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PS2
Ar Tonelico
- New Import
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NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCS»
The world of Sol Shell is made up of floating
cities built on archipelagos that dot the skies. The other major
feature on the planet is a sky scraping tower which
pokes above the cloud
cover and extends into the upper atmosphere. The
top portion of the tower holds a city called Platina
which is governed by the protagonist's father. As
the game begins, the hero Rainar Barselt is joined
by fellow knight
Ayatane Michitaka as the top portion of the tower
comes under attack. With the shaking walls and
floors, Rainar, Ayatana, and a third cohort stake
out and begin their adventure. Rainar eventually
meets a number of heroines who belong to a race
known as the Levantiel. The Levantial girls chant
and sing songs called Humnos which may be used to
heal or to impact powerful damage on enemies.
Ar Tonelico plays like a standard RPG where Rainar roams a colorful
3D and walks into random encounters against
creatures. Battles are fought on side-view
encounters where simple commands are executed by
scrolling through them with the L-Analog stick.
Interaction sequences relay the story and an item
synthesis system allows the hero to create new
objects from base ingredients. A love system is
present where the hero's actions affect how a female
party member feels towards him.
NCS Game Notes & Spoilers
» In the intro to the
game, girls begin chanting during the
Dolby Pro Logic II, Sofdec, and Bandai screens. The scene opens up
with a view of a mass of floating
islands which all have white waterfalls cascading
from them. Cities and the
spires of buildings may be seen above the islands. Air ships fly near
the floating rocks and the camera pulls back further
to take in a busy amount of air traffic and other
floating cities amidst the clouds. A massive tower
is shown from the bottom up which lords over the
entire world. Cut to an animation of a blonde lad
named Rainar who stands on the peak of a building and stares off
into space. The rest of the characters are
depicted in slow animated sequences. A ship is launched into
the heavens, a grey-haired lassie hands out flowers to
eager children, Rainar performs slash-attacks, and wavy grass
on a craggy mountain weaves to and fro. The camera
focuses on the point of the mountainous fields and
there stands Rainar, again staring out into space
while an image of a portion of the tower appears
along with flanking images of two heroines from the
game.
»
Upon starting the game, two options are presented:
NEW GAME and SYSTEM. In the latter option, gamers may
set sound volumes for BGM and voice as well as
choose from Stereo mode, Dolby Pro Logic II, or
Dolby Digital 5.1ch Pro Logic II.
» A NEW GAME begins with singing by a gal who is
then joined by other gals. Thunder peals in the
distance and ships fly towards a massive tower.
Rocks plummet from the heavens and strike the tower
and the intro explains the situation of the game and
the workings of the world as more enemy ships course
towards the tower and attack. The camera focuses in
on the exterior of a castle and goes inside to view a
vortex of energy within a machine of some sort. The
year is A.D. 3770 and the view changes to inside the
castle where the walls and floors are shaking. The
governor of Platina and two others are in the room when they're
joined by two two heroes - Rainar and Ayatana. The governor
has long white hair like Gandalf and wears horned armor.
He
addresses his son and they're eventually joined by a
woman in a golden armor uniform which covers her
head entirely. Upon receiving his mission, Rainar,
Ayatana, and the golden-armored woman leave.
» After the introductory sequence, hero and two
cohorts walk upwards and approach a gray/red/green
colored creature which is inside the vortex machine
seen earlier. Waves of energy ripple chaotically
around the creature and an encounter starts.
» Battles are viewed from a side view of the action
where three heroes are arrayed on the right of the
screen against the creature (ELMA-II) which shivers
and animates on the left side of the screen. It
attacks first with a lunging rush which knocks about
50 HP from Rainar. Attacks are triggered by
pressing the "O" button to select an action.
Rainar and Ayatana do their thing but only take off
a middling amount of health from the rampaging
beast. It's up to the gold-armored gal who
eventually raises her arms and sends a billowing
blob of energy at the creature to render it into a
green husk. After the creature is apparently incapacitated and a mere outline remains on the
screen, the hero will rush forward and attempt to
attack, only to find that his sword slices through
air. The beast then recovers and fires off a violet
blast at the heroes and seemingly croaks. The next
scene views the action from overhead where the
creature blows up and sends the heroes rushing out.
Rainar is literally launched into the next room
where his cohorts greet him and resume their
exploratory jaunt. However, as they continue on
their way, a familiar monster's scream sounds off
and another one of the grey/red/green creatures
appears behind them. The ever generous Ayatana performs a blast
on his friends and throws them safely into the next
room. Hero rushes up to the now sealed door and
cries out for his comrade but the gold-armored
maiden convinces him that they have to soldier
onwards. On their way up, another red/grey/green
creature appears and fires off an attack at the
newly reduced party but they run behind a wall to
avoid the incendiary blast. Moments later, the two
share recollections of a crystal and then run outside to a ship.
»
An animated sequence plays where hero gets on the
ship and launches into the heavens. He's headed
towards a floating island mass when a demon appears and blows out
a blast of fire which sends his ship spiraling
earthwards. He screams as it lays a swath of
destruction and eventually stops right at the
precipice of a cliff. Six denizens approach the
smoking ship and the scene changes to another part
of the surface where the hero is lying face down on
the ground. A girl approaches him and another girl
floats around him, plucking a harp. Both vamoose
before he wakes up with a groan and remembers what
just happened.
» Once control is handed over
to the player, the L-analog moves
the main character while the X button jumps.
Pressing the R2 button summons a map and the O
button is an action button. To save your progress up
to this point, walk down and stand on the greenish
swirling mist and press "O". It's possible to save
up to 12 positions on a memory card.
»
When your save is complete, walk to the right until an encounter
starts with a gold-colored rodent of some sort which
buries its posterior into the ground and then attacks with
its prehensile tail. Press O to initiate an attack
which is then executed automatically - there is no
direct control of the battle. The L-analog swivels
between four choices - attack, item use, heal, and
skill use. If you leave the game alone and listen to
the background music, you'll hear some indistinct
rap. After the battle, Rainar's dumped back in the
world and a chest may be opened up on
the middle of the screen. Continue onwards to the
right and you'll eventually reach your downed ship.
Just before you arrive, the people who were
observing the steaming hulk decide to leave. A green-cloaked ranger type approaches
and offers... little help. Continue to the right and
another encounter eventually starts with the same
gold-colored rodent creature and an ally which looks
like a slime except its colored gold and has a pink
colored top and facial features. It bounces up and
down like a contender but is felled by a single blow.
» Continue onwards to the right and another
save-spot eventually appears to record your
progress. After moving further to the right, a new
region may be entered and a town is visited. Upon
entering the town, a bruiser is witnessed smacking
down a blond haired girl. The hero and other heroes
charge in to confront the masochist. He runs when
faced with numbers and the girls also runs off. A
brown haired girl in pink arm gloves and a white
vertically striped dress appears and tells the
others of how she found the hero lying face
down on a field earlier.
»
After the encounter, an overview of the town
appears and more locations may be visited to start
your adventure including a shop that's brimming with
trinkets and two green frogs - one of which sits on
the beams near the ceiling, a town square, and a
hotel where one may stay the night.
»
Venture back out towards your ship and
you'll find a bunch of town folk standing around it,
gawking like yokels. The green cloaked ranger
appears again and finally offers to help by joining
your party. He's a useful party member who attacks
enemies with a pistol which packs a wallop. Return
to the town and purchase goods from the shop or
continue to a new area on the world map located to
the east. While wandering in the new area, three
blue wolves attack but they're scared off by a
single shot from the ranger's gun. They reappear
later to scare off the heroes and block their way...
»
Next, return to the town and speak to the girl at
the hotel. A new area of the town will open up which
is labeled, "Tower Guardian" which is a
Dive Shop. When up there, speak to the old man on
the right side and he'll open up a fount of
information and advice which will prove useful to
furthering your progress in the game such as
synthesizing new objects by combining base objects.
»
Much of the main character dialogue in the game is
accompanied by full speech and the occasional sound
effects and music. The music serves to shape the intended
mood of the situation and/or encounter.
»
After each battle, the hero chuckles and talks a
little bit. Experience points are also apportioned
out along with any spoils received from the defeated
beasts.
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This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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