Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland Review

Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland (PS3)

Soo... I've had this review sitting on my computer for the last month, lol.

This game is one of the reasons why I despise games with multiple endings. I had to replay this game 4 times to get the ending I wanted. With my first attempt, I ended up getting locked into a permanent Game Over because I was so focused on getting the character‘s ending flag. With my second attempt, I didn’t trigger the character’s ending flag quick enough. Almost giving up, my third attempt ended in failure due to not getting the town’s approval rating high enough. My fourth attempt finally netted me what I wanted, after a month worth of redoing things.

Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland is the eleventh main game released in GUST’s Atelier series (the sixth one to be released stateside), and it was their first jump into 3D graphics. I have never played any of the previous Atelier games (I fib: I played an hour of Mana Khemia, but I don‘t believe that to be enough to compare the whole series), so I will not comment on the differences between them. However, I will say that the graphics were nice, but I have seen better. Luckily, the emphasis during cut scenes were more focused on the static talking head images; which were nicely drawn too.

Going against the typical JRPG narrative of “THE WORLD IS IN DANGER OHMYGOD”, the story of Rorolina Frixell, nicknamed Rorona, starts as her being an apprentice to a somewhat lazy alchemist named Astrid Zxes. When informed that the Atelier would be shut down within 3 years unless they complete specific requests from the kingdom, Rorona starts to worry but Astrid just smirks. Bringing Rorona and her friend Cordelia outside the building, Astrid exclaims that she is giving the workshop to Rorona; and it is up to Rorona if it succeeds or fails.

The gameplay of Atelier Rorona is a combination of a few things. You have aspects of a Dating Sim, a JRPG, and an elaborate synthesis system. You can do quests for people to raise their friendship levels (which will trigger exclusive cut scenes per person), and you can do quests at the front desk inside the castle to raise your popularity in the town. However, each of these quests will have an end date and if you miss it, your popularity or friendship points will lower accordingly. Your town approval rating and your character relations will determine what ending you acquire. 

There will be times that require you to venture out of town to gather supplies for your alchemic creations. This is where the Japanese Role-Playing Game aspect comes into play. You can chose up to 2 other team mates to accompany you during battles for a price… no literally, you have to pay your friends to help you. Though because this game is heavily focused on alchemy, it is sometimes best to rely on your synthesis items more than physical strength (at least for Rorona) in battle. The battles are turn-based, but if I ever had any issues, I was able to instantly flee from the fight.

The elaborate synthesis system is not too elaborate. Item A combined with Item B will always equal Item C (unless you are not at a high enough level to complete the object or you try to add the item attribute “complex”). Different items have different attributes that can be added to the item you are trying to make. However, some attributes can work to your advantage while others can go against that. Something to keep in mind is whatever you decide to concoct will take a certain number of days to create. Most of the time, this game had me running around trying to plan out what days to talk to specific people, what days to go adventuring, and what days to do quests and in what order. I guess if you look far enough into this, you could say the game is a metaphor for Time Management in our daily lives.

I will admit that I played the game with the Japanese language track, but that was because Rorona’s English voice seemed to grate on my nerves, and things almost always sound better when it’s in a language you can not understand. Though speaking of audio, Atelier Rorona’s musical score was pretty, but that is what I have come to expect from GUST. Still, Atelier Rorona’s soundtrack is not their best one, but it still was not bad. 

I want to take a step out for a moment and talk about the characters of Atelier Rorona. The character’s outfits are very well designed. They gave a feeling of a mix between modern clothing and clothes from the Victorian era. Normally there is at least one character that I do not like in a game, and aside from the typical evil Minister who is trying to shut down Rorona’s workshop, I liked all of the characters in the game (including shopkeepers too). It truly felt as if different characters could be their own selves and not be criticized for doing it. However, I still have to question Rorolina’s magical age change during her transportation from Japan to America (Japan = 14, America = 17).

Overall, if you enjoy dating Sims and/or Japanese Role-Playing Games, then you will probably like Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland. If not, then I’m assuming you wouldn’t be looking for and reading a review of the game.