Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia Review

rem3017

It is good to see x-play is giving quality unbiased reviews on niche games based on extensive research. Of course I am using the term "review" loosely, seeing as that implies that you are giving an expert opinion based on the completion of something, rather then a quick look at the first 15 minutes.

At the risk of sounding like one of "those people" that annoyingly picks something apart piece by piece, I would just like to mention that what Adam read at the start of the review, which was supposed to be a summation of the story, was actually a breakdown of the mechanics of the game and looking through the book I was unable to actually find what he was reading. It is easy to say a book is confusing if you don't read until the end.

That being said, this game, as many other jrpg's, may have the stereotypical character archtypes, but where Ar Tonelico stands apart is through the, admittedly cheesy from time to time, cosmosphere dives, conversation topics, and comical synthesis events which really flesh out the characters.

But I digress, Ar Tonelico has about as many cons as it does pros, which is to be expected from a non blockbuster game made by small game companies that have produced many other niche games. Take it for what it is and enjoy it for what it isn't.

X-play, maybe you should take a step back and take a look at how you want to portray yourself. I know that sounds pretentious, but sometimes it's better to not do something if you're unwilling to put in the work.

I know this is a long comment and I apologize, but I just want to comment on one last thing that made me laugh. When are random battles ever not repetitive and/or advance the story in an rpg? Especially in Ar Tonelico, which actually allocates only a set number of random battles for entire zones.