Today, I’m adding more games to the list of games that have seen improvements when played on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

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Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack bundle along with Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey DX, and Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists & The Mysterious Paintings DX.)

As of this writing, the only Atelier franchise series games to get actual Nintendo Switch 2 releases are the Atelier Ryza trilogy and Atelier Yumia, but nevertheless I wanted to look at the entire series and see what benefits the Nintendo Switch versions of these games received playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

In my original review, I made it clear I felt this game’s visuals were fine on a technical level, but artistically bland. And unfortunately, “artistically bland” just isn’t the sort of thing the Nintendo Switch 2 helps games with. And yeah, I noticed no improvements to resolution or framerates here.

The only difference I see in this version is the loading times. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 16 seconds to load to the title screen, 9 seconds to load a game save, and 2 seconds to transition from one location to another. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 7 seconds, 5 seconds, and just under 2 seconds.

Overall, this isn’t a dramatic change. I think it’s fair to say the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be likely to change your mind about this game one way or the other.

tl;dr – Atelier Sophie is the first game in the seventh series of Atelier games (the Mysterious series), a franchise of JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Sophie is at least on paper an improvement on the prior games in multiple respects, adding a few nice gameplay mechanics to the series like a day/night system and a Puzzle-style crafting system. Unfortunately, so much of this game is bland and unambitious, from its stale gameplay to its snooze-fest of a story. This is by no means a bad game, but it doesn’t seem to want to attempt to be a great one, either.

Grade: C+

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Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack bundle along with Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Book DX, and Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists & The Mysterious Paintings DX.)

As of this writing, the only Atelier franchise series games to get actual Nintendo Switch 2 releases are the Atelier Ryza trilogy and Atelier Yumia, but nevertheless I wanted to look at the entire series and see what benefits the Nintendo Switch versions of these games received playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

In my original review, the one major issue I noted with the visuals was pop-in. Also, I didn’t mention it in my review, but this game also has some pretty ugly dithering too. Could playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2 help with either of these? Well… no. This game looks exactly the same on Nintendo Switch 2, with no fixes to these issues, and apparently the same resolution and framerate too.

The only difference I see in this version is the loading times. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 23 seconds to load to the title screen, 5 seconds to load a game save, and 8 seconds to transition from one location to another. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 10 seconds, 4 seconds, and 4 seconds.

Overall, this is barely an improvement at all. I think it’s fair to say the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be likely to change your mind about this game one way or the other.

tl;dr – Atelier Firis is the second game in the seventh series of Atelier games (the Mysterious series), a franchise of Turn-Based JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Firis is a game of extremes, with really high highs, and really low lows. The opening few hours of the game are particularly bad, the writing and voice acting are both some of the worst in the series, and the game has some pretty terrible pop-in. However, the introduction of massive, open-ended areas is a huge addition to this franchise, and the gameplay is overall quite good here. If you’re a fan of this franchise who has the patience to push through this game’s frustrations, you’ll find it worth your while to give this game a try.

Grade: B

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Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings DX

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack bundle along with Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Book DX, and Atelier Firis: The Alchemist & The Mysterious Journey DX.)

As of this writing, the only Atelier franchise series games to get actual Nintendo Switch 2 releases are the Atelier Ryza trilogy and Atelier Yumia, but nevertheless I wanted to look at the entire series and see what benefits the Nintendo Switch versions of these games received playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

In my original review, I praised this game’s graphical improvements over predecessors, but also noted this came with numerous problems – pop-in, aliasing, framerate drops, and dithering. Does Nintendo Switch 2 help with any of these? Well, I didn’t notice any framerate drops on Nintendo Switch 2, but everything else looks exactly the same – terrible aliasing, nasty dithering, frequent pop-in, and an overall low resolution and framerate.

The only other difference I see in this version is the loading times. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 23 seconds to load to the title screen, 6 seconds to load a game save, and 7 seconds to transition from one location to another. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 10 seconds, 3 seconds, and 3 seconds.

Overall, this isn’t a dramatic change. I think it’s fair to say the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be likely to change your mind about this game one way or the other.

tl;dr – Atelier Lydie & Suelle is the third game in the seventh series of Atelier games (the Mysterious series), a franchise of JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Lydie & Suelle is essentially a refinement of everything that came before it, with excellent crafting-focused gameplay, good graphics (albeit with a few performance issues, and nowhere near what the Nintendo Switch 2 is capable of), and a decent story. Having said that, this game is a fairly safe entry in the franchise, and nowhere near as ambitious as Atelier Firis was, even if it’s ultimately a better game. Players new to the Atelier franchise will find this a solid entry point for the series, but fans hoping for a true follow-up to Atelier Firis that builds on that game’s potential will be disappointed.

Grade: B+

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Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack

Genre: Compilation / Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

As of this writing, the only Atelier franchise series games to get actual Nintendo Switch 2 releases are the Atelier Ryza trilogy and Atelier Yumia, but nevertheless I wanted to look at the entire series and see what benefits the Nintendo Switch versions of these games received playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

Players hoping for a dramatic difference playing this trilogy of games on Nintendo Switch 2 will be disappointed – graphically, the only difference I noticed was the removal of framerate drops in Atelier Lydie & Suelle, but otherwise these games visually look identical, with the same low framerates, overall low resolution, and no other visual improvements.

That’s not to say there are no improvements at all here – the loading times of all three games have been improved. They weren’t particularly bad to begin with, but now they’re better, and that’s something at least.

However, I think it’s safe to say that the Nintendo Switch 2 doesn’t make so much of a difference here that players should reconsider getting these games to play them on Nintendo’s more-powerful hardware. However, if you already have these games, they’ll all be slightly better on Nintendo Switch 2.

tl;dr – Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack is a Compilation of upgraded versions of the three games in the Dusk series, the seventh series in the Atelier franchise of crafting-focused JRPGs. This package includes Atelier Sophie DX, Atelier Firis DX, and Atelier Lydie & Suelle DX. Lydie & Suelle is probably the best game in this series so far, and Firis is unquestionably the most ambitious entry in the series so far up to this point. Sophie is also decent, but extremely bland compared to the others. These games are a bit uneven, but overall still some of the stronger games in the franchise, and this Compilation is a decent value. If you’re a fan of Turn-Based JRPGs, this package is well worth getting.

Grade: B

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Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

As of this writing, the only Atelier franchise series games to get actual Nintendo Switch 2 releases are the Atelier Ryza trilogy and Atelier Yumia, but nevertheless I wanted to look at the entire series and see what benefits the Nintendo Switch versions of these games received playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

In my original review, I was overall pleased with the visuals, but noticed pop-in and framerate drops. Do these issues fare better on Nintendo Switch 2? Well, the framerate drops are gone now, thankfully. The game still doesn’t have a great framerate, but it’s a steady one on Nintendo Switch 2. But the pop-in and overall resolution remain the same.

The only other difference I see in this version is the loading times. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 1 minute 28 seconds to load to the title screen, 4 seconds to load a game save, and 8 seconds to transition from one location to another. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 41 seconds, 3 seconds, and 7 seconds.

Overall, this is a modest improvement, but not a dramatic one, and I think it’s fair to say the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t be likely to change your mind about this game one way or the other.

tl;dr – Atelier Sophie 2 is the fourth game in the seventh series of Atelier games (the Mysterious series), a franchise of JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Sophie 2 is a huge improvement over its predecessor, with a more interesting story, some fun new gameplay mechanics, and the same great crafting system the original game did so well. Its characters are still a bit uninteresting, and it still largely plays things a bit too safe, but despite this Atelier Sophie 2 is a solid entry in the franchise, and a very good Turn-Based JRPG.

Grade: B+

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I hope you enjoyed this latest batch of Nintendo Switch 2 Difference Mini-Reviews, and found them to be helpful! Want to see all Nintendo Switch 2 Difference comparisons? Check out this page for links to every article where I’ve included these comparisons!

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