Impression: Atelier Totori - The Adventurer of Arland

I’ve mentioned once that originally I am not that big of a fan of Atelier series, but in 2010, Atelier Rorona was released for PS3 and it completely changed my impression toward Atelier series, for the better. And then the sequel, Atelier Totori was released. The localized version of the game was out somewhere at the end of last year, though it is not until a few weeks ago that I got my hands on the game. And that’s where most of my gaming time in these last few weeks were spent (aside of Dota and FIFA12). With that said, my impression toward the game so far has been good – enjoyable, relaxing and fun : )

Title: Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of of Arland
Developer: Gust
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Genre: Japanese role playing game [jrpg]
Release date: June 2010 [Japanese], September 2011 [NA/EU]

So far I would say that I’ve ventured pretty far into the game, currently in my 4th year and 8th month, in the middle of building ships for oversea adventures. About 200 points to go to Galaxy rank, Adventurer and alchemy level 40+. Could have finished the ship sooner, but I decided to explore most of the Cobalt areas and play with item traits to make awesome equipments and bombs.

Back to the game, Atelier Totori was set a few years after the events in Atelier Rorona. The story is now focused on a young girl named Totooria Helmold, an innocent village girl who dreams of being an adventurer to search for her missing mother. So there you go, now instead of trying to prevent a workshop from getting scrapped in Atelier Rorona, in Atelier Totori you basically had to be a real adventurer, ranked up your Adventurer License by exploring areas, defeating monsters and synthesizing things through alchemy, and follow the (humorous) story, from the way each character talks and bickering with each other, to many other trivial things like Sterk's concern about his expression and Guid's lack of presence. By the way, Totori is Rorona’s alchemy student, and it's always fun seeing her getting teased by everyone, like a certain someone in Atelier Rorona : )

Some characters made a return in this game. Rorona is back, now in her early 20s (and somewhat becoming more and more Lionela-like, if you know what I mean >.<) and often travel across the land to teach alchemy (and failed as usual LOL). Sterk is no longer a knight, but his job now is to look for the “runaway” king. Cory works as Adventurer Officer at Arland, handling all stuff about Adventure and licenses. Tantris and Lionela didn’t appear, but their names were mentioned in one of the scenes in mid-games. Esty Dee is gone, searching for a husband (lolwhut) and her job is now taken over by her shy (and yuri) little sister, Filly Dee. The shopkeepers (Iksel, Hagel, Tiffa and Pamela) are the same, if not looking older.

Then there's new playable characters like Mimi, Mel, Gino and Marc. Overall the characters are pretty similar to those in Atelier Rorona. I mean, Totori is a LOT like Rorona – airhead, a bit dumb, clumsy, weak, fun to tease…ouch. Mimi is a carbon copy of Cory (loli, aristocrat, tsundere etc), while Melvia was pretty much a female version of Sterk, minus the seriousness. Too bad since we can recruit both of them, Mel was often left out because, well, Sterk is simply the better of the two. Gino is somewhat like Iksel – a childhood friend, except that instead of cooking, he’s crazy about adventuring.

Gameplay

Playing Atelier Totori wasn't that much different to Atelier Rorona. You still had to go out exploring new places, fights monsters, gather materials for synthesis etc so those familiar with Atelier Rorona will have no problem getting used to Totori. Well, there's no point in playing Totori if you haven't play Rorona anyway.The concept was similar, with a few tweaks to the mechanisms. For example, gathering (I mean, the act digging items from gathering points) consumes time. Battle consumes time. Walking on world map consumes a LOT of times. Therefore in early games, when you don't have the right equipment to speed up your gathering/walking speed, times flew very fast that you really had to be careful whether or not to dig a gathering point and engage in a battle. At first I was a bit pissed off because time passed so quickly than I anticipate at early game, but after awhile I'm getting used to it (especially since I got my Speed Gloves and Traveling Shoes pretty fast) and getting around the world isn't much a problem. On a side note, there's 2 main city/town in the game: Arland (I'm loving the fact that it still re-uses most of the BGM's from Atelier Rorona), and Totori's hometown, Alanya. Both place has a workshop/Atelier and specific scenes can trigger in each place, therefore we also need to be mindful about traveling back and forth from Arland to Alanya, because by default it took about 2 weeks to travel from one place to another (1 week with upgraded Carriage, ZERO days with a Warp Gate).

Synthesis

Synthesis has been a core for Atelier series, and it is no different in Atelier Totori. The mechanics was similar to Rorona, but in Totori it was more complex yet easier to manipulate to yield powerful items and equipment. Synthesized item in Totori is now associated with specific Cost Level which determine how many traits you can put in the item. Yes, now we can have a loads of crappy and good traits listed and manually select any favorable traits that we want, as long as they are within the item's Cost Level. Some new traits were also added (Eg Final Strike), while some old traits removed (eg Restrain Range). Other than that, I can't remember any other significant change of synthesis mechanic in Totori.

Battle

Like Atelier Rorona, battle is nowhere a big priority in Totori. It is needed to defeat stronger monsters and obtain rarer materials, but the emphasis in this game is more or less on synthesis and exploring areas. The basic of battle doesn't change much from Rorona and I don't really want to go into details about it. One thing for sure, in Totori you can no longer just toss a bomb to win a game (say goodbye to super awesome ultimate crazy good Meteor and Tera Bomb). Good bomb still hurts many enemies and bosses, but not to the extent of overkill that Meteor and Tera Bomb had. And since Rorona is playable, you can imagine a fun outing with both Totori and Rorona in the party, tossing bombs around. Beware of strong monsters though, since both Totori and Rorona are complete fail and fragile without their items....

Trophies
As usual, I'm trophy hunting while playing the game and aim to get Platinum on my first try. Like Rorona, most of the trophies were obtained from special scenes and multiple endings, which require us to manipulate and do several saves and reload in order to get all the endings in one playthrough. Overall it looks like getting a Platinum for Totori is easier than Rorona because the time gap/triggering requirement for many of the events aren't as restricted as Rorona. And with the game spans over 6 years, there's really plenty of time to go on adventure, collect materials, synthesize, do quests and trigger specific scenes.

Overall, I had a good time playing Atelier Totori, the scenes were always amusing to watch and although the battle/gameplay wasn't as extravagant as many of the games on PS3, it totally fit with the setting of the game. I'd feel awkward if an Atelier series had a graphic and gameplay like Final Fantasy 13. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to finish the game as soon as possible and move on to the next game.

p/s: Totori started as a kid (about 12-14 years old I assume). So at the end of the game (after 6 years), shouldn't her appearance changed to be a bit more...mature?



Next on my playing list: Final Fantasy XIII-2 : D

Mirai Nikki ED2 Single - Filament [Yousei Teikoku]

Title: Mirai Nikki ED2 Single - Filament
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Release Date: February 08, 2011

Tracklist:

01 - filament
02 - Zetsubou plantation
03 - filament (Instrumental)
04 - Zetsubou plantation (Instrumental)

Download: [HF/EU]


........................

Never really thought that Yousei Teikoku and Faylan would switch roles in the middle of the anime. Nevertheless, I'm usually not a big fan of slow paced songs by Yousei Teikoku, but Filament was one of those exceptions, plus the song kinda fit with the current story of Mirai Nikki. I personally liked the second song, Zetsubou Plantation better than the ED2 song, it feels like...how should I say it, the song has the vibes of Yousei Teikoku's older songs from Stigma and Gothic Lolita Propaganda.

The Impression Series: Winter 2011/2012 [Part 2]

Another
MAL/Official site
Genre: thriller, horror, mystery, psychological
Studio Production: P.A Works
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: The very first thing that came up to my mind when I watched the first half of episode 1: “this seems like a very promising horror/thriller”. 4 episodes on, and the series truly exceed my expectations, I’m truly amazed. With each passing episodes, I simply want MORE of them. I haven't had this excitement of watching a horror since what, the first season of Higurashi? Back to the basics, ANOTHER basically tells a story of a transfer student Sakakibara Koichi who was placed in a mysterious, awkward class 3 at his new school. Awkward because of many things, but the main thing that concerned him was the presence of a really old seat at the edge of the class, and the fact that his classmates seems to be hiding something from him. And as a curious boy he is, Koichi ended up trying to poke into matters that he “probably” shouldn’t has. I probably shouldn't tell more about the story because it's best left unspoiled, the thrill and suspense totally excites me in each episode! Overall this series gave me the vibes of Higurashi, Shiki and Ookamikakushi – creepy, gloomy at times, mysterious, thrill, horror and....death. Everything about the anime managed to convey this horror atmosphere well. The animation was great; the scenes were drawn really well to describe the dark and gloomy nature of the story (especially the occasional creepy dolls that appeared once in awhile early in the series). The eerie musics when it comes to certain scenes are just perfect to add to the creepiness. TOTALLY enjoyed the show!
p/s: evil Chihiro
Verdict: 5/5 (Must. Watch)




Ano Natsu de Matteru
MAL/Official site
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Studio Production: J.C. Staff
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: What’s this….Onegai Teacher v2? As what you'd expect from the same creator, the similarity with Onegai Teacher was quite apparent...in a lot of aspects. The main character Kaito, the alien Ichika, the friends Kanna, Mio, Remon and Tetsurou and their relations to each other were almost a carbon copy of their counterpart in Onegai Teacher. I’d even say that Remon didn’t even change since Ichigo in OT. Only a tweak in story, and we got Ano Natsu de Matteru. The vintage setting featuring suburb location with lots of beautiful sceneries and the comforting background music were great as it brings back the good memories of Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins (and I love the latter). A recycled idea I’d say, but still refreshing and fun to watch for me. The comedies made me smiles, and being a school comedy romance, things like misunderstanding and unrequited love are inevitable. Youth times, huh. I personally like Kanna compared to other girls though, her voice kinda fit with her face and personality.
p/s: Highschool of the Dead movie in my animu D :
Verdict: 4/5 (watching)




Nisemonogatari
MAL/Official site
Genre: Comedy, Psychological, Supernatural
Studio Production:
Number of Episodes:
Comments: When Bakemonogatari first aired some years ago, I'm awed by SHAFT's effort to make it unique and very interesting (as they've always had with SZS, Maria Holic etc). Now we have the sequel in Nisemonogatari, pretty much a continuation of [part of] the story where Oshino left and one of the culprit who tortured Senjogahara in season 1 making a comeback. The plot doesn't really differed much than the first season, except that now we're more exposed to the likes of Araragi's two little sisters, and Shinobu. Overall I wouldn't say I'm not enjoying it because I certainly am, but rather the story so far doesn't really had anything that surpassed my expectation from whatever I watched in its prequel. One thing that Nisemonogatari has never failed to amazed me is the dialogue - always witty and although tend to get draggy, often comes with a good blend of humors and brilliant lines. The animation was top notch as always, and now it feel a lot less cluttered and easier to the eyes. Enjoyable? Yes, but so far, not as much as I enjoy season 1, and I hope the next few episodes can change my perception.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)




Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance, comedy, slice of life
Studio Production: Feel
Number of Episodes: 12
Comments: It looks like a harem romance comedy series at first, but as I watched more episodes, I realized that the series is more than that. Papakiki tells a story about Segawa Yuta, a freshman university student, whom due to a certain incident, suddenly found himself in an unlikely position of being the guardian of his sister’s three daughters, Sora, Miu and Hina. In that respect, Yuta’s situation reminded me a lot to Usagi Drop – the difficulty he faced from raising the three girls all alone while balancing with his study and work. In real life, I could never imagine someone able to do all that…The plot developed rather slow (it’s not until episode 2 and three that the whole matter about being the girls’s guardian was settled), but I'm fine with the pace because, well, it doesn't feel rushed. While sometimes amusing and fun to watch, I gotta say episode 2 and 3 gave made me sad and touching more than hilarity, but it’s a good sign that the story actually had some substances rather than an empty harem comedy show. Nevertheless although the story focused on Yuta and the three girl’s daily lives, once in awhile we did see the people at Yuta’s “Sightseeing” Club getting involved with the story, and I’m certainly interested to see how the voluptuous Raika mixed into all this mess in Yuta’s university life.
p/s: Sako = Daru.
Verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)


Also got the likes of Inu x Boku SS and Recorder to Randoseru in my watchlist, but I guess I don't really need to write a lengthy impression on those. Oh yeah, I'm kinda inclined to watch Black Rock Shooter, but maybe I'll do that...much later. Winter seems a lot crowded in my watchlist this year compared to the last -_-

A Late Impression of….FIFA 12

Last year I haven’t been able to buy any new ps3 games, so most of my gaming time in 2011 was spent on either dota, or platinuming older games. Which was worth the effort because they’re fun and satisfying. I wouldn’t have thought that I would add the likes of Trinity Universe, Nier, FFXIII, Resonance of Fate, Assassin Creed 2, Dragon Age Origin and Sengoku Basara to my platinum list. Moving on from platinum stuff, on 2011 I don’t really have any particular game that I really want to play, except a few – Atelier Totori, and most importantly, FIFA12. And these 2 games are the exact 2 games that I bought a few days ago. Late I know, but it’s unfortunate that it’s only this year that I could spare the money to buy these games.

Moving to FIFA, I spent most of my footballing games of 2011 with, well, FIFA11 and I enjoyed it a lot. It made me really looking forward to FIFA 12, anticipating changes/new features that the game brought and any possible stats changes to some in-form players at early 2011-2012 seasons (eg Anderson, Dzeko and Cleverley).

Title: FIFA 12
Developer: Electronic Arts
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3), XBOX 360, PSP, PS Vita, PC, 3DS, Wii, PS2, iOS
Genre: Sports/Football
Release date: September 2011(all version)


Being a big FIFA series fan, I know I had to get this game even though it's already a few months late. Then I took my time to play the game, getting familiarized with new gameplay changed, indulging myself with career mode etc. So, what can I say about FIFA12?

• Impact Engine made the game more realistic as players collision was feel more real, but sometimes it can be a nuisance eg when you're defending and try to chase the opponents, only to get obstructed by whatever players (and ref!) in your way, tumbling and the opponents ran away.

• Tactical Defending was the biggest changed that I really need to get used to. In FIFA11 defending was easy - hold x to press opponents and auto stand tackle, R2+L2 to jockey or slide tackle when necessary. With Tactical Defending in Fifa12 the system was changed, it really require us to "play" real football - it now emphasize on positioning, holding and containing player off before making tackle at the right time. In short, in FIFA11 we can just hold X and the player will prompt to tackle, but in FIFA12 pressing X will only made them contain the opponent. Stand tackle can only be made by pressing O at the right time, or else you miss and the opponent get away. Kinda sucks at first, I had a real hard time taking the ball away from those fukken dribblers, needs to get used to this fast or I'm toast.

• Player Customization/Slider Option is stupid and made Pro levelling super easy. It basically allowed you to adjust your team's shot/pass speed/accuracy, running speed/acceleration, errors etc all the way to max/mid AND doing the reverse to the opponents. It only works on AI, but still a broken concept, making the game totally boring if you stretch every option all the way to the end. Well, the other option is, don't use this Player Customization at all, but in certain case (especially when you use a half-star team like AFC Wimbledon), you definitely want to adjust the option just slightly (especially pass speed) to survive League 2.

• Career mode is now more fun and realistic. The basics are still similar to those in FIFA11, with some more additional features. Scouting system made its comeback, now being part of the newly introduced Youth Academy. Now you can use the scouting network to find a new raw, unknown gem from secluded place all around the world, although it's highly unlikely that you'll find another Messi, Hernandez or Ronaldo from them. Playing career mode so far, I only managed to find a Japanese youth that has the potential to go up to 84 overall. Another addition to career mode is the deadline day transfer, where times passed by hourly rather than daily. Basically it allowed you to make any last minute transfer, which while sounds exciting, is getting boring over time. One last thing, apparently we can no longer change the match weather pre-game anymore. Sucks, I hate playing in snow :(

• Other comments: players now have stamina/energy, form and morale on when you're managing teams. It's a hassle at time, but it did give a realistic feel to it. Loading time is much reduced especially in career mode. Be a Pro didn't have much change, and I'm still working to increase my Pro's overall. Currently a striker, Overall 76. My Pro in FIFA11 managed to get Overall of 86 (Striker), but I bet with the User Customisation Option in FIFA12, it's much easier to surpass what I achieve in FIFA11.

The Impression Series: Winter 2011/2012

The customary impression series was kinda late this season, because of the same old crappy work excuse, as you guess it. Though recently it's getting harder for me to watch anime because I just bought some awsm ps3 games that I just had to play no matter what. Nevertheless, I enjoyed many of Winter 2012's show because it had almost every kind of series that I like to watch - sports, drama, thriller, school romance, comedy slice of life, action, old crap...it's hard to ditch any.

Amagami SS+
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance
Studio Production: AIC
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: When I first watched the first season (bear in mind I never played the game), I like the series a lot. Less drama, more romance, some comedies are just about right for my viewing pleasure. And now comes the sequel, which is pretty much a continuation of whatever left from season 1, and I still like what I'm seeing. For some girls, it was more or less a continuation and complimentary 2 episodes to add to things happening in their respective arc in season 1, while for other, their relationship with Junichi was brought to a new level (Rihoko’s), which was sweet to say the least. Though for Haruka senpai, I don’t think her arc in this sequel will continue from where her arc left in season 1. You know, 10 years, married, kids…. Anyway, I hope the animation quality is consistent till the end of the series (in season 1 there’s a noticeable decrease of quality during Nanaka’s arc).
Verdict: 4/5 (must watch)

Daily Lives of High School Boys
MAL/Official site
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Studio Production: Sunrise
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: aka Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou. What a boring English title, if you ask me. For a comedy slice of life, you don’t expect anything but laughter from watching the characters do random and stupid things in their ordinary daily lives, and the series gave exactly that – three idiots in Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake spending their youthful school life doing random things, hanging out with friends and such. Wow, I’m watching a male version of Lucky Star/Yuru Yuri huh? I have to admit it felt awkward at first to watch a boys comedy slice of life series, but seriously it was awesomely hilarious, way funnier than I would expect. Lots of parody and gag jokes that made me laugh nonsensically; I knew I just had to watch this show. Even though Tadakuni is supposed to be the main guy out of the three, it seems to me that Hidenori is taking the spotlight more than the other two (much like how Kyouko did to Akari in YuruYuri), maybe partly because he was voiced by the perfect seiyuu for this kind of comedy (his monologue at the end of episode 1 reminded me to Kyon a lot). The riverbank scene in episode 1 was gold, particularly because the clever use of the lines into the ED song. How I wish ED songs in subsequent episodes would have that kind of uniqueness. I found episode 2 and 3 slightly less humorous than the first, but overall I really enjoyed the show as a whole. By the way despite what’s supposed to be a boy’s show, some random girls do appear in the show from time to time, like Tadakuni’s little sister, the riverbank’s literature girl, and in ep3 there’s even a short skit of girl trio at the end hanging out like what Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake often do.
Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)

Area no Kishi
MAL/Official site
Genre: romance, sport
Studio Production: Shin-Ei animation

Number of Episodes:
Comments: Finally another sport anime that I love, and it’s football! I had a blast watching Giant Killing 2 years ago (despite their subpar animation), and Area no Kishi has the potential to be even better. The story is focused on Aizawa Kakeru, an avid football fan and player who lives in the shadow of his genius brother Suguru, believing that he has no footballing talent whilst also haunted by his past incident that caused him to hesitate to use his left leg on the pitch. Later, he lost his spirit and decided to depart from the sport he love altogether, but a dramatic tragedy eventually changed his heart…You'd sometimes get pissed off for an indecisive, lack of confidence guy like Kakeru, but then you just know that this is the kind of guy that often highlight many anime and rise to the occasion. Especially after what’s happening in episode 3. If Giant Killing focused more on things on the pitch, Area no Kishi is more on things off the pitch, hence more drama (much like Whistle I guess). The animation was okay at best, at least much better than the awkward Giant Killing, and the story was interesting, albeit predictable . You’d be lying if you can’t tell that the mysterious masked man was Seven all along. Then the accidents, the transplant, Kakeru’s resolve…much of them was predictable, but as someone who enjoy football, I won’t complain much as long as I got to see some football action. Seems like Kakeru is Hernandez-type player - a poacher, clinical finisher.
p/s: I hate the term “soccer”. By the way, what the hell is sideback? Conductor? One top? I’d prefer if a more common commentary/punditry terms were used (Fullbacks/Playmaker/Lone striker etc)
Verdict: 4/5 (must watch)

Zero no Tsukaima F
MAL/Official site
Genre: magic, comedy, romance
Studio Production: J.C. Staff
Number of Episodes: 13

Comments: My god I can’t believe I’m still sitting on my couch every week, watching this. Was ZnTF any worse than the previous three? (or two, because I thought the first season was well done) So far I wouldn’t say it was that bad, but it wasn't improving much either. It’s still the repetition of same old story of Louise getting tsun2 and dere2 toward Saito, followed by some crisis and action before Saito (or anyone else for that matter) came for the rescue, then the customary Louise’s explosion to end the episode; but since this is the so-called FINAL season of the series, at least I want to see how the story ended, no matter how brilliantly (if any) or poorly executed.
Verdict: 3/4 (watching)

Brave 10
MAL/Official site
Genre: action, comedy
Studio Production: Studio Sakimakura
Number of Episodes: 12

Comments: I can't help but think about Sengoku Basara (and sometimes, Hakuouki) the moment I watched this anime. You know… full of bishies, history twists, superpowers…only that this time around the story took place at the end of Sengoku era, where Yukimura Sanada rules the Ueda Castle and most of the well-known Sengoku era samurais were history (except some like Date Masamune and Tokugawa Ieyasu). The story focused on 10 brave (duh) warriors who assisted Yukimura against Tokugawa’s suspicious scheme, with two of the braves, Kirigakure Saizo and Isanami Izumo taking the center of the stage all due to the incident at Isanami’s Izumo shrine. Watching Isanami always trying to cling around her savior, Saizo without his consent was always fun. Anyway, I LOVE the show as far as episode 4 goes, one reason being it gave the vibes of Sengoku Basara (a less serious and humorous sengoku period) which I always like, some nice actions with supernatural powers involved, and great animation (and character designs) to boot. The OP and ED song sounds a bit awkward to me at first, but as I watched one episode after another, I found myself starting to like the songs.

Verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)


to be continued