As of now, I have only finished this with the normal and good endings. Going for the other three/all achievements, but I thought I would begin writing my thoughts down.

This game became very fun after awhile! Lydie and Suelle are excellent, fun, charming characters, and I enjoyed the new additions to the series, as well as the returning faces. The events nicely closed out the original mysterious trilogy.

However, it took a long road to get there! For the first six of twelve chapters (about 30 hr in game), I was very bored with the game’s formulaic gameplay, with it being so formulaic that each chapter was structured the same, and the story was predictable. It wasn’t until they broke away from the formula a bit/there was more to do, that I enjoyed it.

This alchemy system is probably my favorite Atelier one so far, and the combat is very fun in the late game, especially for bosses. However, in the early game, regular mobs take way too long, due to both sides not doing much damage. There are some weaker story elements like most Atelier games, but I still overall enjoyed it.

In my opinion, the gameplay pales in comparison to Firis, but is better than Sophie. I’d rank this story highest, and Firis’ as lowest though.

Only 4 stars due to the slow first half…it was going to be 3 before the game picked up. Could have been a 4.5-5 star game if the beginning was given more love! Recommended, but have some patience for it to get better!

Note: 13 trophies to plat. Will play casually until then.

Edit: 9 to plat. Got true ending, so shelving for now.

Edit: downgraded to 3.5 stars. The road to the money ending, as well as platinum are extremely tedious.