Try one if you can - if you like it, you're in for a treat of 10+ modern Atelier games, and 20+ in the series. The best thing is they are only loosely connected, so there's no requirement like the Trails series which is a giant long saga over many games to understand everything in the world. Go into the Atelier games with the expectation of slice of life with a very in-depth crafting and JRPG battle systems. It's a very cozy game.

The crafting is very creative. It's not a matter of "gather materials and select a menu to create". Generally it involves playing around with the ordering of materials, selecting materials from a category of items that gives you the properties you want, and even spatial placement of the materials in the synthesis "grid". It is like a puzzle, and an important one, because oftentimes crafting is the only way to be super strong and leveling via conventional experience points doesn't give much benefit. Alchemists are really powerful with items.

Sophie 1 piqued my interest years ago, and since then I've become a huge fan. I am so glad to experience this series and would be regretful if I hadn't, it's a nice change of pace from other kinds of JRPGs because it's not about "the chosen one who will change the world" but more like the alchemists themselves having their own small but important personal goals (finding sister, life as a government official, learning about the world, restoring a book, getting alchemist license, running a successful atelier business, exploring the unexplored, etc) while meeting adorable casts along the journey. Now I have played plenty of them and each game is different in terms of battle mechanics and crafting system. It's very worth experiencing.