Before I start writing the review:I have been playing Atelier games for almost 10 years now. So this is not me having bought a random game and then thinking "OMG what is this franchise, this ****". I have played Rorona, Totori, Meruru, Ayesha, Escha/Logy, Shallie, Sophie, Firis and Lydie/Suelle, with all of them having gotten more than 100 hours of my life and all of them bringing me to not only liking their respective game but getting the Platinum trophy. I am waiting for an Atelier game every year. But here I have to say - thank God that there will be Atelier Lulua because this spin-off is an insult to the atelier franchise. My backcover says for the 20th anniversary it is supposed to be something special. That alone in my opinion is ridiculing the franchise becase celebrating the franchise with something like that is a no-go. Before I start critiscizing the gameplay itself: I dislike how since Lydie/Suelle not even money is invested in English voice over anymore. Apparently the franchise is no longer trusted enough to spend some money in localising it. The problem is not that they are Japanese, I know the language. But I want to be able to switch between by games' languages and play in English or Japanese whenever I wanted. It already bothered me in the older games that the text never went beyond English but whatever - English is the global language so fine by me. No to the game itself: I got pretty angry very fast after I started the game. Long story is fine but the game did not even bother for a while even looking like a game. It starts of and continues with way to trivial conversations and then when it goes into being a game it just gives you the option to place some things, choose some things and confirm then. Does that sound normal? Well, it does. That is normal for a game. The problem is that it hardly goes beyond that. I cannot believe this game does not give you the option to directly control your character in a normal environment, let you run around, interact with your surroundings, use a main menu whenever you want meanwhile, et cetera. When the characters started gathering items it felt like a total joke. Wandering a path automatically where you can only choose if you want to run or not - why do that? The game already has character models and it has some places. Make them accessible to an actual human being who wants to wander around with the character he is supposed to play. The game does not even need to be what people consider "open world" nowadays. I dislike that anyway. But give me the least thing I need: A character that can wander around. A game where I can walk around, open menus whenever I want, etc. FFXIII in 2009 when it came out in Japan was hated for being so restrictive (which I never really could agree with in the same way people thought) but this takes it to the next level. The combat system is the only thing that makes Nelke feel like some sort of RPG where you can do what you want. What does it help me that i can unlock new stuff when even that is just the character automatically walking or running when I press the button but not me really doing anything? When Marie appeared I was sort of happy because the story started getting a bit more interesting and that is the thing: I want a story about the alchemists. But I do not want to suffer through the gameplay. I have played Interactive Movie games and even they allow you to wander around and interact with the area. I have yet to play any further but from what I saw the game's canonicity is even questionable which is unfortunate because spin-offs and side-stories are not necessarily non-canonical but this game looks like it was not even written to be thought of as canonical when it comes to the characters'presentations, taking into account their own games, etc. (I might be wrong about that, if I am wrong about it, then that at least is one more positive thing because I love the expanded lore of the Atelier games and thus the continuity being kept intact). I don't even know what else to say about this game because I am so disappointed. Maybe I will play it bit by bit now that I know that I can expect a game with nice characters and music as always for the franchise but no proper RPG in the way as you would think. But even playing it bit by bit and hoping for the next nice story bit of the alchemists could be really slow because of how it plays. This is not the game the Atelier franchise should have gotten for celebration and what I hate the most is that I am so disappointed about something, in this case a franchise, that i like.

I get that this game has a lot of problems but as a long time fan it was really good to see all the old characters of the series in this game. Felt , Logy , Sterk , Rorona seeing them in a game made me feel very nostalgic. I enjoyed this game.

I really wanted to like this game, so I paid 60 dollars despite some bad reviews.... I figured I would overlook some things since it has town building, relationship building, alchemy, and more. Let me tell you-do not buy this game! It's not that it's a deviation from the other titles in the series; it's just a horrible game. It is akin to a mobile game as far as gameplay, graphics and mechanics. It fails to deliver in every aspect. For example, when you go to gather resources for your stores you select a location then you automatically walk in a linear path as you randomly pick up items. The only option you have is to run instead of walk, but if you run you cant get any items! The game is broken up into two sections; both sections are essentially menus (weekdays and holidays). You are supposed to gather supplies, interact with people (a quick cheesy interaction with no choices), and read about tasks you are supposed to do. The other day you build and setup what you are selling at your store. Don't think that you will just enjoy the town building part, because it is very simple and extremely limited. You cant even walk around your town, instead you can see a quick pan over the town. You have very few choices of what and where to build. Much of the game feels like you are just going through the motions from one point to the next. I hope that by buying this I can at least help someone decide not to waste their money too. This is honestly the worst game I have ever bought because I let my desire for a world building game cloud my judgement. I wouldn't spend 10 dollars on it even if it came down that much. This must have been a rush job-look how quick Koei Techmo is releasing games for the series-it's a shame how greedy they are (same company that asks for a 92 dollar incomplete season pass for DOA).