Tag Archives: Atelier Arland

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Videos

New Game Plus: Vultures-B-Gone – Atelier Rorona DX #9

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Our “second playthrough” adventures in the world of Atelier Rorona DX continue, this time with an important pest control job!

It seems the Nearby Forest has been infested with vultures, and Rorona is clearly the right person to get rid of them. At least it’s a distraction from the myriad neuroses and mental scars Astrid and her absentee parents have almost certainly left on her by this point…

But surely, surely there must be an easier way of clearing out the vultures than just booping them all on the head with a(n admittedly massively overpowered) stick, right…?

Continue reading New Game Plus: Vultures-B-Gone – Atelier Rorona DX #9 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: Replicating Ancient Tool – Atelier Rorona DX #5

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Get out your ancient tool, boys and girls, because Rorolina Frixell is most certainly going to replicate it good and proper!

Yes, in today’s episode of New Game Plus, in which we are presently enjoying a second playthrough of Atelier Rorona DX on Nintendo Switch, we take on the poor overworked girl’s third assignment, which is somewhat vague on the specifics but nonetheless proves not to be too much of a problem for her.

Hit the jump to see how we got on today!

Continue reading New Game Plus: Replicating Ancient Tool – Atelier Rorona DX #5 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Videos

New Game Plus: Creating Explosives – Atelier Rorona DX #3

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When returning to a game for a second playthrough, it’s always incredibly satisfying when you manage to complete an objective well ahead of “schedule”.

Despite only certain things carrying over to a New Game Plus run in the various incarnations of Atelier Rorona, you can still bash out a lot of the early game content very easily, leaving you with plenty of time to make money, grind for experience, build up your relationship values and just generally have a good time in this pastel-coloured world.

Hit the jump to see just how quickly I managed to satisfy the second assignment…

Continue reading New Game Plus: Creating Explosives – Atelier Rorona DX #3 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, New Game Plus, Videos

New Game Plus: Furaipan Da Yo – Atelier Rorona DX #2

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Our (re)adventures in Atelier Rorona DX continue! Now we’ve finished the first assignment in this New Game Plus run, what’s next?

Well, there are plenty of options. Complete some quests, go out exploring, craft some items, make some materials and turn them into weapons and armour, fill out a bingo card, buy some beehives…

Hit the jump and see what Rorona got up to while waiting for her first deadline to hit.

Continue reading New Game Plus: Furaipan Da Yo – Atelier Rorona DX #2 →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Videos

New Game Plus: Producing Sundries – Atelier Rorona DX #1

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It’s time for a new series of New Game Plus, in which I take a game I’ve already beaten and explore its postgame content and/or New Game Plus modes.

With the Atelier Arland Cover Game feature now done and dusted, that would seem like an ideal time to immediately revisit those games and see what happens on a second playthrough, right?

We get underway today with a new beginning for Atelier Rorona DX: The Alchemist of Arland on Nintendo Switch.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang

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Continuing Atelier’s proud tradition of having a number of characters with delightfully flamboyant, somewhat Germanic names, I give to you Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang.

First introduced in Atelier Totori and subsequently explored further in Atelier Meruru, Mimi is a delightful character to be around. She’s also a great example of how the Arland trilogy as a whole makes good use of established character tropes as a basis, and develops those characters over time in various ways.

Let’s take a closer look at this little firecracker, then.

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Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Meruru: Arland Comes Together

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cropped-atelier-header-3938584This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland, the thirteenth mainline Atelier game and the third in the Arland series, first released in 2011.

It is a longstanding favourite of many enthusiasts of the series with good reason, and absolutely a suitable high point for the whole trilogy to wrap up on… that is, until Atelier Lulua comes along and confuses everyone by turning it into a quadrilogy! But more on that another time.

Providing some of the most refined mechanics in the Arland subseries along with a satisfying and enjoyable narrative to follow, Atelier Meruru combines elements of classic and more modern Atelier games. The result is a really great game featuring one of the series’ most appealing protagonists. So let’s dive in and take a look!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Pamela Ibis

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One of the earliest “non-human” character types I feel like I developed a bit of a “thing” for was the humble ghost.

Aside from occasional arguments with my wife over whether or not they are technically “undead” (they absolutely are), I’ve always found the concept of life beyond death fascinating for a variety of reasons. The feeling of freedom that being an incorporeal spirit doubtless affords you — but simultaneously a feeling of being trapped and lonely; these are things I found fascinating, and often wanted to explore in my own creative writing as well as the media I consumed.

So of course a super-cute ghost girl with a fine line in traditional European dress (including a rather daring and formidable neckline) is going to be My Type. Yes indeed. Here’s Pamela from the Atelier series.

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Esty

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There’s a lot of hoo-hah about “representation” in games right now from various sources, tending to lead to arguments between people who don’t think it matters and people who think it is more important than absolutely anything in the whole wide world.

For the most part, I tend to stay out of these discussions because I have no particularly strong feelings one way or the other and I’m not going to just sit here and hollowly say “the right thing” for Internet brownie points. For me, it’s always cool to see characters who are a bit “different from the norm” in various ways, yes, but it’s not something I specifically find myself seeking out. Unless you count generally favouring Japanese games with female protagonists or at least leading cast members, in which case… uh… well, look at the stuff I’ve covered on this site over the course of the last few years. Hmm, maybe I care about it more than I think.

Anyway, all that said, it’s nice when you feel some sort of connection to a character depicted in a piece of media. Even if it’s just in one small way…

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Esty →

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Rorona: Arland’s New Beginning

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cropped-atelier-header-3938584This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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As we’ve previously explored, the Atelier series is no stranger to rereleases and remakes — and at the time of writing, Arland trilogy debut Atelier Rorona has had more than most.

Initially releasing in Japan in 2009 as Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland before being localised by NIS America for North America, Europe and Australasia in 2010, the game was subsequently completely rebuilt in 2013 under its new worldwide publisher Koei Tecmo as Atelier Rorona Plus in an attempt to bring it more in line with the subsequent releases in the series. In 2015, Japan got a unique 3DS version of the game. And in 2018, Gust and Koei Tecmo brought Atelier Rorona DX — pretty much a port of Atelier Rorona Plus — to Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Windows PC.

Keeping one game relevant for nine full years and counting is no mean feat. So let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons this game might have stuck around for quite as long as it has!

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