Atelier Sophie 2: A redemption arc for Sophie Neuenmueller
The precedent that Atelier Sophie 2 followed was a genuine surprise. Like Atelier Lulua, it was a new entry in a subseries that had already concluded years ago. And like Atelier Ryza 2, it was an Atelier game which featured a character reprise their role as the main protagonist. But where it differs from those two games is the circumstances of it's release. Before Ryza came along, Sophie was Gust's fan-favorite Atelier protagonist, so when the time came to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, it made sense why Gust chose to go back to Sophie. However, the currently ongoing Secret subseries of Atelier had not yet finished so in addition of following the precedent set by Lulua and Ryza, Sophie 2 would set it's own: that a subseries can be interrupted, temporarily. Now, i doubt it'll happen again for a good while but it is no longer out of the question. While i'm always in the mood for Atelier, i will admit that the reveal of Sophie 2 set off some concerning bells for me. First, while i enjoyed Sophie as a character, i was never really a fan of her original game. Second, while the Mysterious series does get better with each installment, it was still in my opinion the weakest subseries in my opinion. Third, i was really enjoying the Secret series coming off after Ryza 2 so for the next game to not be Ryza 3.....yeah, i was a little disappointed. Fourth, Lydie & Suelle was such a natural conclusion to all of the character arcs in the Mysterious series that i wasn't sure if going back in time would be worth it. Despite all that, i went into this game with an open mind, as i always do with games that aren't Balan Wonderworld. What i would proceed to play would be yet another banger entry in the series.
First off, Atelier Sophie 2 manages to do something that Mysterious kinda struggled with before: great characters, but more importantly, great characters that can stand on their own, without needing to be carried by the main cast. Sophie 1 sucked at this, having no returning cast because it's the first game in that series. Firis was better at it but was still mainly carried by returning characters. Lydie & Suelle's original characters were much much better but like half the cast, playable or not, were still returning characters. Sophie 2 manages to continue that trend of improving in each installment by having a cast of characters that stand on their own, finally giving Mysterious a cast that stands among the great casts from across the series. Sophie 2 only has two returning characters: Sophie herself and Plachta. By not having a lot of returning characters, this gives a lot more time for the new cast to shine, while also allowing newcomers to jump into this game with no prior knowledge (there is even a recap video covering Sophie 1). Every character is good, from Alette's over-the-top energy to Diebold's cool guy factor. But the two shining stars of this game's cast are Ramizel and young Plachta. Due to this game's isekai setting, it allowed for some out-of-time interactions but i am so glad that Ramizel's character wasn't just "wow Sophie, you're my future grandaughter, that's crazy" and young Plachta's character wasn't just "wow future me, that's what happens to me in the future, that's crazy". Instead we get genuine interactions that rarely bring up the nature of meeting someone from your own future. The nature of the isekai setting also allows Sophie 2 to blend elements from the previous Mysterious games: obviously we have Sophie and Plachta representing Sophie 1 but besides that, the game's structure builds off of what Firis tested out long ago and some of the areas are very reminiscent of the Mysterious Paintings from Lydie & Suelle. I just think this is neat.
As far as the story goes, it's Atelier so it doesn't matter too much but i did find it interesting how this game's tone and structure is more akin to the Secret series than the Mysterious games. But unlike Secret, this game found a different way of showing Sophie's growth. Whereas Ryza 2 allowed Ryza to relearn her recipes from her first game with SP since she "needed to get used to the new equipment", Sophie 2 has Sophie keep most of her original recipes at the get go and has her initial battle and alchemy level be set at the levels which it would be maxed out in the first game, which honestly was a way better way to do it. Another good thing about the story here is that despite the story being light, it was still one with an ending that genuinely made me shed a few tears. Ryza 2 did this as well but i feel like this one hit harder. I have no idea how Gust managed to do this twice in a row but they did it and yes, this ending bumped this game up to top 3 Atelier material.
Gameplay-wise, this game saw a bunch of numerous improvements.....even if it did take some steps back, more on that later. As far as the combat goes, this is right up there with Escha & Logy and Shallie in terms of having the best combat in the series. This is because Sophie 2's combat basically rips off the combat in those two games, in a good way plus it makes some neat additions. For the first time ever in a turn-based RPG, i am able to see aggro lines (that's a lie, i've seen it in Three Houses but that's an SRPG). This is a mechanic i'm familiar in more action-oriented games but i've never seen it done in turn-based games and believe me, it does make a difference in strategy making. The combat also features a team-attack combo thingy, in which the front and the back characters swap in while attacking. In E&L and Shallie, you could not do this, you could only swap in to defend. Here you can do both, even if being unable to swap without preforming these actions is a little bit cringe. Honestly, if you ask me, this is the best turn-based combat Atelier has had period and the only annoyance is that giving regular enemies Aura barriers can drag some fights out.
On the other half of the gameplay, the crafting, i can finally say that i fully enjoyed the "Tetris crafting" in this game. I barely enjoyed it in Sophie 1, found it unintuitive in Firis and liked it enough in Lydie & Suelle but i never really got addicted to it until this game along and made very well improvements to it. I won't really go about explaining the crafting mechanics, they rarely hold up to simple text explanations but just know that i was able to enjoy it significantly more than the previous Mysterious games.
In the rest of the gameplay, Gust has finally, finally added in quest markers for items and enemies.....although this has a little asterisk because this only applies to main and quest objectives. You'll still be forced to search for anything you'd need outside of that but with so much shit to keep track of, it was just easier to bust out a guide at that point. It's especially egregious when the game has a point of no return (you are warned of this) and any character events get locked out forever after that but the last two character events require items that would be easy to get after the point of no return. If i didn't look it up, i would've never found which quest specific boss i needed to kill in order to get that one item drop i needed. I would like in the next game for me to just be able to set trackers for anything i'm searching for. This is baby steps but i'm actually kinda shocked it was never implemented before in the series about gathering and crafting items. However, while the gameplay is mostly good, i was disappointed at the removal of some features from the Ryza games. Gone is being able to swim, swing and ride beasts. Instead, we get the ability to change the weather which sounds cool but it honestly gets a bit annoying at times, making the navigation of some areas a bit confusing (and don't even get me started on the exclusive enemies and items that depend on the weather, once again making the absence of markers outside of quests strange). The Item Rebuild mechanic, which allowed you to upgrade already existing equipment instead of starting from scratch, is also gone though at least thankfully Ryza's duplicate system remains intact, even if it just requires money now instead of gems, so it's not as easily farmable (although after certain discount upgrades, it becomes a non-issue anyways, ironically making it better than requiring gems).
Visually the game is a marginal improvement over Atelier Ryza 2's visuals, which were already good to begin with. The typical Gust budget is still there but you really don't think about it with these recent games. Sophie 2 has a graphics/performance toggle, of all things, not that it seemed to make too much of a difference, at least on Switch. Musically, it's an Atelier game, which means it's got bangers. The desert theme in particular gets high praise from me, i haven't heard an RPG desert theme that good since Xenoblade X and 2. Only negative thing i could say about the presentation is that some of the areas are a little bland compared to Ryza 2 (the hub town especially) and there's a surprising lack of CG stills.
When i think about it, Atelier Sophie 2 did exceed my expectations going in. A direct sequel to a game disliked, in a subseries i saw as the weakest, should've not popped off like this, yet Gust managed to pull through. And in hindsight, why wouldn't they? These guys have been on a great roll with Atelier since Lulua (fine i'll be fair and say since Lydie & Suelle) and i don't see them stopping anytime soon. Keep it up!
The precedent that Atelier Sophie 2 followed was a genuine surprise. Like Atelier Lulua, it was a new entry in a subseries that had already concluded years ago. And like Atelier Ryza 2, it was an Atelier game which featured a character reprise their role as the main protagonist. But where it differs from those two games is the circumstances of it's release. Before Ryza came along, Sophie was Gust's fan-favorite Atelier protagonist, so when the time came to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, it made sense why Gust chose to go back to Sophie. However, the currently ongoing Secret subseries of Atelier had not yet finished so in addition of following the precedent set by Lulua and Ryza, Sophie 2 would set it's own: that a subseries can be interrupted, temporarily. Now, i doubt it'll happen again for a good while but it is no longer out of the question. While i'm always in the mood for Atelier, i will admit that the reveal of Sophie 2 set off some concerning bells for me. First, while i enjoyed Sophie as a character, i was never really a fan of her original game. Second, while the Mysterious series does get better with each installment, it was still in my opinion the weakest subseries in my opinion. Third, i was really enjoying the Secret series coming off after Ryza 2 so for the next game to not be Ryza 3.....yeah, i was a little disappointed. Fourth, Lydie & Suelle was such a natural conclusion to all of the character arcs in the Mysterious series that i wasn't sure if going back in time would be worth it. Despite all that, i went into this game with an open mind, as i always do with games that aren't Balan Wonderworld. What i would proceed to play would be yet another banger entry in the series.
First off, Atelier Sophie 2 manages to do something that Mysterious kinda struggled with before: great characters, but more importantly, great characters that can stand on their own, without needing to be carried by the main cast. Sophie 1 sucked at this, having no returning cast because it's the first game in that series. Firis was better at it but was still mainly carried by returning characters. Lydie & Suelle's original characters were much much better but like half the cast, playable or not, were still returning characters. Sophie 2 manages to continue that trend of improving in each installment by having a cast of characters that stand on their own, finally giving Mysterious a cast that stands among the great casts from across the series. Sophie 2 only has two returning characters: Sophie herself and Plachta. By not having a lot of returning characters, this gives a lot more time for the new cast to shine, while also allowing newcomers to jump into this game with no prior knowledge (there is even a recap video covering Sophie 1). Every character is good, from Alette's over-the-top energy to Diebold's cool guy factor. But the two shining stars of this game's cast are Ramizel and young Plachta. Due to this game's isekai setting, it allowed for some out-of-time interactions but i am so glad that Ramizel's character wasn't just "wow Sophie, you're my future grandaughter, that's crazy" and young Plachta's character wasn't just "wow future me, that's what happens to me in the future, that's crazy". Instead we get genuine interactions that rarely bring up the nature of meeting someone from your own future. The nature of the isekai setting also allows Sophie 2 to blend elements from the previous Mysterious games: obviously we have Sophie and Plachta representing Sophie 1 but besides that, the game's structure builds off of what Firis tested out long ago and some of the areas are very reminiscent of the Mysterious Paintings from Lydie & Suelle. I just think this is neat.
As far as the story goes, it's Atelier so it doesn't matter too much but i did find it interesting how this game's tone and structure is more akin to the Secret series than the Mysterious games. But unlike Secret, this game found a different way of showing Sophie's growth. Whereas Ryza 2 allowed Ryza to relearn her recipes from her first game with SP since she "needed to get used to the new equipment", Sophie 2 has Sophie keep most of her original recipes at the get go and has her initial battle and alchemy level be set at the levels which it would be maxed out in the first game, which honestly was a way better way to do it. Another good thing about the story here is that despite the story being light, it was still one with an ending that genuinely made me shed a few tears. Ryza 2 did this as well but i feel like this one hit harder. I have no idea how Gust managed to do this twice in a row but they did it and yes, this ending bumped this game up to top 3 Atelier material.
Gameplay-wise, this game saw a bunch of numerous improvements.....even if it did take some steps back, more on that later. As far as the combat goes, this is right up there with Escha & Logy and Shallie in terms of having the best combat in the series. This is because Sophie 2's combat basically rips off the combat in those two games, in a good way plus it makes some neat additions. For the first time ever in a turn-based RPG, i am able to see aggro lines (that's a lie, i've seen it in Three Houses but that's an SRPG). This is a mechanic i'm familiar in more action-oriented games but i've never seen it done in turn-based games and believe me, it does make a difference in strategy making. The combat also features a team-attack combo thingy, in which the front and the back characters swap in while attacking. In E&L and Shallie, you could not do this, you could only swap in to defend. Here you can do both, even if being unable to swap without preforming these actions is a little bit cringe. Honestly, if you ask me, this is the best turn-based combat Atelier has had period and the only annoyance is that giving regular enemies Aura barriers can drag some fights out.
On the other half of the gameplay, the crafting, i can finally say that i fully enjoyed the "Tetris crafting" in this game. I barely enjoyed it in Sophie 1, found it unintuitive in Firis and liked it enough in Lydie & Suelle but i never really got addicted to it until this game along and made very well improvements to it. I won't really go about explaining the crafting mechanics, they rarely hold up to simple text explanations but just know that i was able to enjoy it significantly more than the previous Mysterious games.
In the rest of the gameplay, Gust has finally, finally added in quest markers for items and enemies.....although this has a little asterisk because this only applies to main and quest objectives. You'll still be forced to search for anything you'd need outside of that but with so much shit to keep track of, it was just easier to bust out a guide at that point. It's especially egregious when the game has a point of no return (you are warned of this) and any character events get locked out forever after that but the last two character events require items that would be easy to get after the point of no return. If i didn't look it up, i would've never found which quest specific boss i needed to kill in order to get that one item drop i needed. I would like in the next game for me to just be able to set trackers for anything i'm searching for. This is baby steps but i'm actually kinda shocked it was never implemented before in the series about gathering and crafting items. However, while the gameplay is mostly good, i was disappointed at the removal of some features from the Ryza games. Gone is being able to swim, swing and ride beasts. Instead, we get the ability to change the weather which sounds cool but it honestly gets a bit annoying at times, making the navigation of some areas a bit confusing (and don't even get me started on the exclusive enemies and items that depend on the weather, once again making the absence of markers outside of quests strange). The Item Rebuild mechanic, which allowed you to upgrade already existing equipment instead of starting from scratch, is also gone though at least thankfully Ryza's duplicate system remains intact, even if it just requires money now instead of gems, so it's not as easily farmable (although after certain discount upgrades, it becomes a non-issue anyways, ironically making it better than requiring gems).
Visually the game is a marginal improvement over Atelier Ryza 2's visuals, which were already good to begin with. The typical Gust budget is still there but you really don't think about it with these recent games. Sophie 2 has a graphics/performance toggle, of all things, not that it seemed to make too much of a difference, at least on Switch. Musically, it's an Atelier game, which means it's got bangers. The desert theme in particular gets high praise from me, i haven't heard an RPG desert theme that good since Xenoblade X and 2. Only negative thing i could say about the presentation is that some of the areas are a little bland compared to Ryza 2 (the hub town especially) and there's a surprising lack of CG stills.
When i think about it, Atelier Sophie 2 did exceed my expectations going in. A direct sequel to a game disliked, in a subseries i saw as the weakest, should've not popped off like this, yet Gust managed to pull through. And in hindsight, why wouldn't they? These guys have been on a great roll with Atelier since Lulua (fine i'll be fair and say since Lydie & Suelle) and i don't see them stopping anytime soon. Keep it up!