how is this game?

[FlashStep]

im an achievement hunter and a big fan of JRPGs and anime; just finished 100% on Tales of Zestiria and Tales of Berseria.
Looking for a new JRPG

[Korelis]

It's very different from a typical JRPG, the story is pretty basic (you spend more time on character events rather than a central plot, though there is a plot and final boss fight and everything) and the combat isn't very complex. Most of the game is focused on item crafting, and combat mostly depends on planning and optimisation of your equipment before you fight, rather than what you choose to do in the fight.

Basically, if you really love the item crafting part of other RPGs and want a game that greatly expands on and revolves around that aspect, the Atelier series is probably exactly what you're looking for. And the characters are almost always cute.

Atelier Sophie is an extremely easy game though, even if you keep the difficulty set to despair. There's even an easy and inexpensive way to instantly kill any non-boss enemy throughout 90% of the game, even if they're overwhelmingly stronger than you (as long as you get at least one turn to attack before your party is wiped out), and if you do lose a fight you just get sent home and lose some of the items you were gathering, so it's no big deal. If you want any kind of challenge, you might want to pass on this and go for another game (I'm not sure yet whether or not the sequel, Atelier Firis, is harder than this one). The other Atelier games aren't as easy, but only the latest two are on PC.

[FlashStep]

That sounds weird. Not sure I ever played a game like that before, where the combat is basically about the equipment used. So the whole game is a sort of metagame about crafting your equips?

[Syad]

You have Recettear, it's basically the same thing, cauldron instead of the shop, and final fantasy style combat instead of rogue-like combat in dungeons. Plus town dialogs.

There is a on-hit-kill item in the game true, but you don't have to use it, and have to know how to craft it, which is not a given at all :D Otherwise the game is quite challenging i'd say.

[Korelis]

Originally posted by Flash~Step:

That sounds weird. Not sure I ever played a game like that before, where the combat is basically about the equipment used. So the whole game is a sort of metagame about crafting your equips?

It's not like that's all that matters for the combat, there's still a variety of passive and active skills (attacks, buffs, debuffs, healing, etc.), a lot of different attack/healing/buffing items to use, and also different characters with different fighting styles to choose from. It's just that, compared to all that stuff to choose from during combat, the items you craft outside of combat are more important. And if you craft good items and gear, the most effective strategy in normal fights is to use maybe one buff/debuff if the enemy is somewhat strong, and then spam normal attacks.

The combat also isn't very important in this game. It's not like other JRPGs where you have a constant stream of unavoidable random encounters and you have to fight to level up and progress. If you wanted to, you could almost entirely avoid any combat until near the end of the game, kill some enemies that are a lot stronger than you to get up to max level in a few minutes, then fight the final boss. That's not the normal way to play the game, but it's a possible option, unlike most RPGs.

Originally posted by Syad:

There is a on-hit-kill item in the game true, but you don't have to use it, and have to know how to craft it, which is not a given at all :D Otherwise the game is quite challenging i'd say.

I set the difficulty to despair from the very beginning and intentionally avoided using One Hit Kill until the end of the game, and I still found it extremely easy. Until after the final boss, I also didn't use strengthening, didn't bother trying to use good materials for Plachta (being vague here to avoid spoilers, even if they're minor), didn't craft the strongest weapons or armour, and didn't bother with the strongest traits, and it was still easy. There was no challenge at all until the extra bosses at the end.

[Syad]

We may differ in our definition of what easy is, i define easy as in "click to win". On Despair i got instakilled traveling beyond the starting areas. Therefore , by that definition, - not easy. May be it is because you are an Atelier veteran and know all the ropes already, but for someone who never played an Atelier game before, it was quite challenging, really. Ok the game doesnt't exactly feature complex combat so if we go by easy=shallow, i agree the game is easy. I think if they would make all the item tools unlock earlier, and not when you already autoattack to win, the game would be better in tactical depth.

[Korelis]

I had some hard fights in the very beginning of the game (within my first 5-10 fights), but nothing that I came close to losing against. The only time I was ever actually wiped out was when I went to Scar of the Land while underleveled with just the starting weapons, and early armour with just Mutated Material on it. After that, I upgraded to Silvalia weapons and crafted some decent armour and that lasted me until just before the final boss.

I think most of why I call it easy is because of how quickly the game progressed. Sure, if I went to the strongest areas I had access to during the first half of the game (or if I made use of strengthening my gear and actually tried to be stronger, then the first quarter of the game), I probably would have died if I ran into an enemy. But I had no reason to go to those places yet. When I unlocked new areas, before I could even visit half of them, I'd be done with my next task (often without even trying) and unlock a bunch more. A couple times I'd unlock the next memories so quickly that I didn't have time to really do anything before unlocking more areas. By the time I was ready to fight the final boss, I hadn't even had a chance to visit most of the areas. So I didn't see any reason to go to the risky higher level areas when I hadn't had time to go to the low level areas yet. I basically rushed through the game, but I wasn't trying to, it just happened automatically while I was playing casually.

Edit: As for being an Atelier veteran, the only other Atelier game I've actually played was Rorona Plus. From that, I was familiar with the concept of combining traits (although it works a little differently between the two games; it's actually easier here), and that's about it. The stats, synthesis system, items/effects, the specific traits available, etc. were all different. So I didn't really have an advantage over anyone who's able to grasp the game's systems fairly quickly.

[FlashStep]

Oh wow, it's like recettear? That's awesome, I loved recettearm. Imma look into this some more. Thanks guys

[Syad]

Originally posted by Aspoehro:

A couple times I'd unlock the next memories so quickly that I didn't have time to really do anything before unlocking more areas.

Yeah i think i agree here, there is basically 2in1 game. I too got so caught up in crafting, i even forgot how to fight.. :D

[Ganryuu]

this game is very easy to plat

[denton91]

Originally posted by 2B:

this game is very easy to plat

Play despair then. It borders on masochism if you don't get good at alchemy.

[Ganryuu]

Originally posted by denton91:

Originally posted by 2B:

this game is very easy to plat

Play despair then. It borders on masochism if you don't get good at alchemy.

? I beat it on despair lul ...

(only turned down the difficulty when facing the demon lord or evil lord or whoever its name was I kinda forgot haha)

[Tiasmoon]

In despair there are actually a good number of difficult/very tough fights, but they are pretty much all optional as they are Rumour bosses. The whales for example, can easily wipe the floor with you if you arent really well prepared.

Also, the very start is ridiculously difficult on despair as you will deal single digit damage to monsters with 100+ hp. For anyone that doesnt do Rumour bosses tho, only the start of the game would present much of a challenge.

Originally posted by 2B:

Originally posted by denton91:

Play despair then. It borders on masochism if you don't get good at alchemy.

? I beat it on despair lul ...

(only turned down the difficulty when facing the demon lord or evil lord or whoever its name was I kinda forgot haha)

Then you didnt really beat it on despair. ;)
Besides that is the most fun fight at despair, how could you. :P

[Ganryuu]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

In despair there are actually a good number of difficult/very tough fights, but they are pretty much all optional as they are Rumour bosses. The whales for example, can easily wipe the floor with you if you arent really well prepared.

Also, the very start is ridiculously difficult on despair as you will deal single digit damage to monsters with 100+ hp. For anyone that doesnt do Rumour bosses tho, only the start of the game would present much of a challenge.

Originally posted by 2B:

? I beat it on despair lul ...

(only turned down the difficulty when facing the demon lord or evil lord or whoever its name was I kinda forgot haha)

Then you didnt really beat it on despair. ;)
Besides that is the most fun fight at despair, how could you. :P

come on man I'm not a masochist :P I can barely beat it on normal.. I got the best equipments with the best traits for all the characters and still got rekt by this cvnt on despair.

my respect for everyone who managed to beat this boss on despair.