Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland Review
Gust and NIS America have returned with the localization of Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, the long-awaited sequel to the original release of Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. Like its predecessor, it's not the cliche melodramatic quest to save the world, but a more personal journey as little Totooria Helmold ventures out into the world to become a first-rate adventurer; but, more importantly, to search for her missing mother.
Many years have passed since the events of Atelier Rorona and players will be joining company with a new cast of characters. Although familiar faces will show up at some point too, providing fans with a sense of nostalgia and grounding the experience with continuity. Totoori Helmold - and don't worry her nickname is shortened to Totori, much like how Roronina was shortened to Rorona - is a budding alchemist working in the small fishing village of Alanya and she has pretty big dreams of becoming an adventurer. Together with her childhood friend Gino, the two set out to do just that.
The thing is, Totori's mother was an adventurer, but she's been missing for years. Her family is convinced that she has long sinced passed on, but Totori believes otherwise and in following her footsteps, she's persuaded that she'll find her mom on one of her adventures. Throughout the game, Totori will meet a whole bunch of characters, both new and familiar, who'll help her on her quest.
Character is exactly what this game excels at. Each one has their own reason for being there to help Totori, be it to find a missing person or to forward their own ambition, or even as simple a reason as finding friendship. The development and relationship that each character has with Totori is both amusing and almost touching to a certain degree. However, like I said, it's nothing too overly melodramatic like most JRPGs on the market; in fact, comedy is its strong point. While Totori tends to get along with most characters, there is plenty of friction between everyone to create some rather entertaining moments. These moments are played out in visual novelesque cutscenes throughout the game and, surprisingly, flow very well without breaking up the pace of the story.
The core of Atelier Totori can be summed up in three parts: story, which we just talked about, alchemy and adventuring. The story is basically presented as a visual novel, with cutscenes and quite a bit of dialogue to tie it all together - unfortunately, this isn't a narrative everyone can enjoy. Alchemy and adventuring are better described as the core gameplay mechanics used to progress the story. As a budding alchemist trained by Rorona - which in itself is a rather hilarious backstory when you consider that Rorona is the teacher - Totori is tasked with synthesizing items for clients. To synthesize items, Totori has to first gather materials from the world, which are usually signified by little notification bubbles. Then it's back to the workshop where she can choose from set recipes to create items like bombs, cannons and even alcohol.
