Talking of old habits, man, I sure am sucking at remembering to do this, huh? I think I need to establish myself a routine for remembering to do this too, preferably not "shit something out at 2am because I forgot" as I occasionally did with my old blog!
Anyway, my "excuse" this time is that after a long and quite tedious week at work, I sat down and played some Atelier Meruru. And, well, I frigging love Atelier Meruru. Don't get me wrong, I love Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori too, but there's something really special about Meruru. I am now understanding why the Atelier fans I know tend to highlight it as a particularly good part of the Arland trilogy.
I'll obviously write more about the details of Meruru when we get to it in the current Cover Game feature on MoeGamer, but suffice to say for now that it takes all the interesting and fun bits from Rorona and Totori and wraps them in an immensely satisfying game structure with an adorable protagonist and some wonderful supporting characters.
Meruru herself is an absolute delight. I've always had a soft spot for the "spunky princess is bored with being a princess" archetype, and she inhabits that role perfectly without feeling like a trope. She's friendly, she's pleasant, she cares for her friends and she's a bit of a nosey bugger too.
Most importantly though, she gets things done. More than the previous two Atelier games in the Arland subseries, in Meruru your actions have a very obvious effect. Areas outright change in response to the tasks you complete: buildings appear, forests are cleared out and become farmland, old ruins become a formidable fort. It's incredibly satisfying to see the world evolve and change as a direct result of what you do; it gives you that real sense that although Meruru is a thoroughly personable protagonist, she's also quite an "important" one who is able to achieve things like this. This is a marked shift from Rorona and Totori, both of whom very much had to sort of "prove themselves" to the world over the course of their respective adventures.
But enough ranting, otherwise I won't have a Meruru article left to write in a couple of weeks! Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back… uh, later today 🙂
Discover more from I'm Not Doctor Who
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
