Atelier Ryza brings with it a large number of different game systems that can be a little overwhelming at first. Not to worry, though! We’re here to provide you with some quick tips to help you get started on your adventure.
Go wild with harvesting
In Atelier Ryza, there are harvesting spots everywhere. While you may want to only grab what you need, you have thousands of spots of storage space available. Of course, Ryza does have a limited amount that she can carry in the field. But when you fill up your sack, all you have to do is fast travel back to your atelier and deposit everything, then fast travel back.
You can also make a knapsack and modify it to hold even more items. This needs to be equipped as a gathering tool, so you’ll probably want to leave less commonly-used tools behind, such as the fishing pole and bug net.
Merge your gathering tools
Most of the gathering tools in Atelier Ryza can eventually be combined with others. Normally, you’d need to switch between different ones, but these allow you to collect both kinds of items with just one use. For instance, creating a scythe ax will give you the functionality of both the scythe and the ax simultaneously. Having a full set of these will handily clear up your gathering tool equip space for baskets, shoes, or compasses.
Initiate combat with the right tools
Hitting enemies with Ryza’s staff before they can touch you is the best way to start a battle. It gives you ten AP immediately, which is great for getting to tactics level 2. But enemies also suffer status effects depending on if you hit them with a gathering tool. I prefer to hit them with an ax, as that lowers their defense, but you can also slow them down with the bug net, damage their health with the bomb rod, and more.
Stick to healing during tough fights
If you’re having trouble against a stronger enemy and want an easier way to win, just switch control to your support and let the AI handle the fighting. This way, you can resurrect or heal them whenever they get hurt. Plus, since the support is always in the back, they’ll get attacked less. You can just set your attackers to use AP if you really want them to rack up damage.
Trade in your gold coins
Throughout Atelier Ryza, you’ll find gold coins in chests and from completing sidequests. These can be traded to Klaudia’s father for various items. You’ll especially want to get some of the books he has that you can’t get anywhere else, as some of these unlock recipes you need for sidequests. He also has cycling pieces of armor and accessories for a single coin, which can come in very handy.
Consider buying armor
If you’re not super into min-maxing, it can be difficult to get a truly great piece of armor via synthesis. But the middle trader in Kurken Port sells individual pieces of armor. They’re not cheap, but what else are you going to spend your money on? Buying from him or even Fressher’s shop in Boden District can net you some high-quality armor with some very useful bonuses that might be trickier to get on your own.
Farming for gems is easy
Later on in Atelier Ryza, you gain the ability to break items down for gems. You can then use gems to improve your synthesized items, create bottle worlds, and even duplicate items. A great mid-game place to farm these items is the amber deposit section in the Maple Forest. There are four chunks of amber to mine there. Just use your ax, and each of the resulting crystals you get can be used to make hundreds of gems. Simply fast travel back to the beginning of the area and hit it a few times, and you can get a huge number of gems in just a few minutes.
Check for harvest locations with the select button
Atelier Ryza‘s guide in the menu doesn’t tell you where to find items, so I wasn’t even sure if the game said where to find them. But it does. All you need to do is hit the select button whenever you’re in the synthesis menu. This brings up relevant items and terms to choose from. Picking an item will tell you what region to find it in and what gathering tool you’ll need to collect it. The game never outright communicates this, so it’s easy to miss early on.
Do all the treasure hunts
The treasure hunts are purely optional, but they contain some really useful stuff. Namely, two of them have items that increase your core points from 10 to 15. There are only five treasure chests, and since fast traveling makes moving around insanely easy, they don’t take any time to collect. But you will need the Wind Shoes to even get two of them, so you might need to wait on this.
Fill up your team’s core item slots
Core items that you have equipped on your other team members show up in your basket in Atelier Ryza‘s menu. If you use a lot of items during battles, this makes it really easy to replenish your points after a fight without having to temporarily lose access to more useful items that your characters use. Each item conversion completely refills your core points, so this can be really handy. Fast-traveling back to the atelier will refill them too.
Unlock recipes as you get them
You get new recipes in Atelier Ryza almost exclusively by unlocking them through another item. A lot of these may not seem especially useful, but many of them will be helpful for other recipes. Also, you’ll want to get your alchemy level higher. The higher your alchemy level, the more items you can add to a recipe. This greatly increases the overall quality of the item you’re making.
That’s it for our Atelier Ryza tips. There’s a whole lot to the game, so all of this barely scratches the surface, but it should be enough to point you in the right direction. As always, if you have any questions or anything to add, leave them in the comments below. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go synthesize some better armor. Just because.
Published: Oct 30, 2019 04:00 pm