Lurker > solosnake

Though every single day without a statement is making it seem more and more likely that it's something sketchy rather than idiocy.

I wanted to try it out, but I hate real time with pause.

Take Two stated huge increase in revenue between April 2024 and March 2025. So I think it's currently targeting that window.

Of course Rockstar Games are often delayed.

In a 23 game series, it's completely understandable to not know where to start. I'm here to break it down for you. We usually pretend the first ten games don't even exist when talking about what to recommend, and that still leaves a staggering amount of "modern" games left to talk about.

Overview
An adorable girl pursues alchemy to fulfill her dreams. Instead chasing a great evil to the ends of the universe, shes casually bending space to give herself a better place to sleep when shes on the road. The laws of physics and plain common sense mean nothing to a master alchemist; even the legendary philosophers stone isnt so precious that it cant be made into a tasty snack. Maybe the world is in danger, maybe it isnt, but Atelier is a simpler, more slice of life tale than your typical fare.
Atelier is basically the original item making RPG series. Everything else is a shameful imposter. Probably. More seriously, the series is known for incredibly deep item crafting systems, and the games from exploration to monster drops revolve around this aspect. If item crafting makes you groan, I guarantee you, Atelier is better than what you're thinking. Furthermore, it is not grindy; you won't fight things more than a few times to get the rarest of drops.

Outside of crafting, the games feature standard turn based battle systems (except Ryza's ATB). The game progression varies significantly; many have time limits and involve mild resource management, and the rest dont have time limits at all but still vary a lot. You'll find more detailed summaries further down the page. The more recent games are further known for cute girls doing cute things. You will have opinions on Cutest Alchemy Girl and if you say it isnt Totori you are factually wrong.
The primary thing the series is generally known other than crafting is the 'comfy' or 'down to earth' feel, as well as just being cute games. These ideas are not universal to the entire series, but if those sound like things you like, there are multiple games for you.

The only games that are related are those within the same subseries. So Mysterious has no ties to Dusk, Dusk has no ties to Iris, and so on. You will see characters like Pamela, Logy, Escha, and Hagel appear in several subseries, but these are different characters between each subseries.

Where to Start: The Simple Answer
There are two answers that will work for most anyone: Ryza or Sophie. These games completely lack time limits, making them rather casual friendly.

Ryza
The Atelier series is always on a spectrum between comfy and RPG; Ryza probably leans more toward RPG compared to most others in the series, but it's still more grounded than the usual RPG for much of it. Those of you less certain about the series will probably find it a bit easier to get into. Ryza features a fairly casual friendly crafting system, ATB combat (unique to this subseries), and a pretty standard JRPG style story progression. Ryza is, frankly, a 'low investment' point as you aren't strong-armed into buying three games at once.

Sophie
Sophie is the comfy to Ryza's RPG. It is peak comfort. Kiss that plot goodbye, say hello to everyone in town... and a talking book. The game is very concerned with letting you go at your own pace, smelling the roses. Sophie's crafting system is significantly deeper than Ryza's, but worry not; you don't have to be a crafting god to get through it. If the item crafting really appeals to you, you will find more to enjoy in Sophie.

With the release of Mysterious DX, you are encouraged to get the full Mysterious series at once. The following games are, perhaps, less chill, but you should find much of the same comfy feel in them regardless.

Sophie 2
If you just want to jump into a more modern game without worrying about a trilogy package, Sophie 2 is also a good game to start.
There are two returning characters, Sophie and Plachta, with their motivations explained clearly at the beginning. As it is a sequel, they do talk about the events and end of Sophie 1, so take that into consideration, but everything is clear enough for a newcomer to dive in. On top of that, Sophie 2 comes with a video that explains the story so far.

What about starting with Ryza 3?
Ryza 3's story is easy to follow without prior knowledge; you can start with it if you want. However, you will absolutely get more out of it by playing Ryza 1 first. It's really up to your personal feelings on how much the writing matters.

It makes me wanna shit myself knowing that Trump has a chance to win

college basketball is more competitive than euro pro leagues

https://gleague.nba.com/

i liked some up and coming american players but for one reason or another they don't play. like ja and zion. i like ant edwards but he seems super hit or miss sometimes (only watched his playoff games).

i've heard something about fundamentals being more of a big deal in europe. i remember in the 2022 finals, celtics couldn't dribble. they'd have the ball and just straight up lose control of it. i remember growing up kids used to love having good handles. maybe that's not a thing anymore.

Microsoft refused to say how many, if any, human editors still work on curating the site or if it is all done by AI and algorithms.
Scrolling through the Microsoft homepage a few weeks ago, Pfeuffer said it appeared unrecognizable to the portal she and her colleagues once curated. Not only have objectively false and outlandish stories been featured on the site, but overtly hyper-partisan articles with headlines like Should America Get Rid of Biden for Good? and A Darker Side of the Catastrophe Unfolding Under Joe Biden have also gained prominence.
Those stories, which CNN has observed on Microsofts homepage, were not published by credible and established news organizations, but instead originated on smaller sites with little or no information about who is behind them or details on their editorial standards.
Pfeuffer said these sites and headlines would never have been featured prominently on the Microsoft homepage while she and her editorial colleagues worked there, and said she was appalled that they have these websites that seem like facts, that are not legit news sources pumping out disinformation on the homepage.
We tried to cover everything very fairly from all sides and not take a political stance on topics,

False claims that President Joe Biden fell asleep during a moment of silence for victims of the Maui wildfire. A conspiracy theory that the latest surge in Covid-19 cases is being orchestrated by the Democratic Party ahead of the election. An obituary for a late NBA player that described him as useless.
These false and bizarre stories arent showing up on some far-flung corner of the internet theyre being published by Microsoft. The companys homepage, also known as MSN.com and Microsoft Start, remains one of the worlds most trafficked websites and a place where millions of Americans get their news every day.

I didn't like it

Hes truly amazing. I really, really, really hope he stays healthy. Dude is incredible. Love his game, his attitude, and his intelligence. And Im so glad hes in the spurs. That or the warriors was the best place for him.