This is the best one in the Ryza series.
There is a lot of content in this game; I don’t have the data, but I still feel I can confidently say this is the longest one.
The game is very pretty, lots of nice biomes to explore. I’m surprised by just how big this game actually is; it is broken up into multiple large regions, containing areas with forests, canyons, caves, swamps, etc. Even the old region from Atelier Ryza 1 gets expanded on. Honestly, it felt a bit overwhelming at first. I do wish navigation was more convenient when going between the regions, however. I think my favourite visually was the Cleria region, but they are all good in my opinion.
I won’t go over the main story because of spoilers, but I will say I left Atelier Ryza 3 feeling satisfied with how it all played out. My only non-spoiler criticism of the main story is that there are quite a few points where you go to point A, watch a cutscene, go to point B, watch a cutscene, and then go back to point A to watch another cutscene.
The Random Quest mechanic is a clever way of having a bunch of generic "craft this", "collect this," and "hunt this" quests without them having the feeling of obligation that comes from a normal side quest. Random Quests give you something that can be solved almost immediately and where you get to decide if it is worth it without it being a constant marker on a map or having a "quest failed" mark in your list. There are still normal quests, but they do have a bit more to them and are not overly abundant.
World Quests are another new thing in Atelier Ryza 3. They are pretty much long, multipart side quests associated with a region in the game. I was surprised that they were all fully voiced. All of them I felt were worth doing and help add more to the world. But I do think they also have the same problem that the main story sometimes has with the running between Point A and Point B, ESPECIALLY one of the last ones you get.
I’m so happy that Bos finally got to be a party member because it was honestly weird that he wasn’t one in Atelier Ryza 2. All the new characters are great, especially Kala Ideas. She is incredibly fun and became my new favourite almost immediately. Something about Kala’s voice really brings everything together. I was surprised to learn her voice actor, Hina Yōmiya, is relatively new; her first role being in 2021. Alongside Kala, Federica and Dian fit in perfectly despite this being their first appearances.
All the returning characters are also great and it feels good to see these characters reach their arcs’ ends. But having reached the end of this three-game arc, I can now confidently say that Lent is the weakest character in your party. I’m sorry Lent, but you’re only interesting when your dad is in the scene with you. I do wish the Atelier Ryza 2 characters, Serri and Clifford had more presence in the story outside of just being mentioned. Not saying they should have been party members again because the party is big enough as it is, but something more would have been nice, like them having a World Quest or something.
Key crafting is a new gameplay mechanic that helps you in synthesising, field gathering, and combat. To be honest, I never used it to help in field gathering, so I don’t know how helpful they can be in that area, but I will say that they were really helpful for synthesising. There is never a reason not to use a key when synthesising; it’s always a smart decision, and I’m happy they added this feature.
Combat is pretty much the same as previous games, so I don’t really have anything to say. Using keys to buff you in combat can be a helpful addition against some heavy hitting bosses. I will quickly say that balance in this game can feel weird at some points, like enemies feeling weaker than they should be or stronger than they should be, and I could never figure out why it was like that at points. I think the Fatal Drives for most characters are not as cool as the ones in Atelier Ryza 2. They are definitely more flashy with effects and all that, but they don’t feel as dynamic or impactful. If you don’t really know what I mean, look at Patricia’s Fatal Drive in 3 and then compare it to hers in 2.
Some final minor random nitpicks I have are that the overworld dialogue can get repetitive really fast, and some of it can be pretty long. It probably would have helped if they either wrote more or had them occur less. Also, please make the container in the atelier bigger, Gust. I’m begging here; my brain desires hoarding.
The music was good. The Ryza games’ music is very cosy and great at creating the intended vibe, so no complaints there. The battle themes have a good balance between being upbeat and also getting you pumped for a fight. You can see what I mean in the battle themes, Summer Dawn and I'll Take You Down.
All in all, I’m very happy with Atelier Ryza 3 and the Ryza series as a whole. I’m very curious to see what the next Atelier will be.
There is a lot of content in this game; I don’t have the data, but I still feel I can confidently say this is the longest one.
The game is very pretty, lots of nice biomes to explore. I’m surprised by just how big this game actually is; it is broken up into multiple large regions, containing areas with forests, canyons, caves, swamps, etc. Even the old region from Atelier Ryza 1 gets expanded on. Honestly, it felt a bit overwhelming at first. I do wish navigation was more convenient when going between the regions, however. I think my favourite visually was the Cleria region, but they are all good in my opinion.
I won’t go over the main story because of spoilers, but I will say I left Atelier Ryza 3 feeling satisfied with how it all played out. My only non-spoiler criticism of the main story is that there are quite a few points where you go to point A, watch a cutscene, go to point B, watch a cutscene, and then go back to point A to watch another cutscene.
The Random Quest mechanic is a clever way of having a bunch of generic "craft this", "collect this," and "hunt this" quests without them having the feeling of obligation that comes from a normal side quest. Random Quests give you something that can be solved almost immediately and where you get to decide if it is worth it without it being a constant marker on a map or having a "quest failed" mark in your list. There are still normal quests, but they do have a bit more to them and are not overly abundant.
World Quests are another new thing in Atelier Ryza 3. They are pretty much long, multipart side quests associated with a region in the game. I was surprised that they were all fully voiced. All of them I felt were worth doing and help add more to the world. But I do think they also have the same problem that the main story sometimes has with the running between Point A and Point B, ESPECIALLY one of the last ones you get.
I’m so happy that Bos finally got to be a party member because it was honestly weird that he wasn’t one in Atelier Ryza 2. All the new characters are great, especially Kala Ideas. She is incredibly fun and became my new favourite almost immediately. Something about Kala’s voice really brings everything together. I was surprised to learn her voice actor, Hina Yōmiya, is relatively new; her first role being in 2021. Alongside Kala, Federica and Dian fit in perfectly despite this being their first appearances.
All the returning characters are also great and it feels good to see these characters reach their arcs’ ends. But having reached the end of this three-game arc, I can now confidently say that Lent is the weakest character in your party. I’m sorry Lent, but you’re only interesting when your dad is in the scene with you. I do wish the Atelier Ryza 2 characters, Serri and Clifford had more presence in the story outside of just being mentioned. Not saying they should have been party members again because the party is big enough as it is, but something more would have been nice, like them having a World Quest or something.
Key crafting is a new gameplay mechanic that helps you in synthesising, field gathering, and combat. To be honest, I never used it to help in field gathering, so I don’t know how helpful they can be in that area, but I will say that they were really helpful for synthesising. There is never a reason not to use a key when synthesising; it’s always a smart decision, and I’m happy they added this feature.
Combat is pretty much the same as previous games, so I don’t really have anything to say. Using keys to buff you in combat can be a helpful addition against some heavy hitting bosses. I will quickly say that balance in this game can feel weird at some points, like enemies feeling weaker than they should be or stronger than they should be, and I could never figure out why it was like that at points. I think the Fatal Drives for most characters are not as cool as the ones in Atelier Ryza 2. They are definitely more flashy with effects and all that, but they don’t feel as dynamic or impactful. If you don’t really know what I mean, look at Patricia’s Fatal Drive in 3 and then compare it to hers in 2.
Some final minor random nitpicks I have are that the overworld dialogue can get repetitive really fast, and some of it can be pretty long. It probably would have helped if they either wrote more or had them occur less. Also, please make the container in the atelier bigger, Gust. I’m begging here; my brain desires hoarding.
The music was good. The Ryza games’ music is very cosy and great at creating the intended vibe, so no complaints there. The battle themes have a good balance between being upbeat and also getting you pumped for a fight. You can see what I mean in the battle themes, Summer Dawn and I'll Take You Down.
All in all, I’m very happy with Atelier Ryza 3 and the Ryza series as a whole. I’m very curious to see what the next Atelier will be.