Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout Review | 57 Hours Later | Backlog Battle 

I’m almost tearing up at how great this review was. You summed up why I love Atelier and Gust games so much. It looks like they really didn’t half-ass this one (unlike the Mysterious trilogy, which was pretty bland in comparison). Thanks for the in-depth explanation of the battle, synthesis, soundtrack and art direction. I REALLY appreciate how you didn’t just talk about the thighs/tits. Honestly, I really appreciate it.

Boy, if all of the background music in this video is from Atelier Ryza, then I'm already in love. Every song I heard in this video had such a romantic/whimsical feeling to it. I definitely have to look into this game.

This was my first Atelier game, and now I can't stop collecting the games. I also beat Ryza 2, now I'm playing Sophie 1 and got a backlog of 7 Atelier games.

Having randomly found your channel through recommendations and watching a majority of your reviews, it's quite baffling knowing you don't have more subs. Your reviews are so in depth, really well scripted and paced, it's absurd you aren't in the 100k+ mark if not more. Honestly keep up the amazing work, you genuinely deserve a lot more recognition !

Despite falling off the series a long time ago, this review has convinced me that Ryza is the one worth coming back to the series for, great review!

This may be the first time I’ve gotten chills while watching a review video. That pause after talking about the soundtrack where you let the music flourish was great! Also, this is just an excellent review. You’re incredibly thorough. Great job!

I found this series through ValkyrieAurora’s excellent videos on the Atelier, Nier, and Drakengard games. It’s nice to see Atelier finally get so much attention in 2019.

Your review was so eloquently and consistently worded and the subtle nuances that you caught onto in the art direction and the overall theming of this game mirrored my own thoughts to a tee as I was playing Ryza. You've voiced a generation of people's oversight on this franchise's appreciation to help this refreshing game further come into popularity and I'm earnestly so happy for that! Easily won my subscription - also you have a beautiful voice. -

I have to say this is one of the best reviews I've seen on RU-vid on a video game. It wasn't technical and focused on the points you would like to hear about the game. Made me click on that "add to cart" option for this game on Steam. Cheers to the creator(s) for a great job!

Read and watched many reviews and etc but yours was the one that sold me. About 30 hours in I like it to the point where I'm waiting for all the others on steam to go on special. Thanks dude for getting me into this franchise! It's so good

Hope you continue to review more games. This was a finely crafted review ;) looking forward to future content :)

Picked this one up on launch having only played the Iris games way back when. It's cool seeing everyone sort of wake up to the existence of this series thanks to Ryza. The battle theme has been on loop in my head since the other day.

If you keep up this quality my guy, your channel is gonna explode within months, I'm sure. Keep it up!!

Just now discovering your channel. Dude your review style is sick! Narration is great, graphical assets are beautiful. Seriously jealous as hell of your style! Subbed!

Never gotten into this franchise in the past but after watching this review wife and I just ordered this thru Amazon as we keep hearing this is a good place for new to the series players to jump in on. Not to mention a really in depth crafting system and one of the cutest anime looks to a main girl and series games we have seen in a long time. Thanks so much for the in depth intelligent review @Backlog Battle. We are very glad we were told to come check out the channel and subbed a few videos ago :)

Very good and in depth review. I can’t believe I have never heard of the Atelier series before until now. Hopefully this one makes a good starting point for a first timer like me. May pick this up on the switch in the near future.

Please do more reviews! Stumbled upon your channel and the quality is up there. Subbed

This game has been on my peripheral vision ever since Fire Emblem Echoes. I love the character designer so much.

I like your way of making a review, you go in such detail about every aspect instead of just saying it's good or not and enjoyed the entire video, thank you!

I thought I wasn’t the only one thinking that some elements in Ryza reminded me a bit of Persona 5. Nice touch of little details here and there that took me by surprised. Honestly I was expecting this game to be like your typical JRPG but playing this game is so refreshing and relaxing! The combat system is really fun too and can be a challenge. I was afraid this game might be too easy. Definitely a must play. I have it on PC but kinda wished I bought it for the Switch for the portability. Also as a personal note, I view the Atelier series being the “shoujo” of JRPGs where they don’t follow your usual JRPG story direction in saving the world or whatever. It’s cute and focuses on the characters and their challenges. Perhaps that’s why the series is so niche because initially it doesn’t seem like it will appeal to hardcore JRPG fans. But give Atelier Ryza a try. It’s fun!

Are there awards for RU-vid Reviews? You have my nomination, my like, and sub! This review on its own was amazing, loved your writing, and the tone as well! I am so relaxed now.

Randomnly stumbled upon this review. Never heard of the game or series but you definitely got me interested!

Ok that was an amazingly in-depth review. You have earned a new sub from me.

I suggest you try out the dusk trilogy when it comes out in January. It has a much more somber tone than the rest of the titles and you'll be blown away by the art and music of Ayesha's title in particular.

best commentator to review a game the end. subed and liked. Also the way you describe in dept the battle system.

This is the first review that gave me a clear idea of what the game and story actually are. Thanks!

I love character-driven stories that sounds right up my alley thanks for the review 😊

I love the DIY attitude of the Atelier games. I cooked up a spreadsheet to list out all the materials I would need to make the absolute best weapon and armor for Lent and went at it. At the final boss, the other 2 party members died instantly but Lent was an unstoppable force.

I've been trying to figure out if I've wanted this game for months, and this review finally convinced me. I've watched perhaps a dozen others, but they never went in depth with what actually sets this game apart. Thank you for this - I nearly missed out on a great game.

Great review. I love the Atelier series. So happy we got 3 this year, ending with the best one. :)

Picked this game up on sale over the holiday after looking over some videos. This was definitely the best one I found. Echoing the pinned comment, I really appreciate there were no jokes about the characters' "assets." The summary of the game and why it's great was so well-articulated. I'm excited to start this soon!

I’m sold. Picking it up when I get the chance. Thank you for the great review. You sir have earned another subscriber.

Terrific review my dude! Professional and easy to follow! The characters really sold the game for me. Sure the combat, crafting and world are all good and interesting, but following the characters through all their hardships and seeing them grow into better versions of themselves? You have no idea how much love and pride I feel for them! I was legitimately sad when I finished the game because it meant my time with the characters was over, but hopefully the new story DLC will give me even more joy!

Excellent review. I'm finally going to start this series.

Just wanted to thank you for this review, saw that Ryza 1 & 2 are on sale in Nintendo eShop and your review made decide to buy the first one ^^ Excited to try it out! So thank you for this in-depth review!

Never played an Atelier game before, but I've been curious about them. I think I'll try this one! The music sounds so great, and OMG THAT BATTLE THEME!!!

A good man! Thank you so much for this recommendation. The game looks really heartwarming and sweet, that's what I needed in my life right now.

Wow I only just saw this review, thanks for reviewing one of my favourite series ever! I'm just like you, I got into the series late a couple of years back with Lulua. I'd never even heard of the games before. But since then I've bought literally every game of the series I can, and played about 1/3 of them now slowly. There isn't another series like Atelier, and the devs have a clear passion for their work. My favourite part of the games is that every one is different. The developers are always trying something new, always looking to improve and because of that, no matter what game I start up, I'm getting a unique - and often times better in later series - experience. I agree with all your points. Not every Atelier has a strong story, some fall off at points. But all of them are a joy to experience and focus on the characters and their adventure instead of some world pressing calamity. This makes the games feel great to play and you get that sense of adventure and not knowing what's around the corner. That sense of 'mystery' is the hardest thing to capture in any entertainment medium, and it's always a fantastic feeling when it is captured. My biggest critique with the series, and this is a long-going problem, is the end-game crafting. It's incredibly hard to balance and I've yet to see a game where they're able to nail that end-game. It's sort of like a build-up with a lackluster climax. Which isn't their fault, and it's something they've always worked on. It's just a hard area to solve for their game design philosophy in the atelier games. My other pet peeve is that their NG+ mode is never worth playing. There are no new experiences in NG+, just harder enemies which is redundant when you max your weapons and armor with the end-game crafting. I've always found that unfortunate.

Thx for recommendations i alrdy bought it on eshop sale yesterday

Thanks for this review, I just pre order this game and got nervous if I might not like it or not. Also thanks also for letting us know when you’ll make videos how to understand the game mechanics. Hopefully it will open up to me when I get my copy for the switch!

Thx, very well made review, super helpful!

As someone who just recently fell in love with the series this year (thanks to Lydie & Suelle, which made me buy sophie, firis, and the arland trilogy as well as Lulua) and is pretty bored with the state of modern jrpgs (being basically just isekais in tone) I was kinda worried with Ryza aiming at that very same style/demographic, THANKS to your review that fear has been completely erased. It was such a joy to hear a review that actually makes justice to the game and franchise (it’s pretty hard to find actually good ones because most of them don’t care for the actual game), this is the best review I’ve seen for this game by far. On other note, Lulua is great too. I understand the visuals might not be for everyone but as a game it also has that unique Atelier charm, not to mention Lulua herself might be one of the best female characters ever, such a great protagonist is hard to come by. Although the mysterious trilogy is my favorite as of now, even though I’ve seen a lot of people call it dull I completely fell in love with its characters and stories.

You sound like an anime dad/scientist. Nice review on this jrpg gem.

You have talent dude. I subbed and liked because this is a very very good review. Keep them videos coming!

Thanks for you great reviews I just picked up both Atelier Ryza games just now it helped me understand what the excitement was all about. I really enjoy the fast paced combat system and the graphics is really good at the same. Still not that far in the game with first one but enjoying the ride so far.

I saw that battle system resembles Grandia, one of my all time favorite RPG ever. I am gonna buy this now.

I've dismissed most of the games in this series, but this one seems worth a look!

Never been interested in Atelier before and wouldn't ever play the other games, but Ryza looks fantastic. I hope to see them do more like this in the future and I think I'm picking this one up at some point.

Ugh I want to play this but I’m still trying to beat Dragon Quest 11 and Luigis Mansion 3 comes out on 10/31. It’s a backlog...battle. Great review!

What an excellent review! I just finished the game yesterday as a newcomer to the series and the overall atmosphere and narrative was a breath of fresh air to me. I don't think this game necessarily made me a huge fan of the franchise just yet but I am without a doubt interested to see what's next from Gust! Also, I commend highly you for doing this review professionally without gushing over Ryza's thighs. The entire package should be the selling point of consumers!

Thank you for the time spent on the battle system. That was most helpful.

Woah what a great review, simple and straightforward. I think you covered this game fair and objective, showing the good and the bad, as well as the overall experience. Between life and other titles on my list it's going to be tough, but you sold me Atelier Ryza on a first impression/first time basis! Definitely going to save up my days off to play this next year :)

Not related to the video but I like how you respond to every comment. Made me smile while scrolling lol great review btw!

Great review. Got a new subscriber out of it. So the algorithm worked this time. Looking forward to your other videos on this one.

On sale right now on PSN and I am so glad to finally pick it up. Ryza seems like a quality game and Rysalin is considered by many to be one of the most loveable characters in all of JRPGdom. I'm excited to start it!

Excellent review. I think I’ll try this one out! On sale on eshop right now!

I just read an article where the creator of atelier ryza stated that ryza will make an appearance in the next chapter of this series. I can't wait to play it.this is the game that got me into the atelier series.

I’m still totally baffled by how few of subscribers this channel has. The production value and articulation of talking points and analysis is excellent.

Awesome review man, was wondering whether to grab this now I’m done with DQXI and Pokemon Sword

Loved the review! Subscribed.

Recently got really into JRPGs every since I got Fire Emblem Three Houses a few months ago. Since then I played Persona 5, Final Fantasy 7, and Tales of Berseria. I spent much of today researching and trying to decide about getting into the Atelier franchise, and it wasn't until this video that I made up my mind. As soon as I finish Tales of Berseria I will for sure pick this one up. I went from undecided to excited, great video.

Just found this channel! New sub. Your content looks very slick

Good review man. I like your videos.

Great Review bro! I never played an Atelier game but you did a great job selling the game its good points and pointing out bad ones. Im convinced now to try it out lol.

It’s on sale right now on the eShop. Never played the series before so I’m going in blind but I’m really excited to try it out.

you got a new subscriber! ur review is damn pretty good!

I love the Atelier games and I am so glad you didn't put "Thicc" in the title, I saw so many youtube reviews with Thicc in the title that it really started to annoy me! You are doing really well with the review and I am happy to see newcomers to one of my favourite Franchises!

Your narration is really good. I’ve been wanting to see what this game is about and you do a fantastic job explaining^^ thanks for the video! Will sub~

Great review! Not 3 Minutes "long" crap with a randomized score at the end. Thank you very much!

I just finished this game, I thought it was a calming, pick up and play rpg that doesn't stresses you out. The battles are satisfying specially towards the end of the game, where you can fight the element bosses. The one thing that I needed was an item location guide, there are way too many items to remember where they are located.

Great review friend :)

You should check then the Dusk trilogy of Atelier games, it has one of the best stories of Atelier games while maintaining the time management that the games were known of

Thank you for this review. I have the game but put it down due to feeling overwhelmed with all the different mechanics. I will be checking out your videos to help brake down anything I get stuck with. Yet again thank you for the video.

Sounds great, I'll definitely add this to the top of my list, even though I'm sort of scared of coming-of-age stories these days - their more bittersweet aspects often hit me a tad too hard in the old man feels. I haven't played an Atelier game since the original release of Rorona on the PS3, in which the intense focus on menu management quickly drained my enthusiasm. One thing of note - it's interesting how physical copies of this game haven't dropped at all in price over here, that usually only happens with Atlus releases and speaks for its quality.

Great video mate!

Good quality video! Keep it up

Thanks for this review. Was pretty much sold when you got to the story, that this isnt about some "world ending event" and instead its about the characters. Its a....fresh....look on the RPG. Alot of the other stuff seems really interesting up to that point but seeing a story that isnt about me being the super once in a 1000 years hero to save everyone actually sold me on it lol. . Also I would like to just douse you in praise for reviewing the game and not trying to make a statement about it. It is insane to say this but having a review of the game about the game is so rare I cant help but appreciate it. First video I have seen from you but you have my sub if only for this singular reason. Thank you.

stopping the video now to answer the question how many games ive played where i had to save the world from a disaster: not that much! i mostly played games like pokemon, professor layton, animal crossing and etrian odyssey (with EO comes nearest to the world safing though thats not plot advancing the first 40 hours) and i think this really is the right game for me! its always hard to tell from just reading a games backcover so im really glad i found this review!

Great I did order the game today but never played this game line before. So already thanks for tutorials :)

About a week ago i watch this review, halfway viewing, not even finishing watch this review, i decided to give Atelier Ryza a shot. And wow, what a game! Now i'm back to finish watching the review. You nailed it, it's all the things you mention that make this game great. But you also absolutely right when you said the synth in game tutorial is not friendly for new player. I end up doing whatever random stuff. Only near the end of the game i finally get it, which is kinda too late. Lost moment of enjoyment opportunities for new player. I wish it become trilogy, and from the story, it might like it.

I just started this series by getting Lulua and so far it's great but cant play all that often because of school and now this review has made me want to buy this too but I have too many jrpgs to play at the moment including persona 3 and 4

nice review my dude! subbed

Wonderful review!!

Subbed! Nice review.

Thank you for this! This was an excellent review. Adding it to my list. Still keeping fingers crossed we can an english dub one day (hoping the next game maybe).

Nice, even review. Thanks!

honestly i only knew this game because of all the ryza art but this actually looks like a really fun solid game to play

that was the best opening to a review ever. I like that. Adventure

This review really helped me in finding out if I want to play this game or not. And I think I will play it! Thank you :D

I’m Loving the game so far, the battle system is quite fun. And the switch version runs great, obviously doesn’t fully showcase the major graphical changes that KT/Gust made for this new atelier game like the shadows and sharper character models. Still, the end of the day it still looks and plays great. The OST for Ryza is great so far from what I’m hearing so far. To be expected at this point from Gust. And off topic of Ryza. My favorite alchemist female characters from previous games so far is meruru & Sophie. Ryza is definitely up there with those two when it comes to personality, cute factor and design. Hopefully you’ll give a chance to the older games as well when you’ve gone through Ryza. Since atelier Dusk DX trilogy is set to release early 2020.

I saw the art of this game and couldn’t resist… I have not played it yet, but I have gotten the urge lately to jump into it. :)

i havent played any Atelier games but there is a sale now on Steam and i think i may start with this one. looks pretty good.

This is a great review. It does a good job of pointing out serious flaws and never getting caught up in points that don't impact the overall quality of the game. On top of that, it's well-structured, flowing from one point to the next briskly while managing to go into detail on each of one of its points. I just wanted to compliment you on all this so your hard work didn't go unnoticed. On a side note, this isn't really an issue with the review but the Atelier series reverted back to its older artstyle for Lulua. It first opted for a more inviting one that isn't far from Ryza's in the Mysterious Trilogy. I think you'd like those games as well, although I wouldn't be surprised if Ryza held your top spot even if you were to visit them. EDIT: Reworded some sentences to make my post flow better. Ironic, I know.

Worth reminding everyone that the dusk trilogy will be coming to PC/PS4 early next year, absolutely worth checking it out.

This review is super selling me on the game. I'm really adoring how thoughtful and optimistic, yet honest you are about your reviews! Thank you for all the time you've taken to make this video!

I really struggled to get into Ryza, I always find it hard to get into RPGs without an English dub. I found the world so lackluster, I think this is something I find in most Koei Tecmo RPGs, NPCs in the town just feel super flat and nowhere felt lived in. Really wish I could enjoy the series as much as others do, as Ryza is a dope lead protag.

I'd never even heard of the games let alone ever seen the title "Atelier" before today. If my friend didn't even mention the up coming 2nd game I'd never even have known it existed xD

Since you mentioned the somewhat 'girly' art style of the series, and since you've only recently been introduced to the series, you might be interested to know that there are a few games in the series where this is toned down quite a bit. Atelier Lulua (and the other games in the Arland series) was probably the wrong choice if you're not a fan of pastels and pink. However, the Atelier Iris series, Atelier Escha & Logy (with the possible exception of Escha herself), and the spin-off series Mana Khemia tend to play down the frills and cutesy stuff and also tend to turn up the darker, more dramatic story aspects. The Atelier Iris series and the Mana Khemia spin-off (which is my personal favorite) also tend to stretch the fantasy elements a bit further, too, with the mana, magical creatures that enhance the abilities of the alchemists they make a pact with. Because they're PS2 games, the graphics are a little dated, but Mana Khemia is still a favorite. I still hold out hope that they'll continue that series some day.

Thanks for the great review! I'm also playing this game right now on my Nintendo Switch and I was wondering, if you might have played the story DLCs as well? I'm asking, because I really like this game so far and I was thinking about getting the "Kurken Island Jam-packed Pass" since it's on sale right now, but it's still about 38,50 € which is quite a lot, considering that you can get a complete new game for the same money ... So if you have played the story DLCs as well, would you recommend getting them? Thanks in advance :)

What is the music score that plays at 6:40?