This game is LONG!
I'm just glad that it's also good! There's so much to do in this game and so much that you can explore. There's endless scenario's to find and interactions with the characters. There are multiple ways to fight enemies and bosses so your not just stuck depending on the magic of the Reveytails.
Your characters can be equally as damaging if you decide not to go the easy route of using them. I never leveled my Reveytails up till just now 150 hours into this game! Didn't have as reason to as the fighting system is extremely well balanced. It's a mix between real time fighting and turnbased fighting that is actually fun and keeps you on your toes. You'll be looking for tough enemies to find just to keep the battles going because they are that much fun.
The story of the game takes so many turns and twist you think it was a pretzel. There's lots of shockers and character development as well as some pretty sad scenes. It's just an unbelievably well put together game. The developers really spent time on this game and to go through it all and see it all takes HOURS! and I mean HOURS! this isn't "Finally Fantasy" where you run around on rails. This is an explorative game that you control the pace of. On one side your following a story and on the other your choosing how that story is going to be played out. So it's a nice mixture.
The only thing I didn't like about the game is that you can only choose one girl. You get to sample the other girls but once you make your decision you're stuck. It leaves the game open for replayability to see what you missed if you chose another girl but the game is really too long to go back and do that all over again.
The other thing about choosing a girl is that it's like a secret between the player and the character he chooses that's only known in the Soulsphere. Outside of it no one seems to realize just who your actual girl is. I notice this a lot in these type of "pick your woman games" Persona included. Only the user knows who is girlfriend is. It be fun if the world knew and the other people around you knew as well so that interactions might change. In Ar Tonelico it just seems like no matter who you pick every girl you're with is teased to be your gf.Although it's a strong point of the game it can use some polishing there since this game is about relationships and bonds.
This was my first AR game and I can't wait to play another one I really enjoyed it. Matter of fact I drove 1 hour out my way just to get the last Special Edition my gamestore had in stock.