It is not what you think. All I did was scan her page out of the "artbook"(lol) that came with the game - fliped it around and cropped it. And I had to shrink it(3400x3800 LOL).

Okay so is the purple haired knight shown Croa? And if so, is Croa actually supposed to be a guy? That has to be the worst offender ever if true.

I believe that is the main character(Croa) and that due to his charming "feminine" looks he will serve as a "bishi". Lynar wasn't close to that, so I guess this will futher compliment the scenario of having the girls all over the main character like they were with Lynar.

Errrrrrrr now that I think about it. That suit looks a lot like a dress ._..

Yeah that's what I was getting at. I've gotten used to Japanese culture enough to understand and be able to deal with bishi males where is doesn't bother me. But if that really is a male then it sets a new standard. That a 100% a female haircut even by Japanese standards and the lower half of the knight suit being a dress really makes me question if that is really the male lead.

In one of those battle screens I see two characters with MP bars. Does that mean it's possible to have two Reyvateils out at once now? That'd be awesome for doing even more rediculous overkill damage.

Or maybe enemies will be harder to kill this time around.

Thanks for the scan upload. I got quite a bit of info out of it ^_^

Seriously, as most of you already stated. This main character looks too feminine for my taste. I don't want to see this game turn into a yuri game!

From Croa's history profile. It said he lost his parent at young age and had been bought up by Ruka's parents... this kinda reminds me of the similar character setting as the first game between Lyner and Misha -____-"

EDIT: Taco you are right! They will be introducing to us the Dual Revytail Combo. It mentioned that you can summon two Revs onto the battle to sing for you. Their song powers can combine to create something different (I guess its a bit like Item Alchemy).

Yep, the direction the japanese is going lately in thier gaming development is starting to worry me alittle. It's bad enough the first game tries to imply that "little girls" are hot and should be sought after. @_@;;;;;;;

That's one reason I didn't bother with Shurelia's cosmosphere. Just..don't wanna know what transpires there. lol

About the dual rayvetiel system - hopefully that suggests the battles will be harder.

Welcome to the japanese moe movement.

That's a shame, you're missing out. It was a hilarious parody of a lot of anime stereotypes.

But they are hot and they should be sought after . . . . .

My God. They got to me!


You really should play around with Shurelia's cosmosphere. I mean if the loli stuff bothers you, then I have no idea how you got past Misha's first few 2 levels. Shurelia’s stuff doesn’t even touch any of those kinds of themes. She doesn’t show signs of mental issues like Aurica and Misha. (Regardless, I still think both of them are awesome. Especially Misha.)

Shurelia's stuff doesn't really bother with her age issues. And besides, she acts like the typical anime mom personally. Although, in the latter parts of her talk levels, she starts acting more like an aunt. I can't really explain why.

Regarding Croa's manliness . . . well he's still giving off more of a manly vibe than Lyner did. He actually reminds me of Dias Flac from Star Ocean 2. The only difference is that Dias didn't wear such frilly clothing.

Two Reivateils at once, huh? Awesome! I wanted to stack my party with the girls in the last game, but we couldn't use more than one Reivateil, so that was a bust. Krusche was the only girl fighter, so I couldn't plan out my team like I wanted do.

I do see Croshe wielding a blade in her character art, so maybe she can be a fighter too?

I find something interesting in the magazine scan... in this picture does that mean the enemies can now target your summons as well?
http://the-magicbox.com/0704/artone211.jpg

Also while you are synthesizing item the two girls can linger and do something useful too. (e.g. in the picture, Ruka created some food O__O)
http://the-magicbox.com/0704/artone17.jpghttp://the-magicbox.com/0704/artone18.jpg

Heres a pic where two Revs in action
http://the-magicbox.com/0704/artone212.jpg

Haha, I had the same feeling too... it has that farmiliar design that reminds me of Dias :tpg:

^Enemies could already do that - targeting reyvatiels. However that mech boss was the only one would could absorb songs.

http://ar-tonelico.jp/at2/

When clicking enter be patient. Strong Flash site with music so the loading could take a while. It is in japanese..sorry ; ;, but the game is a go for japan!
They are hot if they like 20+ and born naturally short like 4' 11" or something @_@. And yes the first lvls of Misha's comosphere had me wondering shit about japan as a whole :P

Well the music sounds like it is going to be in top form, as expected.

Oddly I didn't think twice about it. I should probably stop exposing myself to so much Japanese culture.


Edit: Had some time to look over the site. They added an 11 year old, half naked girl to the character roster. Oh Japan......

I just took a look at the site. Wow, the music from it is awesome. With as much of an emphasis on song and music as the game has, it's certainly nice to hear that they don't skimp on it at all.

Also the half naked 11 year old makes me frownyface. I'll take a healthy Reyvateil any day.

The System page on the site looks great too. Good to see that the battles will still be filled with huge, flashy spell effects. Hopefully it'll be practical to use other spells aside from the basic one through the whole game. Again, hoping for more actual challenge in the game as well.

Here's hoping when (if?) it gets a stateside release they'll have fixed the loading issues present in the first.

So my Japanese isn't the greatest, but I've gathered Install isn't around anymore instead you dissolve crystals in a bath that the girls soak in to increase parameters. Man I love the creators of this game.

LMAO >< >< >< So I finished Misha's comsophere today and ran into the funnest sexual innuendo comment ever.

"Lyner, I'm going to do this.. give me your head."

XDDDDD

Anyway, the character that really caught my eye is that older chick. Could be Spica's opposite ;p Or could be another Ayano lol.

Taco - you mean to say that you "Flare'd" your way through the whole game? XD Only ones I used was Ar Tonelico, the Cave girl thing, and Valkyrie. Nevermind my over powered healers that made my party invincible(well except Kanade, 7-0 so far, but I'm sure I'll get my ass kicked on the 10th try).

Increase what parameters?

Wow love the music on the main page of AT2 :)

@ Cetra: You are right, I think thats the evolve form of installing Crystals into the Revys. Instead of inserting into them, now you soak with them *hehe* Not only that, taking bath can also trigger events to make your Revs stronger through conversation (learn new spells?)

@ WinterS: I think Cetra's 'increase parameter' means better stats e.g. from installing crystals in AT

One thing I didn't get is the "Replekia" function. It didn't clarify what it used for, beside preventing Revy from I.P.D. Virus. by borrowing combined forces from 100 Revytails. *confused*

The official website has been updated. The dark skinned chick could be another "virus lifeform" like Ayatane was. I'm just going by her tatoos though. 2 more NORMAL looking short girls and some creature that looks like a nyo? with big ass ears. This is definitly in the past before the Grathnod Inferia and the destruction of the right Plasma Bell. The world or rather "landmass" in ATII is obviously connected to the tower too.

I just had a look at that AT2 site, and there's certainly a lot of females there. Makes you wonder if there's gonna be any guys in at all, aside from those 2 you see there.

I really hope they make another likable reyvateil like Misha. <3 Misha.

Shame on you people! How can you compare those two? Dias is pure awesomeness, and certainly doesn't look feminine like this guy. I honestly can't see the comparison. =/

He does remind me of someone...can't quite put my finger on it. I think it's a Gundam Seed Destiny character like Shinn.

More updates for AT2!

http://ar-tonelico.jp/at2/swf/main.htm

Anyone able to translate what is listed as new under the Special section? Are they making an AT2 based anime or are they showing off fully animated cutscenes for the game?

I can't wait until the soundtrack for this one is released. Whenever I go to the official site I just leave it running a while to listen to that awesome background song.

It could be another OVA like they did for the first game (Which didn't even follow the events of the beginning of the game anyway.) An anime would be nice, though, or at least animated cutscenes.

Edit: The katakana for it in the "Special" section says "Movie" and part of the first line is "Opening anime" so it could be screen shots from the opening sequence of the game.

Also I liked the site teaser song so much that I ripped it for MP3 player usage.

Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
You can get it here.

Why does she look like Sheena from Tales of Symphonia?

Anyway, I picked up this game last week, haven't got around to playing just yet but I'm looking forward to doing so. Stupid stupid summer class. I got the game, the artbook, and the decorative box, but no soundtrack. Is there any way to acquire a copy like there was with Nocturne (go on Atlus' site and pay them $3.00 or something to have it sent to you)?

I've never played that.
You are now my favorite member on this board.

I suspect this will be the last major PS2 RPG that NIS will publish(since Disegea 3 will be on the PS3) so I know they are going to try to make this game a blast. I'm a bit interested in one of the newest characters who resembles Lyner big time. Of course it can't be him since the setting is before Mir.

Alright this going to be my last post in this thread. If the games were more popular I would have simply made a seperate topic.

Ar Tonelico II's JP release date is October 25th. It's still not known rather NIS will pick this game up for a US/EU release. Since AR was'nt all that popular, I have my doubts. The JP version will get a visual face book just like the first game. Same content as first game, character portraits, bios, etc. 2 new characters were added to the finished product.

I bought Ar tonelico a few weeks ago and I've been loving every second of it. It's ridiculously easy, but that's just how Gust games go. The characters are great (luv Jack long time), I love how the game looks, the plot isn't extremely boring, and it's fun to play. The music isn't half bad either, but some of that weird rap talking crap is annoying. >.>;

Ar Tonelico 2 hit japanese shelves as of 10/25, has anyone else given it a shot?

I can't say much for the plot as I can only understand bits and pieces of voiced dialogue, but it's got the innuendo humor that the first game had for sure; the first Dive Shop scene was hilarious. The music is far superior to the first game's, I have yet to run into any rap battle themes.

Speaking of battles, the battle system from the first one is completely changed. The game plays like a combination of Valkyrie Profile and Eternal Sonata; You have a certain amount of time to act, and in that time you can have your entire party lay into an enemy while your Reyvateil charges up (or supports). Combat itself is a lot smoother, a lot faster paced, and a ton more fun than in the original. Reyvateils can now take damage! Every enemy I've come across goes straight for the Reyvateil, and in order to guard you have to time hitting a block button (Square in my case) just right to keep her from taking any/full damage. Miss the mark and she'll either take part of the attack or all of it. This seems like it could be a lot more challenging as the game progresses in comparison to the first.

Edit: In battles when you have two Reyvateils, two characters defend them, and have two different defend buttons so you have to watch both of the defend gauges at once. This is much more challenging.

My only gripe is that the field sprites look goofy. Their arms and hands are huge and it looks a little weird. That being said, even with goofy arms the sprites are very well-animated, and Gust's seemingly first attempt at using 3D things in backgrounds doesn't look half bad either.

Tons of familliar voices in the Japanese cast, although I can't put my finger on any of them.

Overall I'm very impressed. I really, really hope this gets brought over, as it'd be a shame to miss out on this translated.