Unskippable: Atelier Rorona

[Vohn_exel]

Why is it that all JRPGs now have to have that "emoting picture instead of animation" thing for talking now? I mean seriously, I've been waiting for a game that plays like Legend of Dragoon with the graphics of Final Fantasy XIII, but it's like we have to pick one or the other.

Having an emoted character show up over the screen just takes away something from the game to me. This game looks like a freaking PS2 game at best and we should really be beyond that by now.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Oh, for the love of...

Seriously, those cutscenes (mostly the narration) were beyond terrible even by below par JRPG standards.

In that case it makes it all the better to rip into it haha!

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

As bad as those animation standards are, don't play Cross Edge...it's on the same system, with SMALL SPRITES! Not just in battle...but IN GAME! I'll take Rorona's lackidasical standards over that pile of crap. At least Rorona had three dimensions.

 

[Mydnyght]

Why is it that all JRPGs now have to have that "emoting picture instead of animation" thing for talking now?

Yeah, I get what you mean. We should have gone beyond non-moving images by now. It seems as far as I know, Trinity Universe and Hyperdimension Neptunia are some of the only JRPGs these days where talking characters have ANY animation at all. Albeit, not much.

Spoiler: spoiler warning just to be safe...?

Still, if you ask me, it sure beats pictures in total stasis.

 

[awdrifter]

This is a really low budget game, it's aimed at the niche market. According to Wikipedia, the total sales is 200k copies. So you can't really compare it to FF13 or SO4 in terms of graphics. Just like no one is complaining about Minecraft's graphics.

 

[Optimystic]

I like how from the walking animation to the dialog picture she went up 2 bra sizes. Oh Anime...

I thought I was the only one who noticed!

And I think JRPGs went downhill ever since they began voicing them, especially dubbed voicing...

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

If the games had "visual novel" style scenes had a bit more organic lines, it would speed up the scene and make them flow better. There's always a stupid delay of a second or two. If they are going to insist on not using CG cutscenes, at least fit the dialogue parts closer together so there's no unique pauses.

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

It's a shame, really. I loved the Atelier Iris trilogy, but just couldn't get into this game. It played like Atelier Annie, the DS game. I think I made it a few months in, and just lost all will to play it. It's more alchemy-based, than battle-based.

That's because A.Rorona is a "mainline" Atelier game. "Iris" trilogy is a sub-series that focused more on battle and story, and not a full-on representation of the main formula.

And allow me a question: Why are many people readily convinced that the game is awful? Just from a few minutes alone?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

This is about cute anime-style antics in the form of a Jrpg, you shouldn't expect an epic, you shouldn't go into this looking for Lost Odyssey.


As for the title, I think the translation is somewhat to blame, as the Japanese version is named "Rorona no Atelier" or "Rorona's Atelier", albeit small, the difference matters.

 

[WaderiAAA]

I'll definitely start using the phrase "Well, it's a funny story, but basically shut up, that's how."

 

[A Gray Phantom]

I found Atelier's writing to be far superior to the atrociousness that is Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Rorona reminds me so much of some valley girl, which is funny because the friend I watched play it is so a valley girl.

And the way she fumbled with the messenger/knight. I expected her to start blurting out, "Oh, um, 'kay, message... I.. oh my god ur so hott!" XD

And the twist that is in the beginning of the game is that, by order of the king, the alchemy shop is supposed to be shut down UNLESS they run some errands for the kingdom. The consequences of failure are banishment from the kingdom...

When Rorona's boss gets the news, well, you wanna know what she does? The responsible thing to do would be to knuckle down and have Rorona run some tasks for her, training her in the ways of alchemy and saving the kingdom from some dark, unforseen force...

But no. Astrid says, "I'm going on a 'journey.' Shop's yours. If you need anything read the alchemy books but don't try to contact me." And she splits. I had to explain to my friend playing that basically Astrid has just shirked all responsibility and consequences and set YOU up to take the fall if things don't go over.

And Rorona's parents. Pretty pathetic. Do they confront Astrid on the matter? Despite having the opportunity to do so they pretty much have the wool pulled over their eyes, too. And now you see where Rorona gets it.

The only character I could really sympathize with was the daughter of the local mafia and Rorona's best friend. She seemed to be the only one who was on the same level as me and figured what was going on. But no matter what, she couldn't convince anyone around her of how much of a horrid manipulative woman Astrid was.

Blargh! Rage!

 

[Exterminas]

Amazing episode on a really stupid scene xD

 

[Ein Nineteenth]

This Atelier game was actually pretty hard and better than every other RPG that was released around the same time.

Is this going to be a two-parter?
The character introductions and Assignment Failed/Game Over are great for mockery.

 

[dashiz94]

OH GOD THE MUSIC! IT'S TERRIBLE!

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

OH GOD THE MUSIC! IT'S TERRIBLE!

You sure? The tunes are pretty catchy once the ears adjusted to them, and quite easy to remember. It's just Gust being themselves; they always go for simple, cheery, folk-music style tracks using wind instruments.

 

[schiz0phren1c]

"Rerro Rorona"
Classic...
I was singing "My Rorona" in my head at that point,but Scooby trumped that by a mile!,
Excellent stuff.

 

[Goldenkitten01]

Having played this game a lot more than some of the others that they've done I have to say I enjoyed it more. And while we can all agree JRPG's can be hilarious when taken out of their own context and posed against the "Does this make any sense?" (it's the hats, it's always the hats) question I was glad to see they didn't beat that horse again.

That said even on it's own this would have been one of the best episodes they've done in a long time. It got more giggles out of me in this one episode than the past five have put together, and the Scooby Doo voice made me laugh out loud.

 

[spuddaemon]

Scooby Snacks!!

...also, what's with the feather in her hat... it changes sides every time the scene cuts to dialog... JRPGs... *sigh*

 

[Ashcrexl]

gah, the art style rips off dark cloud 2 so heavily! especially that fountain surrounded by 4 benches, so palm brinks! they're ripping off architecture as well!

i checked, and level 5 was not involved in this game so it is a rip off.