The Atelier Ryza Series Has Shipped One Million Copies, Koei Tecmo Celebrates With Free DLC Costumes

I think Gust may have finally struck gold with Ryza and the market.

Probably the biggest deviation from the Atelier series, but it served them well to get such a wide reception to it.

How skimpy will she be now?

I'm pretty tapped out on new games, and have a massive backlog to work through, but both Ryza games are right at the top of my list.

Are Ryza games stand-alone, or do I need to play the others to understand the newest one?

Good for Ryza. I'm still playing the first game, and it's great. I'll be buying the second soon.

I really enjoyed the first game. But I am waiting for a sale to get the second game and the DLC for it.

@BenAV Ah alright!

Nice to see! Atelier is such a wonderful series it really deserves some success.

Lol this series doubled its audience size by just giving the heroine nice legs.

Well deserved. Lets Goooooo!!!

Hmm, I’ve been on RPG fix as of late thanks to Phantasy Star 4, maybe I should give this game a try.

Ryza 1 & 2 are the most expensive games on the Australian eshop at $90 for the base game which is what is stopping me from diving in.

I really want to explore the plot of this game at some point.

Thighs save lives. Unless you're a wrestler, then no that just hurts (subjectively).

It’s kinda mad to see the series strike it big literally just because of thigh memes. I quite liked Rorona but the series has always been pretty niche.

Since this is doing so well... Would it be too much to ask for the modern ports of Surge Concerto in English, too?

Is it possible to produce more physical copies of ryza 1 please?

I missed the boat first time around.

Loved the first one and just started the second. Great games and Ryza is a fantastic protagonist.

Well deserved!

I'm so mixed about this.

First, Ryza is a fantastic game, and a great protagonist. The Alchemy is much easier then the other games, but I don't hate it for that. It is more accessible without giving up too much complexity and over all done really well. It also has, and I can not stress this enough ESPECIALLY to people who haven't played it, simply the best real time combat in any RPJ ever made. By like ... a lot.

But on the other ... it's feels NOTHING like the rest of the series. It takes itself a bit too seriously. Nothing speaks to how different the old games are then this 4th wall breaking conversation from Atelier Rorona:

Why did you pick Rornoa to be your student?
-She's cute.
I was being serious!
-So was I! That's about 80% of the reason I picked her!
What's the other 20%?
-She's dumb.

I can go to like a billion other games and find the themes, story, presentation and humour of Ryza. But the style of the others games is unique.

I hope they switch between the two styles of story telling now that they hit a new level of popularity.

Thyza rocks!

(And the game rocks, I love it.)

@VoidofLight Ryza 1 and 2 go with each other but stand alone from the rest of the atelier series. 1 is more relaxed 2 is a more traditional rpg. Imo.

@nessisonett there deffinately are the memes but both of the Ryza games are genuinely great games. I don't doubt Ryza being attractive helps but if the games were bad that alone would not bring the success they have had.

It will be called the "Erector Pack 1".

It's about time they re-release these. They had said that they might release them again at a future date and most fans on the Atelier reddit had given up on them ever returning. Glad to see them finally released and I'm excited to see what the costume for 2 will be.

Absolutely adored 1 and 2 and I really hope we'll see a third!

I love the second costume.

Finally decided to buy the first one as it is 50% off

Sadly I can't get physical copy of the first one in my country anymore...

I need to get my hands on the second game. Really enjoyed the first.

@Heavyarms55 it is on sale now, in US.

@Gus_Campos Oh? I will have to check that today! Thanks.

Seeing that kind of costumes I'm glad that not everything has gone woke yet. Nice stuff!

Got that summer adventure outfit this time, glad they re-released it and the formal ones look classy. This niche series is doing really well now, good for them! Now...to make time to play the game....
Must ....pull away a little.... from Genshin.

@Paraka

Yes and no. The Altair series has been printing money for 20+ years and almost 30 games when you count off-shots.

Then they redid all their best games with HD graphics, fantastic English voice acting, and quality of life improvements and ported them to PC, getting a ton of exposure.

Then they released a love letter to the series with Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, which sold well enough in Japan and the US, getting even more exposure.

At the same time there was HUGE ongoing hype for the series 25th; a road trip in Japan, the protagonist faceoff that resulted in the Sophia status for Nelke and eventual costume for Ryza.

Then they released the first "part 1" game in almost 6 years, providing the first true entry point for all the people how heard the hype.

So ... yes, Riza is the best selling game in the series for sure, beating Sophie and it's re-release in less then a year. But ... I don't think it's fair to say they hit gold with Ryza. After all the things I just talked about, I'm pretty sure that if Ryza was anything LESS then the best selling game in the series it would have been not only a disappointment, but the last Atelier game made. The total marketing on this game has to be 10 times any other in the series.

It's a unbelievably good game, and I often say it's the best real time RPG combat ever seen ... but it's not the huge night and day breakout people are making it out to be.

Cyberpunk was the second best selling and 22nd top rated game of 2020. It sold three times better then Witcher 3 at launch and became the best selling CDPR game ever made after it's first week. CDPR did not hit gold with Cyberpunk.

Sometimes you have to look at expectations and the bigger picture.

@HeadPirate - As much as I get your metaphor with Cyberpunk, the truth is they still struck gold with the series. I would wager a Cyberpunk 2 would outpace Witcher 4 if it weren't for the new series on Netflix on sales of the game alone.

Though I fully understand what you're saying there, it was a funky release. But brand consciousness is a virile thing.

Another good example is Tales of Symphonia. Not only did the first one do the best so far, sales of the stinker second still rivaled other popular titles that held the crown before the original Symphonia.

That being said, I do think a lot of the changes made it more user friendly. Just as FE Awakening did, and the games are better for it, in spite the older formulas still there in structure as time moves on.

@Paraka

There is no “truth”, just two opinions.

And with respect, I think you totally blew by the Cyberpunk metaphor.

Cyberpunk, like Atelier, is a 30-year-old IP with 3 full table top rule sets, over 100 source books, several visual novels, a collectable card game, a series of books, a 2007 video game, a miniature game, and literally 100s of millions in sales.

So yes … the Witcher has a TV show that was the most watched Netflix original for a few months before being overtaken, but’s that’s a drop in the ocean compared to cyberpunk.

What we know from Cyberpunk is that a 30+ year legacy, some hype, and a new game is going to net you fantastic sales regardless. People will read main stream media stories on how it’s garbage and still buy it. That’s just how it works.

So if Ryaz sold 3 times what Sophie did at launch and was the best selling GUST game of all time after a week … sure, gold. But it didn’t. It sold … well. But not surprisingly well or outstandingly well.

Hyrul warriors was gold for Koei Tecmo, outsold the whole Warrior series in under a year, which is why its headlining earnings calls and Ryza is an afterthought.

https://twitter.com/bk2128/status/1353696788612485120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1353696788612485120%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgames.mxdwn.com%2Fnews%2Fhyrule-warriors-age-of-calamity-is-now-the-best-selling-musou-game-in-history%2F

@HeadPirate - Sorry if this is late, but no. You're conflating opinion with fact by moving goal posts here, bud. We can also argue that Super Mario Party didn't "strike gold" cause it wasn't as good as previous games.

When I used the metaphor, I am currently using what if it is active for them now, right now. as the future is intangible to what could happen. Even with its pedigree, if a theoretical Witcher 4 came out now, it can contend with a Cyberpunk 2.

Reason for it is, in spite of its pedigree, most who were hyped for Cyberpunk aren't even aware of its origins. And the game itself may not even allude to them (which I don't know personally, since I have not played it). So the common market that bought it, bought it on the idea of it being futuristic Witcher-meets-GTA style play. That's pretty virile marketing angle for anyone to beat the world over the head with.

And you're moving the goal post, I mentioned Atelier series and Gust, in terms of K-T sales. Not once was I talking about K-T as a whole. But Hyrule Warriors is sort of a double edged sword for them. Even though it can sell titanically for them, it does so with Nintendo, but only ONE has control as to how much more they can do with the franchise, and that's not K-T. You can also say Hyrule Warriors only sold "well" because other Zelda games sold better regardless, so it wasn't gold.

With Gust, they have massive growth with Ryza, K-T has more opportunity for further growth with the series in control of K-T in its entirety. But the growth in question is within Gust, which is where we were talking. That's not saying K-T isn't doing more elsewhere, but again, you don't drain a vein immediately once you strike gold. You gotta dig at it.

And that's what I was saying, they may have hit a good opportunity with how Ryza did things. And they can then build from there. It's no runoff success when compared to Hyrule Warriors, but that by no means it's garbage (which is something our community is impulsively addicted to doing).

Oh cool! I'm about, maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the game I think. I'll have to grab these updates next time I play.

I absolutely love these games! Such likable characters and such a fun story. These so much about these games I find refreshing and enjoyable.

Having a true female lead in an RPG is just so rare, and yet they did such a good job. She is so well written both as a main character and as a girl. Most of the few female MCs I've seen in the past, the whole story will revolve around them being a girl. Instead of a girl going on an adventure or journey, they'd make the story about a girl overcoming being a girl or convincing people to trust her despite being a girl and garbage tropes like that. Or they'll have you play as a girl, but then the story will just revolve around her following a man around, or trying to live up to what men want from her and blah blah blah.

Ryza isn't like that at all. She's a natural leader. She's both kind hearted and assertive. She cares deeply for her friends and is always happy to help others - and yet she still wants to do what she wants to do. And this attitude makes people want to follow her. I love how despite being a hard worker, she can still be lazy at times. I love how even now, in the second game when she's far more experienced, she can still jump head first into things that might backfire horribly.

I find her to be one of the best written characters I've seen in games.

And the supporting cast are all quite good too. This author is wonderful at writing very human and relatable and believable characters.

Another thing I love about the Ryza games is that if does such a good job of portraying men and women as friends. Because so many people in 2021 still seem to think that if men and women are friends, it's just a cover for, or a prelude to romance. That men and women can't just spend time together with shared interests as friends. That's nonsense and I love that this game does such a good job of showing a cast of men and women who genuinely are good friends with little to no romance involved.

Finally, it's nice to have a game that, although there is obviously combat and a lot of serious moments, the core mechanics are built around making things and helping people. Not destroying things and killing.

Cool never heard of the game tho

Best atelier games for me, I'm playing atelier ryza 2 now and it's absolutely massive and way more content and features than the first, then if you buy the deluxe edition you get a load of areas from the first game to go to aswell

I guess this just goes to show that there's still a market for sex appeal. The atelier games before this didn't have much of that at all (though they had a lot of charm and character development) and went by unnoticed but once they gave their protag some thickness suddenly everyone dives into Atalier.

All I can say is...took you guys long enough to appreciate the series.

And MK8 sells a trillion copies for Switch and we can't get a bonus track...

@nessisonett

it helps that the Ryza games are considered some of the most polished and mechanically enjoyable games in the series with characters who are well liked even outside of the memes.

plus even if people did discover the games through the memes it shouldn't really matter since either way they discovered a great series which hopefully will continue its upward momentum after the rather divisive Firis (the game shaking up the formula had a rather mixed reception)

@Scollurio Objectifying women is really that important to you huh

@DeclanS98 Violent games don't promote murder. Cartoonish, overdrawn females don't objectify women. There's plenty of places for that fight to be had in the real world, video games and other forms of entertainment usually is not that place. Look at all the garbage woke movies that bomb at the box office. Showing women so strong they are basically men. What do these do for women rights in muslim countries for example. Also, a cartoon girl with huge hips is a problem, but women drooling over six-packed men in advertisement and movies is not? Neither is, really.

@Scollurio Video games are escapism. Women playing video games shouldn’t be subject to the same mistreatment they feel every day when they’re simply trying to pursue a hobby. It’s really simple man. “Plenty of places for that fight”, so you only respect women in SOME scenarios? Do you realise how that sounds? Can you imagine actually telling a woman that video games aren’t a place for non-sexualised women? Comparing women’s issues to men is a nonsense, “woke” films is just you having a dad rant. Genuinely just imagine trying to relax as a woman and play a videogame when 9/10 female characters are dressed the same way; it gets old really fast, just have some empathy.

@JasmineDragon Do you play a lot of turn based RPGs, or is this one of the first? Just wondering how the combat is for someone new to that stuff... never been drawn to this style of game, but the art is so dang good, I’m tempted to see if I can do it... though... not huge into crafting either... meh. Maybe someday.

@DeclanS98 I dont think that women in general feel "mistreatment" every day. Not in the western world at least. This is not Iran. Reacting to one's physical form is perfectly natural, this goes for both genders. I respect all human beings the same way, no matter if man or woman.

I'm not comparing women's issues to men. I say that the great solution for most woke filmmakers is to have a "male" role portrayed by a woman. So instead of showing a strong woman in her own rights, they show us a man, that happens to be a woman. If you look closely, you will see this. This is hypocritical and no fix for no problem at all and the reason why mos woke movies suck and are rejected by sane people.

You know that 60% of higher education in the western world is held by women right? You do know that most men in the entertainment industry nowadays are portrayed as the bumbling fool who needs a strong woman to fix things for him, right? Think Homer Simpson, think Peter Griffin, think that Jim Belushi Show, and most other sitcoms.

Do men complain? No. Because it's just escapism. It's fun. Same with women in videogames. I'm old and when I was a kid we were raised to stand above things that might insult or anger us. Both genders. I know plenty of women who are strong successful females, with a family, lovely kids and a career who dont give two toddler-farts about bikini-clad anime women with thick thighs. Why would they? They have "real" things to worry about.

Hey and I respect your opinion, but you know, ANY form of censorship leads down a dark path, as history tells us. Please be mindful of that. No one of us holds the one and only truth that's applicable to each and every individual in society.

@Paraka Yeah, so many thirsty weebs in this world.

@BlubberWhale I play a fair number of RPGs, and I actually think Ryza has one of the better combat systems. It's an active time system, two members of your party will fight independently and you can atrack, do specials or use items as needed. The other members of your party will ask you to do certain things like "deal fire damage" or "boost my stats", and if you do, they will use combo moves that are significantly better than their standard attacks. Also, you can switch the character you control on the fly, so if you want to be in control of the whole fight you can, or you can just stick with one character and play basically like it was turn-based.

It's a good system for newbies and veterans alike, letting you be as active as you want to be.

The only catch is that your other party members won't use a lot of healng on their own, so when you start taking a lot of damage you'll need to switch characters and do some healing yourself. It gets a little frantic then. But it's never super brutal.

If you're not interested in crafting, I'm not sure how strongly I would recommend it - it is still an Atelier game when all is said and done, and alchemy is a big part of the game. You can't ignore it, because alchemy is how you get all the good weapons and equipment, as well as being the key to story progress. I will say the alchemy sysyem is pretty smooth amd uncomplicated, but if you don't like it that's about a third of the game you won't be enjoying.

@JasmineDragon How does Ryza compare to the Mysterious games? Been slowly chipping away at those, but I'm curious what all the furor is about for these latest two.

@JasmineDragon Hey! I really appreciate the detailed breakdown!

I guess it comes down to if I have enough time to sink into it. If I’m able to plunk down lots of hours and not worry about the time, I could see myself getting invested, even in the crafting.

Anyway, thanks again, I’ll keep this one on my list.

I'm glad i followed my vibe and purchased part 1 physical b4 the hype. The game now is crazy priced. Anyone see the stupid price for Attack on Titan Final Battle? Wow.

@SwitchVogel I've posted a few times about how much more I liked Ryza over Lydie and Suelle, my only other Atelier game. L&S wasn't terrible, but it felt pretty clunky and I did not like the protags at all.

Ryza plays better, the whole game feels a little more refined and the alchemy is a bit more straightforward. And most importantly, I like Ryza (the character) a lot more than Lydie and Suelle. She's feisty and funny and feels more like a real teenager living in a boring little farming village, and I could relate to her a lot more than L&S.

Nothing is radically different, it's not like a BOTW reinvention, but it feels like the whole game got an extra layer of polish. I still have thoughts about trying to play the older Atelier games, but I'm much more eager to play Ryza 2 first.

They could sell more copies if the first was still available physically. I won't buy 2 without a copy of 1.

Literally just beat Ryza 2 a couple of nights ago and put it back in the Gamefly envelope, and now this news. Ha. That's great, both games were quite enjoyable and deserve all the success, although the second game seemed light on the post game stuff. Only one optional/repeatable extra boss...but still a great game that I didn't regret one minute of playing.