Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy takes place three years after Darkness and the Secret Hideout's events and is mostly a direct experience with an abundance of tooltips out the gate to help guide its audience through the game's various systems and mechanics.
However, that isn't to say there isn't nuance to Atelier Ryza 2, as there are many systems in place that are more nuanced than others and can easily get overlooked by the player. Overall, players should be able to handle their own in the Royal Capital of Ashra-am Baird, but having a grasp on a few things can help tremendously with your journey. Especially when there are a lot of systems at play in Atelier Ryza 2.
10 Limited Inventory
When Ryza first adventures out into the open areas in Atelier Ryza 2, you will quickly find many materials to harvest for her alchemy. However, harvesting everything you stumble upon will eventually fill up your inventory. It turns out, Ryza's basket isn't a bottomless pit, and you will have to make decisions to either discard some of the materials you previously gathered or decline the materials you just got.
Luckily, there are few ways to combat this, and they are both relatively painless. Once you unlock the ability to fast travel, you could easily warp back the Ryza's Atelier and bank your basket and its contents and then immediately warp back to where you just were. The fast travel system in Ryza 2 is pretty great, and you can essentially warp anywhere you want. You could also upgrade your baskets carrying capacity and get rid of the materials of lower quality or not useful traits or effects.
9 Targeting Monsters
The combat system in Atelier Ryza 2 is a modified turn-based one in which everyone attacks based on the timeline located in the bottom right of the screen.
However, when there are multiple enemies in play, the combat can get a little rough at first, especially since your party members will attempt to take on the other enemies themselves. You can avoid splitting your parties up like this by simply pressing left or right on the D-Pad to focus your entire party on one enemy, thus allowing you to focus your entire party on a stronger enemy to get it out of the way.
8 Spirit Monster
After you beat the first boss in Atelier Ryza 2, you will gain the ability to ride it around the open world (think of mounts from MMOs).
The Spirit Monster is crucial because it unlocks the ability to access dig spots around the world that contain rare materials. The Spirit Monster is slow and may not seem that important, but we highly suggest you summon this beast anytime you enter a new area. The Spirit Monster will get you a plethora of items and materials to help Ryza out tremendously with her alchemy, so it shouldn't get overlooked.
7 Use The Quest Board Often
Players will get access to the Quest Board early on in Atelier Ryza 2 and may never focus on it much after that moment. However, there are plenty of quests that are pretty low effort and require almost no work on the player's part.
The Quest Board can contain quests ranging from hunting enemies to simply turning in materials, and all of them give you a payout of Cole (currency) and SP (skill points). These quests are vital as you can single out the low effort ones and farm SP to allow Ryza to learn more skills, expand her Skill Tree and learn new recipes. You can even finish all the low effort quests, warp back to Ryza's Atelier, and sleep until the next day and repeat the process all over again. Completing these quests is a fantastic way of getting ahead of the curve and will allow you to be more prepared in future areas/encounters.
6 Feed The Puni
During your adventure in Atelier Ryza 2, you will encounter a friendly Puni that you can feed materials to in return for other items and materials.
The materials and items you receive from the Puni can range from common items to incredible rare items, so you must keep feeding it any chance you get. If you have things you don't necessarily need, you should provide them to the Puni. The Puni will evolve over time and will help you out tremendously down the road. The more you level up the Puni, the rarer its gifts will be for Ryza.
5 Synthesize Your Gear
You will be able to craft items for Ryza and her party pretty early on in Atelier Ryza 2 and should take advantage of it any chance you get.
Synthesizing your gear is an essential part of the game but can be a tad confusing or seem unnecessary if you focus on its level. However, if you have better materials and recourses, your gear will naturally be much better, even if it is the same base level. Add the effects and traits into the mix, and it will be immensely better than what you and your part have from the start. It is easy to pass on this feature early because it doesn't seem worthwhile, but rest assured, it is and should be explored anytime you gather better materials.
4 Equip Weapons Before Leaving The Capital
Once you leave the Royal Capital of Ashra-am Baird, you will be unable to make changes to specific equipment slots for Ryza and her party. More importantly, their weapons.
If you just synthesized better gear for you or your party, you must equip them before leaving the Capital grounds. Not being able to equip your party with power gear because you are out adventuring is critical to note before jumping into the game and can help you avoid getting into a bad situation.
3 Decorate Your Atelier
Decorating Ryza's extremely comfy Atelier is a feature that can often be overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Especially with all the other systems at play.
However, this addition to the game also comes with benefits that can significantly help Ryza and her party. Decorations will have certain perks attached to them that can give boosts, such as "Party does more damage in the evening" or "Party takes less wind damage" and many other useful perks. Don't sleep on the decorations!
2 The Game's Length
Atelier Ryza 2 is a substantial game that can take quite a bit of time to get through, which can be a bit shocking to some people unfamiliar with the franchise.
On average, players will average around 25 hours to complete their first playthrough of the game's main story. There are many things to see and do in Ryza 2, and it's ultimately worth checking out. But for those looking for a quick adventure, this is a bit more than that!
1 No English Voice Over
Many players may be taken back when they boot up Atelier Ryza 2, pick their subtitles, and then have no option to switch it from the Japanese VO to another language.
To many, the Japanese VO is perfectly fine and enjoyable, but some may not like that approach at all and will pass on it altogether. Koei Tecmo passed on the inclusion of English VO as most of their player base plays with Japanese VO, allowing them to speed up the release and save more money.