While Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru have only received PlayStation Vita ports in recent years, Japanese developer GUST opted to do a complete remake of Atelier Rorona which was their first PlayStation 3 release in the series. This remake titled New Atelier Rorona, published on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita platforms included a wealth of new content and improvements including significantly enhanced visuals, new playable characters and new gameplay features.
While no official announcement has been confirmed yet, it turns out that the Australian Classifications Board have listed a classification for the game Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland to be published by Tecmo Koei Games Europe (Mindscape) on multiple platforms. The fun part is that just like Atelier Totori Plus, they have decided that the original PG classification didn’t suit what has always been a pretty all-ages friendly series….. instead suiting the R18+ crowd.
Here are some fun classification information about this enhanced remake:
- Moderate Impact Themes
- High Impact (Highest grade) Violence
- Mild Impact Language
- Mild impact Sex
These grades alone resulted in the game being classified as R18+ for “References to Sexual Violence“.
Therefore while it is good news that an international release is planned, I am bitterly disappointed that once again it is impossible for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase what was previously an all-ages friendly game. I feel sorry for those living in New Zealand as well who purportedly are unable to purchase any game classified as R18+ over here in Australia.
Hmmm… Well, at least we got the game which is better than nothing. How’s the game so far (if you managed to get your hands on it)?
You have a point, and it is good that with the transition from NIS America (Bandai Namco Games Australia) to Tecmo Koei (Mindscape), that we aren’t missing out on any of the Atelier games. But it is a shame that some newcomers might be turned off the game when shopping based on the cover alone.
I have indeed got a copy and will be posting up a review shortly. Been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days, so been a struggle to get too much out. Will save my comments on the game until then :-).
Indeed. So far there arem’t many titles for the PS4 now until 2015 so I say there are a ton of games to come for the PS3 in the meantime