Atelier Lydie & Suelle: latest details and pictures, footage, more
Last week, Koei-Tecmo and Gust shared some more details about Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings, with new characters revealed, details about the alchemy system, plenty of screenshots and artworks, and even some gameplay footage.
Let’s start with the new characters:
- Lusia Voltaire (voiced by Reine Ueda. Designed by Yuugen). A 19 years old alchemist (147cm tall), and Lydie and Suelle’s childhood friend (with whom she has a rival relationship). She’s the lone daughter of Atelier Voltaire, the most famous atelier in Melveille. She has a pretty graceful appearance, and she always makes sure to be nice with everyone, addressing people with respect. But deep inside, she’s rather black-hearted and full of ambition. She can be seen as high-handed and prideful, but she easily feels lonely, and will sulk if nobody pays attention to her. She considers herself to be a skileld tactician, but that really isn’t the case…
- Alto (voiced by Takuma Nagatsuka. Designed by Yuugen). An androgynous alchemist (160cm tall), who runs a secret atelier in Melveille. His skills when it comes to alchemy are nothing to sneeze at (quite the opposite!), and he’s among the very best within Melveille’s emerging atelier district. He has a cool, but rather sarcastic personality, and the coldness about him makes it look like he’s trying to push others away. He often look down on alchemists with half-baked abilities, but when he opens his heart to you, you can see another side of him.
- Plachta (voiced by Yuka Iguchi. Designed by Yuugen). An alchemist accompanying Sophie (her alchemy disciple, that she considers both a close friend and family) on her journey. A somewhat careless young woman, with a serious and calm personality. Her deep knownledge of alchemy is bound to prove helpful to Lydie & Suelle. In this game, she has a more “womanly” appearance, compared to the first time she met Sophie, though we don’t really know what caused that change…
- Fritz Weissberg (voiced by Kenyuu Horiuchi. Designed by Yuugen). A 59 year old swordsman and doll maker (171 cm tall), who happens to be Drossel’s father. He and his daughter end up making a stop in Melveille. Despite his old age, he keeps on studying and developing his skills as doll maker and swordsman. He’s usually pretty calm and collected… except when he sees a doll. His enthusiasm for them truly knows no bounds. He has a lot of interest in the Mysterious Paintings. Watching over his daughter, who frequently gets lost, has led him to suffer from stomachaches.
- Drossel Weissberg (Voiced by Ari Ozawa. Designed by Yuugen). A 30 year old playwright and doll maker (165cm tall), with a naive and noisy (yet cheerful) personality. She dreams of putting on the best puppet show ever. She’s currently traveling with her father, Fritz, and her love for dolls is as intense as his. Alongside her career as playwright (which seems to be going well), she’s also making her debut as novelist. She’s a real bookworm, who often surprise others with her knowledge. Her father’s frequent stomaches has led her to realise just how much trouble she’s been causing him.
As mentioned in previous reports, the world of the Mysterious Paintings are filled with mysterious items, and those can be used to craft never-seen-before items. When Lydie & Suelle first talk of those paintings to their father, he does not take them seriously.
In order to become the best atelier in the country, Lydie & Suelle have to reach the highest rank of the Atelier Rank System. To do so, they have to pass rank-up tests at the royal castle, but the pair quickly come to the realisation they will never be able to do it on their own. That’s why they go and see “Super Top Class Alchemist” Ilmeria, hoping to become her apprentices.
One they’ve passed the rank-up test, the twins are asked to investigate the mysterious paintings… but it looks like they were not the only one. Talented alchemists from all over the country have received similar reqests, such as Lusia (who arrived before them).
Since the title of the game clearly mentions “paintings” (not just “painting”), it’s clear there’s more than one Mysterious Painting to be found. The problem is, you first need to repair them before you can enter them, and crafting the special item to do so isn’t really straightforward. In fact, the twins will have to rely on the help of everyone to do so.
To repair Mysterious Paintings, Lydie & Suelle have to use a mysterious tool knwon as “The Paints of Neige”.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings features various improvements and additions for the synthesis system, and Activation Items are one of them. Those are special items you can add to synthesis whenever you like, but only once per synthesis. Their effect vary: some change the colour of coloured squares where materials have already been placed, while others change nearby squares to a different colour.
Using Activation Items, you can add new effects to crafted items. For example, synthesising the Ori Flam without one can lead to it having the Fire Damage – Strong effect. But by using an Activation Item, you can instead give it the Defense Power Down – Average effect instead.
Another addition is the ability to synthesize items in battle, using Battle Mix and Extra Mix:
- Battle Mix: allows you to create items to be used immediately in battle, using items you’ve gathered as ingredients. You first need to have the character in front of the two-person team meet certain requirements, which makes a Battle Recipe appear on the screen. You also need mysterious items known as “Archeus Anima”, only found in the world of the Mysterious Paintings.
- Extra Mix: allows you to use items created via Battle Mix, in order to get even stronger items. After creating an item, you can add more Archeus Anima, and that’s what Extra Mix is all about. One of the items you can create that way is the Big Bang Flam, with Mega Bomb as Ex Effect. Those super powerful items could very well turn the tide of battle, so make sure to create them whenever you have the chance.
Next, here’s some locations from the game:
- Frozen Time Palace (Mysterious Painting): a frozen palace, towering over a forest of frost-covered trees;
- The Hill Overlooking the Sea (Real World): the Venue Church can be found on that hill, overlooking Melveille and the sea. A graveyard can be found at the top;
Finally, we have details about a gameplay system found in Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings. First, we have bonds. Encountering people in Melveille will trigger events, though only with certain characters. Those allows you to see different sides of characters, as well as important feelings and thoughts.
Here’s the latest batch of screenshots and artworks for the game:
Next, here’s pictures of the goodies from the Famitsu DX Pack for Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings:
Finally, here’s some gameplay footage for a recent livestream dedicated to Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings:
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings (Switch) comes out on December 21st in Japan, and Early 2018 in Europe and North America.
