The Atelier franchise has the usual JRPG trappings: giant monsters, epic battles, and absurdly large swords. Despite that, Atelier games are light and enjoyable, the characters are friendly, and the setting is optimistic. If you've played any of the previous Atelier titles on the Vita, know that Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk Plus represents the start of a new trilogy with a new world, characters and plot. It's a tad grimmer than the Arland trilogy that came before, but it's still imbued with the franchise's lighthearted fun.

In Atelier Ayesha, a long-ago disaster ruined the world and left humanity eking out its existence. Ayesha lives alone in a hut near the ruins of an ancient civilization. Her sister, Nio, explored the ruins one day and vanished. While Ayesha is exploring, she sees the ghostly form of her sister amidst a field of glowing flowers. A passing alchemist also witnesses this event and tells Ayesha a dark secret: Nio is trapped in another world and has only three years of time left. To rescue her, Ayesha must master the long-lost art of alchemy and discover the secrets of the glowing flowers.

Atelier Ayesha may be set in a postapocalyptic world, but it's one of optimistic characters who are looking to find a way to better themselves. The game doesn't neglect its setting, and there are some melancholy scenes, but the plot is mostly relaxed and good-natured, and even the "bad ending" is on the sweet side of bittersweet. It's not the game to play if you're looking for a serious story about the failure of humanity, but it is if you're looking for lighthearted fun with a bite.

To save Ayesha's sister, you perform quests in the game world and travel from city to city and dungeon to dungeon, hoping to find hints about Nio's whereabouts. Atelier Ayesha is a timed game, with most actions taking up part or all of a day. You get various tasks, ranging from townspeople who need crafted items to various party members who want your help fighting monsters. Completing these tasks earns you money and items, which you can transmute into even better materials.

The quest system in Ayesha is probably the most freeform in the Atelier games. Rather than having a strict set of tasks, Ayesha has a variety of smaller tasks that she can complete however she likes. Finding the glowing flowers is the primary charge, but it represents a small part of the game. You can spend your days helping Ayesha's friends, doing lots of alchemic crafting, performing jobs for people, or hunting down monsters. All are considered equally viable. While the game has a time limit, it is extremely forgiving. Aside from one particular quest, which can only be performed in a specific month of the year, the main story quests can be completed quickly, leaving you plenty of time for the casual adventure that the franchise does best.

The combat system in Ayesha is a minor improvement over the previous Arland games. You have three party members who fight enemies. One party member always has to be Ayesha, who has no special skills but powerful alchemic items and the ability to use them more effectively. The other two are more combat-ready and have special skills and abilities. You can move your party members around for back attacks and to avoid area-of-effect attacks, but that's about it. Most of the core combat mechanics are the same as those in the Arland series. It's a fun combat system, and it has its strong points, but it's one of the weaker spots in the game. Combat largely comes down to whether you've created the optimal alchemic tools and equipment to take on difficult foes. There are a few fun super-bosses who strain your alchemy and reward you for mastering combat.

One area where Ayesha is a huge step up from the previous Atelier titles on the Vita is in the alchemy system. It has a lot of similarities to the Arland trilogy, but once you have an alchemy recipe, you can attempt to create an item out of parts. You can use items that you find in the environment, buy from stores, or collect from defeated enemies. Recipes require either specific items or items in a particular subclass, such as "liquid" or "explosive." You can customize the recipe by swapping in different items.

The act of crafting is a little different but in an almost universally positive way. There is no more chance of crafting failure, so you'll always be assured success when crafting an item with the correct ingredients, but you can't craft an item below its intended level. Each item you put into the concoction impacts the item's attributes, based on four elements: Earth, Fire, Water and Wind. Every item has a certain number of points in one or more of these elements. If you add enough, you'll change the attributes of the item you create. Sometimes, this can add positive effects, and sometimes, it can remove negative ones. You also have to pay attention to an item's value: The higher it is, the more passive abilities are added.

 When crafting an item, each item you add costs Crafting Points. If you run out of CP, you can still use the item, but its effects are not added to the mixture. As a result, you need to balance low-cost items that can be used easily with high-cost items with a lot of value but limited flexibility. Ayesha learns synthesis skills as she levels up, and they add flexibility to her alchemy, but they cost CP. For example, Power Pour lets you use any item twice, although it doubles the CP cost and requires an additional 10 CP on top of that. You gain the ability to transfer properties from items to the item you create, increase the value of your items, and other cool things.

This is probably what most improves Ayesha's alchemy over the Arland trilogy, although it isn't as engaging as Atelier Escha & Logy's. The alchemy feels more interactive. With careful thought and planning, you can create powerful or well-crafted items much earlier than you normally should. You're rewarded for carefully considering the items you pick and balancing their elemental costs, values and CP costs.

Most of this is old news for people who played the PS3 version of Atelier Ayesha, but there is a fair bit of new content in Atelier Ayesha Plus for the PS Vita. All of the DLC from the original game is included, so that means the addition of two characters (Marion and Odelia) and bonus dungeons. Entirely new to this iteration is the Album, which represents a secondary set of tasks you need to complete. Each task unlocks part of a 3x3 picture. Once you've unlocked the entire picture, you'll get a special bonus, which  includes concept art and extra costumes for your characters. There are also significant gameplay changes. One of the most welcome is the ability to swap characters at any time instead of having to travel to their home base and waste precious days, although you can also unlock a free battle mode and other bonuses. These are completely optional but nice additions, even if they make it a little easier. There are also new bosses (most are cameos from the sequel, Escha & Logy) and a hard mode for players who want some additional challenge.

It's hard to say that Atelier Ayesha Plus is worth it if you've played the original PS3 version. The mechanical improvements are nice but mostly cosmetic. It isn't as big a change as Atelier Rorona Plus was, but Ayesha is probably the best Atelier game available on the Vita. The core mechanics and design are the strongest to date. The alchemy is fun, the characters are enjoyable, and the tone strikes an interesting balance between dark and cheerful. If you liked any of the previous Atelier games, Ayesha is right up your alley.

However, this comes with the unfortunately now-usual caveat for the PS Vita versions of the Atelier games. The frame rate is quite bad. It's a step up from Meruru and Totori, but it's basically about on par with Rorona Plus. Any area with a lot of people or monsters chugs rather heavily. Monsters and people take excessively long to spawn, making it easy to walk past a potential request-target without realizing it. The title features both English dub and subtitles, but the dub is half-there. It has scenes where every other line is voiced, which is quite distracting, although the Japanese version is fully acted. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and one of the better Atelier soundtracks to date.

Atelier Ayesha Plus is one of the best Atelier games available. While PS3 owners will find it a bit of a step back from Atelier Escha & Logy, it's still a strong game in its own right. Vita-only players will find that it's the best of the Atelier handheld titles, though it is held back by some serious frame rate problems. If you've liked any of the Atelier games, Ayesha is a must-buy, and if you're looking for a place to start, then Ayesha is the best choice on the system. It's not an RPG for everyone, but it is easily one of the best RPGs on the Vita.

Score: 8.3/10