I just played the first one like......3 months ago, and it's legit one of my favorite JRPG's ever. The story was a nice, perfect, slow burn, the characters were super likeable and charming, and the crafting/alchemy system in psychotically deep! The other great thing about this Atelier game, is there's no time limit to crafting things like there is in other past games. So you're free to go at it, at your own, leisurely pace.
I was so sad when it ended, but I just started the 2nd one a few days ago and it's going great so far!
Crazy ryza got 3 games though lol. Need to tackle these games some day... it's just that koei tecmo refuses to drop these games at very low prices.