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Preview: Atelier Yumia Shifts the Series to Action and Building
I find the Atelier series is one of the most fascinating JRPG franchises, especially as of late. I always knew about the series, but never took a dive into it until re-releases and ports appeared on the Switch, starting with Atelier Rorona. Atelier Yumia marks an even larger shift in direction for the line than the Ryza trilogy, as Gust focuses entirely on action and going with a more mainstream approach that I could see as appealing to a larger group of players. I recently had the chance to sit down to play about four and a half hours or so of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land. The bulk of my demo involved starting from the very beginning of the adventure. However, I also had the chance to check out a late-game save towards the end. Right off the bat, Atelier Yumia is visually very different from the previous titles. Sure, at times it features the colorful nature of the other games, especially with the anime-like character designs. However, it also showcases a more mature and graphically detailed world. It is more appealing to look at and it runs incredibly well, especially as an open-world game with almost no load times when fast-traveling. Image via Koei Tecmo Yumia herself is also seems to be one of the more well-designed protagonists in the series, and admittedly an instant favorite for me. She is passionate about alchemy and living her life for her mother, which makes her a slightly quieter, but more appealing, character overall. The beginning of Atelier Yumia sees her and her adorable companion Flammi traverse a mini-dungeon seemingly partway through the story. This immediate thrust into the action ensures you get a glimpse of the party members to come, alongside some of the villains and threats. Speaking of which, one of the notable features of the plot of this latest Atelier title is the addition of dedicated villains. Without spoiling too much, they certainly left an impression on me in these early moments, as well as later on, due their impressive designs and story beats. This climactic introduction acts as a functional tutorial before going back in time and showing the moments that led up to that moment. For newcomers and veterans alike, the significant change here in the tutorial involves the combat. Gone are the days of turn-based or ATB-like systems found in entries like Atelier Ryza. Now it is time for essentially what is pure action-RPG combat. Atelier Yumia has a pretty unique approach combat. When you enter a battle, the gameplay shifts to an almost arena-like system. It is completely different from other arena combat mechanics, like in the Tales of series. Instead, there is a circle that envelops the enemy(s). You can dodge, maneuver, and shift 360 degrees around them. Image via Koei Tecmo The enemy will attack you directly and perform AOE (area-of-effect) attacks. These AOEs often affect a quadrant or two of the circle. You then have to be always on your toes, ready to dodge to another part of the circle at any time. All the while you have up to four skills available to you. You can mash the face buttons to use these skills over and over until they are on cooldown for your attacks. There are also dodges, heals, and even items you can use. In fact, the action combat becomes an intriguing dance. You might use a few skills, dodge, and then switch to using item attacks you synthesized previously to fill the gap while you wait for skills to come back. Overall, there is surprisingly a lot to the combat and it feels like a drastic departure. This is by far the most complex and significant change for the series. To be honest, I could see some existing fans not vibing with this new gameplay style. For me, personally, I am always a fan of the pure turn-based combat. Initially, this combat put me off a good bit. As the time went on (about three or so hours in), I started to actually enjoy the combat. While I still prefer turn-based, this is a solid system if you know what you’re getting into. I get the feeling this action combat is here to make the games more appealing to a mainstream audience, which it succeeds in so far. Image via Koei Tecmo Outside of combat, exploration is by far my favorite in the series yet. The open-world is so much more engaging and lively with content to see and do than my time with the Ryza trilogy. Every few steps, there is a new question mark to uncover on the map. It could be a locked treasure chest to use a minigame to unlock. Or it could be a fierce mini-boss-like foe. Heck, it could even be a new campsite to build around. Yes, I did say building. Building is the other major shift for this series. Outside of spin-off games, the series has not focused this heavily on building as much as this one. There are major building points and bases all throughout the open world to uncover. Here, you have a space that is wholly your own to customize. You can build houses and buildings from scratch or use preset
I find the Atelier series is one of the most fascinating JRPG franchises, especially as of late. I always knew about the series, but never took a dive into it until re-releases and ports appeared on the Switch, starting with Atelier Rorona. Atelier Yumia marks an even larger shift in direction for the line than the Ryza trilogy, as Gust focuses entirely on action and going with a more mainstream approach that I could see as appealing to a larger group of players.
I recently had the chance to sit down to play about four and a half hours or so of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land. The bulk of my demo involved starting from the very beginning of the adventure. However, I also had the chance to check out a late-game save towards the end.
Right off the bat, Atelier Yumia is visually very different from the previous titles. Sure, at times it features the colorful nature of the other games, especially with the anime-like character designs. However, it also showcases a more mature and graphically detailed world. It is more appealing to look at and it runs incredibly well, especially as an open-world game with almost no load times when fast-traveling.
Yumia herself is also seems to be one of the more well-designed protagonists in the series, and admittedly an instant favorite for me. She is passionate about alchemy and living her life for her mother, which makes her a slightly quieter, but more appealing, character overall. The beginning of Atelier Yumia sees her and her adorable companion Flammi traverse a mini-dungeon seemingly partway through the story.
This immediate thrust into the action ensures you get a glimpse of the party members to come, alongside some of the villains and threats. Speaking of which, one of the notable features of the plot of this latest Atelier title is the addition of dedicated villains. Without spoiling too much, they certainly left an impression on me in these early moments, as well as later on, due their impressive designs and story beats.
This climactic introduction acts as a functional tutorial before going back in time and showing the moments that led up to that moment. For newcomers and veterans alike, the significant change here in the tutorial involves the combat. Gone are the days of turn-based or ATB-like systems found in entries like Atelier Ryza. Now it is time for essentially what is pure action-RPG combat.
Atelier Yumia has a pretty unique approach combat. When you enter a battle, the gameplay shifts to an almost arena-like system. It is completely different from other arena combat mechanics, like in the Tales of series. Instead, there is a circle that envelops the enemy(s). You can dodge, maneuver, and shift 360 degrees around them.
The enemy will attack you directly and perform AOE (area-of-effect) attacks. These AOEs often affect a quadrant or two of the circle. You then have to be always on your toes, ready to dodge to another part of the circle at any time. All the while you have up to four skills available to you. You can mash the face buttons to use these skills over and over until they are on cooldown for your attacks.
There are also dodges, heals, and even items you can use. In fact, the action combat becomes an intriguing dance. You might use a few skills, dodge, and then switch to using item attacks you synthesized previously to fill the gap while you wait for skills to come back.
Overall, there is surprisingly a lot to the combat and it feels like a drastic departure. This is by far the most complex and significant change for the series. To be honest, I could see some existing fans not vibing with this new gameplay style. For me, personally, I am always a fan of the pure turn-based combat.
Initially, this combat put me off a good bit. As the time went on (about three or so hours in), I started to actually enjoy the combat. While I still prefer turn-based, this is a solid system if you know what you’re getting into. I get the feeling this action combat is here to make the games more appealing to a mainstream audience, which it succeeds in so far.
Outside of combat, exploration is by far my favorite in the series yet. The open-world is so much more engaging and lively with content to see and do than my time with the Ryza trilogy. Every few steps, there is a new question mark to uncover on the map. It could be a locked treasure chest to use a minigame to unlock. Or it could be a fierce mini-boss-like foe. Heck, it could even be a new campsite to build around.
Yes, I did say building. Building is the other major shift for this series. Outside of spin-off games, the series has not focused this heavily on building as much as this one. There are major building points and bases all throughout the open world to uncover. Here, you have a space that is wholly your own to customize.
You can build houses and buildings from scratch or use preset recipes. Regardless, you have to use the materials you gather in the open-world to power your creations. There is a lot of freedom in how and what you build. For instance, I asked one of the Koei Tecmo staff if there is a house with multiple floors. They said later on in the game, yes, but that didn’t matter. I just took the single-floor house I got by default, cut off the roof, and made a second floor myself. It is a free and snappy building system that is actually the most fun I had with the experience.
When it comes to synthesizing, Atelier Yumia is in an interesting place. The crafting is quite different from past titles. It is mostly simplified to be more welcoming to newcomers, with only a couple of materials to worry about. In addition, recipes are far more lenient in terms of what materials you need unless you want the best possible rating for an item. It takes some getting used to, but I appreciated the simplicity. That said, it isn’t quite as fun as the synthesis in older games like the Arland trilogy.
I won’t dive too much into the spoilers, but I like the cast so far. There are certainly more interesting and memorable characters than I am used to in this series. The later-game save allowed me to see more of some of them and how unique they play compared to others. It was a short tease, but being able to ride a motorcycle (yes, motorcycle) around the world is a blast.
I will say the biggest drawback I noticed during my preview session is the lack of dedicated cities. Sure, there are some smaller settlements here and there. However, nothing feels like the grand cities or towns from past titles. I didn’t find the option to enjoy running around buying and selling items or chatting with the locals. It is a shame, but it appears this title focuses more on a wild and untamed world.
Regardless, the more time I spent with Atelier Yumia, the more it grew on me. This is a game that will take some time to get used to. This is especially because of the intense and stark shift in the action and building directions. That said, if you take the time to learn these systems, it seems the brilliant cast and lore complement this well for the most welcoming and action-packed game in the series yet.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land releases for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 21, 2025.
The post Preview: Atelier Yumia Shifts the Series to Action and Building appeared first on Siliconera.
