Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key was my most anticipated recreation this spring. I imply, certain, Zelda’s on the horizon, however I knew this (seemingly) closing journey for Ryza and her rising band of pals would successfully fill the time forward of Zelda’s launch. And it does…principally.
Ryza 3 is about a 12 months after our heroine left Kurken Island to expertise the large metropolis way of life of Ashra-am Baird in Atelier Ryza 2: Misplaced Legends & the Secret Fairy. She’s now again dwelling in Kurken, and her alchemy expertise—at one level complicated and unsettling to the townsfolk—are very a lot in demand. When an archipelago out of the blue seems close by, it’s as much as Ryza and her pals to research. Do these islands have something to do with the occasions of Ryza’s earlier adventures? The group relishes the chance to seek out out.
As with the earlier video games, the occasion begins small however grows rapidly. Ryza begins with Lent, Tao, and Bos by her aspect, the latter character turning into playable for the primary time. Klaudia joins the combination pretty rapidly, and a bit later we’re launched to our first new character: Federica. Ultimately, gamers will be capable of optimize and swap between practically a dozen characters—new and acquainted—in fight, making for a busy however regularly evolving expertise.
It’s quite a bit to handle, particularly when you think about all of the crafting that needs to be finished to maintain your occasion as much as snuff. However that, in fact, is the purpose of the Atelier video games; merchandise crafting is on the recreation’s very core, and Atelier Ryza 3 presents numerous methods to make sure you’re spending the right period of time on the cauldrons.
All of it begins with merchandise assortment. Atelier Ryza 3 affords the most important world but, and it’s filled with gadgets to reap alongside the way in which, both by choosing them up or utilizing instruments corresponding to a hammer, bug internet, or ax to seize them. The chosen instrument and its stage decide what you’ll get, and even these should be crafted and enhanced to be correctly used. The crafting system is mainly the identical as within the earlier Atelier Ryza video games, so followers might be snug with the method (save for the keys, which I’ll get to in a bit). Nonetheless, the interface isn’t fairly as visually clear because it was previously; I discovered it more durable to find out which aspect to maneuver to subsequent and to see what precisely an merchandise will do when crafted. (Talking of exhausting to find out, the dialogue textual content is vindictively small. Unsure how that received previous high quality management.)
Crafting can be considerably muddied by the open world method to exploration. In contrast to in Atelier Ryza 2, for instance, areas aren’t opened up linearly. There aren’t dungeons to discover and clear (so, sadly, no mysteries to decipher) with a view to progress to a different space. As such, there are a ton of craftable merchandise on the onset that you’ve completely no capability to craft—and received’t for fairly some time. Settling for lesser merchandise with the crafting gadgets readily available was disheartening.
And did this huge world additionally harm the graphics? The characters look nice each whereas exploring and through their dramatic, Alex Raymond-esque dramatic battle poses and animations, however the world itself is considerably flat. Colourful, however missing element.
The open world additionally causes extra meandering. The sport normally tells you the place to go subsequent, however Ryza would by no means take a direct route, so why ought to the participant? Reaching sure areas fortunately unlocks warp factors, and also you additionally purchase the flexibility to journey round rapidly on the again of varied animals. Wandering about typically opens pop-up quests and yields precious gadgets, however at the price of actually slowing down the narrative and coming into you into battles you’re not able to win. If a quest requires me to discover previous 4 or 5 unopened checkpoints, am I actually imagined to be on that quest?
Am I able to deal with the monsters alongside the way in which? Some type of enemy stage indication would show helpful, but it surely’s normally not too exhausting to make a fast escape. And though the video games have gotten higher at telling you what gadgets could be harvested from objects corresponding to bushes or rocks, I actually want gamers may see what number of of these gadgets are presently in stock. The icons are sometimes fairly comparable, making it exhausting to recollect whether or not you’ve got 8 or 80.
Fortunately, the battle system is one of the best it’s been. The modifications from Atelier Ryza 2 threw me at first, however as soon as I grasped the brand new circulate and interface, I got here to love it extra. It’s nonetheless exhausting to find out the instant menace when preventing a number of enemies, however emphasis on swapping combatants and retaining them healed forces you to determine issues out rapidly. Tutorials floor every time a brand new fight part is launched, and until you manually bypass them, you’re compelled to execute them with a view to proceed. Fast assaults could be chained for higher injury. Saved up AP can be utilized to launch focused bodily or magical assaults (look ahead to vulnerability indicators). CC can be utilized to gradual issues down for therapeutic or utilization of crafted gadgets. Though it’s bizarre you’ll be able to’t use gadgets to heal characters between fights, you do have the choice throughout fight to heal those that aren’t within the lively battle occasion. I believe I swapped combatants within the first ten hours of Atelier Ryza 3 greater than I did all through everything of the primary two video games. That’s a superb factor; it makes it more durable for fight fatigue to set in.
Then there are the titular keys. All points of Atelier Ryza 3—crafting, exploration, and fight—are affected by key creation and use. The keys are obtained at quite a few locations all through the sport’s world, and might then be utilized nonetheless you see match. Use them whereas crafting to enhance your outcomes. Use them throughout fight to energy up buffs or to increase your AP assault chains. Use them whereas exploring to open new areas or enhance your harvest. They’re a great tool that, once more, prevents the sport’s proceedings from rising stale, however I actually want they’d been higher defined in the beginning. What does it imply that there are solely 4 makes use of left, when that quantity doesn’t drop once I use them? Why can I not equip a key in a personality’s key stock slot? I used to be a number of dozen hours into the sport earlier than I actually felt I had a grasp on the way to correctly use keys, however perhaps that’s on me. I recall being a number of dozen hours into the primary Atelier recreation I performed earlier than I used to be totally snug with crafting.
We’ll name it a constructive facet, then, that Atelier Ryza doesn’t demand good execution for the participant to proceed. It’s very a lot potential to push ahead and benefit from the journey with out mastering every facet of gameplay. On the atelier, you’ll be able to let the sport deal with the crafting for you (positive for rapidly producing gadgets you should craft higher issues, however you threat losing precious gadgets within the course of). And so long as you’ve got a pair characters with strong therapeutic talents, you’ll be able to bully your means by fights with out taking full benefit of your high-damage strikes.
However Ryza’s not a bully, and that’s not the way in which to play this recreation. I’ve learn it may be accomplished in 40 hours. I recommend doubling that; exploring each nook of the map and tinkering relentlessly with merchandise crafting will present better rewards. If you really feel like taking part in an motion recreation, struggle. If you really feel like taking part in a puzzle recreation, craft. Atelier Ryza 3 is supplied to be what you need.
That flexibility, nonetheless, slows down the story, and it’s an excellent story. As earlier than, the stakes are small in the beginning, and so they by no means develop to the everyday JRPG stage of god killing. As a substitute, the emotional influence comes from the characters and their relationships—how they view one another and the world round them as they change into extra deeply connected to it. And even throughout the moments which are particularly tense or wistful, there’s an optimistic vibe that carries by—not a number of anime-style screaming to be heard right here.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key due to this fact succeeds completely at its personal tempo. Regardless of shifting in the direction of the open world method of Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade Chronicles, for instance, it’s not involved with competing in opposition to them. It needs you to take pleasure in it for what it’s, and that’s very simple to do. I did want Misplaced Legends & the Secret Fairy, however simply barely. That is nonetheless a comfy however intricate journey that closes the Atelier Ryza trilogy in a means that ought to please most followers. Depend me amongst them.
