Time limits are back

[Ogami]

So according to most reviews i read the time limit system is back in full force. You have 365 days to complete the first half of the story and most reviewers felt it was really high pressure to do so, basically giving you no time to do any side content.
Bizarrely, after that first half with the time limit, the second half of the game has no time limit at all and you can take as much time for everything as you want.

That seems kind of strange and nearly all reviews cite the first half time limit as one of the major drawbacks of the game.
I am actually not opposed to the time limits in Atelier games since they give the games a sense of purpose but this variation seems a bit strange.

[Shylaar]

It's an attempt to appease the old fans who liked the time limits and the new fans who don't. Obviously it doesn't work very well, but then anyone expecting gaming journalists to not be a bunch of casuals is foolish.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Cerzel:

It's an attempt to appease the old fans who liked the time limits and the new fans who don't. Obviously it doesn't work very well, but then anyone expecting gaming journalists to not be a bunch of casuals is foolish.

Well true, i can only go by what i read so far. I never had any major problems with the time limits, even in Rorona so i think i will be fine. That is,when i will buy it in a few months because 60 bucks is way to much.

[PrincessKumico]

I'm playing Sophie now and I like the no time limit. I loved Mana Khemia and when I played the Arland series I felt rushed and didn't really enjoy it much. I remember for Totori I needed a guide for progression to maximize my time and I just didn't enjoy the game at all because of it. I'm not very far in Sophie but I really like how I can just go, kill things, gather, etc and not sweat it. How hard is it to adhere to the 365 days? Can I muck around a bunch or will I be pressured, mainly in the end?

[Ogami]

Originally posted by DemonSlayer:

I'm playing Sophie now and I like the no time limit. I loved Mana Khemia and when I played the Arland series I felt rushed and didn't really enjoy it much. I remember for Totori I needed a guide for progression to maximize my time and I just didn't enjoy the game at all because of it. I'm not very far in Sophie but I really like how I can just go, kill things, gather, etc and not sweat it. How hard is it to adhere to the 365 days? Can I muck around a bunch or will I be pressured, mainly in the end?

Again, just by what i read you dont have much time for side activities in the first half of the game and should concentrate on fullfilling the main story quests that are timed. In the second half of the game you then have time to do all the side content.

This was from one of the reviews:

When you get outside, you’re immediately given 365 days to reach the edge of the map, collect 3 alchemist recommendation letters, and take an alchemy exam to prove that you can handle yourself in the outside world. Atelier games of yore had time limits like these, but it was a feature omitted from the last few games. Time passes quickly on it’s own, as well as when you gather materials, fight enemies, and perform alchemy. All of this meant I never felt comfortable taking my time and exploring the game’s side-opportunity. I focused on nothing but heading toward the next main quest, and I could never tell if I was doing the right thing or unnecessarily rushing myself.

I don’t mind the idea of timed goals, but I would have preferred a series of shorter time-limits with clearly defined goals, which they only did once with the short 30-day time limit in that opening section of the game. Even weirder, once you complete that year-long trial, there’s no more time limits after that. You’re done. The game isn’t over at all, you simply don’t have any time limits any more, and even unlock fast-travel and a fast-moving witches broom. The sudden switches between a short time-limit with a clear goal, to a huge time-limit with vague goals, to no time-limit at all, are so harsh and sudden, it feels more like three separate game experiences than one, concise package.

[Gregory]

Why do games like that have a time limit anyway?It's not like the game has a story where you save the world and you must do it fast, so it would seem more realistic.Just going around gathering stuff and synthesizing them.More generic story, it just can't be.This is just stupid.

[Valkyr]

Will be using a cheat trainer to freeze the timer then, timers in rpgs are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ horrendous all they do is spoil the game by making you rush everything.

[Shylaar]

Originally posted by Gregory:

Why do games like that have a time limit anyway?It's not like the game has a story where you save the world and you must do it fast, so it would seem more realistic.Just going around gathering stuff and synthesizing them.More generic story, it just can't be.This is just stupid.

You're missing the point. The time limits in the Atelier games were there to pace them so that you're always being presented with new areas, goals, and events throughout regular periods. They were hardly restrictive at all, and encouraged the player to master the game mechanics if they wanted to go for the true endings, while keeping it pretty easy to get the normal endings. Sophie, having removed the time limits, ended up being an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ slog of grinding and walking back and forth.
Stop looking at the time limits as being restrictive and start looking at what they offer to the game's design instead.

[Old Cat 🐱]

Even simple walking wastes time now. Can't even explore a town without worrying about time limit

[D's Journal]

Yeah they tried to make everyone happy but ugh I hate artificial time limits like this. I was hoping is not as bad as I thought.

[Seattlehockeyfan84]

Originally posted by Luna:

Yeah they tried to make everyone happy but ugh I hate artificial time limits like this. I was hoping is not as bad as I thought.

i read that the time limit is temporary and goes away once firis passes the exam

[D's Journal]

Originally posted by gstommylee001:

Originally posted by Luna:

Yeah they tried to make everyone happy but ugh I hate artificial time limits like this. I was hoping is not as bad as I thought.

i read that the time limit is temporary and goes away once firis passes the exam

This is true. like I said and cerzel. they're pleasing both fans. I stressed out I ayesha, super fun game until I over gathered ONCE on accident and missed a bizarre lol.so it's not that bad I guess

[Wyrtt]

Atelier game without time limit is a garbage anyway. Loo at Sophie. Its has terrible pacing with gated content behind paunful grinding, Story and events has no feeling of time and importance too.
Where is ACTUAL atelier managment, task managment, route optimising?
Arland, Logy were fun and replayable exactly because of it. Every new transport or short cut were bliss, New recipes opened new areas or made life easier.
Where is anything of that in Sophie? Its just a slog.

[Malvazar]

When I played sophie there wasn't really any grinding involved and I played from start to finish on despair.
I hear you get more exp and gold and better items from despair difficulty, so if you find it too much of a grind then perhaps you should stop playing on scrub difficulty and fight more powerful monsters.

But anyway yeah I have no problem with the time limits, in fact I quite like the idea that it's actually possible to fail.

I'd say the thing I disliked about sophie is that it's impossible to lose at anything, even if you lose in combat you get sent back to the atelier and you'd even keep a lot of your items. Losing in combat only happened in early parts anyway when you tried taking on opponents ten levels above you on despair. (The whale boss and the twin header were the only things I'd died to and that was because I was way under leveled.)

Haven't played much of firis yet only just got out of the cave, but I was slightly worried about the lack of a despair option. I hope that hard is as or more harder than despair in sophie.

[MuYuri]

Originally posted by alex.elsen:

Haven't played much of firis yet only just got out of the cave, but I was slightly worried about the lack of a despair option. I hope that hard is as or more harder than despair in sophie.

From what I read, Firis has a NG+ which unlocks very hard.

[Shylaar]

Originally posted by alex.elsen:

When I played sophie there wasn't really any grinding involved and I played from start to finish on despair.
I hear you get more exp and gold and better items from despair difficulty, so if you find it too much of a grind then perhaps you should stop playing on scrub difficulty and fight more powerful monsters.

Yeah, no. I also played on despair, and despair does nothing to change the recipe idea system forcing you to stop and grind to progress the game at several points. Unless it does cause you to get more points for those ideas, in which case the grind on lower difficulties would be even more painful.