Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

Story

Atelier Totori takes place 5 years after the previous game, Atelier Rorona. It begins with Totori in the fishing village of Alanya, her hometown, and ends after five years pass. Totooria Helmold is Rorona's student who is looking for her missing mother. After the events of Atelier Rorona, Rorona has been traveling across Arland teaching alchemy. One day, Totori and her older sister find a starving Rorona collapsed on their doorstep. She teaches Totori about alchemy, adopting her as a student. Since then, Totori has been learning alchemy on her own.

Everyone in Alanya believes that Totori's mother is dead. However, Totori thinks she is still alive, so she travels to Arland in order to become an adventurer and search for her. Players follow Totori on her journey exploring the world, improving her alchemy, and searching for her long-lost mother.

Characters

Totooria Helmold

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese); Cassandra Morris (English)A young alchemist and student of Rorona. She travels to Arland in order to become an adventurer and search the world for her missing mother. She is very optimistic and believes her mother is still alive. Her nickname is Totori.

Cecilia Helmold

Voiced by: Asami Imai (Japanese); Cristina Valenzuela (English)Totori's older sister who is very protective of her. She has already given up and assumes their mom is dead. She cares very much for Totori and does not like the idea of her becoming an adventurer. Her nickname is Ceci. She is playable as a DLC Character.

Gino Knab

Voiced by: Yuuko Sanpei (Japanese); Tyler Shamy (English)Totori's childhood friend. He trains every day, hoping to become an adventurer with Totori.

Melvia Siebel

Voiced by: Ryōko Shintani (Japanese); Lauren Landa (English)Ceci's childhood friend and an experienced adventurer. She agrees to watch over and protect Totori on adventures. She is extremely powerful, well known in Alanya for her freakish strength.

Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi (Japanese); Sarah Williams (English)A young noble girl who also aspires to be an adventurer. She is very proud and considers Totori her rival.

Rorolina Frixell

Voiced by: Mai Kadowaki (Japanese); Julie Maddalena (English)Totori's alchemy teacher, and the heroine of Atelier Rorona. She, Totori, and Astrid are the only known alchemists. She appeared at Totori and Ceci's doorstep, passed out from hunger, and, after destroying their house with a failed synthesis, became Totori's teacher. After hearing Totori's story of her mother, she decides to help Totori's endeavors. Her nickname is Rorona.

Sterkenburg Cranach

Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi (Japanese); Liam O'Brien (English)A retired knight, he is searching for the king of Arland while protecting Arland and novice adventurers from monsters at the same time. He frightens many characters with his face, even Rorona, who has known him for years. He is currently searching for Gio, the King of Arland, and helping Totori on the side.

Marc McBrine

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese); Christopher Corey Smith (English)An eccentric scientist with an interest in inventions and children. He comes off very aloof and abrasive due to his zealous pursuit of science.

Cordelia von Feuerbach

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)Rorona's childhood friend who works at the Adventurer's Guild in Arland. She is more mature now and also helps Totori by finding information on her mother's whereabouts. She still gets angry when people comment on her height (since she hasn't grown an inch since the first game). She is playable as a DLC Character.

Guid Helmold

Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese); Kyle Hebert (English)Totori's father. He is barely noticed by his daughters, having very little presence, and rarely shows emotion.

Release

It was first released on PlayStation 3 in Japan on June 24, 2010 in a standard and premium edition. The premium edition comes in an oversized box with a limited edition crystal paperweight.

The PlayStation 3 version was localized by NIS America, and released on September 27, 2011 in North American territories, September 30, 2011 in Europe, and October 6, 2011 in Australia. In North America, a premium edition was also released. It came with the game, as well as a softcover artbook and partial soundtrack CD. For customers ordering from NIS America's online store, the premium edition also came with a double-sided poster.

On November 29, 2012, an enhanced port, titled Atelier Totori Plus: The Alchemist of Arland 2, was released in Japan for the PlayStation Vita. It was released in standard and premium versions. The premium set came with a crystal paperweight, but it has a different image and coloration from the previous paperweight. The main additional features to the port are the addition of a new post-game dungeon, along with several new boss enemies, new artwork, and new costumes for the player character. It also makes use of the Vita's back touchpad for navigating the world map.

The Vita version was localized in Europe and North America as Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland Plus, and released on March 20, 2013 as a digital download on the PlayStation Network. It was given no official announcement, the only clue being an R-18+ rating that appeared from the Australian Classification Board. This was a huge jump from the PS3 version's PG rating, the given reason being "references to sexual violence."

Reception

In Japan, the game was the third best-selling title on its release week and sold 53,871 copies between June 21 and June 27, 2010, an increase of 10,000 copies in the first week sales of Atelier Rorona.

Reviews have been generally favorable; the game currently has a 77 on Gamerankings and a 74 average on Metacritic.

PSX Extreme rated it 8.7/10, stating that "after five hours of play with Gust’s new effort, I realized this all clicked. After ten hours, it not only clicked, it was becoming addictive. Turn-based combat is not dead, and despite my aversion to anime, this is a beautiful, pleasing production." RPGamer rated it a 4.5/5, complimenting its story in that "Atelier Totori is not an epic RPG like many other games in the genre try to be, but its allure allows it to stand tall as a bittersweet and emotionally charged experience that may require gamers to pull out the tissue box."

IGN gave the game a 7.5/10, praising the graphics and gameplay, but said that, while the core story is good, "the writing is mostly groan-worthy and the voice acting rarely does anything to save it either."

Famitsu gave the PS Vita version a review score of 29/40.