Review: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land (Nintendo Switch)

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a step forward in the Atelier series, but not everyone’s going to like the direction it’s taking. It’s a solid JRPG, for sure, but it feels like it’s starting to leave certain core elements—and Nintendo hardware—behind.

Our new protagonist is Yumia Liessfeldt, a young alchemist in a world where alchemy has been outlawed. It seems alchemy was responsible for the destruction of Aladiss, causing those of the Aladissian Empire to fear it. Several centuries later, Yumia discovers after the death of her mother that she’s the descendent of a long line of alchemists. This leads to many questions, and—like all good, young JRPG heroes—Yumia sets off to find the answers.

This leads her to become part of the Aladiss Research Team. This large group of soldiers and scientists seeks to explore and settle in the ruins of Aladiss, but they’re hampered by Manabound Areas​​ that block their progress. Yumia has the ability to clear the stagnant mana from the areas, allowing exploration to continue. This basically sets up the progression of the game; reach a new area, clear out the mana, explore for a while, then move forward.

It’s a fine system that gives Yumia more of an open world than we’ve seen in past Atelier games. You can go where you want at your own pace, but you’re restricted to certain locations until you’ve unlocked the story elements that allow you to branch out further. There’s so much to discover and do in each location, however, that the restrictions are probably a good thing.

Exploration clearly drives Atelier Yumia. Items of interest are marked on the map with question marks, and there’s rarely a shortage of those to be found. Some you can’t get to right away. Most you can. and reaching them will uncover everything from ingredient farming locations to treasure troves to enemy battles to building areas. You can mark nearly anything on the map as your target, which then shows the direction and distance of that location in the HUD.

Getting there isn’t always easy, however, and it’s one of my first problems with the game.

The continent of Aladiss is densely packed, making exploration more of a chore than it should be. Most items and locations are off the beaten path, and navigating the wilds often leads to problems. It’s hard to tell if you’re not using the right approach to climb a mountain or if you’re just not supposed to get to the top yet. While coming down a mountain at one point, I found myself clipped into a rock, unable to move or jump. The developers must’ve known this could happen as the game eventually just moved me back to the top.

Another problem (because I want to get this out of the way now) is the introduction of a horribly implemented building system. You can set up bases in pre-defined areas; in fact, the game expects you to. A c​​atalog allows you to easily create specific types of pre-fabricated buildings, and thank God for that because the UI for custom building is terrible. Doing something as simple as adding a couch can be a frustrating mess because of the way other structures and items interfere with your view of what you’re doing, and how floors and walls can disappear.

This would be fine if the game left construction to those interested in interior decoration, but quests often require you to add these items. My buildings ended up looking like the Winchester Mansion because it was too cumbersome to place items where it made sense to place them. The day I play my last JRPG, it’ll either be because I was forced to hang lamps or play some dumb card game.

Thankfully, construction can mostly be brushed aside during your travels, allowing you to focus more on exploration, combat, and, to a lesser degree, synthesis. Yes, Atelier fans, the synthesis system—once the core component of Atelier games—has moved into the back seat. The creation of new and better items is still a key component, but the method of doing so has been simplified to the point of just being…there, not fun.

The game will occasionally provide item recipes. You “memorize” these recipes at a workstation you must build and place, gather the proper ingredients, level them up (if you have enough other ingredients to do so), then synthesize. I’ll leave you to discover the intricacies of the system. It’s easier than in the past, but n​​ot as rewarding. The trade-off is that it’s faster; there were few times in previous games where I would agonize over what ingredients to add in order to create the best weapon possible. Atelier Yumia seems to instead want you out in the field, not solving synthesis puzzles in your atelier.

Oh, one of the great things about this is that basket restrictions are barely an issue anymore. Gone are the days of cutting outdoor time short just to empty your basket and sell off excessive items.

World traversal has been improved, too. There are numerous zip lines you can unlock for faster travel provided you’ve synthesized a zip line glove. But many items—that glove, health kits, tool boxes, bullets—can be synthesized in the field on an as needed basis. Handy. Those bullets are especially useful, allowing you to collect far-away items, scan enemies, stun enemies, etc. The number of quick-synthesis items you can hold is limited, but it grows as you get deeper into the game.

You’ll also eventually synthesize a motorcycle to ride around, but this is more for style than functionality (as is the way with motorcycles). \Why would I want to race through the landscape when I’m supposed to be collecting items? And aren’t the zip lines more efficient? Not to mention you can warp to key locations in an instant?

The battle system has also been modified considerably. It’s still a mixture of standard physical/arts attacks with the occasional special move thrown in, but it moves at a better clip than before. The benefit is that it feels more fluid, with dodging being a key factor. The drawback is that it’s quite messy. The UI provides hints on enemy weaknesses, when to use team attacks, or when to rotate in a party member for heavier hits, but there’s so much going on that I usually just button mashed my way through. Success in combat is less about mastering the system and more about just making sure you’ve been upgrading your gear properly. Again, just get back to exploring, Yumia and friends.

The trouble with exploring, unfortunately, is that this world is clunky to work through on the Nintendo Switch. I already mentioned the object clipping and environmental instructions when you’re trying to build or line up a jump. I haven’t mentioned the constant framerate drops as you work your way through; the game sometimes freezes a full second as you move into certain areas. Even something as simple as switching to the map takes longer than I’d like. This never kills the gameplay, but I often find myself thinking I’d rather hold for the Switch 2 to complete the game. Also, I ran into an issue where I completed a Shrine of Prayer quest only to have it not get recorded, and another where I had to win a monster extermination battle twice…I think because I started the fight the first time before the introductory dialogue was finished.

Finally, the game’s combat, synthesis, skill tree, and construction systems could use better instructions. The in-game tutorials and manuals introduce the various systems, but do little to offer strategies or explain how they’re connected. KOEI TECMO has announced that future updates on “some platforms” will address not only performance issues, but will also include instructions for “less obvious operations.”  If those hit the Switch, they could negate my complaints.

Either way, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a game worth playing and completing. The story is not very compelling, but I’ve come to accept that in open world games; the narrative becomes too choppy when the writer isn’t able to dictate the pacing. Atelier Yumia instead survives on its fun characters and delicate balance of item crafting, combat, and exploration. The latter definitely takes over here, but you’re given so much to find, so many puzzles to solve, and so many tasks to complete that it never for a second becomes boring. Occasionally annoying, but never boring.

And, as is the way with Atelier games, there’s plenty of gameplay-centric DLC ahead. Despite my complaints, I’m very much looking forward to digging into that…although I’m definitely going to wait for the Switch 2 in hopes that it provides smoother travels.