This one has been sitting on my desk for a week or two and now it's time to give it a go as no one opened a first play thread.
Compared to the PS2 entries of the Atelier series, Rorona is completely different and should be more like the recent DS game and the first games in the series.
Instead of being combat driven, the game progresses through days which in turn pass by exploring areas and synthesizing items.
In this game, Rorona has to save her workshop from being closed down as so the kingdom routinely handles down requests which must be completed within a certain time period.
While working on the royal request, it is possible to undertake quests posted by the people of Arland and by Rorona's friends.
All these requests have a deadline and missing it will tarnish Rorona's and the workshop's reputation; fulfilling goals with well crafted items will grant more reputation points.
To synthesize an item Rorona first needs a recipe and then she needs to gather enough ingredients to make it. Ingredients can be bought or found in the areas around Arland, which can be accessed by spending a certain amounts of days to travel there.
Each ingredient (and I mean every single ingredient) has a quality rating which will affect the quality of the synthesized item, so it's important to chose ingredients wisely when creating an item for an important task.
This mechanic was present in the PS2 Atelier games and in Mana-Khemia, but not as fleshed out and clearly explained like in Atelier Rorona; in the previous games quantity was more of concern, this time around it's all about quality.
It all make sense in the scope of the game as you are playing as someone working her best to improve her workshop's reputation - alchemy is also the focal point of the whole game and some half-baked assist to an overly complex combat system.
Speaking about combat, here the system is very basic. Gone is the in-battle alchemy, gone are mana bars, technique points, flashy bars leading to huge multipliers: characters can attack, defend, use items, escape or use skills, that consume HPs.
The only "complex" mechanic is the character assist, in which a secondary character can take damage in place of Rorona or follow one of Rorona's attacks.
There are a lot of menus, and the general layout is classic of every Gust game: expect to go around multiple menus a lot. The higher resolution helps in making things clear and listing more things at once, but I think that Gust (and all Japanese developers, BTW), should review their menu structures as they can be made friendlier with only few touches.
Atelier Rorona is the first Gust game that makes the jump on the hi-res 3D bandwagon, with mixed results. Navigating environments is easier as the graphics are much cleaner and less chaotic, but lack detail; in Arland is difficult to tell if a shop can be accessed or not and locations are full of invisible barriers.
Character models and animations are good and textures, while simple, are well made. They tend to repeat a lot, but it's a step forward from the PS2 era.
Overall Rorona looks good, but feels more like a hi-res PS2 game than a proper current generation title.
Character portraits and illustration are the best part of the technical presentation of the game.
Character design is penned by Kishida Mel and his gentle and refined style is perfect for the relaxed setting of this game.
Compared to the PS2 entries of the Atelier series, Rorona is completely different and should be more like the recent DS game and the first games in the series.
Instead of being combat driven, the game progresses through days which in turn pass by exploring areas and synthesizing items.
In this game, Rorona has to save her workshop from being closed down as so the kingdom routinely handles down requests which must be completed within a certain time period.
While working on the royal request, it is possible to undertake quests posted by the people of Arland and by Rorona's friends.
All these requests have a deadline and missing it will tarnish Rorona's and the workshop's reputation; fulfilling goals with well crafted items will grant more reputation points.
To synthesize an item Rorona first needs a recipe and then she needs to gather enough ingredients to make it. Ingredients can be bought or found in the areas around Arland, which can be accessed by spending a certain amounts of days to travel there.
Each ingredient (and I mean every single ingredient) has a quality rating which will affect the quality of the synthesized item, so it's important to chose ingredients wisely when creating an item for an important task.
This mechanic was present in the PS2 Atelier games and in Mana-Khemia, but not as fleshed out and clearly explained like in Atelier Rorona; in the previous games quantity was more of concern, this time around it's all about quality.
It all make sense in the scope of the game as you are playing as someone working her best to improve her workshop's reputation - alchemy is also the focal point of the whole game and some half-baked assist to an overly complex combat system.
Speaking about combat, here the system is very basic. Gone is the in-battle alchemy, gone are mana bars, technique points, flashy bars leading to huge multipliers: characters can attack, defend, use items, escape or use skills, that consume HPs.
The only "complex" mechanic is the character assist, in which a secondary character can take damage in place of Rorona or follow one of Rorona's attacks.
There are a lot of menus, and the general layout is classic of every Gust game: expect to go around multiple menus a lot. The higher resolution helps in making things clear and listing more things at once, but I think that Gust (and all Japanese developers, BTW), should review their menu structures as they can be made friendlier with only few touches.
Atelier Rorona is the first Gust game that makes the jump on the hi-res 3D bandwagon, with mixed results. Navigating environments is easier as the graphics are much cleaner and less chaotic, but lack detail; in Arland is difficult to tell if a shop can be accessed or not and locations are full of invisible barriers.
Character models and animations are good and textures, while simple, are well made. They tend to repeat a lot, but it's a step forward from the PS2 era.
Overall Rorona looks good, but feels more like a hi-res PS2 game than a proper current generation title.
Character portraits and illustration are the best part of the technical presentation of the game.
Character design is penned by Kishida Mel and his gentle and refined style is perfect for the relaxed setting of this game.
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