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This here is the star of Atelier Ryza, the latest in a series of Japanese role playing games that have a heavy focus on creating your own weapons and equipment. The first game, Atelier Marie, came out in 1997, and there have been twenty-one sequels released in the years since. These days it feels like every game that comes out has a crafting/gathering mechanic, but the Atelier series was doing it before it was cool. 

If the idea of jumping into such a massive franchise is daunting to you, you're not alone. Thankfully, the games usually have zero continuity with each other, and each entry features a new world, story, and protagonist. I decided to start with Ryza because thicc thighs and booty shorts, frankly. I don't generally buy games just because they feature smutty content, but if the game is well reviewed AND features smutty content? Then I consider it my obligation to financially support the type of games I want to see more of. 

It wasn't long into playing the game that I started to realize something was wrong. Ryza is introduced having two male best friends, and in the first several hours of this extremely talkative story, neither they nor anyone else had a single thing to say about the fact that Ryza was suggestively dressed, attractive, or even a girl. 

I'd heard the story was a slow burn, so I decided to give it time before the panty flashing/bath house episode antics started to kick in. I figured as much was inevitable when a certain new party member was introduced, one with enormous breasts packed into her impossible anime costume, but still, not an ounce of sexual tension in the whole cast.

It was then that the dark truth sank in: I'd been had. This game, and this entire story, had no spicy content whatsoever. Aside from two (and only two) female characters being dressed like classy prostitutes, you could let a ten-year-old play this game and they'd never see anything they're too young for.  Any modern animated Disney movie will have significantly more mature themes than what you'll find in Ryza's adventure.

So why did I still play the entire game and immediately buy the sequel? Well, there are a few factors to consider here.

In general, I sleep like shit. The process of shutting my brain down for the night is an arduous routine that never seems to work the same way twice. Sometimes, having a relaxing game to play can help, as long as nothing too mentally stimulating is involved. And Ryza is honestly pretty perfect for me in that regard. The dialog is thick as gravy but it's easy to put off advancing for hours on end as you toil to create the perfect fire sword. And even when it's time to advance the plot, no sudden character deaths or shocking betrayals here. The graphics are loaded with gorgeous art and color selections, and the music is all mellow flutes and horns. If you want a game to help you relax, I'm honestly having a hard time coming up with anything I'd recommend more than Ryza.

Was I the victim of deceptive marketing? Sort of, yeah. I'm exaggerating for effect a bit, but the visual presentation of the main character just doesn't fit with the rest of the game at all. It's almost like the sexy base costumes and swimsuit dlc were a wild last-minute decision made after the rest of the game was already complete. None of the preceding Atelier leads took the fan service approach in their design as far as I can tell, Ryza looks to be the first. (Be curious to learn if any of the previous main character models had jiggle physics on their breasts as well, or if that's another recent addition.)  But am I allowed to be outraged if I ended up liking the game anyway for different reasons?   

If you made it to the end here, thanks for listening to my perspective! And if you've played these games and want to clue me in on some details or context I may have missed, feel free. And if you have any instances where you got suckered by advertising like I did, I'd love to hear those too in the comments.