I really love some new things, but there are others I'm uncertain about. Open world exploration and building are fun additions. However, coming from Ryza 1 (the only Atelier game I've played to completion) it feels like they might have lost sight of a few elements that make this series stand out.

The combat, gathering, and alchemy systems seem to have been over-simplified in this iteration. I'm not far enough into the game yet to say how this will affect my long term enjoyment, but my gut feeling is that they may have dumbed down a few too many systems.

In Ryza, discovering new recipes was a satisfying "maze" where you had to build items in a certain way to unlock new recipes. Now recipe unlocks are just a single menu with no "gameplay" to unlocking them.

Manual synthesis doesn't seem as important. The game isn't hard enough to demand it (so far) which is a shame because that's the main thing that sets this series apart. The satisfaction of manually cooking up an amazingly powerful item that you couldn't have auto-crafted was really fun. Even on "very hard" difficulty I am destroying most enemies.

Gathering also has no challenge to it now, as everything can be gathered with your starting tool. I miss having different gathering tools I could unlock as the game progresses.

The new combat system is mostly button mashing with minimal strategy involved, though on "very hard" difficulty it can be more fun, as you actually need to pay attention and dodge attacks.

Building is fun, but they could have made it serve more of a purpose. It seems mostly cosmetic. The game also should offer you an option to move your main Atelier to one of the other build sites.

Most of these aforementioned elements are a step back from Ryza, in my opinion, BUT the overall feel of movement, the visuals, animations, the story, etc. are all steps forward.

I still recommend the game, and I'm addicted to it. It STILL has a satisfying gameplay loop. It plays great on the Steam Deck. But what they need to do going forward I think is blend some of what they've done here with those other cherished elements from Ryza that they've let go of. If my review sounds overly critical it's just because I really LIKE the game, I just want them to make it (or its sequels) even better.

I really love some new things, but there are others I'm uncertain about. Open world exploration and building are fun additions. However, coming from Ryza 1 (the only Atelier game I've played to completion) it feels like they might have lost sight of a few elements that make this series stand out. The combat, gathering, and alchemy systems seem to have been over-simplified in this iteration. I'm not far enough into the game yet to say how this will affect my long term enjoyment, but my gut feeling is that they may have dumbed down a few too many systems. In Ryza, discovering new recipes was a satisfying "maze" where you had to build items in a certain way to unlock new recipes. Now recipe unlocks are just a single menu with no "gameplay" to unlocking them. Manual synthesis doesn't seem as important. The game isn't hard enough to demand it (so far) which is a shame because that's the main thing that sets this series apart. The satisfaction of manually cooking up an amazingly powerful item that you couldn't have auto-crafted was really fun. Even on "very hard" difficulty I am destroying most enemies. Gathering also has no challenge to it now, as everything can be gathered with your starting tool. I miss having different gathering tools I could unlock as the game progresses. The new combat system is mostly button mashing with minimal strategy involved, though on "very hard" difficulty it can be more fun, as you actually need to pay attention and dodge attacks. Building is fun, but they could have made it serve more of a purpose. It seems mostly cosmetic. The game also should offer you an option to move your main Atelier to one of the other build sites. Most of these aforementioned elements are a step back from Ryza, in my opinion, BUT the overall feel of movement, the visuals, animations, the story, etc. are all steps forward. I still recommend the game, and I'm addicted to it. It STILL has a satisfying gameplay loop. It plays great on the Steam Deck. But what they need to do going forward I think is blend some of what they've done here with those other cherished elements from Ryza that they've let go of. If my review sounds overly critical it's just because I really LIKE the game, I just want them to make it (or its sequels) even better.