Though I’m not the most important skilled on Atelier video games, I’ve performed a superb majority of them and know sufficient to understand the sequence’ evolution. My journey with the franchise started with the Arland trilogy, recognized for its time-limit mechanics. Whereas these mechanics added a layer of problem, they is also aggravating, particularly for newcomers preferring a extra relaxed tempo or completionists. Over time, the sequence regularly moved away from these constraints with the Atelier Ryza sequence eliminating closing dates altogether. By the third entry, Atelier Ryza had begun laying the inspiration for an open-world expertise. Atelier Firis experimented with open-world design earlier than, however that try by no means absolutely took off as a result of questionable design selections. Atelier Yumia nevertheless, embraces a totally open-world method, drawing clear inspiration from fashionable open-world video games.
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After finishing the tutorial, you’re thrown into stated open world and are inspired to discover at your personal tempo. Yumia, the protagonist, is an alchemist tasked by a analysis group with investigating the ruins on the continent of Aladiss. She is aided by different group members, beginning with the Duerer siblings. In Yumia’s world, alchemy is seen with mistrust and regarded taboo. Nevertheless, the analysis group is compelled to depend on her experience as sure areas can’t be explored with out an alchemist’s skills. Yumia joins the expedition not solely to help the analysis group but additionally to uncover clues about her mom’s ardour, and perceive why she selected this occupation regardless of its stigma.
The story primarily unfolds by slice-of-life moments, main as much as climactic occasions on the finish of every area’s arc. As the sport progresses, further analysis group members be a part of Yumia’s journey. Celebration members additionally seem on the map permitting you to finish their story quests. Whereas these quests don’t provide tangible rewards, they supply deeper perception into the characters. I like most of Atelier Yumia’s forged, although I discovered Nina to be the least likable of the primary occasion. She performs a significant position within the story afterward, but I didn’t join along with her as a lot as the remainder of the group. One other weak level is that the villains are fairly one-note or haven’t got sufficient display screen time to develop. Because the world of Atelier Yumia leans right into a a lot darker and severe environment, it is form of a disgrace that we do not get to see too many interactions with the villains of this sport. They’ve fascinating backstories, however the lack of interplay with them appears like a missed alternative to develop these characters.
The world of Atelier Yumia is a seamless and large open area full of supplies to assemble and landmarks to find. In contrast to earlier entries, Yumia can use her workers as a rifle to gather substances caught to partitions or activate particular landmarks. Whereas she will’t scale partitions like protagonists in different open-world video games, she will carry out a triple leap close to a wall, permitting her to beat higher heights. Some areas include mana-bound fields that require power to discover. Power is used for primary synthesis and serves as a protecting useful resource, stopping fall injury and different hazards. As you progress, power additionally powers up Yumia’s bike. Whereas this mechanic sounds limiting, the sport offers loads of power, guaranteeing it not often turns into a difficulty — besides within the third area, the place it is full of mana-dense zones. It will get fairly complicated attempting to clear them. Every area is densely packed, although the ultimate space is noticeably smaller, feeling extra like a conventional closing dungeon.
Alchemy stays a core factor of the Atelier sequence, and Yumia introduces a number of new synthesis mechanics. On the sector, you possibly can carry out easy synthesis to create bullets for Yumia’s workers, bandages for therapeutic, and different exploration instruments. At her atelier, she engages in a extra complicated alchemy system for crafting recipes. The system is extra streamlined in comparison with previous Atelier video games however nonetheless retains loads of depth. As all the time, gathered supplies have completely different qualities and traits, however the brand new Resonance system performs an important position. Sure supplies develop a resonance area, enhancing synthesis. When a selected rating is reached, further supplies could be added to enhance high quality. Assembly sure thresholds will even add a slot to an merchandise, which additionally permits gamers to customise gadgets additional with Trait Crystals.
The first gameplay loop revolves round discovering new gadgets within the area to unlock recipes and gathering the appropriate supplies to reinforce stated recipe. Reminiscence particles could be discovered by following the tip of a route of sunshine. When recipes are improved, they are going to have higher passive results from the start. This enables gamers to create a stronger merchandise with out the restrictions. Whereas the alchemy system is less complicated than previous entries in a manner, the sheer quantity of knowledge could be overwhelming. Fortunately, an auto-synthesize characteristic lets gamers automate the method based mostly on preset choices.
One other main addition in Atelier Yumia is the base-building system. Given the sport’s massive open world, Yumia can set up bases at particular places. This method appears closely impressed by Genshin Affect’s Serenitea Pot. If you happen to’re unfamiliar with this terminology, it is principally a pocket dimension the place you are allowed to create and embellish their very own house utilizing assets collected on the sector. Buildings, furnishings, and geological options could be positioned freely, with a number of presets accessible for individuals who choose an easier method. There are additionally completely different variations accessible for the bottom which lets you construct homes and have your personal atelier. There are additionally smaller crafting zones like a campsite which is able to solely allow you to place a number of gadgets. I’m not essentially the most artistic in the case of customization, so I am going to simply take regardless of the preset choices accessible.
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Atelier video games usually keep a well-recognized battle system till a brand new subseries is launched, and when Atelier Yumia was first revealed, its fight seemed chaotic and obscure. Nevertheless, in apply it’s less complicated than it seems. Every character has cooldown-based expertise mapped to the face buttons, with completely different skills for shut and long-range assaults. Cooldowns are quick making fight really feel action-heavy. Gamers can transfer freely in battle to dodge assaults and the defend button serves as each a block and an evasion instrument for excellent dodges.
Regardless of its promising mechanics, I discovered Atelier Yumia’s fight to be one in every of its weaker facets. Common encounters typically boil right down to button mashing as enemies are simply overwhelmed with out requiring a lot technique. Excellent dodges are additionally too forgiving as enemy assaults are clearly telegraphed with area-of-effect markers or visible indicators every time they’re about to assault.
The fight shines most in boss battles, which require extra deliberate use of the mechanics. Bosses assault steadily, forcing you to time your dodges and break their shields to stun them. Nevertheless, even these encounters spotlight the fight system’s flaws. One main problem is expertise scaling. You degree up too shortly, making most fights trivial. By the point I completed the primary area, I used to be already at degree 40. Moreover, crafted gadgets really feel underwhelming until you set an enormous time sink into alchemy. In most battles, you will see that that your common assaults are far more efficient than utilizing gadgets. There are another capabilities like Good friend Motion the place you carry out a duo merchandise in sync, which appears cool, however until the merchandise used is overpowered, it does nothing of be aware in fight. Whereas the battle system has potential, it wants higher balancing. Boss fights are a spotlight, however there are so few of them, that the general fight expertise falls in need of being actually participating.
From a presentation standpoint, that is the best-looking Atelier sport up to now. When enjoying on PC and streaming to an OLED system, the sport appears beautiful, particularly within the first two areas. Efficiency-wise, it ran at a gradual body price on my mid-range machine, although lengthy play periods appeared to trigger points with loading screens. On an AMD graphics card (RX 7800 XT), the sport would randomly crash when encountering a loading display screen after prolonged play. Fortunately, the autosave system prompts each time you quick journey, so these crashes did not hassle me an excessive amount of. Mikhail went into extra element protecting the PC port right here.
The OLED system I streamed to is the Retroid Pocket 5. In case you have an honest native community connection, you possibly can stream to a transportable system utilizing apps like Artemis with out experiencing an excessive amount of latency. Actually, it was fairly seamless on my finish. I’ve my PC set to routinely tone down the settings to 1080p, as that’s the utmost decision of this system. There are additionally upscaling choices, akin to Intel XeSS, for those who discover your system struggling to fulfill the calls for of the sport. Nevertheless, when streaming with a low latency, it felt identical to enjoying natively right here. It actually captures the sensation of enjoying the sequence on the PS Vita the place I first began with the sequence by the Arland video games.
In the end, Atelier Yumia is a good sport with a fight system that leaves rather a lot to be desired. Whereas the exploration is a spotlight, with the sport drawing clear inspiration from trendy open-world video games, these acquainted with the open-world style may not discover a lot innovation right here. Regardless of that, Atelier Yumia is a incredible place to begin for newcomers to the Atelier franchise.
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