Game: Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream
Genre: RPG
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows), PS4)
Developers | Publishers: Gust | KOEI TECMO
Age Rating: US T | EU 12+
Price: US $59.99 | UK £49.99 | EU € 59,99
Release Date: February 25th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to KOEI TECMO.
It’s that time again, time for a new Atelier game! Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is the 23rd game in the main series. Developer Gust has, over the years, created a special Atelier universe where every game has its own place. Atelier Sophie 2 is part of the Mysterious series and looking at the timeline, it is set between Atelier Sophie and the Mysterious Book and Atelier Firis and the Mysterious Journey.
The Continued Story of Sophie and Plachta
Back to the story of Sophie and Plachta. In the first game, we got to know Sophie Neuenmuller who lives in a town called Kirchen Bell, and tries to practice alchemy. Tries to, because ever since her grandmother passed away, orphan Sophie doesn’t have anyone to teach her. She’s often lonely until she finds a book.
What kind of a tree is that? It’s huge!
A mysterious book, that flies through the air and can talk! After finding the book that introduces itself as Plachta, her life changes. Plachta teaches her some serious Alchemy and when they find a way to incorporate Plachta’s being into a doll, they leave Kirchen Bell together. Their goal is for Sophie to become a licensed Alchemist.
It’s not mandatory to have played the first game in order to start with Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream, just choose “Story So Far” on the title screen, that will get you up to speed about Sophie’s adventures in the first game.
The pair discovers a huge tree identical to one that Plachta had seen in a dream, and as they get closer, a mysterious vortex pulls them inside. Sophie wakes up alone in a curious new world called Erde Wiege, and it’s not long before she hears about an alchemist named Plachta that lives on the outskirts of town. Could this be the same Plachta? She looks different, she is much younger and she doesn’t recognise Sophie. Pretty soon the girls pair up to discover what mysterious Erde Wiege holds.
As always, this Atelier game has several components: battling monsters while you explore the lands to find new ingredients for your alchemy. and in turn, this alchemy makes things like medicine and better weapons to conquer stronger enemies. Meanwhile, there are mysteries to unravel. And as ever, Gust uses every new game to try out new things in these elements.
Exploring Erde Wiege
Erde Wiege is a world that is formed by the goddess Elvira. She listens to people’s most passionate things they dream of, and if those dreams appeal to her, she brings them over to Erde Wiege to try to make their wishes come true. The people who live in Erde Wiege are from different time periods in real life, and they all live in the town of Roytale.
Sophie meets several new faces. To start with Alette Claretie, dreams of one day finding a treasure that can only be found in Erde Wiege. Olias, who says he’s the world’s best bodyguard, and Pirka, who runs a shop and can even copy items without using alchemy. Making Sophie think of Corneria in Kirchen Bell, as she had the same ability. As the story takes off, Sophie meets Ramizel, the mediator for the people living in Erde Wiege. And, of course, the Plachta that lives in Erde Wiege.
Sophie starts out with just her staff to forage for items in the field, but soon you can make a sickle, hammer and fishing rod through Alchemy to find even more things you can use in your recipes. In Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream some gathering spots, called Major Gathering Spots, have little mini-games attached to them.
By stopping the spinning wheel at the right time, you will earn a bonus corresponding to the slot you stopped on. Very tricky to do in the Major Fishing Spots. Personally, I felt this was an add-on that I could have done without, but the games were okay to do.
Like in the last Atelier Ryza games, there are many townspeople about with speech bubbles above them. Although most add chatter that doesn’t really serve a purpose, time taken to chat with them can be profitable as they might give you some nice ingredients.
Synthesizing on a Grid
Surprisingly, Gust stayed true to the way doing alchemy works in the Mysterious series of games. Materials are placed into the panel slots to create new items. Taking care to place your ingredients in the corresponding element (fire, ice, lightning, wind or light), various effects and quality levels can be reached. Filling out entire rows, and linking ingredients of the same element together works to make better items too. Adding various panels and catalysts to choose from makes this puzzle even nicer.
What’s new is that this time Plachta can do alchemy as well. She has specific recipes that she can make, just like Sophie has. The ideas for new items come to Sophie while she is going about her business. When recipe ideas form, you get tips on how to unlock the recipe.
Another new addition is the use of Assist skills from the characters that accompany you. What kind of skill is added depends on the person, and just how much of their skills unlock depends on Sophie’s level of friendship. So aside from the main storyline, personal storylines progress too.
I like this way of doing Alchemy, fun to work on an item to get it high enough in quality or give it just the right elements. For the more mundane items, you can use the auto-add feature, saving you some time and giving decent results.
True Turn-Based Battles
In battles, the two Atelier Ryza games Gust took a detour from the turn-based fighting in the older games and made it much more action-based. While many of you will love that, it isn’t my favourite form of fighting. Instead, I love the true turn-based fighting that makes a return in Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. Time to contemplate your next move, while there are enough added elements to make it interesting.
Your party has six fighters in it, three in front and three in the back, to form two teams that co-operate in multi-linked turn-based battles. When Sophie encounters enemies in the field, the battle begins instantly without any load times or separate screens. This is a first for the series, a nice feature.
Twin action is an ability that is introduced, where party members in the front and back row can choose to attack together. This uses less MP allowing you to do more damage. Supportive Guard Action is introduced as well. Members in the back row can protect a character you have in the front row. For all of this, you need Technical Points that you accumulate while fighting. If that gauge reaches its max a special move called Dual Triggers is performed.
There are more new things in the battle that are introduced like some enemies are covered in an aura, making it more difficult to deal damage. All of this makes for interesting encounters with all kinds of monsters. The animation is, as we have come to love in the Atelier series, excellent.
Controlling the Weather
Now wouldn’t that be something in real life? In Roytale the sun is always shining and in some “dungeons” it’s always raining. I guess it makes sense when you know the goddess Elvira taylors Erde Wiege after people’s most precious dreams, weather conditions included.
Sophie and Plachta can synthesize sun or rain stones to feed the weather devices you find in several areas. This makes exploring even more fun. A piece of land you couldn’t reach before? Having the sun come out makes the landscape go “woosh” ( Alette’s words, not mine). Suddenly you can explore that area where the river used to run. Making it rain makes other areas accessible or it creates new fishing spots.
You can also use this weather control in battle, as you can create favourable conditions that weaken a monster’s aura.
Visuals, Sound and Photo Mode
The visuals, as we have come to expect, are ace. It’s a charming blend combining the art of the Mysterious series with the high-quality graphics and animations featured in 2021’s Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy.
The soundtrack is lovely too, I’ve been checking to see if it’s released somewhere, like the one for Atelier Ryza. Should I find it, I can then have the one for Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream running non-stop like Ryza’s while going about on my daily business.
You can also use the built-in Photo Mode if you want to capture your favourite moments from the game. With the beautiful environments in the background, the spectacular way our party members are dressed and the careful designs of the monsters the Photo Mode is worthwhile to play around with.
Conclusion
There really is too much to tell about Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. As always, new abilities and additions keep unfolding, even when you are many hours into the game. Like greenhouses to sow seeds tied into the weather conditions. I haven’t finished the main storyline yet, but I’m having a stellar time with Sophie and Plachta.
Enough mystery to make me want to push on, waiting for a happy reunion and exploring to my heart’s content. Meanwhile, I dive into lovely visuals and a stellar soundtrack. Once again it will be difficult to decide which my all-time favourite Atelier game is!
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
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