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

Going for plat in this game is extremely stressful but the time management is very fun and satisfying when you make everything work. The side characters and their events are pretty good, Not the best in the series but they're nice. Music is great, esp in overtime FLASH FROST THANK YOUU

The cost system really grew on me once I started making my end-game gear it became really fun to work out cost on your gear to get all the traits you want. The super bosses in overtime are also very hard which makes the investment vs reward of making good gear perfect.

I had a lot of fun in the base game & I love Rorona so all her events were great, however once I got to overtime is when I started to really love this game. One year to just make the best gear possible and fight the super bosses, this was some of the most fun I've had in Atelier