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 anway.
