Time for another quick review starring the last game I just played! I’m calling this a quick review now instead of express because it sounds better in my head.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout
Honestly, I jumped into this game a bit dubious since I’ve never played any sort of Atelier game before. A game centered around collecting things as the core mechanic sounded pretty dull on the surface. I’m sure glad I gave it a chance though because it is so much more than just that.
Story
The story in this game isn’t the most engaging story ever and it is somewhat predictable, but its definitely enough to keep you interested and going. It starts pretty calm and slow in the beginning and slowly escalates into some bullshit, but still keeps itself serious. The real strength the game has in terms of its story is its character development; you really get to see everyone evolve into their individual strengths and grow more confident in themselves as time progresses. The game isn’t just about Ryza; its really about the entire team as a cohesive whole, and that’s a good thing!
Gameplay
The game play in this game is definitely its strong suit by a long shot. The game has two core components split between the synthesizing and combat. Both of these systems have some pretty deep mechanics that can seem overwhelming as a whole, but the game does a real fantastic job of slowing introducing you to these mechanics in a timely and understandable way that isn’t annoying. Each mechanic builds upon the other which actually makes picking them up pretty intuitively.
Lets break each of these up quickly into their two components.
Synthesizing
The synthesizing is easily the part that can seem really overwhelming about this game, but don’t be afraid! It’s actually pretty intuitive to pick up once you get the hang of it. The game only introduces new aspects to it once you have gotten the hang of the basics below it, so its really easy to build upon what you have learned up to that point.
To summarize it in a very crude manner, each item you make in the game has a sort of “tree” with certain requirements. You can throw any item that satisfies the element and quantity into the tree, and your goal is to essentially “fill out” the entire branches of the tree. You don’t have to, but this is what leads you to making more and more powerful items.
As I mentioned before this can seem intimidating, but the game really does a very good job of slowly introducing you on how to work this system. The game also comes with a sort of “auto-filler” where it will automatically fill your trees for you based on the quality levels that you wish. This really cuts down on the grind portion of the game and helps you move along in the game until you get the hang of synthesizing things yourself. I heard they just added this system in this game, which is crazy; without this system the game would be a lot more tedious!
If you need it, a video I watched when playing this game that really also helped me get started was the following video by Backlog Battle. In my opinion this video condensed the entire system quite nicely and gave me a real good confidence boost.
Combat
The combat system is also very engaging and in depth, but this is much easier to just learn as you go while you play the game.
The game’s combat system is essentially split between turn based and real time. The battle proceeds in real time the entire battle, and everyone has a set turn depending on their attributes and buffs/debuffs. The thing to remember is that even when it is your turn and you are choosing what skill or item to use, the battle still progresses in real time. This adds a certain urgency to battles; you need to be thinking ahead of what you’d like to use while the battle progresses. It’s also encouraged and a big advantage to switch characters depending on the need; you’ll find that you’ll want to use everyone equally depending on where you are at in the game.
A helpful cheese I would do in the game is whenever I had 10 AP or higher, I would use R2 to go into using a skill instantly; however you don’t actually have to use anything and more importantly, this pauses the battle giving you a moment to think ahead. I definitely abused this when possible.
Overall, while the battle system looks intimidating, don’t be; its relatively easy to pick up once you get the hang of it.
The important thing to keep in mind is that synthesizing and combat go hand in hand; you want to continuously upgrade your party’s gear, since this has a direct effect on your damage and abilities in battle. The synergy between the two systems is great!
Graphics
The game looks fantastic, which is quite important since you will be sending a lot of time paying attention to your environment collecting materials. The only differences between versions would be between the PS4 and Steam versions. The PS4 version which I played was locked to 30 fps, while the Steam version runs at the full 60 fps. However I started with the PC version and inevitably had to switch to the PS4 version; the PC version for me was just too unstable and the window options too limiting for me. If possible though, I would still try to go with this version; 60 fps makes a huge difference.
DLC, here we go again
The DLC is a mixed bag this time…but it might still be worth it.
The DLC is somewhat reasonably priced this time, and includes a couple of outfits, weapon skins, short DLC stories for each character, and an entirely new absolutely broken fucking island which you need full maxed gear in order to beat. Did I sound salty there? It’s not that bad. Really.
If you find the DLC on sale or something, or you really want to tackle the challenge island, it might be worth your money to get it.
Some Cons (Potential Spoilers Below)
With all its strengths, the game unfortunately comes with a flaw that you may or may not give a damn about.
Recycled assets.
So many recycled assets.
Did their budget run out in the middle of it? Every enemy is a literal reskin of another enemy. There is maybe like 4 or 5 unique enemies in total? Everything else is a complete reskin.
Even the end bosses of the game and DLC are very lazily recycled. Spoilers below if you don’t want to see them (but really it doesn’t matter because the game recycles everything so much), but I really have to call them out on this:
I call this the Recycled Game Boss. It is recycled right down to the exact same mechanics. This is just straight up lazy guys, come on; you’re charging people actual money for this crap.
Conclusion
Atelier Ryza was a different game that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’m glad I played it. If you’re the type that likes maximizing everything, or just want to have a chill casual experience (or even if you’re just here for those thighs, you ain’t fooling anyone) then this game is for you; I would give it a chance especially if its on sale. I will be playing Atelier Ryza 2 in the future, but I really hope the massive enemy recycling is reduced in the future installments.
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