Welcome to another YvoCaro Plays!
As always, these blurbs are mainly about the video games I’m currently playing. Unedited thoughts spring up in my mind, mostly game-related, sometimes not. Or a random train of thoughts starting with the game and ending somewhere completely different!
If you like these bits of gaming thoughts, you can find the previous ones here.
Another Big Game to Look Forward to!
I know, we are all looking forward to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It’s been a long wait and if it’s as good as Breath of the Wild, I can’t wait to dive in. But there’s another release coming that I’m super exited about: Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key. Koei Tecmo tells us that it’s the third game in the Secret trilogy, which I guess means it’s the last time we will go on a big adventure with Ryza and her friends Klaudia, Lent and Tao. We briefly had a release date at the end of February 2023, but now the final date is March 24.
Used to be that the Atelier trilogies that Gust made always featured another main character. With Ryza’s game, they first broke the mould, as they did last year with a second Atelier Sophie game. And I’m guessing it was a good move on their side. The games about Reisalin Stout are really ace, bringing the best of the Atelier series and then adding some. So I have high hopes that Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key will once again be amazing.
What Can We Expect?
As Gust usually does, we will once again see some changes in the gameplay compared to the first two games. Of course, it all starts with a new threat to their hometown on Kurken Island. We will investigate a strange group of islands and explore various regions while attempting to unravel it all and get to the bottom of it. Aside from the usual way where you pick up quests during the adventure, there will be a new type of quests: World Quests.
By completing these quests that are specific to the regions they travel through, you will learn more about the area. And it wouldn’t be an Atelier game, if you didn’t meet colourful characters along the way. Where it gets extra interesting though, is that by completing a World Quest changes to the field and other areas might be the result!
A New Cooking System
Sure, Atelier Ryza games have a very good balance of Alchemy and monsters to battle. But in Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key there’s something new added to that: A new Atelier cooking system. By completing quests and enhancing your party in all kinds of ways, you get recipes. With them, Ryza can cook delicious recipes for herself and her friends. But it also adds a whole new strategy level when challenging strong enemies. She does her cooking at bonfires that are scattered around the field. These also allow Ryza and her friends to rest, changing the time of the day and, by doing that, also changing the enemies nearby.
Build Your Own Atelier
Of course, Ryza and friends need a base. So you will also get to build their own atelier in each region! There are three types of structures to choose from, each of which provides different effects. There’s the research base, which is advantageous for exploration, the farm base for gathering, and the laboratory base for synthesis.
Did you enjoy having your own Puni in the Ryza games? Well, it’s back. You can once again feed it and raise them into the Puni of your own liking, with its appearance changing depending on the food it eats. And, of course, Puni will go out in the world too to collect materials.
Characters in the Game
Because we are following the friends over the span of a couple of years, it’s interesting to see how they look when they grow up. We know, for instance, that Ryza was 17 in the first game and 20 in the second game, which means she’s around 22 or 23 in this third game? Anyway, here are the galleries of how they matured.
So that’s what we know at the moment. Oh, before I forget, important too: Boss will finally join your party this time around!