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thundercloud82 wrote:

Well...I am very heavily biased in favor of this game, so I won't bother with a review. I'll outline the basics though.

Grathmelding = AT's version of alchemy. It's even more dumbed down than AI3's system, but there is a nice added feature of "recrystalization", which allows you to turn items into strong grathnodes. The grade of the grathnodes obtained depend on the grade of the item that was recrystalized. These grathnodes can be equipped to weapons, armor, accessories and installed into the reyvateils to make them stronger.

Diving = Phsycho therapy/Dating sim. Basically you explore each level of the heroines minds learning a lot of personal stuff about them, helping them get past personal problems and crafting new magic in the process. The girl's minds are called cosmospheres. In order to dive, you first need to obtain a certain number of "Talk Topics" before the next cosmosphere level will open up. This is where the vast majority of the character development happens and it is very extensive.

Story = Run of the mill, really. It's nothing special, but the world setting is second to none. There is an incredible amount of detailed work that has been put into this series. Also, a special language (with several dialects) was created for the game. Yes, it is a functional language & not just gibberish.

Replay Value = There are 7 possible endings and one boss that can be fought an infinite number of times, but beware, that boss becomes unbelievably strong the more times you fight it. There is no post game or new game +. Not that you'll be needing a new game +, since this game is very easy.

Music = Honestly, the music in these games is easily the best I've ever heard in a game.

Note that there have been a lot of changes for AT2. Such as the level of customization is down (for the fighters anyway), the difficulty level is way up, grathmelding more closely resembles AI1's system and you can recruit an army of up to 100 allies.

I could go on all day, but I think this covers the basics in a nut shell.

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Zoltor wrote:

Lol, how can you get more dumbed down, then the system in the AI series, I'll believe it when I see it.

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ZoltorHm, so It's kind of like Materia from FF7, but you can craft them (and I doubt once they are put in the weapon, they can be taken out)? Hm sounds interesting, sounds like a fun system.

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Zoltorand I'll believe that backround setting statement, when I see it, as that's a pretty bold statement to be making, especially in this day, and age.

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ZoltorHm ok, on a scale of 1-10, how easy is the game(10 being Squaresoft easy lol)? The boss sounds like fun though.

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ZoltorThat's another extremely bold statement(a lot of games have great music, but you call AT's the best), I'll have to check that out.

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ZoltorPS. There are a lot of games coming out lately that seem to be actually worth playing.

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thundercloud82 wrote:

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Zoltor wrote:

Lol, how can you get more dumbed down, then the system in the AI series, I'll believe it when I see it.

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There are no property reviews or any added effects like that. Only whatever the description of the crystal states. The only unique feature is that the girl you have in your fighting formation will ask to rename items and you can say yes or no to whatever they suggest.

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ZoltorHm, so It's kind of like Materia from FF7, but you can craft them (and I doubt once they are put in the weapon, they can be taken out)? Hm sounds interesting, sounds like a fun system.

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Crystals can be un-equipped and un-installed.

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Zoltorand I'll believe that backround setting statement, when I see it, as that's a pretty bold statement to be making, especially in this day, and age.

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By all means, don't take my word for it. There are literally several books and drama CD's explaining every part of this game's world and various character's history, etc. Think of it like the Xenosaga 3 database, since the amount of info provided about this game's world is equal in volume to the stuff from XS in every way. Once AT3 is released, it will surpass Xenosaga's level of world building.

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ZoltorHm ok, on a scale of 1-10, how easy is the game(10 being Squaresoft easy lol)? The boss sounds like fun though.

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Suffice it to say that grinding and careful customization of character's abilities is never needed in Ar tonelico at any point. Though going for the bad ending is said to be quite rough, I never go for bad endings, so I wouldn't know.

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ZoltorThat's another extremely bold statement(a lot of games have great music, but you call AT's the best), I'll have to check that out.

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True there. Music is a subjective thing, so I'll leave it up to you to decide if you like it or not. There are youtube vids of most of the songs, so you may want to check those out.

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ZoltorPS. There are a lot of games coming out lately that seem to be actually worth playing.

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Indeed. My backlog is growing by the day it seems.

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Zoltor wrote:

Ah ok, and is there a option to name the item yourself?

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Zoltor wrote:

Sigh, well that sucks, the game sounds like it has a great system, but the game is too easy, to actually make you want to use/try different tactics.

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