After the secret adventure between Ryza and her friends, everyone went their own way. Over the past three years, Ryza has been a teacher to kids on the island in an effort to spread the wonders of alchemy to the world. Out of nowhere comes a letter from her old friend Tao, along with a request from Kurken Island's most influential family. With a task to discover the origins of a mysterious stone, the request of a longtime friend to study ancient mysteries, and a burning desire to experience adventure once more, Ryza makes her way to the capital where her life gets turned upside down. Strange ruins, familiar faces, and the call of alchemy bring the shake-up that Ryza had been longing for.
Ryza, Klaudia, Tao, and Lent make their return from the original game as their paths fatefully cross once more. While Empel and Lila from the first game do show up from time to time, they have their own goals and thus are not playable. Replacing them are three new members: Serri; an Oren like Lila; Patricia: a noble daughter; and Clifford: a lone treasure hunter. Fi serves as Ryza's mysterious friend and companion on her journeys who also helps to power up her abilities.
Gameplay Features Trailer
Combat Highlight Trailer
mazi's Review Thread
JP
Famitsu - 8/8/8/9 (33/40)
Metacritic
PS5 - PS4 - PC - Switch
Opencritic
Q. I've never played these games. What are they like?
A. Atelier games are typically slice-of-life crafting sims with very heavy RPG elements. Some entries lean more into the RPG side than others. Ryza breaks the traditional mold a bit with a stronger focus on adventure. Ryza 2 expands on the adventure elements by adding in more traversal options such as climbing, swimming, diving, and riding mounts. It also shores up the unfortunately weak alchemy options in combat present in the first game by tying adventure, battle, and crafting more closely together.
Q. Can I start with this one?
A. You can, though it's a direct sequel to the first game and takes place three years after.
Q. Are these all connected?
A. Not directly. Sub-series are tied together directly (e.g. Arland is all tied together, Dusk is all tied together) though there are references and cameos that span the entire series such as a ghost named Pamela, a blacksmith named Hagel, and so on. Think of these more like a "Cid" situation in Final Fantasy.
Q. Is there English VA?
A. Unfortunately not. Despite Ryza's stellar sales, dubbing doesn't seem to be in the cards for the series going forward.
Q. Does this game have a time limit?
There is no time limit, but there is a day/night cycle as well as a loose concept of time that needs to flow between character events.
Q. Is there DLC or MTX?
A. There is DLC which can also be purchased in a Season Pass. These have new events/stories for your characters as well as many new costumes. As usual, the price is pretty high. The DLC in the first game was fairly insubstantial for its price and generally considered not worth it, so unless you're a crazed superfan it might be best to hold off on any DLC purchases. Most of the DLC is cosmetic anyways.
Q. How do I tell all these Atelier games apart?
A. They're generally divided by sub-series. These sub-series often contain 2-3 games that are tied together but sub-series generally do not link to one another directly (e.g. Arland is not linked to Mysterious).
Below are all the games available in English.
Join us in the community threads below!
Atelier Community Thread
Koei Tecmo Community Thread
RPG Community Thread
Previous Atelier OTs
Atelier Lydie & Suelle ~ Alchemists of the Mysterious Paintings ~
Atelier Arland DX ~ Rorona, Totori, and Meruru ~
Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists ~ Ateliers of the New World ~
Atelier Lulua ~ The Scion of Arland ~
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout
Atelier Dusk DX ~ Ayesha, Escha & Logy, and Shallie
These are just some tips I thought might be useful.
All of the information is covered in the game but it's usually just a brief page or two. Easy to forget about.
• Consider playing on Hard to get the most out of the battle system.
• Do as many of the requests in the cafe as you can.
This is a good source of skill points and money, and also increases your reputation.
• The gear you craft will almost always be better than anything you can buy or find.
• The in-game guide is your best friend in this game.
You can find information about every single trait, effect, item, equipment, and more by consulting it.
Additionally, pressing Select (Menu/Touchpad??) you can view a list of related terms that will give you information.
Synthesis
• Rebuild! You can always rebuild items, however doing so will increase the Level of the item.
• You cannot rebuild an item higher than Ryza's current level.
e.g. You cannot make a level 54 item if Ryza is level 52.
• Keep in mind that a characters dexterity stat indicates what level of items they can use.
e.g. Patty has low dex so can only use low lvl items.
It's a good idea to create a great item first at lower level and then improve it later.
• The quality of the items, armor, and weapons you create is very important. Equipment quality goes a long way in boosting stats.
• Consult the in-game guide to make sure the traits you're looking at can actually be applied to the equipment you want.
Pressing Change Display (Square on PS, X on PC, Y on Switch) on the item you're building will show you the list of skills you have on that item, as well as what will be added.
You can also press Select (or the PS/Xbox equivalent) to view more info about traits prior to making items.
Effects and Traits Guide
Pay attention to the traits page. Don't make the mistake of trying to transfer a trait like Maiden's Prayer onto armor. A skill like Maiden's Prayer only works on items that buff the party.
Table of Contents
• You can unlock the ability to duplicate items later, but the higher the quality of the item and the more traits/effects it has, the more expensive it will be.
• Reducing items to gems unlocks around the same time. It's easy to stack up tons and tons of gems, but pay attention to what you're getting rid of. There may be a good trait on there that you'll want later.
• If you don't know how to make something that is part of a request, consider creating as many new recipes as possible.
• Recipes that can change into other recipies will have a Page icon on it, indicating that an item can be put into it to change the recipe completely.
Gathering
• Upgrade your gathering tools as soon as you're able to. This will give you access to higher tiers and levels of materials.
Mount Gathering
• Your mount can gather materials by digging when you ride it. This grants a large quantity and variety of materials you may not otherwise be able to gather.
• You can improve your mount whistle so that the creature gathers more items and at higher qualities.
If you don't know where to find something, consult the guide. It will have every single item you've discovered listed, along with how to gather it and where to find it.
It will not tell you what rank tools you need to gather said item, however. If you've checked everywhere, consider making sure your gathering tools are 2 or 3-star if possible.
Battle
• Don't just stand around waiting for your turn. Actively defending grants +2 AP and reduces damage by quite a bit, so swap around and defend if someone is targeted.
• If you're focusing on using items, consider swapping to Aggressive Mode so the party can expend AP and level your Tactics Gauge.
Skill Chains
• Skills have chains that use less AP with each move and have additional effects.
e.g. Patty's Blade Dance
Blade Dance, Blade+, and Blade Dance++ are all a chain with different animations and effects.
You would want to do a string of Blade Dance -> Blade Dance+ -> Blade Dance++ instead of bouncing from Blade Dance to Quick Draw as the chain will reset if you use a different skill.
Blade Dance - 7AP Cost - Deals physical damage to a single target.
Blade Dance+ - 6AP Cost - Deals physical damage to a single target. High critical damage.
If [T-Lv.2+]: increases Stun Gauge damage.
Blade Dance++ - 5AP Cost - Deals physical damage to a single target. Short WT and high critical damage.
If [T-Lv.5]: deals additional physical damage on a critical hit.
Core Drive
• Core Drive's are your friend and can dramatically change how you approach battle.
These are once-per-battle item 'limit breaks' that trigger with specific conditions. The game will tell you what you need and if you met them.
• Some Core Drive's may trigger random status effects, others may do massive damage comprised of all elements, and others may be a saving grace.
e.g. Patty has low dexterity, low starting CC and a low CC cap. It takes her a while to build up CC as well.
I gave her two low level, low CC-cost items that do status effects so that she can trigger Dark-Plosion early in the fight and get back to dealing damage.
Alternatively, Ryza has the highest dexterity in the game, highest starting CC and highest cap. She'll be your main big item user.
Core Crystal
Along the way, you'll be able to level up your Core Crystal and make changes to it. This will allow you to have a higher starting CC in battle and a higher CC cap as well. Additionally, you can set elements to the core crystal that will boost the damage of items of said element and grant more AP when using items and skills of that element.
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