Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia

Let's face it. In today's gaming world, a lot of people have ripped on games that are on the 2D surface. Games like Atelier Iris 1 and 2 come to mind as good examples of this. However, just because a game has 2D Sprites doesn't mean it's going to be a bad game, and I wish people would accept that fact. Enter Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia.

Ar Tonelico follows the story of a young knight, Lyner, as he sets out to search for a crystal called a Hymn Crystal to save his homeland, Platina, from a virus (enemies, not disease) attack. While the story might start out pretty slow, it quickly starts to pick up, and doesn't really let up at all as you progress through the game. The story I believe is told really well, and since there are actually two paths you can take during the main course of the game, it just expands the story a little more so you can fully understand it.

As I already pointed out, this game is in 2D, whereas the world is a 3D interface. I really do...

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia is the latest 2-D RPG from the developers at Gust, who are mostly known for the long-running Atelier series. The game was released in North America by NIS America, over a year after the Japanese release. The release was originally scheduled for a much earlier date, but the game was delayed several times due to NIS America not realizing just how much dialogue needed translating.

Ar Tonelico takes place in a unique fantasy world centering around a massive tower called *shockgasp* Ar Tonelico. At the base of the tower lie the Wings of Horus, a land where the common folk live their puny little lives. Much farther up Ar Tonelico is the holy city of Platina, where our whiny protagonist, Lyner Barsett, resides. As an Apostle of Elemia, Lyner's job is to fight off viruses invading Platina.

Soon, however, Lyner crashes his airship (why does that always happen?) and lands on the Wings of Horus. He comes to meet two cute beings known as...