Hello everyone! I'm here to rant about Atelier Rorona - The Alchemist of Arland, for the PS3.
I've come to like this one quite a bit, after being introduced to the series by watching MasterLL's videos on YouTube! ((His/her playthroughs are pretty awesome, check it out if you want). Also, this is a rant/review of the original Atelier Rorona, because I don't own the new one. Anyways, let's get it on now shall we?
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Gameplay:
First of all, I'd like to begin with the following:
"This is NOT your standard JRPG."
What do I mean by this? Well, for starters, as you can guess from the title, it's an alchemy game. There ARE places to explore and battles to fight, but the core of the game is not fighting, it's alchemy. And it works rather well too. How so? Well...
When you want to make something, you walk up to the cauldron, and then are presented with a choice of what you want to make. You can choose whatever you want, as long as you have the ingredients necessary. You choose the traits that you want your item to have (like boosts or even downgrades). Some items take longer to make than others, as it's harder to make. Also, you happen to have an alchemy level, which means that making things on your level or lower is easier for your character than any other object. Finally, to make objects, you expand HP, so if you don't have anymore, you need to rest up or use healing items. You don't do much other than that though, you just look at a CG later when you finish choosing all you like. That's kind of a downer, but I doubt it's too much of a problem. I don't think we came to this game for that, I really like the alchemy aspect of the game.
As a side note, you make your own equipment through alchemy! I found that really nifty and creative.
As for the battles, I can say I wasn't the happiest when playing this, even though I know the main part of the gameplay is alchemy. It's a turn-based battle, but you don't really know who's going next. It somewhat removes the point of it being turn-based sadly. Similarly to alchemy, the skills that your character has uses HP as your character does not possess MP, which is interesting. Everyone possess unique skills, which in my opinion, makes JRPGs cool. The main character is the only one that can use items, that you make with your alchemy, so if she dies, then no items for you buddy. Luckily, your party members can protect her as long as they have guarding/attacking gauge leftover. Overall, I don't like the battle system, even with it's little peculiarities.
The story is presented in a visual novel style. You click to continue reading it. I don't mind this style (I actually like it quite a bit), but I've found people complaining that it's a bit boring compared to having visuals that move according to what the characters say.
Though I somewhat disagree, as I find that didn't work out in Atelier Ayesha. Sadly, you can't skip the dialogue even if you finish the game a second time, so you have to continuously press "X" manually.
As for exploration, I must say I'm also slightly disappointed in this department as well. You can free-roam in areas, however you are obligated to warp to areas. When you exit a location, you are then presented with a "warp-page" to choose the next area to go to. This irked me quite a bit. If you didn't notice, I LIKE FREE-ROAMING. COMPLETE FREEDOM.
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Graphics:
Eh... I feel bad for bashing on this game slightly, but I wasn't impressed by the visuals either. Maybe this is because I received Atelier Totori first, with finer visuals (and refinements at many other places), but come ON. It's a PS3 game that looks like a PS2 game with an HD graphics option. I mean...
The original character designs are slick anime people, but then in-game, we are given chibis basically. Don't get me started with games like Devil Survivor doing this, it's on a DS. They are allowed to do that due to console limitations (remakes are allowed to do this in my opinion as well). And if you somehow had access to the "Tears to Tiara" series for the PS3 (it's in full Japanese),
I didn't like that they did that either. The "roaming" around graphics were too "chibi" to me, too cartoon-y. I am satisfied with CG/visual novel backgrounds/characters though. Those were nice.
It does have it's own charm though, but... my opinion.
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Music:
This is where I can't bash it too much, I liked most of them. Their composer was quite the awesome man to be so creative with the soundtrack.
Praise. :)
Like said in my FF9 rant, it works so well in tense moments, "fluffy" moments, etc. All the little touches too, like the mini sounds during the menus and the alchemy segments brought a smile to my face. The music in this game just worked really well in it's premise. This is were the chibi-like characters worked in it's favor.
Here, try some:
Falling, The Starlight - Opening Theme
Full Bokko (Battle Theme)
The Old Weapons Dealer (DEAR GOD THE REMAKE OF THIS GETS ME EVERY TIME)
Mom and Dad
Siesies! Siesta
I really like the OST, I can't put the full thing though. :(
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Voice-acting:
Oh boy, no matter the video game, I'm always so picky on this subject. One thing is for sure, nothing can beat the AWESOMENESS of PS1/Arc Rise Fantasia/Chaos Wars voice acting (If you don't get my sarcasm, it was HORRID. the English VAs at least). Anyways, onward.
It's not bad. I like my Japanese dub better (GET READY FOR THE BASHERS). Standard I should say. In the English dub, the quality is 50/50, some are awesome, some are bad. The Japanese side was pretty awesome overall though. Yes, the characters are perhaps more squeaky in Japanese, but that's just how it's supposed to be (maybe not in real life, but in their cartoons yes). I DO prefer Astrid's and Sterk's English voice (LIAM O'BRIEN PEOPLE, LOVE HIM NOW), but the rest, I turn to my Japanese dub.
Also, a little note, the English dub is a partial dub. They didn't go as far in the dub as the Japanese one, so some scenes that the Japanese people dubbed are not dubbed in English, but it's not that bad. In fact, it doesn't really affect my opinion on either side really.
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Story:
I like it, quite a bit. The main storyline is that the workshop you work at is about to close down, due to it's inactivity. To save it, Rorona has to do assignments given by the castle using alchemy to save it (due to Astrid being to lazy to do so). And yeah, it parts from there.
It's really light-hearted and full of fluffy moments (with awesome CG), and in the end... *teardrops* If you can't tell, I was FLUFFY-LY TOUCHED AT THE END.
There are also mini-events that you can reach by meeting certain requirements, and you won't regret doing so. There are also multiple endings, which are cool as well. Though the ending requirements in-game annoy me a bit. What do I mean? Some flags have the most irritating crap attached to them, and... some are just obligated flags, which will block your other endings. Though I had no problem getting most of them on my second playthrough. I'm missing one. JUST. ONE.
I also like all the characters, especially STERK *drools*. In all seriousness though, I think my favorites are Astrid, Rorona and Sterk. It really makes a good impression when you like your main character. You are pretty much irritated if you have a crappy main character.
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Difficulty:
50/50 at this point I must say. The main story isn't too hard, I mean, I was goofing around and I won. The alchemy assignments were never too much of a challenge unless you really screwed up, and the battles in this game weren't too bad either. The only challenges you could face however, is with the optional bosses, or the optional dungeon. It adds difficulty, but nothing bad will happen if you avoid it completely so...
You also can't get a game over if you die in battle, instead, you just warp back to your workshop once you die. You can only initiate a game over if you screw up an assignment. So yeah, 50/50. You need to work hard if you want to beat the optional bosses, but other than that, I believe you can basically avoid battles in almost the whole game and still win. There is a required fighting assignment, but that happens once and you most likely won't be under-leveled. *shrugs*
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Little extras:
When you finish the game once, you get a extra feature in your menu, allowing you to see the CGs you've unlocked (or most of them), music from the game and data from the game you've collected thus far. Sadly, like I said, only some CGs are there. It irritates me. Furthermore, due to a certain story event, you have to AT LEAST play through the game twice if you want all the CGs. A little irritating.
Also, there are mini-games you can do twice (or three) times during the game. They are pretty entertaining, sadly they only show up twice (or three) times.
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Overall:
Wow, that was grimmer than I expected. I found myself to like this game quite a bit, but the "reviewer" in me said otherwise. It WAS a fun game, with dynamic characters, decent storyline, kickass music and an ingenious alchemy system (there were games in the series before this, but come on guys). Sadly, this is slightly overshadowed with the battle system, graphics (yes, graphics do not make a game, I know), iffy exploration, difficulty, inability to skip and also iffy extra menu.
Embarking on an adventure with a cute young girl always puts a smile on my face, but...
Overall, 6.5/10.
It has such a unique flavor, which would get me to recommend it to another person. But, it's definitely NOT on my top choices to recommend. The sequels to this game just improved it SO MUCH, it pains me.
I do, however, ask that if you are bored, check the sequel, Atelier Totori (or heck, even Atelier Meruru) first. You don't need to know the old plot, since it's not really a "sequel" per se. It might pull you in the game so you can give it's predecessor a chance. I feel as though I might not have if I got this game first.
I'm actually REALLY confused about my own review. Oh well. To another day!
Alice
