Great.  That means the character design is the way it should be to cater to its fans.  Thank you, Gust.

Your embed didn't work, but the game does look great.

This statement is just incredibly stupid. It only seems that way because your exposure to the style is so limited. Everything blends together because you haven't seen enough of it. It's about as dumb as when people say everyone of a certain race looks exactly the same. This isn't true as your statement also isn't very true.

so as somone who has never played an Atelier game :( which series does this belong too, im presuming it goes with Ayesha. i hope vita gets the whole Arland series here in the west so i can play them

I'm not the only one who said this and while yes I may not be exposed to it enough this is the way many people will look at it.  If it looks different point out how then?

The artist has a pretty distinct style though. It's especially apparent in the clothing choices and as well as the style in which the characters are drawn. They look young, but not in a way that most younger characters are drawn. They all have some darker shade to them rather than the brighter thing you'd expect from most shows featuring lots of moe.

Edit: To be honest, I'm not an artist. I can tell her art apart by just looking at it (doesn't have to be Atelier). The same is true for a ton of artist whose work I like and appreciate. I can understand the complaint about certain games, but Atelier is definitely not an offender.

Well try not to call someones statement stupid for little differences like shading.  

All of these are differemt characters but oddly they are all very similar with similar dressed outfits.  Including the girl in the OP which is the first picture.  Shadings may be a little different but the girls themselves are very similar.  Yes they are different but they are very similar at the same time.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/22/the-devolution-of-character-designs
http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/220569-Who-wants-to-see-more-diversity-from-Video-Game-protagonists
http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=2521

Your problem, jay, is that you literally do not know what you're talking about. It's forgivable, since you haven't been exposed to much, but the same argument can be made about western males in games. Frankly, it's funny that you mention dragonquest, chrono-trigger, and dragonball. It's all the same artist! It's rather funny that you call the artstyles similar. You don't even know it's the SAME artstyle. That's how silly this all is. You call the dissimilar similar, and the exact, similar.

You say, "oh I can tell the characters apart". Of course you can! You're comparing the same art-style characters from only a pool of 50-60 characters made by a single artist who is CONSCIOUSLY trying to make each character very unique from the OTHERS HE HIMSELF CREATED. Meanwhile, you compare this girl to the entire catalogue of ANIME, thousands of different artists copying each other.
Since you appreciate criticism and welcome it, then take this to heart. You are being unfair in your determinations because you really don't know much about anime. Anyone into the medium can tell you that those characters are pretty different, or at least done by different artists.

Hell, the OP girl has short pigtails, held with bubbles, with a buble on top, oversized purple knit sleeves, and a european bodice. Her artsyle is done with a mix of marker and photoshop, her look is meant to evoke 'kawaiso', which is kind of a bumbling cute character, and silly.
The second pic is a moe, maybe from chara or one of those series. Is done with a color-pencil/marker, has long ponytails in ribbon, and a puffy shirt schoolgirl uniform, and meant to look cute and vulnerable.
the third is likely a fanservice/doujin type character, relying heavily on photoshop, the has a similar schoolgirl uniform but wears a tie, and her hair is in ringlets, and meant to look seductive.
The fourth is a traditional watercolor-color pencil markup likely from a girl manga or older videogame, and is meant to be a character a female would relate to or admire or serve as a love interest.

Not to mention that the first and second screenshot look incredibly different. Outside of being female and have the same hair color, how are they similar? Only one who looks remotely close is the 4th which is fanart, not official art. 

Atelier Escha & Logy, yet another JRPG to add.. PlayStation 3 is JRPG heaven I swear lol. I have the other four on ps3 so let's hope this one comes to US ill so play as Logy.