Back in June 2005, Nippon Ichi Software America made their first release in the Atelier series, with this title being “Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana” on the Playstation 2. From there, the company released all three installments in the Iris series, all the installments in the “Alchemists of Arland” series and a couple of others.
But following the October 2012 announcement that Tecmo Koei Europe would be publishing the game in Europe this year…. everything has gone quiet on if NIS America will be publishing the game as well. While it would be a safe assumption to assume that NIS America would be publishing the game in North America… as Tecmo Koei have published some of their games in the PAL region…. websites such as Siliconera have uncovered that a recent ESRB filing lists Tecmo Koei America and not NIS America as the publisher.
For those interested, the ESRB classification is as follows:
This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of Ayesha, a young girl attempting to save her sister by learning alchemy. Players control and encounter characters, explore various landscapes, and battle numerous fantastical enemies (e.g., rock monsters, lizards). Players use swords, magic attacks, crossbows, and occasional firearms in turn-based battles (i.e., selecting attack moves from a menu screen). During the course of the game, a handful of cutscenes include suggestive material: two female characters accidentally groping each other in a dark cave; a female character discusing being touched by men (e.g., “Whenever something happened, some guys would always touch my butt in the midst of the confusion”); two female characters taking a bath together (deep cleavage is depicted). One scene briefly depicts the central character passing out after drinking alcohol; dialogue also refer to intoxication (e.g., “I guess I’ll start with the hard liquor! Give me one that’s got a high proof!” and “If anything, there’s so little alcohol, even a kid might not get drunk off of it.”). One character is occasionally smokes cigarettes in the game.
While NIS America did confirm during last years Anime Expo that they were working on the title…. just what is going on remains a mystery. However as Tecmo Koei acquired the Gust Corporation in December 2012, things may have changed since their original announcement. All we do know is that there will be a release over the coming months.
There remains no classification yet made public for Australia.
