Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey

I’m anxious to see where the story will go when everything is said and done, and more importantly despite it being my first Atelier game, I didn’t feel locked out in my enjoyment of the plot. While the world often feels lifeless, and the combat runs on the routine side, the cast of loveable (and hateable) characters is sure to keep you locked to the screen a few hours at a time wondering where everything will lead. The game could’ve passed with the title Atelier Firis: The Mysterious Journey, because that’s exactly what it is.

Atelier Firis certainly lacks the depth that hardcore JRPG fans come to expect from the long-standing genre and hardly taxes the brain with morale decisions, but it gives a relatively safe environment in which to get to know some colourful characters and beat up monsters in some rather impressive ways.

Firis is far from a perfect JRPG or high point for the franchise, but it's an admirable effort that shows that Gust still has a few tricks up its sleeves eighteen entries and twenty years in the game.

Die Produktionsmöglichkeiten sind nach wie vor sehr facettenreich, das Optimieren der Abläufe und Ergebnisse trotz zurückgekehrtem Zeitlimit motivierend. Auch der Weg ans Ziel, die Alchemie-Prüfung in Reisenberg, ist angenehm offen. Die Inszenierung der Story ist allerdings wenig berauschend, die Technik antiquiert, das Kampfsystem altbacken und auf eine deutsche Lokalisierung hat man auch wieder verzichtet.

Con Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey gli sviluppatori hanno cercato di mettere d’accordo sia i puristi della serie che i nuovi potenziali fan della saga. Il risultato è ben riuscito: ci sono stati molti miglioramenti rispetto al precedente capitolo e anche il ritorno del limite temporale, che potrebbe fare storcere il naso, non è poi così frustrante e si adatta bene a una prima run del giocatore. Un titolo sicuramente di nicchia, ma degno dell’attenzione di tutti gli appassionati.