It’s been quite some time since the Atelier series has received much attention, notably due to the protagonist of Gust’s next entry to the series, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. But whatever you may think of Ryza, who boasts quite the proportions when it comes to her thighs, one thing that’s for sure is that there is a large interest brewing for this title, as opposed to its somewhat very niche status before.
Of course, fan service will only get you so far, and as a somewhat (admittedly) casual fan of the Arland titles, it’s important to keep what made the series popular to its core audience. To assuage some of those with doubts for the new direction Gust is taking, we now have some gameplay footage to check out for Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout, which showcases some of the game’s mechanics and how it will play. Check it out below, starting on the 28:45 mark.
I have not really played any Atelier title outside of the Arland series, so I don’t really know how Atelier Ryza compares to others in the series, but the art direction and style looks great. The footage showed off some really neat environments and there’s just this delightful sheen of lightheartedness that can be felt as Ryza explores the town.
Of course, there’s a somewhat marked increase in the overall fanservice for this one, as jiggle physics abound. It’s still bordering on that cute and relatively wholesome feel rather than something that’s pointedly lewd, which works out in the end. The animations are also very much on point, and the textures well-detailed.
The footage also showed off a substantial amount of the alchemic nature of Atelier Ryza, which is the focal point of the series. The overall mechanic seems to have been streamlined to be less tedious in general, and you can clearly see the paths you are going on when mixing various ingredients. The gathering portion is shown as well, with Ryza being able to get different materials from the same source by using different tools such as an axe, a scythe and a mallet.
The combat is also a bit different from what I’m familiar with, as it looks like it’s taking more of an active time battle approach. It’s a bit of a mess in the footage shown, but I’m sure that’s mostly due to us not being able to know any of the combos yet. That said, it’s very hard to get ATB right, and for that reason there are very few well-known JRPGs that utilize these mechanics nowadays.
Overall though, I’m kind of impressed, as Gust managed to extend the audience of a once very niche series by adding a bit of well-placed fanservice. That said, I do hope that it manages to play as well as the other Atelier titles, as gameplay should always take priority over everything else.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout will be released in North America on October 29, 2019.
