After having such a fantastic experience with Atelier Ryza last year, it was pretty much inevitable that I would be returning for its sequel. Until that point, I had not played one game within this long running Series, and I saw it as the perfect introduction to get me hooked in.
Though it admittedly had some shortcomings, I was bewitched by its distinctive approach which contributed to making the game one of the most relaxing adventures I had all year, and it more than earned.
Its place as one of my favourite titles of 2020. The reason i am saying this is because i want you to realise how much I adored the first game, and why what I am about to say about its sequel is not said lightly.
In my opinion, Atelier Ryza 2 improves on nearly every aspect of the original, and through this article i want to show you my reasoning behind that statement. As of the time of recording, i have indeed finished the game sinking just over 47 hours in to my playthrough.
I played the game on PC which ran very well, and like always utilized my trusty 360 controller so some button prompts I mention may differ for you. As with all my reviews there are minor spoiler warnings confined to the first hour or so of the game.
But nothing that will take away from your experience. With 3 years passing since their initial adventure, let’s revisit a familiar band of misfits and see if we can answer that question, is Atelier Ryza 2 any good though?
The game begins with Ryza on board a boat towards the capital, has she taken pointers from Adol Christin on how NOT to start an adventure? Thankfully there are no shipwrecks. She makes it safely to port, thighs and all. She begins to reminisce on her reasoning for leaving Kurken Island.
It turns out that a childhood friend of hers, Tao, who is a student of the academy, has asked Ryza to come along as he believes he has found something with ties to alchemy, which Ryza has since become even more proficient in over the last few years.
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After a short journey, she arrives in the centre of the bustling metropolis and is greeted by wooaaaaaaaah! Tao, what happened to you man? This is how you do puberty right!. But in all seriousness, having the characters from the previous game returning is a great draw in of itself.
One of the biggest weaknesses with the first Atelier Ryza for me were the characters. Though they were fine for the most part, I couldn’t help. But feel that they were somewhat one-dimensional, and they never really got much of a focus within the game to develop much.
This sense of interconnectivity is a great starting point in addressing that issue. Because of the 3 year time gap, you can see how these characters have grown both physically and mentally which is something. I’m personally a big fan of anyway, hence why the Trails Series is my favourite collection of games out there.
But I also believe that Atelier Ryza 2 does a much better job in developing these characters. Whereas in the first game you had these random cutscenes popping up at certain intervals without any warning. The sequel opts towards a mini story unique to each character. Now though they aren’t groundbreaking in terms of their execution.
It’s good that this title gives the undivided spotlight to these
characters in specific moments. It has many bases covered with the topic areas
addressed, and as a result the characters end up much better off for it.
That praise isn’t just limited to the returning characters either, the new additions are just as good with their own struggles and ambitions that they’re looking to fulfill, and it lends to the group gelling seamlessly, the chemistry between them is a delight to witness.
I also believe that because of the stronger cast, it contributes to a more engaging story which is another issue I had with the first game. You can really feel the comradery between them all. In this adventure there’s a lot more emphasis put on mystery as you try to piece together riddles of the past to shape one large narrative, and the relationships between the group develop well during that period.
Overall with stiff animations, and the soundtrack has a habit of cutting out abruptly at certain moments killing any sense of mood in a scene. But overall I found myself more engrossed with this narrative than its predecessor. With the reunions out of the way, Ryza is introduced to a new character, Patricia, affectionately referred to as Patty.
With her help, Ryza is able to live rent free in the capital as long as she contributes to the requests of the populace. If that’s not plot armour, i don’t know what is! And with this, Atelier Ryza 2 introduces you to the familiar world of alchemy, the main draw of any Atelier game. And I’m happy to say it’s just as relaxing and addicting as it was the first time around.
The familiar foundation is still present, but there are a few tweaks here and there to freshen up the formula, along with straight up brand-new mechanics that get introduced later on like the ability to change material loop elements, or combining usable items to make something new.
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As it was with its antecedent, it’s in your best interest to learn the intricacies of this system as your success in combat, story progression and exploration systems directly from Alchemy. If you don’t keep your characters up to snuff with souped up gear, you will get blown away by the later enemies, a lesson I learnt quite brutally from the first game.
And with the added arsenal of options available to you, it’s even more entertaining to see what you can come up with. Another aspect I have to praise is that the items, you make relatively early on don’t lose their use even later on in the game.
If you rebuild them to get some of the later effects for example, their unique purpose in a battle may still assist you. On top of that, there are a multitude of traits that can be applied to your items which will aid you further. For example in the case of armour you may want traits like defense charge to increase the base stats even further, whereas with usable items.
You may want to improve their potency, and it gives a sense of reward for the players who get stuck in to the system. Elements like recipe morphing are still there which increases your plethora of possible creations even further. But there are also additions like the skill tree from which some items and gathering tools can only be unlocked through this, again making you feel that sense of progression.
However, while I love the alchemy system and how integral to the
experience it is. I do feel this takes away from the excitement of finding
treasure in the world, as many items you come across are just worthless. For
instance, you may find a weapon which is one tier higher than your own.
But it’s no use to you. Because it has no buffed qualities and you can’t even enhance it. More often than not your current equipment will be far and away better than anything you will find from world exploration.
Since we’re referring to world exploration, one cannot do Alchemy if they don’t have the right materials, and this becomes another important part of your adventure. Like the previous game, the world will be littered with collectable goodies, and any flashing node can be harvested for its material.
There are also a multitude of ways that you can approach it, like cutting it with your axe, smacking it with your cane or bombing the shit out of it. Now in the first Atelier Ryza, this was actually a very enjoyable part of the game for me. So it’s no surprise that the second game carries on this trend. But also improves on it.
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For one thing, the world feels a lot more open, there are multi-dimensional ways bywhich you can gather materials, like swimming, climbing foliage to reach higher levels, digging up areas with your spirit friend or letting loose your inner Indiana Jones. On top of that there are some quality-of-life improvements here, like being given the ability to see what each of your gathering tools will harvest if you go for a node.
Instead of switching between the different tools, you have everything available to you by holding in the right bumper, which is a small time saver sure but very much appreciated. I feel I also have to mention the world itself here.
It is gorgeous to look at just as it was last time around. No doubt this art style won’t work for everyone, but I love it. It’s unashamedly vibrant, crisp and feels alive. You see the gusts of wind flowing through the fields, or structures against the backdrop and it just urges you to delve in, like admiring a piece of fine art.
Combine this with another solid sound track that evokes this feeling of
adventure, and Atelier Ryza 2 is once again on to a winner. It never feels like
a chore to gather materials, if anything the one thing that annoys me is that I
was consistently running out of space, which would force me to go back to the
Atelier to free up my inventory for another round, which inevitably leads to a
lot of unused material as you plow through the story.
And that’s probably my biggest complaint with the game, inventory management can be a real pain. Especially since you’re encouraged to gather so often, and as you approach the late game you’ll just want to be rid of most of it.
My thumb took a beating near the end. But again, Atelier Ryza 2 has you mostly covered here, as there are many ways that you can use your unwanted material. Naturally most of it will go to gem reduction, but you can also feed some to your pet Puni, develop the city stores for higher quality materials, or take them to the café to hand them in for quests. Touching on quests, they’re again nothing special for the most part.
But they are more streamlined. Ryza can go to the Café job request board and accept any task upon it, and in many instances it’ll just be a case of press A and you’re done. Now it may sound uninvolved, but by completing more of them, Ryza will gain reputation with different classes of the populace, and dependent upon that reputation she will get harder requests.
This is another aspect that is done better than the previous game, because these quests are not stand-alone for the most part, they’re more akin to a quest chain linked to an NPC character arc, giving you the incentive to see them through to the end and some of them are quite humorous, definitely worth the time to check out.
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Well, you can do them as long as you’re not trying to find the quest giver at 2 o’clock in the morning… But that’s not a problem. Just go back to the Atelier, pull back the bed sheets and WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA?! Naturally these quests are not just limited to gathering or making something either, some of them do require you to commit crimes against the animal kingdom. And with these, you will get a taste of the combat on offer from Atelier Ryza 2, and my god is it AWESOME!
This in my mind is the most improved aspect of Atelier Ryza 2. There’s no doubt that I enjoyed the real time ATB style from the first game, but its sequel takes all of the aspects that made that system good, and ramps it up a decibel or two. As you enter a fight you’ll have active control of one character, and the other two will approach the battle dependent on the mode you have chosen at the time.
If you have them in a supporting role, they will do less damage but build up your AP faster, and if you choose to go aggressive, they will attack with their strongest abilities for sporadic bursts of damage. In addition to this, you will have the choice of one support character who you can freely switch in and out when your active characters turn comes up, which is indicated by the action bar on the right side of the screen.
Now the battles will generally start slow, you’ll use your basic attacks to build up your AP which will eventually give you the chance to unleash some unique skills. By pressing in the right bumper, each character will have several moves they can choose from, each with stronger variants tied to them as you progress.
These attacks contribute to the tactics level of the team, which will increase to a maximum of 5 in the longer fights. The higher the tactics level goes, the faster the combat becomes, and it will become clear very quickly that delivering devastating combos becomes the cornerstone of the battle system in Atelier Ryza 2.
You’ll string together a bunch of skills with one character, and then switch them out for your support member who will then unleash their own abilities. On top of that, the command orders from the first game are back once again, and if you meet the conditions, those supporting characters will give you extra buffs or unleash a powerful attack of their own.
On top of that, you also have the option of using items that you’ve created from alchemy, be they bombs, powders or heals, and if you find yourself in a pinch, then you can execute a fast order to save yourself from death. Plainly speaking, this combat system is so fun. You can do some really cool things with it.
But despite how fast paced it is, it’s amazing how involved you feel in
the battle. At least in my case, I was looking all over the screen to see what
character’s turn was coming up next, what action orders are going to make the
most use of my skills, what enemy is about to unleash a powerful attack of
their own, and can I feasibly shift my focus to them and break their posture
before they unleash it.
Yes, it does have some drawbacks here and there, there are moments where you’ll be sitting round doing nothing most commonly at the start of a battle, and the enemies that you encounter are not all that unique, just being reskins of a few base models.
But in terms of the intricacy, the visual payoff, the sheer carnage you can muster, it is ridiculously satisfying to partake in. I feel that because of the faster nature of the combat, it contributes to making the game a harder experience overall.
Because the focus is more on the combos and the active switching of characters to gain an upperhand, there’s a lot more onus put on the player to understand how the combat works and how to get the most effectiveness out of it. No doubt your gear will also be an important factor, but even with the higher-level equipment, I was still getting wrecked at times because I just didn’t fight in the most efficient way.
But that’s the thing, it never felt cheap, it was a fair challenge that rewards players who grasp the system, and because of that I can’t praise the combat enough. It was a blast from the start of the journey all the way to the end. And speaking of the end, I do want to mention one more thing.
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Naturally I’m not going to spoil the ending for you because that would be highly inappropriate. But I wanted to mention this at the very least. After the credits roll, you will get some extras like art from the game and the full soundtrack. In addition to that though, you will get small audio clips from the actual voice actors. It gives a personalized touch for the conclusion of your experience, and it makes you feel appreciated for the time you invested in the game.
Hearing them outside of their roles and giving their thoughts on said part is great to listen to. And it becomes apparent just from the tone of their voices that they really did enjoy their time in the studio booth. I know this may sound like a small thing, but I love stuff like this and I wish more games would do it.
Yes, at the end of the day a for profit company is mostly happy because you purchased the game, but neat little additions like this are very much appreciated, a touch of class that I would welcome more of. With that being said, it’s time for us to wrap up. As the title of the article suggested, we were trying to answer the question, is Atelier Ryza 2 any good though.
I’m sure you’ve realized by now, but I’m gonna say it anyway because
the game deserves it, yes it’s fantastic. Atelier Ryza 2 takes everything that
made the first game such a joy to play, and simply made it better. The
excellent combat, the beautiful aesthetic, the loveable characters. But most
importantly the deep and engaging crafting system, something that is so often
an afterthought for many other games.
Because of the unique experience that Atelier Ryza 2 offers, it maintains that special quirk that no other Series has. It is comfortable, it’s a feel good adventure from start to finish, a game that you can start playing in foulest of moods and end up on cloud when you’re done for the evening, as if serving you a medicine from Ryza’s Atelier itself.
Of course I do love the epic narratives, and I am often enamored with the struggles of warring kingdoms, but just like last year, there are those moments where I just want to chill, unwind, and get lost in the world of alchemy.
