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Atelier Judie: The Alchemist of Gramnad (ユーディーのアトリエ ~グラムナートの錬金術士 ~ Yūdī no Atorie ~Guramunāto no Renkinjutsushi~) is the fourth game to be officially released in the Atelier series.

It is the first game in the Gramnad series, and is another game to be an exclusive Japanese release. It was originally released for the Playstation 2, but was re released  on the Playstation Portable 8 years after it's initial release under the title: Atelier Judie ~The Alchemist of Gramnad~ Imprisoned Guardian (ユーディーのアトリエ 〜グラムナートの錬金術士〜 囚われの守人).

Plot[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The game's main protagonist Judith Volltone is living alone in the alchemy shop that she inherited from her parents. She specializes in making medication, and often takes requests from villagers to make a living.

One day, an adventurer requests her to create an item called the "Hourglass of the Dragon", which has the abilities to travel in time. While synthesizing it, a piece of Judith's hair falls down into the cauldron, and Judith suddenly finds herself 200 years into the future.

Judith's goal will be to to find a way to recreate an Hourglass of the Dragon, and to use it to get back to her own time period. However, there are many troubles to overcome on the way, such as a loan Judith took from Witoss Lotps and finding the ingredients for the Hourglass of the Dragon. During her search and travels Judith will encounter many people and visit five cities.

The original release had two possible endings, one where Judith travels back to her own time and one where Judith stays in the future. One more ending was added in the PSP re-release where Judith learns the truth about Sphere.

Gameplay[]

Atelier Judie reinterpreted aspects of the series' gameplay thus far, such as simplifying the stat systems used outside of combat and enhancing RPG-elements by adding isometric field and dungeon exploration. The synthesis system was also revamped by allowing the player to substitute materials with others as long as they share category, as well as each individual item and material holding "traits". The trait system would later develop into a staple element and important gameplay feature in later titles.

Goal[]

The goal of the game is to gather the required ingredients and create an "Hourglass of the Dragon" so that Judith can return to her own time period. Once a Hourglass of the Dragon has been created and all necessary conditions have been fulfilled, it's possible to talk to Post Kohlstadt to end the game.

Synthesis[]

In the workshops, the player can combine different items to create a new item. More items becomes available through obtaining recipes. Recipes can be found or bought, and every recipe book includes recipes for one or several specific items. Every item that can be synthesized is of practical use, and most of them can be used in battle. Every synthesized item can have up to 5 effects and effects can differ drastically depending on the materials used.

There are 110 items that can be synthesized in the original Playstation 2 version of the game, and additional items were added in the Playstation Portable port.

Dungeons[]

Different from the gathering areas of the cities, dungeons have a "Dungeon Damage" bar. If the dungeon takes too much damage from explosives or activating traps and the bar runs out, it will collapse. Dungeons also have traps and treasure chests, which can be disarmed or opened if the player's party members have the appropiate skills. There are also buttons which may heal the party or the Dungeon Damage bar, but stepping on one is a gamble as it may also cause harm instead. Dungeons are maze-like, and for each time destroyed the floor layout changes. Certain items are only available at certain layouts, making it necessary to destroy dungeons and explore different layouts.

Towns[]

There are five towns the player can visit. The player can take quests or hire a room at every town's inn to use as a workshop. It's also possible to access a gathering area from all towns except one. Different towns have different shops, which affects what items can be Registered and bought there. Adventurers are also hired from their respective towns, with some frequenting multiple ones.

Quests[]

The player can take quests from every town. The quests can involve hunting a certain enemy, or bringing in items. It's possible to complete a quest without turning in the exact amount of items requested but this will reduce the reward. Completing quests improves Judith's Popularity stat for the town the quest was located in.

Battle[]

The battles are turn-based and the player will enter battle with Judie and two optional and changeable party members. If a party member or enemy run out of HP, MP or LP, the enemy or party member has been defeated. In battle, the player can use synthesized or bought items from the basket. Most party members will charge the player in exchange for their service. This comes in form of a flat fee in Cole every time the player leaves a town.

Endings[]

The original game have two possible endings, and the Playstation Portable re-release introduced a third ending. There is no bad ending, as the game can't be lost. Unlike previous games, every single ending requires the player to beat at least one boss enemy. All endings require the player to beat the Faktoa Temple dragon in order to make the Dragon Hourglass and continue to the depths of Faktoa, the second ending requires the player to unlock Maibaum Tower and beat its demon lord, and in the third ending the player must defeat the Time Shift using only Judith and Sphere.

Clock[]

While the game does not have any time limit as its predecessors, there is a clock that will affect the gameplay. The clock shows what day and what hour it is, and items may decay with the course of time. Quests also have deadlines. By synthesizing or moving to another area time will pass. Shop clerks might also have a day off at certain days. There are events to help the player to get back on their feet if very little progress is being made over long spans of time.

Workshops[]

It's possible to hire a workshop at every town's inn. In the workshop, it's possible to save, load, perform synthesis, access the container, sleep, and interact with various characters. Several events also takes place in the workshop. Hiring a workshop costs 10 000 cole. If the player decides to move out, 5000 cole will be payed back. The contents of the containers are not linked between workshops and the player can only bring the contents of their basket when moving.

Ice Room[]

Items stored in the Ice Room in Altenord will never decay. However, there is a maximum number of 100 items that can be stored in the Ice Room.

Locations[]

  • "Town of Scholars" - Wern
  • "Town of Business" - Metterburg
  • "Town of Agriculture" - Risa
  • "Town of the Goddess" - Altenord
  • "Town of Smithing" - Prostag
  • Faktoa Temple
  • Tower of Maibaum

Characters[]

Playable Characters[]

Non Playable Characters[]

Playstation Portable version[]

Judie PSP logo

Revised logo for the PlayStation Portable version

Atelier Judie was re released to Playstation Portable eight years after it's initial release under the title: Atelier Judie ~The Alchemist of Gramnad~ Imprisoned Guardian(ユーディーのアトリエ 〜グラムナートの錬金術士〜 囚われの守人). The Playstation Portable version includes several new events, music, artworks, a new additional ending, items, additional floors of the dungeon Faktoa Temple, and the new character Sphere. The layout has also been changed to fit the wide screen of the Playstation Portable.

While the game was promoted with new artwork and character illustrations, the artstyle remains the same as the original for the majority of the game. The port contains both the original opening song and animation, alongside a new theme song called "Time and a Word" with a new opening movie. The opening sequence changes to the new one after the player has finished the game once.

The new ending is tied to an optional storyline taking place in the very depths of Faktoa Temple. For this section of the game the player can recruit the new character, learn her story, and challenge the new floors of the dungeon. This part of the game contains the new artstyle seen in promotional material. The extended Faktoa Temple floors act as a sort of second "postgame", while also detailing new lore concepts regarding spirits/elementals and introducing a much more serious, previously unknown reason for why Judie was able to time travel to begin with. The final additional boss may be seen as introducing a true antagonist character to the story, which was arguably not present in the original release.

While this version was plagued by less bugs than the original release, there is an issue where the game will spawn item number 101,102, and 103 as quests before they have been formally identified through a recipe book. These three items are also exclusive to the PSP version.

Although the Atelier Series had previously had installments on the Nintendo DS, it was deemed that the work to port a PlayStation 2 game to the DS would be too extensive. Therefore, the PlayStation Portable was choosen instead as it's relatively more similar to the PS2 than the DS. It was no easy task to port the game however, as a lot work had to be made to optimise the programming. Another difficult aspect was adjusting the user interface for the smaller screen and different aspect ratio.

There was talk about porting the game without any additional content, but the developers thought it'd not be enough for the market at the time. After one or two days of playing the original game, the director of the PSP version came up with the idea of introducing a new character. At first there was issues with the new character contradicting the lore and story of the original game, and the writing was gradually adjusted throughout development. Sphere was initially supposed to appear as early as the beginning of the game, but due to technological issues with implementation she had to introduced in a new area instead.[1].

Music[]

Other media[]

Comic adaptions[]

Manga01

Promotional manga "How To Judie"

There have also been two comic anthologies based on the game.

Novelizations[]

  • Atelier Judie: The Alchemist of Gramnad (Novel), a novel published by Enterbrain for Famitsu.
  • Atelier Judie: A Timeless Message, another novel released by Mediaworks for Dengeki.

Drama CDs[]

A series of drama CDs for the game were released.

Blogs[]

As promotion for the Playstation Portable release of the game, a blog called Judie's Diary (ユーディーの日記) was created. It features blog entries written from Judith's perspective, accompanied with illustrations. An official Twitter account was also made for Pamela Ibis, which later continued to promote the PSP port of the sequel.

Gallery[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. https://www.4gamer.net/games/104/G010487/20100224061/ 4Gamer - 新要素はあっても基本は“あえて”そのままに。PSPへ移植される「ユーディーのアトリエ」について,ガストの田中ディレクターに聞いた. Retrieved on 2023-05-23
  2. http://www.gust.co.jp/products/a4/about00.html Official website - Gramnad News. Retrieved on 2020-05-10
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