In the fantasy kingdom of Arland, a little alchemy shop sits underutilized by its lady owner Astrid and assistant girl Rorona. One day the development body of the kingdom decides the space taken by the alchemy shop would be better served by a factory instead. Astrid and Rorona are given three years to prove their alchemy shop is actually useful, or they can kiss it goodbye. Astrid couldn't care less though and leaves the task to Rorona instead. Rorona having little actual alchemy experience has a challenging road ahead of her to prove the alchemy shop is worth keeping around.
For the player this means taking primary royal requests from the kingdom and fulfilling them before a time limit runs out. There are twelve tasks in total of varying difficulty. The tasks usually focus on synthesizing special items via alchemy. To do this, Rorona and her friends (or hired mercs) must venture out into the dangerous countryside and collect the necessary ingredients. But that is not all Rorona can do in this game by far. There are copious side quests, cooking, gardening, equipment crafting, and even bounty hunting elements as well. That means the true challenge is managing your time, as everything you do costs days on the calendar. Run out of days before the primary royal request has been filled, and Rorona's little shop will be in dire straits indeed.
Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland is an incredibly charming game to play, with an uplifting spirit to the whole affair. Though graphically simple for a PS3 game, the aesthetics are consistently upbeat and exude cheerfulness. Characters are written well and come to life via competent voice acting. The catchy and perky music is seriously great, but if you don't like it, you can change it, because Rorona Plus allows the player to pick tons of tracks from all of the games in the series and assign them however they like. And while the plot is relatively simple, it never gets caught up in overwrought melodrama as so often plagues JRPGs. (The only questionable element being that Astrid is ostensibly an overt child molester who admits to fondling Rorona when she sleeps.)
Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland is not a game for everyone. Those seeking classic JRPG structure and tropes won't find that here. This is a laid back experience about a seventeen year old girl just trying to keep her job. But if you want to enjoy a relaxing game, explore some countryside, collect ingredients and synthesize all sorts of crazy alchemic goodies, Rorona Plus lets you do that. With a decent combat system and optional super bosses, you can get into lots of involving battles as well. By the end, Rorona's friends and acquaintances will likely grow on you enough that you'll understand why Rorona wants to stick around Arland so bad. This game might not ultimately synthesize gold, but it never stops synthesizing fun.
PS After you finish the original game, the "Plus" version includes a large bonus scenario where the protagonists from Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru travel backwards through time and end up in Rorona's shop. A whole new series of adventures opens up for the three to endure. This includes new super tough dungeons and incredibly hard enemies and bosses. Also extra costumes are unlocked for Rorona to wear (which are a bit scanty because that ol' lech Astrid designed them for her).
I thought it's impossible.
