I changed tracks on May Millennials just a tad, with my previous Eurojank CRPG plans falling through for one reason or another - Gothic 3 sounded like it would take over 100 hours, which I don't have to spare in what remains of May, and I got a few minutes into Drakensang before realizing it wasn't going to work out between us - and so we're back to trolling through my PS3 library for something that would count as a '00s release. Like the first game of this year's May Millennials, Tales of Graces F, Gust's Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland was originally a 2009 release in its native country so that's good enough for me. Atelier Rorona is actually the eleventh game in the Atelier franchise: most of them have been Japan-only games due to their niche appeal, the exceptions being the Atelier Iris trilogy for PS2, which were broader "traditional" RPGs, and the Mana Khemia duo for PS2 and PSP which presumably reminded publishers NIS America of Persona with its highschool life-sim elements.
Atelier Rorona focuses on the titular Rorona: a well-meaning but klutzy teenaged apprentice to a slovenly master alchemist named Astrid. Astrid's chief goals in life are to nap and to constantly hit on her comely assistant which, despite being Big Mood and all, hasn't left her alchemical workshop in a reputable or profitable situation. The local kingdom's governance is now threatening to close it unless it can produce something of value every quarter, and Rorona is left to her own devices to make those royal assignments happen after Astrid mysteriously bails and leaves the business in her apprentice's name.
Unlike Graces, which I had been saving for a rainy day before realizing that it'd somehow been almost a decade since I bought it, I'd put off Atelier Rorona for a long while because it's one of the few in the Atelier franchise to see significant improvements for its enhanced "Plus" version, released a few years later with the experience and feedback Gust acquired from several intervening entries. Upon its first release, Rorona reset the Atelier franchise to put the focus back on item synthesis as the core gameplay mechanic as opposed to a convenient means to create curatives and equipment for what were standard RPG dungeon-crawling gameplay loops and linear narratives to follow. This also meant that it was the first of its type, at least in a long while, and thus as much of an experiment as the alchemy it features. Its direct sequels Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru then further tweaked and enhanced those mechanics, and those tweaks found themselves re-introduced to Rorona's enhanced remasters. Presently, Atelier Rorona can be purchased on PS3 and Vita via the "Plus" edition and on Steam and PS4 as the "DX" edition. Along with graphical upgrades, both remasters seem to be much better regarded mechanically as well; hence my reticence with ever booting up this original version, despite already owning a copy. Still, I needed something with which to finish off this batch of May Millennials, so...
Atelier Rorona is essentially Deadlines: The Game, taking the breezy energy and wholesome art style of the franchise prior and turning it into an anxiety-inducing roller coaster of rushing around and juggling a dozen different tasks before they expire. As well as the main Kingdom Assignments, which need to be completed if your atelier workshop is going to stay in business (they fortunately give you three months to work with, though that can still vanish in a flash), you have the Front Desk Tasks given to you by the knight Esty Dee (she's easy to catch - just visit the front desk of the palace and ask for the receptionist) and Friend Tasks handed out by the major NPCs that either accompany you on ingredient runs to fight off monsters or are vendors with specific materials for sale. Often, accepting an alchemy task only to buy what you need from the store and handing that in is a much more convenient method than, you know, doing any work. Most tasks will require alchemy or materials found in the wild or monster spoils, however, and there's no guarantee you'll be able to find them and return back to town in the time permitted, especially if you've been putting off tasks to move other goals ahead. I suppose I should just be thankful that time doesn't appear to move on its own when you forget to pause the game. (At least I think that's the case...)
On the other hand, there's something relatively quotidian and low-key about Atelier Rorona's approach to treating alchemy as a day job, as opposed to the world-saving antics of Atelier Iris or the school drama of Mana Khemia, that paradoxically makes the whole enterprise seem a little less... urgent. Rorona's just a normal girl put under a lot of stress by her deadbeat boss and is doing the best she can with a rough situation: a reality far more relatable to those who have toiled in the private sector than hunting dragons and saving princesses. It's not a million miles away from other retail industry adjacent RPGs like Recettear or Moonlighter, especially in the way it balances some basic RPG exploration and combat systems with a novel mercantile format. I'm going to keep at it a little while longer, if only to determine just how demanding its time management becomes as the stakes and difficulty rise in the later chapters, but I can't say being rushed around so much is as conducive to enjoying an RPG as taking the time to explore all my options or procrastinate with side-quests. As always, I'll be sure to hit you all with an Outro later next week to see if it's improved any.
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