THE ATELIER IRIS 2 WEAPON SYNTHESIS FAQ version 1.2

THE ATELIER IRIS 2 WEAPON SYNTHESIS FAQ version 1.2
By David Myers.

A compendium of game information obtained from players active on the message
boards of gamefaqs.com, with especial thanks to the contributors to the
"Godly Alchemy" thread.

contacting the author: by email, [email protected]

If you email me, please use the subject: ATELIER IRIS 2
I'm on the GameFaqs Atelier Iris message boards as dwm042.

============================================================
i. Legal Stuff

This Faq is copyrighted (C) 2006 by David Myers. All rights are
reserved. This FAQ is not to be distributed unless you are explicitly listed
on the distribution list below. Authors that I have quoted retain their
own copyright to their words. I use their comments under fair use. Please
treat their contributions as having a copyright of their own, and if you
quote them, please say so.

Portions of this document also appear in my Atelier Iris Weapons synthesis
FAQ and those portions were copyrighted (C) 2005 by David Myers.

Distribution List:

1) The author
2) Gamefaqs.com

That's it! All other distribution points are unauthorized.

============================================================
Table of Contents

0. Updates

1. Introduction
1A. About This FAQ
1B. Is weapons synthesis different from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana?
1C. So when can I start doing this weapons synthesis?
1D. What are these reviews on items?
1E. So what is an advantageous way to combine reviews?
1F. So what value are Mana Stones in this game?
1G. So is all the "action", so to speak, in the item loops?
1H. So what are some good ways to make money in this game?

2. Basics
2A. The Cure Jar Loop
2B. The Godly Alchemy Loop
2C. Amendments to the Godly Alchemy Loop
2D. The Godly Alchemy Loop and Accessories
2E. The Pendulum - Red Crystal Cycle
2F. The Eden Outfit - Silver Armor - Slaith Dress loop

3. Tables
3A. Reviews from wish items
3B. Mana Reviews

4. Things I need for this FAQ to Grow

5. Resources and Notes

6. About the Author

============================================================
0. UPDATES

ver 1.2 - 8/11/2006 - Reordered the table in 1D. Added more descriptive
information wrt the Godly Alchemy Loop. Changed some capitalization, and
fixed some spelling, and reordered some text to fit better within 80 cols.
Added some more commentary to the Eden Outfit loop.
ver 1.1 - 8/10/2006 - Found a more accurate version of the Rudy T quote on
nba.com. Added the Pendulum cycle and when I was researching it, saw the value
of the Crystalite and Crystaleavy additions. Added some info on the Eden
Outfit loop, including some personal observations of the loop.
ver 1.0 - 8/9/2006 - Initial version of the FAQ.

============================================================
1. INTRODUCTION

------------------------------------------------------------
1A. About this FAQ:

The style of this FAQ is what I call a compendium. I'm not the author of
many of the ideas in this document. Other people are. I am going to try
and give as much credit to the people who actually did the hard work on
a per-section basis. If you see someone's name or handle in parentheses,
that means that a gamefaq player contributed directly to this document.
So if you see something like:
--------~
( Foo)

Then Foo wrote a message on a message board that I read and used as source
material in this FAQ.

Often I will quote authors directly, in which case this document is using
their words under fair use and my use does not invalidate any copyright
of their own. Quotes may be edited for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

From Rudy Tomjanovich:

"I have one thing to say to those non-believers. ... Don't ever underestimate
the heart of a champion."

------------------------------------------------------------
1B. Is weapons synthesis different from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana?

It is substantially different in the way you grow stronger weapons. In
Eternal Mana you would fuse mana into Mana Crystals in order to gain
desirable attributes. In this game you combine items to obtain desirable
properties, which the game calls "reviews", and then fuse these items
with your weapon of choice.

The kind of item will change as the weapon upgrade path is followed. And
unlike Eternal Mana, you aren't able to keep the old characteristics if you
upgrade a weapon.

------------------------------------------------------------
1C. So when can I start doing this weapons synthesis?

You can start doing it as soon as Hagel the blacksmith teaches Felt how to
smith, at the end of Chapter 5. At that point you are given an anvil and
can create better weapons.

------------------------------------------------------------
1D. What are these reviews on items?

If you look at your items, they will have this tabular list of properties
such as D RES (XL), MAGIC UP(S), etc. These can be combined by mixing
certain items in your alchemy pot. Weaker reviews are discarded as items
are combined and the stronger reviews retained.

Reviews can combine too. If say, you make a Megaflame from a Charcoal with
ATTACK +1 and a Flame with ATTACK +1, then the resulting Megaflame will have
ATTACK +2.

Lettered attributes combine as follows (following Cogito, as amended by
experience and Pleinair's FAQ):

(XS) + (XS) = (S)
(S) + (XS) = (M)
(S) + (S) = (L)
(M) + (XS) = (L)
(M) + (S) = (XL)
(M) + (M) = (XL)
(L) + any = (XL)

------------------------------------------------------------
1E. So what is an advantageous way to combine reviews?

What you look for are termed "item loops", where an item can be created and
then used to create its own predecessor. As an example, if, say, Charcoal
and Flame can be used to create a Megaflame, and then Flour and a Megaflame
can be used to create a Teraflame, and then Charcoal can be combined with
Teraflame to make a Megaflame, then Charcoal can be used to introduce
reviews into this loop.

There are two major item loops in this game, the Cure Jar/Yugdore Water
loop, and the flame loop, described above. Minor loops include
Pendulum/Red crystal and the Eden outfit/Silver armor/Slaith dress loop.

------------------------------------------------------------
1F. So what value are Mana Stones in this game?

In this game, Mana Stones are the sole source of cores, which are used to
upgrade the stats of your characters. Mana Stones also provide reviews as
well, when they are combined into items such as Crystalleavy and the
Silver Armor.

------------------------------------------------------------
1G. So is all the "action", so to speak, in the item loops?

I would say the majority of it is. There are also the usual money making
schemes, as some of these materials are expensive. Mana Stones cost
a little less than 5000 cole in this game, and 5000 cole is hard to come
by.

------------------------------------------------------------
1H. So what are some good ways to make money in this game?
( Pleinair, DragonUser84, VeghEsther, Kissell13, etc. )

The two best known ways to make money are making Holy Evergreens and mining
Gravity Stones to make Gravity Crystals. Holy Evergreens become available in
Chapter 4 and Gravity Crystals become available in Chapter 14.

Holy Evergreens can be made from Huffin Water and Heal Herb, which in turn
can be synthesized purely from wood, water and aroma elements. In 4 trips
to Marmel Forest, you can gather enough elements to create a batch of
99 Holy Evergreens, which then retail for 6930 cole a batch. Most people
stay a little longer, making 99 Huffin Waters and 99 Heal Herbs and then
gathering a full set of 99 wood, water, and aroma elements so that they can
have two batches to sell in town.

Once you have the cure jar item loop, you can alter the reviews of Heal
Herb and Huffin Water so that it only takes 50 elements to make 99 Heal Herb
and/or Huffin Water. In a full session in Marmel Forest, you can then gather
enough materials for 3 batches of Holy Evergreens.

Gravity Crystals sell for 500 cole each, and they can be mined when Diemia's
holy grounds are opened with the Key of Hermes (early Chapter 12).
There are three mining patches in Diemia's ground, with the stalagtites
containing, in order:

Left (Nearest) patch.....................................can extract
===================================================================
Yellow S, just before entrance...........................red ore
Two Bright Yellow lower left.............................silver legien
Three red S..............................................red legien

Middle Patch.............................................can extract
===================================================================
Two green S..............................................moon stones
Left Most Yellow S.......................................red ore
Three Right Yellow S.....................................gravity stones (3,2,2)

Far Right Patch..........................................can extract
===================================================================
Yellow on Left...........................................gravity stones (3)
Yellow on Right..........................................gravity stones (4)
Rightmost Red (Upper right)..............................dem ore
===================================================================

Obviously when mining Gravity stones, it isn't a bad idea to sell any
excess moon stones and red ore, and perhaps some silver legiens and dem
ores as well. In practice, not all the stalagtites are present all the time.
They appear and disappear as you mine them. In practice, I've gotten anywhere
from 4 to 14 gravity stones per pass.

In practice, because Yudgore Water is used to make the Crystals, it is common
to do a partial Holy Evergreen loop alongside gathering the elements to
make Yugdore Water.

It should be noted that Ore (a white stone, unrelated to red ore) is worth
200 when sold and there are good places to mine Ore by Chapter 17.

============================================================
2. Basics

2A. The Cure Jar Loop
------------------------------------------------------------
( Pleinair, among others )

This loop becomes available late in episode 6.

You use Heal Herb to feed reviews into the Cure Jar. Important reviews to
maximize will be ELEMENTAL COST DOWN, RANGE, and HEAL UP, because
these will affect the cost of your healing items and the number of people
they affect.

With ELEMENTAL COST DOWN(XL), you cut the element cost of your healing items
by half. With RANGE(L) (it only goes to L), you turn your smallest and
simplest healing items into area effect healing items. One Heal Herb with
RANGE(L) can heal YOUR ENTIRE PARTY. With HEAL UP(XL), you just about double
the damage your medicines heal.

Make a Heal Herb with the reviews you want. Then make a Wonder Grow with
Aihie Fungo and a Heal Herb, so that the Heal Herb and the Wonder Grow now
have only the reviews you want. Then make a Cure Jar:

Heal Herb + Wonder Grow --> Cure Jar

Then cycle through this loop until the reviews reach L or XL.

Cure Jar + Wonder Grow --> Yugdore Water
Yugdore Water + Heal Herb --> Cure Jar

If you feed Ale into the loop, you can add a DAMAGE UP component.

From this point, you can use these herbs to give these reviews to other
healing items.

As time goes on however, there are interesting permutations to this loop
that give you access to more attack oriented reviews, as per GnatB.

From GnatB:

"For what it's worth, you can start making your first majorly upgraded (not
quite godly, IMO) alchemy items shortly after you first get Fee. (Right
before episode 8)

I came up with:
Magic up (XL) (moonstone/heal jar)
Spd up (XL) (dem ore/heal jar)
Def up (XL) (towhatever cotton/heal herb)
Life up (XL) (goat's milk/cure jar)

On both my eite liquor and holy evergreen.

(also made damage up (XL), element reduce (XL) Range (L) on the
item wish/ice bomb whatever, and heal up (xl), element reduce (XL) range (L)
on all the healing items.)

It really helps to start abusing alchemy early on, as it's just gotten a lot
easier keep my party healthy."

2B. The Godly Alchemy Loop
------------------------------------------------------------

By the time you reach Mitsue's village in Chapter 17, you can do the amended
version of this loop. However, the amendments only affect peripheral items
in the loop.

The entry point for this loop is Charcoal, which is fed item wish reviews
through synthesizing Dark Fairy Clothes or Dark Fairy Hats. This loop
only requires 1 Fairy item per trait, so that the cost of setting up one
good set of reviews is 4 Fairy Clothes or Hats. The little mages that accompany
Punis (Puni Heal!) and the little mages that accompany Pigs of various kinds
drop Fairy Clothes as a rare item, and Witches, as a rare drop, will drop
Fairy Hats.

The start of the loop is:

Fairy Clothes/Hat + Item Wish Drop --> Dark Fairy Clothes/Hat
Dark Fairy/Clothes/Hat --> Charcoal

The loop is started with:

Charcoal + Silver Legien --> Flame
Charcoal + Flame --> Megaflame

the reviews are amplified by:

Flour + Megaflame --> Teraflame
Charcoal + Teraflame --> Megaflame

Once one review is at maximum, you feed new reviews into the loop with:

Charcoal + Teraflame --> Megaflame

and amplify the reviews as above.

Charcoal itself is a usable alchemy item, and if you use the amended loop
technique to push a set of 4 reviews onto the Uni, you can push the whole set
back onto Charcoal.

From BatousaiJ:

"First off, to introduce what this is about, the Alchemy Items generally
teach you skills and give you little to no stat bonuses(they take the 2
spaces below Accessories). However, if you were to mix and match items in
such ways, you can end up with a alchemy items that will give you bonuses
like +30 to Atk, +30 Defense, Critical (L) which is the Highest Crit+ Chance,
and +4 Attack.

You'll end up with everyone each doing +14 hits at the least and much more
if they have elemental damage somewhere in their gear/weapon.

To begin, you'll need to have access to these Recipes.

Flame, Mega Flame, Tera Flame, Dark Fairy Clothes/Hat, Charcoal, Item Wish,
Ice Comet, Dark Lightning Cloud, Dark Water, Refuel, and Eite Liqueuor.

First, Use Item Wish to get items like Go Go Suit, Globeball, Groovecube
and etc.

Then, make a Dark Fairy Clothes/Hat by combining a Fairy Clothes/hat with a
skill base of your choice(Attack +1, Pwr Up(S), All Res(XS) and etc.)

Then make a charcoal using the Dark Fairy item you just manipulated and it
will carry only that effect.

Make a Flame using the Charcoal and a Silver Legion and you will be left
only with the effect you want.

Now go into your item and proceed to make a Mega Flame by Combining a Charcoal
with Flame.

So lets say you placed Attack +1 in the charcoal, now it will be +2 on the
Mega Flame.

Now make a Tera Flame using Flour and Mega Flame. Now you will have a Tera
Flame with Attack + 2.

Go back and make a Mega Flame using the Charcoal and Tera Flame(Not Charcoal
and Flame this time, it's important that you use Tera Flame) but you'll
notice that it has become Attack + 3 instead of +2. Now make a Tera Flame
with Flour and Mega flame and go back to making a Mega Flame with Charcoal
and Tera Flame. Now it will be +4 Attack!

Repeat this process until it's at it's max (XL for stuff that's isn't Crit
and +4 for attack).

Then remake a Dark Fairy Clothes/Hat with another attribute you would like
on the ultimate item and make it into a Charcoal and repeat the entire
process(but this time, start right from the Mega Flame making instead of
Flame because you will want to add 3 more attributes) until you have all
4 slots filled out with maximized attributes.

Now make a Ice Comet by using Moon Drop, Ale and Mega Flame. Considering you
maxed out all your attributes, it will override most other ones except very
few that are higher ranked.

Then, you make a Dark Lightning Cloud using a Ligtning/Thunder or Fog Box
and Ice Comet.

Then you make a Dark Water making sure you use the Dark Lightning Cloud
ingredient.

Now from here you can do many things but to simplify things, make a Refuel
using the Dark Water.

Then lastly make a Eite Liqueur using the Refuel you just made.

Now you have an Alchemy Item that any character can equip that will give all
those four bonuses you chose.

For my Choice I have Eite Liqueur(All Res UP(XL), Def Up(XL), PWR UP(XL) and
Attack +4). I also manipulated the Refuel and combined it into a Elixir and
gave all those qualities to everyone's ultimate weapon(except fee who you
need to use the one right before the ultimate).

I also have a Holy Evergreen that is (Def Up(XL), PWR (UP), Attack +4, and
Critical (L)).

One Eite Liqueur and One Holy Evergreen on every character and add to that
you put those effects on their weapons as well.

That leads to +90 Attack Damage, +90 Defense, +30 All Res, +12 Attack(hits),
and Crit +% Large."

2C. Amendments to the Godly Alchemy Loop
------------------------------------------------------------

This is important as Moon Drop is only available very late in the game. This
change can be done by the time the Godly Alchemy loop is available in Ch 17.

From Jackson:

"I don't know if this was posted but there is a way to avoid using
Mana Stones to make the Ice Comet after getting all the skills you want in
the Flame/Mega Flame.

Rather than make the Ice Comet that requires a Moon Drop (thus a mana stone),
make a Philosophic Ash with Pearl Berry and Flame/Mega Flame. Then make a
Heal Herb with Philosophic Ash and Dragon Blood (for quality if you care, if
not, use any material such as Pure Water). Well, with the Heal Herb, you can
make the Elixirs/Altena Jar/Elite Liqueur/Holy Ever Greens for your equips
easily.

I used to have all 4 Ele damage XL (took me forever to get some on the
items) but it pissed me that many enemies absorb them -_-"

2D. The Godly Alchemy Loop and Accessories
------------------------------------------------------------

From Yandy_Kusanagi:

"First of all, I want to say thanks to BatousaiJ for providing us with this
useful info. And now I'd like to add something. In hoping would be
helpful... ^^

I don't know if anyone noticed this but you can make Silver Crowbar using
the Elite Liqueur. So you can have another Stats Bonus Alchemy Items. The
point is what the difference between this and Elite Liqueur / Holy
Evergreen...?

I have been experimenting a little and I found out that you can actually
get 4 Items which can be equipped to a Character with all the Bonus Stats.

Let's say you haven't got 2 Daza's Belt yet. So you can only Equip one of
these. You haven't got lots of Cole yet to buy to make the Character Attack
stats as high as possible. Here's how I did it...

First, you must already have the Recipe for:
Silver Crowbar
Blau Helm
Demon Ring

Now, make a Silver Crowbar using the Eite Liqueur which carrying the Bonus
Stats you want. Let's just take an example:

Attack +4
Power Up (XL)
Defense Up (XL)
All Res Up (XL)

But of course it's up to you what Bonus Stats you want for each of the
Items you want to Equip later.

After making the Silver Crowbar, now make a Blau Helm using the Silver
Crowbar. It will carry over the Bonus Stats. now do the same to a Demon
Ring. Voila... now you have 4 Items with Bonus Stats. But please note that
the Bonus you carry for the Accessories is the same as you read in the
Review List. In Example: Power Up (XL) will give you 25 Bonus Points to the
Attack Stats.

Now let's see what you got if you Equip all the Items with all same Bonus
Stats (including the Weapons):

Attack +20 = 20 Additional Attacks.
Power Up (XL) x5 = 140 Attack Bonus.
Defense Up (XL) x5 = 140 Defense Bonus.
All Res Up (XL) x5 = 69 All Elements Resistance Bonus.

But don't forget if you Equip 2 Demon Ring, the result will be different. If
you Equip both the Demon Ring you'll got 240 Attack Bonus instead 140 Attack
Bonus (assuming you equip both the Blau Helm). But beware of the Dark
Resistance though. Cause the Demon Ring make your Character Dark Resistance
Points become very poor.

I don't know if BatousaiJ or anyone actually already knew about this. Well,
just want to share with you guys. I hope it's useful somehow...^^"

From shadowkidz:

"You can make the Platiin accessory to have the properties that your alchemy
items have. With it and along with my alchemy items and weps I have...

5 Pwr Up XL
5 Def Up XL
4 All Res Up XL
Critical Up L
Attack +20!!!!!!

Just make the cure jar with your modded refuel and put it into your yugdore
water. Afterwards, you can make the accessory with shadow stone, dragon blood,
and yugdore water.
This accessory makes up for your lost magic up XL and life up XL so it makes
a pretty good accessory."

2E. The Pendulum - Red Crystal Cycle
------------------------------------------------------------
This is a item loop that becomes available when the Red Crystal synthesis
becomes available towards the end of Chapter 9. It is one of the first
accessory syntheses that give the player access to POWER UP and SPEED bonuses
at reasonable values.

An initial item loop might be

Comet Stone + Moon Stone --> Pendulum
Pearlberry + Pendulum --> White Crystal

Now the White Crystal has the same review as the Pendulum. Pearlberry only
affects the quality of the item.

then,

Comet Stone + White Crystal --> Pendulum
Pearlberry + Pendulum --> White Crystal.

You can substitute the Comet Stone with Dem Ore for speed, or Ore for Ice
Resistance, or Shadow Stone for Dark Resistance. When you have a Pendulum you
like, push the reviews onto the Red Crystal.

I made these myself, they were the first items I had with POWER UP(XL) and
they were useful in boss battles.

This synthesis becomes markedly better towards the end of Chapter 16, when the
Crystaleavy and Crystalight items become available.

You get the following loop, which amplifies Mana stone reviews:

White Crystal + any Mana --> Crystalite
"Comet Stone" + Crystalite --> Pendulum
Pearlberry + Pendulum --> White Crystal

This probably isn't all that useful until you can buy Mana stones, but it
brings a way to mix into an alchemy item such useful traits as MAGIC UP and
MAGIC CRITICAL UP, or the very useful ELEMENTAL DAMAGE trait.

2F. The Eden Outfit - Silver Armor - Slaith Dress loop
------------------------------------------------------------

The entry point in this loop is Silver Armor, and it can amplify Mana reviews.
If you loop through the Slaith dress (not necessary), it can amplify the
reviews of the Desert Rose -- ALL RES UP (XS).

As an entry point, you can use:

Gogo Suit + Cotton Cloth + any Mana --> Silver Armor

This will give you the Mana reviews and a DEF UP component. I'll note that
Silk Cloth has no reviews, but Tatalia Cotton is easier to come by than
String, and in general, you would think that DEF UP would be a natural
component of armor. You then can loop through either the Eden Outfit or the
Slaith Dress:

Silver Armor --> Eden Outfit
Eden Outfit + Cotton Cloth + any Mana --> Silver Armor

or

Silver Armor + Desert Rose --> Slaith Dress
Slaith Dress + Cotton Cloth + any Mana --> Silver Armor

You can use these loops to amplify for speed, but Speed (L) only gives you 5
speed, and you can get 3 speed for free by using the Blau Helm. A useful
combination might be MAGIC UP, MAGIC CRIT UP, DEF UP and ALL RES UP, but
unless Veise can wear this, I'm not sure what it really buys you. Pleinair
thinks a lot of this loop, but I have come to the conclusion it might not be
as useful as the other three loops mentioned in this FAQ. When I used this
loop, I ended up making items with ELEMENTAL DAMAGE, MAGIC UP, DEF UP and
ALL RES UP. Compared to the Godly loop, you've traded +25 Attack for a
magic bonus of +25, and Attack +4 for Elemental Damage.

============================================================
3. Tables

3A. Reviews from wish items
------------------------------------------------------------
Item.........................................Review

Groovecube ALL RES UP(S)
Pikohammer ATTACK +1
Globeball CRITICAL UP(XS)
Violet Fungus PWR UP(S)
Gogo Suit DEF UP(S)
Rainbow Disk LIFE UP(S)
Star Piece D RES UP(S)

3B. Mana Reviews
------------------------------------------------------------
Item........................................Review

Dark Mana SPD UP (S)
Black Mana MAGIC UP (S)
Glowing Mana MAG CRIT UP (S)
Red Mana F RES UP (S)
Yellow Mana ALL RES UP (S)
Green Mana LIFE UP (S)
Blue Mana ELEMENTAL DAMAGE

As a note ELEMENTAL DAMAGE gives multiple attacks, one for each element. In
many cases a monster might absorb one attack, but take substantial damage
from the others.

============================================================
4. Things I need for this FAQ to Grow

If you know of something I've missed, or should include, write me
some email! Yes, if you do, and I use what you send me, your name
WILL be used in the FAQ. See the email address at the top for
information.

============================================================
5. Resources and Notes

There are two excellent general Atelier Iris 2 FAQS that are worth
your time and attention. The first is the FAQ of Pleinair and also the FAQ
of Cyril (i.e. fallenangelcyril). These are excellent general purpose
resources for the game. Pleinair goes into a fair amount of depth on the
Cure Jar/Yugdore Water loops, the Pendulum/Red Crystal loop, and points out
the ability to use the Eden Outfit/Silver Armor loop to bring Mana reviews
into dresswear.

I'm using as an outline my older Atelier Iris FAQ. If the words look similar,
then that is why.

============================================================
6. About the Author

I'm male, in my 40s. I have a bachelors in Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry
from Rice University that I don't use much anymore. Still, the education was
worth the trip, in a Bull Durham kind of way. I write these things largely to
help me understand the game I play. I do believe if you can explain a topic
to mostly anyone, then you have a shot at explaining it to yourself. Or so
the logic goes.

I have written two FAQs that have been well received,

legend_of_mana_tempering.txt.
eternal_mana_weapons_synthesis.txt

The editor I use then and now is vim.