Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy DX

Genre: JRPG

Players: 1

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack, along with Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX and Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key DX.)

If you’ve been paying attention for a while, you might recall that I previously reviewed Atelier Ryza 2 already some time ago. However, in 2025, the folks at Koei Tecmo have decided to double-dip and re-release the game again with a DX on the end, adding in content and features while removing the original version of the game from the eShop.

The good news? This newer release is discounted with a regular price of $40 instead of the original game’s $60, meaning that not only are those new to this game getting a better version with more stuff in it, they’re getting it at a better price. The bad news? There’s no upgrade path for those who previously bought the original version of the game, meaning that players who supported this game early on now have to contemplate spending full price and buying it again to get the definitive version of the game.

Well, you know what? If they can double-dip, so can I. So I’m copy-pasting the majority of this review from my original review of the game, and only changing it where it’s pertinent. I’ll go over the new additions to the game towards the bottom of this review, before the grade.

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DXeja Vu 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. It may not be as visually-impressive in 2026 as when the game first released, but it’s still lovely. 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.

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The Major DXifferences

When it comes to changes made to the DX version of the game, first and foremost this version includes all of the DLC content made available for the original game. In addition to this content, there’s also quite a bit of new content added into this release: two new playable characters, additional side-story content, new “spirit beast” functions, the character Fi acting as a helper as you explore, a custom combat mode that can be accessed at save points (after unlocking the feature) to set up a custom battle scenario with all of the details adjusted to your liking.

What’s more, this release makes multiple quality-of-life improvements to the game in various areas: your item inventory “basket” is expanded, improvements have been made to the interface, players have access to more graphics options, supposedly improving things like shadows and overall resolution, though I’ve heard others say that the improvements are minimal.

I’ll be perfectly honest here – I can’t directly compare the graphics of the original version on Nintendo Switch to the DX version on Nintendo Switch because if I was going to have to pay full price to buy the game a second time, you bet your cauldron I got the Nintendo Switch 2 version instead this time. Based on what I’m hearing though, don’t expect a dramatic difference.

So this gets us to the crux of it, because we’re talking about the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and if that’s your main platform of choice, you’re undoubtedly wondering if this game is worth picking up, and the answer to that question depends largely on whether you bought the original release of the game, and also whether you bought the DLC and how much you wanted that DLC.

If you bought the original version of Atelier Ryza 2, and either bought the DLC or have no interest in the DLC, then Atelier Ryza 2 DX is going to be a tough $40 pill to swallow – yes, it has a hefty amount of new content, and it is unquestionably the definitive release of the game on Nintendo Switch, but is that extra content going to be worth spending another $40 on a game you already purchased?

However, if you haven’t bought the game previously, the answer to the “should you buy it?” question becomes extremely easy to answer: “absolutely YES”. Atelier Ryza 2 is one of the best games in the Atelier franchise, and a true gem of a JRPG, and this release packs the original $60 game, plus $55 of DLC content, plus plenty of new content, plus a slew of new features, all into one tempting $40 package. If you don’t already own this game, the only reason I would say not to go for it is if you don’t like JRPGs, have a dislike for the Atelier franchise as a whole, want to get the Nintendo Switch 2 version instead (but more on this below), or want to get the Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack and nab the entire trilogy all at once.

So take that as a glowing recommendation… albeit with some caveats.

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. This DX re-release adds plenty of new content and features, though the inability to upgrade from the prior release is disappointing. Overall, this is still a superb JRPG, but it has some 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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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy DX (Nintendo Switch 2)

Genre: JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack, along with Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX and Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key DX.)

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Atelier Ryza 2 DX is a doubly-bittersweet pill to take, because not only does this release provide no upgrade path from the original release of Atelier Ryza 2, but there’s also no upgrade path from the Nintendo Switch version of the game to the Nintendo Switch 2 version. It is entirely possible that an Atelier series fan could feel roped into buying this game three times to play on Nintendo platforms – once for the original Nintendo Switch release, once more for the DX re-release on Nintendo Switch, and a third time to get the upgraded Nintendo Switch 2 release. But just how upgraded is this version of the game? Let’s take a look…

For the purposes of this review, I’m comparing the original Nintendo Switch release of Atelier Ryza 2 to the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Atelier Ryza 2 DX, because even though I decided to grudgingly buy this game twice, there’s no way I’m going to be the guy that buys it thrice just to compare the versions. If someone really wants that comparison, they can pay me extra for it (and if that describes you, here is a link to my Patreon, and thank you in advance for your donation).

The first instantly-noticeable change here is that the Nintendo Switch version’s nasty dithering issue is gone. In addition, the overall resolution is much-improved, with less aliasing (though there is still some). The shadow resolution is also much-improved. However, the framerates don’t appear to have been changed at all, which is disappointing.

The other change I can point to here is to loading times. The original version of Atelier Ryza 2 on Nintendo Switch took 1 minute 31 seconds to load to the title screen, an additional 9 seconds to load a game save, 3 seconds to transition from an indoor environment (Ryza’s new atelier) to the town it resides in, and an additional 7 seconds to transition from the town to an outdoor environment. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 28 seconds, 6 seconds, 2 seconds, and 6 seconds. All good, but that initial improvement before you hit the title screen is the main one, I think.

Overall, this is absolutely an improvement over the original game, and if you also include the new content and other changes it’s more impressive still… but it’s not so drastic a change that I would recommend someone to buy the game a second time if they already got the original release on Nintendo Switch.

If you bought the game on Nintendo Switch previously, I just cannot recommend spending $40 on this double-dip, even with these improvements. However, if you’ve never bought the game before, this is an absolutely ideal time to buy it, as this version is absolutely better than the original Nintendo Switch release, and the new $40 price tag absolutely blows away the original game’s $60 price, especially when you add in all the improvements and extras. So really, the question of value here completely depends on whether you’ve already bought this game once before. If not, then this is definitely worth getting, though you may also want to consider the Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack to get the entire trilogy all at once. Either way, this is a superb version of an outstanding JRPG.

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. This DX re-release adds plenty of new content and features, though the inability to upgrade from the prior release is disappointing. Overall, this is still a superb JRPG, but it has some issues keep it from surpassing its predecessor.

Grade: A-

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