Really want to give it another shot, but the combat is... Ehhhh

[Remi]

I remember being really excited because my first game was Sophie, and I enjoyed it a lot. I had heard that this game used ATB instead of basic turns and was okay with that. I enjoyed FF7 and the remake.

However, it's not REALLY ATB... It's like... A weird switching character and no pause or anything where you just smack the enemy over and over and use skills with the character you're controlling? When I got to combat, I was super overwhelmed and basically immediately dropped the game simply because it was just really a lot. I'm fine with action games and ATB systems, but this combines them in a weird way that I just can't seem to keep up with.

Am I going about it wrong? What am I supposed to do to actually enjoy the combat? I'm hoping the in-game tutorial is just ass and one of you can make it click for me.

[Eltia]

I came from the SE's combat system and it took me a couple of days to get used to the Gust's combat system. Once you get used to it, it's not too bad. I enjoy seeing a different approach to RPG combat: the SE's system feels too old school.

Later on in the game, you will unlock the equivalent of skill chain, combo breaker and limit breaks. So it's more than spamming attacks and combos (though in end game, with the right equipment, it is a viable tactic).

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Yeah it completely overwhelmed me too and I've played through 5 atelier games before this. All I can say is that in time you start to get the hang of it and can pick options quickly. There is a little bar on the left of the screen that shows who's turns are coming up, if you are fast you can swap between characters and issue orders.

Often what I do is throw an item with Ryza, then use RB to swap to Claudia and throw an item with her, then swap back to Ryza and throw another item when her turn comes around. I let Lent just handle himself since his normal attacks and strong and generate AP for tactics increases or quick actions. Sometimes Ryza and Claudia's turns overlap in which case one of them will use a normal attack, but it cant be helped

That said, you can pause the fight with the start button and take a moment to think about what you will do next, who's turns are coming up, how much AP you have, how much CP you have etc and decide what your next actions will be. It's annoying, but it brings things a bit closer to the standard atelier turn based thing

Also if you make good gear then you can faceroll the enemy anyway, just spam throw items and use quick action to convert one of your items into CP so you can keep on throwing. The armour you can buy from merchants is quite good, you can craft your own but its a hassle to make it better than what you can buy and the store bought stuff is more than sufficient, anything more would be overkill.

After you unlock item rebuilding you can pretty much unlock all the nodes on items and make some ridiculously OP super bombs, just item rebuild your supplements/jewels/oils etc for destruction/critical/few bonus traits and get their quality nice and high, then throw it all into a bomb and then item rebuild the bomb as well to max it out, you wil lend up with 200+ quality bombs with powerful traits that will carry you into the end game and let you erase all enemies easily

[ButtStorm]

Same. My first atelier game and anything of this type of combat.
I just chose to thoughtlessly combat some low level enemies. idk, about 15 minutes of fighting, i really started to like it more and more.
it is stressful at times! :D
like now i got to some boss, and its chain stunning me, ended up killing my both party members while i kept healing them, and boy oh boy that was some intense fight there till the last bit of blood, tho i came most unprepared.

you CAN pause it to give it a thought and inspect your party/enemies, with start button on xbox one controller.
and you dont need to be switching characters mid-fight. unless like me you went to fight boss with 3CC left or doing some party quest, but it appears to be never needed, you play your main or switch the very second the fight starts.

[MisterGamester]

Being new to Atelier and this combat system it does take some getting used to, but once you understand the AP count, when to use the combo chains, and how to utilize battle orders to your advantage it becomes super easy. Of course, as an alchemist, having the best equipment possible is also a bonus. It definitely has a learning curve, but its not a steep one.

[Arbadacarba]

Camera is way to zoomed in, have to stare at meters and watch numbers.
All the bits are fine but when tossed in a pile in the middle of the room it’s still just a big pile of junk that’s hard to enjoy.

[moshiwakeda]

I find that target selection is poorly visible. It's also not clear exactly when you will gain or lose AP, it's pretty chaotic. It's all just ok