Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings Reviews
As a stand alone game or as an entrance to the series, I would highly recommend skipping this saccharine walk through half realized ideas.
With its bland story and uninteresting characters, this is a series that is in a dire need of a substantive reboot.
If you really love crafting, Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Paintings might be your jam. But if you like literally any other aspect of a typical JRPG, you're going to be disappointed. It might be worth $20 for the curiosity, but at $60, I really can't recommend it to anyone who doesn't already like the series.
The game system in Atelier Lydie & Suelle is solid, combat is great and the soundtrack is nice, but we could have expected more from a title marking the 20th anniversary of the series.
Atelier Lydie and Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings readily enchants with a charming story and some fantastical worlds to explore. But, while the game’s greatest strength lies in the depths of its alchemy system, Gust has failed to have thrown enough new ingredients into their murky cauldron to innovate on the experience as much as has been seen in what came before. What we’re left with is a rather average concoction.
It doesn't earn the credit it gets and instead just perpetuates a good idea that's been at the core of this franchise for two decades. This series needs a lot of work before the next entry; hopefully series' developer Gust will put in the work. If they do, I'll be there to play it myself.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle': The Alchemist and the Myterious Paintings looks like an efficient and long RPG with some good mechanics but will clearly fail to impress or surprise you (except if we talk about its expensive DLC), as its lacks novelty. If you're a true fan, you'll get what you want. If you're not familiar with the series, you could give it a try with this Switch version.
Review in French | Read full review
Atelier Lydie & Suelle is a rather standard entry to the Atelier series. Content with relying on a pretty standard setup, the game doesn't innovate or move forwards, although fans of the series will no doubt be interested in the new story alone. It's a pretty interesting take on the ridiculously wide genre of RPGs, with a much heavier focus being given to its deep crafting system, but that might not be enough to convince new players on its own.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is another solid chapter in the current era of Gust's franchise about heroines drawn to alchemy—and that's said in both a good and a bad way. If you've enjoyed previous Atelier games for what they've been, then twins Lydie and Suelle are ready to take you on another adventure of crafting items, fighting monsters, and uncovering the secrets that hang over their homeland. However, if you've been hoping for some real progress or change in the Atelier formula, that recipe, sadly, remains undiscovered.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is one of the weakest games in the series. There are a number of interesting elements, but it's not enough - the gameplay is too dull.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Atelier Lydie & Suelle isn't as innovative as its predecessors, but that doesn't mean you should write it off entirely - it tells a charming and captivating story that ends up being the best tale in the whole Mysterious trilogy. There are plenty of enchanting areas to explore as well, and as always, there's a deep alchemy system for you to master.
A novel, thematic conceit is the most interesting element of this repetitive experience; the rest is weighed down by crybaby characters and vague, unsatisfying gameplay objectives. Atelier is overdue for a revamp.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings has a good battle system and premise, but overall I wanted more from the final entry in the Mysterious trilogy. It seems like a missed opportunity to not include an open world and instead opt for a streamlined adventure with quick travel being the only option for exploration. As main protagonists, Lydie and Suelle are fantastic, but I felt like they deserved better. If you're looking for a solid story and a decent battle system or if you're a long time, Atelier fan than Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings might work for you, but I was left unimpressed.
With the current trilogy, Atelier has taken on a downward trend and needs a fresh trilogy with most of the problems solved. The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is a not so convenient ending on a series that could have delivered much more.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Its a lighthearted take on the role-playing genre that emphasizes discovery and experimentation. While Atelier series veterans may be well acquainted with the game's flow, the game has plenty of unique whimsicality to entertain anyone seeking an amusing role-playing title.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is an enjoyable romp with a charming world, an interesting alchemy system, and plenty of content. Its different systems intertwine with each other in a unique way that makes what is otherwise basic combat interesting, even if it's still not perfect. It's a shame that so often the pacing is broken to make you do uninteresting tasks to get back to the best part of the game - exploring the paintings - but that doesn't stop it from being entertaining, nonetheless.
A fun Atelier game that can be fairly complex with its alchemy mechanics, but it is also simple to understand even if you have never played any of the past entries in the series.
Atelier Lydie and Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings succeeds in important ways, but a lack of polish really takes away from an otherwise great experience.
Given how many incredible JRPGs the PS4 already has, this wouldn't even be near the top of my recommendations for the genre on the platform- but if you're looking for a nice, sweet game to relax with, you could do far worse than Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings.
If you love the Atelier series, want to play with some cute girls or simply enjoy anime/manga tropes, odds are this will be a winner. However, if you're hoping for a combat driven or deeper experience, elements of that are certainly here, it just requires a fair amount of time invested. If that doesn't sound bad, give it a go, otherwise you might want to consider sitting this one out.