i'm so bad about finishing games in a timely manner, but i finally completed ryza 2! i even went so far as to get every steam achievement! i never do that, lol.
i enjoyed the second game a lot more than the first. there's more personality to the characters, even if they're still mostly tropey. conversations between the characters feel more natural and the relationships are more fleshed out, some actual development taking place over the course of the time gap between games.
the combat is a lot better than the first, but i'm not sure if we really needed the core drive system. using items in battle unlock special moves, based on what type of item it is, how many of them you're able to use, etc., but it feels bloated when it's added in with the general combat system.
which brings me into my main complaint with the game, which is - there's just too many systems! the crafting is obviously what draws a lot of people in atelier, and the second game really expands upon the first game's structure, but then really packs in the extras. i really enjoy the morph line stuff, but when it's bundled with evolution link, which is the only way to be able to obtain and then craft some of the later items, i didn't enjoy that as much. i feel like each component of the game (combat, crafting, exploration, reputation building) could have been slightly reduced or streamlined to make for a better playing experience.
exploration of the ruins quickly became tedious. trying to find each and every memory to be able to 100% an area, even with the help of the compass, was just too much. i wanted to get the full story for each ruin, so i did it, but maybe less memories to find would have been better? there's also small annoying issues, such as - if you're in memory discovery mode, when you try to bring up your map, it shows the compass radar map first, instead of the normal area map, so you have to switch to it every time. there's little things like that which create a feeling of tedium, and i just found my enjoyment diminishing each time i got to the memory discovery section of a new ruin.
visually, however, this is definitely the prettiest atelier game i've played thus far. i loved the capital city's design, and the characters looked very cute, especially the girls. i do wish they'd make the guys in this game a bit cuter/cooler, but at the very least - lent and tao got big overall appearance upgrades from the first game. don't know what the hell was up with clifford's whole look tho, eesh. i had him in his summer outfit most the game so i could at least see his face, lol. i know this is a game about cute girls mainly, but it wouldn't hurt for the guys to not look ridiculous, you know!
so overall - i still enjoyed it, i'm not that hard to please, but i found certain things about the gameplay annoying. i'll be playing ryza 3 eventually, but need a break from crafting for a bit, hehe.