Ar Tonelico (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit

Hello, boys and girls, today we're looking at the most recent gaming gem from NIS/Gust. So let's begin.

Story: You take the role of Lyner Barsett, a young man who serves as a knight of Elemia in a beautiful city near the top of the tower. Maybe I should do some back story. People in this world live around a giant tower known as Ar Tonelico. Some live on floating lands near it (these are the lower lands and are generally looked down upon by the upper lands) and some live near the top. In the middle are a tribe of people known as terus that prevent upper and lower landers from meeting. There are also people known as Reyveitals whose job it is to sing and provide backup to the warriors they serve. The tower occasionally has issues with viruses, which the knights of Elemia kill. One day though, new unstoppable viruses appear, and Lyner is sent to the lower lands in an airship to find a crystal that can wipe these new threats out. Once there he meets a some new friends who can help him on his mission. The basic story is the usual overused fare, but this doesn't make it any less fun. 3/5

Audio: The voice acting is bad, I won't lie. The voice actors themselves are fairly well known, so why they mostly fail, I just can't say. The worst in my opinion is the voice of Jack, which is somewhat highpitched and whiney for his older veteran role. Luckily, it's easy to skip through the dialogue without having to listen to it, or you could adjust your sound settings. The music, on the other hand, is beautiful. Generally the background songs are soothing. Some tracks even have vocals to bring to mind the reyveitals that are singing. 4/5

Graphics: The character sprites are a bit on the lower end of the spectrum. They're not unappealing, but they're certainly not absolutely gorgeous. All the characters have anime portraits that usually alter in the face to display emotion, and these are very lovely. The backgrounds as well are hand painted art that look beautiful. 4/5

Gameplay: There are quite a few aspects that must be brushed on in this section. First, we'll talk about Reyveitals. A lot of reviews call this a dating RPG, and while I'm not sure that's the best classification, there are some similarities. As Lyner, you must dive into the subconscious of the girls to learn their inner feelings and help them learn new song magic. The deeper you dive, the more the girls will coem to like you. In order to dive into the girls you need two things: dive points, which you earn in battles, and conversations, which you have with the girls while staying at inns or camping. Diving deeper also unlocks alternate costumes for the girls which you can wear in battles. The costumes have different bonuses, but it's mostly fun just to cosplay. Another aspect with the girls is installing, where you put crystals into their body to boost various song magics. Both diving and installing have the most hilarious dialogue involved because both are talked about as if they're sex. It's all so delightfully dirty sounding. Once you have learned song magics, you will find the girls very useful in battles. Most songs have a limit to how many times you can sing them, which refills as you fight more battles. At the bottom of the battle screen are two bars. The blue and purple one is the harmonics bar, which fills when the warriors or reyveitals act. The red bar above it fills when the reyveital uses song magic, and it is vitally important for getting good drops. To the left of the red bar are little harmonics crystals, which if you fill all of them (only one is there at first, more appear as you fill the red bar) you get more drops. Battles are turn based, with the reyveital working in her own little world. You can command her at any point. The warriors are also responsible for guarding the reyveital, should an enemy have an attack that would go over the warriors. After battles you are allotted experience and dive points depending on your performance. Another aspect of the game is grathmelding. It is essentially a crafting system. You find recipe cards, gather the ingredients, and make the item. The best weapons and armor are made from these recipes. The gameplay is simple, but it's also very fun. 5/5

Replay: This game offers some replay value with alternate endings and various choice paths throughout the game. 4/5

Overall: It's not the greatest game out there, but it's entertaining, cute, and time consuming. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes the Atelier games as well as anyone who likes just plain fun RPGs. 4/5