Decide how the story will unfold in Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey
After last week's big reveal of the next entry in the long-running Atelier series, Gust has posted the first screenshots of what Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey will look like in-game, along with details to shed some light on what the experience will be like to website 4Gamer.
After Atelier Sophie was released last year, Gust took a step back and evaluated what they wanted the focus of the next entry to be, and have come to the conclusion that they want players to tell their own story as they go on their adventure with Firis and Liane, hence the "Mysterious Journey" subtitle.
Atelier Firis follows a young, innocent girl who has never left her town before, though yearns to see the world. Due to circumstances, she encounters alchemy for the first time and soon leaves her town to wander the lands beyond her home. From great plains to snowy mountains, she will explore different environments and face challenges on her journey.
Depending on the choices she makes, the story will change bit by bit. The player will act as a guide on her adventure and decide which paths she will take.
The story is set in a remote region full of different mysteries - one of them is a small town located in the middle of a wasteland. It is an underground city formed from a hollowed-out mountain where most of the townspeople work as miners. Due to the environment, they have no way of telling what season it is or what time of day it is except when they see the sunlight creeping through the crevices in the rocks.
A young girl lives in this shelter surrounded by the light of ores and crystals, dreaming of one day escaping from this place and freely walk around the world outside. Thanks to a massive iron door that acts as the town gate, this barrier prevents her from acting upon her wishes as very few are allowed to pass through it.
So, she keeps her dreams to herself, until one day when she has an encounter with the power of alchemy. This fated meeting starts her journey out into the world, a mysterious journey that has no end.
Let's take a look at the two protagonists:
Firis Mistlud (Voiced by Kaede Hondo)
- Age: 15
- Job: Alchemist
- Illustrated by: Yuugen
The protagonist of Atelier Firis. She is a 15-year old girl who lives in an underground mining town guarded by a massive iron gate, dreaming of the world outside. She has a special ability that allows her to see where ore is buried which she uses to work as a miner.
Since she has not been able to go leave town, she has a strong admiration for the outside world and dreams for the day she is finally able to. After a chance encounter with alchemy, she decides to journey out into the world. Despite a calm and quiet personality, she has a strong foundation.
Liane Mistlud (Voiced by Azusa Sato)
- Age: 18
- Job: Hunter
- Illustrated by: NOCO
Firis' older sister and traveling partner who also lives in the underground mining town. She is an excellent hunter and one of the privileged few who are allowed to leave the town.
She is known to care deeply for her sister and likes to spoil her, for she understands her feelings, and secretly feels sorry for her current situation.
Since Firis is unable to freely leave town, her desire to see the outside world grows stronger on a daily basis. Her only connection to the outside world is an adventure book that she loves to read, and her sister Liane who is permitted to leave the town.
In order to one day leave town, she studies the power of alchemy. Thanks to Liane who understands Firis' desires, she is soon allowed to leave town but under a certain condition. That condition is to become "a full-fledged alchemist within one year." Worried over her well-being, Liane joins Firis on her first adventure.
The world that Firis and Liane will travel in is vast. A single field can even connect a port town to a river and rocky mountains. While sticking to the warm setting the Atelier games are known for, the fields in Atelier Firis will be on a much larger scale never seen before in the series.
With all of the different environments Firis will encounter on her adventure, from severe cold weather to high humidity, the clothes that she is wearing will change accordingly with the climate.
Firis will also come across a variety of events over the course of her journey, which she will be able to overcome in different ways - there may be more than just one solution to a problem. Depending on the choices she makes, the story or even the field may change.
For example, at one point, Firis encounters a broken bridge. She can decide whether to hire a carpenter to come fix the bridge after gathering the necessary materials by taking advantage of her mining experience. Or, she could choose to go around the bridge and detour through a suspicious-looking cave.
Since Atelier Firis isn't focused around a hub town, players will continue to journey across a wide variety of fields. In order to perform synthesis during the adventure, you will need to use a "Traveler's Bonfire" while out in the wild. She is also able to pitch a tent to have access to a portable atelier.
Synthesis is a key function of alchemy. Players will need to find various materials that they can obtain by fighting monsters and visiting unexplored regions.These activities will help Firis grow as an alchemist.
As an alchemist, synthesis is performed by combining different materials in a puzzle-like fashion to create any item they desire their own way.New to Atelier Firis is the "Superdreadnought Synthesis" which will allow you to create items of a gigantic scale not possible through normal synthesis. These items ignore the size of the atelier pot and allows you to create amazing things. More information on this will be available at a later date.
The aforementioned vast fields means that there are a large number of materials to collect. You will be able to hit trees with your staff or break rocks with items. There are a wide variety of new ingredients to collect.
There will also be times when you will be attacked by monsters while looking for materials. Use the items that you have synthesized and the help of your allies in order to fend off these enemies. You may even be able to find unexpected items from these monsters.
Finally, Gust shared details on the special editions for the game that come with bonuses. The first-print edition of the game will include two costumes for Firis.
The Premium Box for the game, shown above, will include:
- A copy of Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey
- Atelier Firis visual book
- Atelier Firis Rare Tracks CD
- B3-sized Special Illustration cloth poster
- Three Atelier Firis clear cards
- Firis exclusive costume and theme
Those willing to spend a little more money can pick up the Special Collection Box which will be exclusive to the Gust Shop and Amazon, which will include:
- A copy of Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey
- Atelier Firis visual book
- Atelier Firis Rare Tracks CD
- B3-sized Special Illustration cloth poster
- Three Atelier Firis clear cards
- Firis exclusive costume and theme
- A set of 9 crystal paperweight cubes
- Special Collections Box-exclusive B2-sized Illustration cloth poster
- Code to redeem a Special Collection Box-exclusive theme
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey will be released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Gust will be holding a special Niconico broadcast on June 13th where the game will receive its first trailer. We will learn more about this broadcast soon through the official website.
