Atelier Ryza 3

The end of summer... Is it already over? 

Not quite yet since we're going on one more adventure with this lovely cast! Going right into this game after a few days of prior having finished Ryza 2, this ended up being yet another fun filled adventure that honestly evoked a touch of nostalgic feeling underwoven through most of the playtime. Filled with joy and a touch of a sweet embrace while sparking excitement anew.

There's likely not much reason to go too much in depth in its alchemy systems since it remains largely in the same boat as its predecessor with some new elements, yet once more it persists to be a lot of fun to engage with its mechanics and weaves everything into a neat tight package. Still feeling fresh enough without getting tired of it and offering enough complexity. If there was one criticism though, I'd say it's rather annoying that certain recipes can only be unlocked through RNG at Key locations with the whole new Key system which is generally neat to play around with in combat and synthesis. Personally I would've preferred it if these few recipes would've been a guaranteed unlock at specific points, otherwise it's nothing too bad to get hung up about.

Biggest strength continues to be all the character interactions and fun cast that makes it easy for them to grow fairly close on one. Seeing them all now one year later from the previous title is quite heartwarming paired with some of the new additions who bring in a neat dynamic to the group. The most exciting highlight though and center stage certainly remains seeing the original cast now fully grown up and their developed dynamics in their adult lives. While remembering the youthful time from four years ago, there's something special seeing them now at the point they are in this game and throughout retain all their appeal. 

On the other side, the bigger open areas are a rather big change coming from the very linear experience that sprouted out of previous entries, yet I feel like they were done well in this title as in both not feeling too overwhelming while still being big and fun to explore. Honestly, opposite to this statement at first I surely felt a little bit overwhelmed in contrast to Ryza 2 though this quickly shifted and I felt myself soothing more and more into the world and getting to deeply know it while reexploring areas of Ryza 1 in a new robe. It's largely done pretty well and while I very much love the otherwise more linear approach, I also like the openness of this title that encourages exploring and taking on all the various quests throughout the world.

More importantly however, like previously Klaudia and Ryza continue to be precious and each moment with them made my heart pound a little bit louder. They are so close to each other and feel sincere with their very deep, all the more special bond. While this title once more has a variety of different characters to use in your party, I always felt like sticking with both Klaudia and Ryza since I couldn't possibly separate them. If anything I just can't get enough of these sweet interactions with them. They should get married already!

There's likely a lot more to be said and I feel like I only managed to scratch the very surface with this brief write-up, yet I hope it came through and gave a glimpse into how I enjoyed this experience a lot. While I still like Ryza 2 more, this one was one more absolutely worthwhile journey that felt both fresh and fairly dear with its slight touch of emotional layer while retaining the youthful vibe of a fairly lighthearted story that has the right emotional punch for what it's going for. 

Sincerely, this was a beautiful adventure and I'm a little heartbroken it is already over... After all it would've been nice if it lasted longer. Yet these memories are still there and can be treasured till the end. They will not vanish as long as we remember them and so we can always look back with a smile.

 

Goodbye, Reisalin Stout. 

Ghonf