Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy

Genre: JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

For those unfamiliar with the Atelier franchise, an atelier (it’s a French word that’s normally pronounced “uh-tell-ee-yay”, but the characters in these games pronounce the word “at-lee-ur”) is a workshop or studio used by a craftsman or artisan… or in these games, by an alchemist. The Atelier games are a franchise of JRPGs that focuses on young, almost exclusively female adventurers who seek ingredients they can combine and use to enhance their items, with these crafting mechanics forming a central part of the game.

These games have each been released in a subset series that ties them together with a few of the other games in the franchise both in terms of mechanics, but also in terms of the storyline. I know that for many, the Atelier series can seem somewhat intimidating, but BarrelWisdom.com thankfully has a helpful guide to introduce players to the series. However, for the purposes of this review I’ll try to address where this game fits both into the Atelier franchise as a whole, as well as within its individual sub-series.

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Atelier Primer: Secret Series

Atelier Ryza 2, released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2021, is the second game in the Secret series, the eighth series of games in the Atelier franchise, which also includes Atelier Ryza, released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2019, and Atelier Ryza 3, released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2023. Unlike many of the games in the Atelier franchise, these games contain no overarching time limits, and feature an “ATB” battle system that has players selecting commands from menus in real-time.

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Does This Game Ryza 2 the Occasion?

For those who made it through every one of these puns, thank you.

As the number in the title indicates, Atelier Ryza 2, more than any other game in the series released on the Nintendo Switch so far, is a game that is directly tied to the previous game. Now, Atelier games are no stranger to revisiting the world of a previous game, with many games in the franchise taking place in the same world as prior entries, and even seeing characters from the prior games returning as supporting characters in the new game. However, Ryza is different in that it follows the same protagonist from the first game, with us now following Ryza three years later as she reunites with her old companions, giving us a chance to not only see how they have grown and changed over the years, but to continue on Ryza’s journey of personal growth.

As such, this is probably one of the worst games in the series to start with if story is important to you, as it not only makes a good number of references to the first Atelier Ryza, it also spoils major plot events that happen in that game. And since the first Atelier Ryza was already one of the best games in the series and a great starting point for new players, I would strongly suggest that if you are considering this game and haven’t played Atelier Ryza 1 yet… go play Atelier Ryza 1 instead.

The plot this time around picks up after three years with Ryza still living in the island town she grew up in, and finding herself in a bit of a rut. All of Ryza’s friends from the first game gone their separate ways after their adventure together, with the rest of the world none the wiser about the adventure they shared, and meanwhile Ryza has found herself in a slump as her abilities as an alchemist seem to have plateaued. However, as luck would have it, the town’s self-appointed leader wants to enlist Ryza to research a strange artifact, something well beyond her abilities. At the same time, her scholarly friend Tao has invited her to the bustling city of Ashra-am Baird to help him research some ruins he believes are tied to the secrets of alchemy. Ryza naturally decides a journey is in order and heads out on a new adventure.

Ryza 2 is naturally a different sort of story than the first game. While the first Ryza game had a laid-back Ghibli-esque tone of youthful self-discovery, the sequel has a cast who has grown more mature and as such their adventure is one that has them learning more about the world around them. There’s still hints of Ghibli here, but it’s more like one of the Ghibli films with whose protagonist is a more self-assured youth entering adulthood. On balance, I think I prefer the first Ryza’s overall tone a bit more, but this one is good too, and it’s nice to see these characters as they’ve started to find their place in the world as college-age adults.

This more mature tone is reflected in the game’s returning Japanese-language voice cast, who is still doing an excellent job with more weathered and subtle performances this time. Still excellent, though perhaps not as impressive as when we met these characters for the first time. The same thing could be said for this game’s soundtrack, which is similarly wonderful, but not quite as stunningly beautiful as the first Ryza. Still, it has some excellent songs, like Base of a New Adventure, Skipping Along the Cobblestones, Hazy Sunset, Shimmering Streetlight, and Beneath the Clear Sky. But none of these are as wonderfully catchy as the first game’s Soramimi (which this game briefly reprises in a few of its songs).

Much as the story builds on the story from the first game, Atelier Ryza 2 builds on the gameplay of the first game. Once again, there are none of the series’ infamous quest deadlines, but there’s far more to it than that. For one thing, item synthesis also once again returns to Atelier Ryza’s “material loop” system, which is better-explained here, and explaining it takes up a shorter amount of time, but still remains unnecessarily confusing.

The combat this time around still uses an ATB similar to the first game, but now the “tactics” levels that upgrade your attacks happen automatically upon reaching the appropriate thresholds. However, this system has now been supplemented with a new system, Action Orders, where your teammates make requests during battles like “do a physical attack!” or “use your magic!”, and if you respond to them appropriately, they’ll react by doing a more powerful move as a thank you. It’s a nice touch, and while I liked the prior game’s tactical choice of whether to upgrade their tactics level, I think that this is ultimately probably an improvement over the previous game’s already-excellent combat system.

However, the major gameplay change this time around comes in the form of the game’s world design – for the first time since Atelier Firis, the Atelier series has returned to the larger, more open-ended environments. As with Atelier Firis, this game isn’t quite open-world, as this game’s areas are segmented by specific choke points and you can’t simply opt to make your own path to your destination. However, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, as these areas are massive and give players plenty of room to explore and uncover fun secrets.

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This Shouldn’t Be Any SurpRyza 2 Anyone…

However, while Atelier Ryza 2 is much grander in scope than its predecessor, it also feels somehow less impressive. Of course, this game still has the beautiful cel-shaded anime-style 3D character models this series has always done well, and it retains Atelier Ryza’s reasonably high level of environmental detail, with nice water effects, and even some wonderful subtle effects like slick puddles on cobbled streets on a clear morning after a rainstorm. And once again, the game maintains a pretty consistent framerate as far as I can tell. So what’s the problem, then?

The problem is that two of the biggest graphical issues from Atelier Ryza 1 have come back here, with a vengeance. Firstly, while this game makes good use of light and shadows, the quality of those shadows in the Nintendo Switch version of the game are atrocious, and where it could mostly be glossed over or ignored in Ryza 1, here it actually affects the presentation and cheapens everything, making it look slightly broken. However, this is a relatively minor issue compared to the out-of-control dithering this game uses. By this point, Atelier games have grown so comfortable with dithering that it can be seen virtually everywhere (at least in docked mode), and it is a huge distraction. These problems marred the otherwise beautiful presentation in the first Ryza game on Switch, but here they really harm the overall experience. My advice to you, if you want to play this game on Nintendo Switch – play it in handheld mode, or put some distance between you and your TV screen.

Oh, and I guess that means it’s time to talk about the camera controls, touchscreen, and gyroscopic controls. The camera once again works fine here, no complaints. And once again there’s no touchscreen or gyroscopic motion controls.

Despite its flaws, Atelier Ryza 2 is still a phenomenal JRPG that mostly does an outstanding job building on its predecessor There are multiple gameplay improvements, the story does a good job building on the original Atelier Ryza’s story even if it can’t quite match the first game’s simple beauty and charm, and the wide-open map design is something I’ve wanted to see return to the franchise since Atelier Firis, and I’m delighted to see it here. However, it is standing in the shadow of a truly great game, and this time around the flaws in the Nintendo Switch version are a lot harder to forgive or overlook. This is still a magnificent JRPG, but these issues keep this game from surpassing the original.

tl;dr – Atelier Ryza 2 is the second game in the eighth series of Atelier games (the Secret series), a franchise of JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Ryza 2 builds on the story and gameplay of the first Atelier Ryza game, weaving a more mature tale in which the first game’s characters have matured some, adding new elements to the ATB-infused combat system, and bringing back the larger, more open-areas the series hasn’t seen since Atelier Firis. However, these improvements are balanced out by the graphical issues this series had faced on the Nintendo Switch that in Ryza 2 have now become too distracting to ignore. While this is still a superb JRPG, these issues keep it from surpassing its predecessor.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Song (Skipping Along the Cobblestones by Asami Mitake), Best RPG

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