I'm curious as to the answer to this too. I look at them at face value and I just have no interest, but if I see they are similar to something I like I'd give them a shot.
Hmmm I'm not sure what to compare them to since the games are a combination of several things and I don't have the most comprehensive RPG Background but I will give it a shot:
Atelier Totori Plus:
Story:
Extremely basic your character wants to be an adventurer to look for someone and that's it,you're not a hero,you're not saving anyone,you're not getting revenge,you're not defeating a villain and you're not liberating a land/kingdom.The Atelier games are known for their great character interactions and not their story.
Gameplay:
Totori is an alchemist and as such you will often find yourself gathering and looking for items/materials and synthesizing items for yourself or others. The game has 2 main goals (1 of them will not be spoiled) one of them being that you have to obtain a certain amount of adventure points within the span of 3 year but how you go about doing that is up to you. You can take Guild request,Synthesizing requests,go kill some monsters or go fight bosses but keep in mind that gathering items,synthesizing,fighting monsters,sleeping at your house etc almost everything you do takes time to away from those 3 years and there is also time based quests/request and what not so you're going to be doing a degree of time managing if you want to make those 3 years count.
Battling is turn based you got your basic HP/MP, our turn list, Special attack meter,assist meter, and the LP stat which works kinda like stamina were the lower it is the the worse you perform and your start getting debuffs. You can recruit other characters to help you in battle since Totori is weaker than a squirrel and the game has no game over screen...if you get wiped in battle you simply return to your house and you lose the time it took to get to the area you got wiped in and the time you wasted there.
Synthesizing is very straight forward such as need A+B+C+D item to make X item but can also use E+F+G+H item to make X item too, pretty much everything you obtain in the game can be used in some way to synthesize items or weapons, each items has a certain grade of quality and using higher quality items yield better synthesized items and you can also add traits to an item but again the quality of the items you use to add a trait to an item also determines how much better the desire trait will be.
The game offers multiple character endings depending on how you decided to spend those 3 years and what you managed to complete so if this game doesn't sound boring to you than give it a try.
Atelier Meruru Plus:
Story:
You have become the apprentice of Totori from the previous game but your father disapproves so in order to gain his approval just must help him expand and enrich the land he watches over.
Gameplay:
Everything from Totori applies here but with the exception that instead of gaining adventure points you're gaining development point and those points can be used to expand or improve a certain area or type of business in the land in which doing so increases and improves the item yield from that business and I have to say that watching the player turn a desolate land into a thriving town is satisfying and of course how you go about improving the land is up to you since you can use development points,take requests or offer items to the people.
Atelier Rorona Plus:
Story:
You're an alchemist down on it's luck and you got 3 years to turn yourself around or your alchemist shop goes under.
Gameplay:
Not much to say here for newcomers since everything is pretty much the same as Totori but for those of you who played the original Atelier Rorona this game is a HUGE improvement in alot of area's and not just the improved character models but otherwise the game will look and play pretty similar to Totori in the eyes of a newcomer to the series.
So...:
So if anyone is interested in starting the Atelier Arland Trilogy then start with Atelier Rorona Plus and if you're interested in playing the other 2 games than Atelier Totori Plus is the next one in the trilogy and Atelier Meruru Plus is the last game in the Trilogy.
