Am... I the only person on this website who bought, played, and loved this game? That can't be true... it's such a great game! The Arland Atelier series is one that always seemed interesting to me, but the first game in the series (Rorona) was so hard to find, I never got around to it. But now that I've played this remake... I've not only beaten it twice, but I've also ordered and started playing Atelier Totori. It's such a great addictive game!

So... anyone else play this game? Come one dudes, let's chat about it.

@misquared: I love everything about the alchemy system of this series but man the combat and story are pretty weak. I wish they had gone back to the Atelier Iris series of more combat focus.

I've dabbled lightly in Totori Plus and didn't like it much. The combat system is too flat and everything felt a bit aimless for my tastes. An interesting concept but one I haven't had the patience to dig into.

you're amazing

Still working on Escha & Logy.

I haven't gotten to play it yet(the series has generally not been for me), but I am glad you enjoyed it. Your enthusiasm for it is like a beautiful rose in the desert.

Whoo! Glad to see some discussion about it, at least. To the above comment about combat-- you're not wrong, it's pretty straightforward. Make good bombs/equipment, and then hit everything until it dies. And the earlier series have better combat? Interesting, I'll have to go check them out.

But yeah, as an anime nerd I love the dumb cliches, sweetheart heroines, frilly costumes, and dorky side characters :')

I played it. It helps to look at it more like a "Slice of Life" anime rather than an RPG. It's more about alchemy and character interactions than battle systems and story beats. I enjoyed it.

Mana Khemia (also by Gust, and on Vita/PSP!) seems like it has more RPG/battle focus. I was thinking about picking that up next.

I'll say that I quite like the combat and the alchemy in Escha & Logy more than the Arland trilogy, but I don't know exactly what they've upgraded in Rorona.

I remember how Jeff and Patrick played Atelier Ayesha once when they did premium new releases shows with GS (58'50); it looked nice but I don't think their playing of it did it much justice, sadly. I did appreciate the music, though!

If I wanted to give the Atelier games a shot, where would I start?

I was gonna write a post recommending Mana Khemia--it's one of my favorite games of all time. It's also pretty Slice of Life-styled, but the combat system is better and I enjoy the majority of the cast. And, oh god, the music is fantastic.

I bought Atelier Ayesha a few months back after I remembered seeing it on the Shrink Shack(tm). I haven't played it yet though. I hope it's as good.

I feel like PS3-era Atelier games have been making a pretty constant progression in some ways. The combat and alchemy continues to get more and more streamlined; I feel like Escha & Logy has the best to offer in those regards, while the original Rorona was the most archaic (although that's why they released Plus). So I'd suggest either starting with Rorona Plus and working through, or just going straight to Escha & Logy. But that's mostly from a mechanics perspective; I feel like the Arland trilogy had more to offer in terms of characters and story. Localization quality has also taken a dip since Ayesha with the downgrade from NISA to Tecmo.

And GUST always has ballerass soundtracks. Say what you want about the rest of the Ar tonelico franchise, that series had an insane score.