Currently playing Ar Tonelico II. All the good grace NIS accumulated with their previous localizations can’t get me to forgive this bullshit: They wanted to put both English and Japanese tracks in the game. Except they didn’t fit. So what do they do?
They only include half of each. So even in English, more than half of the game is unvoiced where it should have been. Even drastically important scenes are left in mute, and the battle quotes randomly switch to Japanese just so they didn’t have to dub all of those too. Seriously, what the fucking hell? Atlus’ job with Persona 3 and 4 is the most weeaboo official stuff I’ve ever seen and even they had the logic to not cripple the game because fans think Japanese voices are so KAWAII SUGOI DESU NAKAMA or whatever the fuck.
I thought it was funny. Also, try and show someone a youtube video of that scene with the medicine crystal and ask them to just listen without watching the screen. It’s hilarious.
Huh, that sounds pretty off, especially for NIS (then again, they did make that shitty port of Rhapsody for DS). Random question Seraphim, but is the DVD Dual-Layer? If it’s not, makes you wonder why they didn’t try and refit the game on a Dual-Layer disc.
Regardless, that’s pretty shitty. They should’ve just put the whole English track in there, then put whatever Japanese they could afterwards.
I’m currently playing Atelier Iris 3 (after having enjoyed the two previous games well enough) and I noticed they don’t have voice acting on all scenes. I just assumed the original version was like that, but Seraphim has got me wondering now…
And I liked Ar Tonelico I quite a bit. I had some problems with it, but nothing major. So far, I’ve liked the VA in all the NIS games I’ve played, a lot. I’m looking up to playing AT2 too.
I just think the quality of their games in general - not necessarily their localization - are really low. Them and Atlus make me puke, and I admit I’m pretty biased against just about anything they release. Most of the time, if I buy a game from them, I do it because I think it’ll be exceptionally funny to see it be an epic fail, but I get pleasant surprises sometimes…from Atlus, at least.
Atlus has consistently brought idiosyncratic and interesting games from Japan that no other company would have and I like them a lot for it. They brought Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre, Touch Detective games, Odin Sphere and many other rather unique series like Persona. Sure some of it is really mediocre like Luminous Arc, but even Luminous Arc isn’t as bad as Ar Tonelico. Atlus is a mixed bag but I like that the diversity they’ve brought to my library.
I think they brought good games back in the nineties, but I feel like I’m sifting through waves of crap to find a pearl when it comes to Atlus games, for the most part. I guess I’m also thinking specifically of RPGs, so I guess I should revise my statement to ‘Atlus RPGs.’ My apologies.
Originally Posted by Sinistral Atlus has consistently brought idiosyncratic and interesting games from Japan that no other company would have and I like them a lot for it. They brought Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre, Touch Detective games, Odin Sphere and many other rather unique series like Persona. Sure some of it is really mediocre like Luminous Arc, but even Luminous Arc isn’t as bad as Ar Tonelico. Atlus is a mixed bag but I like that the diversity they’ve brought to my library.
The timed dungeons thing is annoying, but so far I’ve handled it well. In general, I really like the game- better graphics than the previous two, and pretty good voice acting. It DOES have quite a few things that bug me, but I’ll save those for a more proper review later.
Btw, is this game an actual sequel to Atelier Iris 2, or more of a “new version of the same character” ala the Breath of Fire series? It doesn’t seem to fit in well.
It’s a standalone, continuity among the Atelier games is a rare theing. For example, Pamela has been showing up in completely unrelated games for years. She’s in Mana-Khemia too.
I just hated the utter lack of story, or characterization, or fun. I can only do so many fetch quests with three incredibly uninteresting characters before I’ve had too much.
Seraph: I think the story’s problem in Iris 3 is a matter of the way the system works. Because of the blasted limited exploration time, you can either explore the areas of the Alterworlds as the quests take you there, or you can devote yourself to exploring as much of every world as you can (returning immediately after fading out) as soon as it becomes available and THEN do the quests. I tried both ways; the first way got me a better feel for the story, since I got to the various missions faster; but I found out that my characters weren’t leveling up well enough to take on the Bosses (or even the stronger random enemies!) so I’m trying the other way now. As a result, I’m taking much longer to finish the game, and the actual story bits seem to be dripping by, but at least my characters are stronger now, AND I have less trouble finding things in the alterworlds (I really, REALLY hate the quests that say “your target is somewhere in this alterworld. Find it.” Grrr.) The fact the maps ONLY show you where you have been doesn’t help much either. I especially hate Ishtar, since you have to find the right warp to get to the area you want, the map doesn’t tell you where they go!
And yet, I find myself absorbed by this game, in a way I haven’t been by a game in years, as in I keep playing it until the wee hours of the morning. I guess I’m the obsessive- compulsive type. On the other hand, I DO like the game- the characters, the “Blades” character classes, inventing things with Alchemy, etc. Geez, I guess I should just go ahead and post a thread for the game so I can get this stuff off my chest.
