Evaluation: Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key (Nintendo Swap)

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key was my most anticipated recreation this spring. I imply, positive, Zelda’s on the horizon, however I knew this (possible) closing journey for Ryza and her rising band of buddies would successfully fill the time forward of Zelda’s launch. And it does…principally.

Ryza 3 is about a yr after our heroine left Kurken Island to expertise the large metropolis life-style of Ashra-am Baird in Atelier Ryza 2: Misplaced Legends & the Secret Fairy. She’s now again residence in Kurken, and her alchemy expertise—at one level complicated and unsettling to the townsfolk—are very a lot in demand. When an archipelago all of a sudden seems close by, it’s as much as Ryza and her buddies to analyze. Do these islands have something to do with the occasions of Ryza’s earlier adventures? The group relishes the chance to search out out.

As with the earlier video games, the get together begins small however grows shortly. 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 shortly, and a bit later we’re launched to our first new character: Federica. Finally, gamers will be capable to optimize and swap between almost a dozen characters—new and acquainted—in fight, making for a busy however regularly evolving expertise.

It’s so much to handle, particularly when you think about all of the crafting that must be achieved to maintain your get together as much as snuff. However that, after all, 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 correct period of time on the cauldrons.

All of it begins with merchandise assortment. Atelier Ryza 3 presents the most important world but, and it’s filled with gadgets to reap alongside the way in which, both by selecting them up or utilizing instruments comparable to a hammer, bug internet, or ax to seize them. The chosen software and its degree decide what you’ll get, and even these need to be crafted and enhanced to be correctly used. The crafting system is principally 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). Nevertheless, the interface isn’t fairly as visually clear because it was prior to now; I discovered it tougher to find out which factor 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. Undecided how that obtained previous high quality management.)

Crafting can also be considerably muddied by the open world strategy to exploration. Not like 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) as a way to progress to a different space. As such, there are a ton of craftable merchandise on the onset that you’ve completely no capacity to craft—and received’t for fairly some time. Settling for lesser merchandise with the crafting gadgets available was disheartening.

And did this large 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 power to experience round shortly on the again of varied animals. Wandering about usually opens pop-up quests and yields invaluable gadgets, however at the price of actually slowing down the narrative and getting 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 speculated to be on that quest?

Am I able to deal with the monsters alongside the way in which? Some type of enemy degree 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 might be harvested from objects comparable to bushes or rocks, I actually want gamers might see what number of of these gadgets are presently in stock. The icons are sometimes fairly related, making it exhausting to recollect whether or not you will have 8 or 80.

Fortunately, the battle system is the most effective 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 speedy menace when combating a number of enemies, however emphasis on swapping combatants and retaining them healed forces you to determine issues out shortly. Tutorials floor every time a brand new fight part is launched, and except you manually bypass them, you’re compelled to execute them as a way to proceed. Fast assaults might 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 sluggish issues down for therapeutic or utilization of crafted gadgets. Though it’s bizarre you may’t use gadgets to heal characters between fights, you do have the choice throughout fight to heal those that aren’t within the energetic battle get together. I believe I swapped combatants within the first ten hours of Atelier Ryza 3 greater than I did all through the whole lot of the primary two video games. That’s a very good factor; it makes it tougher for fight fatigue to set in.

Then there are the titular keys. All facets 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 may 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 develop 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 firstly. 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 possibly 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 optimistic side, then, that Atelier Ryza doesn’t demand good execution for the participant to proceed. It’s very a lot attainable to push ahead and benefit from the journey with out mastering each side of gameplay. On the atelier, you may let the sport deal with the crafting for you (nice for shortly producing gadgets you’ll want to craft higher issues, however you danger losing invaluable gadgets within the course of). And so long as you will have a pair characters with stable therapeutic talents, you may bully your manner 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 counsel doubling that; exploring each nook of the map and tinkering relentlessly with merchandise crafting will present larger rewards. Once you really feel like taking part in an motion recreation, struggle. Once 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 firstly, they usually by no means develop to the everyday JRPG degree 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 turn out to be extra deeply connected to it. And even in the course of the moments which can be particularly tense or wistful, there’s an optimistic vibe that carries by—not lots of anime-style screaming to be heard right here.

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key subsequently succeeds solely at its personal tempo. Regardless of transferring in the direction of the open world strategy of Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade Chronicles, for instance, it’s not involved with competing in opposition to them. It desires you to take pleasure in it for what it’s, and that’s very straightforward to do. I did choose Misplaced Legends & the Secret Fairy, however simply barely. That is nonetheless a comfortable however intricate journey that closes the Atelier Ryza trilogy in a manner that ought to please most followers. Rely me amongst them.