Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey Reviews

Fans of the Atelier series will find a number of new mechanics to enjoy along with plenty of familiar elements but unfortunately the new journey and fresh faces that they’ll find in Atelier Firis fall below the series’ standards.

Trapped inside her safe and quite town, located inside a mountain, a young girl named Firis dreams endlessly of exploring life on the outside. By a twist of fate, she gets a chance to do just that thanks to alchemy. But there's one condition, she must pass an alchemy exam one year later. It's a lot for a young girl to do, but when you have big dreams, you have a lot of focus on succeeding.

Turn-based combat, world exploring and puzzle-like crafting mechanics make for relaxing and fun gameplay in this slice of life RPG. Regardless of some shortcomings, fans of the series will enjoy traveling with Firis.

The Atelier series is one of the longest running and most prolific Japanese role-playing game franchises, with Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey being the 18th instalment in the series' 20 year history. Atelier Firis is also, in many ways, the biggest leap forward the series has ever taken, implementing a number of changes that are radically different to previous entries. However it still manages to keep the heart and soul of its predecessors.

Atelier Feris: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey is sometimes charming, but frequently feels a bit vapid in execution. The core of Alchemy is done well, but the things around it don’t hold up. I can praise it for telling a more personal journey, but not much else.

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 Jo...

The Atelier franchise has been around for 20 years as of 2017. I was exposed to it some 11 years ago with the Atelier Iris trilogy, but haven’t really had a chance to get to know the new generation of titles. I was excited to see just how much the series had evolved through the lens of Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey and discovered a whole new world through its eyes.

Atelier Firis is GUST's first try at an open world game and they do it decently, but the real draw lies in the game's complex alchemy system.

Atelier Firis marks the eighteenth entry into this long standing franchise. Change is good, yes? Well, in alchemy, changing a recipe can also bring explosions. Let's all remember that.

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. The soundtrack does little for the ears and the characters are likely to be relatively forgettable, but it’s a game full of charm and a good recommendation for those looking for something a l...

I loved Atelier Firis. It features my favourite group of characters in an Atelier game, while the vast, open world environments add something unique over the rest of the series, with a huge amount of options and quests to explore. Unfortunately, it isn’t until you pass the time restricted first half of the game after dozens of hours of playtime that you’ll truly be able to appreciate any of this. Combining timed quests with free exploration is an interesting idea, but its flawed execution ruins leads to some awkward pacing. Atelier fans and curious newcomers will still have an amazing time, as long as you don’t let the intimidating timer put a damper on what should be a magical experience.

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The Atelier series recently just began its current “mysterious” ark with Atelier Sophie back in June 2016 – you can check out our review for it here. While it packed some changes, tweaks, and updates to its staple formula, they were changes that would either agitate or entertain returning fans that were largely subjective in nature. With Atelier Firis being the second installment in the mysterious ark, we get to see how Gust has decided to tweak it yet again while keeping the core alchemy, fluffy and overly cute characters, as well as other features the Atelier series is known for.

I admire Gust for delivering a product outside of their comfort zone. However, even though the open world is the most exciting new addition, it also tends to bring the most problems with it. Atelier Firis will surly impress fans of the franchise, but could feel dated to modern RPG fans.

Gust's most ambitious game to date may have a few flaws, but is definitely an effort worth commending.

Visually, Atelier Firis is stunning with a mix of animated and in-game cutscenes to flesh out the dialogue and story. The cutscenes are voiced but speaking to townspeople occurs in speech bubbles and text reads. The music isn’t very memorable thus far, but this could change as the story progresses and different encounters occur.