Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy

An adorable JRPG with fun characters and an in-depth alchemy system that will keep you entertained for 50+ hours.

Atelier Ryza 2 continues the adventures of Ryza and company three years after the events of the original game, introducing us to new characters and further improving the formula that fans love so much for a promising franchise with a lot of future ahead.

Atelier Ryza 2 is an expansion on the concepts that were laid down by it’s predecessor; this means that fans of the previous game will probably love the new adventure. However, the familiarity also means that those who weren’t charmed by the first outing won’t have that many reasons to give a chance to this new title.

Ryza charms as a lead protagonist, and her adventures in this sequel will engage your mind and your heart. [Issue #51 – March/April 2021, p. 71]

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is like eating a veggie chip: while you love the concept of vegetables in chip form as a picky eater, as you proceed to enjoy it you begin to remember that the chips still contain them, and as a result you’re left with a weird aftertaste. By all means, Atelier Ryza 2 is superior to the first game in almost every sense of the term except story (and that’s being a bit generous), but I never got used to continuously feeling like I’m drifting off-course despite progressing. Regardless, Atelier Ryza 2 is an example of a sequel done right, and I’m looking forward to seeing where Gust goes with the series in the future.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is a delightful entry into the Nintendo Switch’s catalogue of sprawling JRPG adventures. Its character, world and story won’t fail to charm you.

Although it occasionally gets bogged down under its own ambition, Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy is consistently surprising and fun. It may lack the melodrama and heroics of most JRPGs, but it still offers a lengthy campaign full of compelling combat and exploration.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy takes everything good about Gust's 2019 Atelier adventure and further refines it, resulting in the best entry in the long-running franchise to date. This may still be a relatively small-scale, old-fashioned JRPG experience, but it's one that's full of heart, great characters, slick combat and some excellent new ruin-based dungeons. Anyone looking for a relaxed and enchanting JRPG to sink their time into should definitely check this one out.

The main story of Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy takes upwards of 30 hours to complete, but filling out the item and monster guides and seeing your way through every companion’s individual stories will add a dozen or more hours to that total. Three initial difficulty modes, in addition to two unlockable ones, let players tailor the experience, and a paid season pass promises to add costumes, recipes, and new areas to explore. The slow beginning of the first Ryza game is remedied somewhat here, and the ability to fast-travel from anywhere to almost anywhere else is pure bliss. The story’s lighter fare, doubly so for the side quests, won’t appeal to everyone, but the solid battle system, intuitive but deep crafting system, and decent overall gameplay loop were all enough to hold my attention and then some. Even though the concoction might not have come out perfect, it absolutely Ryza’s to the occasion.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout was a great start, and Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy does an excellent job, for the most part, of building on what was already there. Is it perfect? No, it's not. But that's okay. Looking past the fact that this, plain and simple, is a fun game, Atelier Ryza 2 once again keeps my faith alive in GUST being on the mend. I don't know if there's going to be an Atelier Ryza 3, but I hope that there will be. And if there is, then I know that it will be even better than the two wonderful games that have made up the trilogy so far.

Ryza is back and, well, good news! If you liked her debut adventure, then you’re going to also love Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy. It does a lot of what made the original game great. We have characters who are easy to love and face realistic problems. We have lots of materials to gather and things to make. There’s also more intrigue, since there are multiple ruins to explore. It’s also a lot more active than before though, with a new progression system for recipes, which might not be exactly what you’re looking for.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy might not be ambitious, but if you enjoy Atelier titles, it's a solid and engaging experience. It's basically the original Ryza title, only larger and more polished. The Atelier franchise usually keeps things fresh with a new protagonist and cast for every game, but with the full cast from the original title, Ryza 2 can sometimes feel like a repeat of the previous adventure. This isn't bad, since the original Ryza was fun and the gameplay is solid, but it can sometimes feel a touch too familiar.

In terms of narrative, Atelier Ryza 2‘s light tone makes for a refreshing experience but a somewhat bland story. There are a lot of familiar tropes and the dialog often feels padded with pleasantries. It’s nice to have predominately lower stakes and a “everyday life” atmosphere for a change, compared to the genre’s typical “save the world from a would-be god” theatrics. But after a while cutscenes and conversations felt like a drag, especially if you enter an area and set off a couple different scenes at once. At its core, it’s a fairly typical narrative for an anime-styled JRPG, with the usual conventions like standard personality types, stock expressions, and an occasional objectifying camera angle.

I’m sort of in the same position as I was last time around: I enjoyed the experience, but I’m not exactly in a hurry to go out and pick up the rest of the series.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy revisits Ryza and some of her friends as they deal with some of the challenges in entering adulthood. Giving Ryza new abilities to explore the world, such as scaling walls and swimming, add a subtle touch that she has gotten more adventurous since the events of its predecessor while adding new gameplay mechanics to exploring the world.