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[jshackles]

I just crafted hammer and my god this game opens up so much! The crafting is so addicting that want explore to find new materials and want to do all the quests to get recipes and items, it’s a game that every thing you do feeds to its core mechanics and not mention combat system very fun.

This my first Atelier game and really loving it so far.

You're about where I'm at, and yeah the game really opens up once you get the hammer.

For the reviewers who said they finished this game in 12 hours - how? I'm at 11 hours now and I just got the hammer around the 10 hour mark. I'm on "Chapter 4" and I understand there are a total of 9 chapters so probably roughly half way through the game. And even then there are an abundance of side quests, collectible treasure map spots, fishing locations, new recipes, etc that are lining up like crazy that I could probably spend a good 3-4 hours just cleaning everything up to this point. In reality, this feels like a 30-40 hour RPG.

 

[Vawn]

You're about where I'm at, and yeah the game really opens up once you get the hammer.

For the reviewers who said they finished this game in 12 hours - how? I'm at 11 hours now and I just got the hammer around the 10 hour mark. I'm on "Chapter 4" and I understand there are a total of 9 chapters so probably roughly half way through the game. And even then there are an abundance of side quests, collectible treasure map spots, fishing locations, new recipes, etc that are lining up like crazy that I could probably spend a good 3-4 hours just cleaning everything up to this point. In reality, this feels like a 30-40 hour RPG.

I beat it at 41 hours. I did side stuff, but nowhere near everything. I would say 35-45 hours would be a typical playthrough. But quite a bit of that is crafting to get better gear and items.

 

[Danjin44]

You're about where I'm at, and yeah the game really opens up once you get the hammer.

For the reviewers who said they finished this game in 12 hours - how? I'm at 11 hours now and I just got the hammer around the 10 hour mark. I'm on "Chapter 4" and I understand there are a total of 9 chapters so probably roughly half way through the game. And even then there are an abundance of side quests, collectible treasure map spots, fishing locations, new recipes, etc that are lining up like crazy that I could probably spend a good 3-4 hours just cleaning everything up to this point. In reality, this feels like a 30-40 hour RPG.

I’m guessing the reviewers might rush through it, I’m taking my time and just exploring everywhere and doing every side quests.

 

[jshackles]

Seriously whoever reviewed the game and said it was only like 15 hours long must have skipped every cutscene and done none of the side-quests.

I'm near the end of Chapter 6 now, about 22 hours in and finally hitting my stride with this game. The addictive gather -> craft -> improve gameplay loop this has is absolutely insane. I guess I'm with Vawn in that I estimate it'll take me around 40-ish hours to beat this.

Thanks again Komatsu for the OP and for recommending this game.

 

[JORMBO]

I'm back to playing this again after finishing Death Stranding. About 8 hours in and I just

Spoiler

built the hideout

.

 

[JayK47]

This game keeps getting better and better. I am really impressed. Best Atelier game since Ayesha in my opinion. The world and characters are really good, which is why I enjoyed the Dusk trilogy.

 

[Ryu Kaiba]

Never played one but digging the look this will be an out of nowhere pickup for me.

That leg upgrade from stick to thicc.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Played this (finally) for about 10 hours. The character interactions from the past games seem to be entirely gone or have been toned down entirely to sell the DLC it seems. I may be wrong as I just got to play 10 hours of it though. The music is sorta lacking. I wish Lila was real. The combat is not what I was expecting but I'm enjoying it either way.

 

[McCheese]

40 hours into this now, approaching end-game.

It's still throwing new shit at me, I crafted a compass earlier thinking it was just a support item to use in battle, but it's pimped up my mini-map which is making finding treasures and hidden areas much easier. Also did a bit of exploring and found some loli boss character who completely wrecked me, think I just discovered it has some hidden optional bosses the hard way.

Despite it's various systems, most of the game is fairly robust and streamlined once you learn them, but the one thing which is rubbing me the wrong way is lack of a clear "this is better than that" on weapons and armour. I spent about 3 hours gathering and collecting everything I need to make the next set of weapon recipes, unlocked them all, then crafted a set of them with "high quality ingredients" and when I went to enjoy the spoils of my labour and equip them, it tells me the stats are all lower than my current weapons.

I don't get it, how does a weapon I crafted 20 hours ago have better stats than a newer one made with better ingredients. I wonder if I'm missing a trick, maybe instead of unlocking the recipe then making one from scratch, I'm supposed to evolve my current weapon upward into it so I can transfer some of the traits across rather than start from scratch.

Armour is even more confusing as they all look cool and have snazzy names, but no indicator of any sort of "tier" so I have to just try to remember the order in which I unlocked them all.

 

[Danjin44]

40 hours into this now, approaching end-game.

It's still throwing new shit at me, I crafted a compass earlier thinking it was just a support item to use in battle, but it's pimped up my mini-map which is making finding treasures and hidden areas much easier. Also did a bit of exploring and found some loli boss character who completely wrecked me, think I just discovered it has some hidden optional bosses the hard way.

Despite it's various systems, most of the game is fairly robust and streamlined once you learn them, but the one thing which is rubbing me the wrong way is lack of a clear "this is better than that" on weapons and armour. I spent about 3 hours gathering and collecting everything I need to make the next set of weapon recipes, unlocked them all, then crafted a set of them with "high quality ingredients" and when I went to enjoy the spoils of my labour and equip them, it tells me the stats are all lower than my current weapons.

I don't get it, how does a weapon I crafted 20 hours ago have better stats than a newer one made with better ingredients. I wonder if I'm missing a trick, maybe instead of unlocking the recipe then making one from scratch, I'm supposed to evolve my current weapon upward into it so I can transfer some of the traits across rather than start from scratch.

Armour is even more confusing as they all look cool and have snazzy names, but no indicator of any sort of "tier" so I have to just try to remember the order in which I unlocked them all.

I think equipment are all about which role you want from each party. You want to have defender/high defender, Attacker/high Attacker or Supporter/high Supporter.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Christ it looks better on handheld than docked :/

 

[jshackles]

Made it to the final boss today (level 44, alchemy level 80, about 32 hours on the clock).

Got absolutely wrecked.

 

[McCheese]

Made it to the final boss today (level 44, alchemy level 80, about 32 hours on the clock).

Got absolutely wrecked.

I was wandering around aimlessly earlier and found some strange loli girl sat in a big chair, walked close enough to them to start a conversation only to find out it's an enemy, and then got one-shotted.

In a strange sadomasochistic way, I love that I can grind in this game for hours and still find stuff that wrecks me, gives me some nice long term goals to aim for.

 

[jshackles]

I was wandering around aimlessly earlier and found some strange loli girl sat in a big chair, walked close enough to them to start a conversation only to find out it's an enemy, and then got one-shotted.

In a strange sadomasochistic way, I love that I can grind in this game for hours and still find stuff that wrecks me, gives me some nice long term goals to aim for.

My new goal is something like this:

I've found a pretty good spot where I can grind for gems (about 30k gems every 4 minutes) so it should just be a matter of looping quality materials then fusing them into high quality stuff. I probably won't bother going whole hog like this, but I definitely need to power up my existing gear to be able to beat the final boss.

 

[JayK47]

I was wandering around aimlessly earlier and found some strange loli girl sat in a big chair, walked close enough to them to start a conversation only to find out it's an enemy, and then got one-shotted.

In a strange sadomasochistic way, I love that I can grind in this game for hours and still find stuff that wrecks me, gives me some nice long term goals to aim for.

I have seen several of these and hope to eventually be able to defeat them.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

This game is one of the most forgiving in the series or is it just me?

 

[Danjin44]

I was wandering around aimlessly earlier and found some strange loli girl sat in a big chair, walked close enough to them to start a conversation only to find out it's an enemy, and then got one-shotted.

In a strange sadomasochistic way, I love that I can grind in this game for hours and still find stuff that wrecks me, gives me some nice long term goals to aim for.

I got wreck by her as well, I was cocky that I can take on everybody but she proved me wrong.

This game is one of the most forgiving in the series or is it just me?

This my first Atelier game so I cant compare but I heard the crafting much more streamlined compare to pervious games. but I personally find the crafting very fun and give really good reason explore everywhere.

 

[jshackles]

This game is one of the most forgiving in the series or is it just me?

Like Danjin44 this is my first dip into the series, but the game is super forgiving overall. There is almost no death penalty for battles, meaning you could theoretically go into areas with much more difficult monsters or with outclassed gear and still not really suffer anything for it besides losing a few of your gathered materials. The quests also have no fail states as best I can tell. Adding the wrong materials to a crafting attempt can be backed out before you finally click the synthesize button. In a lot of ways, this game is pretty easy / forgiving.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Like Danjin44 this is my first dip into the series, but the game is super forgiving overall. There is almost no death penalty for battles, meaning you could theoretically go into areas with much more difficult monsters or with outclassed gear and still not really suffer anything for it besides losing a few of your gathered materials. The quests also have no fail states as best I can tell. Adding the wrong materials to a crafting attempt can be backed out before you finally click the synthesize button. In a lot of ways, this game is pretty easy / forgiving.

You could fail previous Atelier games and had to replay the entire game if you didn't mind the days going by.

 

[Danjin44]

What I love here is even if you don’t decorate the hideout, other characters start putting stuff in it. Every time I return to hideout I always find something new in it.

 

[Danjin44]

I finally beat one the girl in big chair inside the tower. Changing Ryza’s role from “high Attacker” to “New Legend” helped a lot.

 

[jshackles]

After a few more hours of grinding higher quality weapons and armor, I finally beat the "final boss".

I absolutely LOVE how that wasn't the end of the game. I was expecting cut scene -> roll credits, and instead was greeted with "Okay now here is more crafting stuff to do before the story concludes".

 

[Danjin44]

After a few more hours of grinding higher quality weapons and armor, I finally beat the "final boss".

I absolutely LOVE how that wasn't the end of the game. I was expecting cut scene -> roll credits, and instead was greeted with "Okay now here is more crafting stuff to do before the story concludes".

I also recently beat the final boss, overall it was pretty damn enjoyable game.

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[JayK47]

Had to take a break from this game while I put my new PC together and it turns out I was nearly done with the game. I wrapped this up and I feel it is one of the best Atelier games. I am continually surprised by these games and the quality since they are yearly releases. There were a few games that weren't as good and I thought I might finally stop playing the series. But then a really decent one comes out and I am glad I have stuck with the series. 2019 was an incredible year for Atelier with 3 games released and I thought all 3 were good.