Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key Nintendo Switch Review

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key’s the final installment within the fan-favorite Atelier Ryza collection within the flagship Atelier collection and one which concludes our favourite heroine’s story in an emotional means. And whereas not with out flaws, the sport additionally gives gamers with new and acquainted gameplay parts.

Starting of the Finish

Atelier Ryza 3 takes place a yr after the final sport in Ryza’s hometown of Kurken, the place she’s revered as each a hero and a extremely succesful alchemist attributable to her previous actions, heroic deeds, and now precious expertise. Nevertheless, whereas performing her duties because the native alchemist of the island, her peaceable life is unexpectedly disrupted by the looks of latest mysterious surrounding islands, together with a mysterious voice in Ryza’s head that tells her to craft an equally mysterious key for a far-off location. To resolve issues, Ryza calls upon the assistance of her pals, some new, some returning, as extra particulars concerning the occasion start to unravel.

The primary few hours of Atelier Ryza 3 are extremely nostalgic, significantly for returning gamers. These segments give attention to recalling Ryza’s prior adventures with returning characters akin to Tao, Lent, and Klaudia by way of flashback sequences in the midst of missions. After these scenes, the story then shifts focus to the principle occasion and introduces all new characters main to an enormous 11 playable character forged, all with their very own tales, which I gained’t spoil. Whereas the sport’s narrative admittedly takes a while to get going, when it does, the story being informed is extremely partaking and heartwarming.

Gameplay & Fight

As for gameplay, Atelier Ryza 3’s fight system is detailed, fast-paced, and pleasing. The sport makes use of a mix of turn-based and real-time fight. Gamers should wait till the motion bar fills as much as carry out primary assaults. Doing so will grant you Capacity Factors which can be utilized to carry out particular magical and bodily expertise. Moreover, utilizing expertise will provide you with Core Cost Factors, that are wanted with a purpose to use fight and consumable gadgets throughout fights. As you possibly can most likely inform, the fight system is nearly too detailed, particularly if you add in new and previous parts akin to buffs, debuffs, therapeutic, and extra. Nevertheless, whereas a newcomer might take a while to determine all of it out, returning gamers gained’t discover a lot new to be taught. The one actual challenge I discovered is that the pacing of fight typically will get disrupted when gamers want to attend to assault in pivotal moments, and much more so when a number of occasion members are surprised and the bar resets. 

Outdoors fight, gamers can even spend important time with the collection’ signature alchemy “synthesis” crafting system. The system primarily stays unchanged from the earlier sport. Gamers can collect supplies with a purpose to craft instruments with various traits, stats, and high quality. Crafting with one of the best stats and supplies will grant a number of distinctive bonuses, whereas instruments crafted can be utilized to assemble superior gadgets wanted to craft extra superior instruments and weapons. The brand new ‘Secret Key’ mechanic is the newest addition to this method. Gamers can create particular keys that can be utilized in fight to buff their occasion and outdoors fight to boost synthesis throughout crafting. Just like the fight system, returning gamers can have no points with the synthesis system as 90 p.c of the mechanic carries over. Nevertheless, new gamers might take for much longer to get the hold of.

New Gameplay Options

Essentially the most thrilling a part of the gameplay for me was the a number of new areas with improbable previous and new traversal strategies, from zip traces to new mounts, akin to dolphins within the ocean. These new traversal choices do an ideal job of permitting gamers to discover the a number of new lush, vibrant, and detailed areas the sport has to supply, a lot of that are a lot bigger and extra partaking than in earlier video games.

Whereas exploring, gamers also can run into a number of sub-quotes of various sorts. Most will activity the participant with exploring surrounding areas to assemble supplies or battle enemies for NPCs, whereas “random quests” are extra time delicate and are normally faster to do than the typical facet quests. Whereas I discovered these quests comparatively inoffensive, a lot of them are, sadly, predictable and repetitive.

Except for that, although a bit much less on the Swap, Atelier Ryza 3 sports activities extremely detailed and vibrant visuals, a extremely aesthetic artwork path, and wonderful crisp animations. The sport additionally runs effectively on each docked and undocked. Nevertheless, my largest challenge with how the sport runs is how noticeably sluggish all the things is throughout cutscenes. Each character movement is visibly sluggish, and transitions really feel very delayed. As somebody who values velocity in video games, the pacing actually threw me off, however fortunately I obtained used to it rapidly.

Remaining Ideas

General, regardless of some points, Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key gives an ideal expertise that wraps up the collection and finish issues with an emotional bang that may depart longtime followers happy.