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[Arthea]

Actually leveling all synth items is not a problem, aside of weapons, armours and accessories, you are forced to make most of them so many times that leveling is insignificant part of that. Most of my synth items are at max level, and I haven't made even half of what I need at 999 quality and with required traits, not to mention that those I made will be gone in an instant and I'll need to repeat that process again... and gather all needed materials again... and it takes forever!
I'm now taking a break and got back to guesswork for recipes and character sidequests.

BTW I somehow never had money to stay at inns, so I missed a lot of side events, catching now on those.

It sorta makes sense to have item registration and purchase in the time limited ones, but it's such a simple QOL improvement that I really can't see why they took it away in this iteration.

I like that the Atelier series does try new things, but they keep backpedaling on stuff that actually worked. Give me item registration back, give me 2D portraits back, and stop nerfing alchemy traits.

so much this! at least after all hard work in previous games we were rewarded with awesome powers, in Firis even

Spoiler

one hit kill almost never kills!

, what I found out after I went out of my way to add it to all my mass attack bombs.
They should rename it to

Spoiler

one hit random kill

I so miss rainbow powers too...

Also, I should really stop posting in here, I just realized half the posts on the last page are mine...

please don't! We are so few here

 

[chrominance]

please don't! We are so few here

I was going to say that this seemed like the weakest turnout for an Atelier game in some time, but then it turns out Sophie's OT only made it to SIX pages. And Sophie's better than Firis! Maybe we just like complaining a lot.

Going back through that thread, it occurred to me that I haven't once tried changing the difficulty to try and farm better traits. I haven't really felt the need for it yet but maybe I'll try that later.

Something else that's weird: so I've spent something like 25 hours since post-exam doing random stuff here and there, a lot of synthesizing and gathering and fighting dudes, and much of it was spent with Angriff or Oskar in my party. They're both at 100 friendship but I didn't even know what their quest lines were supposed to be, and I hadn't seen a single cutscene from them in hours.

Start making treats for Lia, and every single time I finish synthesizing something, a new character event from Angriff or Oskar. What's going on with this game??!

 

[Arthea]

yeah, it's all about complaining
I don't remember complaining so much about any game lol

Sophie I mostly played and as there were no problems there of any kind, there wasn't that much to discuss



I'm kinda at the loss about a gold stone still, I don't have such recipe, or idea, or material, it's not in encyclopedia too and I really have no clue what that is. What is it? And how do I get it?

 

[afreaknamedpete]

I was going to say that this seemed like the weakest turnout for an Atelier game in some time, but then it turns out Sophie's OT only made it to SIX pages. And Sophie's better than Firis! Maybe we just like complaining a lot.

Going back through that thread, it occurred to me that I haven't once tried changing the difficulty to try and farm better traits. I haven't really felt the need for it yet but maybe I'll try that later.

Something else that's weird: so I've spent something like 25 hours since post-exam doing random stuff here and there, a lot of synthesizing and gathering and fighting dudes, and much of it was spent with Angriff or Oskar in my party. They're both at 100 friendship but I didn't even know what their quest lines were supposed to be, and I hadn't seen a single cutscene from them in hours.

Start making treats for Lia, and every single time I finish synthesizing something, a new character event from Angriff or Oskar. What's going on with this game??!

It's like past Atelier games, AFAIK, in that you have to see one event before doing the next, all in a sequence. Usually I'd ignore someone, talk to them in the back room, then BAM a bajillion events. In hindsight I actually never recruited Angriff yet... surprisingly short on money all things considered.

yeah, it's all about complaining
I don't remember complaining so much about any game lol

Sophie I mostly played and as there were no problems there of any kind, there wasn't that much to discuss



I'm kinda at the loss about a gold stone still, I don't have such recipe, or idea, or material, it's not in encyclopedia too and I really have no clue what that is. What is it? And how do I get it?

If you're at the quest I think you're at, I'm impressed you found the Fish first, cause that thing was impossible to find. The item you're looking for is

Spoiler

Weist Plains

. It's like littered with them.

 

[Strings]

Aww, you guys are missing out. Angriff's side-quest is probably my favourite. I have no clue if this plays into actually furthering it, or if it's a random one-off cutscene, but try taking him to see Fritz in Weisslark.

Also, a ton of Oskar is locked off until you get really far into Sophie's side-quest (post finishing the super demanding alchemy item).

 

[chrominance]

It's like past Atelier games, AFAIK, in that you have to see one event before doing the next, all in a sequence. Usually I'd ignore someone, talk to them in the back room, then BAM a bajillion events. In hindsight I actually never recruited Angriff yet... surprisingly short on money all things considered.

Yeah, it would make sense if I'd just forgotten to talk to them. But I was talking to Angriff and Oskar repeatedly in the atelier the whole time (I'd do a sweep through all my party members every so often), and they'd never have anything for me. I just assumed I was missing some secret trigger to start the avalanche; I didn't realize that trigger would be "make cookies." It's bizarre enough that I actually wonder if it's a weird bug, because neither of their quests have anything to do with foodstuffs or sweets as far as I can tell. I didn't level up my alchemy with that rock cookie, either, unless "halfway through level 44" is the arbitrary trigger for them.

Related: it's also weird how sometimes you'd have to talk to someone to trigger an event, and sometimes the event would trigger as soon as you stepped into the atelier, and there was no rhyme or reason to it at all. Pretty much every character besides Lia has this issue.

Also, a ton of Oskar is locked off until you get really far into Sophie's side-quest (post finishing the super demanding alchemy item).

I'm already at

Spoiler

finding new friends for Chelsea

, is that supposed to be locked off? Because I still don't even know how to make

Spoiler

the Philosopher Stone

for the super-hard alchemy item.

 

[Arthea]

If you're at the quest I think you're at, I'm impressed you found the Fish first, cause that thing was impossible to find. The item you're looking for is

Spoiler

Weist Plains

. It's like littered with them.

I fish a lot, so anything fishing related is never a problem for me in any game.
As for that golden stone... maybe I missed it in encyclopedia, because I explored

Spoiler

Weist Plains

to 100% I think.
This it odd.
oh and thanks



I think I had most if not all Oskar stories by now, and probably Angriff's too, as I'm at the point where I have to go

Spoiler

and kill a dragon with him

, but I know better than to try before I'm fully prepared.

 

[rockman zx]

I'm already at

Spoiler

finding new friends for Chelsea

, is that supposed to be locked off? Because I still don't even know how to make

Spoiler

the Philosopher Stone

for the super-hard alchemy item.

No that event is fine, but you will need to progress very far with Sophie to finish Oscar's events and get his ending. You will know why when you get there, it makes sense.

I have to look how to make the Philosopher Stone and how to make another key item that is linked to it, this games is really annoying with the recipes, worst thing in the game for me.

 

[Arthea]

Talking about character sidequests, I have Revy at 100%, I had tons of events with him, but it stopped at that

Spoiler

treasure talk

and I don't know what I'm supposed to do after.
I probably need to visit some location for it I haven't yet?

 

[chrominance]

Talking about character sidequests, I have Revy at 100%, I had tons of events with him, but it stopped at that

Spoiler

treasure talk

and I don't know what I'm supposed to do after.
I probably need to visit some location for it I haven't yet?

You're close if

Spoiler

you talk to Revy and Firis demands that Revy make her food a second time.

I'm not sure what, if anything, triggers that beyond

Spoiler

getting him to make you food and going shopping for ingredients the first time in Flussheim

.

It's also possible that you can short-circuit all this by

Spoiler

going straight to the tavern in Dona

but don't quote me on that, I half-expect that won't work.

 

[Parsnip]

Yah, I'm a bit baffled by how and why some quests progress (or don't, as the case may be). Everything seems so arbitrary.

I was going to say that this seemed like the weakest turnout for an Atelier game in some time, but then it turns out Sophie's OT only made it to SIX pages. And Sophie's better than Firis! Maybe we just like complaining a lot.

I usually don't bother with OT's, but seeing as there are only a few of us here I decided to stick around. It also probably helps now that Steam release was simultaneous. The late Steam Sophie release meant that what little Sophie talk happened regarding that was in the Steam thread.

 

[Arthea]

I usually don't bother with OT's, but seeing as there are only a few of us here I decided to stick around. It also probably helps now that Steam release was simultaneous. The late Steam Sophie release meant that what little Sophie talk happened regarding that was in the Steam thread.

triggering character events in Firis is really something else, especially if I compare it with other Atelier games, they all had some moments that were not obvious or hard to figure out, especially with time related events that could have been easily missed, but Firis is exasperating even comparing to that. As aside of Sophie's events, there is nothing clear about anything, we have literally no guidance.

 

[chrominance]

I'm mostly just glad character endings are back, I kind of missed having those in Sophie.

 

[Parsnip]

I've done two character ends so far (travel with Lia, master alchemy) and the worst part about it is that there's an unskippable credit roll before the actual ending plays. And by the looks of things, it's always the same credit roll.



I also got group hot springs, because that's important.
Some of the costumes Plachta had in Sophie were a bit eeeh, but it seems like Firis has even more fan service with this and the swimsuit dlc.
I haven't played other Atelier games before Sophie so I'm curious if this is a new thing for the series?

 

[Arthea]

I indeed haven't noticed golden stone in my encyclopedia ....should have double checked.
also making that

Spoiler

ship second time with even more materials, insane amount of materials,

why oh why Gust hates us so.

I've done two character ends so far (travel with Lia, master alchemy) and the worst part about it is that there's an unskippable credit roll before the actual ending plays. And by the looks of things, it's always the same credit roll.



I also got group hot springs, because that's important.
Some of the costumes Plachta had in Sophie were a bit eeeh, but it seems like Firis has even more fan service with this and the swimsuit dlc.
I haven't played other Atelier games before Sophie so I'm curious if this is a new thing for the series?

Gust games pre PS3 era were as innocent as games can be. Their first game bordering on fanservice was Ar Tonelico, but it still was pretty innocent, it all changed after, Rorona had first fanservicy events of Atelier games, and Ar tonelico Qoga is plain embarrassing

Spoiler

(you undress girls for powerz in combat)

and I'm not easily embarrassed! Comparing to that Atelier is still pretty innocent, but not as nice as it used to be.
As we are talking Atelier history, I was shocked at first how simple Rorona's gameplay was as compared to all previous games.
Mana Khemia is still a GOAT almost 10 years later and no Gust game came even close to dethroning it. A pity really. Not that modern Atelier games are bad, not at all, they are just very different, including some fanservicy stuff.

 

[chrominance]

I've done two character ends so far (travel with Lia, master alchemy) and the worst part about it is that there's an unskippable credit roll before the actual ending plays. And by the looks of things, it's always the same credit roll.



I also got group hot springs, because that's important.
Some of the costumes Plachta had in Sophie were a bit eeeh, but it seems like Firis has even more fan service with this and the swimsuit dlc.
I haven't played other Atelier games before Sophie so I'm curious if this is a new thing for the series?

Sophie and Firis are probably the worst of the lot to date, though they're not that much worse than the Arland trilogy (which also had hot springs events). Rorona has the grabby lesbian molestation scene, and Totori has that one really random upskirt shot, but otherwise both those games are relatively chaste. Meruru pushes the hot springs thing a bit more. The Dusk trilogy, meanwhile, was actually pretty free of pervy fanservice; even the lone hot spring scene in Ayesha was basically just "oh two people at a hot spring in normal-looking bathing suits" as opposed to "YOU CAN TOTALLY SEE THEIR TITS BEHIND THE STEAM DAWG."

Sophie and Firis, of course, have Plachta, who has the most ridiculous scarf-and-a-half for an outfit across two games for no reason at all. It's especially stupid given that she's not actually trying to be sexy and is generally very practical and straitlaced, except that someone other than her decided she should have that outfit and ENJOY.

My impression is that all of that is nothing compared to, say, Hyperdimension Neptunia, which in turn is nothing compared to Senran Kagura or Valkyrie Drive or the obviously pervy games, but I haven't played any of those and so can't speak from direct experience.

 

[Parsnip]

👍👍👍

Thanks for the info.


Come to think of it, Nights of Azure is also Gust, and based on what I've seen it seems like it's even further in that direction.

 

[SarusGray]

👍👍👍

Thanks for the info.


Come to think of it, Nights of Azure is also Gust, and based on what I've seen it seems like it's even further in that direction.

It's very fan servicy in specific departments, but has a decent story and amazing sound track. Combat is quite fun at times too.

 

[Aureon]

God the plachta outfit was fucking stupid.

 

[Arthea]

The most grating thing about Plachta's outfit is how out of character it is, doesn't make any sense whatsoever.


This game is HUGE, like seriously enormous. I'm not sure even 200 hours is enough to do everything.

 

[chrominance]

The most grating thing about Plachta's outfit is how out of character it is, doesn't make any sense whatsoever.


This game is HUGE, like seriously enormous. I'm not sure even 200 hours is enough to do everything.

Also that she didn't even pick the outfit out for herself. I forget if it was Fritz or Leon who designed the outfit (I know Leon made it), but either way it's like "lol we as characters thought you'd like dressing like a sex doll" in addition to "lol we as game designers thought you'd want to see Plachta as a sex doll."

Anyways, re: game size. Tell me about it! I haven't even fought a farmable dragon yet, and you need to in order to even START on the path to completing

Spoiler

Sophie's big synthesis item

, if I read GameFAQs right. I hadn't fought any dragons at all until yesterday, and was disappointed to find

Spoiler

the dragon Angriff wants to fight is one-and-done

.

I usually manage to wrap up Atelier games by now, and I still have to finish most of the character sidequests, never mind the NG+ run to destroy

Spoiler

Sophie during the exam

.

 

[Strings]

The most grating thing about Plachta's outfit is how out of character it is, doesn't make any sense whatsoever.


This game is HUGE, like seriously enormous. I'm not sure even 200 hours is enough to do everything.

For context, I got pretty close to 100% in ~40 hours, but stopped because I already platinumed it. Definitely not 200 hours.

 

[chrominance]

For context, I got pretty close to 100% in ~40 hours, but stopped because I already platinumed it. Definitely not 200 hours.

Heh, you also stomped

Spoiler

Sophie

on the first try, I'm thinking you're just way better/play more methodically and quickly than the rest of us!

 

[Parsnip]

I'm 55 hours in and I'm probably not too far off from 100%. I haven't actually looked into it though, so I'm probably mistaken.

 

[Arthea]

I'm at 60 hours and I just passed 60% today, now those 60% was an easy part and the rest 40 is definitely not.
Besides by 100% I don't mean only Institute 100% and achievements, I mean literally everything, and yeah I easily can see that talking way above 100 hours, well, maybe not 200, but it could be close.


Also how do I advance Ill's storyline? I'm at red 70% for ages so I'm supposed to do something, but I can't trigger anything, and I have no quests with her either... *sigh

 

[Parsnip]

You probably know this already, but you can't progress some story lines until after other story lines progress. Like, it's impossible to do Kald to the end before you do Meklet and Atomina because you get an item from those two rascals that has implications to the Kald quest. Similarly Oskar's quest will be on hold after the "making friends" phase until something happens very late in Sophie's quest.

Additionally, and I'm not sure about this at all, maybe you need some other people in your party in addition to Ilmeria for a cutscene to trigger. Can't remember specifically about her though, I was never stuck with her in the post-exam world.

 

[chrominance]

I'm closing in on 60 hours. I STILL can't make Crimson Stone or Philosopher's Stone. I EVEN HAVE A DRAGON BLOODSTONE NOW. What the fuck else does this game want from me? LET ME UNLOCK THE RECIPES. They don't even show up in the Recipe List. What the hell?

All I do now is farm the same dragon over and over and over and over.

 

[Strings]

Also how do I advance Ill's storyline? I'm at red 70% for ages so I'm supposed to do something, but I can't trigger anything, and I have no quests with her either... *sigh

Stumbled onto this by accident luckily, but go see Nanna with Ill in your party.

I do miss the flags from the other Atelier games.

I'm closing in on 60 hours. I STILL can't make Crimson Stone or Philosopher's Stone. I EVEN HAVE A DRAGON BLOODSTONE NOW. What the fuck else does this game want from me? LET ME UNLOCK THE RECIPES. They don't even show up in the Recipe List. What the hell?

All I do now is farm the same dragon over and over and over and over.

The best dragon to farm is the level 70 one in South Aurora Snowfield at 6 AM on the iced over lake, just south of the Ice Tower. Just need a shiton of dragon bloodstones to drop to unlock the recipe.

Lower level dragons won't really drop dragon bloodstones consistently, which makes that one the only real viable option.

Also, if you want to unlock the Philosopher's Stone super fast and painlessly after unlocking and making a Crimson Stone,

Spoiler

go to Luis in Flussheim and buy all her cinders. Added benefit is that it'll probably move her side-quest along too

.

 

[chrominance]

The best dragon to farm is the level 70 one in South Aurora Snowfield at 6 AM on the iced over lake, just south of the Ice Tower. Just need a shiton of dragon bloodstones to drop to unlock the recipe.

Lower level dragons won't really drop dragon bloodstones consistently, which makes that one the only real viable option.

Also, if you want to unlock the Philosopher's Stone super fast and painlessly after unlocking and making a Crimson Stone,

Spoiler

go to Luis in Flussheim and buy all her cinders. Added benefit is that it'll probably move her side-quest along too

.

It took four stones for the recipe to even appear in my list. As soon as that happened, I just bought it outright. Fighting that level 70 dragon repeatedly is boring. (Also, that's not actually the strongest dragon, right? I assumed it was already one of the weaker dragons.)

Anyways, Philosopher Stone quest is done and dusted. Now, as soon as I can clear out a few more events, I can finally swap out some people in my party for fresh blood and start working on the rest of the endings. At this rate I'll be done sometime in 2018.

 

[Strings]

It took four stones for the recipe to even appear in my list. As soon as that happened, I just bought it outright. Fighting that level 70 dragon repeatedly is boring. (Also, that's not actually the strongest dragon, right?

Yeah, it isn't. There's a gold one that has some pretty ludicrous defense + instantly disables healing that is probably the toughest.

 

[chrominance]

I think we've pretty much gone over most of these points in the thread already, but if anyone's interested, I wrote up my impressions of the game in the NeoGAF 52-games-in-2017 thread. I feel like I'm posting it here mostly because I don't think anyone else in that thread will bother reading my wall of text (and perhaps rightfully so!). Also, spoiler: I'm way behind, RIP me.

 

[Arthea]

I don't get it, I've been everywhere around with Ill and her story wouldn't go forward and suddenly without any visible reason it just did (I was synthesizing some basic alchemy items at that time), I have no idea what was the trigger here, no idea at all. IDK how is it even possible to make more confusing game than Firis is.

I also understood that getting 100% monster list might be even harder than I thought. I accidentally encountered a completely new monster in already cleared area, and no it was not a boss (finding postgame bosses is a pain too, btw), So that got me thinking that it will be the hell of a work to get all monsters.

Also that nasty

Spoiler

butterfly girl

totally killed my party... and I thought I'm ready to take on any boss by now, apparently not.

And mindlowing revelation of the day, so Norbert is (ending spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Lia's father, isn't he?

.

I think we've pretty much gone over most of these points in the thread already, but if anyone's interested, I wrote up my impressions of the game in the NeoGAF 52-games-in-2017 thread. I feel like I'm posting it here mostly because I don't think anyone else in that thread will bother reading my wall of text (and perhaps rightfully so!). Also, spoiler: I'm way behind, RIP me.

I've read it, I basically agree, although I don't see Shallie as you do, I liked that game a lot. I don't see any problem with its structure and even more I can't understand what if you have to sleep in a game? That's not a problem at all!
Anyway, aside of Firis problems you mentioned, I still think that if they'll go no fast travel way in the future, it could end my 11 year history with series. Firis made me understand that I really can't tolerate that. That is a deal breaker, even more so than general confusion and poor localization.

 

[SarusGray]

I don't get it, I've been everywhere around with Ill and her story wouldn't go forward and suddenly without any visible reason it just did (I was synthesizing some basic alchemy items at that time), I have no idea what was the trigger here, no idea at all. IDK how is it even possible to make more confusing game than Firis is.

I also understood that getting 100% monster list might be even harder than I thought. I accidentally encountered a completely new monster in already cleared area, and no it was not a boss (finding postgame bosses is a pain too, btw), So that got me thinking that it will be the hell of a work to get all monsters.

Also that nasty

Spoiler

butterfly girl

totally killed my party... and I thought I'm ready to take on any boss by now, apparently not.

And mindlowing revelation of the day, so Norbert is (ending spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Lia's father, isn't he?

.




I've read it, I basically agree, although I don't see Shallie as you do, I liked that game a lot. I don't see any problem with its structure and even more I can't understand what if you have to sleep in a game? That's not a problem at all!
Anyway, aside of Firis problems you mentioned, I still think that if they'll go no fast travel way in the future, it could end my 11 year history with series. Firis made me understand that I really can't tolerate that. That is a deal breaker, even more so than general confusion and poor localization.

I loved Shallie heheh, Firis is mehey right now for me.

 

[chrominance]

Level 70 dragon at South Auoro Snowfield: go out every morning, kill it with no problems, never a hint of danger.
Level 55 dragon at Wavebreaker Cove: can't damage it, can't break it, can't outheal its damage, die after 20 minutes of futile struggle.

???!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!!?!??!??!?!?!?!???!?!?!??!??!?!???!

 

[Clov]

I feel like I missed the recipe for leather somewhere. Where can I find it?

Edit: Just found it in Silent Labyrinth.

 

[Linkura]

And mindlowing revelation of the day, so Norbert is (ending spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Lia's father, isn't he?

.

I stopped playing this shortly after the exam, but I so fucking knew that

Spoiler

Liane wasn't Firis's full blood sister. They look NOTHING alike and Lia looks NOTHNG like Firis's parents. I'm not shocked at all. Is Liane's mother Firis's mom or is it someone else?

 

[chrominance]

I stopped playing this shortly after the exam, but I so fucking knew that

Spoiler

Liane wasn't Firis's full blood sister. They look NOTHING alike and Lia looks NOTHNG like Firis's parents. I'm not shocked at all. Is Liane's mother Firis's mom or is it someone else?

Spoiler

Liane's mom is dead. She made it to Ertona, but when she died Firis's parents took Liane in. Firis was very young when this happened.

I think out of all the side stories I've seen so far, that one's my favourite. The dialogue is clunky but in that particular case it (barely) gets the job done.

 

[JPS Kai]

Is it a big handicap to not have the Wonderland costumes?

The review code I was sent was for the PS4 version without the preorder bonuses. I'll still plan on getting the platinum but I know the time will be a little tighter to manage.

 

[Parsnip]

Well, I'm done with it I think. All achievements, institute at 90+% and I think I'm good.
I'm missing 4 event images in the extras, but eh. I'm not too interested in following through what I assume are some NPC storylines.


Yeah, Sophie is a better game. It does seem like the they didn't quite think through all of the issues that rose from moving to open world. Pacing is terrible. The battle system is weaker and slower, and the 'everyone protect' Firis mechanic sucks. Didn't really like most of the story or character interactions at all. Sophie was a bit of an airhead in the previous game but it was better balanced with other characters. Firis is even farther in that direction and additionally the voice acting is, well, not great. It's a good thing they didn't get anyone with an even higher pitch to do the voice, if they keep going in that direction for the next only dogs will be able to hear it.

In a weird way it feels like a first game in an entirely new series where they had some ideas but didn't quite nail them, and then the sequel would refine them and make an actual great game. Like Assassin's Creed or something like that, where the first game is rough but shows incredible promise. I hope that's the case for the third Mysterious game, that they take the open world Atelier game and refine it and it will be glorious.

Music's still great, and I do like that the battle items are now in a single pool.

All the technical stuff is also annoying of course, and the PC specific stuff on top of that. Blah.

 

[chrominance]

Is it a big handicap to not have the Wonderland costumes?

The review code I was sent was for the PS4 version without the preorder bonuses. I'll still plan on getting the platinum but I know the time will be a little tighter to manage.

No. I haven't used them at all, save for trying the Resort Vacation costume to try and see if the traits improved (not really, but I didn't pay a ton of attention and switched back pretty quickly). Wonderland only really matters if you really want to optimize how you spend your time pre-exam to get the only missable trophy on the first try, and even then I'm not sure you really need it. Now that I know the general strategy for getting that trophy, I can see that it's not particularly time-intensive.

--

Switched to Hard in an effort to farm better traits. Again, maybe I'm just not paying attention, but it doesn't really feel like the traits have gotten any better. Also made a Flame of the End, and fair warning: only Sophie can use it. (WHY) Also, it's surprisingly not very good, but maybe I didn't make it at high enough quality (only 99).

 

[Arthea]

I had the first crash today, I know what caused it too. Running out of air and being attacked at the same time.
two hours + of progress lost, including 3 bosses...
I hate underwater.

I still haven't unlocked that damn Philosopher Stone recipe. I wish it just appeared on my list that I can buy it outright. It feels like forever and I still don't know what unlocks it.

Well, I'm done with it I think. All achievements, institute at 90+% and I think I'm good.
I'm missing 4 event images in the extras, but eh. I'm not too interested in following through what I assume are some NPC storylines.


Yeah, Sophie is a better game. It does seem like the they didn't quite think through all of the issues that rose from moving to open world. Pacing is terrible. The battle system is weaker and slower, and the 'everyone protect' Firis mechanic sucks. Didn't really like most of the story or character interactions at all. Sophie was a bit of an airhead in the previous game but it was better balanced with other characters. Firis is even farther in that direction and additionally the voice acting is, well, not great. It's a good thing they didn't get anyone with an even higher pitch to do the voice, if they keep going in that direction for the next only dogs will be able to hear it.

In a weird way it feels like a first game in an entirely new series where they had some ideas but didn't quite nail them, and then the sequel would refine them and make an actual great game. Like Assassin's Creed or something like that, where the first game is rough but shows incredible promise. I hope that's the case for the third Mysterious game, that they take the open world Atelier game and refine it and it will be glorious.

Music's still great, and I do like that the battle items are now in a single pool.

All the technical stuff is also annoying of course, and the PC specific stuff on top of that. Blah.

90+ in 60 hours? how is that even possible?
I'm at 80+ and 90 hours lol

No. I haven't used them at all, save for trying the Resort Vacation costume to try and see if the traits improved (not really, but I didn't pay a ton of attention and switched back pretty quickly). Wonderland only really matters if you really want to optimize how you spend your time pre-exam to get the only missable trophy on the first try, and even then I'm not sure you really need it. Now that I know the general strategy for getting that trophy, I can see that it's not particularly time-intensive.

--

Switched to Hard in an effort to farm better traits. Again, maybe I'm just not paying attention, but it doesn't really feel like the traits have gotten any better. Also made a Flame of the End, and fair warning: only Sophie can use it. (WHY) Also, it's surprisingly not very good, but maybe I didn't make it at high enough quality (only 99).

These are two of many shortcoming of Firis, good traits are very rare, good loot with good traits is extremely rare. And anything bellow 200 quality is a trash, no matter traits and how good an item is.
And considering how long it takes to get any item to even 200 quality, let alone to 999 quality... At this point I pretty much gave up on 999 quality items, I made some 999, but most are from 100 to 600 and my patience it at an end. It's not viable to make alchemy so quality related, like almost nothing else matters and then not let to register anything. It's the first atelier game where I feel alchemy is ruined.

oh and when you get some amazing traits, a game cheats and you can't transfer those to any item...

 

[Parsnip]

90+ in 60 hours? how is that even possible?
I'm at 80+ and 90 hours lol

Dunno, I don't think I did anything special. Maybe you are just slow. I mean, you did spend 100 hours on Sophie as well.

But anyways, shortly after the exam I decided that since I would need to do NG+ anyway to get a better chance in the Sophie fight, there was no point doing anything else either. So I loaded my clear data from there and just beelined to Reisenberg. Turns out that knowing where everything is (more or less) saves a lot of time. And after the exam I focused on getting the broomstick and airship as soon as I was able to as well.

 

[Arthea]

Dunno, I don't think I did anything special. Maybe you are just slow. I mean, you did spend 100 hours on Sophie as well.

But anyways, shortly after the exam I decided that since I would need to do NG+ anyway to get a better chance in the Sophie fight, there was no point doing anything else either. So I loaded my clear data from there and just beelined to Reisenberg. Turns out that knowing where everything is (more or less) saves a lot of time. And after the exam I focused on getting the broomstick and airship as soon as I was able to as well.

oh I never rush if I can relax, not my way, just in Firis case we know nothing most of the time and have no hinds, so running around headless trying to find we don't know what we don't know where is normal pastime and it takes a lot of time to even figure out what to do for flying ship, so IDK, I kinda envy you that you are so good at guessing, apparently I'm really bad at it. I got that ship like 20 hours later than I could have gotten it if I knew what I know now.
Anyway, congratulations on all cheevos.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

I'm pretty sure this game counts play time when you're in standby mode, because there's no way I've played for 52 hours.

Just got fast travel, so it's time to bust this game wide open!

 

[afreaknamedpete]

I had the first crash today, I know what caused it too. Running out of air and being attacked at the same time.
two hours + of progress lost, including 3 bosses...
I hate underwater.

I still haven't unlocked that damn Philosopher Stone recipe. I wish it just appeared on my list that I can buy it outright. It feels like forever and I still don't know what unlocks it.

Well if you got the Crimson Stone already, the Philosopher's Stone is very easy to unlock.

Spoiler

Just go to Weisslark or any city with that minstral/merchant character (apparently she has a whole plotline, not that it's easy to see). Buy all her Cinders. Then do it again when she restocks. Unlocked it immediately for me.

 

[Arthea]

Well if you got the Crimson Stone already, the Philosopher's Stone is very easy to unlock.

Spoiler

Just go to Weisslark or any city with that minstral/merchant character (apparently she has a whole plotline, not that it's easy to see). Buy all her Cinders. Then do it again when she restocks. Unlocked it immediately for me.

..... they can't be serious, I would have never guessed that in my lifetime, ever!
This game...

 

[afreaknamedpete]

..... they can't be serious, I would have never guessed that in my lifetime, ever!
This game...

It would make more sense if you could ACTUALLY fail at alchemy and produce cinders/broken materials. Since that kinda fits the Philosopher's Stone theme and alot of Atelier games have those ingredients.

As it stands, AFAIK, you can only buy those items and find them pretty much nowhere (but the DLC) and it makes high quality philosopher's stones almost impossible to make.

 

[Linkura]

Spoiler

Liane's mom is dead. She made it to Ertona, but when she died Firis's parents took Liane in. Firis was very young when this happened.

I think out of all the side stories I've seen so far, that one's my favourite. The dialogue is clunky but in that particular case it (barely) gets the job done.

Thanks, that's what I figured.

 

[Clov]

I can't figure out what to do in Flussheim for the "Town Lacks Energy" quest. I've triggered a few cutscenes and met some people, but I don't seem to be on the right track. It's frustrating.

 

[chrominance]

I can't figure out what to do in Flussheim for the "Town Lacks Energy" quest. I've triggered a few cutscenes and met some people, but I don't seem to be on the right track. It's frustrating.

Is there still a sailor blocking the door that leads to the harbour? If not, well, you know what to do.