Breaking with tradition, the 20th Atelier game is a continuation of a previous trilogy rather than the start of a new one. Fortunately, familiarity with the events there isn’t required to follow along here (though Ficus’ character arc won’t make any sense if you aren’t familiar with Atelier Totori).
Mechanically speaking there’s nothing to complain about. The Alchemy system is solid, the combat is engaging, the exploration areas aren’t over/undersized (and subareas can now be traveled to directly), and it doesn’t take hours of grinding to acquire the best traits to put on your equipment.
The game’s problems revolve entirely around its plot developments and character behavior: It features some of the most extremely cringey cutesy Anime bullshit you can imagine. Every other line of dialog is delivered with an exaggerated expression, a dumb pose, or both. It’s full of friendship power, event battles that act as though they were hard/dangerous when they weren’t, and extraordinarily dense idiocy. The character design is also uneven; Lulua/Ficus are purestrain Shoujo, Aural/Niko are purestrain Shounen, and Eva looks like an escapee from The Nightmare Before Christmas (also, the assorted generic merchants’ appearances don’t match their voices).
I made it to the end despite all that thanks to a fondness for collecting things and crafting overpowered equipment… but it was a real struggle that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone who doesn’t happen to enjoy watching generic daytime magical girl shows.