Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, best possible return to Kurken Island

More budget and time to develop

As expected, ‘Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key’, ‘Atelier Ryza: Ever Dark and Hidden Sanctuary’ for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC. However, as “Atelier Ryza 3” also brings back parts and elements from 2022’s “Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream”, combining and polishing these elements is not limited to sub-series. Gathering material and performing the alchemy for which the series is famous now gives the player the biggest, most fun and robust world ever to be found in the series’ extensive catalog, Ryza and his friends find themselves at home once again. On Kurken Island, where strange events unfold.

Alchemist of the End and the Secret Key

‘Atelier Ryza 3’ takes place just one year after the events of the previous game. In it, we follow the adventures of our favorite alchemist and his friends on their third summer adventure when they begin to investigate a group of mysterious islands that suddenly appear and adversely affect the stability of their home island of Kurken. Trying to unravel the mysteries hidden by the new islands, Ryza is about to ask Empel and Lila to help her with her research. being held captive.

As he rushes to save them, another familiar face appears on the scene: Patricia, the swordsman as always. After Ryza and Patricia free Empel and Lila, the three characters can join the group and work together to uncover the truth behind this new threat to the island.

Random quests and adventure base

As a base, the installment that closes this trilogy invites us to investigate a strange island group and explore various regions as a mysterious threat to his hometown unravels. Throughout the adventure, they will collect and overcome randomly generated quests, but they will also encounter a new type of quest, “World Quests”. As you complete them, many elements of these regions are discovered—each unique to the regions they travel to—but be careful because completing one of them can change the countryside and other areas.

As you explore the areas, you’ll also discover cooking for Riza and her friends, as well as bonfires scattered around the areas where your team can rest, changing the time of day and therefore nearby enemies. Regarding this aspect, the new cooking system allows you to obtain recipes by completing quests that help develop the group in various ways, while opening up a new level of strategy when you encounter powerful enemies.

In addition to lighting bonfires, we can also build our own Workshop, which will serve as a base for adventure in each region. The workshop offers a variety of effects depending on the building style, as you can choose from three different types of buildings: research base useful for exploration, farm for gathering, and laboratory for synthesis.

Real-time tactical battles

Among its familiar building and cooking features, ‘Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key’ features fun real-time tactical battles with effects and presentation greatly improved from previous games in the series. Likewise, a new transition system between battles and the use of keys provide a smoother experience. Its use allows for continuous use of abilities and attacks, while buffing a character for a certain period of time, while reducing the cooldown of all actions to zero.

This time you can choose up to 5 of the 11 people in the party and fight together as a single team. Three members stand in the front and two in the back, and various abilities can be used and exchanged. Similarly, some powerful bases activate in response to mates’ action commands, while keys can be equipped and used in combat to help crush the toughest enemies.

Evolved Synthesis System

Keys can also be used during the game’s advanced synthesis system to help Ryza create more powerful items than ever before. By putting the materials in a ring, you can not only improve the quality of the item, but also increase the number of creations. With the new “Link Morph” ability, some effects that weren’t possible before can be added to items, while others have the “Outstanding Attribute” feature, allowing even more powerful items to be created. With all these new features, Ryza can create extremely special items.

technical superiority

‘Atelier Ryza 3’ has improved its technical aspect and both the taunts and the character models not only look detailed and impressive, but the world itself has attracted a lot of attention. Another factor that takes great care is the stage direction and working with the camera. Once again, every setting feels handcrafted using the right angles at the right times. In parallel, the games in the franchise are known for their massive soundtrack and various themes, from calm notes to catchy war music. Of course, Hayato Asano’s characteristic style is clearly perceived during the war themes, while the rest of the compositions and recognizable effects take place in the same terms.

results

‘Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key’ is well on its way to becoming one of the best chapters in the lovely JRPG series. The alchemy, combat and technical aspects are all improved from the already great previous game and the pace of the game is incredible. The upgraded defense system works quite well and the synergy between all systems and mechanics is fluid and intuitive. Admittedly, the installment culminates in a style widely celebrated by fans of role-playing video games.