RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Nice! Next time I go through I'll give Hanna a try (I bought the DLC just haven't used it yet.)
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Atelier Meruru |OT| of Atelier Chronicles: My Life as a Princess
- Thread starter RurouniZel
- Start date
Nice! Next time I go through I'll give Hanna a try (I bought the DLC just haven't used it yet.)
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Wow, so I feel REALLY smart or really dumb, but I just spotted 3 hidden characters in Atelier Meruru's opening song! 
Wow, so I feel REALLY smart or really dumb, but I just spotted 3 hidden characters in Atelier Meruru's opening song!
Whoa, that's awesome! I never noticed that before xD. Also, I'm barely finishing up my first playthrough. Got around a year left and have 100,000 people. Hope I can get more than one ending with the time I have left.
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Awesome!
If you have any questions let us know! RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Finally!!!
Melhisedek
Member
I never played any of the Atelier games so I wonder what is a good game to start it off with ?
archnemesis
Member
If you intend to play all of them you should get Atelier Rorona, otherwise get either Totori or Meruru. They're all quite similar to each other.
Finally!!!
Congrats! Ending the Arland series with everything done. Hope I can do the same soon~
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Heh, though I'll admit I'm not Platinum in Rorona. XD Only Totori and Meruru have I platinumed. ^^;
I've finished the game already, but I really dont know where to start now, with the new game +. I mean, what do I do next? What do I focus on doing to get all the endings? Do I create a save each month/year? What do I do different then in the first playthrough? Argh, so many questions! If someone have any tips on how to proceed, please do!
Edit: I think I've got all trophies I could get in my first playthrough. Except the
If someone have any tips on how to proceed, please do!Edit: I think I've got all trophies I could get in my first playthrough. Except the
boy/girl bath (or something) and the one you got for killing that lava dragon (forgot the name, again).
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I've finished the game already, but I really dont know where to start now, with the new game +. I mean, what do I do next? What do I focus on doing to get all the endings? Do I create a save each month/year? What do I do different then in the first playthrough? Argh, so many questions!
Edit: I think I've got all trophies I could get in my first playthrough. Except theboy/girl bath (or something) and the one you got for killing that lava dragon (forgot the name, again).
Sounds like a great start!
As for the
Air Shutter (the lava dragon), that can only be gotten on a New Game + because Gio has to be in your party BEFORE you start developing anything in the upper regional area (anything north of Handel Farm). That's what leads to that Trophy and the True Ending path. Also, if you want to have any shot of getting the bath ending, you're going to need 10 Alchemy Pipes, so don't save those for the end as they take forever to synth. Any time you can spare a few days in the game, make one. ^_^
Sounds like a great start!Air Shutter (the lava dragon), that can only be gotten on a New Game + because Gio has to be in your party BEFORE you start developing anything in the upper regional area (anything north of Handel Farm). That's what leads to that Trophy and the True Ending path. Also, if you want to have any shot of getting the bath ending, you're going to need 10 Alchemy Pipes, so don't save those for the end as they take forever to synth. Any time you can spare a few days in the game, make one. ^_^
I love these games, but I really struggle at managing time/alchemy. x_x
Sometimes I only focus on doing those requests that ask you to raise your alchemy, or something, and forget to proceed through the world map. I even finished my first playthrough without unlocking everything. Ugh.
But ok. I will try.
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I love these games, but I really struggle at managing time/alchemy. x_x
Sometimes I only focus on doing those requests that ask you to raise your alchemy, or something, and forget to proceed through the world map. I even finished my first playthrough without unlocking everything. Ugh.
But ok. I will try.
Oh trust me, I'm very similar. I had a harder time Platinuming this one then I did Totori, and Rarutos helped me a great deal, pointing me in the right direction. And also, for the
bath end you also will need 300 Development Points and 30 days handy to finish it.
Lol, sounds exactly like what I'll do. Got Totori platinum done and getting Meruru's. I just don't have the patience to go back to Rorona.
I've had my copy of Meruru for a while now but haven't gotten around to it yet (I blame TERA, D3, and mk2)... :\ I'm really looking forward to it, but I may go back and get some more endings in Rorona and Totori before I play Meruru...
I'm new around here but I read through most of this thread and didn't see much anything mentioned about difficulty in getting the various endings... so one question in particular: I like to play these games the first time through with as little walkthrough as possible (got Adventurer ending first try in Rorona!) but that actually bit me in the butt in Totori because of how you unlock more areas of the map after you get the ship--I didn't realize you had to exit the maps at various exit spots (you didn't have to in Rorona, or for other areas in Totori) so I didn't unlock enough of the map and got bad end the first time (good thing I had lots of saves to go back to). Are there any "gotchas" like this to watch out for in Meruru?
Lastly, though I wish I had a BARREL t-shirt, I haven't gotten the LEs of the games and instead picked up the Rorona & Totori & Meruru artbook. Soooooooooooooo gorgeous. Incredible artbook. Only downside is that it's not hardcover, but at 256 oversized pages of full color it was worth every cent. For you fans of the artwork I highly recommend the book, it's got pretty much every character portrait and event scene from all three games. I don't even buy many artbooks but I made an exception for this one.
I'm new around here but I read through most of this thread and didn't see much anything mentioned about difficulty in getting the various endings... so one question in particular: I like to play these games the first time through with as little walkthrough as possible (got Adventurer ending first try in Rorona!) but that actually bit me in the butt in Totori because of how you unlock more areas of the map after you get the ship--I didn't realize you had to exit the maps at various exit spots (you didn't have to in Rorona, or for other areas in Totori) so I didn't unlock enough of the map and got bad end the first time (good thing I had lots of saves to go back to). Are there any "gotchas" like this to watch out for in Meruru?
Lastly, though I wish I had a BARREL t-shirt, I haven't gotten the LEs of the games and instead picked up the Rorona & Totori & Meruru artbook. Soooooooooooooo gorgeous. Incredible artbook. Only downside is that it's not hardcover, but at 256 oversized pages of full color it was worth every cent. For you fans of the artwork I highly recommend the book, it's got pretty much every character portrait and event scene from all three games. I don't even buy many artbooks but I made an exception for this one.
I beat Totori a few weeks ago without playing the first game and I had no problems following along. I didn't like the super-deformed look of Rorona from what I saw online, and I can't find the game in my city, so I am just going to skip it and continue on to Meruru.
Meruru's actually a lot more straight forward in terms of what you have to do in general, I think you'll be fine if you got through Totori alright. It's kind of hard to give tips for Meruru. Just fight as much as you can to keep your levels up as well as do all the Development stuff you can I guess?
I guess one thing is that lots of the important recipes you get are based off of Alchemy level now, and there are no recipes in treasure chests or anything anymore.
I guess one thing is that lots of the important recipes you get are based off of Alchemy level now, and there are no recipes in treasure chests or anything anymore.
Completed Meruru, fantastic game and imo it's got the best gameplay (just in general, from item synthesis to the battle system) out of all the current english PS3 Atelier games... just need to platinum it which I will get around to at some point.
Wish Ayesha had a item/menu translation guide. if so, I'd probably import Ayesha (and then get it again when it comes out in english >_>)
Wish Ayesha had a item/menu translation guide. if so, I'd probably import Ayesha (and then get it again when it comes out in english >_>)
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
So I did another live stream, this time I'm starting an Atelier fanart! This time I have a microphone, so I talk about my overall process for painting a piece of art. If anyone wants to watch, please feel free to watch, it's about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25124700
This time I have a microphone, so I talk about my overall process for painting a piece of art. If anyone wants to watch, please feel free to watch, it's about 1 hour and 30 minutes.http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25124700
finally got the Platinum which took me a little over a week. My 3rd playthrough was totally unnecessary, got too OCD preparing for
fight that I had three decent Black-White Rings with Speed+ stats spammed as traits. Never even got a single hit on me. After the battle, I ended up wandering in Makina Domain and damn, this is hard. A random battle took me all I had and felt like a boss fight. From what I hear also, the final boss there requires near perfect equipments and items to beat. But I guess, thats it for me, I want to play for a 4th time but Im thinking of going back to Totori for the Platinum or focus on my backlog next. I seriously can't wait for Atelier Ayesha!
Masked G
Audioboxer
Member
Play-Asia were selling this for $19.90, ordered it and Totori for $29.90 last night ($50 total). Came here to post the deal this morning, but it's sold out http://www.play-asia.com/Atelier_Meruru_Apprentice_of_Arland/paOS-13-71-bp-49-en-70-4ggx.html
Sorry GAF.
Anyway, excited to get into this series. I'm avoiding the first game. Totori for $30 wasn't an offer, but it seemed a good price considering the game seems to be out of print in the UK, and sells for £30+.
I got both games for £33. It was the Altelier series or Hyperdimension, and this seems like less of a risk.
Sorry GAF.
Anyway, excited to get into this series. I'm avoiding the first game. Totori for $30 wasn't an offer, but it seemed a good price considering the game seems to be out of print in the UK, and sells for £30+.
I got both games for £33. It was the Altelier series or Hyperdimension, and this seems like less of a risk.
Way late but since this got bumped...
Makina Domain is a lot of fun. Gio, Totori, Meruru is an unbeatable team in there (though Esty/Meruru/Mimi is my preferred team just for general running around). I ignored the place on my first game, poked my head in near the end of my second play (in which I got the platinum) and got womped by the last boss and didn't have enough time left to gear up for it. I had pretty much ultimate weapons and armors by then for most characters, but not accessories or bombs. The last boss is basically a DPS race and if you're not fast enough she will have so many of her beams of light hitting you off-turn and pushing your turns back that you'll just get wiped out before your turn ever comes, no matter how many auto-heal or auto-revive medicines you have.
So I started a third game specifically for kicking butt in Makina Domain.
I spent hours glued to the screen having fun experimenting with different bomb synths, fuel synths, speed belt and black-white ring synths, etc. trying to maximize costs and traits. The accessories were the hardest to do. A tip to any aspiring alchemists: scratch paper is your friend!
Eventually after lots of re-loading, I had a nice array of bombs (AoE debuff bombs, single-target damage bombs, AoE damage bombs) and a few stacks of ultimate elixirs and other buff items. With the amount of stats I had and Gio's auto-quick slash with Totori using duplicate on ultimate elixirs while Meruru uses bombs with her damage boost trait, I destroyed that place. It was great.
First game isn't that bad, really. I've played it, uh, 3.x times through, I think? (.x meaning to get all endings you have to replay the last part of the game several times.) I think Totori would be more enjoyable if you've played Rorona, and of course this is just personal preference but I think Rorona is a great MC (especially with JP voice actress, hnnngh), Rorona!Cordelia->Totori!Cordelia is one of the best character developments in the series, Astrid is a hilarious troll, and even though there are fewer skits in Rorona than in the other two games, they're more consistently funnier, especially just about anything involving Hom. Rorona also has some of the best endings in the trilogy (and events leading to them) like pie ending, rich ending, Gio ending (all hilarious), Cordliea ending (daww) and True/Astrid (so satisfying).Audίoboxer;50822310 said:
I guess it really comes down to how you feel in general about character continuity, since so much of the cast is present in Totori.
Of the two, you picked the better series.
robotzombie
Member
Any suggestions on what to do on a first playthrough? I know you can't get the best (true) ending, but is there an ending I should go for? Any specific things I should accomplish? I know I should focus on making the best weapons I can before starting a second playthrough...
Uh, go for whatever ending you want? There really isn't one you "should" get on the first play. I mean, you can pretty much approach it one of three ways:
1) Look at a guide for a list of endings, pick one you like and get an idea of the requirements and see if you can hit them (probably without following a walkthrough too closely since that just feels like a chore).
2) The more fun way is just play the game and see what happens. You can use Meruru's Memo menu in-game for reference. When you start/unlock event chains leading to ending requirements they will be tracked in there.
3) If you plan to platinum the game, get Castle Life ("bad ending") out of the way first (or maybe second, since getting it first may sour you on the game) because it's actually one of the most annoying endings to get if you're just playing the game normally.
Unlike the first two in the trilogy, Meruru doesn't have "character endings" in the same sense but there are still a ton of character events. Once you're on a NG+ you can reference a guide for all the ending requirements and tailor a group of save games specifically for getting all the endings in just two plays (via loading saves and triggering different events before the end). Note that doing this will probably require you to have skipped some things (events) on your first game in order to make, ideally, the best rainbow ingot weapons possible and some other good equipment to carry over into NG+ to save you a lot of time to allow time for doing all the events you need.
Honestly I think Meruru has the weakest assortment of endings in the series (partly because no character endings, brothers Rufus aren't very interesting characters) but they're not bad. I personally like the Now, Go Bravely! ending (got that on my first playthrough) a lot and both endings where
are good and almost make up for stupid decision made with her. The thing about Meruru's endings is that most of them are missing a compelling element of weight (seriousness) or comedy or relationship focus; most Rorona and Totori endings had one or more of these elements, but Meruru endings in comparison all feel kind of like "welp, and then this happened" anti-climactic endings.
1) Look at a guide for a list of endings, pick one you like and get an idea of the requirements and see if you can hit them (probably without following a walkthrough too closely since that just feels like a chore).
2) The more fun way is just play the game and see what happens. You can use Meruru's Memo menu in-game for reference. When you start/unlock event chains leading to ending requirements they will be tracked in there.
3) If you plan to platinum the game, get Castle Life ("bad ending") out of the way first (or maybe second, since getting it first may sour you on the game) because it's actually one of the most annoying endings to get if you're just playing the game normally.
Unlike the first two in the trilogy, Meruru doesn't have "character endings" in the same sense but there are still a ton of character events. Once you're on a NG+ you can reference a guide for all the ending requirements and tailor a group of save games specifically for getting all the endings in just two plays (via loading saves and triggering different events before the end). Note that doing this will probably require you to have skipped some things (events) on your first game in order to make, ideally, the best rainbow ingot weapons possible and some other good equipment to carry over into NG+ to save you a lot of time to allow time for doing all the events you need.
Honestly I think Meruru has the weakest assortment of endings in the series (partly because no character endings, brothers Rufus aren't very interesting characters) but they're not bad. I personally like the Now, Go Bravely! ending (got that on my first playthrough) a lot and both endings where
Rorona gets turned back into a teenager
robotzombie
Member
Thanks for the reply!
A few more questions:
Just in general, is it really difficult to not be able to beat the game on a first run through? I mean do you have to like waste a ton of time for you to not be able to beat it?
Second, when should I start making weapons? Should I hold off until a specific point or should I make upgrades whenever I'm able?
Last, should I be spreading out all my party members? I just got to the point where I can add Mimi and Totori, I'd like to put in Mimi and keep Lias. Is it fine to use whoever you want or should you spread it out and make sure everyone is getting friendship points and such?
A few more questions:
Just in general, is it really difficult to not be able to beat the game on a first run through? I mean do you have to like waste a ton of time for you to not be able to beat it?
Second, when should I start making weapons? Should I hold off until a specific point or should I make upgrades whenever I'm able?
Last, should I be spreading out all my party members? I just got to the point where I can add Mimi and Totori, I'd like to put in Mimi and keep Lias. Is it fine to use whoever you want or should you spread it out and make sure everyone is getting friendship points and such?
archnemesis
Member
I don't get it. What are you upset about?
archnemesis
Member
Haha...I never thought of that. It doesn't really fit her personality.
I'm a few hours into this at long last and wow! This is the same game engine as Totori right? They totally cranked it up to 11 cause movement speed is way quicker, jumping feels way better, an the presentation is ultra flashy!!! Even the battle result screens are way more energetic! The only part of it I'm not liking is that notification bar. Did Gust do this to emphasize the difference in Meruru and Totori's characters or just because they could?
The remixed music from the previous game is so nostalgic! It reminds me of hearing the updated R/B music in PKMN G/S! And do I see that if ya need a synthesis item needed for another synthesis you can make it right there from that menu instead of backing out and making the needed item seperately? Awesomeness! So is the areas changing before your eyes as ya complete objectives!
Why is Lias such a hardass? He better soften up alil! Whats up with the overpowering music? I had ta drastically turn music volume down in order to hear character voices! Why is Totori so... blue? In color and expression! See looks kinda down just sitting alone by herself in the workshop!
The remixed music from the previous game is so nostalgic! It reminds me of hearing the updated R/B music in PKMN G/S! And do I see that if ya need a synthesis item needed for another synthesis you can make it right there from that menu instead of backing out and making the needed item seperately? Awesomeness! So is the areas changing before your eyes as ya complete objectives!
Why is Lias such a hardass? He better soften up alil! Whats up with the overpowering music? I had ta drastically turn music volume down in order to hear character voices! Why is Totori so... blue? In color and expression! See looks kinda down just sitting alone by herself in the workshop!
Twin Drive System
Member
So I bought Rorona and Totori on impulse a few years ago and tried playing Rorona. But all the time limit stuff seemed pretty daunting, so I gave up shortly after.
This summer break, I made it my mission to complete at least one rpg, so I gave Rorona another shot.
I ended up using 2 different guides and went for a platinum.
The game itself was easier than I thought once I got the hang of it. They gave plenty of time to complete assignments and do whatever. I also had a few issues with the game (freezing, item UI, PS2 level graphics, etc).
But overall, the characters, music, and laid-back atmosphere were all charming as hell. I'm actually feeling kind of sad now that I've just finished it.
I just realized that I bought Meruru at some point, so I definitely look forward to playing the sequels in the future.
This summer break, I made it my mission to complete at least one rpg, so I gave Rorona another shot.
I ended up using 2 different guides and went for a platinum.
The game itself was easier than I thought once I got the hang of it. They gave plenty of time to complete assignments and do whatever. I also had a few issues with the game (freezing, item UI, PS2 level graphics, etc).
But overall, the characters, music, and laid-back atmosphere were all charming as hell. I'm actually feeling kind of sad now that I've just finished it.
I just realized that I bought Meruru at some point, so I definitely look forward to playing the sequels in the future.