Good game to close off the subseries on, I enjoyed myself with this one and it was great seeing a nice closing arc for some of the cast.
I wish the open world was better handled, because the game is very linear and the game doesn't reward you that much for exploring, because the materials you gather are mostly the same or locations you have seen before. The game definitely would have benefited more if it was open like Firis.
Anyway, while I do really like this game, this game is even more bloated. The game gives you so many stuff and you can just completely ignore them just because Alchemy is so easily broken and you can max out everything with the bare minimum, and the problem I mentioned with the big open world. Also the Keys mechanic seems really cool at first glance, but in the end it was very underwhelming and totally random what effects you get (the random is the dumbest part). Also Alchemy wise (I consider these as alchemy skills), it is way more barebones and underwhelming compared to Ryza 2.
For the subseries as a whole, I am mixed on it, but I can't deny the quality put into Ryza 2 and 3 (I am not a fan of Ryza 1).
I was super bored with Ryza 1, characters weren't interesting other than Bos and Empel, battle system was slow and uninteresting (restricting item use in a game about crafting items is dumb) and alchemy has no depth it is literally item stacking and there is no trait combining, transfer costs, quality management or skills to make it interesting. The super slow start isn't helping either, it took way to long to get actual fast travel.
Ryza 2 was personally a huge improvement for me, while I didn't care too much about seeing the old cast again, I did enjoy the new characters quite a bit. Something felt off with the writing for me but I can't quite put my finger on it, also not a fan of Fi. The more adventure part of the story was pretty nice though. Battle system is way more fun and fast paced now, items don't have a limited use with the inclusion of building up CC in battle which was a good decision. I still think turn based works better for the series and I still prefer that but they did a good job for this one. Alchemy system still doesn't have the depth I want, but the essences did add a little bit of depth the system needed.
I think I might prefer Ryza 3 over 2 more just because I had more moments where I had fun reading the dialogue. The engine is the best it has ever been for the series but I do think system design wise it is worse than Ryza 2.
Anyway I am glad the subseries ended on a note where I enjoyed myself despite me really not liking the first game and not being a huge fan of the alchemy.
I wish the open world was better handled, because the game is very linear and the game doesn't reward you that much for exploring, because the materials you gather are mostly the same or locations you have seen before. The game definitely would have benefited more if it was open like Firis.
Anyway, while I do really like this game, this game is even more bloated. The game gives you so many stuff and you can just completely ignore them just because Alchemy is so easily broken and you can max out everything with the bare minimum, and the problem I mentioned with the big open world. Also the Keys mechanic seems really cool at first glance, but in the end it was very underwhelming and totally random what effects you get (the random is the dumbest part). Also Alchemy wise (I consider these as alchemy skills), it is way more barebones and underwhelming compared to Ryza 2.
For the subseries as a whole, I am mixed on it, but I can't deny the quality put into Ryza 2 and 3 (I am not a fan of Ryza 1).
I was super bored with Ryza 1, characters weren't interesting other than Bos and Empel, battle system was slow and uninteresting (restricting item use in a game about crafting items is dumb) and alchemy has no depth it is literally item stacking and there is no trait combining, transfer costs, quality management or skills to make it interesting. The super slow start isn't helping either, it took way to long to get actual fast travel.
Ryza 2 was personally a huge improvement for me, while I didn't care too much about seeing the old cast again, I did enjoy the new characters quite a bit. Something felt off with the writing for me but I can't quite put my finger on it, also not a fan of Fi. The more adventure part of the story was pretty nice though. Battle system is way more fun and fast paced now, items don't have a limited use with the inclusion of building up CC in battle which was a good decision. I still think turn based works better for the series and I still prefer that but they did a good job for this one. Alchemy system still doesn't have the depth I want, but the essences did add a little bit of depth the system needed.
I think I might prefer Ryza 3 over 2 more just because I had more moments where I had fun reading the dialogue. The engine is the best it has ever been for the series but I do think system design wise it is worse than Ryza 2.
Anyway I am glad the subseries ended on a note where I enjoyed myself despite me really not liking the first game and not being a huge fan of the alchemy.