While it may not seem much, there is more to this game than meets the eye!
Story:
The story of Ar tonelico starts off in the world of Sol Ciel. The world has been devastated twice as of this tale begins, and all of a sudden, viruses (no, not a disease) have started causing havoc in the city of Platina. Lyner Barsett, a Knight of Elemia and also the main character of the story, sets down into the lower world in order to find an item called the Hymn Crystal Purger, in hopes that it'll help save Platina from destruction.
The overall story starts off like this, and admittedly sounds quite cliché, but it does pick up later on with quite a number of plot twists and secrets that the game reveals slowly over time. Those who stick with the game will be rewarded with a good tale, and two separate story arcs and multiple endings encourages going through the main game over again.
8.5/10
Design:
At first, Ar tonelico seems to be a game that follows conventions quite closely. As with most RPGs like Final Fantasy, the combat itself is quite turn based. You choose what to do (attack, use and item, etc.) then execute it. You explore various locations, but when it comes to towns, you have to select where to go on a menu system, which cuts down on walking. Initially, that seems to be all there is to the game, but quite early on, you'll be introduced to several systems. Here's a brief overview of them:
Grathmelding: This is essentially the alchemy element of the Atelier Iris games, and those that have played those titles will be instantly familiar with this part of the game. You select what items you use to craft, then you make the item. If you lack the ingredients, you can't make the item. For the most part, this is optional, but quite a number of times, making certain items is required to advance the story. You learn new recipes by collecting cards, which can be bought in shops, found around towns and dungeons, or are given automatically as part of a story portion.
Reyvateils: During your travels, you team up with singing spell casters known as Reyvateils. Aurica Nestmille and Misha Arsellec Lune assist you during the battles by chanting song magic. The longer they charge the magic, the stronger it is. Chanting, however, consumes their MP, so you cannot continuously hold one song forever. When you press the triangle button, you set their actions. Because of this, they don't follow the standard turn based rules, and charge up their attacks even when its NOT your turn. After winning battles, not only do you gain experience and items (which is determined by how well you perform) you also earn "dive points", or DP. DP is essential for the next portion of which will be discussed. Finally, if you progress with them to a certain point, you can "install" crystals in them to enhance their songs. Unfortunately, the dialogue gives off some innuendo and if taken the wrong way, it sounds pretty dirty. Just please don't take things the wrong way, or anything.
Diving: This is where the visual novel portion of the game comes into play. During in times you rest at certain save spots or inns, if you have topics that you have acquired during your journey that you can talk to the girls about, you can talk with them. Each topic you talk about earns you a sticker on a grid. If you fill a certain amount, you can enter the next level of their Cosmosphere. At that point, you "dive" (no, I'm not talking about that) into their subconscious. While in their inner world, you select locations on a map, and pay a certain number of dive points in order to advance to the next event on the level. The rewards you get for watching these sequences is new song magic and alternate costumes.
That's essentially the overal design of the game in a nutshell, but will you have fun doing this?
Gameplay:
The turn based combat elements are standard fare, with the exception of the girls' song prowess. A lot of the time, it makes the battles seem one sided in your favor, making the game admittedly quite easy, for the most part. The menus do the job, and the text is easy to read, but a lot of the time, it seems the game randomly pauses to load something, almost as if it is having trouble getting access to the disc properly. Now, I have heard this is a common problem with the game, so I guess it's not my copy.
The alchemy (I'd rather call it that) portion is more streamlined than another game I played, Atelier Iris 3, and oftentimes, if you can make the ingredients you need to make another item, it'll prompt you if you want to and you'll instantly go to craft that item.
The visual novel portion is more automatic and linear, and all it requires is just have enough dive points, which is not too hard to do in this game. There wasn't one point in the game where I ever ran out of dive points for a level. Now, for me, it didn't bother me at all, as I like to read quite a bit, but for some people, it may be a problem. There is a also a load of innuendo and references to in the game, although in retrospect, its actually much cleaner than the dialogue suggests. Just try to keep your thoughts clean, okay?
8.0/10
Presentation:
With static backgrounds and sprite characters, Ar tonelico can easily be mistaken for a Super Nintendo game. While the still portraits of characters and the sprite themselves look great, they suffer from not much animation at all, which is a bit unnerving. There are some occasional well done anime style cut scenes, but they're few, and far between.
The overal voice acting is quite decent, thankfully. To be honest, I'm someone that prefers the English dub. Now there are some weak performances in the dubbing, but nothing overly grating. I never played with the Japanese voiceovers, so I can't comment on those. The soundtrack, however, is astounding, especially the ones with vocals, of which the girls sing themselves. Sound effects are quite standard, and nothing overly annoying there.
The writing is also quite emotional and can quite a number of times quell your heart strings. There are some occasional text errors, though.
8.0/10
Overall:
Its not often that a game like this manages to come stateside, and those that are into RPGs and enjoy quite a bit of romance should definitely approach this game…. If you can find it somehow.
9.0/10 (Not an average)