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The story
A livestream PV for a new game based on “The Apothecary Diaries” was released, sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. With no combat, the game has players gather herbs while solving puzzles, leading some to dub it “Maomao’s Atelier.” The thread was split over whether the official “open world” label is justified, the game’s quality as a character-based tie-in, and whether convenience-focused features like bulk gathering are actually a good thing.
What people said
Nobody was even asking for a game.
I'm curious about the new Nobunaga's Ambition too, but I've bought every entry full price plus the Power-Up Kit since Souzou, and the only one I still actually play now is Souzou Sengoku Risshiden.
Honestly I'm running out of patience with the series.
Doesn't that mean you lose that satisfying rush of grinding away and suddenly seeing your damage numbers skyrocket?
The original story isn't about the heroine physically mowing down enemies,
so it's probably like Dragon Quest Builders branching into something like "Poko-a" (a lighter, non-combat spin-off).
"This game sucks."
or
"This game is a masterpiece."
No combat at all
Mainly about gathering herbs
You restore stamina with poisonous herbs
It's a series where the character is everything, so if she's not exactly my type I just can't get into it.
Wish they'd let you pick your protagonist from past entries.
There's actually a ton of area transitions
They probably kept the loading screens in on purpose
The Poison-Eating Girl Pharmacist
That sounds like hell.
And that "gather all at once" option kind of kills the whole point of foraging, doesn't it?
That's a bit of a stretch.
Games that prioritized painstaking detail over convenience have gotten absolutely trashed before too.
It's probably not so dangerous that you'd get jumped without warning multiple times a day lol
Can people really find this cute?
They should really present it in a calmer tone.
Could this be a stepping stone for Atelier to move into otome-game territory?
Like "Futsutsuka na Akujo" (roughly, "The Undeserving Villainess") and similar titles.
I'm looking forward to it.
I figured it'd just be a slideshow-style visual novel, but it's open world?? 😮
Though really it's the media that started using "open world" as a slick marketing buzzword in the first place.
Wasn't "open field" originally a term Nomura coined anyway?
If there's no combat it might be a bit boring.
I've never read the original or watched the anime either, but
going by the replies above, sounds like there's no combat.
Looks like a background NPC.
It's obvious you've never read the original or watched the anime at all.
This isn't a place where only people who've actually read it are allowed to post, you know.
Obviously not.
I never said don't post, lol.
I just think it's funny that you're complaining while knowing this little about it.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
This game comes from the development team behind the original “The Apothecary Diaries,” and as noted in the thread, its gathering-and-exploration-focused design owes a clear debt to the Atelier series. The lack of combat traces back to the source material itself: it’s a story about solving mysteries through pharmacological knowledge, not one where the heroine physically beats down enemies. Meanwhile, the term “open world” is often used as a marketing buzzword without a clear definition, and on the Hardware/Industry board, debates over how it differs from “open field” come up again and again. At the point this thread was posted, only the livestream PV had been shown, so the actual gameplay feel and amount of content remain unknown. It’s also worth keeping in mind that the “masterpiece” praise seen in the thread reflects hopeful expectations from fans of the original — pre-release reactions, as always, are a genuine mix of praise and skepticism.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[Good News] The Apothecary Diaries Open World Game Turned Out to Be a Masterpiece 🌿.”
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