Welcome to our review of the newest Atelier game called Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout.
“Atelier Ryza” is about a girl and her friends on the verge of adulthood, discovering what’s most important to them.
The concept of this title, the latest in the series to depict a new “Atelier” world, is “True-to-life youths that develop together, even if just a little bit”.
It is the story of a girl and her friends who are about to become adults, discovering what is most important to them.
To depict the story of the main characters discovering things they’ve never seen before, we’ve created fields with natural shadows that allow you to feel the breath of the world. Graphics have been further enhanced, allowing for a world of daily-life and adventure to be depicted in a new way.
Atelier Ryza is the newest entry in the Atelier franchise, which consists mainly of crafting Role Playing mechanics. The main idea is to follow the given storyline and learn how to synthesize items and become an alchemist. This is the main storyline for the series and Atelier Ryza is no exception.
One could even say, played one, played them all. Though this is only partly true, it does hold some merit. I am not the biggest fan of the Atelier games, but I do keep them in high esteem as they always deliver a more or less stable experience. once again, Atelier Ryza is no exception here.
As there are also battles to be had, Atelier Ryza does the trick with a non-stop timeline. Basically you can not waste time deciding what action to take as the others around you will keep going and you may end up losing the battle if undecided. Special attacks and all are explained as we progress through the story and I like how the initial few hours of the game are more or less a basic tutorial (in part).
Also, the synthesizing parts are refreshed compared to previous games and appear to be smoother in controls. I say appear because I am a little hazy on whether or not the previous games were denser or not. I review a lot of games and often details get lost in the mix….
Where Atelier games usually shine brightly and not so brightly at times…. the graphics. Atelier Ryza is once again no exception, but hear me out, the graphics are awesome and it does help that you got a seemingly bigger town at first with way more inhabitants.
Where it did kind of get embarrassing, the amount of fanservice. Ryza has some very perky twins up front and every time she moves, they seemingly defy gravity. I noticed this within minutes of playing the game and at my day time job, I asked a fellow gamer to watch me play and then tell me what he noticed. He mentioned the awesome graphics and the fanservice. Need I say more?
Also the weird decision made in aspect to Ryza running through non-important NPCs. They disappear when you run through them, but the shadows keep… Such a weird decision to make….
Atelier games shine more than not though, in the end, they are good games and this Atelier Ryza is no exception. Which might be its biggest downside, the new synthing, the seemingly better storyline do set it apart, but in its core, you know what you are getting into…
In conclusion, Atelier Ryza is fun and quite extensive as a game. If you can live with her perky twins, you are in for some fun!
