Coming off of playing both Ryza 1 and 2, the expectation was more of the good crafting gameplay that Ryza had. But the crafting system and the way that crafting recipes are gathered had changed enough for me to take notice. Having the crafting system be on a grid of different elements is a good idea but having so many different options and so many items to make, crafting in Sophie 2 can both seem and be time consuming. Using the auto-place feature is something that is offered but I recommend not using it as it doesn't take advantage of party skills that can be used during crafting. So I ended up doing a mixture of both throughout my playthrough. The plus side to this is that it is way easier to get certain traits on the different items that are crafted. The recipe discovery still leaves a little to be desired as almost every recipe had tasks attached to them to unlock them. From gathering/obtaining a certain material, to craft an item with a certain trait or fighting x amount of enemies, the problem in itself is not the fetch quest nature of these tasks. It's that none of anything that was done before hand does not count to the count, only when the player is working toward the recipe does anything count. This gets really annoying about mid way through the game, as most of the requirements are material requirements and the player would have most likely already found them, making them have to go back and look for the item. The battle system is turn-based this time around, and at first I did not really enjoy it. But as I got further into the game and got more party members/skills, chaining different moves and breaking auras and landing major damage never gets old. The story of the game takes a sort of back seat, but the character interactions (also goes for their side stories) and I will give it credit in not taking apart in a lot of the anime tropes that I see in these games, such as the hotspring scene where instead of the usual girls in the hotspring and the boys get branded as pervs for going near them, instead they all hang out and have a good time. It was refreshing to see something like that. The environments are very nice to look at, and seeing the areas have the weather change is very cool to see. Although, having the first half of the main areas be nothing but forest or a grassy plain makes it get really old, pretty fast. Music was a bit of shock this time around, as there are so many different battle themes that I have heard through out the game and they all sound really good. Overall, if a comfy game is what you are looking for, then you wouldn't be too hard pressed to give Sophie 2 a try.

The absolute pinnacle of the series at this point. The story still takes second place to Ayesha but the gameplay, the characters, the world, the synthesis, all of it is the best it's ever been for Atelier. I was concerned with them repeating a lead heroine again (Ryza 2 was a big step down from it's predecessor) Sophie was someone I enjoyed a lot the first time and so I went in with worried but positive expectations when this came out. I'm still surprised all this time later by just how good this game is, there is nothing about it that didn't feel perfect and like the best possible next step of evolution for a series that is always evolving. It was new and fresh yet maintained it's tradition so well - it fit really well with the setting in this game that brings both the past and the present together as well.

My 5th Atelier game, straight after Sophie 1, and this is the best one I've played yet. The grid crafting is so much better than it was in Sophie 1 (I haven't played Firis or L&S yet, they are next) and it's both much easier to understand the bonus and much easier to see what element everything is. There's a catalyst system in place of swapping out cauldrons, but serves the same purpose and does not have the frustrating exp one. Combat is much closer to what we saw in Shallie, but polished up, faster, and with new two character team up special moves with different effects. Some team ups are pure offense, some are buffs or healing. There's only six party members this time, meaning you will always use everyone, and they are all active members of the story. And all these gameplay improvements are on top of the most emotional story I've played from the series yet, with some amazing character relations/dynamics/interactions. As I mentioned in Sophie 1 review, my grandmother was taken to the hospital towards the end of my play through and was still there as I started this one, so the way Sophie and Ramizel's relationship developed in this game was extra potent for me, and made me tear up a good number of times. There are some very good stuff between Sophie and the young Plachta as well, and some very good stuff between past and future Plachta too (this game''s story takes place in a dream world time bubble inbetween Sophie 1 and Firis). Best combat and crafting both of the games I've played so far, best/most emotional story, great music and some great characters. The only problem is the use of in-game models for the opening song instead of 2D animation, a soulless practice that apparently started with Ryza