This review contains spoilers
I played the mysterious trilogy only a few months ago and with Lydie and Suelle being the only super good game in that trilogy. I didn't really know what I was expected. Sophie 1 was ok. Firis was kinda bad honestly.
Annnnd holy crap this game is absolutely incredible from top to bottom.
Especially compared to the other games I've played, this alchemy system had so much more thinking involved. To actually plan out what I specifically want on my weapons was so much more important. I spent like 5 hours before the final dungeon just grinding out ultimate weapons and it honestly felt amazing after playing tetris for a while.
The combat has such a nice flow to it. The ultimates are so satisfying to pull off, especially on the bosses which it can do around a 3rd/4th to on hard mode (the review is based on hard mode, as that's what i've played the entire game) Basically every party member feels incredibly important, the debuff stacking also just makes the battles a lot more interesting to go through because a lot of the bosses have ways to absolutely cripple your stats.
The character writing kept it's charm from Lydie and Suelle. Except this time, since the story actually follows a linear storyline without having to focus on doing quest which can get really annoying sometimes especially for the L&S later exams.
Elvira's arc is honestly some of the more interesting writing I've seen from this series. I know the series isn't known for the most serious of writing but most of the writing is pretty touching and funny. The last scene with Sophie and Rami really hits well knowing the context of the trilogy and even just knowing the first game.
Seeing Sophie and Rami bond throughout the game and seeing Rami get influenced by her granddaughter's success is also a high point, it's just all so wholesome and warm it's hard not to get attached to what's going on.
Young Plachta is also incredibly well done, and basically every cutscene with her is pretty interesting, and the contrast between her and doll Plachta is pretty thoroughly explored throughout the game.
Also they finally realized that fast travel and dungeons from Atelier Shallie were a good idea. Good on them. A lot of variety with exploring and the third boss's arena caught me off guard with how interesting the surroundings were.
Also they just don't mention Luard at all asides from Young Plachta mentioning him a few times and that's probably a good thing.
Also the music is really good but that's a standard for this series.
From the combat, writing, and even just basic crafting this game had me reeled in from the start. Absolutely incredible. Would recommend (you don't even really need to play the 1st game because it has a recap button that covers all like 4 of the game's cutscenes just as a side note)
Annnnd holy crap this game is absolutely incredible from top to bottom.
Especially compared to the other games I've played, this alchemy system had so much more thinking involved. To actually plan out what I specifically want on my weapons was so much more important. I spent like 5 hours before the final dungeon just grinding out ultimate weapons and it honestly felt amazing after playing tetris for a while.
The combat has such a nice flow to it. The ultimates are so satisfying to pull off, especially on the bosses which it can do around a 3rd/4th to on hard mode (the review is based on hard mode, as that's what i've played the entire game) Basically every party member feels incredibly important, the debuff stacking also just makes the battles a lot more interesting to go through because a lot of the bosses have ways to absolutely cripple your stats.
The character writing kept it's charm from Lydie and Suelle. Except this time, since the story actually follows a linear storyline without having to focus on doing quest which can get really annoying sometimes especially for the L&S later exams.
Elvira's arc is honestly some of the more interesting writing I've seen from this series. I know the series isn't known for the most serious of writing but most of the writing is pretty touching and funny. The last scene with Sophie and Rami really hits well knowing the context of the trilogy and even just knowing the first game.
Seeing Sophie and Rami bond throughout the game and seeing Rami get influenced by her granddaughter's success is also a high point, it's just all so wholesome and warm it's hard not to get attached to what's going on.
Young Plachta is also incredibly well done, and basically every cutscene with her is pretty interesting, and the contrast between her and doll Plachta is pretty thoroughly explored throughout the game.
Also they finally realized that fast travel and dungeons from Atelier Shallie were a good idea. Good on them. A lot of variety with exploring and the third boss's arena caught me off guard with how interesting the surroundings were.
Also they just don't mention Luard at all asides from Young Plachta mentioning him a few times and that's probably a good thing.
Also the music is really good but that's a standard for this series.
From the combat, writing, and even just basic crafting this game had me reeled in from the start. Absolutely incredible. Would recommend (you don't even really need to play the 1st game because it has a recap button that covers all like 4 of the game's cutscenes just as a side note)