After exploring more than twenty mainline games, I can only marvel at the challenge of staying innovative and relevant in a world where fantastic games are released every few weeks. But that’s precisely the goal of KOEI TECMO with their upcoming addition to the long-running Atelier JRPG series: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land. After spending over six hours gathering resources, performing magical rituals reminiscent of Sailor Moon, and cruising around on a motorbike, I’m convinced they might just pull it off again. The game promises more engaging combat, enhanced visuals, a user-friendly crafting system, and a brand-new building mechanic that allows you to tailor the world to your liking. While the story and characters seemed fairly standard for the genre in the initial hours, there’s still a lot to anticipate.
If you’ve dabbled in recent Atelier games, Atelier Yumia won’t immediately surprise you. Its core focuses on exploration, a party-based combat system, and synthesis remain intact. You’re still foraging for resources, battling enemies with your anime-inspired friends, and alchemically combining materials to strengthen your team. However, each element has been revamped, receiving both a style and substance upgrade, breathing new life into the series’ familiar formula.
Combat, in particular, has received the most significant transformation. The newly introduced action-based system allows for tactics like perfect parries and dodges, as well as switching between melee and ranged attacks. Early on, battles seemed straightforward—essentially letting me cycle through abilities across several characters, bringing encounters to a hasty conclusion. But as I progressed, especially when I faced more challenging foes, paying attention to enemy patterns and honing my timing became crucial. While it never reached punishing levels of difficulty, it was refreshing to engage in a combat system that demanded more than mindless button mashing.
Exploration has seen upgrades as well. Armed with a device to stun foes and gather resources from afar, along with ziplines for easier map navigation and a trusty motorcycle for cruising around, getting from point A to B feels significantly enhanced. Then there’s Synthesis. In traditional Atelier fashion, the crafting process is intricate enough that you could spend ages perfecting every item detail. For those looking to jump right back into the action, there’s an auto mode that optimizes crafting for you, making it easier to balance thoroughness with gameplay.
Atelier Yumia spices things up by adding a fourth pivotal element: the ability to build and customize settlements. This feature lets you bring a touch of Animal Crossing or The Sims into your JRPG experience by crafting your dream home and engaging in downtime with party members. Although resource limitations kept my early experiences with settlement-building brief, I can see players sinking countless hours into shaping their perfect abode within the fantastical world.
Despite all this innovation, Atelier struggles to carve out a niche with its storyline. While the unfolding plot is not subpar by any means, it does tread familiar JRPG territory, featuring archetypes like the scatterbrained yet endearing Isla and the stern Viktor—characters that feel like déjà vu. But, considering we are in the early stages, there’s plenty of room for the narrative to develop and for these characters to reveal layers beyond the surface, likely dispelling any initial reservations.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that Atelier Yumia marks the series’ debut on the Xbox platform, which is thrilling news for Western JRPG fans like me who appreciate having more genre entries readily accessible. Achievement unlocked!
