If you rush content without spending extra time on crafting this game will punish you. This usually isn't an issue because Atelier series fans tend toward the 'enjoy the journey' playstyle. But we've been through this before. Erick doesn't like sidequesting, which is fine - play the way you want - but this produces entirely expected results.
This is a problem not only with Erick but with other UA-camrs (who produce similar content) as well who try to rush through games as fast as possible in order to have an opinion for as many games as possible and in order to be able to create more content about those games. I enjoy Erick's content and i respect his general knowledge about JRPGs but when it comes to the ins and outs of a game i never take his word for granted (regardless if he says a game is easy or hard).That's not the reason i watch his videos.
I lost 4 times against the ice dragon and It drove me to actually sit down for a weekend and spend some time on how the alchemy worked. I improved my weapons and created better healing items and pulled through. Now that I know a little more about the gameplay, I do see the fun of improving your items and cheese through the game or achieving perfect quality but this took me hours that i'm not sure everyone is ready to put in a niche jrpg. Informations are displayed in this, seriously indigestible, encyclopedia that I didn't wanna touch for the longest time because of how inefficient and all over the place it was. At least the solution to my problems were all here, which is more than I can say for most other rpg, which actually motivated me to keep going. I don't mind the difficulty spike but the game could honestly use some added clarity especially for people that have long breaks or little attention span (I'm both,,,) I only found out again today that this game had a forge and how to use it lol. And while I don't dislike difficulty spike, it does make you question if you actually like the game enough to pick yourself up from the whooping it just pulled you through, which can be bad if you try to attract a broader audience.
This was the first game in the series for me, and I did find it hard at first - but that was because I didn’t realise how important it was to upgrade and craft new equipment through alchemy…seems obvious now but there we are 😂
Same didn't realize how important getting higher quality was for both materials and gear was, or that unlocking the nodes on gear would significantly boost abilities in battle till I went over board on making the bronzd flute for that one girl.
The Atelier games suffer from divergent difficulty paths -- if you're the type to grind your materials to 999 with great effects, you'll sort of sleepwalk through the bosses; if you're the type who wants to engage with the system in a minimal-ish manner, you'll hit spots where it feels like you're fighting a secret ultra-hard optional boss.
This game was really fun. When you come across monsters that are "difficult" the game is just trying to tell you that you need to use a different strategy or craft some items. I noticed in the opening video you were fighting golems they take like -99% dmg from physical attacks so you just need to use magic or craft alchemy items like bombs to kill them.
About the Dragon Eye: Ryza 1 has the bottle mechanic. Just grab the code you need online and you can create a bottle that allows you to visit a place with the items you need. I used those for very rare ingredients.
I saw him up the tactics level to level 2 only twice in the entire video. Makes a person wonder if this man even understand any of the important parts of this games combat system.
First Atelier played. Had no difficulty playing through Hard mode. Only had to turn down difficulty for first time against final boss and post game bosses. Played through Atelier Ryza 2 and had a similar experience. Atelier Sophie on the other hand I found a lot more difficult and struggled with best gear (non glitched) for some of the end game content on Nornal.
I think it is funny how he finishes most of the games that are actually recognized as hard but he struggles with or rage quits the mid difficulty RPGs and even some of the easier ones. LOL
@@westonmeyer3110 I've been playing Atelier Sophie dx and i find it very difficult so far and i found Elden ring super easy lol. some of us suck at some of theses games
I've only ever played Atelier Rorona the Alchemist of Arland. I didn't get the best ending, being new to the franchise and constantly monitoring the time limit, probably made me do some areas quicker than i normally would.
Yeah - I said that earlier here. I don't like those time limits at all. I am really happy they dropped that after Atelier Ayesha. Yes - there are some very broad time limits in Escha & Logy and Firis, but they are so extremely easy to handle they could just as well not exist.
Idk man this was my first atelier game and it was pretty easy till the last boss for me. I didn't feel like crafting and stuff so I just put it on easy and beat it that way. But if right before the final battle It still would've been easy
I get the feeling of underestimating a game, same happened to me with Chrono Trigger today when i reached the twin golems, took me like 4 tries to beat them finally.
THE reason I love this channel so much is because of the focus on the gameplay in JRPG's. I'm thinking of picking up physical versions of the Ryza games before they go OOP and would have walked smack into a trap! BTW, I seem to be having a similar thing with Atelier Lulua. I'm walking around an area and my first random encounter, I almost got destroyed by two Puni's in the field.
Ryza was my first Atelier game so I never thought much about it's difficulty. I beat it and eventually I started playing Ryza 2 and got stuck at a boss and haven't played it since. Ryza 2 however does allow for some party switching mid-battle!
By looking at the battle footage you have, I think you did not get the battle mechanic correct. The battle mechanic rewards you to have higher tactic level, while you keep using skills that depletes the AP to get a higher tactic level. Of course you find it hard, because you stubbornly defy the rewards that the battle mechanics try to give you! As for dragon eyes, you can get it from later wyvern enemies / elite enemies if you get a good battle rank, which depends on the performance of your battle, which in turns require a high tactic level. You defying the battle mechanics and call it hard? The first few battle tutorials already mentioned the importance of tactic level, while you keep your tactic level low and how are you going to win?
It was my first Atelier game too and I got my ass kicked by some boss at some point. Then I understood you need to stop pushing content nonstop and need to regularly make sure you craft the best equipment available. For example you get to enter a new zone and that zone has a better ingredient that enables you to make better gear. Do that, don't just keep pushing content without crafting better equipment. If you have good equipment with good traits the final boss is actually a cakewalk. If your equipment sucks you can get party wiped in 1 attack. That is just the way it is. Loved the game after I understood that.
After 25 hours in I just encountered a wild difficulty spike and dropped the game because I didn’t want to farm and craft endless materials etc. I think I might come back to it later, but it’s really not my cup of tea. When it comes to hard games, something like shin megami tensei v fits me a lot more.
I would agree the first difficulty wall with those two mushroom dudes can catch you off guard, but after that and realizing what’s up and learning how to fully take advantage of the battle system, the rest of the game, though more challenging than previous atelier games, isn’t hard. I was a bit worried about the final boss but damn It went down pretty easily like a little bitch. I dunno what to tell you my guy, it’s not that bad and I appreciate atelier stepping up the challenge factor. Battle system is fantastic and engaging.
This was the first Atelier game I played so I didn’t really have any expectations as far as difficulty. Whenever I encountered a more difficult enemy or boss though, I just took it as a sign I needed to focus more on upgrading my gear. I don’t think I ever really had to grind levels to beat the game on Normal difficulty, just upgrading gear or items usually was enough. Personally I found that aspect rather enjoyable as opposed to having to just grind out levels to overcome a spike in difficulty.
The whole Arland series was harder imo, since you have to be very good at managing time, in this you have all the time you need to achieve the materials/levels you need for certain bosses, despite a few pronounced spikes like the second Dragon you fight during the main story and the final Boss, the game is pretty average on difficulty, you need to grind only on certain parts.
You are right about the Arland games. Personally I did not liked that time management - At all. In that aspect the later Atelier games are more enjoyable for me. I like to take my time and discover all sites and do all quests. I hate it when a time deadline prevents you from roaming around and enjoy visiting places. Of course that's something personal, but I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way.
Nah dude, I think you just picked the game up from where you left off because in most of your footage your tactics level is 1 when it could easily be 2 if you hit enemies with the square button before a fight. That makes them way easier. And you forgot about the extra orders which you need tactics level 2 for - you need at least 10 AP, press R2 to spend 10 AP and make it your turn instantly, and if you do a skill your members do a special skill. Oh, and higher tactics levels increases the damage and secondary effects of skills. And fighting was so fun to me I fought most monsters on a field, plus the personal character quests which grant them passives in battle makes the overall experience easy. I do agree that the game wasn't all that relaxing, but I blame myself for that for trying to find really rare alchemy stuff and not really understanding alchemy properly, like what quality looping is or how to get infinite gems, what the best effects are, etc. But this thankfully prepared me for Ryza 2.
Most Atelier games have these moments when if you haven't been keeping up with equipment and such they will kick you in the butt back to the kitchen for a while until you manage to cook up some better equipment from that pot. The thing with Ryza is that the first one of these difficulty walls comes pretty early on, when you have to beat those two rock sprites in the cave. Next one is the red dragon, then it stays pretty tame until you get the last one at the final boss, at least as far as the main story is concerned. Personally, I did not find Ryza to be particularly hard as far as Atelier games go. I actually think it's got one of the alchemy systems that make it the easiest to create decent gear without getting too much into it. Totori still holds the crown for being the most punishing if you want the good ending, and in my opinion Lulua has the hardest final boss.
It’s hard if you approach it like most jrpg’s. Grinding matters much less than synthesizing. Once you learn how to synthesize good equipment, it is easy to become OP. This was the first game in the series and it was hard for me at first, but once I grasped the synthesizing I didn’t find it difficult at all.
Atelier Ryza was my first game in the franchise and it's crazy that I had a much easier time with it than you did. Stunning an enemy before their big AOE wasn't too hard. I always made sure my equipment was decent enough so my party didn't die in a couple hits. I also was super nosy and tried to gather as much materials as I could. I'm currently playing Ryza 2 and am taking my time with it but am glad for the quality of life changes that addressed some of the problems you had with your playthrough. I love both Ryza games and I might play Shellie next!
I couldn't get past the red dragon until i spent ages on crafting, once i did that it was easy, the last boss was a walk over. surprised someone who makes a channel like this would struggle at all.
I myself found the game pretty easy, but I usually do try and do as much as possible in RPGs, so it does make them quite easy for me. Even the final boss I found to just take a long while to get through. The Atelier games definitely could use more balance though for the difficulty spikes
I didn't find it all that hard, relatively speaking (I think I had a lot more trouble with Shallie), but then I tend to grind to the point where I'm regularly cleaning out stuff from my Container in Atelier games - usually before I get halfway through. In Firis I was housekeeping before the exam.
I think future atelier games should stress out how important gathering , crafting and improving your gear more next time. Many people I know who are new to this series (bought the game for ryza's thighs) always have the same complaint, wondering how they are getting defeated when they think they have leveled enough.
I got this with one boss in this game. That is was more difficult as the other bosses. Than I final defeated that one. And than I needed some stuff for the windshoes to get some thing so I can make some thing to get water for the village. When I done that. The game finished. So that boss was the end boss and I have only used the wind shoes for 1 item. I was kind of shocked when the game ended because I thought I was not that far in the game.
Game: What do you mean Final Boss? this is a crafting game you have to craft son, keep crafting!! but I do agree that it should be informed that an item will be important a the end, it reminds me the first time I played Fire Emblem: Binding Blade, I finished the game without ever knowing about the secret or gaiden chapters and that you needed the Legendary weapons for the real ending until I read the translations and a walkthrough.
I don't understand how anyone could find this game difficult. There are a few bosses that essentially give you an alchemy check to see if you're playing the game correctly, but thats about it. I know the exact dragon you got stuck at because I also got stuck there for about an hour until it really dawned on me that I need to use alchemy, then I one shot the dragon with an item. You can garden for dragon eyes and you can kill dragons for them. The game makes you explore all of its features, but I could never say this game is even slightly difficult. I hate to be that guy, but GitGud. This was my first atelier and I love how low maintenance it is without being boring
I appreciated the honesty. I don't agree with these commenters. This game is difficult at the end. I think it's a crazy difficulty spike that's really not fair considering the way the game was up to that point. I honestly abandoned the game after I found out about the Dragon's Eye thing. The only enemies alive that would drop dragon's eyes were not dropping them. I'm not going to just repeatedly kill dragons until they finally randomly drop a dragon's eye. That's insane.
yo también me morí un chingo de veces con esos monstruos de roca, hasta usar al niño de lentes que les hace más daño lo dejé de lado porque le seguí a platinar el primer horizon y seguirle al apex legends ahora me regalaron el SMT NOCTURNE y lo quiero platinar primero antes de seguirle a la piernuda de la Ryza, es un gran juego para relajarse porque me gusta el crafteo
Great video, and to a large degree, your struggles mirror mine too.I do have some thoughts though, which relate more to me maybe, than to you, since this was my first Atelier game. I really did treat it more like a JRPG than a crafting game, and the game is MUCH easier if you treat it like a crafting game, rather than a JRPG. I would also say that THAT was the reason the final boss is followed by two more crafting challenges (I'm up to these now). The crafting is the final boss, not the RPG fight, haha. BTW Were you saying that you used your Dragon's Eye, but you were able to collect another one later on? I THINK I've got mine still, but only by chance. If I dod use mine, where do I get a new one?
This game was so relaxed that i drop it on middle out of boredom. And i agree with comment belov, too relaxing even on hard, i dont know what hard in this game...
I finished Ryza last week and didn’t find it hard. Obviously I spent so much time crafting, even some sessions I had was only in the atelier and doing alchemy. I enjoyed being rewarded by being a better alchemist. Dragon’s Eye? I got a crap ton of those so idk what he’s saying.
The synthesis system is what's holding me back from finishing the game since it released. It was my first atelier game too but I got into better Jrpg and am currently playing FE Three Hopes. I don't know if I'll ever get back into ryza tbh
I gave up on the game. I love everything about it, but the alchemy/crafting system is too much for me. I just don't have the patience for it in my life right now. I needed a chart and a map to know where to find raw materials for crafting game/story progressing items. Feels like a job. Then I have to study how to make the materials so that I know what I'm doing. Maybe I'll come back to it someday with everyone here saying its easy if you craft your ass off.
wow this game looks really interesting, I havent played an ateilier game since Iris 2 and I kind of lost interest with a lot of the new ones I have been following since Iris and never played any after Iris 2. I think i will try this game out, thanks for the detailed video. :)
i think the difficulty is completely linked to how much you craft. i crafted strong weapons and gear and it was pretty ez. if you ignore crafting too much it could be hard.
I finished the game 2 months ago and I played on easy but the game wasn't that hard (obviously). You really need to raise your tactics level as soon as possible... when fighting a boss especially. You will do higher combos, stronger attacks and also potentially stun the boss.
Lol I had problems with the "Rock Puppet" mini boss too this fight for the time you fight it is extremely over tuned and much harder than the castle dragon. (Even the damn Megamouth in that castle is harder than the dragon lol) When I got here, I didn't know jack about crafting decent gear. I wiped like 2-3 times before I crafted some bombs and put one on everyone and just spammed them down in a dps race.
Ryza was my first atlier game but since I played and beat Mana knemia 1&2 it was kinda easy but annoying due to the lack of jewels to make stuff but as soon as I found a way to get alot in a short time I went on a grinding phase
This game was super easy for me. Especially if you into crafting items. literally 3 turns and I kill most things. But yeah I got into crafting and I was a god.
I've been playing all atelier games in order starting with iris, and i got absolutely shocked by the lack of voice acting in Ryza... it completely breaks my immersion and enjoyment of the game when all i hear is "hmm" "oh" "aha" i can't believe the latest installments in the series can't accomplish things its predecessors did, and don't even get me started about story, characters personalities and models there's not even an auto-play button for dialogues ffs, i have to sit there and read the stupid dialogue that seems written by an 8yo of secondary quests and keep pressing buttons til its over
I hated that superattack the enemies do in this game. like, why everyone has it? in every battle if you try to kill the enemies fast, chances are one or two of the enemies will try that special attack, and if you have already spend your powerful items or whatever, then that supperattack will hurt you a lot, if not destroy your party. I would get it if only bosses had that attack to make them more difficult, but if every enemy has it, it makes every battle slower because you need to limit your burst damage in fear of that stupid attack. Adding to that is the tactics level that resets every fight, making the battles slow at the start, so the game's idea is that every freaking battle must be slow and if you try to burst it you can be punished.
Is this an out of season April Fool's joke? Both Ryza games on hard difficulty are extremely easy compared to the other Atelier games (I've played Mana Khemia, Rorona up to Escha so I'm using those as the comparison). I find it hard that you, one who has built a channel out of playing JRPGs, would find this harder than the previous Atelier games
No offense but if you've play JRPG's as long as you have youy know damn well to never use an item called "The Dragon's Eye". They may not have told you you'll need it at the end but I'm pretty sure it's importance is mentioned.
Atelier ryza 2 had huge difficulty gaps, but the first one was easy. I didnt like to farm but I had no choice to be abble to finish it. I overpowered my craft items and literally rolled on the whole endgame... Sad
At least you finished, I never finished none 1st off I HATE synthesizing 2nd I HATE time limit. But Escha & Logo & Shallie does not have it doh I still didn't finish them. Only have Shallie now close to the ending but a boss wipe the floor wit me so I good.
those two little crystal blue goobers kicked my a$$ too! I'll have to get back to this game, might just go ahead with the sequel, much as I love jrpgs it's hard for me to play a game voiced in japanese because, I don't speak japanese. really appreciate a good English va dub. Hardest modern jrpgs!! I'm psyched. so tired of triple a jrpg games ruining their in game difficulty and progression balance with dlc. Looking at you tales of arise and shin megami tensei v (still great games).
This was my first atelier and I had not a issue at all.i did missions and farming,I didnt run from objective to objective.i would do side stuff and battle.well damn how did ubfeel about xenoblade chronicles 2?that game has pointless hard battles and no menus to read tutorials.
Ryza was my first Atelier game I did not find it hard. If it was easy I would find it pointless to focus on alchemy and upgrade the gear. If game is too easy you just go into autopilot and game gets boring.
having a hard final boss and nothing else dificult is indeed an error in general in that series it seems. Lydie and suelle also had this. oh well, the rest of the game at least dont have that kind of error. Gust should probably make the whole game easy if they dont know how to balance it. better too easy than difficulty spike of the highest degree.
Finished it not long ago on normal difficulty first playthrough and it was not that hard? I mean sure there we're good challenging moment's but nothing too the point where I had too keep repeating a battle or something. If you pay attention and learn to use the crafting mechanics well, you can really make some high quality powerful item's or powerful healing ect, also do not neglect side quests and quests unique too each character since you get lots of benefits from doing those otherwise you will just get straight up punished, and this was my first Atelier game lmao
Eric, I love your content, but “this game is too hard” is something that comes out of your mouth too much. I think you just tend to have a little trouble figuring out battle mechanics, but look at it as a good thing. Since most RPGs are extremely easy, just be happy once you find something that challenges you because it’s a game.
Also, I don’t mean it to be insulting. Probably the only reason you might misunderstand game mechanics is because you have to play through so many RPGs in a period of time, and modern JRPGs are loaded with all sorts of complicated systems.
If you rush content without spending extra time on crafting this game will punish you.
This usually isn't an issue because Atelier series fans tend toward the 'enjoy the journey' playstyle.
But we've been through this before. Erick doesn't like sidequesting, which is fine - play the way you want - but this produces entirely expected results.
This is a problem not only with Erick but with other UA-camrs (who produce similar content) as well who try to rush through games as fast as possible in order to have an opinion for as many games as possible and in order to be able to create more content about those games.
I enjoy Erick's content and i respect his general knowledge about JRPGs but when it comes to the ins and outs of a game i never take his word for granted (regardless if he says a game is easy or hard).That's not the reason i watch his videos.
@@bladeofmird Erik also claims he plays for 2/3 hours a day. For a Jrpg gamer who lives from his channel, that's not a lot
I lost 4 times against the ice dragon and It drove me to actually sit down for a weekend and spend some time on how the alchemy worked. I improved my weapons and created better healing items and pulled through. Now that I know a little more about the gameplay, I do see the fun of improving your items and cheese through the game or achieving perfect quality but this took me hours that i'm not sure everyone is ready to put in a niche jrpg.
Informations are displayed in this, seriously indigestible, encyclopedia that I didn't wanna touch for the longest time because of how inefficient and all over the place it was. At least the solution to my problems were all here, which is more than I can say for most other rpg, which actually motivated me to keep going. I don't mind the difficulty spike but the game could honestly use some added clarity especially for people that have long breaks or little attention span (I'm both,,,) I only found out again today that this game had a forge and how to use it lol. And while I don't dislike difficulty spike, it does make you question if you actually like the game enough to pick yourself up from the whooping it just pulled you through, which can be bad if you try to attract a broader audience.
You nailed it. You absolutely nailed it. If you rush it and don’t play it for enjoyment and enjoying crafting you will for sure fine it challenging.
This was the first game in the series for me, and I did find it hard at first - but that was because I didn’t realise how important it was to upgrade and craft new equipment through alchemy…seems obvious now but there we are 😂
Same bro, in the beginning it was easy then "You Died" then I learn I have to make new equipment or I will be destroyed by the boss
Same didn't realize how important getting higher quality was for both materials and gear was, or that unlocking the nodes on gear would significantly boost abilities in battle till I went over board on making the bronzd flute for that one girl.
The Atelier games suffer from divergent difficulty paths -- if you're the type to grind your materials to 999 with great effects, you'll sort of sleepwalk through the bosses; if you're the type who wants to engage with the system in a minimal-ish manner, you'll hit spots where it feels like you're fighting a secret ultra-hard optional boss.
This game was literally everything, but hard. And I played it on the hardest difficulty.
Altier spinoff Alchemist series for the ps2 classics
i mean....its not like Erick finds a lot of easy games hard, right? :^)
Dempsey Roll his ass
@Vile Disturbance 🇷🇺 except you can totally cheese this final boss because it has a weakness
Simply someone is just becoming a casual player :)
This game was really fun. When you come across monsters that are "difficult" the game is just trying to tell you that you need to use a different strategy or craft some items. I noticed in the opening video you were fighting golems they take like -99% dmg from physical attacks so you just need to use magic or craft alchemy items like bombs to kill them.
Ryza 1&2 are the best Atelier games in my opinion hope we get ryza 3 next and a Escha & logy 2 without the time limit
i ended up platinuming it, i loved it so much. i didnt find it difficult.
Erick starts these debates in the comments section but never reads them. So what's the point?
I don't understand that either. Why even start a discussion if you aren't interested in feedback
He need comments to up chanel statistic. He dont dive a f about opinions.
It's unnecessarily complicated and unlike in mysterious games you don't get fast travel from the get go if memory serves me right.
About the Dragon Eye: Ryza 1 has the bottle mechanic. Just grab the code you need online and you can create a bottle that allows you to visit a place with the items you need. I used those for very rare ingredients.
I saw him up the tactics level to level 2 only twice in the entire video.
Makes a person wonder if this man even understand any of the important parts of this games combat system.
First Atelier played. Had no difficulty playing through Hard mode. Only had to turn down difficulty for first time against final boss and post game bosses. Played through Atelier Ryza 2 and had a similar experience. Atelier Sophie on the other hand I found a lot more difficult and struggled with best gear (non glitched) for some of the end game content on Nornal.
Sometimes when Eric says the game is hard, I kinda wonder does he really grasp the mechanic of the game.
I think it is funny how he finishes most of the games that are actually recognized as hard but he struggles with or rage quits the mid difficulty RPGs and even some of the easier ones.
LOL
@@westonmeyer3110 I've been playing Atelier Sophie dx and i find it very difficult so far and i found Elden ring super easy lol. some of us suck at some of theses games
I've only ever played Atelier Rorona the Alchemist of Arland. I didn't get the best ending, being new to the franchise and constantly monitoring the time limit, probably made me do some areas quicker than i normally would.
Yeah - I said that earlier here. I don't like those time limits at all. I am really happy they dropped that after Atelier Ayesha. Yes - there are some very broad time limits in Escha & Logy and Firis, but they are so extremely easy to handle they could just as well not exist.
Idk man this was my first atelier game and it was pretty easy till the last boss for me. I didn't feel like crafting and stuff so I just put it on easy and beat it that way. But if right before the final battle It still would've been easy
I get the feeling of underestimating a game, same happened to me with Chrono Trigger today when i reached the twin golems, took me like 4 tries to beat them finally.
Can't wait for your next video just to excited 😁 since you showed me smt am soaking in nearly every video
THE reason I love this channel so much is because of the focus on the gameplay in JRPG's. I'm thinking of picking up physical versions of the Ryza games before they go OOP and would have walked smack into a trap!
BTW, I seem to be having a similar thing with Atelier Lulua. I'm walking around an area and my first random encounter, I almost got destroyed by two Puni's in the field.
There is like $500 US to buy all the Atelier series on Steam!! And the DLC! I will be watching the "Where to start" video soon.
Ryza was my first Atelier game so I never thought much about it's difficulty. I beat it and eventually I started playing Ryza 2 and got stuck at a boss and haven't played it since. Ryza 2 however does allow for some party switching mid-battle!
No, Sophie 2 is the hardest because of the alchemy system it goes from fun to pain in the ass!
By looking at the battle footage you have, I think you did not get the battle mechanic correct. The battle mechanic rewards you to have higher tactic level, while you keep using skills that depletes the AP to get a higher tactic level. Of course you find it hard, because you stubbornly defy the rewards that the battle mechanics try to give you!
As for dragon eyes, you can get it from later wyvern enemies / elite enemies if you get a good battle rank, which depends on the performance of your battle, which in turns require a high tactic level.
You defying the battle mechanics and call it hard? The first few battle tutorials already mentioned the importance of tactic level, while you keep your tactic level low and how are you going to win?
It was my first Atelier game too and I got my ass kicked by some boss at some point. Then I understood you need to stop pushing content nonstop and need to regularly make sure you craft the best equipment available. For example you get to enter a new zone and that zone has a better ingredient that enables you to make better gear. Do that, don't just keep pushing content without crafting better equipment. If you have good equipment with good traits the final boss is actually a cakewalk. If your equipment sucks you can get party wiped in 1 attack. That is just the way it is. Loved the game after I understood that.
After 25 hours in I just encountered a wild difficulty spike and dropped the game because I didn’t want to farm and craft endless materials etc. I think I might come back to it later, but it’s really not my cup of tea. When it comes to hard games, something like shin megami tensei v fits me a lot more.
I agree. Ryza is the hardest Atelier game. It's still only Baby's 3rd RPG. It's still easier than 95% of all non-Atelier RPGs.
I would agree the first difficulty wall with those two mushroom dudes can catch you off guard, but after that and realizing what’s up and learning how to fully take advantage of the battle system, the rest of the game, though more challenging than previous atelier games, isn’t hard. I was a bit worried about the final boss but damn It went down pretty easily like a little bitch. I dunno what to tell you my guy, it’s not that bad and I appreciate atelier stepping up the challenge factor. Battle system is fantastic and engaging.
This was the first Atelier game I played so I didn’t really have any expectations as far as difficulty. Whenever I encountered a more difficult enemy or boss though, I just took it as a sign I needed to focus more on upgrading my gear. I don’t think I ever really had to grind levels to beat the game on Normal difficulty, just upgrading gear or items usually was enough. Personally I found that aspect rather enjoyable as opposed to having to just grind out levels to overcome a spike in difficulty.
The darksouls of atelier games I still haven't played this yet
The whole Arland series was harder imo, since you have to be very good at managing time, in this you have all the time you need to achieve the materials/levels you need for certain bosses, despite a few pronounced spikes like the second Dragon you fight during the main story and the final Boss, the game is pretty average on difficulty, you need to grind only on certain parts.
You are right about the Arland games. Personally I did not liked that time management - At all. In that aspect the later Atelier games are more enjoyable for me. I like to take my time and discover all sites and do all quests. I hate it when a time deadline prevents you from roaming around and enjoy visiting places. Of course that's something personal, but I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way.
Nah dude, I think you just picked the game up from where you left off because in most of your footage your tactics level is 1 when it could easily be 2 if you hit enemies with the square button before a fight. That makes them way easier. And you forgot about the extra orders which you need tactics level 2 for - you need at least 10 AP, press R2 to spend 10 AP and make it your turn instantly, and if you do a skill your members do a special skill. Oh, and higher tactics levels increases the damage and secondary effects of skills. And fighting was so fun to me I fought most monsters on a field, plus the personal character quests which grant them passives in battle makes the overall experience easy.
I do agree that the game wasn't all that relaxing, but I blame myself for that for trying to find really rare alchemy stuff and not really understanding alchemy properly, like what quality looping is or how to get infinite gems, what the best effects are, etc. But this thankfully prepared me for Ryza 2.
I played this a while ago and yeah, considering this was my first atelier game, it was pretty brutal.
I’ve wanted to play this game especially since it’s half off on switch right now but with livealive and Xenoblade 3 I’m stuck for the next six months!
i'm watching your video to support you! Ur my favorite jrpg youtuber ! 👍
Most Atelier games have these moments when if you haven't been keeping up with equipment and such they will kick you in the butt back to the kitchen for a while until you manage to cook up some better equipment from that pot. The thing with Ryza is that the first one of these difficulty walls comes pretty early on, when you have to beat those two rock sprites in the cave. Next one is the red dragon, then it stays pretty tame until you get the last one at the final boss, at least as far as the main story is concerned.
Personally, I did not find Ryza to be particularly hard as far as Atelier games go. I actually think it's got one of the alchemy systems that make it the easiest to create decent gear without getting too much into it. Totori still holds the crown for being the most punishing if you want the good ending, and in my opinion Lulua has the hardest final boss.
It’s hard if you approach it like most jrpg’s. Grinding matters much less than synthesizing. Once you learn how to synthesize good equipment, it is easy to become OP. This was the first game in the series and it was hard for me at first, but once I grasped the synthesizing I didn’t find it difficult at all.
Atelier Ryza was my first game in the franchise and it's crazy that I had a much easier time with it than you did. Stunning an enemy before their big AOE wasn't too hard. I always made sure my equipment was decent enough so my party didn't die in a couple hits. I also was super nosy and tried to gather as much materials as I could. I'm currently playing Ryza 2 and am taking my time with it but am glad for the quality of life changes that addressed some of the problems you had with your playthrough. I love both Ryza games and I might play Shellie next!
that ending was classic because you did those in your old videos
I couldn't get past the red dragon until i spent ages on crafting, once i did that it was easy, the last boss was a walk over. surprised someone who makes a channel like this would struggle at all.
I myself found the game pretty easy, but I usually do try and do as much as possible in RPGs, so it does make them quite easy for me. Even the final boss I found to just take a long while to get through. The Atelier games definitely could use more balance though for the difficulty spikes
I didn't find it all that hard, relatively speaking (I think I had a lot more trouble with Shallie), but then I tend to grind to the point where I'm regularly cleaning out stuff from my Container in Atelier games - usually before I get halfway through. In Firis I was housekeeping before the exam.
jrpg gamers try not to rant challange when jrpg game is slightly difficult (impossible)
I think future atelier games should stress out how important gathering , crafting and improving your gear more next time. Many people I know who are new to this series (bought the game for ryza's thighs) always have the same complaint, wondering how they are getting defeated when they think they have leveled enough.
I got this with one boss in this game. That is was more difficult as the other bosses. Than I final defeated that one. And than I needed some stuff for the windshoes to get some thing so I can make some thing to get water for the village.
When I done that. The game finished. So that boss was the end boss and I have only used the wind shoes for 1 item. I was kind of shocked when the game ended because I thought I was not that far in the game.
Game: What do you mean Final Boss? this is a crafting game you have to craft son, keep crafting!! but I do agree that it should be informed that an item will be important a the end, it reminds me the first time I played Fire Emblem: Binding Blade, I finished the game without ever knowing about the secret or gaiden chapters and that you needed the Legendary weapons for the real ending until I read the translations and a walkthrough.
It’s considered one of the easier one in the serie.
I don't understand how anyone could find this game difficult. There are a few bosses that essentially give you an alchemy check to see if you're playing the game correctly, but thats about it. I know the exact dragon you got stuck at because I also got stuck there for about an hour until it really dawned on me that I need to use alchemy, then I one shot the dragon with an item. You can garden for dragon eyes and you can kill dragons for them. The game makes you explore all of its features, but I could never say this game is even slightly difficult. I hate to be that guy, but GitGud. This was my first atelier and I love how low maintenance it is without being boring
I wouldn't say its hard, it might be a bit GRINDY though, as it requires you to keep your weapons and other gear up to date.
I remember the last boss being pretty challenging, other than that I didn't have many issues but also spent a decent amount crafting stuff.
I appreciated the honesty. I don't agree with these commenters. This game is difficult at the end. I think it's a crazy difficulty spike that's really not fair considering the way the game was up to that point. I honestly abandoned the game after I found out about the Dragon's Eye thing. The only enemies alive that would drop dragon's eyes were not dropping them. I'm not going to just repeatedly kill dragons until they finally randomly drop a dragon's eye. That's insane.
yo también me morí un chingo de veces con esos monstruos de roca, hasta usar al niño de lentes que les hace más daño
lo dejé de lado porque le seguí a platinar el primer horizon y seguirle al apex legends
ahora me regalaron el SMT NOCTURNE y lo quiero platinar primero antes de seguirle a la piernuda de la Ryza, es un gran juego para relajarse porque me gusta el crafteo
Great video, and to a large degree, your struggles mirror mine too.I do have some thoughts though, which relate more to me maybe, than to you, since this was my first Atelier game. I really did treat it more like a JRPG than a crafting game, and the game is MUCH easier if you treat it like a crafting game, rather than a JRPG. I would also say that THAT was the reason the final boss is followed by two more crafting challenges (I'm up to these now). The crafting is the final boss, not the RPG fight, haha.
BTW Were you saying that you used your Dragon's Eye, but you were able to collect another one later on? I THINK I've got mine still, but only by chance. If I dod use mine, where do I get a new one?
This game was so relaxed that i drop it on middle out of boredom. And i agree with comment belov, too relaxing even on hard, i dont know what hard in this game...
Also the Golems you should throw a bomb at them. Really shreds their health
I didn't think it was that hard. I really enjoyed it a lot.
I finished Ryza last week and didn’t find it hard. Obviously I spent so much time crafting, even some sessions I had was only in the atelier and doing alchemy. I enjoyed being rewarded by being a better alchemist.
Dragon’s Eye? I got a crap ton of those so idk what he’s saying.
The synthesis system is what's holding me back from finishing the game since it released. It was my first atelier game too but I got into better Jrpg and am currently playing FE Three Hopes. I don't know if I'll ever get back into ryza tbh
I felt the same. That’s why I didn’t get the 2nd one. The 3rd one is about to come out and I want to give it a chance.
I gave up on the game. I love everything about it, but the alchemy/crafting system is too much for me. I just don't have the patience for it in my life right now. I needed a chart and a map to know where to find raw materials for crafting game/story progressing items. Feels like a job. Then I have to study how to make the materials so that I know what I'm doing. Maybe I'll come back to it someday with everyone here saying its easy if you craft your ass off.
wow this game looks really interesting, I havent played an ateilier game since Iris 2 and I kind of lost interest with a lot of the new ones I have been following since Iris and never played any after Iris 2. I think i will try this game out, thanks for the detailed video. :)
Love this guy.
Back button is best friend and staying at 5 level in way better then using fatal
i think the difficulty is completely linked to how much you craft. i crafted strong weapons and gear and it was pretty ez. if you ignore crafting too much it could be hard.
I finished the game 2 months ago and I played on easy but the game wasn't that hard (obviously).
You really need to raise your tactics level as soon as possible... when fighting a boss especially.
You will do higher combos, stronger attacks and also potentially stun the boss.
Lol I had problems with the "Rock Puppet" mini boss too this fight for the time you fight it is extremely over tuned and much harder than the castle dragon. (Even the damn Megamouth in that castle is harder than the dragon lol) When I got here, I didn't know jack about crafting decent gear. I wiped like 2-3 times before I crafted some bombs and put one on everyone and just spammed them down in a dps race.
Do you think the sequel is hard too? Cause like i played both and i feel like they are normal.
A yooooo you got me cracking up. 🤙🏽🤙🏽
Ryza was my first atlier game but since I played and beat Mana knemia 1&2 it was kinda easy but annoying due to the lack of jewels to make stuff but as soon as I found a way to get alot in a short time I went on a grinding phase
Then, what atelier game do you recommend on switch for someone that never played any atelier game.
Atelier...hard. DAFUQ?!
This game will make u HARD 🐧
This game was super easy for me. Especially if you into crafting items. literally 3 turns and I kill most things. But yeah I got into crafting and I was a god.
Did anyone found this game easy on normal mode. Or is it just me.
how did i get two dragon's eye? hmm..
I've been playing all atelier games in order starting with iris, and i got absolutely shocked by the lack of voice acting in Ryza... it completely breaks my immersion and enjoyment of the game when all i hear is "hmm" "oh" "aha" i can't believe the latest installments in the series can't accomplish things its predecessors did, and don't even get me started about story, characters personalities and models
there's not even an auto-play button for dialogues ffs, i have to sit there and read the stupid dialogue that seems written by an 8yo of secondary quests and keep pressing buttons til its over
Yeah, this is a tough one. Once you play Ryza 2, you REALLY don't want to go back to it.
I hated that superattack the enemies do in this game. like, why everyone has it? in every battle if you try to kill the enemies fast, chances are one or two of the enemies will try that special attack, and if you have already spend your powerful items or whatever, then that supperattack will hurt you a lot, if not destroy your party.
I would get it if only bosses had that attack to make them more difficult, but if every enemy has it, it makes every battle slower because you need to limit your burst damage in fear of that stupid attack.
Adding to that is the tactics level that resets every fight, making the battles slow at the start, so the game's idea is that every freaking battle must be slow and if you try to burst it you can be punished.
The game was hard. So I grinded levels, upgraded gear, and finally got around to using the forge. Hmmm.
"The game was hard until I used the mechanics."
Is this an out of season April Fool's joke? Both Ryza games on hard difficulty are extremely easy compared to the other Atelier games (I've played Mana Khemia, Rorona up to Escha so I'm using those as the comparison). I find it hard that you, one who has built a channel out of playing JRPGs, would find this harder than the previous Atelier games
lol atelier games are not known for being easy dude... but im glad you enjoyed it
No offense but if you've play JRPG's as long as you have youy know damn well to never use an item called "The Dragon's Eye". They may not have told you you'll need it at the end but I'm pretty sure it's importance is mentioned.
If you think Ryza is hard, you should try Sophie 2. The fight with the goddess and the goddess guardian will rock your socks.
Thé goddess fight was funny, she makes 'cool' edgy poses at every turn
I've come to realize any game where Eric can't breeze through without a thought and the game is basically running on autopilot is hard for him
Atelier ryza 2 had huge difficulty gaps, but the first one was easy.
I didnt like to farm but I had no choice to be abble to finish it. I overpowered my craft items and literally rolled on the whole endgame... Sad
It's challenging game... Just u need to upgrade your weapon and armor.. There's some items are so OP..
At least you finished, I never finished none 1st off I HATE synthesizing 2nd I HATE time limit. But Escha & Logo & Shallie does not have it doh I still didn't finish them. Only have Shallie now close to the ending but a boss wipe the floor wit me so I good.
Babies first atelier game? really?
those two little crystal blue goobers kicked my a$$ too! I'll have to get back to this game, might just go ahead with the sequel, much as I love jrpgs it's hard for me to play a game voiced in japanese because, I don't speak japanese. really appreciate a good English va dub.
Hardest modern jrpgs!! I'm psyched. so tired of triple a jrpg games ruining their in game difficulty and progression balance with dlc. Looking at you tales of arise and shin megami tensei v (still great games).
This was my first atelier and I had not a issue at all.i did missions and farming,I didnt run from objective to objective.i would do side stuff and battle.well damn how did ubfeel about xenoblade chronicles 2?that game has pointless hard battles and no menus to read tutorials.
Tried to get into this game a couple times and just haven't been able to
Ryza was my first Atelier game I did not find it hard. If it was easy I would find it pointless to focus on alchemy and upgrade the gear. If game is too easy you just go into autopilot and game gets boring.
having a hard final boss and nothing else dificult is indeed an error in general in that series it seems. Lydie and suelle also had this. oh well, the rest of the game at least dont have that kind of error. Gust should probably make the whole game easy if they dont know how to balance it. better too easy than difficulty spike of the highest degree.
Finished it not long ago on normal difficulty first playthrough and it was not that hard? I mean sure there we're good challenging moment's but nothing too the point where I had too keep repeating a battle or something. If you pay attention and learn to use the crafting mechanics well, you can really make some high quality powerful item's or powerful healing ect, also do not neglect side quests and quests unique too each character since you get lots of benefits from doing those otherwise you will just get straight up punished, and this was my first Atelier game lmao
I love ryza honestly
I honestly found this game to be very easy.
Arland or the duak trilogy has a quite cheap time constrain, ryza is kinda easy
think this might just be a you issue
I can't believe you think this game is hard. Is probably one of the easiest games i've played. A very enjoyable one nonetheless.
I can't comment on this game I only played it for a little bit and I didn't really even get that far
Eric, I love your content, but “this game is too hard” is something that comes out of your mouth too much. I think you just tend to have a little trouble figuring out battle mechanics, but look at it as a good thing. Since most RPGs are extremely easy, just be happy once you find something that challenges you because it’s a game.
Also, I don’t mean it to be insulting. Probably the only reason you might misunderstand game mechanics is because you have to play through so many RPGs in a period of time, and modern JRPGs are loaded with all sorts of complicated systems.
They made the crafting sooooo easy, come on... Especially mid- to endgame