Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

« Players looking for a colorful world, a lighthearted story, and deep gameplay need look no further than Atelier Totori. »

« Furthermore, Totori outdoes its predecessor in nearly every aspect, showing that Gust is always trying to one-up itself with each new release. Atelier Totori shines for its honesty, and has a lighthearted feel that the majority of RPGs don't match. »

« It has a few drawbacks – the story isn't great, it takes too long to progress, and some of the battle can feel a little underwhelming – but for RPG fans, it's a winner. »

« While gamers new to (or averse to) anime style may not enjoy Atelier Totori, the committed JRPG audience will likely be pleased with what the game has to offer. For us JRPG enthusiasts, a good game means beautiful anime-style graphics, expressive musical scores, eccentric characters and dialog and complex gameplay mechanics; despite its somewhat simplified approach to combat, Atelier Totori scores on all points. »

« Gamers who are looking for a fairly laid-back adventure with plenty of things to do and lots of fun characters to meet should definitely give Atelier Totori a try. »

« Atelier Totori is a hidden gem of a game. It's far from perfect, but it's so wildly, wonderfully distinct and different from the typical crop of titles out there that it's hard not to love it. »

« A game with anything remarkable, but without flaws. One of those Japanese roleplaying game that are very classic and follow the tradition, without evolving the gameplay, but with compelling graphics, a good story and a nice blend of elements that doesn't focus solely on combat. It won't make history, but is a fun game. »

« The Atelier series is loved by many and I think those very fans will be really pleased with NISA and Gust's efforts in this latest adventure. »

« [SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.] »

« I didn't finish the game. Everything in it made me hate the game. Story, gameplay, Alchemy mechanics and exploring the dungeons. dropped the game after 20 minutes of starting. Not even bothering to play anymore since I got bored watching the intro/tutorial. »

« There are so many fun and great reasons of why I love this game. Just after beating Persona 4, and platinuming Zero Escape, I am instantly deep into caring for these characters purely on the merits that the 2 aforementioned titles and Atelier Totori use the same voice actors. The voices are so well scripted, and Totori is so entirely innocent that everything she says has this sort of natural charm, that you just want to take her under your wing and see her succeed. That primarily drives the game, supplemented with the story of her family dynamics changing as young Totori matures as an up-and-coming adventurer. The game follows a bit of an open-world scheme, allowing you to travel, battle, and gather ingredients according to your prerogative. Borrowing from the Persona series, there is an urgency to how you prioritize your activities with a calendar in the corner tracking your days. It takes time to travel to destinations, fight, and collect items from the ground. It's clever, and keeps the game constantly strategic, even when grinding. The designers were clever to allow you freedom of decisions, yet interweaving the story at certain game-time landmarks. For instance, I could be anywhere in the game, and once I accomplish a certain task, a cut-scene is initiated- the direction of the game includes clever dialogue with the characters in your party, cut-scenes specific to, yet somehow independent of my location, and are clearly part of the directed story. It makes me feel like I'm crafting the story according to my gameplay, and it feels very clever, organic, and rewarding. This game instantly hooked me. The art style and the characters are the cherry-on-top to the fun, and polished gameplay and story. There are clear tutorials for every new feature introduced to the gameplay, and the game does something original with it's time mechanic to keep the grinding and collecting engaging. Its execution is polished, understandable, and simple everything that you need to really get into it and have fun. Some of the reviews on this site that range from poor to mediocre claim that they didn't understand the time mechanic of the game. Really, that is the fault of the player- the game makes it very clear, from the very beginning and constantly reminds you as you accept quests. If a player is inpatient and skips everything, rather than soaking in the voice acting and story, then it is their fault for not understanding it and not the game's. I highly recommend this game. It's just the RPG the VITA needs. Persona 4 is one of the greatest RPGs of all time, and has been the only real RPG available for the VITA until Atelier Totori, which does a fantastic job of adding to the genre on the VITA's library. Trophies: Hard to tell just yet, but I'd say the trophies look pretty easy. You have to experience a number of different endings to get the platinum, so save frequently on different save files to go back and branch out from different paths. »

« This is the first of the Atelier Series that I played and I found this addicting for the 1st hours resulting to a BAD ending. Yes, BAAAD, like I wasted several hours of playtime for I have no Idea that this game has a strict Time Constraint. The story is so fun especially when doing quests, hunting monsters, gathering and synthesizing materials. What I don't like is the English Dub but you can change the setting to Japanese which is very Animeistic. Totori's main quest is to find out what happens to her mom. She needs to roam Arland and the peninsula just to gather clues. This game is not replayable. I would like to kill all the boss monsters after I found out what happened to Totori's mom but time is the factor. You can't have your character level after finishing the game but you can have your Coles (money) and equipment back when you start a new game. This game should be really addicting but the time constraint REALLY a FUN/JOY KILLER. I should have love this game but can't because of this. :( Hopefully, Atelier Ayesha has no Time Limit. Overall I initially love this game but the Fun factor failed when you reached the end of the Time limit. »

« I loved Atelier Rorona. It was fun and extremely innovative, but weak graphically speaking. Thus I was looking forward for Atelier Totori with much excitment. When I saw the dreadful marks it received from French websites, I was furious (I crossed the line and got banned by the way). But at the beginning of the game, I slightly wondered whether I was the one wrong. The 3D animated characters do look better than in Rorona, but it really depends on the characters : Sterk, Melvia and Totori are near perfect but Rorona and Mimi look weird. Of course, the general design is still one of the best in JRPGs. Backgrounds also are still a bit awkward, but more impressive then in the previous game. At a first glance, the battle system seems unchanged : your characters still disappear when another attacks and your alchemist can be protected by her companions just like before. But when you have to fight harder battles, youâ »

« Totori irons out all of the kinks in Atelier Rorona, while continuing to deliver the qualities that makes the series so endearing to fans. Best JRPG this gen. »

« Atelier Totori is a surprising game. It hits all the right notes, with its charm, that which many games lack nowadays. Make no mistake; this is not an elaborate journey where bloodshed and betrayal will befall upon you, the player. It's, instead, a heartwarming, lighthearted adventure about a youngster's pilgrimage. A tale about maturity, about experience. However, its charm is yet its biggest flaw: it's a niche game, first and foremost. A game that's just simple and honesty, and thus, not many people will like it. It pushes away connoisseurs of the japanese variation of the genre, with its open-ended gameplay and choice as far as the eye can see. It also pushes away fans of the western variation of the genre, with its cutesy charm and bubbly presentation. It's a game that appeals to no-one, and, instead, it does its own thing. That's also why it's so engrossing, and so fun. It's a relaxing, sometimes touching experience that gives the player what others don't offer: an RPG that does something truly different. It's a game that's just playful, and endearing. It's not flawless, however. The narrative (or lack thereof, for half the game), certain bugs, weak backgrounds and standard combat are all there. Yet, it's fun to play. It's TONS of fun to play. It's just a joy to go through. To laugh along, and to cry along. To engross yourself into the standard, yet beautiful world of Arland, and its plains, catacombs, forests and caves. To explore, and be rewarded. To fail, and be rewarded. To simply enjoy, something not many games of this generation focus on. »

« I am really impressed with Totori, I liked Atelier Rorona but personally I found that its lack of narrative focus detracted from the overall experience, while this sequel is able to mix its peculiar gameplay (the mix of traditional JRPG and item crafting the series is known for) with a stronger pacing. The soundtrack is extremely fitting, and the art direction is beautiful thanks to Gust's effort to exploit PS3's potential with better models and textures, something that really shows in battle and cutscenes alike (environments still need some work, though). I really love the direction this series has taken since Rorona, as I find the PS3 Arland games far more unique than the PS2 Atelier Iris ones, not to mention they are overall far more polished titles. Localization is good, and the dual audio (a NIS America habit, by now) is always good to have. »