Picking this one up on a whim since hearing it was only 8-10 hours long was such a good decision. Being a remake of the very first game, it blends the simplicity of how the game originally was (I assume) with the quality of life improvements in UI that a modern game can provide. As Marie, you’re essentially given a 5 year time limit to prove yourself as an alchemist and the game really guides you well on everything you can do without ever throwing too much on your plate as you learn through the game, creating a seamless experience where everything just flows naturally as you learn more of what you can do as you eventually get to the end game. The best part of it is that every step of progress you make with the synthesis/alchemy and leveling up with other characters is greatly rewarded with these small but wholesome cutscenes as to what’s going on in Salburg. It’s nothing particularly deep, but it’s a nice bonus to the overall structure of the game with how well integrated the narrative is. 8/10, I might peep the other Atelier titles to see what I might be missing out on.