[PS2] Ar Tonelico II Melody of Metafalica Review

While people are harping on the excellent graphics on the Playstation 3 or maybe the Xbox360, there are still a few nice RPG gems left for the Playstation 2. Among them, my favorite Ar Tonelico 2 will be available in U/C (North American) version next year in Janurary.

The game was originally created by Gust and was released in Japanese version last year in October, the events of the game is a direct sequel to Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia. It was heavenly news when NIS America announced that the english port of the game is confirmed earlier this year.

What makes this RPG interesting. More after this break (Possible spoilers within)

US Trailer

Setting of the Story

Taking place roughly 1.5 years after the events in Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia, the story focuses it plot on the second tower – the tower of Metafalss in the planet Ar Ciel. The second tower represent the Goddess Frelia of the Trio of Elemia. The story unravels itself when a knight Chroah is thrown into a mission where mysteries and conspiracies slowly reveal themselves as he is sent to find the source of an epidemic – Infel Phira Dependency (I.P.D.), an epidemic that sends Reyvatails into raging mode. The people of Metafalss, the lost song of Metafalica awaits the player to slowly find out more about it.

Gameplay

The key gameplay elements of the game remains intact along with a few changes and overall overhaul of its battle mechaism. The gameplay requires more player interaction to allow boosting of skills along with firepower and executing of ub3r hymno moves. Indeed, the game features a very unique way of executing hymnos, by organising your moves, you are now allowed to execute dual hymnos moves whic is basically a move performed by 2 singers. Replekia, a feature in the game allows you to power up your songs as well. Most importantly, actions performed in the cosmosphere affects the story as well. Cosmospheres allows players to develop their Reyvateils by diving into their subconscious which develops the story along with the skills of the Reyvatail. You may check out some of the videos below on the for the battle gameplay. More information breakdown below which are basic spoilers to how the game works.

Interesting Factors about this game

Music: If you aren’t aware of this game, Ar Tonelico series place a very heavy empahasis on its soundtracks and its key feature – Hymnos. A song performed with meaning in its lyrics and also a key factor in the story along with the power to affect gameplay elements. If you are into such hymns when it comes to games, Ar Tonelico is a must play for you.

The Japanese Opening For Ar Tonelico 2

Cosmosphere: Like how a visual novel is played, the main male lead plays a important role to develop the overall story with his favorite Reyvatail which also enhances the gameplay skills. Lovers of such genre will find themselves enticed by the gameplay along with its character development in the game. Along with it, there is this suggestive “Diving” system where you..”dive” into your reyvatail to find out more about your reyvatail. In Ar Tonelico 2, there is however a secret with it which I shall not reveal as it will heavily spoil the plot and the game. I will leave it to you guys to figure it out.

Item Synthesis: Like all games from Nipon Ichi (Atelier Iris, Phantom Brave, etc), item synthesis is like a trademark for them, it allows the player to mix possible items found into items and develop them into more powerful items needed for synthesis. Once you receive a proper recipe card, you, the shopkeeper and one of your Reyvateil can work together to create new items from that card. While recipe cards are the same, the selected Reyvateil can change the item you create, and some Reyvateil can’t work at certain shops. Naturally, the best items in the game must be created this way, and you’ll have to do a lot of synthesizing if you want to keep your gear up to standard.

More on the Battle System: Unlike Ar Tonelico 1, enemies in Ar Tonelico 2 will only attack your Reyvateil. There is where the Vanguards come into play. At the beginning of the defense phase, the Vanguards will leap in front of their respective Reyvateil to defend them from attacks. This begins a timing-based mini-game where two bars appear in front of the Vanguards, with various colored areas inside the bar. As enemies attack, green lines will travel down those bars, and your goal is to press the Vanguard’s button as the green lines reach the brightest colored area in the bar.

Dubbing: I cant give much comments on the dubbing but based on the US trailer, it seems pretty ok except the part when they say “Nooo!” gives me the goosebumps. I guess I am better with Japanese language with english subs. =)

Gameplay Videos Below (Heavy Spoilers for Video 1)

Battle Gameplay 01

Battle Gameplay 02 (Various Dual Cast Videos)

Battle Gameplay 03 (with a IPD Reyvatail)