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Atelier Sophie |OT| The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
rockman zx
Member
Started to play the game a couple of days ago and coming from playing Ayesha and Totori in the last couple of months... I'm having a hard time liking some of the changes done to the formula. I hate the new support system with passion, in the other hand the new alchemy system is fun. I like Sophie personality too, the rest of the characters are pretty meh so far (10 hours of playtime).
Weirdly enough, the support system changes when you're more ahead of the game and, honestly, it becomes quite OP. I didn't liked it, at all, in the beginning.
Suikoguy
I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
The characters seem bland to start, it takes some time to get to know them and see them interact and talk with others. It seems like there are more 'talk' interactions in this one versus previous games in the series.
It also has the side effect of making Sophie the ultimate eavesdropper and interrupter, I would have been in favor of more zone in cutscenes.
The gameplay as a whole seems to be better balanced than the last couple of games.
Oh, and it's nice to have a solid 60fps on the ps4 version after having countless games with really unstable framerate. I wish they used a better AA solution, but otherwise it's graphically ok for a niche game.
Question: Is there a way to scroll down your materials list faster?. I've tried every combination of controls I can think of.
Cornbread78
Member
I'm just keep hearing from everyone that the g as me has a comfy feel in both tone and gameplay.
chrominance
Member
As someone who's played every Atelier game on PS3: I actually don't know what to tell you. The game feels a lot more open than previous entries in the franchise, as the game opens up a ton of areas to you early on. Wander too deep into the wilderness and you'll find some surprisingly tough fights, especially at night. The alchemy stuff, meanwhile, doesn't really hold your hand, but you'll be able to create items no problem--it's the optimization you'll have to figure out through some tinkering.
It's definitely not a frustrating game, though. I haven't lost a fight yet, but in previous games the only penalty was getting warped back to home base and maybe losing some time. The tetris-like puzzle that forms the core of the alchemy gameplay never locks you in needlessly; you can rearrange ingredients to your heart's content to try and minmax for specific traits or effects for as long as you like. You'll definitely need to think some, but you never commit to anything you're doing until the very end, when you say "yup, I'm ready to make this item now."
Sounds great! So does the difficulty make your alchemy/optimisation more important kinda thing? Or does it just get more grindy on hard?
Referring to starting on normal or hard difficulty.
I'll start on hard then and if it's too much I'll dial
It back if needed. (First Atelier game).
Thanks!
chrominance
Member
I don't know, but I think the difficulty just controls battle difficulty. I doubt the alchemy stuff changes, but I've never changed the difficulty before and so couldn't tell you. Might be in the encyclopedia, though.
Just booted it up, so beautiful. Cruisy. This is just what I needed after what I played this year so far!
* just going normal difficulty.
zswordsman
Member
So there's no time management or missable stuff like atelier Totori right? I loved Totori but the time stuff kept me on a strict schedule
neohwa
Junior Member
No time limit
Just one trophy missable which is an item you have to make before fighting the final boss.
zswordsman
Member
Sweet. Gonna do some backlog games and then this. I loved Totori and that OST was great.
Nisa Europe emailed me the codes for the DLC packs a day or two after they shipped out my LE. If you didn't received it, then perhaps a quick email to them is in order.
Kudo
Member
Already done, but I assume they're not working on weekends.
Received the game on Tuesday though, so they probably forgot to send mine completely, going to be sad if they don't have any left..
YianGaruga
Banned
Kudo
Member
Thanks a lot, will tweet them on Monday if I don't hear back from their or NISA Europes customer support.
First Atelier game. 5hrs in. Really enjoying myself, just what I needed.
Update: played 7hrs now in a row. Addicted. I really love how cruisy it is, how the story unfolds andthe characters are so charming. Really fast loading times, snappy menus and fast battles. Nice music. Lovely looking artwork and geography. So fun. I need to play more of this series!
Update: played 7hrs now in a row. Addicted. I really love how cruisy it is, how the story unfolds andthe characters are so charming. Really fast loading times, snappy menus and fast battles. Nice music. Lovely looking artwork and geography. So fun. I need to play more of this series!
Mamont1537
Member
Finished the game, got my platinum. That was pretty fun.
Last post-endgame bosses required some specific gear crafting and luck (though I shamelessly used 999 item quality glitch for them).
Last post-endgame bosses required some specific gear crafting and luck (though I shamelessly used 999 item quality glitch for them).
Not that I know of.
However with the sort and filter functions, I rarely browse through my stuff anymore.
chrominance
Member
I think that highlights rumour locations. So if you bought a rumour that says awesome strawberries will be growing in a certain meadow, that meadow will be highlighted in blue on your map.
It may also highlight for main story events but I'm not so sure about that one.
Ahh okay, So I assume everytime you buy a rumor, that is when it will highlight? I swear I've bought the same rumor multiple times haha.
I don't suppose there's a way to filter through the world map locations? ie, I need specific enemy or item and here's the location.
Mamont1537
Member
Well, you can press touchpad on any material in recipe or your inventory to see from what location\monster you can get it. Don't think there is a way to filter through world map.
Also, for some reason there is no trait filter in weapon and armor crafting windows. Which is really annoying near the end of the game when you try to create the best weapons and have to manually search through tons of materials.
chrominance
Member
There's a page in the encyclopedia that shows you all the fields you've discovered and what materials/monsters can be found there. It's the only page I've added to my clips for easy reference!
Thanks, that's much more convenient than hitting square on the locations until I managed to find what I was looking for.
Talesofedna
Banned
Can anyone tell me how the gameplay and what not are compared to Atelier Shallie the dusk sea. I just got into this series and so far Shallie is the only one I've played even though I bought almost all of them at once....Don't ask. I LOVED Shallie and even am about to get the platinum trophy for it after almost 90 hours of messing around.
traits in exploration gears have no effect.
they're just there for if you want to use the gears as ingredients for something else.
Elaugaufein
Member
Thinking about starting this since it seems far more suited to quick play / pick up and play than the time /event games. Is this sufficiently different that I won't have problems going back to the Dusk games ?
Eg Rorona feels pretty clunky after Meruru but Mana Khemia is almost completelt different and I could go back to it without any problems even after playing later games.
Eg Rorona feels pretty clunky after Meruru but Mana Khemia is almost completelt different and I could go back to it without any problems even after playing later games.
chrominance
Member
Already answered above, but additionally, you can look up any trait you've discovered in the encyclopedia and it will show you exactly what item types the trait applies to. This is my favourite UI improvement about the game, as it removes the guesswork of "does ATK SPD Enhance apply to armor or weapons?" Super good.
I haven't gone back to the Dusk games to play since starting Sophie, but I think you'll be okay. The alchemy system is very different and Dusk streamlines some things that are actually more fiddly in Sophie. Battles require a tiny bit more thought, but I think that's an improvement over Sophie's auto-support system.
Suikoguy
I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Yes, in particular, Fairy Guide (Magic Item) and Mana Feather (Magic Item, Animal) come in handy for bridging trait transfer gaps.
Suikoguy
I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Difficulty Level effects drops, i've not ran into an item that does yet.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I've definitely been neglecting that part of encyclopedia. I had assumed that since the trait didn't get greyed out, it was possible to get carried over to the resulting gear.
Sadly now I'd have to farm more materials since I spent most of the A+ Threads/Cloths to craft my backpack, glove etc.
i gotta say, as much as the time limits weren't my favorite part of the other games, it really leads to this one feeling very unstructured. it's boils down to "do a bunch of shit to fill this bar" and feels a bit tiring when there's not something you're actively working towards like, say, the missions in escha and logy. i don't care for the way you unlock recipes either, much preferred getting them from books. i also don't care for this new alchemy system, at least at the moment. feels very obtuse and difficult to get what i want.
Suikoguy
I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Finished the main story.
Final impressions from most to least important
The new trilogy has the core system in place to keep the things fresh, it will be interesting to see how they evolve the new mechanics in the upcoming 2 games.
Final impressions from most to least important
- Balance is leagues better than Shallie. Playing on normal and not going out of my way to make crazy equipment or alchemy items, presented a good challenge.
- The "positive" universe is a nice change after the depressing previous trilogy.
- Getting early effects on items is far more challenging; this is counteracted by the final cauldron you get after you finish the main story.
- Still undecided on the tetris grid crafting change. I think overall it has promise.
- The battle system "hands off" support system is a step back, but the stances system has promise.
The new trilogy has the core system in place to keep the things fresh, it will be interesting to see how they evolve the new mechanics in the upcoming 2 games.
Alchemic Clay with Golden Puniball -> Yellow Neutralizer -> Zettel -> Ingot works for the first one
Gold Thread with Zafloa Oil -> some cloth -> Crystal Ball -> Alchemic Clay -> Yellow Neutralizer -> Mineral Extract -> Pure water works for the second
A useful trick is that by pressing select on the alchemy screen you can open the page of that recipe and when you press select on that page and you can open pages filled with all ingredients you can make it with. by selecting one of these, and pressing select again you keep repeating this process until eventually you reach an ingredient that can be made with an ingredient that has the trait you want.
Two questions:
Is there an easier way to farm Forgotten Ore/Part/Wood/Gem, I've been killing the bosses that should drop them, but no luck so far.
Having some issues getting the Spirit Weave Cloth recipe. I know I need a Neutralizer value of at least 120, but the most I've managed so far is 90.
Is there an easier way to farm Forgotten Ore/Part/Wood/Gem, I've been killing the bosses that should drop them, but no luck so far.
Having some issues getting the Spirit Weave Cloth recipe. I know I need a Neutralizer value of at least 120, but the most I've managed so far is 90.
Not to my knowledge, but you really shouldn't be farming these anyways. The tier 4 weapons are better than the tier 5 ones because you can enhance them more. I stuck with lower end armor with more enhancement slots as well.
As for the neutralizer, it should be fairly easy to make a 120 quality neutralizer with any quality trait and the expert cauldron. If you are near the end game, it's a good idea to start spreading Super Quality, Pro Perfection, and Quality++ traits among all commonly used items.
I already have the Harmonium with good traits, that's why I asked
.As for the neutralizer, I don't think it has anything to do with quality? Because I have a few with 150+ but they don't help much in creating a Puny Jelly with Activate Division.
Oh hah, I didn't actually remember the requirements for the spirit weave cloth and thought you just needed a high quality neutralizer from your post. The tuned or fairy cauldrons should make that really easy. Make a largish neutralizer by using large components and size traits if you have to.
Ooh, I'll give that a try. Thanks!
You get a bonus scene during the ending if you made a philosopher's stone prior to beating the boss, which is incidentally the only missable trophy in the game. That's about it. I miss the multiple endings from previous games.