Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is a game with so many alchemists. Sophie and Firis are both there, as well as a new character. Not to mention, the twins in the title. Someone may wonder what the two new girls on the block are like and what kind of impact they can have in a battle. Well, both Lydie and Sue have their own strengths.
The first thing to remember about Lydie and Sue is that each one is a typical Atelier heroine. This means that you want both of them using items whenever it is practical. Have an enemy that is immune to all standard attacks or weak to bags and bombs? Lydie and Sue should be hitting them. Need healing? Lydie is your gal. If you are in a situation where you have any doubt about what these young women should be doing, odds are an item they made with alchemy will be the way to go.
Sometimes, physical attacks will need to be an option. Maybe there is only one enemy on the opposing side. Perhaps it is greatly weakened. Well, in that case you want to rely on Sue. While both of the twins can use items, Sue is so good that you sometimes might want to go ahead and have her use physical attacks. (In the early game, there are even times when her output may occasionally equal Mathias’.) This happens for a number of reasons. One is because she is so swift. She has a passive skill called Queen of Mischief that allows her to attack more often. When she uses her standard shot, it hits twice. Plus, all of her additional specials focus on doing damage and making sure her wait time is short so she can attack again. Special Reload, one of her earliest skills, causes medium damage to one enemy and lowers their defense. Not to mention she will learn Fatal Snipe, a medium damage dealing attack with a small chance of killing the target, around the same time Firis appears in the story.
This is not to completely devalue Lydie. It is just that she is more like a standard Atelier heroine who is not a strong physical attacker. Until she hits around level 15, you probably do not want her to use a normal attack unless you want single digit damage. She is all about using items, buffing the party and debuffing enemies. Her first skill is Defensive Blow, which has the main feature of delaying one foe’s turn and also dealing a very small amount of damage. After that, her skills can tend to be more about supplying aid, in that Battle Cry temporarily increases one ally’s attack or Guide to Defense will increase every ally’s defense for a short time.
But then, this fits with the twins’ personalities. Sue is the more gung-ho of the two. She wants to be a hero or pirate. It is the whole reason she even dual-wields pistols. Lydie always comes across as more reserved and prudent. To have one be more geared toward aiding others and using things she has made and the other quickly assaulting everyone makes sense. It is good to see the gameplay adapt to their personalities.
Basically, both Lydie and Sue have their strengths in Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings. Which one you may want to focus on and follow, once you have enough party members to have the option of having one as a support, will vary depend on your battle style and situation. Just know that Sue is a very practical character for dealing a lot of damage in a short amount of time, while Lydie is good to have around whenever you need buffs or debuffs. Also, never let them run out of bombs and healing items.
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC.
