After some last minute grinding (to get that final spell for the best singer in the game,) I was finally able to beat Ar Tonelico on Friday (tehnically 4 am on Saturday, but who’s keeping track?) The game gives me mixed feelings though. I didn’t get a really big sense of accomplishment from beating it, way different from the feeling I got from beating Dragon Quest VIII.

Image courtesy of: カグツチ :: [L’ARCHANGE]

There were two things I really hated about the game, the battle system and Lyner. I’m not too sure why I didn’t like the battle system. Maybe its the fact that it lacked any kind of variety. I mean, nobody but the Reyvatieils learn new moves. It’s kind of annoying to be stuck with the same move set throughout the entire game. Especially with the combat being as easy as it is.

Toward the end of the game, I just got tired of it all. I (foolishly) decided to skip all of the battles. That move definitely hurt me when I was attempting to fight the last boss. It hurt so much that I had to grind to beat it (although even grinding in this game is particularly easy.)

Now Lyner, he freakin annoys me. I mean, he has all of the characteristics of a typical shounen lead, right down to the button. Being a typical shounen lead, he’s very self-righteous. Usually this characteristic is a bit toned down in anime, but in Ar Tonelico, it’s there full force. A cliche hero to go with the cliche story, I suppose. It’s really a shame, too, since the game was good in everything else.

My favorite part of the game was the diving, no doubt. I’ve never really gotten to play a … bishoujo game before. Usually the fact that it’s all in Japanese text puts me off a bit. Kind of boring to watch people talk without having the slightest clue as to what they’re saying. I really got into that part of Ar Tonelico, though. You could say that it really drew me in, haha. I’m sure the great art helped I wonder if anybody else almost felt like the game was a visual novel with RPG elements, haha.

I’m thinking that I’m going to use this summer to get a whole lot of my RPGs finished (while still getting new ones, darnit.) So far, it;s just been Dragon Quest VIII and this. The next game I finish will probably be Odin Sphere at the rate I’m going. I’m already at the epilogue chapter for the second character and I just started playing Saturday night. I think I may also be able to finish Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne since I think I was close to the ending the last time I played. We’ll see.