Hoo boy, where to start?
So, Atelier Rorona. How does a concept so laced, coated, and inundated with girly-gala-gunk with combat mechanics that are actually dumbed down from Atelier Iris trilogy's stuff wind up being so damn appealing?
Yes, it's got crafting; they've even managed to up the ante for it be making more complex recipe chains (with the potential for making them recursive to boot i.e. making Tonics from crappier Tonics). A nice little feature is the Dismantle mechanic, getting materials back from equipment; I haven't really used it yet, since the early game seems to revel in making you choose between getting stuff to make equipment, and y'know, not lose the game. It gets better later, and I must admit that some of it is my own noob mistakes.
The characters are fairly entertaining (but your mileage may vary; I can barely stand Astrid), and the story is refreshingly down-to-earth and low-scale. Your whole mission is to crank out goodies using Atelier-style crafting and give them to the government to justify your's workshop's continued presence. The 'villain' of the piece is a watered down mix of evil chancellor and robber-baron capitalist. The man is not even all that evil, really; he pulls 80's cartoon hijinx and a bit of crappy intrigue to sabotage your quest, but the guy could just literally order impossible goals and make it stick. Why doesn't he? I dunno, I'd say he's actually kinda bored and is trying to get his sovereign's attention. "Bleh, I'm so evil! I sure don't hope the king will stop terrorizing the local wildlife and actually do king stuff instead of letting me run amok! That would stop my schemes for sure, hint hint!" Seriously, its like Animal Crossing was being slowly conquered by Blue Laser Commander, but only half-heartedly, and only so somebody would actually notice. It's hilarious.
The game is girly as all hell, but its more like a happy take on things, allowing you to see what it would be like if the Harvest was being carried out by a pack of shoujo manga (I hope I spelled that right) cliches, backed up by some of the fanciest-dressed badasses ever. We've got typical dude concepts like the knight with a big ass sword (wears a fancy full suit with a big knightly-esque cloak), a fairly rad short order cook that kills stuff with an iron skillet and serves Waffle House fare as a heal spell (almost another full suit, but sans the jacket, and with a nametag and a wierd fanny-pack apron thing, still dapper as hell), and similar stuff. This game holds the distinction of actually making me want to go out and buy some formal wear, but my normal activities would shred the things, and cosplay's pointless if you're like me and don't have the resources to attend conventions. Hell, I forgot how to tie a tie anyway.
This game's version of the Harvest is fairly fun, as well. You have turn-based combat where you smack freaks, and then you root through the drops, looking for materials to make the best stuff. This is augmented by harvesting points where you find even more materials, plus shops that carry several convenient (and often high-quality) things. Once you get going, you actually get a homunculus minion to help gather all sorts of goodies, bringing the Harvest to a whole new level.
Well, anyway, the whole thing is proving to be a nice change of pace, and something of a palate cleanser to help get a break from all the world-saving, mind screws, and and in the grim dark future there is only GAR.
Oh, and a character has a skill that summons friggin' hitmen.
No comments:
Post a Comment