Review: Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream

destructoid.com:

I started into the long-running Atelier series with Atelier Ryza and its sequel. They never quite satisfied, but it isn’t as though I disliked them. They were long, wordy adventures that badly needed about half their dialogue trimmed, but they have their charm. Especially if you enjoy PS2-era JRPGs like Dark Cloud.

I wasn’t certain I’d even attempt Atelier Sophie 2: (checks note on palm) The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. For starters, I never played its precursor, 2015’s Atelier Sophie: (checks palm) The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book. However, it’s a series I really want to like, so I caved and decided to check it out anyway.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream (PC, Nintendo Switch [Reviewed], PS4) Developer: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. Publisher: KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. Released: February 24, 2022 MSRP: $59.99

To answer a question that some of you will have: no, I don’t think you need to have played the first Atelier Sophie to understand what is going on in this one. There’s a recap available in the main menu that will give you the basics of what happened, but aside from Sophie and Plachta, none of the previous party members appear. References are sometimes dropped, but they always seemed to be for flavor rather than substance. Sophie’s friendship with Plachta isn’t even explored that heavily in favor of new characters, including the past-self of Plachta who Sophie treats as essentially a new person.

The story of Atelier Sophie 2 involves the duo being sucked into a strange portal and winding up in (checks palm) Erde Wiege, which is a strange world where people’s dreams come true. Sort of. The rules of Erde Wiege are kind of all over the place. Time moves differently than in the real world,