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(More customer reviews)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.
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Ar tonelico: Melody of ElemiaProduct 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.
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