Solid game overall. The alchemy system is very streamlined which is good for beginners, but imo not as satisfying as the one in e.g. Sophie 2 for players with a bit more experience. The ability to transform items into gems is smart, but I found myself needing more than I could reasonably create, which was slightly annoying. Some of the new mechanics also felt unnecessary: I never got much out of upgrading Romy's shop, and the ability to dig up materials while on the beast's back actively detracts from the need to make the proper tools to find high level stuff. Upgrading equipment at Denis' also feels a little redundant with Item Rebuild (which costs gems too). I was also very disappointed to find this game has its own version of an ability tree, and find this far inferior to the recipe books of Sophie, which feel like they reward you organically for engaging with the alchemy. Overall, I didn't find this entry to be the best at encouraging the player to invest themselves in the alchemy system. I still had fun with it, however; at the end of the day, it's still an Atelier game, and the pleasure of the base gameplay loop is still very much there in Ryza 2. It's also a very cute game, with a cute story that isn't exactly a masterpiece but gets the job done (especially for a game where I wouldn't want the story to give me too much of a sense of urgency anyway), largely thanks to its lead being one of the ultimate video game cuties. Looking forward to Ryza 3!