Cornbread78
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Atelier Firis |OT| The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
The stupid thing is the test is a joke compared to what you're put through before. Just more padding in this game. Any reasonable person would have been like, "You've done more than enough" and
just given her the letter.
Liking all the characters post-exam a ton... Except Ren. She still comes off as a massive bitch. Even triggering her events is annoying.
Norbet is up there in terms of favourite Atelier characters for me.
chrominance
Member
It's totally dumb that
you can't even get the letter until you've already sailed across the lake once and that she puts you through the additional tests as if BUILDING A FUCKING BOAT wasn't enough
she had never thought of building a boat to withstand the waterspout so technically Firis didn't build anything that Ren could not, because Ren had never tried.
in the end the test she gave Firis wasn't so much about ability as intent. From a gameplay perspective it's padding, but from a character motivation perspective it makes sense for someone to ask Firis what she thinks is important about alchemy and why.
I actually like Ren as a fairly straight-laced, normal alchemist character. She lacks a bit in personality, but all the recent Atelier games have this problem with most of the characters.
Kirche is cooler, though.
Might not be the best place to ask (but I could not find a community thread) so!
I want to get this as I've just finished Sophie but I want one for my Vita and I was looking at Atelier Shallie Plus, my friend told me I should start on Ayesha for the Dusk series before I even think of playing Shallie but I wanted people's opinions?
Also how does Firis compare to Sophie? As I've only played Iris and Sophie.
I want to get this as I've just finished Sophie but I want one for my Vita and I was looking at Atelier Shallie Plus, my friend told me I should start on Ayesha for the Dusk series before I even think of playing Shallie but I wanted people's opinions?
Also how does Firis compare to Sophie? As I've only played Iris and Sophie.
chrominance
Member
Here's the community thread but it's pretty dead. This is as good a place to ask as any!
Each trilogy is more of a loosely related set of games, not so much direct sequels. You will miss out on character backstories, though (several Ayesha characters reappear in Shallie). I think you should play Ayesha first, but not so much for story reasons; I just think Ayesha's a way better game.
Firis and Sophie are pretty different. I think the consensus is that Firis is worse, but surprisingly little carries over from Sophie in terms of gameplay structure (for example, Sophie has no time limit whereas Firis does; time flows differently in each game; Firis is semi open-world while Sophie uses an overworld map). I haven't finished Firis yet, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but Sophie feels like the better game to me.
exam with 5 recommendations:: yeah,
BTW what's up with quests? so many bugged, have wrong clues and odd translations. Is it the same on PS4 too?
Also Firis has to be the weakest protagonist in Atelier series, at least I can't remember anybody weaker than her. Mostly they get pretty strong by the end of a game, but not Firis.
I don't see how it is possible even theoretically to win that fight against Sophie first time around, I thought I was prepared: no status effects took hold, and my strongest bombs do no real damage to her and on top of that she fully heals and has three times Firis HP, and does decent damage. I'm pretty sure it's not an easy fight even on second playthrough.
BTW what's up with quests? so many bugged, have wrong clues and odd translations. Is it the same on PS4 too?
Also Firis has to be the weakest protagonist in Atelier series, at least I can't remember anybody weaker than her. Mostly they get pretty strong by the end of a game, but not Firis.
chrominance
Member
I read a theory somewhere (possibly this very thread) that when the localizers got a hold of the text database/spreadsheet, maybe someone screwed up and skipped a line, causing a bunch of translated lines to be applied to the wrong quest steps.
Given some of the sloppiness evident elsewhere, it wouldn't surprise me!
afreaknamedpete
Member
Yeah, if you don't know what traits to look for
Sophie is really hard but she's pretty manageable with the right equips, even on hard mode.
I posted earlier but really you need to stack +HP and defensive traits onto your armor and accessories, and make Void Cores with as high of a quality (like close to 999) as you can to deal the actual damage.
I posted earlier but really you need to stack +HP and defensive traits onto your armor and accessories, and make Void Cores with as high of a quality (like close to 999) as you can to deal the actual damage.
chrominance
Member
So I'm pretty deep into the post-exam period now. The more I play, the more it baffles me just how much of the game is locked behind that deadline. For example, I can't believe they wait so long to give you
. Both of those things would change the pre-exam period pretty drastically. And then there's all the character stuff, which turns out to be quite a lot.
I can see how all this would've been the result of a decision to intentionally close off Firis's world during the exam period to illustrate her growth as an alchemist, but in the end it just feels like a huge artificial constraint in a series that's often better without them. I mean, I'm four months into the post-exam period and there are still plenty of places I can't go without dying pretty much instantly. The game doesn't need more roadblocks!
Firis is pretty good once it opens up, though. I'm getting that classic Atelier vibe again and it's great.
the broomstick and the Corneria doll
I can see how all this would've been the result of a decision to intentionally close off Firis's world during the exam period to illustrate her growth as an alchemist, but in the end it just feels like a huge artificial constraint in a series that's often better without them. I mean, I'm four months into the post-exam period and there are still plenty of places I can't go without dying pretty much instantly. The game doesn't need more roadblocks!
Firis is pretty good once it opens up, though. I'm getting that classic Atelier vibe again and it's great.
Dragonslayer_023
Banned
God the boat making arc lasted an eternity, killed a lot of the game's momentum. Also I had to find a specific ingredient for the first time during it, and that wasn't great. I want to like this game but there are a lot of things that annoy me about it so far.
Completely agree. Like, Liane is turned into an engaging character (via her locked off side-quest), Angriff, Kald, Dion, Kirsche and Norbert are all fleshed out a ton in really interesting ways (in their also locked quests), you can finally access proper dungeons and tackle the absurd amount of super-bosses, you finally have the time to craft a couple of something to level up mastery and make alchemy fun, you can finally access worldwide quick-travel, etc.
It's absurd how much better the second half is / just how much content is sitting there. I did a complete 180 from straight up disliking the game to looking forward to the next one so that I can meet Fritz's wife, see an older Tia and Escha (who is surprisingly well handled in her and Logy's sidequests), maybe see Revy and Julio interact, that sort of thing.
For what it's worth, I stomped her. Granted I was level ~30 and had applied overflowing life to every piece of gear I had so that Firis was sitting at roughly 200 hp.
EDIT: Does anyone know if there's any post-exam Pamela stuff? I've had all of 3 cutscenes with her I think.
this games starting to grow on me a bit now
the whole lightning thing is messing things up a bit though,at this point every time it starts raining I pretty much just instantly go set up an atelier and skip a couple hours to avoid freezes and it really kills the flow of things
the whole lightning thing is messing things up a bit though,at this point every time it starts raining I pretty much just instantly go set up an atelier and skip a couple hours to avoid freezes and it really kills the flow of things
chrominance
Member
(Escha & Logy and Firis spoilers)
Logy in Escha & Logy:
Logy in Firis:
(I know they're not supposed to be the same, just thought it was funny)
Logy in Escha & Logy:
haunted past involving exploding airship engines he designed, eventually gets over it and constructs a new awesome airship with Escha
what is this "flying ship" you wish to construct, Firis, it sounds crazysauce
(I know they're not supposed to be the same, just thought it was funny)
but how? I barely reached level 20 by the time of exam, 21 or 22 for Firis, not sure which, and I didn't have enough time to remake every piece of equipment I had on Firis anyway, and my equipment is still far from good so far into post game.
Granted I was concentrated on making better bombs, what proves to be a lot of work in this game without ability to register stuff and all.
I also have hard time finding high quality materials, but there are some locations I haven't explored fully yet.
In general Firis feels like all around nerfed Atelier game to me, nerfed without any reason too. They are doing this for a long time now, bit by bit, but Firis is on another level entirely.
I really want to like this game, but annoyances are too numerous and inability to fast travel for so long isn't even in top 5 and that one annoys me to no end.
not sure how high quality cores are achievable in the main game, I'm in post game I still have no access to high quality materials, not in any significant numbers anyway, but maybe I missed something.
Thanks for your input!
My partner actually went and got me Shallie Plus sometime after I spoke to him about my lil dilemma haha! Guess I'll be jumping into Shallie next.
I might get Ayesha and Escha Plus if they go on sale on PSN sometime.
Also I just saw on PSN a free DLC for Firis. Is this the entire series songs for free?? That was paid DLC for Sophie, why is it free for Firis? Thanks!
chrominance
Member
Besides (post-exam spoilers for others)
the Corneria doll being locked behind post-exam
Unsure about high quality cores, but cores in general do seem accessible pretty early in the game; if only I'd thought to
make core crystals earlier
Random aside: so I just hit what I think is the endgame for a character sidequest, and dear lord in heaven:
See you in two years.
EDIT:
The Sophie BGM DLC looks free to me as well. Maybe you're thinking of something else, like the costume DLC? Also, yes, it's music from pretty much every Atelier game, including ones that never made it out of Japan. SO GOOD.
As for Ayesha and Escha & Logy Plus, they seem to go on sale at least twice a year. The PSN Golden Week sale in April is usually a good bet. Enjoy Shallie!
Okay, I've played every Atelier game since Rorona but... An items quality makes a difference to its damage? Not just traits?
I've had this quest for roughly 10 hours, and still don't know how to make a Philosopher's Stone. Same thing with Harmonium, etc. Wish they'd at least kept Sophie's book for recipes, so I knew wtf to do for them.
Random aside: so I just hit what I think is the endgame for a character sidequest, and dear lord in heaven:
See you in two years.
I've had this quest for roughly 10 hours, and still don't know how to make a Philosopher's Stone. Same thing with Harmonium, etc. Wish they'd at least kept Sophie's book for recipes, so I knew wtf to do for them.
yeah, Sophie's way of learning recipes was superior, it was a lot of work at times but at least we knew exactly what to do.
Also about those translation mistakes we talked before, some items are ruined by them, as in their effects doesn't appear because of the wrong text ... They really should fix this, I mean really...
I'm also alarmed that I haven't unlocked Elixir yet, I need it badly, I suppose it's likely because I haven't found Dunkelheit yet, anybody knows what location it is in?
and one more thing, anybody knows what exactly caries to new game +?
Get the PSP version of Mana Khemia on PSN. One of the best and my favourite Atelier game. Probably because it doesn't play like the rest of the series.
Of the top my head, money, unlocked costumes, currently equipped battle items and synthesis item levels/proficiency.
And on NG+ every costume has the bonus of every other costume, so you can wear whatever you want and still get the bonus line during synthesis, for example.
Oh and whatever usable item stuff you have placed in your atelier.
Do you know if Corneria doll caries over?
and I can't believe equipped items don't... like that is beyond mean considering how much effort it takes to make any half decent item in this game.
rude, brutal, unfair
I don't think it does. I think only usable items carry over, like, if you put a bomb on the atelier floor, it will be there. But anything that might be considered furniture won't.
Dragonslayer_023
Banned
...they don't? Welp .I mean at least this game even has a NG+, but what is going on.
This game tries my patience like no atelier ever did. I seemingly can't unlock any post game recipes. Guessing what exactly you have to do is exasperating.
And still no fast travel, it's a disaster.
It might be first in history Atelier game I won't 100%. Losing my will to do so real fast.
Why exactly that red stone-gem or whatever recipe didn't appear on my list even if I had an idea for it. It is intended, isn't it?
And still no fast travel, it's a disaster.
It might be first in history Atelier game I won't 100%. Losing my will to do so real fast.
Why exactly that red stone-gem or whatever recipe didn't appear on my list even if I had an idea for it. It is intended, isn't it?
afreaknamedpete
Member
It was like this in Sophie and beyond annoying. You have to chain-synthesize items with quality increasing traits (ie, Super-Quality).
Basically you make, say, a quality 100 Distilled Water. You add the trait Super-Quality. Now you have a 150 quality Distilled Water.
You use that 150Quality Distilled Water as an ingredient in, say, another Distilled Water. Only this time (since the ingredients are higher quality) you end up with a 120 quality Distilled Water. Now add "super-quality" to that and you end up with 180 quality distilled water.
You chain the synthesis over and over and you'll end up with 999 Quality ingredients. It's almost impossible to get most items to 999, since they have ingredients that are not synthesis items, but it's pretty easy (honestly) to get 999 Quality items you use alot of, like Zettel, Neutrilizers and Distilled Waters.
It gets frustrating if you MUST have a 999 Quality end game attack item; that usually requires alot of synthesis and planning. You can easily hit a 400 to 500 quality core before passing the exam, and that's with ingredients I had on hand after getting to Reisenberg w/o extra farming.
chrominance
Member
You'll need to unlock the second fast travel option.
It's on the floating island past Moon Catcher Pass, in the second area. There's a big waterfall, and Firis comments on the awesome flowers she can collect there.
Random question: once you're past the exam, how do you, y'know... end the game? I honestly have no clue what I should be looking for in an ending, besides doing character quests and making better equipment and stuff. It's just one of the many baffling things about this game.
you are much farther in the game than I am so just going off what i've read here but yeah character quests
essentially there's 9 different endings for various characters unlocked by doing their quests and then a 10th "true" ending for unlocking all the other ones
Synthesis chains are in Atelier games since forever.
so yeah, I know this, but there is no time for this in the pre exam time, as it takes a lot of time.
on steam Atelier Firis just got some fanservicy costumes and one more playable character
http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2528/
chrominance
Member
Right, I should clarify. I know how to unlock everyone's endings (in that I know generally what I have to do, not the specifics of each sidequest). What I mean, literally, is how do I tell the game "okay I am done with this playthrough I would like to see all the endings and make my clear save for NG+?" All I've been able to glean so far from GameFAQs is
you go back to Ertona and there's some kind of iron door that you hit to end the game
the door you use to leave Ertona because that's how you leave Ertona to see the rest of the world, and clearly that doesn't trigger any endings
I just wanted to know what I need to do to trigger NG+ immediately, should I decide I want out.
I think you can't do, if I was to judge by previous Atelier games, there should be a final "story" boss, which a game informs you more or less that this is it - the final battle. And you postpone going there until you know you are done.
Not that I know for sure, not that far into postgame yet.
rockman zx
Member
Personally I'm loving it but the fast travel unlocks too late, specially for a game as big as this.
chrominance
Member
Lia sidequest help:
EDIT: Never mind.
All three statues are destroyed, but there's still a sandstorm blocking access to the dragon's nest. What the hell? I've tried sleeping, talking to Lia and talking to Norbert; nothing seems to trigger the next step. When I destroyed the last statue, the Dragon's Nest2 quest cleared, but I wasn't given a new quest to replace it. Weirdly, I also got the Leave It to Firis! achievement, which is for finishing chain quests, implying that that quest line is done? But clearly it's not. What am I supposed to do?
EDIT: Never mind.
The statues RESPAWN, so you have to destroy all three in one go without warping or returning to the atelier, I think. Not difficult at all, just kind of annoying.
If you're still having trouble with unlocking an ending - once you completely clear one of the characters side-quests, Firis will talk about finally figuring out what she wants to do. You'll get a quest that asks you to go back to the Ertona door, at which point interacting with it triggers the typical Atelier ending questions ('With a man', 'With a woman', 'Go at it alone').
Also, Angriff's ending is absolutely hilarious.
Also, Angriff's ending is absolutely hilarious.
chrominance
Member
Finally got that bit to unlock, I guess the game just keeps you in limbo until you unlock any of the endings and then you can finish the game. I'm still not sure what counts as the "normal" non-character ending, though.
I kind of assume it's the "Work on alchemy!" ending, but that came as a result of finishing Meklet and Atomina's quest chain, so maybe that's actually a character ending. Also, what a low-key final quest if that is the way to get to a normal ending, even given how low-key the franchise usually is.
as far as world goes it looks much better once you get outside.
As for performance, it gets worse when you enter an open world, obviously.
but also I liked Sophie game much more than Firis.
Aaaand platinum complete.
Game is kind of a drag until you complete the alchemy exam imo (so the first year). After that, it becomes much more of a typical Atelier game.
Overall, ranks somewhere around the middle to lower end of the franchise spectrum for me. Liked it more than both Ayesha and Totori, but not much else.
Game is kind of a drag until you complete the alchemy exam imo (so the first year). After that, it becomes much more of a typical Atelier game.
Overall, ranks somewhere around the middle to lower end of the franchise spectrum for me. Liked it more than both Ayesha and Totori, but not much else.
I can't agree, there is nothing typical about Firis as an atelier game. I wanna like it, but I just can't. It annoys me, disrespects me and doesn't care about my time at all. Atelier games usually are pretty time consuming to 100%, but Firis feels like all work and no fun and that work never ends, because you can't register most used items, so you have to make them again and again and again, so you run out of materials and have to go gather them again, it's really neverending cycle of misery and boredom. Now considering you need items with certain traits and certain elemental values and sizes and high quality, this alone can drive anyone crazy.
And it is such a pity, it needs very little tweaking to be a good and interesting game: registering items, fast travel, bigger initial storage space, earlier item refiling ability, translation that is applied in a way that makes sense and doesn't ruin some items and some other small tweaks. Instead they decided it to make a slog-chore of a game. Why?
chrominance
Member
FWIW, I found that performance in Ertona was actually slightly worse than most of the open-world areas, which was a weird surprise. There are two or three places where the framerate just tanks, though (some of the heavily forested areas, but oddly not others). Wait until you get to the first outdoor area, I think that's more representative of typical performance.
I find post-game to be a lot closer to traditional Atelier games than the first part is. I'm finally doing that thing where I sit at the cauldron forever trying to match prerequisites up and figuring out how to arrange ingredients properly and how to get all the traits I want onto items. That stuff, at least, is pretty much the same as it ever was, once you get past the exam and don't have to worry so much about running out of stuff/time.
I'm also a bit confused by one specific part here:
you know you unlock refills in the post-game, right? It happened really early for me after the exam and I thought you were in post-exam too so I figured you'd know about this. If you just mean that you don't unlock it before the exam, never mind me!
underwater dungeons
My biggest beef with the later parts of Firis are more that it doesn't give you enough direction at times, and it's still a pain in the ass that you need to level up specific recipes in order to get the most out of them. But even then, once you figure out the Precision Instrument Set trick, that's not so bad, and anyways in most cases you don't need more than a silver star in any recipe to get full traits on everything, as long as you use reactive catalysts or that one stone whose name escapes me at the moment but lets you get +1 of any item and +2 traits.
Also, I should really stop posting in here, I just realized half the posts on the last page are mine...
I think their problem is with the lack of an item registration system (where you make an especially awesome material and then have shops sell it back to you), and not with refills. I was really surprised they didn't give Nanna or Pamela the ability at their shops.
chrominance
Member
Oh, right, my bad. For some reason I had "register this item and we'll sell it back to you" and "we refill your equipped items automatically" equated in my head. FWIW the franchise has gone back and forth about this; I think all of Arland and Ayesha was registration, then Escha & Logy and Shallie were refills, then Sophie had BOTH (which I totally forgot, I thought it was just registration), and now Firis is refills.
afreaknamedpete
Member
It sorta makes sense to have item registration and purchase in the time limited ones, but it's such a simple QOL improvement that I really can't see why they took it away in this iteration.
I like that the Atelier series does try new things, but they keep backpedaling on stuff that actually worked. Give me item registration back, give me 2D portraits back, and stop nerfing alchemy traits.