Ar tonelico is a niche title with some interesting concepts that hardcore Japanese RPG players will likely appreciate.
Not surprisingly, the game revolves around the Tower of Ar tonelico, and impossibly tall tower that is the source of all symphonic power. Due to two prior disasters, the land itself is uninhabitable and is always covered in storms. People live on the tower itself, and a floating continent left over from a prior civilization. Key in this world are Reyvateils, artificial humans who can focus the power of Ar tonelico into song magic. The Knights of Elemia live high on the tower, with their goal being to suppress attacks from viruses. These viruses are mysterious half-alive, half-data life forms that were weapons in a previous ancient war that form on the tower and start attacking its inhabitants. The story starts with Lyner, a knight, who encounters an attack by new, stronger viruses, and is sent to the floating continent to obtain a holy Hymn Crystal to combat these beings.
Reyvateils are not just central in the story, but in combat as well. The entire battle system revolves around a Reyvateil in the back row singing song magic, with its power increasing the longer they sing it. The other three party members are primarily shields for the Reyvateil. While they can certainly add up damage over time, attack songs from the Reyvateil, charged up to a decent amount, will be able to easily outdamage the other three party members combined. As such, a lot of the combat can revolve around protecting the Reyvateil and just staying alive until a powerful blast of song magic vaporizes the opponents. Just about every single normal attack only hits the three standard members, which certainly makes things easier for you. Enemies can also charge up an attack on the Reyvateil for their next turn, but between one and three of your party members (depending on the power of the enemy attack) can choose to defend the Reyvateil to absorb all the damage. In practice, with the exception of a late game boss battle, it will be rare for your Reyvateil to sustain a single point of damage unless you get careless. While this certainly makes a game over rare, some battles are still pretty hectic with how much damage the enemies can inflict on the three normal members. Still, RPG veterans probably won't get wiped out all game except for the final boss. The battle system also has a bit of complexity behind it in terms of harmonic power, damage levels to the enemies and the like, though you rarely have to manipulate such features. For the most part you can just pick up the game and play, and all the extra stuff in the background just works itself out and helps you as the battle progresses.
The game is rather pretty but can often be not too interactive at parts. Cities look nice, but you essentially just select an area from a list, and you go to the single-screened area to talk to one or two NPC's. Actual dungeons are a bit different, as Reyvateils have the capability to fire blasts of various elements to destroy doors, break walls, or charge up panels to solve puzzles. One interesting feature is the random encounter meter on the field maps. As you walk it slowly changes color, indicating about how long you have before a random encounter triggers. As you get into random battles, the meter decreases, and there will be no random encounters until you leave the dungeon once the meter is empty. This is a godsend if you get lost, as before long you will be able to simply walk around unharmed to search for the exit.
Reyvateils do not just play a big part in combat and the overall story, but in terms of character interaction and development as well. For much of the game you have to select between two Reyvateils, Aurica and Misha. The first is quiet and unsure of herself, the other is confident and flamboyant. After each fight, you gain Dive Points based on how powerful the song magic you used was, among other things. These points will eventually translate into new song magic that you can acquire. Dive Points essentially represent the trust that the Reyvateil has built up towards you. One of the game's most unique concept is that you can enter each Reyvateil's Cosmosphere, basically their unconscious mind, though a machine in a Dive Shop. Each Cosmosphere is composed of various levels, with each one representing their deeper secrets. Each level has something of a dream-like feel to it, focusing on an aspect of the girl's personality. One level may deal with her carefree playful side, one may deal with jealousy towards her best friend, and so forth. A ton of character development takes place here; each of the Reyvateils may be some of the best-developed characters in an RPG this whole generation. Those who feel that character development is a lost art of generations past will likely find Ar tonelico to be like a breath of fresh air. As you complete each level of their Cosmosphere they learn to craft new song magic, but naturally you burn Dive Points as you move through their subconscious, as they need to trust you for them to open up their deepest secrets.
Other Cosmosphere levels are also opened up through conversations with the girls as well. When you rest in an inn or at a save point, occasionally one will come to discuss something that happened in battle, or their thoughts of some recent plot events. There are also some conversation topics found in the field as flashing circles of light. The more conversations you get in, you gain the ability to actually unlock higher Cosmospheres. These Cosmospheres have been frequently referred to as a dating sim, which is rather inaccurate at best. Dating sims give you choices, but Cosmospheres are largely long sequences of dialogue, with the occasional option of things to say where the answer is usually very obvious. Since there's little actual reward for going through the Cosmospheres other than character development and gaining song magic, a dating sim is a rather poor label for the system. Some may find going through all that non-interactive dialogue with no real impact on the story to be one of the game's greatest weaknesses. However, those that enjoy an RPG for its story and characters will likely find this an interesting and unique concept. Another frequent complaint is the heavy innuendo in the game. While it is rather heavy at times, they keep the innuendo contained into a small handful of events where they really lay it on.
No Gust game would be complete without an item crafting system, and Ar tonelico has one as well. This time it is called Grathmelding, but it is essentially just alchemy by another name. You'll collect recipe cards in dungeons or buy them from shops, then combine said materials together for a new item. There are a couple of story items that must be created to progress, but other than that little is actually required. Some healing potions are useful, but healing can often be accomplished just as well with song magic or the special ability of Krusche. Also once you complete an item, you can often buy them from various stores. Almost all weapon upgrades are accomplished through Grathmelding as well. However, since song magic is so powerful, these upgrades are really not that necessary in the big picture. Most of the materials for Grathmelding can be collected from enemies, which can tend to drop a lot of items.
The game follows the same art style that is expected from Gust. Characters are all sprites, and all the maps are prerendered 2D images. In fact, they're so simple that they almost appear as if they could be accomplished on the SNES. The world map is done in 3D, but it is just a list of places you can select. During dialogue, characters are represented with giant hand-drawn anime-like portraits. Locations on the floating continent are colorful and vibrant, and labs have a technological and mechanical feel to them. Some locations built on the outside of the base of the tower look great, with lots of plateaus that the residents live their lives on. The tower itself is made up of many different sections, so in a way it is like many different sections built on top of each other. Some of the spell effects are great, with some of the bigger ones actually being in short anime videos. While the game certainly does not flex the technical specifications of the PS2, it still looks great regardless just from the art design. There are instances where the game just pauses for a few seconds while the disc is accessed when song magic is powered up, which is odd since so little of the PS2's power is being used. It is annoying in that it happens about two or three times per fight at specific instances, but they only last a second or two and can be tolerated.
It should come as no surprise that the music for a game based around song magic is excellent. The Gust composers have always had their very unique style, but this game takes the music to a new level. There are a number of vocal tracks throughout the game. Eight key storyline songs in particular are of very high quality, as are the songs in the Cosmospheres. The vocal-heavy soundtrack does a great deal to enhance the story and the setting, and it is hard to think of a soundtrack that would match the game better. The voice acting for most of the main characters are decent, but some of the lesser characters occasionally deliver rather flat and uninspired lines. Still, overall the voice acting is rather good, and the purists can even select the original Japanese voice acting as well.
The story throws a number of curves and moves along at a good pace. The game is separated into three phases, each lasting about a third of the game. There is a branching path at the start of the second phase that will determine some of the endings that you can get, and which half of the party you will travel with and what part of the story you will experience for a good chunk of the second phase. The game does a good enough job of letting you know what the other group accomplished, but left enough of the specifics out to peak your curiosity to perhaps replay the other path as well on another playthrough. You also have the option to end the game at the end of the second phase with a good ending, or keep playing for the best ending at the end of the third phase. This last phase also introduces a third secret Reyvateil, which has a totally different Cosmosphere from the other two girls. Be warned, though, that some screenshots in the manual can spoil this secret character, so you may want to avoid flipping through it. Going through all three phases and finishing all the Cosmospheres will take roughly 40 hours or so. There is pretty much no optional dungeons or fights at all, but the branching path midway through the game does boost the overall value of the game a bit, as does some of the unique ideas of the general game itself. The translation itself is pretty good, though it is surprisingly sprinkled with typos despite the otherwise excellent translation. NIS America took no steps to Westernize the dialogue, making some sections of the game unmistakably Japanese. While some may find this unappealing, those that enjoy some of the more unique works of the Japanese culture will likely appreciate this decision. NIS understands that this is a niche game, and those likely to buy the game would generally appreciate this direction.
Ar tonelico is certainly a unique game that will not appeal to the mainstream crowd. However, those that enjoy niche Japanese RPGs will likely find a lot to like in this package. From the interesting art design, the unique world of the tower, the Reyvateils' song magic and Cosmospheres, and the wonderful character development for the leading characters, Ar tonelico presents a lot of features and concepts that hardcore Japanese RPG players will appreciate. If you're the type of person that only plays the occasional Final Fantasy game or are a casual RPG player, then Ar tonelico will likely not be appealing at all. Ar tonelico can certainly be described as a sleeper cult title - a game that few would enjoy, but those that do will be left with a rather positive impression and wanting more.