Review: Ar tonelico III

Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hiku
Platform: PS3
Genre: RPG
Playtime: 35:35 on True End path, add on ~3 hours for Bad/Normal ends
Blew through this in just over a week...

Gameplay: 7/10 Even though it's the same rating, I feel as if it's a step down from AT2's system. Jumping has returned, but field magic is still gone. Well, lots of things are gone. Each RT only has one spell per personality, and those personalities also replace the costumes that up stats. Hymma are added to the songs to give buffs to the vanguard, but aren't as special as the IPDs from 2. Item creation is like AT1's system, but costs DP to do, which gets annoying early on when you're short on DP (endgame it's fine because you have too much AGAIN).
Battle is a step down -- it's mostly mashing square until you can purge your RT to level up her magic. Vanguards do pathetic damage -- I was just breaking 300 a hit on weaker enemies at endgame, so get used to seeing the magic casting spells over and over and over again. And enemies themselves...weren't that interesting. Poms are only at the start of the game very briefly, and then it's generic robots and other plant things. Each area doesn't really have it's own set of enemies, once you're in phase 4 you'll be seeing the same pear-vine and robot things in every area.
Dunno where else to put this, but the world felt really small compared to the other games.

Story: null No rating due to me not being fluent in Japanese. It's not the same if I rated it based on other people's opinions/writings of what happens anyway.

Characters: 9/10 Even though the party was dropped from 8 people to 6, this gives every character a chance to have plot based around them. The most useless character seemed to be Hikari Gojyou, but only really because Aoto is the main character, and Cocona is special already. We finally get a playable Origin back in Tilia, and I have to say, she has the most personality out of the three Origins. Saki and Finnel hold their own in the end, but by the end game, it's mostly about helping Tilia with her project (at least, from what I could get)

Graphics: 7.5/10 Well...they LOOK nice, but they could do so much more. The "2D images over a background while people talk with textboxes" from pretty much every other Gust game is back, but falls flat here due to the background images not changing when characters leave, enter, or move in the scene. There could've been so much more done with the 3D models, and some parts scream laziness (like when Aoto is thinking to himself at the end of Phase 2, his mouth loops through an animation over and over) Also, lots of clipping with sleeves and heads into shoulders.
Song magic and EX attacks, which are usually nice to watch, get boring fast because each girl only has one, and each level is just a slight variation on the animation. The Flipsphere attacks are also boring to see because EVERY girl has the same forumla -- small things drop, girl poses, larger thing drops.

Music: 9/10 As usual, Gust delivers with a stellar OST and vocal songs. Favorites are Z, Cosmoflips, and Harmonics Tilia. As for OST songs, the world map theme, the menu/dive shop theme, and a couple of the town themes were good (not Clusternia town theme argh)

Overall Rating: 8/10
Recommendation: If you know Japanese well or are a big enough fan of the series to play through without understanding, go ahead and import this. Otherwise, wait a year and see if we get an English version.

Early Opinions on Ar tonelico III

9 hours in and at the end of Phase 1, let's go!

-Since it's in moonspeak I've pretty much been skipping the text...there have been some funny scenes, though
-Okay, purging was a nice gimmick at first, but I'm tired of seeing the scenes and fake boobs now.
-The battle system is mash buttan, die anyway. I'm only on normal and I'm still having trouble with things
-Don't like how item synthing uses precious DP
-The first song you hear after starting the game is Cutypump. The next is Ep=Nova. It's like they want your ears to be raw and bleeding before you get to the good shit
-Hearing Tatsumi use "boku" makes me laugh
-Some dungons have an overhead camera that zooms in and out and makes me dizzy

Stuff from the last post until now

Beaten:
Disgaea DS
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
Knights in the Nightmare
Um Jammer Lammy
Elite Beat Agents

So yeah, I've been busy with portables. On the console front...lol.
I got Skies of Arcadia Legends, got to the first save point.
Ar tonelico III was announced, I'm getting that.
Valkyria Chronicles II was announced and isn't a console game, getting that too.
Mom bought my PS3 but I can't play it until Christmas :(
Still on that topic, the Valkyria Chronicles anime finished and I gave it a 6/10. Now watching Tatakau Shisho and Tales of the Abyss...the former is a really confusing show, maybe a 7/10 right now, and the latter is awesome, probably a 8/10 now.

School sucks.

Raki Battle Video and Early Opinions on Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

First off, here's my battle with Raki from AT2 on the retail NA version of the game. So no patching to make it go past Defense Phase 3. Apologies for the blocking, I had massive lag from my setup, I'm really a TON better, especially with Raki.

Now, for some Early Opinions!
-Emil, please grow a pair.
-Marta, please stop being so tsundere/cliche clingy girl.
-Tenebrae and Colette? DON'T CHANGE I LOVE YOU BOTH.
-I'm not used to 90% of scenes being voiced! Also, getting tired of Laura Bailey...
-The waggle shortcuts for techs are FUN. Though I set the most useful one to Down on the D-pad cause it's easier...

Review: Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica

Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica
Platform: PS2
Genre: RPG
Playtime: 65:07
This only took a month longer than it should have.

Gameplay: 7/10 Still very much like the first AT game, minus some mechanics like Green field magic and jumping. Maps are also the same select an area that you can run through type of thing. Diving is also the same, though you can only go all the way (heh) with one girl, which makes it a lot more realistic.
Dualstall is an interesting level up system, even if in the end it makes your Reyvateils very overpowered (mine were level 96). It can be annoying redoing it to get the effects you want, since the movement in the bath is random.
Battles were changed too, of course, to a more action-oriented style like Valkyrie Profile. It kept me awake during those long IPD hunting sections, but again, it gets too easy by end game when you have Guard ++++ equipped and are firing off dual magic.
I probably forgot something here that's not important XD

Story: 8/10 Taking a break from the typical "save the world from a bad guy" plot, this time we're saving the world by trying to make new land. Of course there's a zillion obstacles in the way. The story isn't about Croix, the player character, but Cloche and Luca, two of the girls that travel with him. More and more RPGs seem to be doing this recently, FF12 being one that sticks out in memory. Even the final bosses are very different, following in the footsteps of AT1.

Characters: 8/10 Speaking of following AT1, Jakuri is THE best character in the game, nearly as complex, if not more so than Cloche and Luca. Croix is there as your main guy and the guy who holds up the girls. Cloche is stuck up and tsundere, Luca is the childhood dorodere friend, and Cocona is the cute little sister. Add in the cool Jakuri and we've got every cliche covered. The other playables, Amarie, Leglius, and Shun fall to the wayside, though they've got more story than Krusche, Jack, and Radolf from AT1.
As for NPCs, the shopkeepers are all very funny, especially Spica and Skycat. For a goddess, Frelia is pretty useless, but freaking adorable. Everyone else is pretty typical...except Reisha. Poor Reisha.
Relationships between characters run quite deep. There's the clusterwtf between Reisha, Cloche, and Luca, Croix's protection of Cocona, Amarie's relationship with Sonia and Chester...it's all good, and everyone gets some sort of development.
And voices! For what little there are, they're all pretty decent. Jakuri, Luca, and Infel are probably my favorites, with the weakest being Targana, Alfman, and sometimes Croix and Reisha (but Reisha's VA pulled off the end of Phase 4 VERY well).

Graphics: 8/10 Typical pretty Gust 2D graphics, with more anime scenes thrown into the mix this time.

Music: 9.5/10 The strongest point of the series, the background music is a bit weaker than AT1, but the Hymmnos is stronger. EXEC_over.METHOD_SUBLIMATION/. is one of the best final boss themes ever. I like Phantasmagoria more than EXEC_with.METHOD_METAFALICA/., but both are beautiful.

Localization: 2/10 It sucks. It's horrible. It's on the same level as Suikoden I or II, so it's like it pushed localization back 10 years by existing. It's not as bad as Chaos Wars or anything, but skipping translations, confusing homonyns, bad typos, and ADDING A GLITCH TO A BOSS is just...horrible. This is why I'm not preordering any NISA games now.

Overall rating: 7/10 (The JP version is easily a 9/10, btw)
Recommendation: If you've played the first Ar tonelico, play this, even if you didn't really like it. It's improved enough over AT1 that it's worth a shot. If you've played any other Gust game, play this. If you're offended by innuendo, skip.

I NEED UR HALP

[/Persona 3]

I need information about localization changes made in both Ar tonelico games. What information? Anything. Grammar, spelling, cut voices, inconsistencies, changed names, glitches...I need it all.

Post what you've got here.

Early Opinions on Ar tonelico 2

Might be spoilers if you haven't started the game yet. I'm 5 hours in, at the Ironplate Desert.

-Voices: So far the English track is quite enjoyable! I was surprised to find out that Amarie's VA is the same VA who did Margaret in Persona 4, one of the weaker links in a very good track. She's better doing Amarie's higher voice. Also, Infel is love.
-The cut voices aren't affecting me as much as I thought they would. I have a few moments of "Was this voiced? This should've been voiced. I wanna hear [character]'s voice, when is there a scene with them voiced?"
-Laura Bailey + voiced hymmnos = oh yesssss
-What IS bugging me are the grammar mistakes, mistranslations, and missed translations. Is it Pombleton, Bomberton, or Bon Beltan?! Those corrupted lines of text where they forgot to take out kana is annoying, too.
-"But...doing it with the Holy Maiden...I just can't believe it." "If you hurt me...I'll never forgive you. Slide it in, slowly...carefully." "You came again? You really like it, don't you..." If you can't tell, I love the innuendo. A lot. Even if it's not really innuendo, but just taking lines out of context. I've been laughing a lot so far.
-Also text related, I'm glad I'm able to play it in English, since I'm picking up on little side notes that I missed out just reading about the main plot. Example: Amarie saying that the lullaby Reisha sings is the same song that Sonya would sing

Overall, I'm still enjoying the game, despite all the flaws. The flaws were a bit...I dunno, I can't think of a word. I won't be preordering NISA games from now on because of them. There's an undub floating out there, I'm downloading it just because I can. If I feel like playing through one of the routes with the Japanese track on, I might use it, but right now I'm pretty much content with the official NA version.

And finally...Ar tonelico 2!

Finally.



Let's see how far I get tonight!

AT2 get!

Well, mom got it. She told me she's not even going to open it XD Just going to stick another address label on it and ship it to me tomorrow. I think I begged enough to send it next-day shipping...

So I should have it Thursday! Shame that the mail comes so late here, around 5:00 PM, and I have class early on Friday, and on Saturday.

Busy morning of sorts?

Preorders for Prinny PSP went up today, so I got this version because I need a PSP case, I like plushies, and I already have the Disgaea manga. Of course, this all came after waffling over ordering before I decided to, since I bought the PSP FOR this game.

(please let it not suck, the last time I bought a system for a game, the game was downright horrible)

Why I waffled? NISA pulled the carpet out from under my feet with Jaclyn. Yeah. I'm taking this calmly because I know I'll get used to it as I did with Jacqli, and it's no use screaming over something that won't be changed. The game's probably gone gold by now, anyway.

Oh, and if I had $300 to throw away, I'd totally get this.

NISA Interview @ RPGamer

Click here to read. I'll just be pulling out what I'm excited about...

-More over-the-top Innuendo (it deserves the capital I) in AT2...I can see where it would happen, there's a good scene early on.

-Cross Edge in MARCH?! I've got three months to save up...about $325. And I wanted to grab a PSP for Prinny, too...

-Also, Mana Khemia 2 looks like it'll make its way across the pond. Hopefully they fix that game-breaking glitch I've read about that makes you not able to get all endings or something.

-I do hope 2009 is a better year for them than 2008 was. Sure, Disgaea 3 and Mana Khemia were nice, and Disgaea DS is good for PSP-less me, but they really killed themselves with the Rhapsody fiasco.

Oh happy day~

...no text or scene omissions were made for Ar tonelico II. The only possible difference is that while the Japanese game may have some 10,000 odd spoken audio, the American version has around 9,000. This was done partly because of the dubbing schedule.

Which I don't mind about at all! The last thing I wanted was dual audio, and here it is.

Also, looks like good news for Cross Edge!

Ar tonelico II English Trailer is LIVE

Talk about a nice thing to wake up to in the morning! Caught it through a topic on GameFAQs that I almost read before watching the trailer for myself. Now, about the voices in general...I LIKE THEM. They're GOOD. Not horrible in the least. I'm judging them on the short lines given in the trailer, but still. GOOD. Detailed comments in spoilers:

Croix: Hearing this first made me squee almost, because it fits near perfectly. I like it a lot, I will be able to stand hearing him the whole game. Definitely not Yuri Lowenthal, but I'm hearing a twang of Derek Stephen Prince in him.

Luca: 95% sure she's Karen Strassman, making my guess correct. Misha! Hehe. I like it, it fits her fine. I want to take her path again!

Cloche: In the trailer, she really sounds near exactly like Luca...with a bit of an accent. It's not Mela Lee, for sure.

Cocona: Only one line, but I like it. I had Sandy Fox as a guess, but I couldn't tell you what her voice sounds like. Sounds young enough for a cute loli like Cocona.

Leglius: 80% sure that he's Steven Jay Blum, I can hear the Arlin (Atelier Iris) in him, making my guess correct. A bit higher than I expected, but it's rough and manly, hee.

Amarie: Only one line, can't tell who it is at all. It's fine.

Of course I'm going to need to listen to them a LOT more when playing the game. These are just my first impressions. At least they're good first impressions, right?
General notes about the trailer, also in spoilers:

Cloche is one syllable, something I didn't expect. That's the way I was saying it in my head and I thought it was wrong, but it was right.
Also...Jakuri is totally revealed in that trailer. In the Japanese trailer, she's in shadow with the name ???. She's SUPPOSED to be a secret character, the special third RT! So they just ruined the surprise...
The one cutscene they showed, the one after the characters...Luca's voice was a bit off there, and the line was translated from "Don't destroy this world" to "No!" A bit of emotional impact lost, but I didn't know because I didn't know the translation of the Japanese line.

I'm all hyped again for the game now...

My Ar tonelico Collection Part 2

Just got some new stuff today :3 I'm really surprised at how BIG the AT2 artbook is! So much stuff in there, and I can't read a word of it. The perfect guide is also nice - I wish more games in the US got guides that detailed. As usual, click on the thumbnails for a larger view:

Ar tonelico speedrun!

First save- 0:04
After learning how to Grathmeld- 0:12 0:11
Tenba Labs- 0:24
Terraced Fields- 0:42 0:41
Taking Aurica's path to avoid an evil boss in Misha's.

Am I insane? Probably, but I've been thinking about this for a while now.
Problems/list of stuff:
-Lag. Ohhhh the lag.
-When to Dive, who to Dive into, how far to go? (Probably Aurica, though Misha has a mandatory Lv1)
-What items to get/make? Definitely Peeka (RC Pig), but what about attack or healing items?
-If/when to levelgrind?
-How possible IS a low level game, because a speedrun is that, just with the added "bonus" of having to rush through everywhere. Usually with LLGs you still get all the items, so you're equipped fine, but low level...
-Lots of other things that I can't remember right now.

Wish me luck?

Ar tonelico II is going to kill me

I don't think I've anticipated a game this much since Golden Sun: The Lost Age. That was even the last one where I played the Japanese version before the English release and got rather far. I'm not even looking that forward to playing it, I've done that already, I just want to have it on my shelf and hear the voices.

And I pretty much kept forgetting about Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and Chrono Trigger DS. Both games snuck up on me, and I didn't preorder either since I don't expect any shortages.

I've got to stop thinking about AT2 so much. I've got a massive backlog of other games to keep my attention, and Persona 4 is due in a month (I'm getting it for Christmas, so it's more like 1.5 months for me). And there's other things, like school projects and Thanksgiving break, and...and...I'll be insane by January. Or have a few ulcers. Or just keel over.

My Ar tonelico Collection

Tomorrow I think I’ll start posting pictures of my other collections, but I’ll start off small with my Ar tonelico stuff. Click on the thumbnails to see the pics

AT2 Comments - Character Names

Disclaimer: I’m not bitching about this, just commenting. I accept any changes NISA has decided to make when it comes to English translations of names written in Japanese. The only thing I don’t agree with is changing of hymmnos. Put in a spoiler block in case you don't want to spoil yourself on the characters.
Number of names kept the same: 5


Chroah Vatel - Croix Bartel: Like the La Pucelle character? I really don’t know how to pronounce this one, but people say it’s kinda close. It was the first name to come out, way back in July, so I’m used to it now. Has a bit of…flair to it. I’m perfectly fine with the last name.

Chroche Latel Pastalie - Cloche Leythal Pastalia: I read Cloche and I think it’s pronounced “closh”, which makes me think of galoshes (y’know, those boots you wear in the rain). It’s just a case of crazy Japanese R/L-ness, and besides, two characters starting with “Chro” might get confusing (though now I wonder what Sasha’s nicknames will be). Leythal is the same thing, but Pastalia is wrong. Quoted from aquagon: Pastalie is the name of the Metafalss lineage of Priestesses (of which Cloche is part of), and of the Hymnos dialect employed by the IPD Reyvateils for the casting of their songs (the New Testament of Pastalie).

Luca Truelywaath - Luca Truelyworth: Boo. I went over the whole Trulywaath thing in my other post, but tl;dr is that it’s hymmnos and shouldn’t be changed.

Cocona Vatel - Cocona Bartel: No problem here.

Legris Branchesca - Leglius Branchesca: I keep seeing (and saying!) this as Legilus, which makes me think of Legolas. Another case of crazy Japanese R/L-ness, it’ll just take some getting used to.

Amarie Jerhad - Amarie: No problem here…yet. Who knows what they'll do to her last name?

Shun - Shun: WE HAVE A CHARACTER WITH A MATCHING NAME WHOO!

Jakuri - Jacqli: Sorry, but this one was just revealed, and because Jakuri is my favorite character, I’m going through a bit of a Zoey Reaction right now. I’ll come back later.
*comes back* It...it's kinda...pretty. And pronounced the almost-same. There, I said it!!

Reisha Truelywaath - Reisha Trulyworth: Same as Luca.

Batz Truelywaath - Batz Trulyworth: Same as Luca and Reisha.

Soup - Soope: Ehhh. I knew this was going to change. I keep saying it as “soopy”, though.

Gengorou - Goro: Goro is a masculine Japanese name, or so I hear, and Gengorou is a cute pink haired girl (ish). But I’ve actually gotten used to this one, so…yeah.

Infel - Infel: WE HAVE ANOTHER MATCHING NAME!

Alfman Uranous - Alfman Uranus: Close enough for me!

Dr. Roudness - Dr. Laude: Actually, I think they treated this one well, because he has a bit of a weird name when brought into English.

Targana - Targana: THIS MAKES THREE!

Chestar Lu Whinoah - Chester Lou Winoah: Close enough here too.

Reionsetsu Rakura - Lakra And apparently Lakra is a naughty word in Spanish, but an NISA staffer admitted that they can’t always cross check between languages. So it’s another L/R thing.

Sincere - Cynthia: Most of the importers were calling her Cynthia anyway, so it’s perfectly fine.

Sasha - Sasha: AND THIS IS FOUR!

Soraneko/Rerena - Skycat/Lelina: Okay, so…“sora” and “neko”, which translates directly to “sky” and “cat”, so they just did a direct translation here. I actually wish they changed this, because it’s a weird name. Lelina is very pretty, though most people were expecting Relena.

Rhaki - Raki: Perfectly fine.

Pepen - Pippen: You mean like the LoTR guy, that was his name, right? It’s growing on me, though.

Reika - Leyka: Another L/R thing, and I actually think this fits better because they went with Luca instead of Ruka (reasons are spoilers)

Spica - Spica: THANK GOODNESS THEY KEPT THIS ONE (makes it five!). Heads would've flown if they hadn't.

Frelia - Frelia: SIX NAMES! Also thank goodness, because at this point I was expecting a Fleria or something. Keeps consistency with AT1, too.

Massive Post of Ar tonelico II Localization Changes

Alternate title:
Me Being an Ar tonelitard

Link to NISA’s official AT2 site
Spoilers might be floating about, so tread carefully. Last updated 11/25.

Characters
Chroah Vatel - Croix Bartel
Chroche Latel Pastalie - Cloche Leythal Pastalia
Luca Truelywaath - Luca Truelyworth
Cocona Vatel - Cocona Bartel
Legris Branchesca - Leglius Branchesca
Amarie Jerhad - Amarie Gelade
Shun - Shun
Jakuri - Jacqli
Reisha Truelywaath - Reisha Trulyworth
Batz Truelywaath - Batz Trulyworth
Soup - Soope
Gengorou - Goro
Infel - Infel
Nenesha -
Alfman Uranous - Alfman
Dr. Roudness - Dr. Laude
Targana - Targana
Chestar Lu Whinoah - Chester Lou Winoah
Reionsetsu Rakura - Lakra
Sincere - Cynthia
Sasha - Sasha
Soraneko (Rerena) - Skycat (Lelina)
Rhaki - Raki
Rheki -
Pepen - Pippen
Reika - Leyka
Frelia - Frelia
Tyria - Tyria
Spica - Spica
Nono -
Asche - Arshe

Locations
Pastalia - Pastalia
Rakshak - Rakshek
Ena - Enna
Mint Ward - Mint Block
Forest of Mikuri - Mikry Forest
Yumemino - Dreamy Fields
Kanakana (not sure what this was called, really) - Kanakana Pier

Other
Infel Phira - Infel Pira
Replekia - Replakia
Musume Power - Hymn Code
Funbuns - Funboons
Grathnode Inferia - Grasno Inferia

My VA guess list
Chroah: Yuri Lowenthal
Chroche: Mela Lee
Luca: Karen Strassman
Cocona: Sandy Fox
Amarie: Jessica Straus
Legris: Steven Jay Blum/Kirk Thornton (so what if I put two names?)
Shun: Dave Wittenberg
Jakuri: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Frelia: Michelle Ruff
Infel: Stephanie Sheh
Gengorou: Mona Marshall
Reisha: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (yeah I put her twice, so what?)
Alfman: Jamieson Price
Spica: whoever voiced her in the first game
Sasha: Lara Jill Miller

General Comments
Whew, okay. First I guess a speech about how I usually am with translations? I really don’t care most of the time. Persona 4 and changing Kuma to Teddie and adding in bear puns…I’m fine with that, it makes the game make sense to use English speaking people. Different translations from katakana are fine too (see Reika to Leyka for an example).

The major beef I and others have? The hymmnos. One of the original things about the game is this language. The hymmnos changes are near unacceptable to me, even if the katakana makes sense.

Take Truelywaath for an example. The katakana is トゥルーリーワース (Turūrīwāsu). So Trulyworth makes sense since worth would be written as wāsu anyway. BUT! “waath” means “revive/rebirth” in hymmnos, so her name translates to “true revival/rebirth” which really fits in with the fact that she’s one of the priestesses who sing Metafalica, the song of rebirth. Also, Infel Phira means “love seed”. There is no “pira” in hymmnos. And there’s no “replakia” either.

There’s the “hymn code” issue. Why call it that when the hymn code is what you use to install into a Reyvateil? The Musume Power (Girl Power) isn’t a code or anything, it’s just an IPD equipped to you. Plus on the site I believe they say hymn codes were used to augment weapons in AT1. That was called Grathmelding…

I’m sure someone out there understands all of this stuff about translations, right? Right? D: On a Sliding Scale of Game Translation Bitching, with the right side being the “If they change anything it sucks” and the left side being the “I don’t give a damn if they name Tomoyo Madison”…I’m kinda between the center and right, drifing to the right.

And it worries me.