There are many methods to make Cole, the game’s “money”, in Atelier Ryza: Eternal Darkness and the Secret Hideout. In the early game, selling ingredients is the easiest way to make Cole. As you progress further into the game, Cole becomes easier to obtain but also less relevant.

Early on, you will need to use Cole to buy recipes. You can also use it to buy equipment and higher quality ingredients. This will speed up your progress and allow you to clear some quests in faster.

Once in Mid game, you will likely have already collected most, if not all, of the recipes which are one of the main reasons to use Cole. It also becomes much easier to gather high quality ingredients rather than buy them.

By the time you hit late / postgame, Cole becomes completely irrelevant. While you will obtain Cole much faster, you won’t really have any need for it.

Making Cole in the Early Game

These are the methods you can use to make Cole early in the game.

Gathering and Selling Water

The easiest one is by gathering ingredients, specifically water. All harvestable ingredients are available in infinite quantities. However, you need to exit and reenter an area to collect ingredients multiple times.

That’s not the case with water which gets instantly replenished after you collect it. Because of this, you can collect hundreds of buckets of water very quickly.

You can use this method by fast traveling to Rasen District – To the Farm. Head east from the Guide Post and past the bridge.

You will arrive at this spot, which is marked by the water drop icon in the minimap.

Press K (keyboard), A (controller and Switch) or X (PS4) repeatedly to gather water.

Each bucket of water sells for 1 Cole. You need less than a minute to fill a hundred buckets.

Completing Side Quests

In the minimap, this green question mark icon indicates that there is a side quest available.

You will see a character with the same icon above their head. Simply walk up to them and you will automatically trigger the quest.

Some of the early game quests only require you to talk to the quest giver. These will pay you up to 30 Cole as a reward.

Not all side quests can be completed early in the game. Some of them need you to synthesize higher quality items, or to unlock specific recipes.

Defeating Monsters

You can defeat monsters to gain Cole, but it’s generally not recommended as the amounts are small.

Most monsters at this stage of the game only give 2 or 3 cole on Normal and up to 6 on Hard.

By defeating monsters to get ingredients, you will inevitably end up collecting Cole.

Avoid battling monsters as your main method of making Cole as this isn’t an effective method for the amount of time invested.

Synthesizing Expensive Items

Another method to obtain Cole early in the game is by synthesizing expensive items.

You can do it by gathering ingredients containing the “Expensive” trait.

Simply add these ingredients to a recipe and unlock the “Trait 1” loop.

After that, select the trait from the list and synthesize the item.

An item with the “Expensive” trait will sell for more Cole than average. However, this method isn’t as practical, since you will need to synthesize a large quantity to make a noticeable amount of Cole.

At this stage, you will have more success by saving the ingredients and using them to synthesize equipment and items instead.

Acquiring Cole in the Mid Game

At this point, you most likely have already bought every recipe available. You will also be able to obtain high quality ingredients from the Travel Bottle or by planting seeds.

Any equipment you synthesize will also have better stats than the ones you can buy so the reasons for needing large amounts of Cole will start to decrease.

However, if you still need Cole at this stage, there are some easy methods you can use.

Weasel Roast Minigame

The Weasel Roast becomes available in Chapter 6 – The Abandoned Tower. You will find it just outside Ryza’s Atelier. Interact with it and select “Attack” to start the minigame.

Inflict the Weasel with status conditions and empty its Break bar to extend the fight.

Keep building up damage and you will be awarded an amount of Cole for specific milestones.

At this stage of the game, you should be able to deal damage well into the five digits. With this method, you can make more than 10,000 Cole in minutes.

Completing Side Quests

At this point, you will also be able to complete all side quests in the game except for Pamila’s.

Going back and finishing side quests you had already started is another good method to get Cole.

In the mid game, certain side quests can pay you up to 500 Cole as a reward.

Battling Large Monsters

By this point you should also be able to quickly defeat large monsters. They are easy to spot and will remain still even if you approach them.

Like in the early game,this method isn’t as effective compared to the others in terms of Cole received for the time invested battling. While large monsters will reward you with more Cole than the normal ones, the amount is still relatively small at around 100 Cole per battle.

Selling Old Equipment and Excess Ingredients

This is a classic method in most JRPGs. You can sell your older items or lower quality ingredients for Cole.

Items and equipment with the “Expensive” trait will sell for a higher price.

Making Cole in the Late Game and Postgame

Once you reach the late/post game, Cole will have no practical use for you. After clearing the main story and advancing to the postgame bosses, you will exclusively rely on alchemy for all your needs.

Any equipment you synthesize will be better than the ones up for sale. When it comes to ingredients, you will rely almost exclusively on seeds.

If for some reason you still want to obtain Cole, the only reliable method is by defeating bosses.

The Great Elements respawn a few days after you defeat them and reward you with more than 10,000 Cole per win.