Atelier Meruru Comes to North America and Europe

[TwinBahamut]

It seems fans have spoken, and the Atelier games' love affair with the West isn't going to end anytime soon. Hopefully Meruru will be done with her English studies by the time her world tour starts.

[Link]

[storino03]

wow, it's supposedly coming out faster than I thought. Seeing as their Atelier localisations usually take almost a 1 year and a half to come to the US. This is a nice surprise!

[caddyalan]

This is a nice surprise. Though I think the main character's name should be "Meryl" rather than "Meruru"...

Since the middle of the PS2 era, a number of Atelier games (and both Mana Khemia games) have been localized. Okay, only one of the three DS games got translated, and nothing on PSP... Still, I'm glad that localizations have been occurring.

The first few Atelier games on PS1 and PS2 have some FAQs in English, but no official translations. I wonder which of them might still be interesting, eight or more years after their release?

[aquagon]

This is a nice surprise. Though I think the main character's name should be "Meryl" rather than "Meruru"...

Since the middle of the PS2 era, a number of Atelier games (and both Mana Khemia games) have been localized. Okay, only one of the three DS games got translated, and nothing on PSP... Still, I'm glad that localizations have been occurring.

The first few Atelier games on PS1 and PS2 have some FAQs in English, but no official translations. I wonder which of them might still be interesting, eight or more years after their release?

At least I can say for certain that both Atelier Lina (the last of the DS ones) and Atelier Marie (the very first entry on the series) are very interesting games.
Lina due to the improvements it made on Annie's gameplay formula and characters; and Marie was quite a fun if you like time-managing and synthesis, despite still being very rough around the edges due to the extreme simplicity of its game systems.

[SpaceDrake]

This is a nice surprise. Though I think the main character's name should be "Meryl" rather than "Meruru"...

Gust says it's Meruru, specifically. I think it's a bit silly but whadyagonnado.

The first few Atelier games on PS1 and PS2 have some FAQs in English, but no official translations. I wonder which of them might still be interesting, eight or more years after their release?

Atelier Elie and Atelier Violet are generally agreed to be the best of the PS1 and PS2 games, respectively. Marie was famous back in its day for inventing the franchise, but it's so comparatively simple these days that it doesn't hold up well. Lilie, meanwhile, is almost TOO hard and complicated, and Judie is just kind of a mess.

[GaijinMonogatari]

Marie was a good start to the series, but I agree that it is a lot simpler than any of the games that came after. Still have yet to play Elie (one of the three games in the series I haven't played, actually), but Lilie was a little too ambitious in some aspects -- things like in-depth tinkering of ratios and ingredients within recipes. ME&Anis was fun, but not strong on story. Judie was... strangely unfocused at times, even for an Atelier title. The lack of an actual deadline didn't help, oddly enough, though it was good on exploration. Violet really reminds me of Totori for some reason, though the stories and gameplay really aren't too similar beyond the basics. Lise was... that game had issues, unfortunately. Annie was good, Lina was better. The first and second Arland games, you all can play for yourselves

[Nyx]

All I can say is OMGIWANT.

[flamethrower]

I only played Rorona. I thought what it needed most was the "infinite inventory when in town" feature that Recettear has. I hated having to go to the workshop, load completed items for requests in the basket, and then go see the requestor. I'd rather just go see the requestor.

[Slayer]

Yes. Just bring it!

[LegendaryZoltan]

Why should it be Meryl instead of Meruru? It's Japanese.

[flamethrower]

R/L sounds are ambiguous in Japanese (put either R or L wherever you see R). So "Firion" is either Filion or Firion (no way to objectively tell which).

If you read Meruru as Merulu, you get Meryl out of it. U is the weakest vowel in Japanese; it is not normally pronounced at the end of words. You can see it in words like "chiimuwaaku" (teamwork, borrowed word). This is how Meryl is spelled in Japanese, see here for some evidence.

[Airik]

I'm pretty sure her name isn't intended to be Meryl, as it would ruin the heroine naming convention. Ro-Ro-Na. To-To-Ri. Me-Ru-Ru.

[TheAnimeMan]

I'm pretty sure her name isn't intended to be Meryl, as it would ruin the heroine naming convention. Ro-Ro-Na. To-To-Ri. Me-Ru-Ru.

So she already ruined it with double last instead of double first