Title: Atelier Totori
Developed By: GUST
Published By: Nippon Ichi Software America (North America) / Namco Bandai Partners (Australia)
Based on: The long running Atelier game series
Console: Playstation 3
Release Date: September/October 2011
Genre: Role-Playing Game, Collect/Synthesize/Sell
Audio: English/Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region: This review was conducted on a Playstation 3 version of the game from the North American region. There are no differences between the games and I strongly advise supporting the publisher for your region.
Special Thanks: Nippon Ichi Software America, for providing me with a review sample of this title.
Atelier Totori is the second of three games in the Atelier Arland game series (and something along the lines of 12th in the Atelier series) from GUST. Let’s backtrack a bit to the original game Atelier Rorona which I will be referencing occasionally during the course of this review. While the previous Atelier games relied on an RPG game with alchemy backing it – Atelier Rorona relied on alchemy with an RPG backing to it which proved to be a hit and miss but still earned itself a decent grade citing interesting design and music but lacking in storyline. So what about Atelier Totori? Well… read on and find out!
This nation has a job called “adventurers”. It all happened before Arland became a republic. People wanted to explore, adventure or develop the frontier. The knights of Arland were weak, so the citizens joined them and helped out. It happened gradually, but that system was later institutionalized. Adventuring is now a real job. My mother was one of those adventurers. I hear she’s actually famous too, but we haven’t heard from her in years…
My father and sister both think she is already… but I don’t think so.
A hero stepping up to save the princess from an evil dragon? The defeat of seven evil lords to save the world? The conquest of another netherworld to become the most Badass Freaking Overlord in the entire universe? Feel free to push those storyline ideas for this game and instead think of something a bit simpler and less intense. You start the game as Totooria Helmond (Totori), who lives with her sister Cecillia (Ceci) and her almost non-existant father who grew up without her mother who had disappeared while trekking out on an adventure. Having been recently trained by the highly skilled (Debatable) travelling alchemist Rorona she decides to become an adventurer in order to find her mother.
Now, I can happily report that the storyline has improved from Atelier Rorona but still has shortcomings in the storyline department. First off, you are no longer limited to three-four month periods with a certain item to collect and submit, however a key element requires you rely on both adventuring and alchemy in order to progress through the storyline. Due to a recent surge in Adventurers Licenses being handed out, new adventurers have three years in order to reach a certain rank or face having it withdrawn. Therefore, for the first three years of game time, Totori’s quest to become an adventurer like her mother as well as discover her whereabouts are dedicated to gathering items in bulk, travelling the world and trying to reach the level so Totori can progress to the second part of the game. This time is used to introduce all the characters to your party, hopefully build up your character relationships to get fragments of character development and come across the seemingly random events that you would need a guidebook to find each one. While it does not deliver a stellar storyline performance, it does do a nice job at getting you in to the gameplay while rewarding your efforts at using different characters and travelling around the world – including the occasional swimsuit fanservice event or a cook-off against Iksel (A character from Atelier Rorona).
This is the point where the review does get a bit awkward as I cannot comment much on the storyline on the final two years as I realized the end point of the game too late. Essentially provided you recieve your proper license, it is valid for another two years – and this time there are plot twists which bring the main storyline about Totori searching for her mother to light and expands the gameplay to facilitate it – but of course you can just continue on your adventuring if you choose until the games fixed end point. Looking at just the storyline however, it is more interesting then the one for Atelier Rorona which was essentially find X of item Y in so many years – and did try and implement the storyline in with a number of the cutscenes. The game also takes to rewarding frequent travel – such as not visiting Alanya and remaining in Arland can cut out a fair portion of the storyline.
Taking a focus onto the characters and their development, I do love the personality of Totori. She has that happy-go-lucky innocent personality however can strike critical blows against others such as telling the bar owner he has no customers or making awkward comments about Sterk’s face. She may seem like she has the ditzy innocent girl personae, but the writing is creative and implements a lovable personality that works well with both storyline and comedy alike. I also found a new liking for Rorona – more so then her game, and a mixture of being like her master but still the same klutz at times. Taking a look at the other characters – Sterkenburg (Sterk) is the only returning playable non-DLC character has the game tries to dig into his personality a bit more, however the new characters Melvia (Panty flashing and skirt flipping jokes ahoy!), Mimi, Marc and Gino all hold interesting personalities but I do not think their storylines matched those of the Atelier Rorona ones (With the exception of perhaps Mimi). However, their development was still enjoyable to view and did not require as much to improve your relationship with them. Many other characters return as NPC’s such as Ikzel and Cordelia (Available as DLC characters) with more storyline related roles and actually more likable then their Rorona counterparts. There are an extended number of endings as well, with Totori “settling down” with one specific character or in the case of an ending like the “Rich End”, resulting in her being in demand by many of the store owners.
I am not entirely sure what to think of the entire storyline. It is without a doubt an improvement overall… but contained some oddly written dialogue, over repeated jokes (Flipping every characters skirt for example) and storyline that could only progress if you either waited an extended period of time or brought a character items were all elements that may or may not have been gameplay choices, but could have been implemented better.Regardless, if you picked this up having played Atelier Rorona, you will get what you should have expected – a game… with alchemy and synthesis and a storyline that encompasses them.
The design is one area which I think has been improved upon the most. I liked the 3D models of the original game, but could not deny that they were going for the cutesy semi-chibified design – so it was a welcome change to see they included a bit more realism with their character, allowing them to not only have the characters match their character portraits and CG Designs but allow them to express emotions and not rely on their portraits in every single scene. The 3D models are well suited to the intended environment with bright colours and creative designs for every character. Character portraits are of comparable quality to the original, but the original characters do get redesigned (To suit the 5ish year time jump) and the new ones are solid. Environments are of comparable quality as well, however had a more diverse set of settings which made traversing Arland’s many different regions more tolerable alongside being less linear and could be perceived as more open-worlded..
A few problems must be noted however – No free camera again which leaves you at the mercy of the game to give you the best viewing position. 90% of the time this is no problem, but the times where it really matters are when the camera obscures a monster or search point behind a boulder, tree etc which results in minor frustration. As a more minor complaint, they still remain lacking in the diversity of special effects during battle. Despite these, the design has been enhanced and should not disappoint. Also… Crim’s are ADORABLE!
First up lets hypothetically assume I have a list of five Music Composers in Japan that in terms of gaming music, would be my favorite. Ken Nakagawa, composer for the Atelier series would not only be on the list, but most probably would have held onto a position for the longest period of time. This game uses a mix of new songs for the game and those from Atelier Rorona, which makes for a nice combination – with the new songs being appropriate and enjoyable. For those who want the full musical experience in Atelier Totori, you can also purchase a few DLC sets which consist of many sets of songs from other Atelier games, which can be used in battles, workshop or just enjoyable listening.
As with most of my reviews, I will only be focusing on the English dub for the game, as that is the one I have had the most experience with. For the most part, the voice acting was strong – especially with the female playable characters and Sterk. A particularily low point was for the character Gino, which wasn’t up to the standards of the others, but I did appreciate the effort and heartiness put into the role of Rorona as well as Totori whose voice actress portrayed the innocent character role effectively.
Before going into detail on the specific gameplay systems, how to progress the game must be noted first. The first thing you will notice upon starting the game is that the world is much more open then Atelier Rorona, so instead of having six to eight different maps with a number of areas within them, you are presented with a world map, with areas being unlocked every time you level up your Adventurers License allowing you access to new areas with tougher enemies and better points to gather items. To progress the story and unlock new areas you have to collect points to rank up which works similar to an achievement system. Everything from synthesizing items or a set of items, to completing quests, defeating monsters or even finding landmarks can result in you getting points towards your rank, which requires anywhere from 100 points initially to 1,500 points at the end. I found this system much more adaptable to my playing style, even if the last few points needed to rank up felt purposefully tedious.
Of course, as with the original game you are required to have money and lots of it to be able to purchase random materials and alchemy books. You do so by undertaking quests that require you to have X amount of an item or kill Y of a monster and in return you get a set number of cole and provided you didn’t pass off D or E rank items, can get a bonus synthesis item with your submission. You will find making money rather difficult in this game even if all skill books are available at the start. This is in part due to the quest seemingly not giving out as much cole as previous, but also due to the time restrictions. Everything in this game takes up time – and a lot of it. For example – getting from Alanya to Arland takes a total of 21ish days by foot for example, followed by a day lost for every time you exit an area and rather hefty chunks of time taken out every time you loot or battle an enemy. You learn to take in bulk to refrain from further trips – and while some found this an incredibly annoying feature of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The turn based battle system for this game as it was with Atelier Rorona is not a key element of the game, however you will still be using it quite a bit in materials collection. The battle system is easy to grasp as it is very simplistic, with gamers only starting off with Attack, Guard and Flee – later followed by the ability to use skills and special attacks once reaching certain level milestones. Through the creation of cloth and ingots you can create new weaponry and armor for your characters but skill and leveling prove to be the key factors in battle success. You can easily obtain the ability to attack first by attacking the enemies in the field (Generally there are only a handful per field) but until you reach the final few areas of the game, they should prove little problem. Besides that, I have detailed most of the battle system in my Atelier Rorona review.
If one thing has remained the same over these games, it is the alchemy system. This game relies heavily on your repeated use of the system to clear quests and unlock new rank tiers, but also at a certain level to complete the game without endless reloading of the game. The system allows you to covert anything from one items to many of them into brand new updated items – so for example, any one item can be converted into a supplement but making Ingots require specific ores and other items. The system works well and does get you out into the world and searching – however one complaint I do had was that found myself not needing to dive into all the items, as there was only a specific items I seemed to always be asked for.
My playthrough to the Bad Ending was around 18 hours in length, which given that I have completed games in half that time before, made me feel that I was getting more value out of this game. It is a game that you will not see everything in after one playthrough unless you are following a strict trophy guide – so playing the game with different party members should give you a different experience then if you were playing with another two. Personally, I finished this game using Sterk and Rorona as party members, so I am highly considering using Iksel and Cordelia (DLC Characters) the second time around. But overall, this style of game will not entice the hardcore gamer, but for those who want a more light hearted gaming experience – this game might just be up your alley.
To conclude, this is not a game for those who are after a title with a serious storyline / gameplay but instead for someone who wants to try something a bit different… or are big fan of other Nippon Ichi Software America published titles themselves. The storyline is simple but pleasant to follow, has an increasing difficulty with a greater demand for items, many endings, 3D anime-style graphics and a diverse music soundtrack… at least in my book it is a recommendable purchase!
Now to wait for the eventual release of Atelier Meruru!
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: B
While the storyline deviates commonly, the storyline is appropriate and gives a better justification for Totori travelling the world as an adventurer.
Design: A-
Some really nice 3D Anime-style designs which have been improved upon from the original game.
Music/Voice Acting: A
A diverse and pleasant music soundtrack and for the most part, a strong English voice-cast.
Gameplay: B+
Very little deviation from the original game, but still a solid system.
Replayability: B
Depending on how you played through the game the first time – you may find some, lots or no new content in a second playthrough.
Personal Opinion: A-
Overall Score: B+
