Alchemy is okay, probably the worst from modern atelier. The removal of trait mixing and the way cost works in this game is a pretty big downgrade from Rorona. Combat is also nothing special but doesn't really do anything wrong.
This game however is primarily focused on exploration and character events, which is done very well.
Exploration is a little hard to enjoy fully because of the time limit, but fun nonetheless.
The license system was done very well and getting points from various sources and ranking up felt good & was fun to try to accomplish.
The characters and their friendship events are great. I really love Mimi especially.
While the game doesn't focus on story much, the little story there is towards the end with Totori's mother & the frontier village is really nice.
Last thing to say is, for some reason this game has much less QoL than Rorona despite releasing later. Very weird and some stuff was very annoying to not have access to.
Great game in general, Not the best for Atelier but has it's own charm for sure

This was such a disappointment after Atelier Rorona. I have given this game just under 10 hours and I can't bring myself to continue. My main issues were:
- It now costs time to even pick up materials.
- In previous game you could see how much health you recover while sleeping, in this game it is removed for some reason so you just have to guess.
- Having two ateliers made me wonder if I'm missing out on cutscenes from one or the other, travel between them is incredibly long.

I'm hoping Meruru will be better.

This game was alright, but sort of a letdown when compared to Rorona. I dislike the handling of the passage of time, and the way the game nudges you in the best direction to progress the story was awful. I fast travelled often and as a result, had to redo a year of the game because I didn't enter what was essentially an in-between area to progress the plot.

The new characters were overall sort of a letdown. There's one or two characters here and there that I liked, but I wasn't a big fan of the characters. Totori's sister in particular is so uninteresting and is generally an awful person, despite the game trying to convince you otherwise.

And lastly, the story was kind of anticlimactic. They kind of just toss in an optional boss at the end because the actual final boss of the game wasn't evil enough or something. By the time I got to that boss, I just wanted to finish the game. I don't hate this game, but I dislike it. I hope Meruru is a lot better.