Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Review

From Preview to Playthrough: Atelier Yumia’s Expanded Experience

You naturally play as an alchemist in a world where alchemy and alchemists are illegal. You have been selected into an expedition squad to discover the many secrets around the Aladissian Empire as Yumia, the daughter of an atelier who taught her everything.

An open-world worthy of your time

Aladiss is an open environment that begs to be explored. The map presents itself to you in four different sections following a brief introduction that is actually from far later in the game. One of the main objectives of exploration is to eliminate the dense fog that covers a large portion of these regions, which are known as Manabound Areas.

For almost all of her activities, Yumia has an endless supply of Mana Energy, but in these Manabound Areas, it runs out. As any good open-world should feel, it is easy to get distracted when trying to find the source of the Mana. However, by mostly staying on the main path in order to clear it, I rarely felt as though my Mana was about to run out. But in the event that this occurs, fighting will be debuffed.

There are many side tasks to complete in addition to the main story’s straightforward quest format. Since they mostly become fetch quests, it’s unclear if these are generated at random. Furthermore, because of the enormous number of resources you must be gathering in a game where you are strongly pushed to gather as many as you can, many of these can be turned in virtually instantaneously. Nevertheless, they are worthwhile because they provide a large number of skill points for skill tree upgrades.

Those who have played Breath of the Wild or Genshin Impact will undoubtedly enjoy the exploration element. Although open-realms aren’t brand-new to the Atelier series, this is one of the more entertaining worlds we’ve visited in a while.

Two of Atelier Yumia’s primary tenets are exploration and battle, in addition to synthesising and constructing, which is unique for the series.

A more approachable combat system

The turn-based gameplay of previous Atelier games has given way to a more action-focused combat system that doesn’t completely ignore turn-based gameplay.

You have the option of fighting at close quarters or at a distance using magical talents when you engage in combat. This usually depends on your opponent’s weakest point because you can stun them by launching enough assaults that match their weakness. Now, an item that Yumia has made and equipped can be used to its fullest potential by exploiting an enemy’s elemental weakness.

You will spend less time waiting for cooldowns to end as you level up since you will be able to use your attacks more often and discover new ones. Even during the boss battles, I seldom ever encountered any problems on Normal difficulty, despite the fact that fights may be rather intense with a lot going on on screen at once.

Longtime admirers of Atelier might not be accustomed to these in and of themselves; they are a legitimate adversary. Although they don’t present as frequently as other JRPG adversaries, they do contribute to the plot in ways other than exploration.

Starting a battle is simple because enemies are visible on the world map. But it might be annoying when the nature of the altercation isn’t obvious. You simply battle the adversary you have encountered in a typical encounter. These could be split encounters or rumble encounters. By combining their lives and stun defenses, more foes can be defeated at once during a rumble encounter. These are acceptable, and a lesson at least explains them to you.

Conversely, Split Encounters divides your three-person team into different groups, each of whom battles a single monster. You are never given a thorough explanation of these or the reasons behind them, save than a notification at the top of the screen. Additionally, there is no narrative justification for your group splitting up for these battles, and given that they take a lot longer than a typical combat, this is just not acceptable.

Like any other JRPG party, yours grows over time, and each member has their own baggage. Yumia begins with the brothers Viktor and Isla, whose motivations for going on the adventure are explained very early on. Although Isla is far more accepting of Yumia’s alchemical skills than her brother is, it is still fun to watch their relationship develop over time, even if it is currently a well-traveled route.

Nina and Rutger arrive later and aren’t only there to fill in the numbers. In addition to being able to handle conflict, they both have unique personalities that add a personal touch to their journey together. Last but not least is Lenja, a non-human member of the expedition crew who is once again distinctive enough to maintain curiosity.

Super-Sized Synthesise

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land’s third pillar, which deals with synthesis and creation, serves as the series’ central tenet. I was initially expecting lotions and potions of all types when I heard Yumia was an alchemist, but she is capable of much more than just creating offensive and defensive concoctions. Yumia can help with everything, including weapons, armor, crafting supplies, plot-specific goods, and once a vital part of what was practically a motorcycle.

Simple synthesis is new to the series and may be used to maintain your bag full with fishing lures, medical supplies, and other basic stuff. For those who like to delve into the essence of the Atelier games, the core synthesis is still available.

It would take too long to describe what is required here for routine synthesis. In essence, it entails cores, resonance zones, quality components, and mana extraction; if you want to maximize the potential of an item, it may take some time to create. In actuality, however, after you have done it a few times, it is quite simple to follow. which is fortunate for you because you will be doing it frequently enough. At the very least, you will lose out on maximizing fighting proficiencies if you limit yourself to using it for fundamental story devices.

When synthesising, it’s fascinating to observe how different elements might impact your cores, and you can certainly delve into the specifics if you’d want. You can choose whether you want premium, minimal, or somewhere in between when you auto-add ingredients for people who are eager to get started.

The Atelier series is obviously trying to make itself more appealing to a larger audience with this, the improved combat, and the straightforward synthesis. And from the perspective of that broader audience, it’s all really encouraging.

A New Pillar For The Series

The new building mechanisms even exhibit this approachability. You will find small locations to improve upon as you clear out Manabound locations, making it easier for the expedition crew to traverse the terrain. Although your initial buildable items will be rather simple, there are a ton of other things you can make using global recipes.

Additionally, you can be really creative with it, even if each site has a fairly small amount of room. If that’s not your thing, however, you can use certain criteria to randomly construct structures from the pool you’ve unlocked. Unfortunately, this random generation has no interior design skills, so unless you spend the time decorating it, anything you create appears like an ugly outside shell. You don’t have to, but your pioneering effort will suffer if you do this.

That’s capitalized because there’s another mechanic, and I’ll admit that I worked on it for a little too long, if only to watch the numbers increase. However, there are also some worthwhile benefits to be obtained. As you fulfill the requirements in each region, new blueprints or crafting materials become available. It doesn’t necessarily have to be done for you to advance the plot; once more, you receive what you put in.

A Stellar Xbox Debut for the Atelier Series

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Land is a fantastic debut on Xbox platforms. It has a great appearance, and the powerful blend of battle, alchemy, and exploration all work incredibly well together. No two play sessions are the identical, although occasionally it seems like the plot beats are a little too disjointed and the globe map is intimidating to look at.

This open-world game has the ability to immediately grab your interest before presenting you with a ton of distractions; before you realize it, two hours have gone by. Discovering every inch of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is what will keep you playing, not so much the plot or the crafting components this beautifully realised world.