Yay finally got my platinum!
How do you get Dark Dew? Sterk is at 60 friendship, he left the party and then came back to my atelier but didn't bring anything?
You can get Dark Dew from SpringCups.
Tip: Unlock the superior Spring Liquid+ effect first by using high 'category' ingredients. Try sorting your ingredients by 'category' and choose the ones at the top.
I don't really get your 2nd question though, isn't that part of the Sterk-related event?
Finished the game recently. My first this-gen JRPG. The English voice acting was pretty annoying, but fortunately the original Japanese CVs with subs were an option. The game was relatively easy and forgiving for most of the experience, but also fatally deceptive. I was under the impression of "doing pretty well" until the "Bad Ending" stabbed me in the back. I was suppose to do specific things, but the game didn't really stressed their urgency. I had to branch off an older save and got my second reality check when I was challenged by the final story boss. I had to learn, painfully so, that my grasp of the crafting/traits system was sub par. It took me a couple save branches to master the alchemy arts and to come up with some killer stuff. This all might sound negative, but I totally adore the game otherwise: heart melting coming of age story, great characters, deep alchemy system, fantastic soundtrack, pretty art work/direction and super smooth cel-shading. Loved it!
Sounds like we have the exact same experience
The crafting system is without doubt the best i've ever seen in games. The deep mechanics combined with a time limit really forces you to think creatively to achieve the best and most efficient results. The multiple Chim helpers certainly require a small amount of parallel processing
It took me some time to master the new changes, but i found out that the best (but most time-consuming) way to create powerful items is to employ the use of an 'intermediate' to transfer useful traits between ingredient categories (e.g. plant -> gunpowder) and a 'CP booster' (usually a high level synthesis item) to allow you to fill up all 5 slots with the most powerful traits. A 120 quality N.A. with Effect Boost L, Lone Slayer L, Final Strike+, Satisfying L and Apocalyse is just pure win when combined with Ether Ink's Item Effect+.
Quite a contrast from Atelier Rorona which requires you to master trait cancellation and combination as the order of trait appearing actually matters (only the top 5 are selected).
