Text: Dry goods game appreciation group - Yaner
preface
Ten years of alchemy no one heard, once the meat legs of the world know, this sentence made "Leisha's Alchemy Workshop" into the field of vision of more players, but also made GUST's "Alchemy Workshop" series successfully out of the circle, and "Mary's Alchemy Workshop" as the origin of the Alchemy Workshop series, it has been 26 years ago.
This time, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, Honor Tecumo released a completely remastered version of this work, "Mary's Alchemy Workshop Remake ~The Alchemist of Salbrook~".
Mary's Alchemy Workshop Remake is a casual Japanese role-playing game where you play as Marona, the lowest-achieving student in the academy, and graduate with the alchemy workshop and start-up capital she received from her teacher over a period of five years.
New elements from the original base
First of all, the version has been comprehensively upgraded with the standing drawings and event illustrations of all characters, the picture performance is more exquisite, the dialogue form has a visual novel sense of déjà vu, and the micro-dynamic standing paintings are very vivid.
The characters and scenes in the game are also 3D modeled, more three-dimensional and detailed, of course, the space is relatively small compared to other series played, and the layout of the house cannot be changed. This version also remasters BGM, and also includes BGMs from other games in the Alchemy Workshop series to make the game experience even more interesting.
This version also adds more teaching content and guidance to the game, more convenient map quick movement, and exploration scene designated material collection, so that you can more easily get started with the game, here to note that there will be rumors where the exclamation mark is displayed, you enter and exit or go to other areas will trigger some plots or events, want to go to the castle and meet the prince before, miss may not be open until the fifth year finale!
This version is designed with normal mode and indefinite mode, indefinite mode will have some events can not be experienced but there is no time limit, you can enter the ending at any time from the sixth year, it is more convenient for small partners who want to easily collect multiple endings, normal mode is time-limited, and the ending after the fifth year and the game ends.
Of course, if you are a new player and don't want to see the guide, then you may wish to have an understanding of the activities on a specific date in the first week, such as a solar eclipse on June 18, and then start the achievement task within the liver trip, so as to obtain various titles, multi-week and experience the fun of self-exploration.
Cultivate battles and upgrade them all
This version of the development system is very simple and has a high degree of freedom, of course, unlike today's semi-open RPGs, the pace of the game is relatively slow and casual, you can get rumors by leaving the alchemy workshop to talk to other people to improve knowledge, trigger story events to make new friends, new communication events will appear as the friendliness of your team's characters increases, experience different stories while fighting to improve character abilities, etc.
Each time you hire a character to take out to explore, up to two characters, and each time you go out for a few days, the favorability will only increase by 1 point, and you feel that the friendliness increases slowly, and if you collect or fight for a long time when you go out to explore, you may miss some activities or random events, and you still prefer to be able to give gifts or enhance your goodwill through dialogue, otherwise you can only refresh your goodwill through multiple round trips, and you have to come back when the basket is not full.
The turn-based combat of this work also adopts the way the production team is better at displaying it now, going out to explore and encounter enemies can enter the first hand state through attacks, and can attack by attacking and defending and using equipped concise props, etc., and other hired people also have different skills to use, and bosses are designed at some collection points, and items such as fire dragon teeth can be obtained after defeating, and there is also a special battle tower climbing location to challenge.
It should be noted that Marona has no skills at the beginning, and during the game, you can use the special skill lightning after obtaining the weapon star and moon staff equipment, and the early lightning is a single body, and the lightning will be strengthened after being upgraded to a certain level through combat or reconciliation, of course, it was only discovered in the second round of the game, because when Zhou Mu got the weapon, he could already attack them all.
Game mechanics for other experiences
This version of the game mechanics is time-consuming, in which leaving the Alchemy Workshop and going back will consume a day's time, going out and each gathering and battle will consume a day's time, here will also randomly pick up collectors or encounter enemies, and in the Alchemy Workshop to reconcile with materials and utensils consume different dates, seemingly simple and highly free play actually requires good time management, but also pay attention to rumors and events that occur on specific dates, it is difficult to collect completely in one week.
Here it should be noted that after hiring elves, it is necessary to send them in the itinerary to collect or make concoctions, so as to save a certain amount of time, but elves can only collect ordinary props, and some specific material props that appear in spring and summer still need to be collected by yourself, and if you can't find the props you need on the map when exploring, then you may wish to use simple collection. In the game, you will encounter six different mini-games at random, go to the wind to avoid enemies to pick evergreen apples, avoid bears to hunt back golden frogs, and so on.
The game time is about six hours a week, because the full event is not unlocked and some plots are missed, the ending after synthesizing the Philosopher's Stone is that Marie goes out to adventure ends, after saving the clearance data, the second round can start from the save place, inherit the weapons and equipment of the previous round of the game, some of the guides, etc., will also unlock some new elements, the title interface also unlocks additional content, and then you can enter at any time to view the character illustration model, ending events and so on.
This version is undoubtedly a big surprise for those who like the original, although the alchemy blend adds new material props and blending items, it is relatively simple compared to other works in the series, the overall is more casual and relaxed, and the time management is also less tense because of the multi-week new mode, which is very suitable for new players as the first work in the Alchemy Workshop series.
summary
"Mary's Alchemy Workshop Remake" retains the original simple system and high freedom style as much as possible, but also adds the content of compound current operation preferences, and the gameplay is planned in the form of a time limit, with rich leisure daily content such as collecting reconciliation, battle commissions, and hiring exchanges, presenting a wonderful plot combining alchemy and adventure, and intimately adding an indefinite mode to make the multi-ending plot more relaxed, even new players who experience it for the first time can have a good game experience. If you're a fan of the Alchemy Workshop series, this is definitely not to be missed!