Honestly had a lot more fun than I was expecting to have. Had the game on my wishlist for a while and eventually just said '♥♥♥♥ it we ball' and ended up having a great ~35 hours. If it's your first atelier game, also a pretty good purchase, as it was mine and I went in knowing almost nothing and still had fun.
Read PSA in Extras, it's very important.

- Alchemy/Synthesis: While it may look boring, it's actually very in-depth. All the items you find have different elements, values, effects, and traits, which can you use to selectively make some really good items. At the start it may feel like you're struggling with the limited amount of times you can slot items in, but later on you'll unlock the ability to upgrade further, enhance, and even duplicate items. There's honestly a lot of possibilites for what gear you can make and while the endgame is essentially just character's best weapon + same armor and same 2 accessories, the way there is a lot more fun as you can mix-and-match with all the items you unlock.
- Combat: You've got the classic RPG combat elements with a limited amount of active party slots, all the standard stats, and skills, and yet instead of combat being turn-based, it's in real time. It may sound weird, but you'll adjust to it quickly, as it's not that complicated to understand if you have experience with RPGs in general, and the tutorials do a sufficient enough job of explaining.
- Exploration: The segmented open world works really well for this kind of game, as if you need a specific thing, you can just look at your material guide and go 'Oh it's in the Forest which I can fast travel right to'. Additionally, there's not an overabundance of areas, which allows them to make it so as you unlock new recipes and tools, you end up going back to areas from before and finding new materials from them.
- Graphics: It's no hyper realistic life sim, but it definitely has that 'anime RPG' style which fits well. Sometimes it can be a bit bland in a small area, but overall it's good.
- Difficulty: From the start you get a decent range of difficulty settings, which can be switched between at literally any point in the game, but you also unlock 2 higher difficulties upon first clear of the game. Gear can have incredible scaling if you do it correctly, making tough bosses easy, with only a little bit of planning. So really you can play the game however you want, whether it's scale up to max and rush through, or take it back and casually stroll by with the minimum needed.

- Completion Experience: Most of the achievements you'll naturally unlock from beating the game, but the last part is to essentially complete everything in the game. Reach Battle Lv. 50, Max Alchemy Level, Unlock All Recipes, Complete all Side Quests, etc. I wouldn't say it's an mindless grind, but if you don't want to put in 2 hours just making bulk amounts of one item for the last few Alchemy levels, it might not be for you.
- Price: If you're just playing through the story with minimal gear and nothing else, the $60 base price is too much, but if you spend your time exploring, gathering, synthesizing, and all that, it's worth it. If you're still aprehensive about the price though, it does go on semifrequent sales[steamdb.info].
- Story/Lore: The story is very self-contained. Essentially every question asked from the very beginning is answered by the end. I wouldn't say it was also a top-tier, 10/10 story, but it wasn't bad either. The reason this is in the person-dependent category is because some people may like to theorize untold parts of a game's story, which again, doesn't have much of a place here.

- Alchemy/Synthesis (SOMETIMES): The major focal point of the game, alchemy, can be a bit annoying at times. First off, the auto-add is essentially useless. I won't elaborate on that since it'll make this section the longest, but both the low and high quality options have cons. The other annoying part is that sometimes the game will tell you that you're able to make an item (it's name won't be red), but in actuality, you have enough materials to put the minimum amount into the first loop (item slot) and synthesize with literally no effects.

- PSA: Please DO NOT play this with keyboard and mouse, get a controller, even if you have to borrow one. The keyboard optimization is terrible. For reference the default equivalent of right bumper (the 'run' button) is E.
- New Game +: Once you beat the story you can either continue your existing save to better your gear and challenge some post-game content, or convert it to a NG+ game, both options of which unlock 2 new higher levels of difficulty for a higher challenge.

Honestly had a lot more fun than I was expecting to have. Had the game on my wishlist for a while and eventually just said 'fuck it we ball' and ended up having a great ~35 hours. If it's your first atelier game, also a pretty good purchase, as it was mine and I went in knowing almost nothing and still had fun. Read PSA in Extras, it's very important. [h1]Pro(s)[/h1] - [b]Alchemy/Synthesis[/b]: While it may look boring, it's actually very in-depth. All the items you find have different elements, values, effects, and traits, which can you use to selectively make some really good items. At the start it may feel like you're struggling with the limited amount of times you can slot items in, but later on you'll unlock the ability to upgrade further, enhance, and even duplicate items. There's honestly a lot of possibilites for what gear you can make and while the endgame is essentially just character's best weapon + same armor and same 2 accessories, the way there is a lot more fun as you can mix-and-match with all the items you unlock. - [b]Combat[/b]: You've got the classic RPG combat elements with a limited amount of active party slots, all the standard stats, and skills, and yet instead of combat being turn-based, it's in real time. It may sound weird, but you'll adjust to it quickly, as it's not that complicated to understand if you have experience with RPGs in general, and the tutorials do a sufficient enough job of explaining. - [b]Exploration[/b]: The segmented open world works really well for this kind of game, as if you need a specific thing, you can just look at your material guide and go 'Oh it's in the Forest which I can fast travel right to'. Additionally, there's not an overabundance of areas, which allows them to make it so as you unlock new recipes and tools, you end up going back to areas from before and finding new materials from them. - [b]Graphics[/b]: It's no hyper realistic life sim, but it definitely has that 'anime RPG' style which fits well. Sometimes it can be a bit bland in a small area, but overall it's good. - [b]Difficulty[/b]: From the start you get a decent range of difficulty settings, which can be switched between at literally any point in the game, but you also unlock 2 higher difficulties upon first clear of the game. Gear can have incredible scaling if you do it correctly, making tough bosses easy, with only a little bit of planning. So really you can play the game however you want, whether it's scale up to max and rush through, or take it back and casually stroll by with the minimum needed. [h1]Pro/Con (Person-Dependent)[/h1] - [b]Completion Experience[/b]: Most of the achievements you'll naturally unlock from beating the game, but the last part is to essentially complete everything in the game. Reach Battle Lv. 50, Max Alchemy Level, Unlock All Recipes, Complete all Side Quests, etc. I wouldn't say it's an mindless grind, but if you don't want to put in 2 hours just making bulk amounts of one item for the last few Alchemy levels, it might not be for you. - [b]Price[/b]: If you're just playing through the story with minimal gear and nothing else, the $60 base price is too much, but if you spend your time exploring, gathering, synthesizing, and all that, it's worth it. If you're still aprehensive about the price though, it does go on [url=https://steamdb.info/app/1121560/]semifrequent sales[/url]. - [b]Story/Lore[/b]: The story is very self-contained. Essentially every question asked from the very beginning is answered by the end. I wouldn't say it was also a top-tier, 10/10 story, but it wasn't bad either. The reason this is in the person-dependent category is because some people may like to theorize untold parts of a game's story, which again, doesn't have much of a place here. [h1]Con(s)[/h1] - [b]Alchemy/Synthesis (SOMETIMES)[/b]: The major focal point of the game, alchemy, can be a bit annoying at times. First off, the auto-add is essentially useless. I won't elaborate on that since it'll make this section the longest, but both the low and high quality options have cons. The other annoying part is that sometimes the game will tell you that you're able to make an item (it's name won't be red), but in actuality, you have enough materials to put the minimum amount into the first loop (item slot) and synthesize with literally no effects. [h1]Extras[/h1] - [b]PSA[/b]: Please [b]DO NOT[/b] play this with keyboard and mouse, get a controller, even if you have to borrow one. The keyboard optimization is terrible. For reference the default equivalent of right bumper (the 'run' button) is E. - [b]New Game +[/b]: Once you beat the story you can either continue your existing save to better your gear and challenge some post-game content, or convert it to a NG+ game, both options of which unlock 2 new higher levels of difficulty for a higher challenge.