Atelier Meruru Is The Third Game With Rorona And The Last Game In Arland

Dengeki PlayStation has a blowout on Atelier Meruru, a sequel to Atelier Totori and Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. Meruru (which could also be Meryl or Merle) is a fifteen year old alchemist apprentice and Totori, now 19, is her teacher. Atelier Meruru takes place in the small country of Earls, which is just outside of Arland.

Rorona returns in this game, but she appears as a little girl who really wants to eat pie. Since Rorona was Totori’s mentor in Atelier Totori, Rorona should be even older in Atelier Meruru. Part of the mystery is how or why is Rorona a girl since Dengeki didn’t explain why.

Atelier Meruru has a new system where players help her cultivate the world. It’s possible to turn this empty space into a giant tower. Players can also customize their alchemy creations by making small changes to a formula. Gust completely changed the battle system in Atelier Meruru. The game displays the turn order on the side of the screen with character icons lined up vertically. Atelier Meruru uses a cost turn system, which sounds like a fancy way of saying attacks change the turn order.

Gust says Atelier Meruru will be the end of the Arland storyline for now and there will be a conclusion to the series. That’s not counting downloadable content, which Gust plans to release.

Atelier Meruru is slated for release on June 23. A limited edition with another crystal paperweight and Meruru Nendoroid will go on sale for 10,290 yen ($127) while a standalone game costs 7,140 yen ($88).