Atelier Rorona ~The Alchemist of Arland~ DX

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Note: This game is included in the Atelier Arland Series Deluxe Pack bundle along with Atelier Totori ~The Adventurer of Arland~ DX and Atelier Meruru ~The Apprentice of Arland~ DX

For those unfamiliar with the Atelier franchise, an atelier (it’s a French word that’s normally pronounced “uh-tell-ee-yay”, but the characters in these games pronounce the word “at-lee-ur”) is a workshop or studio used by a craftsman or artisan… or in these games, by an alchemist. The Atelier games are a franchise of JRPGs that focuses on young, almost exclusively female adventurers who seek ingredients they can combine and use to enhance their items, with these crafting mechanics forming a central part of the game.

These games have each been released in a subset series that ties them together with a few of the other games in the franchise both in terms of mechanics, but also in terms of the storyline. I know that for many, the Atelier series can seem somewhat intimidating, but BarrelWisdom.com thankfully has a helpful guide to introduce players to the series. However, for the purposes of this review I’ll try to address where this game fits both into the Atelier franchise as a whole, as well as within its individual sub-series.

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Atelier Primer: Arland Series

Atelier Rorona, originally released on PlayStation 3 in 2010, is the first game of the Arland series, the fifth series of games in the Atelier franchise, which also contains Atelier Totori, originally released on PlayStation 3 in 2011, and Atelier Meruru, originally released on PlayStation 3 in 2012, with all of these games getting improved remakes on the PlayStation Vita in 2013 and 2014 with balancing tweaks, as well as all additional content originally released as DLC. These improved versions were all ported to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC in 2018, with all platforms getting an Atelier Arland Series Deluxe Pack Compilation containing all three. It also bears mention that there was one more game in the Arland series, released long after the other three – Atelier Lulua, which released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2019, and is a sequel of sorts to the earlier trilogy of games.

The Arland series fits in the Atelier franchise as a “traditional” series of Atelier games, meaning they have an overarching time limit requiring some degree of resource management over the course of the game (except for Lulua, which abandons this element entirely).

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Valued Business Associate… or Rorona Non Grata?

This is very apparent in Atelier Rorona, where virtually every quest, every goal, every major event is tied to the passage of time, with the ticking off of dates on a calendar something that will likely strike more grind-focused RPG players as an ominous countdown clock. In practice, this element isn’t as terrible as it might seem from the outside – there is no real-time clock, and passage of time is linked to specific actions. Crafting of alchemy recipes, trips into the dungeons, and time spent resting to recover from those actions all tick off days from the calendar. Players can take their time considering which actions to take, but are limited in how much they can do before the next deadline approaches.

Were it not for this micromanagement of resources, Atelier Rorona would be a fairly by-the-books Turn-Based JRPG. The battle system isn’t very deep, there’s little in the way of meaningful exploration beyond accessing new areas purely for the purpose of finding a wider range of ingredients, and you’re not likely to play this game for its plot.

On that note, Atelier Rorona’s plot, characters, and overall presentation are charming in a quaint sort of way, but not especially compelling. The plot in this game, which does not require any knowledge of previous games in the series, revolves around Rorona, a young girl and an apprentice to a lazy alchemist named Astrid who suddenly hands the keys to the business over to Rorona after a royal decree declares the alchemist shop must basically put up or shut up, completing a series of orders for the kingdom in a timely manner or shutter its doors. While it’s a decent setup for the gameplay, and the game’s characters do get a chance to get fleshed out, it’s nothing that’s truly compelling.

Thankfully, the voice acting in this game is excellent, although I feel like I need to say that with a caveat, as the writing itself is at times a bit awkward in that way that poorly-localized Japanese games can often be. The soundtrack, meanwhile, is also a bit of a mixed bag – it has some decent fare typical of JRPGs, but nothing that truly stands out.

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Retrorona?

Then there’s the graphics. To put it simply, even for a game first released over a decade ago, Atelier Rorona is extremely underwhelming. While the character designs and their character models are quite nice, with a fair amount of detail, and some good cel shading that works well for their anime art style, the environments you’ll be walking through are relatively small, sparsely-decorated, and highly unimpressive… and they even suffer a bit of slowdown in some places, which is astounding given the unimpressive visuals on display.

What’s more, the game highly limits the player’s control over the camera, so you’ll only get a very limited view of these locations. However, this is something that negatively affects the gameplay too, as enemies can sneak up on you out of a foreground you can’t see due to the game’s camera.

Oh, and for players hoping for features making use of the Nintendo Switch hardware, like gyroscopic motion controls or the touchscreen… no such luck.

In the end, Atelier Rorona is not a bad Turn-Based JRPG, but it is far from a great one. The time management elements of this game aren’t as terrible as they may seem from the outside, but the need to constantly track progress on your calendar and watch deadlines doesn’t seem to match the otherwise whimsical low-stakes storyline, and there’s very little here that’s really compelling beyond the charming but dated presentation. Unless you’re a fan of the series, you’re probably better off skipping this one.

tl;dr – Atelier Rorona is the first game in the fifth series of Atelier games (the Arland series), a franchise of JRPGs with a focus on crafting. Rorona has a lot of charm, but its plot isn’t very compelling, and this low-stakes plot doesn’t match the need to constantly track progress of tasks against impending deadlines on a calendar. While not a terrible Turn-Based JRPG, I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re already a fan of the series.

Grade: C

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