This is going to be a bit of a short review, and it's largely going to be about the things I ended up disliking about this sequel. The reason is you kind of have to play the first Atelier Ryza or you are going to be missing out on a lot. And at the same time, mechanically very little has changed about the game, so with only a handful of exceptions, I would be repeating myself from my review of the first game. And considering you'll want to have played that game before touching this one, here is my review of the first game from two years ago.
https://peakd.com/gaming/@dlstudios/atelier-ryza-ever-darkness-and-the-secret-hideout-switch-review
Something I am going to say is that while this game requires you to have played the first one, the first game does pretty much stand alone. So even if you only want one long crafting focused RPG featuring a pair of gaming's best thighs, you can be content to just play the first Ryza. This is good because I ended up just not liking this one.
Inevitably the problem here is the game already feels like it's rehashing a lot from the last game. The cast is mostly the same, with only two different characters that join you, and the characters don't really feel all that different despite the three-year gap between games in the narrative, and as characters, I don't feel like anyone has changed and grew by the end of the game. From just a story standpoint there is little reason to play this game if you've already made it through the first.
Mechanically I can barely explain the new mechanics because the game was really easy even playing through on hard. The EV link, the special attacks when you max out your Tactics meter, and a couple of other things I never even used (Except the special attacks just so I could see them). It wasn't until near the end game I started to struggle, but then I remembered I'd still been using the same accessories I crafted near the beginning of the game, and that was a real quick fix. There were new difficulties unlocked after clearing the game, but this is a long game to sit down and play through a second time. Especially one that leaves such a dull impression.
What's even worse than that though is the game pulls a trick I am a bit tired of seeing in any kind of media, they try to make you care about a pet by just making it act cute and adorable all the time. Much of the plot begins to revolve around a small creature called Fi, a magical flying pet that doesn't have much of a personality beyond behind adorable at all times. Purely based on this it seems the game tries to get you emotionally invested, but for me, it just feels lazy.
That said the game does a good job with its character relationships or at the very least the new ones. The pre-existing ones are pretty much just extensions of the first game, which is fine if you've played it. Nothing seems to have grown much at all between them. But new characters like Serri and Clifford were both great. Even though Serri just feels like she is re-treading themes of the previous games with her distrust of alchemists due to the Klint Kingdom incident, she still manages to be a fun character. It's nice to know that the designs of the underworld are a presence beyond the two from the last game and that there is a lot more going on in the underworld than just the Ravaging Queen. Clifford himself kind of feels like he's an extension of Ryza's desire to adventure brought to its logical conclusion and ramped up. Something I'm starting to see about these games is how well each character shares certain traits with Ryza that gives you a grounding on how they all manage to center around her as the leader of the group. When looking past the main story, a lot of the fun writing of the Atelier games is still present here.
In the end, I'm left with a sequel that adds very little to the overall story they seem to be trying to build. There are a lot of other things I could nitpick, like why Ryza didn't just bring all her mighty gathering gear from the first game or the death-bringing weapons that had been forged to face off against the Ravaging Queen. Mechanically the game is fine, but I don't feel it did enough to liven up the combat for a new game, and the story isn't nearly strong enough to carry it. I'd recommend just skipping this one, at least until the inevitable Ryza 3, and if that game is good then maybe this one would be worth sitting through for the full context.
Also this shot of Ryza crawling through a small hole in the wall.
