Games Beaten 2017

[BoneSnapDeez]

Elkin beating games I didn't realize were available for purchase yet.

[Sarge]

That's what I was thinking! Six days. Wow, that's pretty impressive, five hours a day, according to HLTB?

[MrPopo]

The other thing Elkin forgot to mention was added was a limited form of support conversations. They're triggered the same way as in previous FE games, but each character only has a handful, there's no limit on the number of A supports you can get, and they don't affect the endings (people marry if both are alive whether or not you did their supports). The other nice thing is that the support benefits take effect in a two square radius, so you don't have to do quite so much finagling to get that extra hit/crit/evade.

[Exhuminator]

30. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland | PS3 | JRPG | 2011 | 12h 52m | 7/10



Atelier Totori follows the exploits of Totori, an alchemist in training under the previous game's alchemist, Rorona. Totori seeks three things; to become a powerful alchemist, to become an adventurer, and to find her long lost mother. To do so will see her explore the land of Arland, gathering alchemy ingredients, fighting monsters, making friends, and generally having a good time. But time is also her greatest enemy, as all elements of Totori's quests have time limits. If she doesn't accomplish her goals before said time limits, the player will get a bad ending. Thankfully she's got plenty of friends willing to help her accomplish these goals.



Let me talk about positives first. Atelier Totori is a charming and breezy game to play. It's also very relaxing, and never takes itself too seriously. It's easy to sink hours into the world of Arland, just fulfilling quests, alchemizing gear, and enjoying the seemingly endless random skits between Totori and Arland's many denizens. The pleasant (though low budget) graphics, fantastic hand drawn character portraits, and uplifting OST keep the experience inviting. There's plenty of deep gameplay subsystems to keep the player's mind busy, and setting your own agenda to fulfill is in stark contrast to most JRPGs. Also the turn based battle system is simple, but fun, and has a fast pace. The player is always afforded freedom to do as they wish, and is given enough time to do it. The amount of depth and nuance in this game's design would catch many players by surprise. Sadly this is a series far too often passed over by average RPG players due to false assumptions and misplaced machismo.




However, not all was to my personal liking, and I ended the game rather quickly. Whereas I got a great ending in Rorona Plus, here I consciously chose not to. Why? Because the more I found out about Totori's mother, the less I cared to find her. And when I discovered what I would have to build to find said mother, and how complicated it was to alchemize this thing, in addition to the significant time investment required to find all the ingredients, I simply lost my will to continue. So instead I chose to sleep my way from the beginning of year five all the way to the middle of year six, until I got the bad ending. Yes I technically beat the game, but I got a terrible ending. I surely missed something like 30% of the game's content by choosing that ending. Maybe if I cared more about Totori's mother I would have bothered with the considerable complexity of building the thing needed to find her.



Up until the point of realizing how ridiculous what I had to build was, and what a douche Totori's mother was, I was having a great time. I really enjoyed chatting with all the characters and exploring the world of Arland. Plus you just have to love Totori, she's such a likeable protagonist. Too bad the back end time investment didn't seem worth the pittance of a return, plot-wise. Keep in mind, if you play this up to that point, you may feel completely differently. Maybe you'd happily build the thing and find the mom, I don't know. As for me, I did at least help Totori become a master-level alchemist, and a world class adventurer... we just didn't find her punk mother. Two out of three's not bad, and Totori can always just alchemize a new mom anyway.

[dunpeal2064]

Every time I see screens of an Atelier game, I want to play it. I've personally only played Atelier Iris and Mana Khemia.

About how long are the newer entries?

[ElkinFencer10]

The other thing Elkin forgot to mention was added was a limited form of support conversations. They're triggered the same way as in previous FE games, but each character only has a handful, there's no limit on the number of A supports you can get, and they don't affect the endings (people marry if both are alive whether or not you did their supports). The other nice thing is that the support benefits take effect in a two square radius, so you don't have to do quite so much finagling to get that extra hit/crit/evade.

Oh yeah, I did forget about that. Good catch, homie.

Yeah, I spent about 28 or 30 hours on the game. Truthfully I could have had the game finished Monday, Tuesday at the latest, if I weren't sick over this past weekend (and thus spent half the weekend days asleep and got obsessive compulsive about grinding for money to upgrade weapons and levels to class up units.

[Exhuminator]

About how long are the newer entries?

The six Atelier games on the PS3 all average 20-30 hours. I don't know about the games on other platforms.

[laurenhiya21]

Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

Yay we can be bad end buddies! Although judging by one of the screenshots (which I haven't seen before) I think you probably got farther than I did

I know that you mentioned it earlier, but did you get to building the boat? (I'm assuming that's not the thing that you didn't make) I'm asking because the pain in the ass boss that I got stuck on is right after that, so I'm wondering how you faired on it.

[Exhuminator]

I know that you mentioned it earlier, but did you get to building the boat?

You got farther than I did. I did not build the boat, because the amount of effort required to gather all the boat ingredients, and then to alchemize all the boat parts, did not seem worth the payoff to find someone whom I had no desire to meet.

I really enjoyed the game up until the boat part. I thought the boat's requirements were asinine honestly. I enjoyed adventuring more than alchemizing, and there should have been an alternate path for an adventurer other than just alchemizing the boat.

[laurenhiya21]

You got farther than I did.

Dangit, Exhum! How will I know how badly I did at that dumb boss if you didn't even get there!

I honestly don't remember having any trouble with the boat, but it sounds like this is probably why:

I enjoyed adventuring more than alchemizing

I enjoyed the alchemy a lot more than the adventuring, so I was probably glad to have another opportunity to do more alchemy stuff. I think if the boss and the boat were switched, you probably would have gotten farther than I did.