^
Not exactly, the rumor system is more of a mean to boost your party's stats, change drop rates, etc...(haven't gotten a lot of them yet). You basically "do something" to open up an option to spread a type of rumor. For example, jumping 200 times would open up the "Jumpy People" rumor which boosts your HP a bit. However, you could only have one rumor going at a time. These rumors don't have any effect on the story line or environment whatsoever. So it is not much like the rumor system in Persona 2
Overall, I am thoroughly enjoying this game. The battle system is definitely more exciting than AI 3 (due to actually having more than 3 members in the game). Having the support system really opens up a lot of opportunities for strategy in battle (since it is somewhat more challenging than the other gust titles).
My only gripe so far is the stat boosting system which requires you to create a lot of different items through alchemy...eh I had a hard time finding certain formulas. Likewise, there are obvious framerate issues but they aren't too horrible (at least it doesn't happen in battle...only in the fields/dungeons). Aside from that, the game is fantastic so far!
(Sidenote: Pretty worried about Ar Tonelico II however....)
There's nowhere I can't reach.