Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PlayStation 2)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.3 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Mueller
• Reviewed on: 02/07/2007
• Released on: 02/06/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PlayStation 2) Review

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia is a conventional role-playing game in most respects, but it strays from the well-worn path of similar RPGs by incorporating elements of the dating sims and visual novels that are immensely popular in Japan. It sounds like a bizarre concept, but in practice it just means that you'll have to sit through a lot of breathy, often nonsensical dialogue and minimally interactive courtship sequences rife with chirpy anime characters and groan-inducing sexual innuendo that could have been written by a staff of excitable 12-year-old boys. Unfortunately, that means that unless you happen to be an excitable 12-year-old boy, you might find a lot of this game to be unbearable. Still, Ar tonelico succeeds in delivering a moderately enjoyable experience due to its likeable characters, lengthy story, and mostly sound role-playing mechanics.

Ar tonelico takes place in the world of Sol Ciel, where two separate disasters have destroyed every last trace of a once-great civilization, as well as the earth and sky. All that's left is the Tower of Ar tonelico, which the remaining inhabitants of Sol Ciel must cling to in order to survive. Most of the survivors live on a small floating continent that surrounds the tower, but a powerful group known as the Knights of Elemia inhabit the tower itself, and it's their job to repel attacks from creatures known as viruses in order to save the world from further calamity. As you might expect, one day the tower is attacked by an extra-powerful wave of viruses. Lyner, a young knight, is sent to the continent at the base of the tower to find a magic stone that will save the world from utter ruin.

You play the game as Lyner, and it's up to you to adventure through dungeons and towns fighting monsters, recovering treasure, and growing stronger in preparation for the obligatory final confrontation that will determine the fate of the world. You usually visit a town and talk to a few characters who inform you that you need some special item that can be found only in a secret and almost always treacherous place. Being the brave hero, you set out to find the item in question and then return to the town to get the necessary information, item, or permission to continue on your journey. You never have to wonder where you're supposed to go next because you'll receive reminders if you stray from the path, and also because the world consists of a small series of connected dots that represent the game's towns and dungeons, so you usually only ever have a handful of options of where to go anyway.

While you're running around in a dungeon or forest or other generic danger zone, you'll be randomly drawn into battles. When this happens the perspective switches to a side view, with your party of up to four characters on the right half of the screen and the enemies on the left half. You take turns based on initiative, and three of your characters can perform standard actions like attacking and using items and skills. The twist is that your fourth character is always a reyvateil. The reyvateil are a race of young girls who have the ability to generate magical energy by singing songs.

During battle, it's up to your reyvateil to sit in the back and sing songs. Each reyvateil learns several songs as you progress through the game. Some of the songs inflict major damage on enemies, while other songs protect or heal your party. While your reyvateil is singing her song her magic power is drained, and when she has no more power she'll automatically cast the spell. You can interrupt the song at any point to activate the spell, but the longer you let a spell charge the more powerful it will be. As a result you'll spend most battles just biding your time as your magic charges up, and then unleashing a superpowered spell to wipe out all of your enemies in one swift blow. The songs are all ridiculously overpowered, so there's very little challenge to be found, even in the boss battles. It also takes a long time to resolve each battle, because you end up having to wait forever for your magic to charge up while your other characters use their meager attacks to pick away at enemies and bide time.

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