The story is as low stakes as the previous titles in the series: Lydie and Suelle are twin sisters who live with their father in the capital city of their kingdom, running an atelier. However, the girls are inexperienced, and their father, who seems to be the eccentric artist type, isn’t much better, and their atelier isn’t doing all that well. The girls mostly have to fend for themselves (including making and managing money and feeding themselves), but they harbor a hope to have the best atelier in the kingdom- a hope founded in a promise they made to their mother, whose whereabouts are unknown.

The story unfolds from there along two convergent paths- one is when their kingdom institutes an atelier ranking system to invite more alchemists to it, which causes the girls to start making efforts to get better at what they do; the other is when they discover they can escape into paintings. Inside these paintings, they conveniently find more materials that they can use for their alchemy to achieve great results that otherwise seem to be out of their reach.

"The Atelier games have settled into an easygoing routine and formula by now, and they’re comfortable in just staying in their niche. As such, if the previous games were up your alley, so will this new one be. If the older games failed to win you over, Lydie & Suelle won’t convert you."

The story here, as I am sure you have realized, is quite different from other JRPGs, other RPGs, or really, any other story in games- rather than focusing on a central conflict where you have to come of age and save the world, or overcome some obstacle, this is a breezy and relaxed tale that keeps things mostly stress free. It’s a cheerful world with likeable characters, and it even acts as a stress buster after, say, a particularly intense bout of Fortnite or Monster Hunter.

As for those characters, they are, very largely, tropes- Lydie is the “older twin”, who’s meek, submissive, and doesn’t like confrontation, while Sue is the “younger” one, who’s vivacious, tomboyish, and mischievous. Apart from that, you have the absent minded father who can’t get his life together, the young prodigy, the childhood rival, and so on and on and on. The characters never truly grow beyond these archetypes, which can get grating, but at the very least, I can say that the tropes are done well- as long as you don’t hate stereotypes by definition, you might even like what is here for what it is.

The gameplay for the title here is similarly breezy and casual- you have turn based battles where you can use you standard attacks or your skills, with wrinkles thrown in thanks to a “positioning system”, where characters in battle pair up, with the front character acting as a wall, and the back character acting as support. It never actually gets too complicated, and the enemies never pose much of a challenge- really, the game’s battles are in keeping with the easygoing nature of the rest of it all- but battles make for a nice change of pace from the rest of it all, with slightly more engagement required than most of the rest of the game.

Other gameplay elements include alchemy (which involves gathering materials in the world and then throwing them together in a minigame to craft items), completing quests, and managing your time- because, as a slice of life game, Atelier Lydie and Suelle has a constant clock going on, and everything you do costs you time. Again, managing time never gets as stressful as it can in something like Persona, but it is an element to be mindful of.

"All these elements come together to create a rather open ended experience, giving players the option to decide how their story unfolds. In fact, there are are even multiple ending paths in the story, based on what you emphasize the most in your playthrough, which can potentially lead to more replayability."

All these elements come together to create a rather open ended experience, giving players the option to decide how their story unfolds. In fact, there are are even multiple ending paths in the story, based on what you emphasize the most in your playthrough, which can potentially lead to more replayability.

This apart, the game looks fine (although it’s a fair bit blurry, and graphics never go beyond looking merely acceptable), with voice acting that I honestly did not find too good. Now, it’s in Japanese (no option for English voices), so I might not be the best judge, but I’ve played a fair few games with Japanese voices previously, and none of them have ever grated on me like Atelier Lydie & Suelle, which sounds stereotypically anime, did. The actual localization isn’t the best, either, and I spotted some sentences that were oddly constructed- but, again, in a game like this, that’s splitting hairs.

On the other hand, the music here was probably the best of the “presentation elements”- again, it’s not spectacular, it’s not even very good. Most of it is fairly generic, but what it is is catchy, and for some tunes that you will be listening to for hours on end, that’s probably the best we can hope for (outside of demanding actually great music).

Atelier Lydie & Suelle is not a great game. I would hesitate to even necessarily call it a good one by conventional definitions, to be honest. What it is the most like is comfort food- there’s nothing it does particularly well, and you know there are loads of alternatives to it that are better in most regards. But there’s something soothing an comforting about booting this up and just engaging in a low stakes, stress-free story for some hours on end every day. 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.

This game was reviewed on PS4.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

The title was originally announced by Koei Tecmo and Gust through a very low key press release in June 2017. The silhouettes of what would become the duel heroines Lydie and Suelle are shown off at this point, though they were still going by romanizations of their Japanese names, Lydie and Soeur at this time.

It was said that the games were being made differently from their direct predecessors in the Mysterious Saga, but it was not said exactly how. Further details would be shared two months later, outlining some minor plot setup, the fact that the girls would be journeying through paintings, character details for the dual protagonists and some brief details on how they altered the battle systems. It was said at the time that the concept of the game was “the coexistence of the ordinary and extraordinary”.

Many key staff are returning to this 20th anniversary game to make it truly special. Keisuke Kikuchi returns as Development Producer, following from a break during Atelier Firis, to wrap up the trilogy. Junzo Hosoi is the General Producer. An illustrator who goes by NOCO designed the protagonist for Atelier Sophie, and another called Yuugen did the design for Atelier Firis, the first and second games in the trilogy. Both returned to design the protagonists for Atelier Lydie & Suelle.

Story

Taking place four years after the events of Atelier Firis, we join the twins, Lydie Malen and Suelle Malen. The two live with their father in a small atelier in Melveille, the capital of Adalett. Their father unfortunately, isn’t a very good alchemist, so they toil in relative obscurity, despite the hard work of the father and his daughters.

One day while the two girls are working on their craft, they hear a voice coming from the basement, which they have been told to never go near. Upon investigating anyway, the two discover a mystical painting which brings them to a completely different world. In the painting, the pair discover rare materials that could allow them to improve their alchemy and grow their atelier into the best in the country. From there, the pair is thrown into an ever evolving journey to continue exploring new paintings and chasing their dream of becoming the top atelier in the country.

Gameplay

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists And The Mysterious Paintings is a turn based RPG with heavy emphasis on crafting. Players travel with both sisters together, as opposed to controlling one or the other, and anyone else in their party through the overworlds and the worlds of the paintings. As they explore, they can gather ingredients and battle enemies, which in turn drop a variety of things, such as money and further ingredients.

The ultimate goal of the game is to journey through paintings, solving the inhabitants problems and finding rare materials, which the twins can then take back home and use to improve their alchemy skills. By developing their skills, the twins can take on higher level evaluations and improve the reputation of their atelier, which in turn allows them to explore new paintings.

A new addition to the battle system is “Battle Mix”, which is a skill that lets the player use their alchemy skills mid battle to synthesize new items automatically based on what you have on hand at the time. The synthesis system maintains a lot of the basics from Atelier Firis, where players select their ingredients, which show up on a grid to be arranged. The player’s skill at arranging them according to the rules of alchemy can determine the quality and effectiveness of the item that is created. Item recipes, in addition to being found in the overworld, can be discovered by practicing your skills through the act of alchemy and your level, which also allows you to craft more complicated things.

Battles will play out differently from Atelier Firis. The battle party will consist of up to six characters, with three player controller characters in front and three backup party members who act independently in the back. The attacks and enemy placement should still work on a grid, which determines how attacks might connect. Players with careful aim might be able to hit multiple enemies at once.

Characters

Lydie Malen is the quiet and reserved sister. She usually can be found with her head in the clouds or in a alchemy book studying. She lives with her sister Suelle and father Roger. Her calm demeanour balances her sister and allows her to be the considered one of the pair. Because of her tendency towards study, she’s not quite as tough as her sister and is best suited towards support.

Suelle Malen is the slightly younger twin of Lydie. The two of them are alchemist apprentices under their father at their tiny atelier at the heart of Merveille, working hard to someday make it the largest in the kingdom. Her strong nature has made her a natural firebrand and good in a fight with her dual guns.

Their father, Roger Malen is a rather inexperienced alchemist, and somewhat lazy as well. He cares for his children, but rather frequently leaves his daughters to clean up his mess. Onette Malen was his wife, before a sickness took her from their world three years prior to the story. Her daughters inherited her unbreakable spirit and tranquil demeanour.

Firis Mistlud, the protagonist from the second game, will also appear and play a key role in the twins’ adventure. The now four years older Firis has put her tiny mining town far behind her, and is still indulging in her wanderlust. Sophie Neuenmuller from the first Mysterious series entry returns in this game yet again. The once inexperienced girl has now become a fully fledged alchemist with years of experience and many miles of traveling. While she can still be somewhat absent minded, her skills are clear and she offers her advice to the Malen twins through the game.

Matthias Ferrie Adalet is an earnest young man, however he’s a fun companion who treats himself as the twins’ guard. Finally, a mysterious young man known as Alt is himself an alchemist, apparently with high skill. He will join up with the twins at some point in the game.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.