![latest[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Gd27CZ8.jpg "latest[1].jpg")
I'm going to play 1 more Atelier game before Sophie comes out and so far I've only played the Mana Khemia duo.
If you had to recommend a single of the PS3 offerings to a person which would you choose?
/
Rorona Plus is the best PS3 Atelier.
Don't waste time like an idiot and you'll be fine.
>>339818257
Rorona Plus>Meruru>Totori>Vanilla Rorona
Either Ayesha or Rorona Plus.
Meruru is my favorite one, but it has a bunch of recurring characters from the previous games in it.
Totori blows both versions of Rorona away for me
My favorite was Ayesha, but Rorona+ was also good.
New Atelier Rorona (Rorona+). If you had a Vita I'd recomment Ayesha Plus as another option, but the PS3 English version is bad
More importantly, won't you burn out on Atelier if you're playing this a week before Sophie comes out?
What is it that people like about Rorona+ over Totori? The story?
I remember everyone used to consider Totori the best but clearly the plus version of Rorona pushed it in front somehow
>>339823470
>but the PS3 English version is bad
Not unless you're autist over hearing japanese squeals.
>>339824212
It's the first game in the trilogy and introduces a bunch of recurring characters, so it makes sense to start with. It's now the most polished since it jacked Meruru's system, and Meruru isn't really able to be appreciated without knowing all the returning characters from Totori. The original Rorona was really rough around the edges and turned some people off from the series entirely, so people used to sometimes recommend skipping to Totori, but that's no longer relevant.
Technically, the best way to play the Arland trilogy is now (Rorona Plus main game) -> (Totori) -> (Meruru) -> (Rorona Plus postgame) if you want to be max autism about it.
>>339824449
I've imported all games since 2009, so personally I don't care. The quality of voicing isn't the problem, the amount is, horribly undervoiced compared to JP track. That's always been true even in Arland games, but it was more like 70% coverage as opposed to Ayesha's 20%
I want to get into this series as almost everything seems right up my alley, nut as soon as I start Rorona+ I instantly get turned off by the time management. I get that that's where the challenge is, but I generally like taking my time with RPGs and I can't do that here so I always feel rushed.
>>339821916
>Ayesha
>PS3
>Forced dub
It's making me puke
>>339825461
It's really pretty lax but on top of that the games are only 20-odd hours long and lend themselves to more playthroughs.
No one is going to do everything they want to do in one playthrough without a guide really
>>339825461
Sounds like Sophie is your best bet
>first game of a new trilogy, no need to play other games (Pamela and Logy are just cameo characters)
>no time limits
>no missables
Once you get the love of Atelier in your veins and some alchemy experience maybe you can go back to Rorona Plus after.
>>339825005
>get to the end of the world in E&L and see the scene with Awin there
>that was pretty good (especially considering how the rest of the game is), I wonder if the English version is as good
>silence
I always thought picking English/Japanese voices in Ateliers was just a matter of taste. Turns out no, if you pick English you are fucking dumb.
>>339818257
So who has Sophie preordered?
>>339827446
I spent my money on Leifthrasir instead.
>student loans
>>339826060
>Awin's name keeps switching between Awin and Arwin in the dialogue and menus
>>339827559
>>339827446
was a hard choice between the two for me but leifthasir doesnt come to eu for another 2 weeks and im bored to shit so i went with sophie
i hope the ps4 preorder themes are good
would be nice if they did some avatars too
>>339825005
That's so annoying. But they're getting better at least. Shallie is mostly voiced. Hopefully Sophie is too.
Neptunia has the same problem.
>>339818257
If you played MK, prepare to be disappointed no matter which atelier you play. Iris 2 is the only one that even comes close.
>>339828041
MK is kinda shit though. MC is terrible (and in the second game literally every character is terrible), alchemy is boring, and the much vaunted combat isn't very fun since it's so easy that you barely ever get to actually do anything interesting with it. Not really good games.
>>339828427
You could just say you don't like jRPGs instead of giving shitty opinions about a genre you don't like. The MKs are both two of the best jRPGs ever made, saying they are bad is just as retarded as saying BoF III and IV are bad, because just like those are the best PS1 games, the MKs are the best PS2 games.
>>339828721
I'm alright with JRPGs. I mean, the Arland Ateliers are good. It's just MK that's bad.
MK isn't even the best PS2 JRPG by Gust. Ar tonelico 2 is much better. So's At1, for that matter.
>>339829119
I'm with that anon, though I've never played Ateliers, both Mana Khemia are some of the comfiest jrpg I've played.
>>339829452
>though I've never played Ateliers
MK is an Atelier, so you have, really. They're A9/A10.
>>339829604
Yeah sorry, I meant the modern Ateliers on the PS3.
>>339829119
Personally I had a lot more fun with MK1 than AT1 and the PS3 Ateliers
>>339827559
I have loans to pay too but I'm gettin' both. IBR loans baby. It's gonna be a long 25 years to pay off this shit.
>>339827446
>Ordered from the UK since that's $30 cheaper than buying locally because Australia tax
>Have to wait for it to get here
>>339829119
the ATs are good, I won't contest that, but your arguments about the MKs are silly at best, most of them are also flat wrong. Saying the cast of 2 is universally terrible is something that only a person that didn't play through any of the story quests at all could say, the cast of that game, particularly on Ulrika's side, was incredible. Razeluxe was the weakest personality in the game and he got interesting near the end of the story regardless, and the only other character whose lack of personality and character growth you could make a complaint about is Puniyo, but her point is was being a foil for the 3 punis who actually were interesting. Peppero and Goto were one of the best duos in any game, not just on a comedic level either, they are the sole reason Ulrika's path is better than Razeluxe's, because even though Raze's group has interesting characters in it too they can't compare to the shenanigans those two get up to constantly.
>started with Mana-Khemia
>want to start the series with the Dusk Trilogy, Arland is so moe that makes me puke
>still 40bucks on PSN Store
>digital-only
>the third is not released yet and probably no localization
There's so much diference of the PS3 and a Vita versions of the Dusk trilogy? Because I can find so much cheaper with the PS3 versions.
>>339827667
I can't wait to see how badly acttil fuck up Sophie's localisation. Nights of Azure wasn't any good either.
>>339831307
>Arland is so moe that makes me puke
>>339831132
>cheaper to import even when including shipping from literally halfway around the world
wew mate
Do they not rip open the box and slap a tax on your imported panty quest games regardless?
>>339821916
This Ayesha is the best game in the series, and Rorona Plus is a close second.
>>339831307
all the dlc comes with the vita ones iirc
>>339831447
The government has been pushing for added tax to all imports because of whiny cunts like Harvey Norman complaining about it eating into their profits because they're not willing to be competitive, but it hasn't gone through yet.
>>339825005
Why do so many people here get triggered by having to read? Did you faggots not play video games before voice acting was a thing?
>>339818257
Totori or ayesha are the best
Escha and logy has god tier music though
>>339831307
>>339831479
The Vita versions also have extra new content in the Dusk games. Ayesha+ gets extra post-game bosses and a dungeon, E&L+ gets extra story stuff between the two where Logy can finally give Escha the D, and Shallie+ has Ayesha and Logy coming back, though I don't know the details other than Ayesha getting a brand new design while Logy just gets a shitty palette swap.
>>339831273
I was more talking about the characters being awful people. As characters they're not too bad, but they're just really unlikable. It's weird. I could understand making maybe one member of a cast a dick, but not every single one of them. You play MK and most of the cast are nice. You play MK2 and you can't help but feel the world would be a better place if most of the characters died. Or at least I can't. I'll accept that you may feel differently.
>>339828721
MK games are mediocre. Iris games are as well.
>>339831587
>The only reason to care that a dub has 20% of the voiced content of the original is because you have to read more
Dubfags, everyone.
>>339831587
of course not. did you even look at what thread, let alone what board this is?
>>339832031
>implying I'm a dubfag
Just calling out your bullshit.
>>339831770
>I was more talking about the characters being awful people. As characters they're not too bad, but they're just really unlikable. It's weird. I could understand making maybe one member of a cast a dick, but not every single one of them.
>>339832116
The only bullshit here is your own. I suspect that you're not aware that Atelier is a series that has been running since long before voice acting was standard in video games.
>>339832056
Then what's the issue with a partial dub? It just means having to read some lines instead of having them spoken for you. Which, apparently, you guys don't have an issue with. So why the constant bitching? Plus you can always not be an idiot and switch to the original audio. Except for Ayesha PS3, but again the only "downside" is you have to read.
>>339832324
I am well aware of that, which is why I was asking why you guys are so pissy about partial dubs.
>>339832359
The point of voice acting is never not needing to read. The point of voice acting is adding character to the game that is not as adequately expressed through text.
This is why the idea of a dub being good or bad is even a point of contention in the first place.
You're a literal retard to not understand this.
>>339818257
Atelier rorona plus, atelier totori, or atelier meruru.
Rorona plus is the only plus title available on ps3 and is the start of the arland trilogy. It encorporates the alchemy system of Meruru, the third Arland game, but has the same progression as the original Rorona. It also has a pretty cool after ending scenario.
Any of the Arland trilogy games will likely make you disappointed with Sophie, though, after the removal of the time limits and dumbing down of alchemy.
Oh, also gamestop has an Arland Trilogy bundle for like $30. I think it's the non-plus version of Rorona which is not very good, though I loved it when I first played it. It feels the most like Recettear.
>>339832736
>after the removal of the time limits and dumbing down of alchemy.
E&L already made the time limits a moot point and made the alchemy stupid as fuck. Sophie can't possibly be worse.
E&L is the only Atelier game I've played that I haven't bothered to finish.
>>339832547
You're imagination must be shit. There are tons of games without voice acting that have more character than anything with it. If anything voice acting usually detracts from a game, even your precious jap audio. Do you think books are lacking character too? Fucking retard.
>>339825461
The time limits are incredibly laid back if you don't plan on getting the best/true ending (which most games require 2 playthroughs to get anyways). The whole reason for them being there is to prevent you from grinding either too many monster or too much low level alchemy items, forcing you to continue to explore new areas for new and interesting recipes/materials and keeping you fairly balanced on combat level to make the enemies in that area an actual challenge.
The time limit does an awesome job of pacing the game and keeping it fun so you don't just steamroll everything. Meruru's was probably the best time limit implementation, even if it was a bit easy.
>>339829119
>Ar tonelico 2 is much better. So's At1, for that matter.
What? They're awfully fucking repetitive
>>339832736
Time limits were always a moot point because of how lenient they were. If you ran into any trouble with deadlines you were shit at the game. Even a newcomer shouldn't have issues. Also Totori is the worst of the PS3 games and would likely scare him away from the series.
>>339832927
>There are tons of games without voice acting that have more character than anything with it.
>Do you think books are lacking character too?
That's completely irrelevant to the actual point, as the matter is one of what voice acting adds, not a matter of comparative quality between specific products with or without voice acting. Fata Morgana might be one of the best VNs ever written despite it not having voice acting, but voice acting would do nothing to hurt it.
>If anything voice acting usually detracts from a game, even your precious jap audio.
How?
>>339833091
Just like MK.
>>339833265
Didn't play but I believe you
>>339833178
99.9% of the time, regardless of region, voice actors are poorly cast, or the acting is terrible, or the editing is terrible, and so on. The only games that benefit from voice acting are cinematic movie games and those are barely games to begin with. JRPGs are especially notorious for voice acting hindering the games.
>>339832856
Yeah it did, E&L's time limit was pretty bad. The end game content was a lot of fun and the time limit at least created an illusion of some sort of forward pacing but yeah it sucked. The alchemy was a definitely improvement over Ayesha in my opinion (still way worse than any game in the Arland series, especially Rorona +) and the combat was probably the best in the entire PS3 series, but yeah overall pretty lukewarm entry.
I still think Sophie could be way worse than E&L (which again is far from my favorite), I just pray it's better than Shallie. Jesus Christ fuck the milestone system or whatever it's called over the time limit, it's so fucking garbage. And that alchemy, goddamn what were they thinking with Shallie. It was very well received which is the fucked up part, and makes me think they're going that way again with Sophie.
>>339833547
>Citation: my anus
Good to see you don't actually have any argument beyond not liking voice acting on principle.
>>339833547
>JRPGs are especially notorious for voice acting hindering the games.
In the dubs, yeah.
>>339833097
Totori was an improvement over the original Rorona's alchemy and combat and had a challenging time limit to get all the missable content. Plus the structure of the time limit was opened from Rorona so instead of 90 day chunks to do a couple things you got yearly chunks to a lot of things.
The time limits were never really about completing the most basic deadlines, someone in a vegetative coma could do that, they were there to throttle the side and missable content which made being efficient with your time rewarding and playing NG+ interesting. Oh and they also do a good job at stopping grinding low level items and monsters to become relevant and force the player to keep exploring to level.
Shallie lacked one and you spent a lot of the game slogging around the starting areas and generally being a piece of shit.
Sophie is going to be my first Atelier, I'm excited to get comfy.
>>339833662
Citation: Atelier Rorona, Atelier Totori, Atelier Meruru, Atelier Ayesha, Atelier Escha & Logy, Atelier Shallie, Knights of Azure, Ar Nosurge, Ar Tonellico 1-3, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns, Grandia 2, Star Ocean 4, Persona 3, Persona 4, Omega Quintet, Xenosaga 1-3, Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X, etc.
>>339834093
>Citation: A bunch of games with bad dubs and good original audio, and Grandia 2 and FFXIIwhich have great dubs
I don't even know what your point is meant to be now.
>>339834265
Oh, and Xenoblade has a great dub too if you're not an American scared of British accents.
>>339834265
>>339834370
Your standards are offensively low. The dubs for all of them are terrible (the fact that you like Xenoblade's and Grandia 2's over acted garbage is telling) and the original audio for them is nearly as bad.
>>339834608
>Grandia 2's over acted garbage
>>339834848
Jennifer Hale can't act.
>bought Rorona Plus PS3 a while back on sale
>got Totori and Meruru Plus for Vita from PSN sale
>haven't played any of them
>>339835457
I still haven't played Shallie, or any of the Plus games. I played the the PS3 originals, at least. Other stuff jeeps coming out that I get wrapped up in. Currently stuck at the end ofDoom.
>>339835457
But why?
>>339835840
I just never dedicated time to any of them. I also want to go in ascending order (Rorona > Totori > Meruru) but I play on portables more often so I was considering rebuying Rorona Plus on PSN
>>339837014
PS3 version looks and runs better.
wtf is this weeb cashgrab. is it the same old "cute girl doing cute things" pedobait?
>>339837512
Anyone who thinks Rorona isn't the best Arland protagand gameis a damn fool with zero taste.
>>339837174
But it's not portable.
>have only played Rorona Plus
>thought it was pretty good, but not so amazing that I'd go autistically buying every entry
Is there one that's really really worth playing other than Rorona Plus?
>>339838145
>>339838145
Try out Ayesha Plus
>>339838145
That depends on what you thought was lacking. But if you liked the characters then Totori and Meruru are great follow ups for how they continue to develop them.
>>339838363
I just thought it seemed a bit empty, like not a full RPG. I know that's its style since it has a lot of replay value, but it gave that kind of feeling.
>>339838279
Rec noted
>>339838823
Rorona is definitely not a large scale game. Given that you'd almost certainly enjoy Ayesha or Totori more, as they have more dramatic stories and world maps with much more of a travelling and progression focus.
The newest game that's just been announced is also being touted as having a focus on journey and adventure with the biggest field maps the series has ever had, so that might be something for you to look forward to.
>>339837816
And? Please tell me you don't actually play these games (or any games, really) out in public.
>>339839042
That's good to hear, thanks
>>339838823
They're very low budget games. That being said Ayesha does have a (very slightly) more traditional JRPG feel to it. But if you are looking for a game where you fight god or save the world these aren't the games for you.
>>339839474
Well Dusk had some pretty high stakes.Ancient civ tech threatens to kill everyone
>>339840128
And yet E&L had some of the worst writing in the series along with the least enjoyable gameplay.
>>339840128
They never went anywhere with it though.
>>339840260
Totori was worse in both areas.Neither were good.
>>339840426
>Putting Totori in the same league as E&L
>>339840571
No I put it lower.
>>339840697
The only single thing that E&L does better than Totori is the combat system.
>>339840996
I don't know why people like E&L combat. It's literally just spam assist attacks the game. Ayesha's was more interesting with moving around the field, attacking from the back for crits and grouping together to heal.
>>339840996
And characters (though not protagonist). And area design. And music.Really it comes down to personal taste, but I just couldn't get into Totori for some reason. It took me three attempts to finally force myself through it.
>>339841275
Totori has better characters than E&L. E&L has the weakest cast by far.
>>339841190
>Ayesha's was more interesting with moving around the field, attacking from the back for crits and grouping together to heal.
E&L has that too though.
>>339841275
>And characters (though not protagonist).
You must be joking. The characters are one of E&L's biggest weaknesses. Every one of them aside from Logy is completely one-dimensional, they have no character arcs, they just go over the same few defining traits over and over for the entire game. To repost another anon from a few days ago:
>Let's take a side character from Totori's game: Mark. From all of six cutscenes, we know that Mark is good at science(dur), good with children and children-like things, like Chim to the point of great self sacrifice , likes booze and is a capable adventurer in his own right to the point where he can either make traps or can spot them quite well.
>Meanwhile, all we know about Reyfer in his two games is he's poor because he has to keep buying ammo for his magic wand, he likes booze and he's frugal. You can pretty much remove him from the game with no effect on the other characters, partially because of how little they have going for him, but also because of how little he has going for him.
>And area design.
Come the fuck on. E&L has nothing but dull green and brown ruins, and one volcano area. It has the worst area design of any of the PS3 games, and in terms of game design it's also shit because every location branches out from the single main down with no connectivity so you're constantly walking back and forth. Even Rorona offered more than this.
>And music.
Now you really can't be serious, because E&L has the most forgettable soundtrack of all the PS3 games, with the only notable song being the guest one by Shade. It doesn't hold a candle to Totori's OST.
>>339842040
>you will never get to molest Mimi like Mel.
Did anyone else have visual issues with E&L+?
