The game features a completely reformed world view from earlier titles within the series, in addition to a new alchemy-centric system. Sophie is able to obtain ideas for recipes from activities such as harvesting, exploring, battling, or from events, and these ideas are used as a basis of improving her knowledge of alchemy. When she performs alchemy, the player is presented with various predetermined shapes representing the ingredients used, and arranges each shape on a puzzle board that represents the cauldron.
Source: Wikipedia, "[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atelier_Sophie%3A_The_Alchemist_of_the_Mysterious_Book Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book]", available under the CC-BY-SA License.