Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland
| Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Gust |
| Series | Atelier |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game, Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (トトリのアトリエ ～アーランドの錬金術士 2～, Totori no Atorie: Ārando no Renkinjutsushi 2) (known in Japan as Atelier Totori: The Alchemist of Arland 2) is a Japanese role-playing video game developed by Gust. It was first released for PlayStation 3 on June 24, 2010 in Japan. Atelier Totori is the twelfth installment in the Atelier series, and it continues the series' emphasis on item synthesis. The game is the second in the Arland series, and a direct sequel to Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland, taking place five years after the end of Atelier Rorona. It is followed by Atelier Meruru: The Alchemist of Arland 3, which was released in June 2011.
NIS America announced on May 13, 2011 that the game would be published in the US 27 September 2011[1] and the EU in Fall of 2011 under the name Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland
Story
The story takes place 5 years after the previous game,[3] Atelier Rorona. It begins with Totori in the fishing village of Alanya, her hometown, and will come to a close after five years pass. Totooria Helmold, Totori for short, is Rorona's student who is looking for her missing mother. After the events of Atelier Rorona, Rorona has been traveling across Arland teaching alchemy. One day, Totori calls for Ceci, exclaiming that "there was a weird person passed out in front of the house",that's when they found a hungry Rorona, now 22,who teaches Totori learned about alchemy and became her student. Ever since then, Totori has been learning alchemy on her own.
Totori's older sister, Cecilia believes that their mom is dead. However, Totori still thinks she is alive, so she eventually travels to Arland and meets Cordelia who works at the castle front desk next to Filly, Esty's younger sister who is now taking over her job since she has mysteriously disappeared "to find a husband" as Filly stated. She hands out certain tasks which can be completed to upgrade the player's Adventurers License, allowing for travel to farther lands. By following her mother's footsteps as an adventurer and improving her alchemy skills, the player follows Totori on her journey to find her beloved mother.
Characters
Totori Helmold
- Seiyuu: Nazuka Kaori
A young alchemist and student of Rorona. She traveled to Arland to obtain her adventurer's license to search the world for her mother who has gone missing since she was a young child. She is very optimistic and still believes their mother is still alive.
Cecilia Helmold
- Seiyuu: Asami Imai
Totori's older sister who is very protective of her. She has already given up and assumed their mom is dead. She cares very much for Totori and does not like the idea of her becoming an adventurer. She is playable as a DLC via the PlayStation Store.
Gino Knab
- Seiyuu: Yuuko Sanpei
Totori's childhood friend. He went with Totori to receive their adventurer's licenses. He wants to become strong, and begs Sterk to teach him (referring to him as "old man").
Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang
- Seiyuu: Yuka Iguchi
A young noble girl who was seen arguing with Cordelia when Gino and Totori went to get their adventurer's licenses. Cory refused to give her a license because of she was acting out in the castle. She argued that the Feuerbach family were not true nobles because their nobility was so cheap it could be bought. She then showed up to Totori's house weeks later to show that she got her license. She then tried to hired Totori, but after her offer was refused, she decided to help Totori out on her adventures.
Melvia Siebel
- Seiyuu: Ryouko Shintani
Ceci's childhood friend and an experienced adventurer. She agreed to watch over and protect Totori while they're on adventures. She is extremely powerful, and she even broke Totori's door off by pulling it off its hinges.
Rorolina Frixell
- Seiyuu: Mai Kadowaki
Totori's alchemy teacher. She, Totori, and Astrid are the only known alchemists. She appeared at Totori and Ceci's doorstep, passed out from hunger, and after destroying their house with a failed synthesis, became Totori's teacher. Years later, she was in searching for her master when she fell in to the river at Uni Groove, and was fished out of the ocean by Totori's father. After hearing Totori's story of her mom, she has decided to help.
Sterkenburg Cranach
- Seiyuu: Jūrōta Kosugi
Now a retired knight, he is searching for the king of Arland, and protecting Arland and novice adventurers from monsters at the same time. He has scared numerous characters with his face (Totori screamed upon seeing him for the second time, and Ceci upon hearing this thought he was a kidnapper), even Rorona who has known him for years. He is currently searching for Gio (King of Arland),and helping Totori on the side.
Cordelia von Feuerbach
- Seiyuu: Eri Kitamura
Rorona's childhood friend who works at the Adventurer's Guild in Arland. She is more mature now and is also helping Totori by finding information on her mother's whereabouts, but only because she wants to berate her for causing so much trouble in the city. She still gets angry when people refer to how short she is (because she hasn't grown an inch since the first game). She is also playable as a DLC Character.
Marc McBrine
- Seiyuu: Susumu Chiba
A smart scientist who has an interest in children.
Iksel Jahnn
- Seiyuu: Shinnosuke Tachibana
He now owns his own restaurant in Arland. He is playable as a DLC Character as well.
Guid Helmold
- Seiyuu: Kenji Hamada
Totori's father. He is a shipwright and has even built the boat Gizela, Totori's mother, left on. He is barely noticed by his daughters, barely shows emotion and is very relaxed and calm most of the time. He builds Totori a boat for her to use in her search for Gizela.
Reception
In Japan, the game was the third best-selling title on its release week and sold 53,871 copies between June 21 and June 27, 2010, an increase of 10,000 copies on the first week sales of Atelier Rorona.[4]
Reviews have been generally favorable, the game currently has a 81 score on Gamerankings and a 76 average score on Metacritic.
PSX Extreme rated it 8.7/10 stating that "after five hours of play with Gust’s new effort, I realized this all clicked. After ten hours, it not only clicked, it was becoming addictive. Turn-based combat is not dead, and despite my aversion to anime, this is a beautiful, pleasing production." praising it's visual style and combat. RPGamer rated it a 4.5/5 complementing it's story in that "Atelier Totori is not an epic RPG like many other games in the genre try to be, but its allure allows it to stand tall as a bittersweet and emotionally charged experience that may require gamers to pull out the tissue box."
IGN gave the game a 7.5/10, praising the graphics and gameplay, but said that while the core story is good, the writing is terrible, and said that the voice acting was average to below average.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Disgaea 4, ClaDun X2, Atelier Totori dated". NIS America. 11 Aug, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Sam (September 8, 2011). "Changes to the Release Date of Disgaea 4 and Atelier Totori in Australia". The Otaku's Study. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Atelier Totori ~ Adventurer of Arland ~". NIS America. 2011-07-29. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
- ^ Ishaan (2010-07-02). "This Week In Sales: Game Overload". Silconera.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
- ^ http://ps3.ign.com/articles/119/1199400p1.html