To be an Alchemist
Having been a fan of the Atelier games since the PS2 generation, I’ve seen the highs and lows of the Atelier series firsthand. It wasn’t until the breakout success of the Atelier Ryza trilogy, that the series really started to make a name for itself and the developers at Gust had a lot to live up to in order to follow Ryza’s legacy.
With the introduction of Atelier Yumia, this marks their most ambitious title to date which, while flawed in some notable ways, builds a great foundation for sequels to come.
Yumia’s design and personality is great and her growth as a person throughout the game is a highlight of the experience.
MSRP: $69.99
Platform: PC, PS, Xbox, NSW
Played on: PC (9800X3D/RTX3080)
Length: 60~ hours (Full game clear including all regions/achievements)
Centuries after a once prosperous kingdom of Aladiss was destroyed by its rampant and unchecked use of Alchemy, the usage of that ancient art has become taboo. As a member of an expedition and research team into the fallen kingdom, the fledgling alchemist Yumia hopes to prove to everyone that Alchemy is something that can be used to help people.
The story and world presented here is very different from the other Atelier games due to the negative preconceptions of what Alchemy is and tackling that notion is one of the key plot points. Yumia’s personal struggles in accepting the negatives along with the positives of what alchemy is capable of provided her ample time to grow as a person and it was easy to root for this earnest girl along her journey. She’s also quite unique in that she’s much more capable physically compared to most of the other heroines from the series. Her agility, aided by the shoes that she’s wearing allows her to maneuver quickly and dish out some serious damage with her kicks and staff which also doubles as a rifle. Those who were expecting a “cute anime girl in a cute dress” which has been a staple of Atelier heroines for decades may be disappointed but I for one welcome the change. The rest of the cast served their purpose well and were likeable enough, but I didn’t find them to be particularly memorable or important as this tale was most definitely all about Yumia first and foremost.
The other major motif of the story revolved around memories and their worth and while I would have liked it if they delved more into the subject, what’s here did bring up some interesting points which made me think and that’s always a plus in my book.
Yumia can also perform alchemy without a cauldron. How scandalous!
The biggest and most important gameplay element of Atelier Yumia lies in its exploration. While Atelier Firis also put a strong emphasis on exploring large areas, Yumia takes it to the next level with absolutely massive areas to traverse through. As I unlocked more regions to explore, I was constantly picking up new ingredients that I could use to research new recipes for alchemy. I was also getting skill points for doing almost everything- opening chests, fighting tough monsters, solving puzzles, unlocking travel points, it all went towards a pool of skill points that I could use to unlock new features and upgrade my equipment.
On top of that, each of the regions had a “Pioneer Effort” menu where certain milestones like defeating certain types of enemies, using certain characters in battle, synthesizing new items and more would also reward me with exploration equipment that would unlock ways to unlock different types of bullets that I could use to open up previously inaccessible areas.
As every little discovery I made went towards various tangible upgrades that would either open up new paths to me or make me stronger, I was eager to explore every nook and cranny and so I did just that, completing all regions in full and even managing to get all the achievements the game had to offer during my review playthrough. That’s speaking very highly of how addictive the exploration element was as it’s not a feat I manage during most game’s review period. Having said that, while it is certainly the strongest element of the game, I felt things like the shrine puzzles and simple moving of boxes got old incredibly fast and I would have appreciated more variety in the activities in the world.
I also found myself maxing out on my levels before I even reached the final area without doing any kind of grinding and found myself maxing out the difficulty to Very Hard to get any semblance of challenge, which I felt could have been balanced better.
I haven’t been this addicted to exploring an environment since the Xenoblade games!
In terms of combat, everything flowed very quickly as I was able to switch between the use of Skills, Attack Items and Support Items on the fly in real time. Everything had a cooldown timer so it was up to me to balance what skills/items I would use at any given time. I could also shift between inner/outer range for fighting which changed up the skills/items with brand new animations and switching between the two to avoid attacks was a part of the natural flow of combat. With proper timing, I could also dodge an attack in the last moment and switch to a different character where they would come in, doing an attack that would do heavy damage to their guard, which opened them up to powerful “Friend Attacks” where two characters would use an item at the same time for massive damage.
Later on, I also learned the ability to “Mana Burst” which enhanced a character’s power with access to brand new attacks and powerful finishers that could do tens of thousands of damage with the right setup. Switching between characters was also a breeze and it’s always nice to have access to the full roster at any time instead of having to field a few with the rest being benchwarmers.
Juggling cooldowns and dodging at the right time was the key to success in combat.
While both the exploration and combat were quite enjoyable, the aspect I found was most lacking was in the alchemy.
Previously, alchemy was an integral part of progression and as such, special attention was given to using the function strategically. Figuring out what ingredients and components can be used to transfer worthwhile traits was challenging but quite rewarding as well as it required proper planning to make the most of the system. However, in Atelier Yumia, the amount of ingredients that goes into each item has increased substantially, so much to the point that I found myself using the auto-add function instead of hand picking each component that was ideal for the item I was creating.
Auto-creating items is fine for things I’ve already made before but for brand new items, creating it with thought and consideration felt rewarding to do and a part of the Atelier series I’ve always enjoyed. I understand that as ingredients are much more common to come by via exploration, but I think a less is more approach here would serve the alchemy system to be more rewarding than tedious as it is now.
The Alchemy felt like a game about numbers more than careful planning and creative thinking that I’ve enjoyed in the past.
Lastly, as I reviewed the PC version, I feel the need to bring attention to the various issues I’ve had. As a typical barebones port with no support for things like UW or upscaling outside of Intel’s XeSS which I consider to be the worst of the three popular upscaling technologies, I ran into awful performance issues when the game was running with literally any browser window open. What is usually a comfortable lock at 120FPS would drop in the 10s for no explicable reason after playing for a little bit and I would need to turn off everything else to make the game perform properly during the long sessions (feel free to check my PC specs). I’ve also had a total of 4 crashes during my playthrough which doesn’t sound bad for a 60-hour journey but one of those happened during the beginning of the end credits which kept happening consistently, so I was forced to finish the game on the Steamdeck which even with its stutters, was able to roll credits at last.
While this could certainly be an issue with a configuration on my PC, just know that this is something I was able to replicate consistently, happening at the worst time after a series of unskippable cutscenes.
This isn’t a bug, just a marvel of architectural prowess of yours truly.
Despite the dumb downed Alchemy and some technical issues, Atelier Yumia marks a great first step towards a new future for this long running series with its fun and rewarding exploration and enjoyable fast paced combat.
Fun Tidbit: I’m not sure if Yumia will enjoy the popularity that Ryza did in terms of design and all the merch she got but I think Gust did a wonderful job and I’m eagerly anticipating Yumia’s next adventure.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
