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Hi everyone, I hope your holidays have been nice! I’ve been chilling playing some .hack//G.U. Vol 2, and my Evercade EXP seems to be finally working! I’m really glad to not have to return it (I tend to get attached to stuff pretty quickly) and will write a blog about it in the future. Also, I’ve just remembered that this is the last blog of 2022! Time flies so fast, it’s unbelievable! I always say it, but I’m hoping you’ll enjoy what’s to come.
Today I’ll be talking about an adorable but complex game I was playing during my recent exam days, which is yet another title from the illustrious Atelier series and the original sequel to Atelier Sophie:
| Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey |
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While we now have Atelier Sophie 2, originally Atelier Firis here was intended to be Atelier Sophie’s sequel; even if you haven’t played Atelier Sophie, there’s no need to worry as there won’t be spoilers for it, as whilst it does follow on from its storyline, it has a different protagonist and a mostly unrelated plot.
Atelier Firis is a JRPG created by Gust, which came out in 2016 (in Japan) for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Microsoft Windows, then was released for the rest of the world in 2017. An enhanced version (these are incredibly common in the Atelier series) was later released in 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and the Nintendo Switch. I played the latter on Switch.
Just like its predecessor, this game is not just about fighting enemies; the protagonist, Firis, is an alchemist, which means that she’ll be crafting anything and everything, ranging from her equipment to her potions, through Alchemy. Normally, in JRPGs, you would buy everything you need, yet, in this series, you instead craft it. Sometimes the game will ask you to make a specific item with certain qualities or traits, and you’ll need to do it in order to progress the storyline.
The plot itself is pretty laid back this time, as we follow a young girl living in a town carved inside a giant cave. She desperately wants to go outside, but no one will let her because the outer world is dangerous, and she can’t defend herself. Suddenly, that same Sophie from the previous game appears and demolishes the huge door that connects the city to the outside, purely because she’s curious about what’s behind that door. Firis happens to be there when this happens and is amazed by what she sees. Sophie then explains that what she just saw was Alchemy, and Firis understands that if the mysterious traveler could demolish such a heavy door so easily… It could be exactly what she needs to finally be able to go outside! Thus, Firis asks Sophie to teach her Alchemy.
After a while, Firis can finally leave the town, but only on one condition: she must pass the official Alchemy Exam, which is held only once a year in the nearby city of Reisenberg, and she has a time limit of about a year in order to do so.
Time for her to begin her journey into the unknown!
Editors Note: There’s something ironic about the fact that, in order to relax whilst studying for your exams, you chose to play a game entirely about preparing for an exam.
In my defense, I didn’t check the plot before starting it XD.
Atelier Firis is noticeably different from its predecessor, with the first big difference being that it’s actually an Open-World Game. Since the whole idea behind the game is about traveling, we’re offered the chance to travel to our heart’s content, with various alternative ways in which we can reach Reisenberg, which the game allows us to freely choose between. In order to actually take the exam, we’ll need to get three recommendation letters from various alchemists living in the areas between the starting town and Reisenberg, but there are actually five alchemists available for us to choose from, so whilst there are a few mandatory plot points, the adventure is left largely up to the players’ discretion.
However, as I mentioned above, Firis has a time limit, and while it might look forgettable at first, it’s actually a recurring feature in the series, even if the more recent titles have dropped it. Given the inherent ties between the series and time limits, it’s thankfully built into the game in a way that allows for it to work in a pretty straightforward manner: everything you do in the game takes a certain amount of time to be completed, ranging from something as mundane as walking to the more crucial activities such as crafting. Thus, you must pay attention to what you do, as it’s advised to avoid as many pointless actions as possible. It can be difficult if you aren’t an experienced Atelier fan, as you need to know what you’re doing, and even if it sounds wrong, you should refrain from exploring more than necessary; this sadly prevented me from fully exploring the world map. While the given time is actually way more than needed, it’s still advised to be cautious with it. But please don’t let this scare you off from trying the game, as it sounds much scarier than it actually is.
Anyway, as briefly mentioned before, in order to reach Reisenberg you’ll have to earn 3 recommendation letters. These require you to craft or gather specific materials, which will sometimes be on the rarer side, but thankfully it’s nothing too difficult. What was incredible to me, to be honest, is that this game virtually lacks important battles, aka bosses. While there are enemies in the wild, they’re pretty weak, and you’ll never need to beat a boss in order to proceed (at least until after the exam, but we’ll put that aside for now). As a result, it’s almost useless to prepare good armor and weapons, leaving you to instead focus on crafting the other required items. Looks easy, doesn’t it? It might as well be, until you reach Reisenberg!
You see, once you reach Reisenberg, the game just spikes up in difficulty. It’s time for Firis to find a way to pass her exam! What’s crazy about this exam is that it’s just as difficult as a real one, and I’m not joking! It’s divided into 3 parts: multiple-choice questions, item crafting, and battling, each with a set score. Remember when I said that it’s useless to craft good equipment? That aspect, luckily, still holds true, unless you want to achieve a specific ending, so let’s put this aside once more. The quiz part is random, and consists of questions about the gameplay that can range from “even a first-time player could answer” to “the creator of the series might have a few issues with this one“. They give so few points, though, that they can be avoided as well, although it’s still recommended to at least try, in order to rack up points.
The really insanely difficult part that you’ll need to watch out for is actually the fabled item crafting! You’ll need to be able to craft an item with a high-quality stat; Quality is a numeric value that tells you how powerful your item is, and it’s calculated from the Quality value of the items you use in your crafting. To put things simply, the higher the Quality of your materials, the higher the resulting value. The problem stems from the fact that the game won’t tell you the needed Quality value, although thankfully we have online guides that can help you to construct max Quality items, although it can still be quite difficult, especially if you don’t really know what you’re doing. Though, in reality, Atelier Firis actually wants you to use a specific trick for this part of the Exam (and just won’t tell you what it is); it’s one of those secret methods that, if done right, will give you incredible results in just five minutes.
First of all, we must note that the item crafting part of the exam will give you a time limit of about a minute, and ask you to make the item with just a single passage, using what you already have. This means that you need to prepare the items for the last crafting bit beforehand, and then craft the item during that time. We are going to take advantage of the fact that there’s an item trait (basically a native skill of a material) that increases quality, which, incredibly enough, can stack! So you’ll just have to craft to infinity and beyond! If you feel like you’ve just broken the game, you’re doing it right. The big problem stems from the fact that, unless you look it up, you’re kind of stuck here, and if you don’t pass the exam in time then you’ll get a bad ending. After the exam though, you’ll be able to get other endings by completing the personal storylines of certain characters, but at that point, you’ll have no time limit, so you’ll be free to take it at your own pace! 🥳
But now you may be wondering; is this gameplay better than Atelier Sophie’s? It’s true that, until the last part, it’s more relaxing (apart from the required time management), but I also can’t deny that I actually loved being able to craft powerful gear for my battles in Sophie, and I also enjoyed saving the world and whatnot. But on the flip side, I also loved the fact that Firis required less note-taking, and retained what I love so much about this series; the crafting. So in that regard, I would say that they’re both fun in their own right, but I guess it ultimately depends on the player’s tastes.
If you find your heart drawn more toward crafting rather than battling, then you’ll love this one (as well as other classics in the series, as far as I’ve been told). Whereas if you’d rather fight your way through strong enemies, then unless you’re willing to wait until after the exam is passed, then this game might not be for you. As I said before, it’s ultimately down to your personal tastes, but if you’re interested in trying out a JRPG where your own combat skills are largely unimportant, then I can say that I think you’ll probably enjoy this one.
I’m looking forward to trying its sequel, hopefully it’s nice as well! See you on the next page, planned for the next Thursday, or Italian translation the next Tuesday!
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