Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout DX

Okay so, I played this with very low expectations because the protagonist (a minor btw) is basically a walking goonbait but honestly, I ended up loving it; gameplay, OST, story, characters, everything. I'd say it's one of the most beginner-friendly Atelier games for someone who wants to get into the series. The main story isn't very long (a big part of my playtime comes from farming & maximizing alchemy items lol) & the extra episodes are also short, they don't even reach 1h. The combat is ATB a system I'm not used to & that also stressed me out at first but it becomes easy to manage once you get used to it. The cast is really pleasant & their connections & dynamics feel natural & fluid, you really enjoy watching them develop & interact with each other. I genuinely enjoyed the game a lot &, for me, it's a breath of fresh air compared to the latest RPGs I've played, because in most RPGs I don't connect with the characters & they tend to have the same typical anime or FF/DQ-like stories without much depth & the ones that do have depth tend to be more intense &/or forced stories/characters lol (not all of them but again, **MOST** of them). As for the game itself, I literally have…

My first Atelier game, and it started off so unbelievably strong. I loved every character, including the initially hateable Bos. The main group feel like close friends, with Ryza, Lent and Tao even having a realistic friendly insulting relationship, making them feel so much closer than a typical power of friendship group to me. I do wish the game was longer, as it would allow more time for them to brew and for the main four to get closer. I didn't feel that Klaudia was much of a group friend as she was Ryza's friend. Where Lent, Ryza and Tao each have interpersonal relationships with each other, Klaudia felt like she was specifically there for Ryza, with Ryza even having a passive skill titled "Best Friends!" which boosts her stats when Klaudia is in the formation, which unfortunately went unused during my endgame playthrough, as she didn't fit in my Ryza/Lila/Lent team. I loved the game, and the story was incredibly sweet, where they all go on the adventure they all wanted to fight for their ordinary life. I think that is a deeply human thing and is a good summer story to play. I'm moving onto the sequel now, and hope to enjoy it just as much or even more than I enjoyed this on…

Mixing random ingredients when I was 8 really prepared me to be an alchemist. Overall very good slice of life-ey JRPG.

One of the best atelier games to exist. I was blown away by how perfect this game actually feels, from the characters, to the alchemy, and everything in between. The story is fantastic, it feels like a brand new releasing best seller but is a dx of an older game. I never played the older game so having this as a first experience was amazing.

nice

Jesse, we are in an RPG. Yeah, alchemy!