Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists of Arland

[Tobi]

NIS America have already confirmed Atelier Rorona for a fall release, however, they haven’t said much past that. Today, a new GameFly listing suggests that the game is currently scheduled for a September 30, 2010 release.

Sounds about right to me. GameFly is usually pretty accurate with these leaks. Remember Star Ocean: The Last Hope International for PS3?

Looks like the game is titled Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists of Arland for its western release rather than Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland like the Japanese version.

http://scrawlfx.com/2010/06/atelier-...ed-in-the-wild

[Gokulo]

Nice nice, always love me some Atelier.

[Shojin]

I hope Atelier Totorie gets a western release, the screens they released looked pretty good, definite improvement over Rorona

[Tobi]

While NIS America had a small presence at E3 this year, they managed to grab a cozy spot in Tecmo Koei’s booth where they had playable versions of both Trinity Universe and Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland running on two PlayStation 3s.

From what I saw, the game was still undergoing localization. The names of the characters appeared in Japanese, but their speech was translated and dubbed in English.

The RPG’s sequel, Atelier Totori: Alchemist of Arland 2, arrives in Japan on June 27. We’re probably a ways off on that one. Atelier Rorona is out this fall in North America.

Of course, NIS was kind enough to send out new media for the game. Check out the new images, including the game’s official box art, at the gallery. The E3 2010 trailer can be seen below.

I know, I know – you want to know more about Atelier Rorona! Atelier Rorona is scheduled to be released this September.

Atelier Rorona is the first Atelier series game to hit the PS3. The game has field maps with 3D graphics and battle scenes with cell-shaded characters, and it looks fantastic. You have to see it with your own eyes, so check out this E3 trailer. It’s a very short teaser trailer, but you can see how good the characters look in the world of Atelier Rorona.

Let’s go over the story a bit. Arland is a small kingdom that used to have a small, poor population. It has prospered recently thanks to newly recovered technology called the machines. Thanks to the machines, the people of Arland are able to live more convenient lives. Within the kingdom, there is a small alchemy shop where Rorona works for the owner, Astrid. The shop used to be successful, but because of the machines and Astrid’s laziness, no customers have come to the shop in a while. One day, a messenger from the kingdom visits the shop and Astrid and Rorona are hit with a dose of harsh reality. They must prove the worth of alchemy by completing all of their assignments over the next three years, or the kingdom will shut down their workshop!

“You do it, Rorona,” said Astrid. Oh right, I forgot to mention that Astrid couldn’t care less about jumping through hoops for the kingdom, even though her workshop is at risk! Does Rorona have any choice but to take up these tasks to save the shop? Of course not! Rorona now has to work extra hard to keep the shop, and you must help Rorona gain the trust of the town people.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1107/...6765d2a046.jpg

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/...rorona-update/

http://scrawlfx.com/2010/06/atelier-...-was-at-e3-too

[Laude]

Ho shit, did I hear Johnny Young Bosch in that english trailer? I might have to get this!

[Darus Grey]

Honestly, I felt this was the worst game I've played yet in the Atelier series, she's just a hard main character to give a shit about.

[Tobi]

A few english vids

Battle 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stPTKHkSOwM
Battle 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc5UVMz6D_I
Field and Battle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLp_D7cW0FE
Field: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=727-IeF5zHM
Alchemy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4siJ0NoS0Cs
Story Trailer 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_9BvKhkJlc
Story Trailer 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8vdRqVvFOE

1up review, pretty good review:
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3181314

Another review, but it goes more in-depth about the game:
http://www.psillustrated.com/psillus...rland-ps3.html

Official english site:
http://nisamerica.com/games/roro/

Can find the Promo Movies on the site as well. Release date 9/28 for US, 10/14 for AU, 10/15 for EU.

[Atreides]

just read the 1up review, that actually looks like just the kind of thing I love to play, like Rune Factory Frontier and Recettear.

I haven't actually picked up any of the JRPGs for 360/ps3 in the past few months: white knight chronicles, resonance of fate, magnacarta 2 (which I still haven't bought at $20), record of agarest war, or cross edge. Last Rebellion is supposed to be terrible, right?

I think I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do one day

[Tobi]

I heard a lot of bad things about Last Rebillion I was gonna play it still, but they decided to changed the battle system. I'd definitely play MC2, one of my favorite RPGs for X360, just lacked NG+ If you care about achievements, then follow a achievement guide, a couple of achievements are missable. I missed a few since I normally go through game first, then go back and get missing achievements, but you have to start a whole new game just to do that...

I'm trying to decide if I'll pick up Rorona or not, I was at first, but now I don't know.

[Insanecyclone]

just read the 1up review, that actually looks like just the kind of thing I love to play, like Rune Factory Frontier and Recettear.

I haven't actually picked up any of the JRPGs for 360/ps3 in the past few months: white knight chronicles, resonance of fate, magnacarta 2 (which I still haven't bought at $20), record of agarest war, or cross edge. Last Rebellion is supposed to be terrible, right?

I think I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do one day

Bought LR and traded it back in 3 days later. It is incredibly short and lackluster but the combat system is the only redeeming factor of it.

[Laude]

English VA seems pretty solid. Johnny Young Bosch is always a seller for me. :D

But yeah the game looks pretty decent. A little more cutesy compared to Iris 1-3, but that's not a huge deal for me.

[Tobi]

Yeah. The VA actually don't seem to be that bad, but there's dual audio for those who dislike it.

I just got done looking at the Trophies for this game and there's a shitload of them... there's like 54 or 55 Trophies, lol. The replayability is pretty high, which is what I like. 80-100+ hours just to Plat, but the game seems pretty fun as well, so I'll probably enjoy getting Plat for this. I decided I'll get this afterall, but not sure if I'll get on release day or not.

[Tobi]

Atelier Rorona is a lot like a console version of the DS game Atelier
Annie. Each game covers a three year period in the life of the title
alchemist where you help her complete assignments so she can find
a happy ending. The difference is that Atelier Rorona looks better
and has many more endings.

Rorona is an apprentice alchemist who accidentally finds herself in
indentured servitude to the town’s alchemist, Astrid, after going
there to get medicine her parents needed without money. She an
adorable, clumsy, good natured, cheerful and easily flustered lead
character.

Then, a proclamation arrives that Astrid’s workshop may be shut
down. The kingdom’s minister wants to use the space to build
another factory. As a final test of worth, the king gives the
workshop twelve assignments to complete. If even one is failed, the
shop is closed and Astrid has to leave. Astrid’s a good-for-nothing,
so she gives the workshop (and all the work) to Rorona. Rorona
must quickly learn alchemy (Astrid never taught her anything) and
do everything she can to save the shop. Because if Astrid has to
leave, she’s taking the indebted Rorona with her.

Moments into Atelier Rorona, it’s evident that Gust wants to
please Atelier fans. There’s a strong focus on item creation and
collecting, plenty of opportunities to interact with characters, and
little focus on battling. If you’re careful, you can usually run around
or jump over most enemies outside of town.

Each location outside of town is divided into areas. It takes you a
certain amount of days to reach each location, and more time to
explore it. This actually lifts a lot of weight off of Atelier Rorona
players. You don’t have to worry about wasting too much time in a
location gathering items and fighting battles. You already know
right away that, upon entering an area, you’ll spend between one to
three days there.

Early on, just gathering any available materials in Atelier Rorona is
enough. Close to the end of the first year, players are encouraged
to be more picky. All story assignments give you a higher rating if
you use high quality materials and turn in better products. As (in-
game) time goes on, requests from Rorona’s friends will have
quality and trait requirements too. Etsy requests follow the same
pattern. The game gradually encourages you to put more effort
into finding good materials to create special products.

Finding said materials is quite easy. While walking along the path in
each location, you’ll occasionally see a part of the scenery with a
huge bubble with a silver or gold star in it. You can press X to
collect items at these spots. As you can guess, gold star locations
have better quality items. You can then load up the 60 slots in your
bag with as many items as you can carry. Make sure you deposit
these items in Rorona’s workshop’s container the second you get
back to town though, as items in the basket’s quality will decrease
over time.

You’ll also occasionally encounter monsters to battle. You don’t
really have to, as many fights are easily avoidable. But if you do,
you enter a very simple, turn-based battle. Enemies are on the
right and your party is on the left. Even though characters can
learn and use special skills, you can typically win battles with
standard attacks. There’s no MP though – skills use up HP instead.
As battle carry on, allies’ gauges build up and they will be able to
perform follow-up attacks after Rorona attacks or step in and
protect Rorona from an enemy’s attack. But really, you don’t need
to use skills all that often. I only used Sterk’s cross slash, which
hits a row of enemies, and Iksel’s healing move during all battles I
encountered between the first to the eighth assignments.

Most of your time in Atelier Rorona is spent in town. Once again,
the Atelier Annie comparisons come into play. Every new day you’re
in town, you’ll want to visit each location to try and trigger an
event. You don’t actually have to walk around the location (unless
you want to buy something or see if an NPC has a request), just
stop by, see if an event automatically pops up, then press X to
bring up the town map and visit the next spot. When you enter an
area in town, say the Square or Sunrise Cafe, an event may
trigger. You’ll automatically see Rorona talk to someone or meet
someone. I wish I could say that you get to watch the 3D character
models talk to one another, but you don’t. Atelier Rorona puts
character portraits front and center with voice acting and dialogue
boxes. Once the conversation begins, the 3D models are blurred and
you’re forced to focus on the two static images. Occasionally
there’ll be voice acting for these scenes, but more often there’s
not.

Be prepared to encounter finicky controls in Atelier Rorona. This is
only a problem in the field, when you’re trying to get the jump on
or avoid enemies. Pressing square is supposed to make Rorona
smash her staff down on enemies so the party can get the first
hit. To make strike an enemy you have to be positioned "just so"
for it to work. Other times, it won’t work at all because you’ll have
gotten "too" close to an enemy and Rorona will freeze up in fear.
Jumping also doesn’t always work as planned either. Since you can’t
shift the camera, you may think you’re jumping away from an
enemy, but really you’re jumping on top of it. And sometimes,
pressing the jump button won’t even work and you’ll end up
surrounded or trapped.

I also didn’t like that Rorona has to pay her friends to help her. In
Atelier Annie, Annie’s friends help her on item gathering excursions
for free. In Atelier Rorona you can only venture outside of town to
collect items if you can afford it. And stronger characters cost
more. Even if you’d want to play and only focus on the story
assignments, you’d still have to take on side quests to afford to
collect items. After a while, their prices do go down as you build
trust and perform tasks for them, but early on Sterk is expensive!

Thankfully, side quests are incredibly easy to fulfill to earn some
extra cash. While many of the party members and NPC-specific
requests will require you to actually make items through alchemy,
most of the early requests from Etsy only ask for items you
gather for free. Even the monster bounties you’ll take on in the
first year are quite easy. As long as you grab a handful of
assorted, below-par goods while traveling, you’ll be able to earn the
money needed to venture outside the city.

Gust made Atelier Rorona while thinking of what their Atelier fans
would most want. Everything pretty much revolves around solid
item creation. It seems like Atelier Rorona gets better with each
playthrough, possibly because you know what works (and doesn’t)
and get to carry over much needed cash.

Food for Thoughts


Like Atelier Annie, you must buy all recipe books in Atelier Rorona so
you can make things.
All in-game event scenes are static, CG images.
I wished there had been an "Auto" battle function, like there was in
Atelier Annie, since many battles just need constant "attacks".
Iksel’s surprisingly awesome – he’s one of the first characters to
learn a healing skill and learns a skill that lets him heal himself each
turn.
It’d have been nice if more of the trophies were more challenging to
earn. Many just require you to witness certain events or complete
tasks you’d get in a normal playthrough.
You can’t get water for free until the Traveler’s Way location
unlocks. (Late in the first year.)
After making some items for the first time, they’ll appear as
decorations in Rorona’s workshop.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/09/23...orkshop-in-3d/