izigame.me

Atelier Marie was the very first title in the long-running franchise, and this remake is a VERY faithful adaptation of the original. If your only experience with Atelier is the more modern entries (Arland onwards), then you'll find Marie to be extremely rudimentary in a lot of respects. Synthesis is as simple as having the necessary materials on hand then making the item. The recipe list is also very small, among other things. There are some unique quirks this game has that the other games don't, such as hiring party members to be able to adventure with them, or having a "Knowledge" stat to increase Marie's ability to synthesize and come up with more complex recipes. The world of Salburg isn't terribly fleshed out, but there are a fair bit of event scenes for all party members, and you'll be able to see their stories unfold as you progress through the game. It is nice to see.

Older games like this have the issue of being cryptic in a lot of ways, but thankfully the remake added a "Story" tab to the menu that shows you a list of every single event scene in the game, and how to trigger them. You can sort by character, and understand when, where, and how to trigger each of these scenes. It's a very nice addition to have if you wanna get as much story as you can.

The only other things the remake truly adds is having explorable environments in both Salburg itself, and gathering areas; in the original, you solely navigated menus to move from place to place ala point n' click adventure. Certain events that were chance-based menu prompts are now full-fledged minigames you can play, which is also fun.

But as a whole, Marie Remake is pretty much the original game with a fresh coat of paint and QoL features for all intents and purposes. I do believe it is still a fun romp you can get enjoyment out of, especially if you're curious about the world of Salburg. However, considering a single playthrough is only 6-10 hours, the $50 price point is pretty steep, so I recommend you pick this up on sale.