Atelier Sophie 2 - Turning point

Reaching AS2's turning point - how it went down, what I think. So far.

In passing: Atelier often is (or seems to be: haven't finished any just yet) disarmingly and somehow delightfully evasive about its main story/plot. I think some of the criticism inevitably sources this. There is wit in carefully eliding plot points from conversations, and yet... I imagine some players would feel gratified if they then could unravel the plot through careful detective work (I personally don't care).

AS2 reaches its part-way milestone (a staple... I think) somewhat gracefully. 

The story has been coherent so far, and the game is served by quality character design and an engaging world. Meanwhile I am essentially hovering between, "oh this is charming" and "how trite" - Unsure to what extent this reflects personal taste, but I do feel AS2 in many areas would have benefited a light touch.

The game is doing a good job at letting me know hey this isn't over. 

(1) Hinting at "dark forces" is not super-engaging (Oh Dear, are we saving A World now!?) however it does work as an abseil rope - we don't need an overbearing main quest in here (enough of that already!?) but also, we've seen how the Firis After-stories do not very pan.  

(2) New, exciting, intuitive alchemy mechanics. Since no Atelier game apparently does Alchemy better than AS2, points!

(3) Re-instated character (side) stories.

The one potentially dropped apple here is going to be rapid world map expansion. Here's to hoping but I'm betting on linearity, unwavering and uninterrupted.

Many Atelier games have smaller maps; unsure how bigger, fewer - better? (as introduced in Ryza) is turning for AS2. 

Small gathering fields used to pop merrily one after another. It was fun in Atelier Sophie; exhilarating, celebratory fun in Totori. A mood for wearing kimonos and climbing atop the highest hill. 

What limits "exploration" in these earlier games is not map size (although Totori's were critically small maps) - it is the relative atopy of Atelier's character focused stories.

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