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Atelier Meruru |OT| of Atelier Chronicles: My Life as a Princess

D

Durante

Member
Edit: Why do I always get the top post in this thread?

Tranced Shadow said:
Hey guys, just playing through Atelier Totori. First game in the series, and it took me a while but the game is really clicking for me right now.

I'm currently nearing the end of year 3, got the Diamond Rank, but I have a few questions and documentation on this title seems a bit scarce. Sorry if this is the wrong topic, but I figure it's better to post here then to necro some other thread. Anyway:

1. So I got Diamond Rank and
Cory tells me to go to the guild at a certain date to get the license renewed. Do I have to make sure I'm in Arland at that point, or will the game automatically yank me from wherever I am?

2. I understand that after this is over
I have to do something else, namely involving building a boat. Is there anything I can do now to help me be better prepared to do it on time?

3. Any idea where I can fetch types of fish that aren't Sardines? (i.e. Tuna)

4. How do I unlock higher levels of equipment in the synth shop? I'm using the best ingots/fabrics I can make, but I still can't seem to get the higher level stuff unlocked (which is annoying because I feel underpowered in combat).

5. Is there an easy way to raise money at my point in the game?

Cheers guys :D
Click to expand...
1) It's automatic
2) To get better prepared for that, and really everything in the game, get more chims. There are 5, and they help out tremendously by duplicating pretty much any item you find and/or create.
3) Only after you get the boat
4) You just need to create higher tiers of ingots/cloth (e.g. scalecloth is the second highest cloth IIRC)
5) The Spring Cup trick allows you to raise almost unlimited funds in a single day, but it's dreadfully boring. When you have a lot of chims and can create a high-level "alchemy yeast" with traits that increase the price, you can have the chims duplicate it. At the highest Chim level it will only take 1 day, and one will be worth 180 or so. With 5 Chims that's almost 1000 gold per day.




archnemesis said:
Well, this was a nice surprise! I got it a day early.

ib1aHkuWXBGjCl.jpg
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I hate you now.
 
T

tiff

Banned
shidoshi said:
Well—and maybe I'm wrong in my opinion on the game—I mentioned Recettear in regards to the fact that the game is presented as "here's a game where you manage shops". That's its ambition—versus trying to be an RPG with shop mechanics as one of its parts. The Atelier games have almost never been to me "here's a game where you do alchemy"—they're instead RPGs with a heavy alchemy mechanic.

So, my reference to Recettear is in that I with the Atelier series could not feel as much pressure to present itself as a fully-rounded RPG, and instead could be a game about alchemy built upon some (but not all) RPG elements.
Click to expand...
Well, I always thought of the Atelier games as alchemy games first and foremost, but I don't know. Atelier definitely pushes you into exploring more than Recettear does, though I've always considered that a flaw of Recettear more than anything.

Not to come off sounding like I'm feeding stereotypes or anything, but I think the Atelier series is a great series for female players, especially younger girls. They games all have female lead characters, they're charming, they have wonderful visual styles, they're about doing positive things (helping people, creating, crafting, etc.), stuff like that. So that's why I then really get bothered whenever they toss in the fan service stuff, because then it seems like the developers only care about a certain segment of male fans.

Be a little more careful about that type of stuff, and I think these games could have a much broader audience.
Click to expand...
On the other hand I don't see the problem with Gust caring only about a segment of their audience. It's their game, I don't see why they should have an obligation to appeal to anyone they don't want to. To be frank developers changing their identities to appeal to a broader audience isn't exactly the healthiest trend in gaming.
 
F

frequency

Member
shidoshi said:
Not to come off sounding like I'm feeding stereotypes or anything, but I think the Atelier series is a great series for female players, especially younger girls. They games all have female lead characters, they're charming, they have wonderful visual styles, they're about doing positive things (helping people, creating, crafting, etc.), stuff like that. So that's why I then really get bothered whenever they toss in the fan service stuff, because then it seems like the developers only care about a certain segment of male fans.

Be a little more careful about that type of stuff, and I think these games could have a much broader audience.
Click to expand...

Maybe I've been desensitized but I find some way less appropriate material in many other games that are widely accepted and played by younger audiences. Everything here is tame and if you don't approach it with a specific mindset, it's really harmless I feel.

I'm not sure that any of the content in these games would push the female audience away. In fact, because of the things you mentioned, I think it does more to attract a female audience than other games - which still have "inappropriate content". But I guess I am not at all a "normal girl" and don't represent the broader audience in any way.

But anyway. I don't question the validity of your criticisms at all. I love your opinions on all things (even your wrong opinion on Project Diva 2nd :p). I just thought it was an interesting conversation.
 
M

mollipen

Member
frequency said:
But anyway. I don't question the validity of your criticisms at all. I love your opinions on all things (even your wrong opinion on Project Diva 2nd :p). I just thought it was an interesting conversation.
Click to expand...

But I love, love, love PD Extend! Doesn't that make up for it!


tiff said:
On the other hand I don't see the problem with Gust caring only about a segment of their audience. It's their game, I don't see why they should have an obligation to appeal to anyone they don't want to. To be frank developers changing their identities to appeal to a broader audience isn't exactly the healthiest trend in gaming.
Click to expand...

We can disagree, but I do see a problem when a few simple changes could take a game from being more for a small niche audience to being for a much wider audience when those changes would not negatively impact the game in any way.
 
O

OceanBlue

Member
shidoshi said:
We can disagree, but I do see a problem when a few simple changes could take a game from being more for a small niche audience to being for a much wider audience when those changes would not negatively impact the game in any way.
Click to expand...
I wonder if those few changes would make the games sell more or less than they do already. It seems to me that Gust is pretty reliant on their niche audience. If they tried to leave their niche behind and aim for a wider audience, I wonder if enough people would actually care about the game to make up for it. It's not as if the basic premise, few changes aside, appeal to the average gamer.

What I'm hinting at is that Atelier Elkrone sold 8k its opening week.
 
T

tiff

Banned
shidoshi said:
We can disagree, but I do see a problem when a few simple changes could take a game from being more for a small niche audience to being for a much wider audience when those changes would not negatively impact the game in any way.
Click to expand...
Nah, fanservice is fun. I'd miss it.
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
For whatever this is worth, the lady friend is generally quite turned off by the creepier of Japanese media, but she's just as interested as I am in this one, fanservice or not. I think the cuteness and charm of this are just too strong. Then again, she loves Queen's Blade, so maybe she's not quite the most mainstream of feminists.
 
D

Durante

Member
tiff said:
On the other hand I don't see the problem with Gust caring only about a segment of their audience. It's their game, I don't see why they should have an obligation to appeal to anyone they don't want to. To be frank developers changing their identities to appeal to a broader audience isn't exactly the healthiest trend in gaming.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with this. Gust are making the games they want to make, they improve upon them with every iteration, and they're extremely profitable. There is no need for them to change the way they go about designing their games to chase a broader audience. Almost every time a developer does this it backfires spectacularly.

archnemesis said:
This game is pretty awesome, but why the hell doesn't Meruru have a "Barrel!" line?
Click to expand...
Wait what? And it's too late to cancel my order. I guess I'll have to put it up on ebay.
 
Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
OceanBlue said:
http://store.nisamerica.com/Games/Atelier-Meruru-The-Apprentice-of-Arland-Limited-Edition

It's sold out though.
Click to expand...

archnemesis said:
The artbook is a pre-order bonus in Europe. We're not getting a limited edition.
Click to expand...

Thank you! If I only had a way to pay at the NISA store I would have gotten the US limited edition but I was just asking because my regular store EU Totori copy came with a artbook so I wondered if my Meruru copy was missing anything.
 
Shizzlee

Shizzlee

Member
Almost forgot about this thread. I did buy Totori like I said I would. I found both Totori and Rorona in a local pawn shop for $15 each earlier this week and decided to buy them both. I played some of Totori first and I'm pretty torn on it. I like the visuals, the characters, the story, the music, the alchemy/weapon/armor crafting stuff, but I don't like actually playing it and I sort of hate the time mechanic.

I'm not gonna knock the time mechanic yet since the game seems to give you more than enough time to do what you need to do, but I still hate that it's there. I'd rather be able to explore places as many times as I want and do stuff at my own leisure instead of having to worry about my license being a certain level by Year 4.

The actual gameplay itself seems very boring to me. Battles are boring. I've just been letting Totori guard and use items/healing stuff while I let the other people in the party attack. Walking around huge areas and fighting monsters + picking things up off the ground is boring. I feel like I'm forcing myself through the game to advance the story and open new areas instead of actually playing it because I enjoy it. I hope Meruru is an improvement in the gameplay department.
 
D

dakkumauji

Member
I haven't even gotten my shipping email yet from NISA, but they have placed up the DLC schedule for this game, so yay?

On 05/29, we have a BGM pack and Rufus.
On 06/05, Hanna is next.
On 06/12, Pamela is next.
And on 06/19, we get Makina Domain, a new dungeon.

The BGM pack is 3 dollars and the characters are 4. The dungeon is free.

Source: http://www.nisamerica.com/index.php?nav=dlc&nav_id=ameruru&region=0&sortby=date&sorttype=asc

I wonder if the DLC characters have events in the game or are they like in Totori and just battle only.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
dakkumauji said:
I haven't even gotten my shipping email yet from NISA, but they have placed up the DLC schedule for this game, so yay?

On 05/29, we have a BGM pack and Rufus.
On 06/05, Hanna is next.
On 06/12, Pamela is next.
And on 06/19, we get Makina Domain, a new dungeon.

The BGM pack is 3 dollars and the characters are 4. The dungeon is free.

Source: http://www.nisamerica.com/index.php?nav=dlc&nav_id=ameruru&region=0&sortby=date&sorttype=asc

I wonder if the DLC characters have events in the game or are they like in Totori and just battle only.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll go add this to the OP. ^_^
 
B

BluWacky

Member
OceanBlue said:
What I'm hinting at is that Atelier Elkrone sold 8k its opening week.
Click to expand...

But Elkrone doesn't appeal to the average gamer either - it appeals to people who play otome games. They've just taken out the fanservice for men and replaced it with fanservice for women. It's also much more of a visual novel than certainly the PS3 Atelier games - it's really much comparable to something like Hakuouki.
 
K

kswiston

Member
I managed to track down a copy of Atelier Totori. It was at an EB Games a 45 minute drive from my house, but was selling for $20 new, so even with the gas it was cheaper than what Amazon was offering. If I like the game, I will pick up Meruru in a month or two.

Thanks to those of you who answered my questions regarding these games!
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Added a new review to the OP

The O-Network - A-
http://www.t-ono.net/Game-Reviews/Atelier-Meruru-the-Apprentice-of-Arland-PS3-Review.html

The O-Network said:
Although the game remains a relatively niche title, those who are looking for a traditional JRPG or are fans of the series will love it. With its fine-tuned battle and synthesis systems, fantastic soundtrack and fun characters, the game is a definitive conclusion to the Arland series. Atelier Meruru has easily been the most fun that I’ve had with a role playing game this year.
Click to expand...
 
A

archnemesis

Member
I've already reached the second year and I now have access to 7 party members. One of the biggest improvements is that it's a lot easier to trigger cutscenes compared to Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori. You no longer have to speak with everyone. In many cases it's enough to be in the general vicinity of some character to trigger one. Meeting the development goals is really easy, but I'm having a harder time trying to raise all the friend levels.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
archnemesis said:
I've already reached the second year and I now have access to 7 party members. One of the biggest improvements is that it's a lot easier to trigger cutscenes compared to Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori. You no longer have to speak with everyone. In many cases it's enough to be in the general vicinity of some character to trigger one. Meeting the development goals is really easy, but I'm having a harder time trying to raise all the friend levels.
Click to expand...

Those sound like solid improvements! Thanks for the info! ^_^
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I somehow managed to get mine today! \^_^/ I'm seriously the luckiest bastard in the world today. Pic spam incoming.
 
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