Ar tonelico
| Ar Tonelico | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genres | Role-playing game |
| Developers |
Gust Co. Ltd. Banpresto |
| Publishers | Banpresto NIS America 505 Games Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Creators | Akira Tsuchiya |
| Platforms | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 |
| Platform of origin | PlayStation 2 |
| First release |
Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia January 26, 2006 |
| Latest release |
Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel January 28, 2010 |
Ar tonelico (アルトネリコ arutoneriko?) is a multimedia project series made in collaboration by Gust Corporation and Banpresto (currently subsidiaries of Tecmo Koei and Namco Bandai Games respectively) consisting of video games, manga, and an OVA. The name of the series is also the name of the amplification complex composed by three monumental towers that appear in the aforementioned works. Throughout the life of the series, it was directed by Akira Tsuchiya (Gust) and produced by Atsunori Kawachi (Banpresto). The main theme songs for all of the games were sung by Akiko Shikata. Recently, it was succeeded by the Surge Concerto series.
The core part of the series is formed by three console role playing games, which are listed below in chronological order:
The Ar tonelico series is set in a planet called Ar Ciel, which lost its land in a great man-made catastrophe a long time ago, and it is a work of science fantasy that depicts the interaction between the protagonist and the heroines, the latter generally being members of a race called Revatail (romanized as Reyvateil in the English-localized versions of the games and related material), which can use a special ability known as Song Magic. During the course of the trilogy of games, the people were forced to live on three gigantic structures they made after the land was lost, and due to the loss of communication between the regions that form Ar Ciel, the people eventually came to believe that the region where they lived was the entirety of the "world" that existed.
A constructed language known as the Hymmnos Language (called Hymnos in English-language releases) is also present throughout the materials that form the series, used as part of the dialogue in the games as well as part of the lyrics of the songs heard in most audio releases related to the series, and used as a decorative element in parts of the interface, visual effects and backgrounds. The meaning to these multiple messages isn't apparent in the works themselves, but the Hymmnos language has a detailed vocabulary and set of grammar rules that can be read in detail over at the official site, which can be used as a guide to translate all phrases written in said language to Japanese. And while it hasn't received an official translation, all of this information has been translated for English-speaking audiences by enthusiastic fans of the series. Therefore, the players can discover hidden meanings and the feelings the characters singing the songs have hidden in its lyrics upon translating them.
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Wikipedia