Atelier Totori is the second installment of the Arland series of Atelier games. Interestingly, it is actually the "oldest" game technology-wise of the PS3 era Atelier titles. This is because Atelier Rorona (which we talked about earlier) received a remake with a newer engine and some more refined mechanics later on, leaving Totori as the one closest to the original engine feel.

The story follows the adventures of Totooria Helmold, a young girl from the remote village of Alanya who dreams of becoming a famous adventurer just like her mother, Gisela, was. Her family is against it because Gisela disappeared long ago, and they are terrified of what could happen to young Totori. However, Totori wants to use her new adventurer role to find out where her mother went.

After learning alchemy from Rorona, who was traveling the country in search of disciples, she manages to gain enough confidence to challenge the adventurer exam (thanks also to the help of her sister Cecilia) and become a full-fledged adventurer. Rorona also lends her the Atelier she uses in Arland, so Totori effectively has two bases from which she can perform alchemy.

After passing the adventurer exam, however, Cordelia (now working as a country official) reveals to her that she has to gain enough points on her Adventurer License within 3 years. Otherwise, the license will be revoked. She can gain points by fulfilling requests for the people of Arland, much like it was in the original game.

The progression system is pretty much identical to Atelier Rorona, just that you have this point system instead of having recurring exams to pass. This grants a bit more freedom of action as you are not bound by strict quarterly deadlines, leaving you a bit freer to pursue your own objectives.

The game system is also very similar to the Rorona remake, with the usual three characters fighting against enemies. Each action (battle, travel, or gathering) makes time pass, which means you will need to consider carefully what to do next.

The main difference here is that the day system is unforgiving. There are lots of events that you could miss by being far from the country on specific dates, and the conditions to trigger certain events are pretty hard to guess unless you are following a walkthrough.

The playable companions are:

Gino Knab

A childhood friend of Totori with whom she spent most of her time. He is a child who dreams of becoming a powerful adventurer. He is not very smart and is sometimes rash in his decisions. He looks up to Sterk and wants to become stronger than him.

Melvia Siebel

An experienced adventurer and close friend of Totori's sister, Cecilia. She has absurd brute strength but is extremely sweet and caring toward the people she loves, like Totori. She also loves to tease the people around her.

Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang

An aristocrat and proud girl who travels across Arland to spread her family's name. She is a strong adventurer and initially sees Totori as a rival to surpass. However, that soon changes into a friendship and, honestly, by the end of her story, she is definitely yuri for her.

Marc McBrine

An eccentric young scientist who loves to create new inventions and dreams of creating a fully autonomous robot. He is brilliant and talented, but his direction of research (and weird personality) usually leads him into disastrous results.

Rorolina Fryxell

The protagonist of the first title of the series and Totori's teacher. She is older now but still as ditzy and childish as she was in the first game. She is extremely proud of Totori as she was the first "successful student" she ever had. She has grown much more experienced in alchemy and can create lesser copies of Hom called Chim without any support from her teacher.

Sterkenburg Cranach

A returning character from the first game. He was a knight, but after knighthood was abolished in the country, he began working as an adventurer. He is trying to find the former King Gio, but all attempts have been unsuccessful so far.

Unsurprisingly, my favorite character is Mimi. The interactions with Totori as she slowly opens up to her are really sweet. It reminds me a lot of the relationship between Cordelia and Rorona in the first game, and you know I am totally weak to these dynamics as they activate my yuri sensors.

Totori's journey to find her mother will encounter multiple hurdles along the way, like having to gather materials to build a ship sturdy enough to fight against the monster stopping vessels from leaving her village, and then actually fighting the monster herself.

Once you get the ship, you will have more routes open to explore, which is a new mechanic unique to this game. Through it, you will find different villages and meet new characters that would otherwise be unreachable, allowing you to gather more info.

The game has multiple endings with different requirements to be triggered, much like its predecessor. There is one normal ending, plus one ending for each character (Chim, Gino, Marc, Melvia, Mimi, Rorona, and Sterk), plus a True Ending that completes the story fully.

All in all, I suggest giving Atelier Totori a chance. It is dated by today's standards, but it is still a solid JRPG that will grant you hours and hours of fun with great characters and a very sweet story.