The 7th game in the Atelier series I've beaten and the sequel to one of my favorites in the series, I had high hopes for playing through Atelier Totori (the 12th game in the series). I've been co-streaming Atelier games (watching as she plays the actual game) with a friend for over a year now, and this is the first one I've played myself that she more or less had also entirely played. While I did watch her play through most of Atelier Rorona Plus, that's quite a different animal from the original version. Atelier Totori is nearly identical to its later remasters though, with only a dungeon here or there and another playable character or two differentiating them. However, even despite having seen more or less the entire game before (I'd never seen the proper ending), this one still managed to captivate me all throughout playing it. It took me about 45 hours to get through the Japanese version of the game doing Rorona's ending, Melvia's ending, and (my favorite) Mimi's ending.

Atelier Totori picks up a few years after the ending of Atelier Rorona. Rorona has begun traveling the world researching alchemy as well as trying to teach potential students alchemy too. However, her attempts to teach are met with failure after failure save for one girl in the small seaside village of Alanya, which is where our titular alchemist comes into the picture. Dreaming of finding her long lost mother, Totori uses her newfound (albeit fledgling) alchemy prowess to set out for the capital of the (as of quite recently) Republic of Arland to become an adventurer just like she was. Her journey will have her meeting many new faces, some returning characters from Atelier Rorona but many all new characters to Totori's story as well.

The story is far and away my favorite part of Atelier Totori. People who've been reading my reviews for a while likely know that character writing is absolutely what I live for, and this game (as Atelier games often do (or at least did -_-)) has it in spades, but not quite like Atelier Rorona had. While Atelier Rorona had a more quiet, less directed story as you guided Rorona through adolescence, Totori's story is less conventional and has a more concrete beginning, middle and end, at least as far as Atelier games with time limits are concerned. It's a story very concerned with not only the general theme of the Arland series, the relationships between students and teachers, but also with a very present and strong new motif of loss, grief, and acceptance, and the powerful transforming effect they can have on people. The way Totori, her big sister, and her father get along in their day to day lives hit really hard for me. I don't think any game has made me cry as much as this one has ^^;. That's not to say it will definitely hit that hard for you, but this is a game whose emotional through-lines are laid well and thoroughly in a way that is stand-out excellence even in a series that's no stranger to good dialogue writing.

While the story is in the territory of "not just different but better too" than Atelier Rorona's was, I would say the gameplay is almost universally better. While Atelier Rorona was in many ways a re-imagining of the first Atelier game, following a girl and her workshop all centered around one town, Atelier Totori is something of a re-imagining of the second game in the series, as the ground Totori covers is a LOT larger than Rorona ever did in her game, and you even have two towns and two Ateliers to go between (somewhat like you did in the 2nd Atelier game). Items still have persistent and unique features respective to themselves, the maps you explore to collect them in have changed a lot. Gone is Rorona's "few areas with many maps" approach and here to stay is exploring nodes around a much larger world map which are each a (usually) quite small area to fight enemies and collect ingredients in.

Traveling between these nodes takes time, very similarly to how it did in Atelier Rorona, but there are much greater changes in how time management has been drastically altered in this game. Where before, once you got to an area, time effectively stood still as you fought whatever monsters and collected whatever materials were in that area, now EVERYTHING you do takes time, be it fighting monsters or gathering ingredients. This makes time management a much larger part of the experience, as the overall time crunch, even for the normal ending, is much harsher than it was in that game.

That greater difficulty in time management is increased also by the fact that you have two parallel sorts of progression tracking, with one being the greater quest to find your mother, and the other being rising through the ranks of the adventurer's guild. The guild ranks are handled in a really fun and intuitive way, as you receive points like they were mini-achievements for doing anything from killing an optional boss to just crafting a bunch or completing a bunch of requests (which are also in this game, in their very familiar forms of either killing monsters or delivering items). The tightly defined 90-day story quests of Rorona that make that game such a less stressful time management experience are totally gone. However, this is one of the few Atelier games with a time limit that actually has not just combat checks, but a genuine final boss, and letting time get away from you to the point where he's WAY to strong for you to kill is something all too easy to do (and is why I'd never seen anything but the bad ending before playing through this myself, and my friend's misfortune is why I was wary enough to use my time as wisely as I could during my own playthrough).

Atelier Totori is one of the first games in the series to both have a time limit and also realize just how broken a build you could make, and the bosses (especially the optional ones) really push to the limit just how tough you can get. No longer does the old strategy of simply grinding up levels or making a pile of really really big bombs do the trick anymore, as even normal late game enemies will require you to have a good stockpile of both defensive and offensive weapons to deal with them. Honestly, one of my only genuine complaints with Totori as a game (other than the writing having a little too much fan service for my liking, at least compared to Atelier Rorona) is that between the difficult enemies and bosses and the removal or nerfing of items that used to be very good (there are almost no full-party healing items in this game, for example), this game is just a bit too hard for its own good for what a game like Atelier Rorona or the earlier games like it in the series would've led you to expect.

However, just because the obstacles are built up higher doesn't mean you don't get anything new in your corner either. Sure, you have some smaller things like the removal of Rorona's "HP is everything, even mana" system in favor of a more traditional HP, MP, and LP (consumed when traveling) system, and you also can recruit Rorona herself into your party to give you not one but two item-using party members in your team of three. The battle systems have also FINALLY been given a visible turn order counter in the lower corner. Now certain moves taking longer to do than other moves and making your next turn therefore take longer is something the Atelier games have always had but have kept secret. It was something playing most any of the old ones you'd probably guess at the existence of just by virtue of experimenting with the combat even a little. But this game finally makes it visible and usable to your advantage by planning how you'll do each characters move, and it's thankfully a feature that sticks around. But while turn orders and HP systems are fine and all, the most important new addition is just knee high: Chims!

In Rorona you had Hom the homunculus who was basically just another pair of hands to craft with, but they weren't especially convenient or easy to use in the original game. Chims, that's right, PLURAL, are chibi-homunculi who you can use in much more diverse ways. Unlike Hom, you can get more than one Chim by progressing through the story and doing optional quests, getting a minimum of two and a maximum of five. Also better than Hom is that not only can Chims collect specific ingredients when asked (where Hom just brought back a random smattering from wherever you sent them), a Chim doesn't even need materials to craft things! Sure, compared to yourself, it takes a while for them to craft much scarier items like big bombs or healing items, but not needing to get the resources to make that stuff is such a lifesaver. The only sticking point is that Chims, unlike Hom, need fuel to function: pie! If you don't want your Chim to get tired and laze about all day, you need to keep them supplied with a good supply of plain pie items. However, that's also just work you can conveniently delogate to other Chims, if you're so inclined. On a mechanical level, Chims and their function are my favorite new addition to the overall way these games play, and adjusting the military Chim-dustrial complex to suit your battling or crafting needs is a constant part of the larger crafting systems in this game.

The crafting and synthesis itself isn't thaaat different in this game compared to Atelier Rorona, but it is present in all its glory. You still have unique traits to each item, as mentioned before, but you also have a lot more qualities items can have. This is another little beef I have with how the game is designed, as a lot of these traits don't really have super intuitive effects, although you can thankfully see what the effect is on screen just about any time that effect would matter. Aside from that, using different qualities or varieties of ingredient to make your end result even better is just as much fun here as it was in Rorona, for the most part. The nicest overall addition here is the revamping of the UI to make crafting less of a menu headache, really.

The presentation of this game is as top notch as Rorona was and then some, even for an Atelier game. The 3D models have been touched up a lot, and while they still look a little chibi, they don't look anywhere near as different to the character portraits as the ones in the original Atelier Rorona did. Those 2D character portraits that do the job of most of the acting during the visual novel-like dialogue scenes are still here and as beautiful as ever, with each character having a large assortment of different expressions they can use. The music is also as excellent as ever, with Gust again not disappointing between the new renditions (or just outright unaltered inclusions) of old tracks as well as the oodles of great new songs in this game.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is easily one of my favorite games I've played all year. Atelier Rorona (not to mention a lot of the other great games) set a damn high bar, and Atelier Totori soared over it for me. This is definitely not a great first Atelier game for someone, as it's just too difficult with how it uses its time management and boss battles compared to Rorona, but this is a stellar sequel to the original Atelier Rorona and builds so well on the piles that game already did right. This is definitely my new favorite in the series, and one I cannot recommend enough paired alongside its predecessor (or even just played on its own, if you're feeling brave enough). Perhaps one of the most evident signs of just how much I love this game is just how highly I considered doing another playthrough immediately after my first one to try and get the true ending (which is pretty damn tough to do). I almost never play RPGs twice, let alone back-to-back, and if I didn't have other more pressing things on my gaming horizon, I would've dove right back in.

Atelier Rorona was such a fantastic experience for me. It was a game I always wanted but never knew I did. With such praise, I would, of course, be justified in buying all of its sequels, but… by that point I had already done so. Sometimes keeping an unreasonable backlog is convenient.

Atelier Totori picks up many years after the end of Rorona, in a fishing village not too far from the capital of Arland. Our story begins with a huge explosion, as Totori’s cauldron has once again gone up in flames. Totori – short for Totooria Helmond – is a beginner alchemist, apprentice to none other than Rorona herself -- the normal ending's Rorona, instead of the true ending's, which means that, here, Rorona only barely has her stuff together and her teaching methods are sort of lacking.

Totori perseveres, however, not only because she enjoys doing alchemy, but also because it is a valuable tool to be used in the quest ahead of her. Her mom, once a renowned adventurer, hasn’t been home for a few years, and everyone has given up on her ever returning. Everyone, except our young protagonist, who dreams of becoming an adventurer and traveling the world in search of her mother. Not too long after that cauldron incident, the opportunity presents itself, and she sets out to complete that goal.

As it was with Rorona, I appreciate how simple the central conflict in Totori is: there isn’t a huge evil to fight, or a world to defend. This is a girl’s quest to find her missing mother. A personal conflict, something that means nothing to a passerby but means the world to a single person, making Totori immediately relatable. The game's intro focuses on the emotional struggle that Totori and her family have endured over the disappearance of their loved one -- how their family never fully healed. It’s rare for games to tell this kind of story, as it does not provide a baddie to punch, and the way Atelier Totori does it is incredibly sweet.

Over the course of her adventure, Totori will meet all kinds of people from a pool of new and returning characters, and it’s the latter that makes Totori into the sequel of my dreams. Ever wonder how all those characters you got deeply involved with in a story turned out after its ending? Wonder no more, as you get to see exactly how each of them ended up, how they grew and what they achieved.

You’ll be delighted to befriend Iksel and Cordelia again, meet a host of familiar shopkeepers, listen to Rorona and Sterk bicker about one another… almost everyone from Arland is back, and I can’t emphasize enough how heartwarming this reunion feels. Of course, the new cast is lovely as well. I especially like Mimi’s character and how she complements Totori, both as a friend and as a rival. Totori demonstrates how powerful the trilogy format used by Atelier is, and why Rorona got a fourth game.

Speaking of trilogies, by the way, if you played the previous game, you know what to expect from this one, gameplay wise. There are some changes to items and the synthesis system in general, as well as completely rehauled map and time systems that seem daunting at first, but I consider an improvement. Areas feel far less redundant now, and there’s less incentive to fight repetitive battles. It doesn’t take too long to get used to it.

If you disliked Rorona's game (how could you?) you will probably not like this one either, but for fans of the prequel, Atelier Totori is an utter delight: a wholesome adventure amongst characters I’ve grown to love and can’t get enough of. I am so glad this series exists.

After a mediocre experience with atelier rorona og (please don't play this version) I begun this game with low exceptations.
And it does way better than its predecessor.
My biggest issues with rorona was the strict time management but totori handles it differently. You have 6,5 years to complete your goals with a bad ending at the 3rd year but that's all. You can manage your time however you want. I've never seen a jrpg that offers that much liberty to the players.
Combatwise we finally get a classic but decent combat system. Combat is more present in this game.
The alchemy system is broken though. You get Chims that can duplicate every item/synthesis you possess. No matter how rare they are.
Plotwise the story resolve mostly around slice of life cutscenes. There is a more interesting "main story" with totori's reseach of her mother with some strong moments. This game shows you don't need to create complex or dramatic stories to create emotions.
And graphically I won't say it's great looking but there are some inspired environment. Without talking of its stunning art.