Hope totori isn't like rorona

[LAMV]

One of my biggest gripes with rpg's nowadays is that too many companies try to change up a winning formula too much.

Blame the anti-jrpg crowd.

[vampko]

One of my biggest gripes with rpg's nowadays is that too many companies try to change up a winning formula too much.

Blame the anti-jrpg crowd.

Cept, in the case of Totori, they didn't change up a 'winning formula' , but are going with something that's been very successful. Rorona was VERY successful in Japan. And Totori was also. What Tiredman wants, is what Ar Tonelico gives. Atelier games are not there for the combat, or the gripping story of saving the world, they're there for a story about living life, and social interactions. Oh, and resource management.

[Orliatzu]

At first, the time-based gameplay of Rorona annoyed me. However after I had completed roughly 70% of my first play through I was already mentally calculating what I was going to do, in order, for my second run through. Its that feeling of having to plan carefully to waste the least amount of time as possible that ultimately drew me into to game more and more.

Can't wait for Totori!

[Justin iZ Here]

the only thing about rorona i didn't like was the time constraints...i mean i loved the game but everything you can do costing 2+ days is just..boring as you have no time to really do anything else but whats needed in the story unless you spend a whole month preparing for the next assignment so you can have a free month to spend doing whatever...to much trouble imo, time constraints on RPG's of any kind are bad imo as i like to take my time with just about everything i do, im not a rushed gamer at all.

[vampko]

the only thing about rorona i didn't like was the time constraints...i mean i loved the game but everything you can do costing 2+ days is just..boring as you have no time to really do anything else but whats needed in the story unless you spend a whole month preparing for the next assignment so you can have a free month to spend doing whatever...to much trouble imo, time constraints on RPG's of any kind are bad imo as i like to take my time with just about everything i do, im not a rushed gamer at all.

I didn't feel rushed at all. And I had plenty of time to do anything pretty much. I just had to manage which relationships I worked on. that's all. I got Cordelia's ending, and was able to explore everything. I even had nearly a month left to screw around and level. Pretty much every assignment, I could screw around for at least half the time that was given for the assignment.

Part of why it worked out, is I never neglected a fight or gather. Well, at the very end, I did skip some fights, because they were pretty much a waste of time, but up till then, I fought every single battle. I also completely neglected anyone but Cordelia and Lionella. Well I put a fair amount of time towards various people, but never really that much.

[bloodyaftertaste]

I do wish that Rorona wasn't such a fast paced game. And what I mean by that is that because things did take a lot of time the deadline did come up fast and while for most months I had enough time to make the deadline on the first try, the game felt rushed. I didn't get to explore all I wanted to. But I guess that is part of the challenge and also part of what makes you want to play again. Though I wish more could have been done on the first play through.

With that being said I did love the game and am looking forward to totori.

[Zyco]

I love the time element. As stated in this thread it adds replay, and uniqueness to the game and for once you dont have a endless treadmill to go thru to play a game. I love how I have a time limit to do things and based on what i do in that peroid gives you your ending.. I loved chose your own adventure books as a kid.

I am sure it could use some reworking.. honestly it reminded me (the UI) of Valkryia Chronicles. So it could probably be reworked some for originality and I think the UI overall could use some downsizing, it seems so big and zoomed in.

[Tiredman]

My issue is the time constraint on alchemy. Nothing else. I can live with all the other time constraints if it wasn't for that one thing. And no, I have never played atelier annie. I started the alchemy line of games on the ps2, at least i think they were all on ps2, and I don't play hand held's, so no hand held games for me.

[ChaosForce]

As this is my first post here, I don't want to sound to harsh of a critic about a style that apparently MANY people like. However...

Iris2 and MK1-2 were by far my favorite games from GUST.Sadly though,the way things are looking... the chances of GUST making 'epic' titles are getting smaller and smaller. The Arland series is very disappointing due to three things.

First: The objectives are boring. I know that the usual JRPG formula might be stale,but 90% of your objectives now are...'make × number of × and give it to someone'. Ummm... why can't there be SOME adventure?

Second: Why in blazes is there NO FINAL BOSS AT ALL? I thought maybe the first game didn't have one because they were treating it as a prologue for Totori (Which to be honest,was why I thought they made it so...bland as well). Unfortunately,ALL the Arland games are Final Bossless!

And Finally: MK had THE BEST sound track in GUST history(yes better then AR Tonelico...minus hymns of course)! Now its...dull.

Ok, gang up and destroy me! lol.

[vampko]

As this is my first post here, I don't want to sound to harsh of a critic about a style that apparently MANY people like. However...

Iris2 and MK1-2 were by far my favorite games from GUST.Sadly though,the way things are looking... the chances of GUST making 'epic' titles are getting smaller and smaller. The Arland series is very disappointing due to three things.

First: The objectives are boring. I know that the usual JRPG formula might be stale,but 90% of your objectives now are...'make × number of × and give it to someone'. Ummm... why can't there be SOME adventure?

Second: Why in blazes is there NO FINAL BOSS AT ALL? I thought maybe the first game didn't have one because they were treating it as a prologue for Totori (Which to be honest,was why I thought they made it so...bland as well). Unfortunately,ALL the Arland games are Final Bossless!

And Finally: MK had THE BEST sound track in GUST history(yes better then AR Tonelico...minus hymns of course)! Now its...dull.

Ok, gang up and destroy me! lol.

'epic' describes Totori I think. I loved Rorona, but it definitely wasn't going for that.

Also, Totori focuses more on the adventuring, so I'm not sure why you're saying this. With Meruru even more so.

Final Bosses aren't all that important, but Totori looks to have story based bosses. And Meruru probably moreso.

I disagree. Rorona had a better soundtrack by far than MK in my opinion. And Totori better than Rorona. With Meruru already having a soundtrack which is just blowing my mind

have you even played totori, or watched the videos?

I've only watched the videos and I know this much.

[TheNecromancer]

One of my biggest gripes with rpg's nowadays is that too many companies try to change up a winning formula too much.

Blame the anti-jrpg crowd.

--------------------------------------------------
Sigh....so not true. I'm American and own them all. Regional bias has nothing to do with it except to those who already have a regional bias to begin with. Easier to blame others even if it's not necessarily the truth though, correct?

It's the newer gamers that they are having to change up the formula for. I think it would be fair to state that the majority of gamers today want fast, quick, furious, and easy to get into game play. The atelier games aren't known for that...they reward you for patience and perseverance instead. That doesn't necessarily make them anti-jrpg....they just prefer different games.

Perhaps another part of the problem is pushing that J in front of the RPG.....it kind of enforces the bias. It pays to remember that because you think a game is Japanese doesn't mean everyone does. Otherwise logic dictates that the only people wanting Japanese games outside of Japan are Japanese gamers who live outside Japan.

My game collection would disagree heavily with that argument....along with the jrpg sentiment. I'm always willing to meet halfway, though. A RPG developed in Japan works nicely in my book, and yes, there is a difference there for those not blind to see it.

I'll more then likely be using my NISA credit on the LE when the pre-order is up since I love the Atelier series. Then again i have beaten Atelier Iris 2 and 3 more then 3 times....as much as those games got bashed i guess that is a testament to the love.

[zatrox]

Alright, ChaosForce, as someone who has spoiled himself about 50% of Totori's whole content (All left for me is the dialogue, really) whilst doing research and watching a shitload of videos, I'll try to reply to your complaints, and most likely refute them.

Welp, here we go.

Iris2 and MK1-2 were by far my favorite games from GUST.Sadly though,the way things are looking... the chances of GUST making 'epic' titles are getting smaller and smaller. The Arland series is very disappointing due to three things.

First: The objectives are boring. I know that the usual JRPG formula might be stale,but 90% of your objectives now are...'make × number of × and give it to someone'. Ummm... why can't there be SOME adventure?

Hence Atelier Totori's NA title is, well, y'know..."The Adventurer of Arland". There are a whole lot more areas and dungeons than Rorona, and the whole feel of them is more like a PSX RPG.

Second: Why in blazes is there NO FINAL BOSS AT ALL? I thought maybe the first game didn't have one because they were treating it as a prologue for Totori (Which to be honest,was why I thought they made it so...bland as well). Unfortunately,ALL the Arland games are Final Bossless!

I take it you didn't do the Adventurer ending in Rorona? There are what you could consider "final bosses". Moreover, you state "ALL the Arland games are Final Bossless!", when, in fact, Totori has an (almost) obligatory final boss, if my memory serves right. This just shows how baseless your statement is.

He's even in the trailers, for christ's sake.

And Finally: MK had THE BEST sound track in GUST history(yes better then AR Tonelico...minus hymns of course)! Now its...dull.

Rorona? Perhaps, albeit I did like some of the music there.

Totori, however? It's actually one of the best OSTs GUST has pulled out in a while.

I mean, you just need to listen to Terminus, Deep in Emotion, Try, TARGET, Hepatica or simply Yellow Zone to tell as much.

In fact, because of Totori's soundtrack, I'm really hyped for Meruru's OST.

Ok, gang up and destroy me! lol.

Nah, I'd just appreciate that you reserved your own judgement until you investigated a little, and had evidence to base it on. Honestly, as Vampko said, some browsin' and video watchin' should tell you enough about Totori. Of course, my personal opinion on the game as a whole is something I'll abstain on expressing until I fully play the game myself, thus I recommend you do the same, as well.

[SakiChan]

Iris2 and MK1-2 were by far my favorite games from GUST.Sadly though,the way things are looking... the chances of GUST making 'epic' titles are getting smaller and smaller. The Arland series is very disappointing due to three things.

......Just tell me ONE game by GUST that isn't awesome/epic.

First: The objectives are boring. I know that the usual JRPG formula might be stale,but 90% of your objectives now are...'make × number of × and give it to someone'. Ummm... why can't there be SOME adventure?

Spoiler:

I think it's been said before Totori even released in japan,but the 'goal' of Totori was mostly about adventuring since the beginning when it was said that she searches for her mother.*leaves out 1 big spoiler now*

Second: Why in blazes is there NO FINAL BOSS AT ALL? I thought maybe the first game didn't have one because they were treating it as a prologue for Totori (Which to be honest,was why I thought they made it so...bland as well). Unfortunately,ALL the Arland games are Final Bossless!

You DO know that actually 'only' the Iris + MK titles had final bosses,hmhm?The Atelier Series is just mostly nothing for people that just want to beat a lot of monsters and want to save the world like a hero.

Totori, however? It's actually one of the best OSTs GUST has pulled out in a while.

I mean, you just need to listen to Terminus, Deep in Emotion, Try, TARGET, Hepatica or simply Yellow Zone to tell as much.

I love you for this choice of tracks.
Might I add The Distant Summit to it?*shot*
On a random side note,Terminus uses some pieces of music from 'Pilgrimage' if anyone didn't notice yet.It's also the battle music for the 'final boss'.

[Yukito]

Personally, I loved it. It was like.... an actual sense of danger for your game, though, not 100% threatening, since you easily had the time to do each assignment and more time after to explore. All RPGs nowadays is pretty much, "Go forward, go forward, proceed, proceed...." then "Oh boy, we have 3 minutes to get out of here!".....3 minutes pass, you either game over, or proceed to continue straight on with the game. Rorona kept the timer there, and didn't rush at all I felt. Heck, even the longest assignment can take only what..... 8 days to, 8 days fro, and maybe 14 days getting and gathering, so.... about one month right there for the longest assignment, with two months left to spare. I don't see the problem at all. It is an illusion that you are being rushed because of the timer, but really, you aren't.

[Mlada]

My only beef with Rorona was that they didn't specify *completely* about the completion stars. When I first started playing the game, I tried to max out all the rows of stars because I thought that was needed to get the best final score....WRONG! I wasted so much time overkilling each assignment, which would leave me no time with character interactions. Once I found out the true star deal, I found it quite easy to manage things with all characters and the town itself (I didn't max them all, but I kept everyone generally happy). That and the ridiculous amount of endings (official and what I call variant endings combined), it made it hard for me to get that darn Sterk ending. Ok, I'll also say that the New Game + ticked me off a little, but these were all mild deals for me that I can easily over look when I look at the grand scheme of Rorona.

And maybe I'm wrong, but there's a crap ton of older Atelier games that haven't been brought over, so I haven't played them and am going on what I've just heard here and there, but wasn't the time management deal always a prime part of the game? If not then go ahead and correct me, but given that NA's first Atelier games were the Iris series, I think it's given a wrong first impression on most English speaking countries what an Atelier game is supposed to be like. I was lead to believe that if you have a beef with the time management (for item making, collecting, and traveling) in Rorona, you're not going to care much for the other games with the exception of MK and Atelier Iris given that they were more of a spin-off series.

I personally love it, because it's different. I'm tired of always playing games where you have to save the world/damsel in distress and slay the big bad boss at the end. The Atelier games and MK series are honestly a nice change of pace for me, mainly because it's more about a slice of life kind of deal with the occassional "oh crap" moment to keep the story going.

But yeah, anyone keeping up with just pictures and a few videos of Totori should know that it's going to be vastly different from Rorona, given the more "years" in gameplay, the concept of the story, and with it stating it being more of an adventure game, but I imagine item making is going to stay the same (I don't know specifics though!). I think it's only natural that the better items should take more time to make, given it shouldn't be easy.

As for music, I personally love Rorona the best (probably given that I'm a big Ken Nakagawa fan and he took on that game's soundtrack by himself) with Totori following behind for the Atelier series. I'm a little disappointed Ken won't be doing the music for Meruru at all, but with the Achiwa/Yanagawa pairing, I shouldn't be too upset or upset for long. I already love that opening track for Meruru, so hopefully that'll be a good song to set my standards for the whole OST on...