Atelier Firis is a story about finding your own way in life, discovering who – and what, exactly you are – and helping those you meet along the way do the same. It is a game about fulfilling dreams and potential, with a strong message of “it isn’t the destination, it’s the journey” tied in for good measure.
The gameplay matches that aesthetic. From the very first step outside of your small, isolated town as Firis Mistlud, the world seems massive, daunting and full of wonder. But just like your little alchemic companion, you aren’t afraid – the game places you in the first level and essentially forces you to take in all its breadth.
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So does this game have fast travel?
Nah. At least, not at first.
But you aren’t going to want to – because the levels in this game - and the world - feel vibrant and alive. I spent just about 4 to 5 hours in the first area outside of town alone. That is the sheer amount of discovery, gathering, and fun that this game can swirl you into. It makes each small area a journey within a journey, connected to a larger and more meaningful, open ended affair.
It takes everything from it’s predecessor Atelier Sophie, and adds onto it. If Atelier Sophie was a fun, cute, mid-range condo property, Firis came in with a wrecking ball and turned that moderately sized condo into a free frolicking 10 story bouncy castle, where you find yourself so caught in one room, it's difficult to even bounce onto the next fun-filled adventure. (or misadventure!)
Let’s break down the game a bit further, shalllll we?
Story 5/5
The story line in this game is simple, and rather to the point on the surface.
“I want to leave my town and go explore the world to find my purpose!”
Beneath that initial layer though lies a similar feeling that of Sophie, essentially, you are a young woman who wishes to grow – to come of age and discover who you are and what you stand for. To do that, you will help as many people as you can through your native talent – alchemy.
Alchemy is best described as the art of fulfilling materials desires, hearing their voices, and guiding your own intentions towards constructing the best and most effective formulae.
But you don’t start this journey alone – you do it with your closest friend, your sister. This sparks off a miniature storyline that takes its own surprising turns, as does each relationship and party alliance you form in this game.
Each character comes packaged with their own hilarious, cute, and detailed story – one which Firis interacts with and helps drive. She has a startling ability to bring people to higher levels of potential, and through her drive, passion and motivated (if not sometimes scatterbrained and spoiled) attitude, she sets off chains of events that often end in comedy.
She’s a heroine that’s easy to relate to for any person who has imagination and drive – wanting to be more than what you are, whether through whimsical fancy or reality. Firis starts with simply wanting to go out of her town, but she quickly learns that being outside is only one aspect of being alive. In fact, its just the beginning.
As such, each character’s story line are nuanced, digestible bits of depth. Gust once again avoids archetypes, and instead gives each character individual development and mystery. It isn’t ground breaking story telling on any level, but it feels and sounds just like a very detailed and masterfully crafted anime. A mix between slice of life and Shonen, this story tells itself in a hilarious and adorable way – one that never gets too serious or heavy, but presents you with challenges and life questions if you so choose to pry for them.
Coming of age has been done again and again, but Gust hasn’t found a way to make it tire on me yet. Sophie (previous to this) and Firis both are vastly different characters – yet you can still see fragments of yourself in their desire – to do well in the world and find who you are.
Isn’t that storytelling’s essence? To compel the viewer?
Graphics: 4/5
(PC: i5-6600, GTX 1080, 8GB RAM, 256GB SATA SSD)
First, let me start by saying I haven’t played the console version of this game – nor do I compare this game in any way to it. This, to me, is a PC game, and this is a PC review, so I judge it as such. That being said, the graphics in this game are beautiful, and the artwork is phenomenally done.
While character models aren’t overly impressive (though they are hecka cute!) the areas sparkle with shimmering, wondrous and fairy-tale like essence, and each area feels just a bit different and new. The world itself feels massive yet traversable, and there isn’t one second of the game you don’t want to go for 100% map completion. Some areas even have hidden nuances and new areas to discover within them, all which look and feel new and fresh. A mysterious journey indeed.
I ran this at 1440p, in 21:9 aspect ratio, shadows on high, and the visual benefits and treats were apparent. When you open your menu on a sunny day, the sun rays reflect off your alchemy notebook, reflecting the feeling of adventure and whimsical journey. Dust gathers and flies through desert areas, the sea sparkles and shimmers, and the snows and blizzards of the north waft and flutter in the winds.
There are areas where the effects are rather heavy, and those debilitate your frame rate some. To me, it was never unplayable or unsettling, and the experience remains mostly fluid and gorgeous throughout.
Graphically, this game does eat away at resources for your GPU and CPU, so I recommend that you have significant power for both. The optimization isn’t exactly perfect, but for Gust/Koei’s second Atelier game on PC, I’m willing to give a decent amount of clemency.
All in all, I encountered one graphical glitch and two freezes/crashes during 106 hours of main gameplay. I’d say this game is stable, beautiful, and fresh out of a storybook. It’s replete with cuteness and aesthetic, and details and attention are paid if you are willing to temper expectations.
Controls 5/5
The controls in this game, as was in the last port, are already mapped which is a relief. The keyboard controls can be adjusted and configured, unlike Sophie, which already makes this a step ahead in my book. I highly recommend a controller for anyone playing though – and keep in mind that no matter what controller you use that this game will show the buttons as if they were an X1 Controller (which is what I used to play this).
That said, the controls in this game are simple and sweet, and there isn’t anything distinctly wrong or out of place about any of the commands. Simple stamp of the review!
Gameplay - 5/5
- Exploration and Alchemy
(Ed Note: There is a time limit in the first portion of this game. Don’t let it dismay you! It keeps you on task and away from navel gazing into the depths. I found it helped more than hindered, and its very very lenient.)
This game is massive! You can ask my friends that I streamed to just how many times I exclaimed:
“Wow, a new area, this is huge!”
But for as large as it is, the open world setting in Firis never is dull or boring. Grinding for, and discovering materials is part of the beauty of this series and Firis does an excellent job of executing this process so that it never tires on you.
Your desire to become better matches that of your character, and it quickly becomes addicting to craft and compile materials and items. The progression in the game is excellent, and the way that you discover items and recipe ideas is basically just by playing the game. Trying out new things and experiencing the areas leads you to come up with natural, authentic, and sometimes hilarious ideas for recipes.
Please, constantly refer to your encyclopedia, as it is easily the most cranberry-juice-spitting level of comedy to be found. The commentary between adorable little Firis and her companions about items is top level lol, and provides entertainment during any grind.
That said, crafting is marvelous. I’d say its even a step up from the previous system in Atelier Sophie. This game sticks to a puzzle like system of placing colored orbs inside of a cauldron, allowing them to be rotated, shaped, and placed based on your preference and the item. Assorted colors, arrangements and sizes affect just what result you get.
New to the game are catalysts – items which you can use to boost the traits, effects, or quality (among other things) on your items. These are essential to becoming a really great alchemist, and they add another fun element to the game within a game that is crafting.
I spent a few hours in the Atelier in Sophie, but I surely spent a dozen in there in Firis. Making and remaking, crafting and tinkering – this game could easily be called Cute Item Maker 2.0. Boxed, sold, stamped and labeled. Even if you never left the Atelier, this game would have appeal as a puzzle and crafting game on its own, based on the rewarding, entertaining and generally fresh cutscenes and dialogue you get just from doing your job.
- Combat
Combat in this game is a step up over Sophie. It remains simple and elegant, with a chain burst gauge built up based of strikes and damage, multiple items that you craft at your disposal and challenging fights.
Gone are offensive and defensive stances, but they aren’t really needed here. They are replaced by the ability to guard Firis with any character in your party by using part of the break gauge, which is an awesome benefit, and replaces support guards from Sophie.
Combat is never dull or boring, and later in the game you can craft items that make standard mob battles a real breeze. Enemies are challenging on the right difficulties – actually – sometimes they are downright horrific. For instance, a mushroom named JustRunForYourLife.
You may want to if its early in your journey XD.
Once again, the crafted items shine through. Whatever you make is what you use, and knowing the right traits and effects is a journey itself of trial and error. Like other portions of the game, its fun and immersive, and there is never a dull moment. There is always a new boss to fight and challenge to undertake if you so wish.
- Quests/Galavanting
Quests vary from catch and retrieve (or fetch if your feeling Mean Girls about it), to craft a specific item for a specific reason. Though those don’t sound diverse, they often can be. Sometimes you’ll need to craft a specific trait, or defeat a certain monster and the answer won’t be right in front of you. It can only be discovered through exploration, which is what this game encourages. The quests aren’t particularly hard – in fact, many of them chain together to create further quests and tasks for you to do.
Sometimes different events and situations unlock based on waiting or sleeping, which adds a level of diversity to your journey, and a bit of unpredictability to the grind. And as you’ll quickly learn, Firis is a greedy little mischievous alchemist – she’s out to get rich, no mistakes about it. Once you master your craft, you’ll be making coin hand over fist, and Angriff will be your bestest buddy in the whole wide world.
All in all, this game focuses on rewarding the player, and it honestly feels good whenever you accomplish or complete anything – no matter how easy, hard, or repetitive it was.
Sound 5/5
I didn’t think that the sound could be improved from Sophie, but I was pleasantly surprised in this game. Whereas Sophie had charming, melodious pieces which didn’t pop out, but did please the ear, this game has a beautiful and immersive score. It varies from downtempo and relaxed to fast paced and entertaining – it provides both beautiful sung vocals and interesting instrumentations. What Gust did best here was create environmental music to make gathering and fighting enjoyable. The boss fights have great intonation and direction, and moments in the story that are hilarious are accompanied by the correct score. The towns and cities feel themed by their music, and each area provides a new rhythm to shake to.
The score fits the fairytale and whimsical nature of this journey, and with the free DLC added, you can add all your old Atelier tracks to the play list. The introduction, ending, and cutscene performances are well sung and composed, and Gust does a great job of making you feel like you are not only within the journey, but that you are tapping into the innocence and authenticity of the areas you walk into. I found myself barely changing or altering the music, and sometimes I just stood idly in areas nodding my head to the cute and melodic sounds of Firis.
- Conclusion
You should absolutely buy this game, even at full price ($60 USD at the time of this review). It offers hundreds of hours of content for that price, and if you put in the right effort, it won’t let you down. It isn’t a perfect PC version, but provided you have a rather decently set up rig for it, the game is gorgeous and smooth. The characters, crafting, and story are well thought out and balanced, and you are never going to find a moment in this game that doesn’t make you laugh, smile, or whistle with child-like joy.
I’ll likely put much more time and many more hours into this game because there is so much to do, see, and enjoy. Don’t let price inhibit you from having a great experience, as I believe if you like JRPG’s, even one’s with a bit of crafting, that this game is not only for you – but it is calling you to go on a Mysterious Journey of your own.
Listen to the intentions of your Steam Wallet and buy!