Our Japanese comrades at 4Gamer published a new interview with Atelier Ryza 2 Producer Junzo Hosoi, revealing more on the game.
First off, one of the biggest things Gust struggled with in the early phases of development of Atelier Ryza 2 is deciding how much time would have passed since Atelier Ryza 1‘s ending. They ultimately set on three years, though some on the team brought up how “Ryza will be 23 years old in another sequel”. Hosoi however said if there’s a third game, it won’t necessarily be Ryza for a third time as protagonist, and it won’t necessarily take place three years later again.
Many players told Gust via feedback that items in the first Atelier Ryza feel useless in battles, since you can easily win anything without using said items, despite all the efforts needed to synthesize them. In Atelier Ryza 2, the battles will give more importance to items and will be closer to the rest of the Atelier series in that aspect.
Players also pointed out the jump function in the first game was useless besides making Ryza’s chest jiggle. As such, the maps of Atelier Ryza 2 have an emphasis on three-dimensional exploration. That’s also why they added the underwater swimming, the Lupin the Third grappling hook, climbing, and other actions. You’ll be able to collect materials underwater too.
In the first Atelier Ryza photo mode was added sometime after release via a free update. However, photo mode will be available from launch in Atelier Ryza 2. Note that Japanese games for years now have been doing “Photo Mode”-like functionalities, even if not called such, before it became a popular thing to do in western games a few years ago.
Junzo Hosoi also mentioned that similarly with the first game, Toridamono worked tirelessly on this sequel’s chara design. At some point they’d spent seven hours a day in online meetings. Toridamono made tons of different Ryza designs for this sequel, having trouble coining how she could look like three years later. Hoisoi jokingly mentioned Toridamono drew Ryza’s thighs sometimes thinner, sometimes thicker than the final design. Maybe we’ll end up seeing these in an artbook sometime after release. You can catch the first game’s early designs and rough drafts here.
Atelier Ryza 2 is also different in how it features Ryza visiting the royal capital. It’s a developing city mixing many cultures, completely different from Ryza’s Kurken island. The city also has heat haze because of its stone pavement, reinforcing the summer-like atmosphere. Certain places in the city are more developed than others too, and it’ll let players discover various landscapes and architectures. Ryza is also a countryside person visiting such a huge city for the first time, so the game will properly reflect that too.
As a side note, Toridamono drew a special illustration of Ryza to celebrate the sequel’s announcement:
【ライザのアトリエ２】の公式サイトが公開されました！
先日も報告しましたが、引き続きキャラクターデザイン、イラストなどを担当させていただきました。
よろしくお願いいたします続報をお楽しみに！
公式→https://t.co/ePvlSVMdyA pic.twitter.com/cNmiU1uVQk
— トリダモノ (@toridamono) July 29, 2020
The game’s cast have been pretty hyped over on Twitter too. Ryza’s seiyuu Yuri Noguchi shared her happiness over reprising the role:
【お知らせ】
ライザのアトリエ2 公式サイトが公開になりました！改めまして… 主人公ライザの声を担当しております！
スペシャルムービーも公開中です
宜しくお願いいたします！！#ライザ2 https://t.co/xvkR4Sc5Zf— のぐちゆり (@yuri_nogu) July 29, 2020
Same with Hitomi Owada, Klaudia’s seiyuu:
『ライザのアトリエ２』
公式サイトが公開されました！引き続き、クラウディア・バレンツ役を担当させていただきます！
またクラウディアを演じることができて嬉しいです…！
新しい装い！！かわいい…！！！よろしくお願いいたします！#ライザ2https://t.co/ra2ySrgv6J
— 大和田仁美 (@owada_hitomi) July 29, 2020
You can read more on Atelier Ryza 2 (and check the trailers) with our past coverage, most notably how Ryza was always supposed to be the protagonist of two games. In an unusual move, as western promotion for Japanese games tends to lag behind, the English site for Atelier Ryza 2 already translated Ryza’s and Fi’s profiles, saving me some time. You should check them out too. Technically, Klaudia’s profile is still only in Japanese, but it’ll probably be officially translated soon.
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy will be launching worldwide next winter on PS4, Switch, and PC via Steam.
The post Atelier Ryza 2: Toridamono Spent Over Seven Hours a Day Designing Ryza’s Zettai Ryouiki by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.