Pretty good game, but...

[IntroPhenom]

Pardon me while I gripe...

 

Given Rorona is the first in the Atelier series, I'm hopeful subsequent games tidy up some annoying parts.  I'm a bit overwhelmed with how much I'm expected to keep track of, check in on, etc., and honestly I'm having difficulty enjoying myself while playing.  Here are some reasons why:

 

Numerous companions all requiring fetch quest success in order to get their friendship level maxed out, to get a trophy.  This bugs me.  Fetch quests as a concept do not bug me, for the record.  I'll fetch all day if I have to, but in this game sometimes what's asked for simply isn't possible to obtain, or not possible to create, and it's frustrating.  I had an incident with Tiffani just last night where she wanted quality honey, and I had no quality bee hives to make any.  So I grinded the area containing bee hives several times, yielding only two of the six I needed with a 50+ value, wasted all that time, and had to abandon the quest.  Doesn't seem fair and certainly isn't satisfying.  

 

Speaking of the time, it feels far too short: alchemy takes time, exploring takes time, resting when needed takes time.  There's a constant feeling of missed opportunity between accepting a quest, whether for the town or for a companion, running around getting it done, or realizing you can't, and then wondering if you're even doing what you're supposed to.  I am no coward when it comes to grinding.  I'll grind for hours, dozens of hours, even, but it's a huge gamble in this game, since you risk failing other things while you grind, and also risk failing the quest itself.

 

To add to the stress of time management, lots of ingredients deteriorate in quality as the days pass.  Great.  Also, a delivery boy appears after a while, coming on the fifteenth of each month with lots of good things to purchase (yay!), but if you're not in your workshop on the fifteenth, you miss him (boo).  So if you have two days or so before he arrives, and things to do that take more than two days, you have to make a decision: Waste two days waiting around or miss a chance to buy quality stuff.  The whole time mechanic kind of sucks.

 

So companion quests, town quests, alchemy, exploration, adventurer leveling, alchemy leveling, triggering special cut scenes at certain times, no explanation of what the combat moves do, or at what level they become available, a bothersome time limit, impossible tasks (which lower related levels when you fail), LOTS of trophies demanding particular endings, or events, or whatever (how many flipping times did the developers expect us to play this???), having to grind for ingredients that may or may not be there, but eat days as you do, and blah blah blah.  

 

I'd love to hear from others who are playing or have played this.  Perhaps I'm just not playing it in the smartest way.  My preference is to play a game first, without reading through a guide or even viewing all of the trophies, but I've had to read up on this one along the way so far, and doing so definitely tamps down my enjoyment.

[AiManiaTrophyhuntres]

hey

I have this game lying around here but haven't started yet.

Friends convinced me to try it and they all say the same:

The first playthrough is pretty hard if you want everything perfect so don't make it perfect, just have fun.

In NG+ it will be a lot easier.

I don't know what stats you will take over to NG+ but according to them it will be pretty easy to get all trophies then if thats what concearns you.

if you are just a perfectionist, well that means playthrough one will be unsatisfying for you I suppose.

[IntroPhenom]

Hey hey.

Certainly not a perfectionist.    I acknowledged a few hours in that more than one playthrough would be needed, but the thought of a dozen alarmed me.  For this one, I'm focusing on getting 100% for the town, so I can worry about that less next time.  In the back of my mind there's a little voice who keeps trying to convince me it's not possible to get the platinum trophy, but of course it is, and I intend to, even if I have to play for 200 hours.  I'm stubborn like that.

[Edunstar84]

For this one, you're gonna have to use a guide because you're right there are a lot of things to keep track of. I believe I used Kyrstal's walkthrough at gamefaqs. The games get easier after Rorona. I haven't played Totori, but Meruru (and those afterwards) are so much easier. Though I quit the series after 4 games. I just couldn't do the alchemy thing anymore.

[IntroPhenom]

9 minutes ago, Edunstar84 said:

For this one, you're gonna have to use a guide because you're right there are a lot of things to keep track of. I believe I used Kyrstal's walkthrough at gamefaqs. The games get easier after Rorona. I haven't played Totori, but Meruru (and those afterwards) are so much easier. Though I quit the series after 4 games. I just couldn't do the alchemy thing anymore.

 

I have it in my head I'll get through them all, for the associated project platinum, but yeah, there's a lot.    And another coming next year!  AUGH!

 

Oh, and I did find the guide you mentioned on gamefaqs, thanks.

Edited December 18, 2017 by IntroPhenom

[AiManiaTrophyhuntres]

just don't give up, somethimes after a few trophies popped it suddenly looks way easier and in the end plat will be yours, believe me

Have fun plat them all, thats a nice project!

Now I'm motivated to start that game finally, too

[AlchemistWer]

Someone have problem with Rorona-chan? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) lets talk about Atelier... Keep in mind the heart of Atelier is all you are dissapoint (time, friends point, alchemy etc) when people for the first time play Atelier is normal this type of problem, guts has imrpove Atelier games and now you can play someone games without guide or time sensitive (Like Atelier Sophie and Firis for example both of them are Mystery serie) Rorona is maybe my favorite Atelier, the vanila version you must reach 100 friends point with all npc and each have another requisite which is the ending (normal, good, bad or whatever) so now you can assume the games is all about friends, endings and do quest with alchemy items? yes it is. Do you need guide with Atelier? of course you need and no just Rorona also Totori and Meruru (The Arland serie) why? simple because like I say before it is all about endings and friends even if you dont care about platinum (just is an example) you need a guide and you will get more than 80% of thophies because each ending have a trophy + assignment + random trophies.

But you said "vanila" version, the plus version for sure it is easier than vanila! No sorry ? it is almost the same game.

What I recommend? just start again, and play with krystal guide on gamefaq and enjoy Atelier (: I really love all of them and if you need ask about something you can send me a mail  (:

 

Good luck! 

[eigen-space]

I think I'd like to put in my 2-cents on this dead topic  
 

The first time I played Atelier Rorona was a couple years before I became a trophy hunter. And I played it several times over. When I did start trophy hunting, the Plus version of this game was the second game I earned a platinum for, and it wasn't terribly difficult. That's because I already knew how the game worked. This game is not an easy one in terms of all the things you need to do, but so long as you understand the mechanics, it won't be that difficult.

The game gives you ample time to do friend requests-- for example, I already have Iksel, Tiffani, and Hagel maxed out in the 4th assignment period; Cordelia, Lionela, and Sterk in the 60s; Gio is in his 30s; Cole and Tant in their 20s; Pamela requests aren't available yet. Granted this is with a NG+ where I can just purchase a lot of materials instead of searching for them, and when I use the item registry available in Chapter 5, I'm pretty much going to have everyone done really quick. Even in my first playthrough, I had town reputation at 100% and NPC at 100% during Assignment 7 without having all this extra cole to spend from the carryover. And this is possible because I know the mechanics.

The guide everyone is referencing is very good at telling you which friend requests to pick up and which to avoid due to inefficiencies or impossibility. It is kind of garbage that the game will ask you to make lightning bombs or balbombs as soon as you have access to the recipes but don't have access to the materials, but you'll have plenty of opportunity to do other requests for those characters throughout the game. Or just not worry too much about getting character endings until NG+.

In my opinion, figure out the mechanics in your first playthrough. Maybe try to focus on the Cordelia Ending and Adventurer Ending while also focusing on things like bestiary completion, item completion, and alchemy lvl 50. Then use your knowledge of how the game works in your NG+ to drive it home.
I can definitely see how this game might not be a favorite for trophy hunters as it is difficult to get a handle on; I probably wouldn't have liked it so much if I first played it with a trophy-hunter/completionist mindset. But this really is a fantastic game with really good characters... I hope you're able to see it to completion some day

Edited June 19, 2018 by eigen-space

[IntroPhenom]

@eigen-space

 

Though I haven't loaded it up in a little while, this game has not left my mind.  Your comments detail where my train of thought had its last stop - NG+.  My plan is now to run through the game, doing what I can, (after I clean up a bit more of my backlog), and let whatever trophies pop that will pop,  Then, I'll be poised to focus on every little thing during my second play through, with the assistance of the guide.

 

In typical rash fashion, all six PS3 games were purchased off of eBay some time ago, so not persevering through all six would be foolish.  (Albeit not as foolish as buying six games I didn't intend to start immediately, but still foolish.)

[IntroPhenom]

On 6/18/2018 at 11:18 PM, eigen-space said:

The game gives you ample time to do friend requests-- for example, I already have Iksel, Tiffani, and Hagel maxed out in the 4th assignment period; Cordelia, Lionela, and Sterk in the 60s; Gio is in his 30s; Cole and Tant in their 20s; Pamela requests aren't available yet. Granted this is with a NG+ where I can just purchase a lot of materials instead of searching for them, and when I use the item registry available in Chapter 5, I'm pretty much going to have everyone done really quick. Even in my first playthrough, I had town reputation at 100% and NPC at 100% during Assignment 7 without having all this extra cole to spend from the carryover.

 

Old topic now, sorry, but I've been thinking about this game again.  Can you tell me how much time you spent on exploring versus friend quests?  I can't fathom having a town rep and NPC friendship at 100% by assignment 7 (so quick!).

[cckerberos]

On 12/18/2017 at 7:53 AM, IntroPhenom said:

Given Rorona is the first in the Atelier series, I'm hopeful subsequent games tidy up some annoying parts.

 

Old topic but now that it's been revived I felt it should be mentioned that Rorona is actually the 9th game in the Atelier series (ignoring spin-offs).

 

This game in particular is one that requires a guide and can even then be pretty stressful if you want to do everything in the minimum number of playthroughs.

Edited February 3, 2019 by cckerberos

[IntroPhenom]

On 2/2/2019 at 9:40 PM, cckerberos said:

 

Old topic but now that it's been revived I felt it should be mentioned that Rorona is actually the 9th game in the Atelier series (ignoring spin-offs).

 

This game in particular is one that requires a guide and can even then be pretty stressful if you want to do everything in the minimum number of playthroughs.

 

That's interesting.  Is Rorona the first game released in the US, or were previous games available on previous consoles?

[cckerberos]

8 hours ago, IntroPhenom said:

 

That's interesting.  Is Rorona the first game released in the US, or were previous games available on previous consoles?

 

The first five were only released in Japan but the rest were released worldwide.

[mecharobot]

On 3.2.2019 at 4:20 AM, IntroPhenom said:

 

Old topic now, sorry, but I've been thinking about this game again.  Can you tell me how much time you spent on exploring versus friend quests?  I can't fathom having a town rep and NPC friendship at 100% by assignment 7 (so quick!).

Generally speaking there is little point to explore an area more than once. Make sure to get any recipe books, those are the most important thing. Ideally you should kill everything on screen, since in Rorona fighting doesn't use up time (iirc), but if enemies are too strong then just run away and kill only what is necessary. Or make the tera-bomb, wholesale it and never worry about fighting again. Spend rest of the assignment time crafting every item (just make junk, since most are not needed) while doing the friend quests that are possible. Priortize NPCs, since you get wholesale for them, but I think a few party members will just leave the game if you neglect their events so take the new ones exploring (I think Gio and Lionela were the ones at risk). Then put items characters tend to request, especially the difficult ones, to wholesale and it should speed things up considerably. Also make the Windrider as soon as you can and wholesale that too. In short, wholesale is the key to everything.

 

Also, there is a trick with which you can abuse with the system save regarding bestiary and item completion. Basically if you have a complete file, it should unlock the gallery. Then if you're missing any of the rare monsters, you can load up a year 3 save with preferably good amount of time left, fight anything you're missing, force a system save (go to options and change music volume or something, I suggest saving twice since it's a bit glitchy and doesn't always work) and it will record it in the gallery. I got my plat last year with this method rather than going to full NG+ just to complete item/bestiary.

Edited February 7, 2019 by mecharobot