Atelier Totori, Alchemist of Arland 2 for PS3 (June 24th release) JP

[ZODDGUTS]

Official website: http://atelier-ps3.jp/totori/

More Images:

Spoiler for images:

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Info from Famitsu/neogaf:

Totorie (...Totouria...? Helmond), age 13 is aiming to become an adventurer to find her mother who was an adventurer of significant reputation. Lives with father and older sister, but no artwork for them yet.

Gino Knarve, age 14. Childhood friend of Totorie.

Mimi (Mimi Ulie von Schvailzrung or w/e) age 14, tsundere, condescending, wears hot pants. Basically takes the role of Cuderia from Atelier Rorona from what it sounds like.

Takes place 5 years from Atelier Rorona

Adventurer License System

Significant improvement in graphics

The 3D models were revamped to closer replicate Kishida Mel's 2D character art.

Game concept is (again) returning to the Atelier series roots.

There were comments mentioning Rorona was too easy so difficult has been increased.

Able to venture in the entirety of the Arland continent

Same atmosphere as previous Ateliers.

Rorona is 22. Searching for Hom & Astrid while spreading the knowledge of alchemy. Meets Totorie during this time.

Totorie's attire is based off of Rorona's tastes.

As your Adventurer's License class increases, your range of travel increases and is somewhat similar to Atelier Viorate.

Whether there's a deadline to complete the game is a secret at this point, but there is overtime.

Development is more or less done. All's remaining is polishing it up.

1.25x the voiced dialogue of Atelier Rorona

Battle system's been revamped. Visually similar to Grandia in how the attack order is displayed on an icon graph.

Aside from HP, there's now MP and LP.

Cut content and improvements based on gamer input has been added.

More events

Everyone's support of Atelier Rorona has made Atelier Totorie possible.

[Zekori]

Looks good to me.

[IchiKyo]

Wonder which Hom they took as canon? Male or Female?

[plmko]

Looks like a significant improvement over the previous game.

[Mizuno]

I LOVE the music being played on the website. This piques my interest.

[Aaerul]

Wonder if anyone else is playing this game. My copy arrived yesterday. The game feels really nice. There is a nice feeling going between Totori and her elder sister. The gameplay is Atelier re-hashed.

I'm only about 3 hours in so I'm not bored of it yet.

[Shiroth]

^I'm still waiting to play the first game.

[Varion]

Originally Posted by Cosign

Wonder if anyone else is playing this game. My copy arrived yesterday. The game feels really nice. There is a nice feeling going between Totori and her elder sister. The gameplay is Atelier re-hashed.

I'm only about 3 hours in so I'm not bored of it yet.

Finished it last week. It was awesome.

Guess I'll just copy/paste my impressions from NeoGAF into here, can't be bothered typing up a whole new set:

So, up to year 2 now, impressions:

- It's ridiculously easy to pass time now. In addition to travelling and item synthesis using up days, there's now a new time bar when out on the field. If the bar empties, the clock moves forward a day. Regular battles use it up depending how many turns you take, and using a harvest point consumes half a bar. So as you can guess, time just flies. Never mind that the world map is so big this time anyway. From Aranya Village where you start the game to Arland is 21 days on foot, 14 days via cart with no stopoffs. Thankfully because of this you basically have two hub towns - you can take and report quests in both Aranya and Arland, you have your own Atelier and Rorona's to use, and your storage is mirrored across both. Unfortunately you can only get your adventurer rank upgraded in Arland though.

- You get even more freedom in this game than you did in Rorona. While Rorona had the mandatory royal quests every 3 months, Totori has no such thing. Basically once you get your adventurer license you're told to go wild and level it up doing all kinds of things - defeating certain numbers of specific monster types, beating big boss monsters, going to new areas for the first time, reaching a set level, making various types of item, etc etc. Just about anything you might want to do in the game is rewarded with rank points, and when you reach a set value you can go and get a rank up in Arland at the desk, opening up a load of new areas for you to explore and often opening up a new system to play with. The only thing required of you seems to be to have your adventurer rank up to a certain rank by the end of the third year. If you reach that rank your license is extended, if you don't you lose it (and presumably get a bad end). I'm in two minds on this - on one hand it's nice to be able to do everything at your own pace, but on the other hand it does feel less... structured? There doesn't seem to be any year end events for example. I haven't been told what rank I'm supposed to be aiming for by the end of the third year, either

- The world is so much bigger in the number of areas, too. More areas are open for me than Rorona had in the entire game already, and I'm only a bronze rank on year 2. They're more open areas rather than straight lines like Rorona's were, too, although on the other hand you can't 'go deeper' into them like you could in Rorona's. Each area on the map has one section, and that's it.

- The battle system hasn't changed a huge amount. Special moves use MP and not HP now, there's a new stat called LP which is used for travelling long distances on the field and if it falls below 25% you suffer stat drops in battle, and you can see the turn order in the bottom left of the screen. So far that's about it for differences.

- The characters are decent enough. I think I prefer Rorona's cast so far though - you really feel it at the beginning when all you have is Totori and Gino, while Rorona had Astrid's antics right from the start. The first few months felt a little slow as a result. Totori's even younger than Rorona in both body and mind, so people who really hate loli characters are going to be in agony all the way through. I'm not sure why such people would be playing the game in the first place though.

- Seeing all the old Rorona characters again is really great. They're about where you'd expect them to be. Kudelia was probably the biggest surprise, she's matured a whole lot since Rorona and is much less of a tsundere. This is made really obvious when she ends up in an argument with Mimi and is clearly much better at keeping her head cool. It's a shame they've recycled most of the old music and character themes as-is from Rorona, but I'll let them off.

- The graphics are much, much better than Rorona's, but that's clear just from the screenshots.

Mid year 3 now, got the highest rank you can get in the first 3 years (diamond) so basically just killing the rest of the year getting my alchemy level up and visiting all the available areas on the map before the end of the year when I can raise it again.

Loving this game so much. I think I'd finally call it better than Rorona now after the slightly shaky start. The characters are great, the script has plenty of laughs, the graphics are great, and there's plenty to do.

Couple of new things:

- Character requests are handled differently to Rorona - in that you spoke to party members/friendly NPCs around town and they'd give you requests if you ask if they want anything. In Totori, said characters will come to your Atelier and ask you for items you currently have. This method... will probably be a bit harder to max everyone's affection with.

- The cart gets a speed boost later, reducing the time to travel between Aranya and Arland from two weeks to one. Awesome.

- Rorona keeps her ability to use items in Totori, which means that if you use her you can have two item users. She's actually pretty good, her regular attack throws a flame (doesn't consume an item), which means that it's a multitarget attack, add item usage into that and she's quite useful in battle. My current party is Totori - Rorona - Mel.

- Somehow I managed not to notice this, but each time you get a rank up on your adventurer license, amongst the new areas revealed is always a 'boss' area. You can get most of the adventurer points required to rank up from these, because they usually have 3 well-rewarded missions - beat the area boss, harvest from every harvest point, and find a 'marker' in the area. Unfortunately they appear alternately nearer to Arland and Aranya, so you'd be travelling a whole lot between the two to get them all. I've just been waiting until there are two on one side of the map and then doing both, because surplus points are kept, so you just have less work to rank up next time.

- Chimu chimu chimu. The ways these guys work is quite different to the Homu in Rorona. You show them an item, and if it's a synthesised item they make it, and if it's an ingredient they go find it. They need pies as an energy supply, and if they run out they'll stop working for you. You can have up to five at any one time (or was it six? I can't remember) and making more requires a special item (Water of Life).

Up to february of year 6 now, I guess 4 months off the end. Like half way through year 5 I finally got a teleportation item that lets you warp between the two Ateliers, taking no days. Oh how I wish I'd had this earlier, not sure if I can possibly get all the adventurer points needed for the final rank now.

Oh well, I shall try.

Liked:
- The tracks composed by Nakagawa. Some great battle themes in particular, while the rest was typical Atelier. The highs on this soundtrack were definitely higher than Rorona's soundtrack.
- So much to see, so much to do. Just as you think you've seen everything the world has to offer, a whole new set of areas opens up - and unlike Rorona this game covers 5 years of Totori's life, and there's enough content to show for it.
- Teleport items and various other conveniences. You can move to any area in a town by pressing start and selecting the area, which reduces tedium massively, and later in the game you get items to teleport to either Atelier, reduce harvesting time, and speed up movement on the world map respectively.
- Gust definitely listened to the criticisms from Rorona, as well. The annoying inability to transfer multiple items to storage at once in particular was fixed.
- Improved battle system. Rorona's battle system was functional but average, whereas Totori's is a fair bit more enjoyable. It's not exactly amazing, and you won't find yourself looking forward to normal battles too much, but boss battles can be pretty enjoyable.
- The new artstyle is fantastic. Rorona was a decent start for Gust on the PS3, and Ar Tonelico 3 built on that, but with Totori they're really getting good at this. I think this is honestly the first Gust game I've played where I can say I loved the graphics.
- Characters were likeable, if nothing original. I don't think anyone actually goes into a game like this expecting deep, original characters, but those who liked Rorona's cast and got some laughs out of its dialogue will find themselves right at home here. Those who didn't... well, there won't be anything to change your mind here. Me, I was laughing most of the way through. You will miss Astrid at the beginning though.
- Fair bit of replayability. Tons of optional scenes to see, multiple endings to get, a whole extra multifloor dungeon with strong enemies to fight, and a few extra optional bosses only available at the top adventurer rank (which is quite easy not to reach, but isn't needed for the ending). Add in New Game+ where you can carry over your money and current equips, and it's worth playing a second time, at least.

Didn't like:
- Managing the Chimus is a pain in the ass - while Homu could just be sent off to help you without a huge amount of worry, Chimus need pies. You can have up to 5 of them, and each one will eat their way through pies like lightning when you give them work to do. So you can either buy pies or make them - the former is expensive, the latter is annoying because the last thing you want to do is be making pies all the time. So if you're anything like me, you just won't use the Chimu system unless there's something you really need.
- Most of Yanagawa's tracks. I can somewhat see what Gust see in this guy, as when he does good tracks they're very much Gust's style, but between this and the Ar Tonelico 3 soundtrack he seems to have a much higher ratio of misses than hits. I miss the days of Tsuchiya, Nakagawa and Achiwa all contributing to Gust soundtracks... or at least Nakagawa and Achiwa.
- Weird inconsistencies with the storage and basket. You can sell items from your storage at shops, and make weapons out of ores in it... yet you can't hand over items from it for plot events, you have to have those on hand. Also, items by default go straight into your storage, more than once I found myself out in the wilderness about to use a healing salve I made earlier... only to find I forgot to take it out of storage. There's an item you can get later that lets you use items from your storage out in the field, but it's very easy to go through the game without getting it at all. Would've been nice for the game to ask whether you wanted to send a usable item to the basket or storage after making it, though.

In short, it's better than Rorona in just about every way, though not quite better enough that I imagine it'll win over anyone who didn't like Rorona. If you did though, then you're going to love this. I did.

[stpehen]

I just got my copy this week, been playing it a little bit (going to read that post in a sec).

Seems fun, though I haven't played any Atelier games before. I like the gameplay and the characters are okay, but I'm close to turning the voices off because they went WAYYY overboard on the high-pitched scale (I get that Totori is about 12-13, but why does a 20-something woman ALSO need to sound like a baby?)

[Duo Maxwell]

I guess you haven't heard many Japanese old woman voice? There was a close to 40 years old one at the fast food shop I went that sounds just like a 15 years old girl.

[Nadeko_Sengoku]

I hope it releases in the U.S...
Argh! This just adds to my growing desire to learn Japanese/ move to Japan!!

[stpehen]

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

I guess you haven't heard many Japanese old woman voice? There was a close to 40 years old one at the fast food shop I went that sounds just like a 15 years old girl.

I'm not talking about women who sound like teenagers. I'm talking about women trying to talk as if they're under five years old.

[Aaerul]

Totori's voice is..... I think it is not perfect. It sounds like a 20 something year old imitating a 13 year old's voice rather than a legitimate 13 year old's voice. She is trying too hard to make herself sound younger. I would rather something more natural sounding.

[stpehen]

Yes...that's mostly my problem with it. The voices are very strained and unnatural. But that's hardly a unique thing with Japanese VAs... just that they took it to extremes on this particular example.

Anyways, the main point is that the game is cool! I tried to order Rorona at the same time but it looks like Gust took it out of print temporarily in order to release a budget/Greatest Hits version in September. From the sounds of people in this thread, I guess it's a better thing that I save $30 or so since it's probably not as good as Totori.

[Aaerul]

Wasn't Rorona GUST's first foray into 3d graphics on the PS3. Those 3d models were horrible. Totori is so much more refined.

Also I've only just gotten the hunter license and made it back to town. How do I learn more alchemy recipes?

[Aaerul]

I am about 20 hours into the game. I think I am at a point when The quest system becomes less 'Tight'. You start reaching a point when you don't know what to do and you end up wasting a lot of time. The traveling system is pretty neat but the penalty for travel is too high imo. I found it more productive to just stay in one town and do quests that are around that area. You're leveling your character's fighting abilities. If you are close to town you can get frequent heals. And being near town means you're doing each and every alchemy quests that gets sent your way. Great for leveling alchemy. The story is also weakening. All the skits basically de-evolve into simple stereotyped scenarios that are played out for every character combination. The beautiful thing is that I never feel too strong or too weak because there are always monsters that are stronger than you. Beating those strong foes becomes a motivation for your effort. You want to do lots of alchemy so that you have the items needed to defeat bosses.

All in all, I'm really enjoying it. Great game. It is purposeful, It's design is very polished, nothing less from a game that has re-iterated seventh billioth time.

[fict_ticious]

I'm a little bothered that Astrid's... habits have rubbed off on Rorona.
Battle system is certainly better. I guess the move to an HD engine had them gimp the thing for Rorona.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Once again I am forced to ask for personal opinions of this game because I can never trust review sites, and I feel uneasy paying $49.99+tax on a basic whim.

I can say that I bought my PS3 mostly in order to play solid JRPG titles. I currently own and love Eternal Sonata, Disgaea 3 & 4, Valkyria Chronicles, and a couple others like Uncharted 2 and Black Ops (but that's besides the point).

From my list of current games, does anyone think that I would enjoy this game? Also, I have a really hard time getting used to dubbed English voices, so it's much preferred if the audio can be switched to Japanese. I won't let it be a deciding factor, but I know my overall experience with it will be somewhat diminished if I can't switch. Many thanks in advance.

[Ryonea]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

From my list of current games, does anyone think that I would enjoy this game? Also, I have a really hard time getting used to dubbed English voices, so it's much preferred if the audio can be switched to Japanese. I won't let it be a deciding factor, but I know my overall experience with it will be somewhat diminished if I can't switch. Many thanks in advance.

One thing for sure: the audio is switchable so don't worry.
Can't really say about the gameplay. Never been into Atelier series before. What I know is that the game, instead of battles, empashizes in forming relationships with other characters and also crafting.

[Renya]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Once again I am forced to ask for personal opinions of this game because I can never trust review sites, and I feel uneasy paying $49.99+tax on a basic whim.

I can say that I bought my PS3 mostly in order to play solid JRPG titles. I currently own and love Eternal Sonata, Disgaea 3 & 4, Valkyria Chronicles, and a couple others like Uncharted 2 and Black Ops (but that's besides the point).

From my list of current games, does anyone think that I would enjoy this game? Also, I have a really hard time getting used to dubbed English voices, so it's much preferred if the audio can be switched to Japanese. I won't let it be a deciding factor, but I know my overall experience with it will be somewhat diminished if I can't switch. Many thanks in advance.

It's dual audio so if u don't like the dubbed english just jump to the original japanese
If you liked eternal sonata i don't see why you won't like this. If you played any previous gust games then you will like this too.

I currently started playing this, i'm slightly worried about the time limit due to the fact that time goes past so quick in the game. One thing i hate is how Totori jumps but i love the new characters apart from gino ~.~