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Atelier Firis |OT| The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey

That's probably because Firis is "open world" as far as I know... still I'm worried about Firis's Vita performance. Can anyone who is playing it tell me more¿

There's a thread about it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vita/comments/5ylbnw/how_is_atelier_firis_for_vita/

First reply seems useful:

The framerate is pretty bad in the first town you start in, but once you get out it runs fairly smoothly. It's not constant 30 FPS - more like sometimes 30, sometimes 25, and some very weird moments 60 - but like others said if you've played other Gust games for the Vita this is pretty normal for them, and certainly quite playable.
They did knock the resolution quite a bit in order to make it run like this, though, and it does show. It's not by a huge huge amount, but it does come off as a bit pixelated if you look too closely. Dunno how much that might bug you. I for one am doing just fine.
 

SarusGray

Member
Related:
how does the town inn stay in business?



Gust's recent attempts at new franchises have mostly left me cold. Nights of Azure was poorly received, and Blue Reflection seemed neat until it became less Sailor Moon homage and more high-school-girl panties simulator. Atelier's the most successful franchise Gust has going at the moment and I don't see that changing in the near future.

Nights of Azure, I enjoyed but combat was pretty boring. what really stood out to me was the soundtrack and lesbian relationship. But really besides that its pretty barebones even though I enjoyed it.

Yeah Blue Reflection went from interesting to me to why are we watching this young girl shower almost naked.
 

That's actually really surprising to me, considering how dull and enclosed the first town is compared to the area immediately outside it. I would've assumed the opposite; it was actually my biggest worry about whether I should return the PC version or not, wondering if the reasonably solid framerate I was getting in the beginning would drop once I hit the open world.

(oh, and just in case anyone's wondering, so far it's been fine being outside)
 

Linkura

Member
Anyone else kinda freaked out by the eyes in this game?

Very early on... the initial town is dull and not good looking at all. I know it's not representative of the full game, but getting out of here can't come soon enough.
 

SarusGray

Member
Anyone else kinda freaked out by the eyes in this game?

Very early on... the initial town is dull and not good looking at all. I know it's not representative of the full game, but getting out of here can't come soon enough.

That's probably why firis ass wants to leave ASAP.
 
Reposting for new page:

So how's the new Trilogy shaping up so far compared to Arland and Dusk?

I bought Sophie long ago but still haven't played it. I would have bought Firis at launch but they decided not to do a L.E. so they don't get my money until it's cheaper.
 

Strings

Member
Reposting for new page:

So how's the new Trilogy shaping up so far compared to Arland and Dusk?

I bought Sophie long ago but still haven't played it. I would have bought Firis at launch but they decided not to do a L.E. so they don't get my money until it's cheaper.

Dusk is my favourite world. Liked the characters in Sophie a ton (and dug the game as a whole), but not too sure on Firis atm. Apparently all the character stuff is backloaded, so I'll have to wait and see.
 
Dusk is my favourite world. Liked the characters in Sophie a ton (and dug the game as a whole), but not too sure on Firis atm. Apparently all the character stuff is backloaded, so I'll have to wait and see.

Thanks :)

I agree, Dusk was amazing. The music was absolutely god tier (Maria, anyone?) Loved the character designs, Logy was a great first male co-protag, and Shallie Plus bringing everyone back was amazing.

So I guess we're never getting Plus content for the new Trilogy, huh? Is that because we're starting out on Vita and PS4 simultaneously?
 

Strings

Member
Thanks :)

I agree, Dusk was amazing. The music was absolutely god tier (Maria, anyone?) Loved the character designs, Logy was a great first male co-protag, and Shallie Plus bringing everyone back was amazing.

So I guess we're never getting Plus content for the new Trilogy, huh? Is that because we're starting out on Vita and PS4 simultaneously?

Don't get me started on Dusk music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDAviRsj9yU&list=PL258Gqv0lYXkFAD_eXI8oymzdFmPeCQDs&index=67) :p Also, if you ever wanted an extra reason to get around to Sophie, Logy is actually in it (technically not the Dusk version of him, but basically the exact same guy).

And yeah, doubt we'll get any Plus versions outside of Switch ports, which would be interesting.
 

Eusis

Member
Given how they made handhelds more and more important it really wouldn't surprise me to see the series become PS4/Switch, especially with NIS already throwing the gauntlet in with the launch period (at launch in Japan!) Disgaea 5 port.
 
A Switch Plus version, or even port would be fantastic. Plus you could play it on the TV as well.

Wasn't Rorona also on 3DS? Koei Tecmo has that good relationship with Nintendo, so you never know. :)
 

FlynnCL

Unconfirmed Member
Whoa, I had no idea this was out already - I'm already so overwhelmed with the series! I've only played a tiny bit of Sophie, but before that I want to tackle the previous trilogy first which has been staring at me for ages.

I know these games aren't much like Iris or Mana Khemia, both of which are some of my favourite games of all time. My major experience with the "standard" style Atelier games is Atelier Anne for the DS, and my was that game ridiculous. I tried so many times to not get the worst ending, so I can only hope they're a little more forgiving this time (or I'm just unfathomably bad at this).
 
Reposting for new page:

So how's the new Trilogy shaping up so far compared to Arland and Dusk?

I bought Sophie long ago but still haven't played it. I would have bought Firis at launch but they decided not to do a L.E. so they don't get my money until it's cheaper.

Sophie is pretty good, and a huge step up from how the Dusk series ended. It also sets my personal benchmark for an Atelier game without time limits (basically what I'm saying is I didn't like Shallie very much). But Dusk also contains my favourite game in the series, Ayesha, and Escha & Logy is pretty good too despite its awkward assignment structure. Too early to say if this new trilogy (the Mysterious trilogy, I guess?) is as good as Dusk or Arland, but it definitely has potential.

One mark against Mysterious, though, is that the concept of multiple endings disappeared in Sophie and it sounds like they remain missing in Firis. Especially given how Dusk made it possible to trigger multiple ending flags in a single playthrough, it's a shame that Mysterious didn't keep the tradition going.

Anyways, the real reason I'm here: to post more awesome Dusk music.
 

Momentary

Banned
How are people getting downscaling/forced-on AA to work?
gedosato and the nvidia control panel just seem to crash it for me.

This is a DX11 game. GeDoSaTo won't work with it and you can't force AA through NVIDIA Inspector for the same reason. DSR only works for up to 4K. That's the only thing you can do for it. But even at that resolution the aliasing still looks not good.
 
Okay, I give up: how do I actually use DSR on Firis? I've turned on DSR in the Nvidia Control Panel (1.5x, 2x and 4x factors, 33% smoothing) and I see resolutions above 1080p available in the launcher, but the only resolutions I can actually pick are 1280x720, 1600x900 and 1920x1080. I see other people mention that they've gotten it working somehow, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Is it because my monitor/desktop size is 1920x1200, maybe?
 
Whoa, I had no idea this was out already - I'm already so overwhelmed with the series! I've only played a tiny bit of Sophie, but before that I want to tackle the previous trilogy first which has been staring at me for ages.

I know these games aren't much like Iris or Mana Khemia, both of which are some of my favourite games of all time. My major experience with the "standard" style Atelier games is Atelier Anne for the DS, and my was that game ridiculous. I tried so many times to not get the worst ending, so I can only hope they're a little more forgiving this time (or I'm just unfathomably bad at this).

Annie is pretty easy to get a non-bad ending, I got Adventurer first time. The best ending is really for NG+ unless you're super precise and fairly lucky or save scummy. Annie has a very generous NG+ for an Atelier game that makes things much easier on subsequent playthroughs.
 

Momentary

Banned
Okay, I give up: how do I actually use DSR on Firis? I've turned on DSR in the Nvidia Control Panel (1.5x, 2x and 4x factors, 33% smoothing) and I see resolutions above 1080p available in the launcher, but the only resolutions I can actually pick are 1280x720, 1600x900 and 1920x1080. I see other people mention that they've gotten it working somehow, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Is it because my monitor/desktop size is 1920x1200, maybe?

Short answer... It is your monitor.

The reason is because DSR factors your native resolution of 1920x1200. Since the game doesn't support arbitrary resolutions it won't detect the 1920x1200 factors. It's looking for factors of 1920x1080.

I'm sure at a factor of 2x you've got 3840x2400... well the game is only looking for 3840x2160. The same with 2560x1440. It will not use a resolution that is not detected in your display settings.

If a work around is ever found it will be here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=357956

They sometimes find hex edits that you can do through cheat engine for Koei Tecmo games. But the Anti-Aliasing community there is pretty much done with K-T's shoddy products and aren't too keen on the company so fixes for newer games might not happen any time soon.
 
So this was my first Atelier game and while I started off really enjoying it, the more I played the more I became annoyed by it.

I'll jot down some thoughts here in point form:

- The time limit is just awful. I initially thought 361 days was plenty of time so I was doing side quests and just having an amazing time exploring while periodically advancing the main quest. But eventually in between getting my first and second letter of recommendation I felt like I had to start rushing and basically ignored all exploration and side quests just to play through the main quest.

- The day/night cycle is ridiculously quick and becomes incredibly annoying considering you can't enter any buildings as soon as night hits.

- The final exam is also ridiculous (I won't spoil exactly what happens). Maybe it's just me, but the odds of anyone passing that on the first attempt seems extremely low.

- I also found it quite dumb that if you fail the exam the game just ends and then forces you to start over from the beginning. I was expecting for the game to have you fail, but pull some shenanigans that would still let you explore, but nope.

- The combat seems...pointless? I feel like I could have gone through the entire main quest without having a single battle and I would have been fine. I enjoyed the battling, but it didn't seem to have a purpose.

I haven't yet gone back and beaten the exam, so can anyone tell me what happens afterwards? Are you left to just do side quests etc. or is there something more?
 

Strings

Member
I haven't yet gone back and beaten the exam, so can anyone tell me what happens afterwards? Are you left to just do side quests etc. or is there something more?

Post-exam is the start of the second half of the game from what I've heard :p It's where more traditional Atelier character building occurs etc.
 

SarusGray

Member
So this was my first Atelier game and while I started off really enjoying it, the more I played the more I became annoyed by it.

I'll jot down some thoughts here in point form:

- The time limit is just awful. I initially thought 361 days was plenty of time so I was doing side quests and just having an amazing time exploring while periodically advancing the main quest. But eventually in between getting my first and second letter of recommendation I felt like I had to start rushing and basically ignored all exploration and side quests just to play through the main quest.

- The day/night cycle is ridiculously quick and becomes incredibly annoying considering you can't enter any buildings as soon as night hits.

- The final exam is also ridiculous (I won't spoil exactly what happens). Maybe it's just me, but the odds of anyone passing that on the first attempt seems extremely low.

- I also found it quite dumb that if you fail the exam the game just ends and then forces you to start over from the beginning. I was expecting for the game to have you fail, but pull some shenanigans that would still let you explore, but nope.

- The combat seems...pointless? I feel like I could have gone through the entire main quest without having a single battle and I would have been fine. I enjoyed the battling, but it didn't seem to have a purpose.

I haven't yet gone back and beaten the exam, so can anyone tell me what happens afterwards? Are you left to just do side quests etc. or is there something more?

After finishing the exams, you should be able to explore without any time limit. And yes... the combat feels... like an add on strangely.
 
After finishing the exams, you should be able to explore without any time limit. And yes... the combat feels... like an add on strangely.

Combat being an afterthought in the Atelier games isn't uncommon. Though it really does vary between the titles (Mana Khemia for example has a well developed system), so it's not that they can't and more that they obviously don't think it's as important as other stuff for some games.
 
Short answer... It is your monitor.

The reason is because DSR factors your native resolution of 1920x1200. Since the game doesn't support arbitrary resolutions it won't detect the 1920x1200 factors. It's looking for factors of 1920x1080.

I'm sure at a factor of 2x you've got 3840x2400... well the game is only looking for 3840x2160. The same with 2560x1440. It will not use a resolution that is not detected in your display settings.

If a work around is ever found it will be here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=357956

They sometimes find hex edits that you can do through cheat engine for Koei Tecmo games. But the Anti-Aliasing community there is pretty much done with K-T's shoddy products and aren't too keen on the company so fixes for newer games might not happen any time soon.

Blurgh. Sucks that that happens even when trying to run in Window Mode. Not even changing the desktop resolution to 1920x1080 and disconnecting my second monitor seem to help. I guess I'll give up and just play what I've got for now.

I feel kind of burned on this because of the decent reception Sophie's PC port got, but when all is said and done it's not the worst PC port I've ever played. I can live with it.
 

ezodagrom

Member
Blurgh. Sucks that that happens even when trying to run in Window Mode. Not even changing the desktop resolution to 1920x1080 and disconnecting my second monitor seem to help. I guess I'll give up and just play what I've got for now.

I feel kind of burned on this because of the decent reception Sophie's PC port got, but when all is said and done it's not the worst PC port I've ever played. I can live with it.
While not ideal and not nearly as good as downsampling, FXAA through nvidia's control panel (though that will blur the UI too) or SMAA through reshade could help a little bit with jaggies.
 

Arthea

Member
so yeah 1000 is an item limit, which isn't even 1K but 974 even if it shows 1K? How didn't I notice it before until I got to that limit.
It makes no sense, if this is indeed the limit... that would make Firis unplayable past starting areas.
Now I wonder did I miss something, because how can that be? I'm in the third location and I am at that limit already.
 
so yeah 1000 is an item limit, which isn't even 1K but 974 even if it shows 1K? How didn't I notice it before until I got to that limit.
It makes no sense, if this is indeed the limit... that would make Firis unplayable past starting areas.
Now I wonder did I miss something, because how can that be? I'm in the third location and I am at that limit already.

You mean the container? Lots of Atelier games have a container limit--I actually thought all of them did but apparently Ayesha doesn't.

Honestly, just toss stuff. I'm still in the starting area but if earlier games are any indication, I'd be really surprised if ingredients you collect in earlier areas aren't superseded by better ingredients later on. You don't need those E-quality common ingredients!

While not ideal and not nearly as good as downsampling, FXAA through nvidia's control panel (though that will blur the UI too) or SMAA through reshade could help a little bit with jaggies.

I forget which AA solution I'm using in Reshade but yeah, that's my current solution. You're right in that it's not ideal, but it's fine. I think once I put some real hours into playing the game, I'll forget all the config issues and incessant need to tweak graphics settings that I feel right now. I'm not usually the type to dwell on this stuff.
 

Arthea

Member
You mean the container? Lots of Atelier games have a container limit--I actually thought all of them did but apparently Ayesha doesn't.

Honestly, just toss stuff. I'm still in the starting area but if earlier games are any indication, I'd be really surprised if ingredients you collect in earlier areas aren't superseded by better ingredients later on. You don't need those E-quality common ingredients!

that's not my point, all Atelier games had a container limit, my point is that it's ridiculously small considering number of different items in this game. I'm basically at the start of the game and it's already full.
 
that's not my point, all Atelier games had a container limit, my point is that it's ridiculously small considering number of different items in this game. I'm basically at the start of the game and it's already full.

Ah, okay, I gotcha. I think Rorona had a 1k limit as well so I just assumed it would be roughly as big of a deal as the limit in Rorona (kind of a pain but not actually harmful to me), but that game probably had fewer types of ingredients. I guess I'll see how bad it is in a few hours!
 

PaulSane

Member
so yeah 1000 is an item limit, which isn't even 1K but 974 even if it shows 1K? How didn't I notice it before until I got to that limit.
It makes no sense, if this is indeed the limit... that would make Firis unplayable past starting areas.
Now I wonder did I miss something, because how can that be? I'm in the third location and I am at that limit already.

Gather a lot of Dona wood, you'll get some recipes in the process that will help with your problem :p I'm at 4000 storage limit at the moment
 
Crisis averted. Fourth time was a charm. But holy shit this taught me I haven't learned a thing about some of the more nuanced parts of synthesis
 

Linkura

Member
Got to Flussheim and I'm not sure how to proceed there. Currently on the "Searching for More" quest- "Let's Stroll Around Flussheim to find some information." I talked to L
ogy_____________________
and can't find anything else to do anymore to proceed on this quest. I'm just going to go elsewhere for now so I don't lose anymore time to this crap.

Edit: Think I finally made progress; we'll see...
 

Linkura

Member
Day/night system is total ass in this game. Such a pain in the ass to have to purposefully move time along just so you get the proper time of day to go into residences/see certain people. It's pointless.
 

SephLuis

Member
You'd be surprised...

Any tips on how I should prepare ?

I worry that they might request an item and I don't have the materials or level to do it.
If it depends on my own knowledge of alchemy, I think I can make it.

I have been creating a lot of equipment and bombs too since they said it would be necessary.
 
Day/night system is total ass in this game. Such a pain in the ass to have to purposefully move time along just so you get the proper time of day to go into residences/see certain people. It's pointless.
The day/night cycle is so dumb. It's ridiculously quick and absurd that as soon as it hits 6pm literally every building is inaccessible. I wasted so much time in this game just dicking around, waiting for a building to open so I could continue progressing.

Also, has anyone found it super annoying how much they jerked you around in Fluissheim?

Any tips on how I should prepare ?

I worry that they might request an item and I don't have the materials or level to do it.
If it depends on my own knowledge of alchemy, I think I can make it.

I have been creating a lot of equipment and bombs too since they said it would be necessary.

I'd suggest really focusing on what materials are used to craft items. Also save up some high quality materials (like A and B level stuff) for crafting, because you'll definitely need it for the exam.
 

SephLuis

Member
Also, has anyone found it super annoying how much they jerked you around in Fluissheim?

I think it's the worst part I encountered because it took 5x more than necessary to pass it.

Though, I wonder if there's another route to pass Fluissheim without that whole thing. Maybe going around the lake.
 
I marathon'd this game and ran through all 5 recommendation letters in one sitting. It's alot better than Sophie but it still really lags behind the Dusk and Arland trilogies.

I think the biggest problem is how dumb these characters are. I'm not really sure what tone they are setting out to achieve here, everyone's nice and the whole setting is comfortable but there really isn't anything interesting going on with these characters. The Dusk trilogy at least tried to have some interspersed drama and the Arland trilogy actually was funny at times. Firis just... doesn't have any of that. She's like Totori without the straight-man gag and the unintentional insults. Liane is kinda boring and definitely doesn't feel like the deuteragonist in the same way Plachta did. Ill is at least a competently done tsundere. The other side characters might as well not even exist for how often they actually seem to show up in the plot. I hear most of the side character stuff is back-ended into the epilogue chapter but we'll see how it goes.

Flussheim
was also STUPID. Like, I still don't understand why hiding the existence of a water tornado was in the town's best interest. Clearly not much "tourism" is gonna happen if half of the continent can't visit your town; not to mention the only thing worth seeing in Flussheim is the tornado. And how did that sailor have the authority to hide it? There's no mayor or anything like that? And fucking Ren makes you come BACK to Flussheim to give you your recommendation and has the balls to test you afterwords.

Gameplay wise the old alchemy/exploration loop is intact and works just as well with a portable Atelier as with a town. As am aside I do hate how they keep nerfing alchemy since it feels like with every successive game it gets harder to break the game with alchemy, but that's more of my own personal complaint than genuine criticism.
 

Parsnip

Member
Finished the exam on second try, fucked up the s
ynthesis part on the first try, took too long to just looking at my recipes.
Couple questions to anyone who might known.
After the Puni fight, I kind of accidentally skipped the text on the second try and suddenly Firis is fighting Il? That didn't happen on the first try at all. Why, what was the reason?
Secondly, Il just completely crushed my Firis, is it possible to win that fight?

I think I preferred the synthesis system in Sophie.
I also don't really like the 'Firis protection squad' battle mechanic. It slows down the already slow combat.
I also kind of don't like the way recipe experience works when it comes to weapons and armor.

Made it to Reisenberg with 3 Letters with 228 days left.

Now to get the other 2 and fart around for 228 days.
Is there some reason to get more than 3 letters?
 

Strings

Member
Day/night system is total ass in this game. Such a pain in the ass to have to purposefully move time along just so you get the proper time of day to go into residences/see certain people. It's pointless.

In general, this is now probably my least favourite Atelier. I miss the hub sooooo much. Triggering events and everything is a pain now.

Also, this is going to sound real dumb, but how do I withdraw items from the container in the atelier so that I can sell them to merchants? I have so many useless weapons lying around, and I can't figure out how the fuck to get them out...
 

Linkura

Member
Is there some reason to get more than 3 letters?

I think you get a higher score which gives you a better chance of being able to fight
Sophie
(and if you beat that fight, you get a trophy), but I could be wrong? I'm not exactly sure as I don't think it's required for that either. For what it's worth, just got the 4th letter with 197 days left. Only need one more. Then I need to start prepping for the exam and probably raise my levels, Firis is only level 10 lol (but 25 Alchemy). This is by far the easiest Atelier to avoid enemies in.
 
While none of them I felt overly pressured to fight enemies in this one I truly felt like I could chose to not fight a single thing and everything would have been fine and I'd still be able to make the items needed to progress.

That said I still had Firis at level 19 battle and 25 Alchemy at the end.
 

Parsnip

Member
I think you get a higher score which gives you a better chance of being able to fight
Sophie
(and if you beat that fight, you get a trophy), but I could be wrong? I'm not exactly sure as I don't think it's required for that either. For what it's worth, just got the 4th letter with 197 days left. Only need one more. Then I need to start prepping for the exam and probably raise my levels, Firis is only level 10 lol (but 25 Alchemy). This is by far the easiest Atelier to avoid enemies in.

Ah, that sounds like something I might try on NG+ if I feel like doing it.
 
While none of them I felt overly pressured to fight enemies in this one I truly felt like I could chose to not fight a single thing and everything would have been fine and I'd still be able to make the items needed to progress.

That said I still had Firis at level 19 battle and 25 Alchemy at the end.

Geez. I'm still in Flussheim and I'm already 20 Alchemy. Seems like you can really race through the main story if you want.

Random notes:

- Man, a lot of the quest descriptions are bugged. A bunch of people already know about Flowers Blooming mentioning a cow and snow (neither of which matter for the quest), but Allure of Honey and Lurks in the Cave also mention towns you haven't been to yet (Weisslock and Flocke) and people you've never met, and none of these things matter for completing the quests. It's almost like the game is mistakenly pulling the wrong tips out of a quest database or something.

- What is with this franchise and
bringing back loli versions of the previous trilogy's protagonists
? It was dumb when they did it with
Rorona
and it's dumb now
with Escha
, especially given that
Logy is only slightly younger at best
. Next trilogy I fully expect
toddler Sophie carried around by a Plachta wearing a string microbikini
.
 

Linkura

Member
- Man, a lot of the quest descriptions are bugged. A bunch of people already know about Flowers Blooming mentioning a cow and snow (neither of which matter for the quest), but Allure of Honey and Lurks in the Cave also mention towns you haven't been to yet (Weisslock and Flocke) and people you've never met, and none of these things matter for completing the quests. It's almost like the game is mistakenly pulling the wrong tips out of a quest database or something.

Apparently some of the exam answers are wrong too. Someone on Gamefaqs did a text dump and the questions highlighted in red have nonsensical answers:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...IJB41NiVeNU6uhPNAymK96DSc/edit#gid=1363399312

It may not even be a bug- could be a translation error. I've seen a lot of grammatical issues too. It's like KT and Gust get lazier with every installment.
 
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