Well, I just remembered something I was fond of in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, a long time ago, and that particular thing I was fond of led to something funny happening. But since there's no topic in the gaming discussion for topics like this, and I wouldn't know what kind of topic to make for those kinds of moments, I'll just put it in my journal. I was going to say what RPG developers should learn from other RPGs, but the topic was actually about the Chrono series, so Atelier Iris would be off topic. And also, my reason I was using (item crafting) triggered a funny memory from the game.
Anyway, here is exactly how I would say this if this were in a forum:
RPG developers have a lot to learn from certain games, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, the original one, not the sequels, is one of them. The item crafting system, to be exact. I loved crafting battle items with random things I found around town, and how I could extract mana from random objects (Like barrels, bushes, boxes, rocks). But what I really loved was gathering ingredients and make products for the shopkeepers to make their store more popular. I remember how certain ingredients were better or different than others, giving the products different attributes, and if they get really famous, there will actually be a line of people in front of the store. Of course, you don't actually have to wait. Anyway, I remember I got the magic shop popular enough to get a bunch of people lining up in front of it. The thing is, my best item was a "Sexy robe". xd So if you talked to the people in line they'd go, "Hey, if you want to get a sexy robe, you're gonna have to wait in line like the rest of us!". rofl . Get this though, the trait for the item "Sexy robe" was "Smells nice" because I put some kind of flower or fruit in the recipe, I don't remember. So for the people, the best thing about the "sexy robe" was that it smelled good. And the people in line and in the shop were going "The sexy robe really smells nice!", "The sexy robe they sell here really does smell nice, doesn't it? I want to get another one!" and "This is the place that sells the sexy robe. I heard that it smells nice," rofl rofl rofl
Nice smelling sexy robes aside, what I also loved about that game were the tutorials. I actually looked forward to them. For the tutorials, one of the mana spirits, which was an OMG adorable high pitched voice shota fairy, would give an "off the wall lecture" or whatever it was called. He would explain what said feature would do, and how to use it. But that's not it. It was just so FUNNY. Characters that are related to said feature would come in and humorously breaking the fourth wall, arguing about who's the main character, and well... Just generally breaking the fourth wall in any way they can and being completely silly. That's what tutorials need to be. Like Popo's lectures. Hell, there was a lot of humor in the game, and even an instance or two of fourth wall breaking OUTSIDE of the tutorials, one I remember most is "The ESRB will go nuts!", thought it wasn't nearly on the level of Earthbound. Aside from Giygas, Earthbound NEVER took itself seriously. For example, one of the status effects is called "Mushroomized", where a mushroom grows on Ness's head, and causes the controls to get weird. The only way to cure it is to talk to a man that is in every hospital. He'll offer to buy the mushroom from you, and he'll pay you and you'll be cured. Then HE EATS THE MUSHROOM. XD And there's CONSTANT 4th wall breaking during the entire game. There's even an NPC that's a talking dog possessed by one of the game's programmers. He states the fact that he's possessed by one of the programmers, then starts going "Ah! It's happening again!" then he TELLS YOU THE ADDRESS OF THE DEVELOPERS and says "If you like the game, send us feedback," then the dog returns to control. xD. Earthbound was one of the very few games where you genuinely wanted to talk to every single NPC you meet just to hear what they have to say.
Ah, getting off topic... To Atelier Iris to Earthbound! Oh god.
Anyway, I was upset that the sequels severely dumbed down the item crafting system, and worst of all, GOT RID OF THE FUNNY TUTORIALS.
Anyway, just wanted to share my funny "sexy robes" memory, and say why Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (and Earthbound) were awesome.
Odenpa Kunoichi Community Member 
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