Atelier Ryza Review: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout

Atelier Ryza: At First Glance

If you have been playing Atelier games for a while now, you should know that it’s one of the most underrated game franchises of all time. Basically, this franchise has given us some amazing yet unpopular games.

Some games in the Atelier franchise include Atelier Firis, Atelier Lulua, and Atelier Ryza, which this review is all about. Atelier Ryza a.k.a Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout may just be the biggest game in the Atelier franchise. 

This is because the video game offers gorgeous gameplay and graphics, lovely characters, an awesome orchestral soundtrack, and a heartwarming story. Impressively, this video game is also very affordable.

Specifically, the game had a price tag of $39.99 when I published this review in November 2021. With all of that being said, let’s get to know the Atelier Ryza game even more in subsequent sections below.

Atelier Ryza: Systems Requirements

To begin with, the system requirements to play the Atelier Ryza video game aren’t something particularly extravagant. To give more details, the minimum processor requirement to run this video game is a 4-core Intel Core i5 processor.

Additionally, this processor must have a maximum frequency of 2.7 GHz or higher. Any 4-core Intel i5 processor with a speed of 2.7 GHz should play Atelier Ryza.

For example, processors like the Intel Core i5-9400F should deliver a reasonable performance while playing the game.

However, to get the best gaming experience while playing Atelier Ryza, a 4-core Intel Core i7-6700 processor is recommended.

Moving on, 16 GB RAM is recommended if you want to get the best experience while playing Atelier Ryza. However, a minimum of 8 GB RAM should be able to run the game if not smoothly but acceptably.  

That said, let us take a look at the graphics card requirements for running Atelier Ryza. Specifically, the minimum graphics card required to run the Atelier Ryza video game is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.

The Nvidia GTX 1050 is a GPU with a dedicated VRAM. Additionally, this graphics card is a powerful graphics card and should be able to run most modern games.

However, it may not be able to run games in a high-resolution setting. Therefore, with this GPU, you can only enjoy playing the Atelier Ryza game in low resolution setting (HD 1280 x 720).

For the best graphics experience, however, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card or higher is recommended.  Basically, this graphics card is a powerful, dedicated mid-tier graphics card for desktop gaming computers.

Additionally, according to notebookcheck.net, this graphics card can run several modern games smoothly in FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Also, the GPU will be able to deliver 100+ fps (frame per second) while playing most modern games in FHD.

Hence, with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, you are sure to get the best graphics experience while playing Atelier Ryza.

Therefore, it’s ideal to say an Intel Core i7-6700 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 GPU, and 16 GB RAM is the best combination of PC specs to deliver the ideal gaming experience while playing Atelier Ryza.

A few gaming PCs with a similar or higher combination of specs include the ASUS TUF Gaming A17 and Dell G3 15 3590 Gaming Laptop.

However, before you buy a new computer, you may want to check the specs of your current PC. For detailed steps to check the processor, RAM, GPU, and VRAM on your PC refer to our guides listed in the “References And Further Reading” section of this article.

Moving on, the DirectX version required for your PC to possess to run Atelier Ryza smoothly is the DirectX version 11. Microsoft DirectX is a set of application programming interfaces for Microsoft platforms that handle tasks associated with multimedia, particularly game programming and video.

At the beginning of this section, I mentioned that the system requirements for the Atelier Ryza aren’t something extravagant. The reason I said that is because most video games in its category demand even higher system requirements.

A typical example is the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game. Specifically, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare requires a PC with an Intel i7-9700K processor to run smoothly without lagging.

Also, the PC must have 16 GB RAM and the almighty NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics card. The last time I checked, PCs with this graphics card e.g Dell Alienware m15 R2 costs around $1500.

Where Atelier Ryza finally crushed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in terms of system requirements is the free disk space requirement. Specifically, 175 GB is the recommended free disk space that should be available on your PC to download Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

In comparison, 175 GB disk space is quite much compared to the 15 GB recommended free disk space for downloading Atelier Ryza.

Moving on, Atelier Ryza isn’t only available on PC, it is also available on platforms like Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam. Moreover, since you can play the game on PS4, you should also be able to play it on PlayStation 5.

Unfortunately, this video game isn’t available on any Xbox console.

In conclusion, Atelier Ryza proves to be for everyone with its simple yet powerful system requirements. Additionally, the manufacturer of the game thought about non-PC gamers by making the game available on other platforms like PS4.

Therefore, I will rate the Atelier Ryza video game a nine out of ten in this system requirement review section. This rating is based on the low bar of the specs required to play the game.

Atelier Ryza: Music, Sound and Graphics

The Atelier Ryza game came out back in 2019. Therefore, it is a fairly recent game, so the graphics should be up to par.

Thankfully, the game doesn’t disappoint as its visual presentation is just impressive, and it renders beautifully in 3D. Additionally, this game has anime vibes all over it.

Basically, the game looks like a modern anime game. Furthermore, this game has a lot of stylization and fantasy aesthetics.

To be honest, the graphics of the Atelier Ryza video game is very visually pleasing to look at. Moreover, most areas of the game’s graphics are fairly well detailed, there’s lots of variation between locales and times of the day.

For example, when the sun is setting in the game, there is a lot of graphical details on how the sun is moving and how dim or bright it gets. This also happens when the sun is dawning.

Moving on, the game has somewhat bright colors. Additionally, these bright colors are mostly used for the island and its surrounding areas.

The game having bright colors isn’t particularly a bad thing because it improves the overall graphics quality of the game. However, if you play the game with a display that has high maximum brightness, colors may look washed out due to too much brightness.

Therefore, when playing the game with such a display, you may have to reduce the game’s or display’s brightness to a moderate level.

Moreover, some event scenes of the game have poor graphical quality. For example, when you have to move the conversation forward, sometimes a character’s arm or something else might move to a completely different position

The best way I can describe this visual defect is “choppy” animation. Also, while this “choppy” animation doesn’t occur frequently, it will be very noticeable whenever it does occur.

That said, now let us move on to the music and sound of the Atelier Ryza video game.

Atelier Ryza only comes with Japanese audio. Nevertheless, the translation is top-notch, with only a few instances of typographical errors.

However, it will be nice if there was an English audio option. On a positive note, the vocal opening and ending theme music of the game is really impressive.

For example, when you are about to begin the game, the opening song gives you the impression of starting something new. Also, the ending theme song when you defeat the boss, makes you feel like you have fulfilled your dream.

That said, the orchestral music on the Atelier Ryza game loops. However, as should be expected of a modern game, it loops the music so seamlessly.

Moreover, a lot of the music in the game is whimsical, providing a sense of adventure for the player. For instance, when searching for alchemy materials, the music gives you the drive to look further with its adventurous tone.

Furthermore, the music in the game is very catchy, particularly during battle and at the boss level. Moreover, you should be able to change the BGM (background music) of any area of the game.  

Impressively, you can even use music from previous games in the Atelier series and other games from Koei Tecmo Games Co. LTD. Just to be clear, Koei Tecmo Games Co. LTD is the developer of the Atelier game series including Atelier Ryza.

The game’s music isn’t the only impressive thing though as the game produces excellent dialogue even though it is Japanese. To give more details, when a character or two characters are talking, their voices are tied to their emotion.

For instance, if Ryza is angry or in rage, her voice becomes louder and sounds angry. However, if she is happy, her voice becomes mild and nice.

All in all, the graphic quality of the Atelier Ryza game is great with only a few defects. Also, I love how the character’s emotion in the game determines their voice.

However, Japanese being the only audio option is a bit of an issue even though it is subtitled. In my opinion, I believe there should be an English audio option.

Therefore, I will rate the Atelier Ryza game an eight out of ten in this music, sound, and graphics review section.

Atelier Ryza: Storyline and Characters

Before diving into the gameplay section, I’ll describe Atelier Ryza’s storyline and characters in this section. Reisalin Stout a.k.a Ryza lives on a small farm with her parents, which is located on a mysterious isolated island.

Furthermore, Ryza’s parents are very strict and try at every opportunity to suppress her dreams. In addition to that, her parents prefer that she stay at home and live a simple and safe life

However, Ryza’s dream is to go on an epic adventure and explore the continent. Unfortunately, Ryza doesn’t have many friends her age except a few childhood friends named Lent and Tao.

Tao is a nerdy young man who is desperate to comprehend his family’s collection of books. Unfortunately, Tao is constantly bullied by neighborhood bullies.

Lent, on the other hand, is a muscular man with aspirations of being a warrior. However, Lent has a lot of issues with his abusive alcoholic father.

Thus, without her parent’s permission, Ryza and her few friends, Lent and Tao, decide to “borrow” a boat and sail off for adventure. The three of them desperately want to put their troubles behind and create something more meaningful for themselves.

Shortly into their adventure, Ryza meets a girl about her age (Klaudia) who was happy to join them on their adventure. However, along the line, Ryza and her friends had a run-in with a wild animal.

Thankfully, they were saved by Empel and Lila, two mysterious strangers who have the power of alchemy and whose worlds have been destroyed. Atelier Ryza, of course, wouldn’t be much of an Atelier game if it didn’t include alchemy.

For clarity, alchemy is some sort of seemingly magical power and process of transformation, creation, or combination.

That said, after being saved by Empel and Lila, Ryza vows to learn alchemy. Also, she plans to assist Empel and Lila in finding a way to save their world.

Unfortunately, Ryza soon learns that her home, the Kuriken Island, may also be in just as much danger. Hence, she, her childhood friends, and newly-made friends are all set to save her home.

Moreover, it didn’t take long for the six characters to form something of a family.

Overall, the characters in this game are fantastic, and I believe they are the most charming and relatable of any Atelier game. Plus, the story of this game is very simple yet narrative unlike similar games like Devil May Cry 5.

To give more details, the storyline of the Devil May Cry 5 video game is somewhat confusing. This is because you must have played the previous version (Devil May Cry 4) before you can understand devil may cry 5.

Therefore, the Devil May Cry 5 story will be kind of confusing for new players. In comparison, the Atelier Ryza story is straightforward, relatable, and easy to understand.

I am not the only one that feels this way. A lot of gamers really loved the story and characters of Atelier Ryza.

To be more specific, plenty of gamers praised the game on Steam for having such a narrative story and interesting characters.

A gamer with the name Chaostraveler said “the game’s story seems to be a decent combination of light-hearted slice-of-life and personal growth/coming of age type of story”.

Another gamer called Appelknekten said, “The story has potential for the great interest and the backstory certainly has a lot going for it”.

In conclusion, Atelier Ryza has a simple yet interesting story and lovable characters that can entice gamers. Therefore, I will rate the video game a nine out of ten.

Atelier Ryza: Gameplay

First and foremost, it is important to mention that the genre of Atelier Ryza is RPG (role-playing game). That said, as you start playing Atelier Ryza, you’ll find a plethora of things to do.

Primarily, the main focus of Atelier Ryza’s gameplay is on the alchemy that Ryza loves and vow to learn. Therefore, players as Ryza collect materials from all around the map and use them to make new alchemy items.

Furthermore, players have the ability to modify recipes to make newer items within a synthesis loop as they create new objects. However, specific materials or ingredients may be required to unlock particular aspects of a recipe.

That’s not particularly a bad thing because this new system offers players a lot of experimentation. Moreover, it also brings back the addictive quality that some recent games lack.

Gathering alchemy materials, however, is not without danger. Aside from a few safe zones on the world map, most areas on the map have some sort of enemy to fight.

Impressively, upon defeat, these enemies also supply magnificent raw materials for Ryza’s alchemy. Moreover, combat occurs in real-time. 

Therefore, you have to issue commands swiftly unless you use Quick Action. This Quick Action stops time and allows you to get in an extra move.

Furthermore, during combat and in the game generally, you control Ryza by default. However, you can switch to her friends/allies i.e Klaudia, Lent, Tao, Empel, and Lila at any time.

This is to enable combos and get a different perspective on things throughout the game.

Moving on, each character has a limited number of attack points (AP), which decrease with each usage of a move. Basic attacks restore AP, and Tactics Levels provide additional AP.

Furthermore, every ten AP earned can be used to boost the team’s overall strength and provide them access to powerful skills. It is worth mentioning that players can change the game’s difficulty to their preference.

That said, Atelier Ryza offers a lot of content that isn’t just about obtaining alchemy materials and fighting. Specifically, side missions are available all across the game.

For example, you can engage in a side mission with Ryza assisting local townspeople by synthesizing alchemy or combating enemies.

Furthermore, I appreciate how much life the developers put into both the non-playable characters (NPCs) and Ryza herself. This makes the NPCs seem as if they have a life on their own.

However, with all Atelier Ryza has to offer in terms of gameplay and exploration, it has one major flaw. This major flaw is that the game lacks the option to save anywhere.

Players can only save their game in either Ryza’s room or the atelier. To give more details, the atelier is like a “secret hideout” that players create during the game.

Furthermore, the atelier is where players can save items and even weapons. Also, players can customize the atelier by using materials to redecorate as they see fit.

Another frustrating gameplay element that Atelier Ryza has is the inventory space limit. Therefore, you will have to get used to running out of space when gathering materials.

However, once you run out of space, you can save a few materials in Ryza’s atelier (secret hideout).

Basically, this game is all about players going on an adventure as Ryza, gathering alchemy materials, combating, and saving worlds/villages. However, to win the game, you have to defeat the boss when trying to save Ryza’s home on Kuriken Island.

In conclusion, Atelier Ryza offers decent gameplay that would make gamers glued to their screen for hours. Also, this video game offers impressive side quests.

However, the inability to save anywhere in the game makes this game a bit frustrating. Therefore, in this gameplay review section, I will be rating Atelier Ryza an eight out of ten.

Frequency Asked Questions

Conclusion

Atelier Ryza is a video game about growth and adventure existing simultaneously. In addition to that, this game offers a narrative storyline and interesting characters.

Furthermore, the game’s system requirement isn’t particularly high compared to other games in its class. Also, the game is available on other platforms like PlayStation 4.

However, the game doesn’t have an option to save anywhere when playing, which is quite frustrating. Also, this game is only available in Japanese audio.

Nevertheless, Atelier Ryza delivers smooth gameplay, impressive graphics, and lots of side quests that gamers would love.

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