Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey Standard Edition - PlayStation 4

Atelier games are cute RPG games separated into two parts. first, the adventure and battle RPG and second, the crafting and alchemy system. what makes this game worth playing on the PS4 is the time and weather effects. As the day goes by, your shadow will change to reflect the position of the sun and grow longer or shorter, and there are storm, wind and rain effects which the VITA version does not have as detailed. past games, the alchemy was a bit hard to learn to make advanced items. but every game release has a different alchemy system and atelier firis has the most simplified of all. that is not bad, it is still fun, just less complicated to learn to make the best equipment. the game is very long or very short, depending on what you want to do. completing the main story does not require any grinding or complicated equipment making. you can also turn on easy mode at anytime and switch between modes if you just want to gain exp or farm items. of course, the best items come from hard mode where you can choose to fight optional end game bosses that require good equipment to defeat. overall, if you are new to the series Atelier firis is the best place to start. the graphics are high quality and there are lots of neat exploration items available that are new to the series.

Really fun game, I'd recommend it overall. Fantastic music and designs as always with Gust. The open world is nice, but confusing to navigate and often pointlessly big. The characters are great, but the battle and alchemy systems along with the story feel like a downgrade from Sophie, which I recommend playing first..

If you haven’t played the Atelier series - think of it like Rune Factory where instead of farming, you perform alchemy (synthesis, creating items) in a cauldron. The story is continued at your own pace and you have a lot of freedom as to what you want to do. You get closer to villagers just like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory but without the marriage/child rearing. Fights rarely feel “just right” and are often way too easy or way too hard but that could be a personal problem with my own alchemy tendencies and what items I bring to battle.

Played through Atelier Sophie and couldn't get enough so I picked up Atelier Firis. Adds new places to explore along with our newest alchemist but still has some of the previous characters from Atelier Sophie. The game looks gorgeous and colorful and is another solid entry. Wish there was a manual or some bonus inside but still a solid investment while I wait for the next Atelier game in this series!

Love japanese rpgs and this game is very good and I have played the other games in the series