Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

Atelier Totori features a few elegant mechanics in combat and framing. (…) Let me put the story this way: If you, unlike me, don´t have to look up, what "Shōjo" means, but instead use it as a positive filter during your search for new anime-stuff, then Atelier Totori is right up your alley.

While gamers new to (or averse to) anime style may not enjoy Atelier Totori, the committed JRPG audience will likely be pleased with what the game has to offer. For us JRPG enthusiasts, a good game means beautiful anime-style graphics, expressive musical scores, eccentric characters and dialog and complex gameplay mechanics; despite its somewhat simplified approach to combat, Atelier Totori scores on all points.

Fans that have played the games before won't need any introduction, they will know what to expect in an Atelier game, and it's a good game in that respect for them. As mentioned it's not an epic adventure, but it never tries to be. This story is a personal one of one girl's emotional ride to becoming experienced in alchemy and adventuring and her quest to find her mum. It's not an RPG for everyone who likes the genre, but it is fun, and if you can get into it once you've passed the initial couple of hours then you'll have found yourself one of the most relaxing and easygoing RPGs on the market today.