Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey Review

The prettiest Atelier world yet.

Don’t let the game’s convenience mechanics fool you, though. Atelier Firis definitely makes it a point to be particularly inconvenient at times. Perhaps the biggest example of this is the fact that you have to go hunt down characters to swap them in and out of your party even after you already met them. There is no menu that will allow you to customize your party so you’ll have to strap on  your boots and go talk to whoever it is you want to add, which I found to be pretty annoying and unnecessarily tedious.

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Swapping out party members was only a slight annoyance compared to the battle mechanics though, which really felt disappointing. Atelier’s usual turn-based combat system has returned, but any real need for strategizing is missing. By the time you reach the first major town on the main path, you will pretty much be obliterating most monsters you encounter. At a certain point, the battles became so unchallenging and repetitive that I didn’t even need to pay attention to the attack order or enemy weaknesses to easily come out victorious in every battle. Even before I added special armor or equipped party members with new weapons, winning battles seemed relatively unrewarding because I just didn’t have to work for it.

Atelier Firis ~The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey~_20170307014823

The only time the battles become somewhat challenging or require any type of strategy are when boss battles occur and even then, no boss I faced felt like a particularly daunting foe. It definitely feels like there was far more focus on alchemy and resource gathering than there was on the battles. An even balance between all three would have been nice.

What Atelier Firis lacks in combat, however, it does make up for with some tweaks to the alchemy system. Synthesizing now feels like a far simpler process without crossing the line into being downright boring. To create new items, players place items on a grid and attempt to line the different ingredients up with the patterns being created by bonus tiles. While some bonus tiles are color specific, other tiles just have to be completely covered in order to unlock a bonus for the item.

Atelier Firis ~The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey~_20170307015350

You can collect a variety of different catalysts that will alter the placement of the bonus tiles. Some of the bonuses can be rather underwhelming but others will leave you with a powerful bomb that can poison enemies or even give you weapons with some neat stat boosts. It’s just too bad you probably won’t feel like you needed the stat boosts to win anyway.

Despite all that Atelier Firis has to offer, there is unfortunately one thing that is painfully forgettable—the characters. It was so easy to find a connection to Sophie and Plachta from the previous title in the Mysterious series and it made you feel invested in their stories. In fact, the entire Atelier series usually does a great job when it comes to providing interesting characters. This time, they just seemed to miss the mark. All the characters, including Firis herself, range from forgettable to downright unlikable. There are a few side quests that allow you to learn more about the characters but by the time you get to them, you may find yourself already fed up with some of the voice actors, bored by the lack of character development and completely uninterested in learning more about them.

Atelier Firis ~The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey~_20170306225720

The most interesting thing about the protagonist was probably her change of wardrobe throughout the game, which I thought was cute and pretty fun. The different ensembles aren’t just for show though. Certain outfits are made to offer protection against the variety of climate conditions you will encounter during your journey. Some of the outfits seem a little revealing for a character who is supposed to be younger than 18 but just chalk it up to Firis’s newfound sense of rebellion and appreciate the different looks.

Once you get caught up in all the fun there is to be had meeting new people, making new items and discovering new parts of this enchanting world, you’ll hardly pay much mind to it anyway. You could also be so annoyed with every action you take triggering a voice line that you will be completely distracted from the outfits. Seriously, this is the first Atelier game where I turned the game’s music up and dragged the volume of the character’s voices down a bit. It just felt like every second of gameplay was filled with Firis whining, asking questions or telling you everything you just did as if you had no idea that you just did it.

Despite its relatively flat cast, the game is a rather enjoyable experience that will feel well-rounded to fans of the series. The large map offers far more exploration opportunities than previous games did, which may help compensate for a pretty lackluster battle system. Smaller tweaks that combine older gameplay mechanics with some of the newer features from more recent titles like Atelier Sophie make Atelier Firis feel particularly special. At times it can feel like they tried to shove a bit too much content in the game but perhaps Gust will hold on to the more promising changes while trimming away some of the game’s fat if they release a nineteenth addition to the series. We’re crossing our fingers that they will.

Score: 4/5 – Great


Pros

  • Expansive map looks great and encourages more exploration.
  • Great combination of old and new Atelier mechanics and features.
  • Portable Atelier and other convenience mechanics make exploring easier.
  • Tweaks to the alchemy system simplify the process but keep it fun as well.

Cons

  • Characters feel a bit flat compared to other games in the series.
  • Battles are unchallenging and repetitive.
  • No way to edit party from menu.
  • Excessive dialogue and voice lines can be annoying.

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Author
Taylor Danielle
Just a girl that likes gaming, anime & singing K Pop in the shower. She's worked as an entertainment journalist for roughly four years but finds rumors about video games to be way more interesting than gossip about real people. Go figure. Taylor wrote for Twinfinite from 2016 through until 2018 covering everything anime and The Sims 4, among anything else that caught her eye.