1. vahn

   10

   To me, Ar Tonelico II is the best of the trilogy, and I have very good reasons to say that. First things first though, I have the PAL version which means I had no big bugs (especially the game breaking bug near the end of the game). Basically, for what I heard, the PAL version is less buggy, so if I miss bugs it's because I haven't got many. Anyway, this game is still one of the best Jrpgs I've ever played: the story it's complex but actually I really got into it, especially since this game has some political issues too, and honestly I always found hard to play games with political plots, and in here...I actually understood it. Not only that, the setting is interesting, since it's set on the second tower and it has its own story too, it has different issues comparing to the first tower; in general, the setting was immersive and the story was fitting. The characters are various, although the main protagonist does look uninvolving at first, but the best characters are probably the 3 Reyvateils: they are very different and their "cosmo" shows it, without mentioning that one of them is probably one of the most "original" I've ever seen (I won't spoiler though). And of course, cannot forget the music: this game has probably one great soundtrack to listen and to praise, and I hope I'm not the only one who mentions it (try out Replekia or Sublimation, just to mention a few). Also, the battle system got a huge improvement in my opinion: it's a lot fast paced and it's splitted into phases (attack and defense), which are actually different: in attack phase, you attack in order to improve the reyvateil casting power AND also to improve your attacks, since vanguard can not only do multiple attacks, but also do extra attacks (and they do massive damage too, although not as strong as a Reyvateil magic); in defense phase, you actually have to time your parries, or you get insane damage: that's honestly a nice idea, and all I can say is that the battle system is, in few words, improved over the first game to me, and I enjoyed to do the battles...but this system maybe it's too strong and, in fact, the bosses don't really need much strategy: just charge up, defend, unleashe over 1 million damage... To be fair, the biggest flaws (EXCEPT the bugs that I NEVER had. Just in case nobody read it before) are the really REALLY worsened graphics, since the previous game had much more detailed characters, while in here they look blurry, and the kinda "lacking" 3d enviroment: I liked the fact they tried to innovate, but the 3d needed more work I believe. Also, unlike the first, the general terms like "third generation" or "Origins" aren't properly explained and, sadly, might confuse some people that never played the first game first (like me). Anyway, this game is great and huge, with 4 endings to achieve, synthesis system (the usual detail from any Gust's rpg) and a quite interesting "visual novel" style as well: I really enjoyed this game and, really, the only reason to not try it's either you don't like jrpgs or you want more enhancement rpgs (like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest). It's definitely not for all tastes, but still worth a try.… Expand

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2. RockKroc

   10

   I am ammending my score. Previously I had scored this game a 7 due to the now (in)famous glitch near the end of the game. Owners of various cheat-devices, however, are now able to include a simple code which "fixes" the bug. This code is easily searchable on Google. My score is now a 10 for a remarkably superb game experience.… Expand

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3. seieko_pherdo

   9

   Well let's get a few things out of the way. 1) if you didn't like the first one you won't like this one. 2) I am not marking this game down on the bad localization since it wasn't made by the people who made the game, not mention the infamous one can be avoided and the rest don't really hamper much. 3) This game has innuendo, and while some complain about if you can handle a bus ride home during high school you can handle this. Now that's out of the way this game is an improvement of basically everything in the first game. I enjoyed the Characters a lot in this game and like last game their development is fabulous. The concept of chatting with shop owners was a nice little perk which makes the whole world feel more alive. Once again the mind diving returns longer and more detailed than the last. Though this time around you can't go through everybody's full mind dive experience in one game, which is a nice touch unless your a huge fan of polygamy. And the combat is vastly improved and you don't get a bunch of magic you will never use. As for combat you can block attacks instead of just standing there and getting hit with doom lasers and such. While it's still easy and not really hard it's surprisingly fun to block attacks and then annihilate them with killers dolls formed by singing, or unleashing the closest thing I've ever seen to a Death Star. While the story is the same old "We got to save the world" thing every JRPG goes through the ending gave me a nice fuzzy feeling.… Expand

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