By your own admission you haven't played an Atelier game through, correct?

The "time management" is so ridiculously relaxed that short of literally walking about doing nothing the entire game you can hardly fail at any Atelier game. Almost all of the tasks the game sets you take about a tenth as long to complete as the game demands, and it's not even ticking constantly. Time only flows when you do certain actions, which means that for everything else you can laze around doing as little as you like. The pacing through is still far more sedate than almost any other JRPG series I've played this gen. After getting through the first half of Rorona the first time I more or less forgot that that side of things even exists.

I get that time limits can stress players out, especially in RPGs when they typically want to kick back and relax. Baroque and Pandora's Tower both have time limits that are stressful enough that I couldn't recommend either game to a typical JRPG fan. But the "time limits" on Atelier games are hardly a reason to tell JRPG fans not to at least look at the games, IMO.

I played them, but I got so stressed out over the time limits that I didn't get far. That's all I'll say.

How far did you get with each game, specifically?

I ask because the games do a great job of making the time limits out to be far more of a problem than they really are. By about the second year it should be quite obvious that you're never going to struggle to hit your objectives - assuming you make reasonable decisions about what actions to take, of course.

The only time that the time limits will be a challenge is if you aim for the very best ending. But then that's like trying to track down a platinum - it's hardly a requisite to be able to enjoy getting through the game in the first place.

Another interesting bit from the interview:

DD: There are so many different platforms on the market now. How do you decide which platforms are the best options to focus your resources on?
TI: We consider hardware which has as few limitations (such as size of memory, loading speed, etc) as possible to allow us to create highly imaginative games. Currently, the PlayStation 3 is the best match for us.

Also, we think that the PlayStation Vita and its communication functions carry a lot of potential, although the current hardware numbers have not stretched too deeply into the market.

I find it interesting that despite Nintendo's success in Japan, the niche JRPG developers, as in, the entire group of them - NISA, Compile Heart, GUST, System Prisma, Spike Chunsoft etc etc, almost universally still prefer to work with Sony platforms. I wonder why this is.

Because expecting Wii owners to buy a niche game is like expecting the VGAs to be as credible as the Oscars? (Xenoblade aside)

The DS/ 3DS have a shed load of niche games in Japan.

Just... not the RPGs

Is it bad that I've never heard of GUST until I'm on here? They sound interesting. Which game should I start out with that's not an import?

Atelier Ayesha is out in a few weeks. It's a new game (not part of a trilogy) and so, like how each Final Fantasy game is self-contained, you'll be able to play it as your first GUST game.

Otherwise you'll want to track down a copy of Atelier Rorona, which was the first game in the previous PS3 trilogy.

I ended up pre-ordering Ayesha, since I suddenly got scared that it might be rare and hard to find later. Really wish there could have been some kind of pre-order incentive, but oh well. I'm happy enough just to see the game is being released at all.

You made the right decision. It's incredibly difficult to track down these games a few weeks after they release - most game stores only get one or two copies in, and the people they buy them sure as heck to sell them back later.

I can't wait to play it myself.

Do you have a different PSN account at all you play your games with? You mentioned playing tons of Mugen Souls and I wasn't sure by snooping at your trophy list.

When I play games for review I use a different PSN account. The one I have my friends on is my 'personal' one. If I replay a game I will do so on that account.

It's useful to maintain two accounts. I can look at that trophy list later to see which games I have genuinely enjoyed enough to reply, and which I might have enjoyed, but only to play once.

So the trophies you're seeing there is for a reply after writing the review

So I've played the first couple of hours of Ayesha for the review.

Now, the first couple of hours is of course not representative of the quality of the whole game, but...

Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy thisisthebestthingever

Aaaaaand reviewed.

Had to pull an all-nighter (damn I hate when I have the opportunity to be one of the first to review a game I really care about), but, well, 4.5/5 it.

Now I am tired.

Awesome, thanks dude.

Looking forward to it myself, someday. ^_^

you have made me very interested in this game. i love JRPGs and the art is lovely. i am not familiar with GUST, but intend to become so.

This is not on a Nintendo system. Also it isn't Etrian Odyssey -500 points right there

Ayesha's a good place to start. It's the most accessible of the long Atelier series, I think.

If you enjoy Ayesha, be sure to grab the Arland trilogy (Atelier Rorona, Atelier Totori, Atelier Meruru). Atelier Meruru, especially, is very close to overtaking Nier as my favourite game this gen (and possibly ever).

But you still posted here, so I know deep down you're a JRPG-Bro! fist-bump

Hurry up and get the game dude.