far more interesting characters and overall story arc. Overall: A decent addition to the Atelier series that isn't as good as the game that came before, but, still fun and enjoyable none the less. »