Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia

by NIS America

Product Features

• Join the army and use the hymns to unlock secrets and wield powerful magics
• Dive into the minds of the girls and learn about what she is thinking, for a new element of gameplay
• You can also change your heroine's costume and customize her skills

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000FUG5TK
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 6, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,583 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia mixes several different gameplay styles - from role-playing exploration to turn-based battles. The game takes you to the world of Sol Shell, a small world where a single floating tower sits between two seas -- clouds above, plasma below. The key to this world is the magic of song; unlock it to discover incredible new adventures in a strange and beautiful landscape. The story centers on Laina Barselt, an eighteen-year-old whose father governs Platina, a town located in the top floors of the tower. Laina is uninterested in politics, and instead seeks adventure in the army. The game has multiple heroines of a species known as Ravateel, who use magic to sing songs about the world. However, these performances cause pain for the performer, so they only perform for loved ones.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but amazing if you give it a chance, March 28, 2007

By 

David Roth - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (Video Game)

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia is one of the newest games to be produced by NISAmerica in collaboration with Gust Studios. The game follows the story of a young man named Lyner Barsett on his quest to save the city of Platina and the whole tower of Ar Tonelico from a deadly new strain of virus.

The game takes place in the a world that has twice met destruction at the hands of God and man. As a result only a small portion of land remains inhabitable. To solve this problem, the Tower of Ar Tonelico was constructed. The tower is composed of many sections having the poorer more agricultural folk at the bottom and the industrious technological cities towards the top.

The story begins in Platina, one of the upper cities. Here we meet Lyner Barsett, a knight of Elemia. As a knight it is his job to protect the tower from viruses that threaten to destroy their very world. When a new strain appears that is immune to all of the knights attacks, Lyner is intrusted to retrieve the Purger Grathnode Crystal from the lower lands and return to Platina. However, when his airship crash lands at the base of the tower, things become much more complicated as he meets many new people and will be forced to climb back up the tower level by level to get home. Hopefully in time to prevent its destruction.

There are only a few things that really help to define this game from other JRPG's. The most important of which being the Rayvateils. Rayvateils are basically androids or cyborgs (although they have the ability to reproduce so it has evolved into a substrain of the human species really) that have the ability to harness the spirits of songs from stones to generate powerful magic. You will meet several Rayvateils along the way, but there are two key ones that will shape the entire story (there is another, but it'd be a spoiler), they are Misha and Aurica.

You use the Rayvateils magic in battle in a slightly less conventional way than you might expect. You select the magic for her to use and she will begin casting it. She will continuously amp up the power of the spell until she runs out of MP (or you tell her to cast it) for devastating damage (you can easily amp the power to 10,000% on some early bosses). All the while you can have up to three regular humans attacking in the traditional ways.

Thus far, everything seems not to different from a regular RPG. Then you find out there is a complex dating-sim-esque mechanic that is essential to building up the abilities of your Rayvateils. Since they are part machine, there are places called Dive shops where you can go into the subconscious mind of your Rayvateil and help her work through her demons and scars from her past. By doing so, she will use the strong emotions built up and pent up to craft new spells. It isn't all that simple though because she will not let you delve into the deeper levels of her mind until she grows to trust you and your intent. By having conversations with them at rest points and a few other actions, you grow relationships with your spell casters that allow them to become more powerful. This is truely the heart of the game and is the main reason I purchased it in the first place.

Aside from the relationship system, everything is none to different from other RPGs. Although the text heavy portions for the relationship scenarios is apt to turn several people off. Unless you are a fan of bishoujo games (Japanese dating sims), some more dramatic animes or movies, or are just willing to try something unique that hasn't been done to this extent before, you may want to steer clear. But for those of us who love having things really driven by story, characterization, and the relationships between the characters as opposed to just nonstop action, I cannot recommend this game any more.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very cool!, March 6, 2007

By 

4MaskCurse "Kyonshi Jiang Shi" (Chicago,IL) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (Video Game)

I'll admit,at first I didn't like this game too much.One reason being that like alot of new rpgs nowadays,it makes the grave error of throwing a bunch of info at you when you first start to play.

This isn't really a game that you can just pop in and understand everything right off the bat.You have to learn how this world works which includes creating new items and getting along with your singing partner (no,I can't remember the actual term because it's spelled ridculous)However,it was a breath of fresh air when I realized that all of these methods were not really very complex at all,and in fact,quite fun and addicting!

The whole aspect of "diving" into the singer is quite unique and even romantic in a way.Earning more points during battle to explore further into her psyche is an excellent concept.You had to laugh when one of the main female characters said to the hero "dive into me now!" at which the hero replies "are you sure you want me to?",then she says "damn straight,
and next time be a man and make the first move!"All good fun,and you can't help but think the developers of this game have a great sense of humor!

The graphics/effects are pretty cool esp. in combat when you join with the singers.It also give you the option to turn off the voices in the storyline dialouge(which I did;I guess I'm a fan of old school rpg gaming)However the voice acting during battle was very good.

All in all this is a great game that you will have alot of fun with.Just keep in mind that at first all of it may seem overwhelming.You eventually get the hang of it and are then treated with a different rpg treasure!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice little RPG with lots of character depth, June 2, 2007

By 

forweg - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (Video Game)

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia is the latest 2-D RPG from the developers at Gust, who are mostly known for the long-running Atelier series. The game was released in North America by NIS America, over a year after the Japanese release. Originally scheduled for a much earlier release date, the game was delayed several times due to NIS America not realizing just how much dialogue needed translating.

Ar Tonelico takes place in a unique fantasy world centering around a massive tower called *shockgasp* Ar Tonelico. At the base of the tower lie the Wings of Horus, a land where the common folk live their puny little lives. Much farther up Ar Tonelico is the holy city of Platina, where our whiny protagonist, Lyner Barsett, resides. As an Apostle of Elemia, Lyner's job is to fight off viruses invading Platina.

Soon, however, Lyner crashes his airship (why does that always happen?) and lands on the Wings of Horus. He comes to meet two cute beings known as Reyvateils. This strange race consisting of only attractive young girls is a vital force in Ar Tonelico's world, as they are the only capable bearers of Song Magic.

The shy, traumatized Aurica, and the spicy loli, Misha, are the two Reyvs fighting for Lyner's, and thus the player's, attention. You must make a choice between the two at one point, so I suppose there is a tiny element of dating simulator here, but it certainly isn't prominent.

This branching point, among others, create seven possible endings. The girls' personalities, as well as the two paths, are different enough to warrant playing the game more than once, despite the lack of a "New Game+" option.

Other characters include the stereotypical lone gunman Jack, the unsocial, chainsaw-wielding female mechanic Krusche, and the holy knight Radolf. These party members don't have many lines or really much depth, because most of the narrative attention is (understandably) given to the Reyvateils.

As you explore Ar Tonelico's varying environments, you will, just like in any RPG, have to engage in combat with assorted foes. The battles are random (ie you don't see the enemies on the field), which is, as usual, annoying. A nifty little encounter feature helps make up for this, however. A green bar appears on the lower-right corner of the screen whenever fiends are present. As battle draws near, the bar begins flashing red. After each encounter is complete, the bar is drained a bit. When it empties, you no longer have to fight monsters in the current area (unless you exit and re-enter). This aspect helps lessen the tedium of fighting countless battles in massive areas, in that you can actually feel progress being made with each fight.

The battles themselves take place with a party of four: Three normal combatants plus a Reyvateil. Reyvateils can do nothing but sing Song Magic, which works by charging the magic to a certain point, then using it. Song Magic itself is really just a fancy name for standard RPG spells (attack magic, healing, and stat enhancers), except for the charging aspect. Most Song Magic is extremely potent, and can obliterate foes in one shot if charged long enough. This means the Reyvateils are the focal point of battles, and the flow of conflict largely depends upon them.

Combat is generally extremely easy and doesn't have much depth. For example, each normal character can learn only four skills throughout the entire game, and even most of those are entirely useless. Dependence on the Reyvateils is made even greater by this.

Each fight is also overly lengthy, partly due to the irritatingly long animations for both charging and using Song Magic. You'll often have the urge to forget about Song Magic and simply use brute force, entirely because of those damned animations.

However, I don't believe the battle system was meant to be the crowning achievement of this RPG. Its main appeal comes from the relationship Lyner forms with each of the cuties, and much of this relationship is formed through the well-publicized Dive System. Basically, you can visit Dive shops, which are present in most towns, and "dive" into each girl's mind.

Diving is the only way to learn new Song Magic or stat-enhancing costumes for the girls, so it very much serves a functional purpose. Regardless, the main attraction is learning more about the girls' thoughts, feelings, and memories. The Reyvateils have compelling personalities, so diving is always fun and never a chore.

As Ar Tonelico comes late in the PS2's lifespan, some might expect dazzling or incredible visual artistry. This certainly isn't the case, but what is given is more than acceptable. Sprites are large and clear, and the world is detailed. The 3-D world map looks rather rough, but you won't be spending much time there anyway. The game looks nice and purty overall, just don't expect something on the level of Odin Sphere.

Most of the music here is quite good, with the several beautiful, angelic hymns sung by the girlies as particular high points. Each Reyvateil has a unique voice and all are lovely. I could live without the execrable rap interludes present in a few songs, but they at least aren't quite as mind-numbing as one might imagine.

NIS America thankfully gives gamers the choice between the original Japanese voice acting and an English dub. I thank them for consistently giving their consumers this choice.

Sadly, though, the Japanese acting is serviceable, but not extraordinary. Most of the seiyuu sound as if they are phoning this one in, and much of the emotion in their voices sounds forced. An exception is Kanako Sakai, who is very convincing as the pseudo mother figure Shurelia. The English dub was poor judging from the very small sample I listened to.

The game should last a good 30-50 hours, subject to how much diving is performed. Of course, you can at least double that total if you plan on taking all paths and viewing all endings.

Ar Tonelico is highly recommended to 2-D fans, general RPG fans, or fans of anime-style hijinks. To the rest of you, well, give it a rental and see what you think.