neko's thinkbox

…to either ragequit, experience an endless loop of oversaturation, or see and clear everything, such that there is no need to spend any further thought on it. And I think, the latter finally happened.

My new AT2 favorite. By Hijiri.

Over one month after I started playing Ar Tonelico, I am finally through with Ar Tonelico 2. You see, in the first game, I pretty much went straight for Aurica, and the whole bunch didn’t interest me at all. One ending and I was content.^[1] But here… no. I first went for Luca, but I knew I would be missing on a lot if I ignored Cloche and Jakuri.

But I wouldn’t have done it immediately, had I not been fueled by the comments^[2][3] on my AT2 clearance post. I even started the whole game anew, although not only for the Cloche’s route, but also only to experience the full Japanese audio from the precious Undub version I obtained from divine sources. I shall reiterate here that NISA totally fucked up their job with AT2, and that they should be burnt to the death.^[4] UNDUBS FOR THE FUCKING WIN. Bite me.^[5]

So, 60 (AT) + 70 (AT2-Luca) + 55 (AT2-”Loveless”) + 3 (AT2-Cloche) + 4 (AT2-Jakuri) hours later, can I say that this long and bumpy ride was worth the while? With so much time invested into this game, need I even say it?

Hell, yeah.

I was hoping all along to see an image like this in-game. But no. I’ve been let down by Nagi and Gust.
Just hugging, no kissing? Makes neko sad. Q_Q Anyway, this image by 犬森サヤカ. Props to you Jakuri lover. <3

I’m so glad I got Jakuri’s route last, she’s just awesome. Awesome. AWESOME! Although her Cosmosphere lv 9 was a little… meh. But still, awesome ending.^[6] Even more awesome than the default, uncommitted, “loveless” ending, which got me craving madly for AT3. OMG. I thought Croix would be eloping with Cynthia or the likes, but this… TOTALLY RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS.

Jokes aside, it is important for the player to experience both major routes in Ar Tonelico 2 – not only because you have only limited access to the cosmospheres – but because of the interesting plot and interaction of feelings that are at stake within the Infelsphere.^[7] However, there is quite a criticism that I’ve thought of while playing the second route, and here is a neat spoiler tag you must click on if you have played the game. See if my thoughts make sense or so. show

CHECK DIS OUT YO. I freaking S’d her! Talk topics are also all cleared. So there is no need to play the game again for that.

Sigh. Akira Tsuchiya’s plan went fully according to keikaku. Not only have these games taken so much of my time, but they’ve gotten me interested way beyond the mere games and the endless food for thought they already provide. These days, I’m flooding my brain with Hymmnos songs and Drama CDs, I’m uttering random Hymmnos sentences during TF2 scrims, heck, even my mum has to put up with METHOD_REPLEKIA/. in the car. Plus, there’s over 70 Toukouspheres I have yet to catch up to, and many other stuff related to the AT franchise… Not to mention the fact that AT3 has yet to be announced…

Did I say in the beginning that I’ve finally managed to let go? Heh, guess I was heading for the oversaturation path all along…

The only thing that can distract me now would be a massive dose of anime. And hell, I’ve got a metric crapton and a half to catch up to. It’s even too late for a mid-season review now, so I guess you can expect a batch of end reviews soon, if I am as lazy as I expect myself to be for the next few days. It goes without saying, though, that I will microblog on every episode during this backblogging game. Please refer to my melative stream for those updates ;)

1. Probably because I was able to see all the cosmospheres, no matter the route I chose. [↩]
2. http://neko.notcliche.com/2009/08/15/cleared-ar-tonelico-2/comment-page-1/#comment-17159 by meganeshounen [↩]
3. http://neko.notcliche.com/2009/08/15/cleared-ar-tonelico-2/comment-page-1/#comment-17198 by Rinne [↩]
4. Not my fault! [↩]
5. The only drawback though was that it was an NTSC version, so it wouldn’t work with my PAL savegame – Luca’s extra data is missing in the new savegame. T_T [↩]
6. Although I had a hunch it was the song from the second Hymmnos concert album… Plus, with meganeshounen’s input, the surprise factor was greatly reduced. [↩]
7. And this advice coming from the same guy who completely ignored Misha in Ar Tonelico 1. I’m a bloody hypocrite, I know. [↩]