New Atelier Game Brings More Alchemy And Action To Switch Next Year

It looked a bit more serious than most Atelier games but it looked good. Hopefully there won't be font size issues like there was with Ryza 3.

Also think your dates are currently wrong at the start of the article, both Atelier Marie Remake and Ryza 3 were 2023 releases, the perils of having to produce so many articles on Direct date I imagine!

Hopefully the enemies don’t scale in this one.

What a time to be a JRPG fan, not only are we getting HD Remaster announcements but also a new Atelier game as well. I'm not really a big Atelier fan myself but it's nice to see a new entry (this reminds me that I need to finish Atelier Ryza soon)

"Hot off the back of the releases of Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist Of Salburg last month and Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key earlier this year, Koei Tecmo and Gust have announced that the next game in the alchemy RPG series will be launching on Switch next year."

What are you guys on about? Both of those released last year? There was no Atelier release this year. You guys may have confused years maybe.

Looks too much waifu again. ☹️
Where is the handsome looking dudes as playable characters?

I bought and will probably eventually play the first Ryza game. It's definitely near the top of my jrpg backlog, so once I get to and through the Baten Kaitos remasters and a couple palate cleansers to avoid genre burnout, I'll probably get to that. Then, if I really like it, I'll wait until the DLC goes on sale and buy that, and then look into Ryza 2 and 3. And if I ever get through those, I'll probably be very excited to give this game a go.

Not sure how to feel about the move to action RPG and lose yet another turned based game but it does look interesting. Looks fun and from what we heard I really liked the voice acting.

Welp I will never catch up to these. I am so far behind.

I'm happy it's an action RPG. So much more fun

I was only introduced to the series once Ryza came out, but the Atelier games quickly became one of my top favorite RPG series. After recently finishing Ryza 3, I was wondering when the next Atelier game would be announced, and whether it would be a new remake, a continuation of a series, or something new altogether.

I think this one looks great! Even if it moves toward a more action based gameplay, I trust the team's ability to make a fun combat system. With this, there's some great opportunity for your synthesized items to really change up the gameplay.

@BenAV Yeah the vibe was different for me too. Looks like this one won't be a turn based Atelier game? So that is probably why. It also did gave me a Genshin Impact vibe with parts of the trailer.

@Coversnail I was about to say blud is hella wrong on this one ahahaha

The first two Ryza games were great, but the third i put down after many hours of struggling to enjoy it.
I might hop back in with Yumia, depending on how the mechanics shape up.

I really should try out the atelier games. 😅

Looks like it might be fun even if it's not turn based. I'm interested.

@Ryu_Niiyama Just play what you enjoy. Most of these games are formatted as a trilogy anyways

@Ryu_Niiyama Lol, so far I've only played 4 out of what? TWENTY SOMETHING!? And one of those I played when I was 15 and got the worst ending so I shouldn't even be counting that one.

@BenAV Well, doesn't every Atelier trilogy have their own style of gameplay? It could be that this new "Memory" series is going to be more action based

Only Played Ryza 2 and really enjoyed it. This new game looks interesting. I'll keep my eye on it.

As a self-proclaimed "anime girl connaisseur " I need this!

@MurasakiTakeshi There was Atelier Resleriana this year, but it was a mobile gatcha and the reviews were not good.

@JohnnyMind Depending on your playstyle (and time constraints), you might want to consider starting with first Ryza game. It has no timed events (=less stress) and it can be beaten in like 24 hours, whereas Ryza 2 and 3 went well over 50 hours (casual completion).

Trailer for this features some open-world mechanics from Ryza 3 so my bet is on a game at least as long as Ryza 3.

@Diogmites yeah, right? The plot is completely sidetracked for at least half of the game (at least until you deal with Federica). Good 50% of the world map is completely optional, but it is so easy to get distracted and exploring. And I found the new characters to be less compeling than the ones from previous games, which didn't help either.

But the last quarter of the game is really worth it imo. And the ending was less depressing than Ryza 1 (for me at least).

I love when games evolves and move forward, and I'm never that guy saying they should "go back to their roots"

Until like, right now.

Come on Gust, there is an entry in the series where your mentor explains the only reason she picked as a student is because you are cute and dumb. There is one where the plot is such a secondary consideration that not only can you ignore it, but if you do someone else handles it. There is a epic quest, spanning two complete games, involving some dude wanting to open a hot spring to look at girls in their bathing suits.

I don't play Atelier games to be the chosen one. I don't play them for the epic story. I play them because that's every other game, and sometimes I just want to be a cute girl making potions in a ridiculous anime world. I mean, sure, this is probably going to be fantastic, and I'm still going to play the crap out of it. But we just had the Ryza series and the far too serious Sophie 2 ... maybe go back to the old tone for a bit?

@doomista That was certainly an issue, but i more just kinda hated it because it reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

@JohnnyMind

While all the points doomista brought up are valid, let me suggest an alternative argument! I would recommend starting with Atelier Rorona. I normally hate time limits in games so I totally get why people are apprehensive about the older games, but I actually think the time limits make them better.

I also think that experiencing how the time limits are used is core to understanding how the games are meant to be played, even the ones without time limits.

The Arland series is light, whimsical, and introduces concepts very well. If you want to hunt endings, you play them like a rogue-lite. You complete a run, inherit skills and items from that run, and try to do better next time. A "run" doesn't take that long and I think you'll find that the time limit doesn't actually discourage exploration that much. You should be able complete the game without feeling rushed on your first playthrough, and I think you'll find the experience a bite sized way to get a feel for the games. Don't play it with Game FAQ open and worry about not hitting some of the dates for secret cut scenes or whatever, just enjoy the ride. Then, if you did enjoy it, surprise! You still have a ton of content to explore.

More importantly though ... look, Ryza is a great game. I love it. 60+ hours love it. I love both the sequels as well. I think that the combat in the Ryza series is the best "active time battle" system I've ever played. But that series is just not distinctive from other action adventure games in the same way the Arland, Dusk and Mysterious series are, and the themes and tone are way more serious and ... Western? I don't know how else to say it. It almost feels like starting the series with a spin-off. The Ryza series also has much less world building. There is something magical about playing a game as Rorona and experiencing her story and then having her mentor you as Totori in the next game that you just don't get by being Ryza 3 times, conveniently losing all your powers and knowledge between games.

I replay the early games pretty often, but I've never gone back to Ryza. Again, it's fantastic, but it scratches the same itch dozens of other games do. But very few games feel like the early ones.

I've yet to play Ryza 3, but I really enjoyed the first two, but I was really interested to see that they seem to be eschewing traditional turn-based for real-time combat in Yumia. While I've never found grinding/farming particularly bothersome, I think it'll be a nice QoL improvement not having to stop and start every time you bump into an enemy.

@JohnnyMind

Honestly, if you already own Ryza 3 I would say ... just play that. You'll miss some character introductions, but I'm pretty sure you'll figure out who the "clumsy schooler" and "dumb brute" architypes are on your own. The story is not connected to the other two games in an emotional way where you'll benefit from already being invested, and you don't lose much for not playing them. in fact my biggest problem with that series is that the pervious games don't connect in any meaningful way. There's some world building in the first 2, but the 3rd has exposition to cover that. Not like playing Totori, where the story is driven by the PC character from the first game and you get to go back to the places you visited and see how they have changed based on what you did previously.

I would add that if for some reason you DON'T like the Ryza series, still give the early games a shot. They feel very different to play.