Ar Tonelico II
Last night/early this morning I beat Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica, after about 57 hours of gaming (and I could have done more, I'm quite certain). The first half of the game is pretty tedious and confusing in terms of story, and the characters were very type-cast. But the second half of the game improved greatly as you got to know the characters better and the political aspects of the story fell apart. As the story progressed, whoever did the translation for North America CLEARLY got tired of it, as grammatical errors and misspellings increase A LOT. There's even a part where they mixed up choices and whichever you pick, the opposite happens! There is also a major boss at the very end that freezes the game if she casts a certain move, so you have to defeat her quickly - this isn't an issue if you're a thorough gamer, but the first time I played her I forgot about the freezing glitch and had been taking my time. The second time I played her I got unlucky and she used the move too soon. But the third time I beat her easily.
I would DEFINITELY recommend playing Melody of Elemia first, because the last quarter of the game is fraught with nostalgia, previous characters, and references to the first game that you simply cannot appreciate without it. The things I learned that related back to the first pretty much made the entire experience for me.
If you have not played the Ar Tonelico series, you have to be prepared for a lot of innuendo and cheesecake (hell, the third game's battle system as the strongest attacks with the Reyvateils losing their clothes!). It's just part of the package and while *I* enjoy it, I know it annoys a lot of other people or is not amusing.
I'll do a proper review when I have the time!
Up next on my play list: Tales of Graces F! :DDD
I would DEFINITELY recommend playing Melody of Elemia first, because the last quarter of the game is fraught with nostalgia, previous characters, and references to the first game that you simply cannot appreciate without it. The things I learned that related back to the first pretty much made the entire experience for me.
If you have not played the Ar Tonelico series, you have to be prepared for a lot of innuendo and cheesecake (hell, the third game's battle system as the strongest attacks with the Reyvateils losing their clothes!). It's just part of the package and while *I* enjoy it, I know it annoys a lot of other people or is not amusing.
I'll do a proper review when I have the time!
Up next on my play list: Tales of Graces F! :DDD