Out Of Nowhere Atelier Totori Plus Hits The Vita

Earnest Cavalli

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Out Of Nowhere Atelier Totori Plus Hits The Vita



Never heard of Japanese roleplaying game Atelier Totori Plus? That's no surprise as its recent Vita debut came with absolutely no warning.

The Atelier Totori series has never had a huge following here in the States. In Japan, it's seen as an above-average, surprisingly deep roleplaying franchise with particular appeal to ... well, there's no other way to put it: The Atelier games appeal to those who are comfortable with the idea of sexualizing obliquely underaged anime girls. Almost any screenshot from the series will back me up on this point, and most would put a worried scowl on the face of your local police department's human trafficking division.

Despite this, the Atelier games aren't bad for Japanese roleplaying titles. At the very least, they're good enough and generally well-liked enough that you'd expect a new entry in the franchise to receive solid advertising efforts. Maybe not a building-sized billboard at the most recent gaming industry conference, but perhaps a few thoughtfully-placed internet ads. At the very least we'd expect a grassroots PR campaign that relies on games journalists to spread the word on the game's existence.

Yet when Atelier Totori Plus made its debut on the PlayStation Vita yesterday, absolutely no one knew about it. It's quite literally my job to be aware of stuff like this, yet I only found out about it because a perceptive Twitter follower happened to notice the game on the PlayStation Network Store and asked why I hadn't yet covered the game's existence. "I wasn't aware of its existence," I replied, before checking with my Nipponophile colleague Casey Loe (a professional translator and games journalist, formerly of GameFan Magazine and currently one of the hosts of the excellent Warning! A Huge Podcast [http://radio.morningproject.com/]) who likewise had no idea the game was scheduled for release.

This baffling lack of information in hand, I attempted to contact publisher Tecmo Koei to find out why the company had opted for a stealth launch, but was met with only silence. If the firm opts to respond at some point, I'll offer word on what exactly is going on here.

In the mean time though, those of you looking to get into a surprisingly deep Japanese roleplaying title who are willing to overlook its occasionally skeevy artwork should give Atelier Totori Plus a shot. It's quite an engrossing adventure once you figure out the basics, and can be yours right this very moment for $40 [https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/games/atelier-totori-plus-the-adventurer-of-arland-with-bonus-dlc/cid=UP4108-PCSE00231_00-TOTORIBONUSDLC00]. If you don't own a Vita however, you may want to look into the PlayStation 3's Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist Of Dusk. Tecmo Koei published that title on March 5, and unlike Totori it received a fair amount of exposure. That is to say, the company actually bothered to tell people of its existence before it appeared on the PlayStation Network.

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mjc0961

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Nov 30, 2009
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Meanwhile, I still can't play multiple PS1 and PSP games even though the useless thing should have been fully backwards compatible with the full PSN library of both sets of games on launch day. Here's my continued thanks for your continued nothing, Sony!
 

Fappy

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My girlfriend is obsessed with this franchise and I doubt even she has heard about this. I can stomach most JRPG weirdness, but this series is on it's own level. To be fair though, the blacksmith character's theme song is pretty awesome. Just give it a minute to kick in, trust me:


My girlfriend and I tend to play a lot of single player games in the same room together so I must have heard the songs from these games eight-dozen times at this point.
 

Earnest Cavalli

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Fappy said:
My girlfriend is obsessed with this franchise and I doubt even she has heard about this. I can stomach most JRPG weirdness, but this series is on it's own level.
It is definitely a "unique" franchise, but like I said, if you can look beyond the occasionally icky sexualization, there's a solid adventure there for fans of JRPGs.
 

Tony2077

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i own and like the ps3 version not sure if this one really adds anything to make me care
 

Fappy

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Earnest Cavalli said:
Fappy said:
My girlfriend is obsessed with this franchise and I doubt even she has heard about this. I can stomach most JRPG weirdness, but this series is on it's own level.
It is definitely a "unique" franchise, but like I said, if you can look beyond the occasionally icky sexualization, there's a solid adventure there for fans of JRPGs.
There were more than a few moments where I would glance over and yell, "JESUS, DAT CLEAVAGE!"

The only reason I'd probably never play the game myself is because I don't think I'd have all that much fun micromanaging inventories (which I know is a big thing in at least the first installment) and the combat looks repetitive from what I have seen. I'll admit though, Rorona is so hilariously stupid it is hard not to like her >.>
 

TsunamiWombat

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There's a lot more to this series than 'icky sexualization'. Isn't the latest one about a young woman looking for her sister on the cusp of the apocalypse so she won't be alone when the world dies?
 

DrRockor

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Atelier, you're an odd one. You have no plot, as far as I can tell anyway, your alchemy can be needlessly obtuse at times and you can retain price like nothing else, Atelier Totori is still £30 on amazon and it came out 2 years ago but I can't not play you. Give me a JRPG with turn based combat and grinding and I'll play it forever.
 

Antitonic

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The PSN on the website needs a bit of an update. Pretty sure the Vita has more than 5 RPGs...
 

hentropy

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Ehh, it doesn't really look that bad, then again my standards are a bit different. I guess I've seen too much stuff that would actually be legally questionable in some countries, not just "middle teen girls in occasionally skimpy outfits". That seems pretty tame compared to, say, the Elins in Tera.
 

Yuuki

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I'm sorta new to this whole JRPG thing, it's safe to assume the whole series is Japanese w/ English subtitles right? If it hasn't had a huge following in states them I can't imagine them hiring english voice actors :S

Which I'm more than fine with, watching anime for so long one gets pretty used to skimming through the bottom of the screen while keeping up with the action.

I was turned-off earlier by the Final Fantasy series (started playing at X:2) but perhaps this will be the game to restore a little faith for me?
 

IllumInaTIma

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Hmm... well now that's intriguing. Can anyone explain game to me? Is it turn based combat? Is there a lot of micromanagement? Do I need to grind?
That might be second JRPG I buy for Vita after Persona 4 Golden, but I'm not sure if I should just drop $40.
 

Quiotu

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IllumInaTIma said:
Hmm... well now that's intriguing. Can anyone explain game to me? Is it turn based combat? Is there a lot of micromanagement? Do I need to grind?
That might be second JRPG I buy for Vita after Persona 4 Golden, but I'm not sure if I should just drop $40.
The Atelier games are a pretty unique subset of JRPGs. The games themselves revolve around a young lady usually striving to become a renown alchemist. So unlike most JRPGs, the goals are based on recipes and orders people make, and the set dates they must be completed. The game has a specific set of days you have to complete each chapter, and ends at a certain date as well. You forage and monster hunt to gather ingredients to synthesize recipes which you then sell, gaining you access to new recipes and goals... and the cycle continues. There is a story behind the games, but that's the basic premise of the series. The combat itself is your standard turn-based affair, nothing particularly interesting about it. It's been the alchemy and shop aspect of the game that make it stand out.
 

IllumInaTIma

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Quiotu said:
IllumInaTIma said:
Hmm... well now that's intriguing. Can anyone explain game to me? Is it turn based combat? Is there a lot of micromanagement? Do I need to grind?
That might be second JRPG I buy for Vita after Persona 4 Golden, but I'm not sure if I should just drop $40.
The Atelier games are a pretty unique subset of JRPGs. The games themselves revolve around a young lady usually striving to become a renown alchemist. So unlike most JRPGs, the goals are based on recipes and orders people make, and the set dates they must be completed. The game has a specific set of days you have to complete each chapter, and ends at a certain date as well. You forage and monster hunt to gather ingredients to synthesize recipes which you then sell, gaining you access to new recipes and goals... and the cycle continues. There is a story behind the games, but that's the basic premise of the series. The combat itself is your standard turn-based affair, nothing particularly interesting about it. It's been the alchemy and shop aspect of the game that make it stand out.
So it's kinda like Recettear (shop owner sim)?
 

Weaver

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Having never played a game in this series, is there one people would recommend as a starting off point?
 

Quiotu

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IllumInaTIma said:
Quiotu said:
IllumInaTIma said:
Hmm... well now that's intriguing. Can anyone explain game to me? Is it turn based combat? Is there a lot of micromanagement? Do I need to grind?
That might be second JRPG I buy for Vita after Persona 4 Golden, but I'm not sure if I should just drop $40.
The Atelier games are a pretty unique subset of JRPGs. The games themselves revolve around a young lady usually striving to become a renown alchemist. So unlike most JRPGs, the goals are based on recipes and orders people make, and the set dates they must be completed. The game has a specific set of days you have to complete each chapter, and ends at a certain date as well. You forage and monster hunt to gather ingredients to synthesize recipes which you then sell, gaining you access to new recipes and goals... and the cycle continues. There is a story behind the games, but that's the basic premise of the series. The combat itself is your standard turn-based affair, nothing particularly interesting about it. It's been the alchemy and shop aspect of the game that make it stand out.
So it's kinda like Recettear (shop owner sim)?
A more complex version of it, yes. You have to go out and get the ingredients and make the recipes yourself, not just stock a store with them. Instead of a shop to maintain, you take orders from customers with a set date to complete. There's usually one specific order that you build up to complete at the end of the chapter, with the other orders merely helping you along.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

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Yeah, I'm going to try and keep calm during this critique, but this is not your usual level of journalism. Mr. Cavalli. First of all, referring to the Atelier series as the "Atelier Totori" series. Not a huge oversight, of course, but an oversight nonetheless.

What I can't get behind is the sexualization comment. Sure, it's there to some small degree, but not nearly as prevalent as in other JRPG's like the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and Agarest War titles. Now *those* are games that "appeal to those who are comfortable with the idea of sexualizing obliquely underaged anime girls." I mean, that statement kind of demonizes the series unfairly.

I'm not even the biggest fan of the series, but I still think your judgement goes a bit too far.
 

Quiotu

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Lvl 64 Klutz said:
Yeah, I'm going to try and keep calm during this critique, but this is not your usual level of journalism. Mr. Cavalli. First of all, referring to the Atelier series as the "Atelier Totori" series. Not a huge oversight, of course, but an oversight nonetheless.

What I can't get behind is the sexualization comment. Sure, it's there to some small degree, but not nearly as prevalent as in other JRPG's like the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and Agarest War titles. Now *those* are games that "appeal to those who are comfortable with the idea of sexualizing obliquely underaged anime girls." I mean, that statement kind of demonizes the series unfairly.

I'm not even the biggest fan of the series, but I still think your judgement goes a bit too far.
I'll give you that much... the crimes of this series specifically are pretty lightweight. Hell I'm a fairly big fan of the Ar Tonelico series, and that series is one of the kings of the 'artificial girl objectification' meme.