History YMMV / AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland

* EvenBetterSequel: Prior to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' getting an overhaul in ''Rorona Plus'', ''Totori'' was generally seen as a flat upgrade over ''Rorona'' in almost every way, adding AntiFrustrationFeatures to address some of the roughest parts of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' and featuring higher complexity in its game system and story writing. Even after 'Rorona Plus'' made things more contentious in regards to recommended play order, a large percentage of people will still argue that ''Totori'' improves on the core gameplay loop enough to offset the awkwardness that would otherwise come from the quality-of-life downgrade.

* ContestedSequel: While the game is hardly considered to be bad on its own, it poses a bit of an issue for new players getting into the Arland series due to its release history. Back when the game was first released, ''Totori'' was widely agreed to be an EvenBetterSequel in most ways, and since the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' was rather rough around the edges, it was common for people to recommend getting into the series with ''Totori'' first for a less awkward introduction. The problem was that ''Atelier Rorona Plus'' was released some years later, completely overhauling the entire ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' system beyond the usual UpdatedRerelease level to be on par with the later ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'' and making ''Totori'' into the comparatively rougher game, meaning that new fans getting into the Arland games would be likely to start with ''Rorona Plus'' only to experience a massive quality of life drop once they reached ''Totori''.\\
This resulted in the question of "should I start with ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or ''Totori'' first?" becoming a polarizing question that nobody can agree on, since it boils down to whether one would prefer dealing with the aforementioned problem but get to play the games in order or having a smoother experience of getting used to the system but playing the story out of order. Not helping is the fact that whether one prefers the simpler but more tightly packed structure of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or the more expansive but less organized structure of ''Totori'' tends to be a matter of taste, so it then becomes a question of whether you think ''Totori''[='=]'s system expansions make up for the drop in quality of life.

* ThatOneBoss: The Flauschtraut, which isn't necessarily ThatOneBoss if you synthesized well but is [[WakeUpCallBoss much harder than anything you'll have faced off before]]. Combined with [[FinalBoss it also being a normal ending requirement]], it's another easy run killer for anyone who isn't sufficiently prepared (again, also reasonably likely to happen with Atelier newcomers).

** ThatOneLevel: '''The boat.''' There are a ''lot'' of things to be keeping track of and putting together in order to make it, and making it is so time-consuming that it can easily make or break a run because even if you don't run out of time to make it (something that'll happen if you underestimate how urgently you need to make it), if you make it too late, you won't have enough time to do everything that comes after the boat. Since it's required in order to not get a bad ending, it's probably the most frequent culprit behind players (especially Atelier newcomers) failing out of the game. This resulted in even the word "boat" becoming associated with a sentiment of dread among the fanbase, which wasn't helped when later games ''[[VideoGame/AtelierEschaAndLogyAlchemistsOfTheDuskSky Escha & Logy]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney Firis]]'' added more to the line of cumbersome and potentially game-breaking large vehicles, making ''Totori'' come off as a pioneer of synthesizing hell.

* ThatOneBoss: One in alchemy synthesis terms and one in combat terms:
** '''The boat.''' There are a ''lot'' of things to be keeping track of and putting together in order to make it, and making it is so time-consuming that it can easily make or break a run because even if you don't run out of time to make it (something that'll happen if you underestimate how urgently you need to make it), if you make it too late, you won't have enough time to do everything that comes after the boat. Since it's required in order to not get a bad ending, it's probably the most frequent culprit behind players (especially Atelier newcomers) failing out of the game. This resulted in even the word "boat" becoming associated with a sentiment of dread among the fanbase, which wasn't helped when later games ''[[VideoGame/AtelierEschaAndLogyAlchemistsOfTheDuskSky Escha & Logy]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney Firis]]'' added more to the line of cumbersome and potentially game-breaking large vehicles, making ''Totori'' come off as a pioneer of synthesizing hell.
** Once you've made the boat, you'll have to face off against the Flauschtraut, which isn't necessarily ThatOneBoss if you synthesized well but is [[WakeUpCallBoss much harder than anything you'll have faced off before]], and combined with it also being a normal ending requirement, it's another easy run killer for anyone who isn't sufficiently prepared (again, also reasonably likely to happen with Atelier newcomers).

** NewGamePlus is extremely barebones, since you only keep your equipped gear and money. Neither is all that useful in making second runs more efficient, as the biggest obstacle in ''Totori'' is the massive amounts of time every action takes... and you can't carry over your gathering items that would, say, allow you to take less time on harvesting or cut down the number of days needed for traveling. Obviously, being able to beat up enemies quickly speeds up your gameplay in real time, but combat always takes the same amount of in-game time. One-shotting every low level boss and minion isn't as helpful as you'd hope. Both the money and gear prep only come into use when you tackle endgame content.

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... despite the fact that it barely had any differences from the original version of the game, which was was rated as a relatively innocent PG. Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "(high impact) violence" or "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand, and the only logical reason the game would go under such harsh scrutiny would be [[AnimationAgeGhetto the stigma against games with this style]]. While the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... despite the fact that it barely had any differences from the original version of the game, which was was rated as a relatively innocent PG. Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "(high impact) violence" or "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand, meaning the game had gone under such harsh scrutiny because of [[AnimationAgeGhetto the stigma against games with this style]]. While the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... despite the fact that it barely had any differences from the original version of the game, which was was rated as a relatively innocent PG. Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand, meaning the game had gone under such harsh scrutiny because of [[AnimationAgeGhetto the stigma against games with this style]]. While the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... despite the fact that it barely had any differences from the original version of the game, which was was rated as a relatively innocent PG. Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, and while the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand, meaning the game had gone under such harsh scrutiny because of [[AnimationAgeGhetto the stigma against games with this style]].[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... despite the fact that it barely had any differences from the original version of the game, which was was rated as a relatively innocent PG. Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, and while the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand.[[/labelnote]]

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... even though the original version of the game was rated as a relatively innocent PG (despite the fact both versions had barely any differences between them). Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, and while the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "sexual violence" in the game is countable on one hand.[[/labelnote]]

* {{Narm}}: The scene where Totori [[spoiler:finds her mother's grave]] is ruined by the incredibly short looped soundbyte of [[spoiler:Totori crying]].

** '''The boat.''' There's a ''lot'' of things to be keeping track of and putting together in order to make it, and making it is so time-consuming that it can easily make or break a run because even if you don't run out of time to make it (something that'll happen if you underestimate how urgently you need to make it), if you make it too late, you won't have enough time to do everything that comes after the boat. Since it's required in order to not get a bad ending, it's probably the most frequent culprit behind players (especially Atelier newcomers) failing out of the game. This resulted in even the word "boat" becoming associated with a sentiment of dread among the fanbase, which wasn't helped when later games ''[[VideoGame/AtelierEschaAndLogyAlchemistsOfTheDuskSky Escha & Logy]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney Firis]]'' added more to the line of cumbersome and potentially game-breaking large vehicles, making ''Totori'' come off as a pioneer of synthesizing hell.

** The entire ending system, while still less painful than the original version of ''Rorona'', is impossible to work out without a guide. Each of the multiple endings has a "priority" when you unlock it, but you're not told when this happens. If you meet the conditions for one of the [[MultipleEndings endings]], it will check against the priority list and if you unlocked one with higher priority, it'll overwrite any other ending you've already met the conditions for. This means forcing you to juggle between possibly ''dozens'' of save files, or replay through NewGamePlus several times with absolutely precise micromanagement just to get OneHundredPercentCompletion. The requirements themselves are often esoteric at best and often require you to do things like bench Gino early in the game so he doesn't get past level 25, tracking the total number of pies eaten by every single Chim and turning them all off before they eat too many, or avoiding synthesizing items in Atelier Rorona when you hit Alchemy Level 50. Compare that to the UpdatedReRelease of ''VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland'', which due to being released after ''Ayesha'' simply borrowed its very forgiving system which conveniently lets you choose any ending whose requirements you've met. At least you can skip the credits.
** NewGamePlus is extremely barebones - you only keep your equipped gear and money. Neither is all that useful in making second runs more efficient as the biggest obstacle in ''Totori'' is the massive amounts of time every action takes... and you can't carry over your gathering items that would, say, allow you to take less time on harvesting or cut down the number of days needed for traveling. Obviously being able to beat up enemies quickly speeds up your gameplay in real time but combat always takes the same amount of in-game time. One-shotting every low level boss and minion isn't as helpful as you'd hope. Both the money and gear prep only come into use when you tackle endgame content and you won't have needed to waste time making the gear the first time nor will you worry about being able to afford the wholesaled items you'll want for the dungeons.
** Wholesale shops actually have a cap on how powerful your traits can be and will even delete a trait if it's considered to be powerful. This means you either need to waste precious time making lots of copies of your ultimate items, have the Chims do so very slowly, or deliberately nerf your items to not possess traits that can't be wholesaled.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Chims are adorable but a bit of a mixed bag over Hom from the previous game. They can only improve by simply working a lot, they require a consumable resource to continue working, and they can only gather or craft copies of items you already have in your inventory. On the other hand, the latter change makes certain tasks simpler since they will duplicate a powerful item or rare material perfectly instead of creating random versions. This is great for getting free ingots or cloths with perfect stats (especially since the wholesale shops don't stock them!). Furthermore you can have up to five by game's end, making a small army of duplicators vs only one Hom. They still have a lot of use, but clearly enough players preferred the simpler Hom system because Hom was brought back for ''Meruru'' (though now with a pair.)

* MemeticMutation: "High Impact Sexual Violence"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Australian Classification Board classified ''Plus'' as R18+ (restricted to 18 or older), a rating only barely below the level of ''banning games outright", with their cited reasons being "High Impact Violence" and "References to Sexual Violence"... even though the original version of the game was rated as a relatively innocent PG (despite the fact both versions had barely any differences between them). Anyone who heard about it was quick to mock the absurdity of the situation and the flawed logic used for Australia's rating system, and while the "High Impact Violence" part was later backpedaled on, the meme "High Impact Sexual Violence" had already taken hold, especially since the number of things that could feasibly be called "sexual violence" in the game are countable on one hand.[[/labelnote]]

* ContestedSequel: While the game is hardly considered to be bad on its own, it poses a bit of an issue for new players getting into the Arland series due to its release history. Back when the game was first released, ''Totori'' was widely agreed to be an EvenBetterSequel in most ways, and since the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' was rather rough around the edges, it was common to recommend that people get into the series with ''Totori'' first for a less awkward introduction. The problem was that ''Atelier Rorona Plus'' was released some years later, completely overhauling the entire ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' system beyond the usual UpdatedRerelease level to be on par with the later ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'' and making ''Totori'' into the comparatively rougher game, meaning that new fans getting into the Arland games would be likely to start with ''Rorona Plus'' only to experience a massive quality of life drop once they reached ''Totori''.\\

* FanPreferredCouple: The game shows a clear attempt at pushing Totori and Gino ShipTease, with them being ChildhoodFriends depicted in a parallel to Rorona and Sterk's own ShipTease. While Gino/Totori is hardly unpopular, Totori/Mimi ended up being ''overwhelmingly'' more so to the point ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' stopped having any interactions of significance between Gino and Totori at all while Mimi started being consistently portrayed as Totori's partner.

* ContestedSequel: While the game is hardly considered to be bad on its own, it poses a bit of an issue for new players getting into the Arland series due to its release history. Back when the game was first released, ''Totori'' was widely agreed to be an EvenBetterSequel in most ways, and since the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' was rather rough around the edges, it was common to recommend that people get into the series with ''Totori'' first for a less awkward introduction. The problem was that ''Atelier Rorona Plus'' was released some years later, completely overhauling the entire ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' system beyond the usual UpdatedRerelease level to be on par with the later ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'' and making ''Totori'' into the comparatively rougher game, meaning that new fans getting into the Arland trilogy would be likely to start with ''Rorona Plus'' only to experience a massive quality of life drop once they reached ''Totori''.\\

This resulted in the question of "should I start with ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or ''Totori'' first?" becoming a polarizing question that nobody can agree on, since it boils down to whether one would prefer dealing with the aforementioned problem but get to play the games in order or playing them out of order but having a smoother experience of getting used to the system. Not helping is the fact that whether one prefers the simpler but more tightly packed structure of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or the more expansive but less organized structure of ''Totori'' tends to be a matter of taste, so it then becomes a question of whether you think ''Totori''[='=]'s system expansions make up for the drop in quality of life.

This results in the question of "should I start with ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or ''Totori'' first?" becoming a polarizing question that nobody can agree on, since it boils down to whether one would prefer dealing with the aforementioned problem but get to play the games in order or playing them out of order but having a smoother experience of getting used to the system. Not helping is the fact that whether one prefers the simpler but more tightly packed structure of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or the more expansive but less organized structure of ''Totori'' tends to be a matter of taste, so it then becomes a question of whether you think ''Totori''[='=]'s system expansions make up for the drop in quality of life.

* ContestedSequel: While the game is hardly considered to be bad on its own, it poses a bit of an issue for new players getting into the Arland series due to its release history. Back when the game was first released, ''Totori'' was widely agreed to be an EvenBetterSequel in most ways, and since the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' was rather rough around the edges, it was common to recommend that people get into the series with ''Totori'' first for a less awkward introduction. The problem was that ''Atelier Rorona Plus'' was released some years later, completely overhauling the entire ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' system beyond the usual UpdatedRerelease level to be on par with the later ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'', making ''Totori'' into a comparatively rougher game, meaning that new fans getting into the Arland trilogy would be likely to start with ''Rorona Plus'' only to experience a massive quality of life drop once they reached ''Totori''. This results in the question of "should I start with ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or ''Totori'' first?" becoming a polarizing question that nobody could agree on, since it boils down to whether one would prefer playing the games in order but dealing with the aforementioned problem or playing them out of order but having a smoother experience of getting used to the system. Not helping is the fact that whether one prefers the simpler but more tightly packed structure of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or the more expansive but less organized structure of ''Totori'' tends to be a matter of taste, so it then becomes a question of whether you think ''Totori''[='=]'s system expansions make up for the drop in quality of life.

* ContestedSequel: While the game is hardly considered to be bad on its own, it poses a bit of an issue for new players getting into the Arland series due to its release history. Back when the game was first released, ''Totori'' was widely agree to be an EvenBetterSequel in most ways, and since the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' was rather rough around the edges, it was common to recommend that people get into the series with ''Totori'' first for a less awkward introduction. The problem was that ''Atelier Rorona Plus'' was released some years later, completely overhauling the entire ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' system beyond the usual UpdatedRerelease level to be on par with the later ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMeruruTheApprenticeOfArland Meruru]]'', making ''Totori'' into a comparatively rougher game, meaning that new fans getting into the Arland trilogy would be likely to start with ''Rorona Plus'' only to experience a massive quality of life drop once they reached ''Totori''. This results in the question of "should I start with ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or ''Totori'' first?" becoming a polarizing question that nobody could agree on, since it boils down to whether one would prefer playing the games in order but dealing with the aforementioned problem or playing them out of order but having a smoother experience of getting used to the system. Not helping is the fact that whether one prefers the simpler but more tightly packed structure of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' or the more expansive but less organized structure of ''Totori'' tends to be a matter of taste, so it then becomes a question of whether you think ''Totori''[='=]'s system expansions make up for the drop in quality of life.