Do I need to play the first game to get a good understanding of this entry?

[redBadger]

Thx

[Cat]

Yes, it's highly recommend since this is a direct sequel and a lot of the game has returning characters both major and small, without knowledge of them and the previous quest, you miss out on a lot of context and references being thrown around. The game can still be played without the first one, but characters are a big part of the game and without context for them you might as well only be playing half a game.

[toughnails]

It's a direct sequel to a story heavy JRPG, what the hell do you think?

The game spends a lot of its time referencing the past events and showing the growth of the characters.

[Xerul]

You should also play the first one for a better understanding of alchemy. If you go straight for the 2nd chapter you might be a bit confused about alchemy system

[redBadger]

Thanks for the answers, sans the unnecessarily rude guy.

[Gnollmar]

In all honesty, for the gameplay you certainly don't need to. Most of the story is fresh stuff with new people, but there IS a lot of flashbacks to story. Basically the second sub character seems to have basically been made so new players can enjoy the game too. So basically, you dont NEED to. But the first game is great, so I'd recommend it.

[Tyrone Biggums]

its a new story with the same characters so u wont be missing anything main story wise but alot of side stuff may not make sense since its been 3 years since they saw each other etc etc so i would suggest playing the 1st game but its not mandatory

[Lrn2weed]

If it were any other Atelier game, I would say no. Previous entries to the franchise, the sequel games don't really talk much about stuff from the prequel but this one seems to be an exception. Pretty much everyone except 3 of the playable characters are returning cast and throughout the story, they talk about events of the past game a LOT. If you don't care much for the story, you can skip the 1st game but if you do, the prequel is recommended. You pretty much won't even understand Lent's side events without it.

[LotusBlade]

You do not need to play first one. Sequel is better in every aspect so you will just waste time for little outcome. Story of Ryza is very basic and not interesting, they are just bunch of teenagers/kids and nothing big happens around, this is not Marvel or DC. Crafting (alchemy) is easy, you don't need any skill or experience. The scale of first Ryza is tiny and characters way too much childish, the only thing they pursuit is "adventure", basically it's "let's leave our home and go to woods, WOW!!!". After 3 yeats all characters changed a lot visually and mentally, so i would not call them the same.

And since Ryza is still struggling without money and not smart enough to craft gold bars, she is still farm bumpkin.

[Luka]

Originally posted by LotusBlade:

You do not need to play first one. Sequel is better in every aspect so you will just waste time for little outcome. Story of Ryza is very basic and not interesting, they are just bunch of teenagers/kids and nothing big happens around, this is not Marvel or DC. Crafting (alchemy) is easy, you don't need any skill or experience. The scale of first Ryza is tiny and characters way too much childish, the only thing they pursuit is "adventure", basically it's "let's leave our home and go to woods, WOW!!!". After 3 yeats all characters changed a lot visually and mentally, so i would not call them the same.

And since Ryza is still struggling without money and not smart enough to craft gold bars, she is still farm bumpkin.

thank you , the true answer that i was looking for , heheheh

[Tyrone Biggums]

first game is still pretty solid tho if ur gonna play this u should play both