1

5 /5

First, it is worth recalling what kind of universe this RPG in Japanese sauce has to offer. In this episode, you play Croix Bartel, a promising knight in the service of the Grand Bell, a kind of official government hunting down viruses called I.P.D.s - infections contracted only by women, more precisely by Reyvateils - and fighting for the expansion of habitable territory by humans. Because yes, just as in a future that could be ours, the inhabitants of that world encounter some problems as for the surface they have to live on. With the exception that in Ar Tonelico II, this is caused by the disintegration of the earth and its fall into the deadly limbs that make up the shallows of the world. Not really the ideal context to enjoy life and be inhabited by unconditional optimism. However the Great Bell has the intention to remedy this, and their solution, radical, is all found: it is necessary to annihilate the Goddess Frelia, divine entity which prevents humans to recover.

From this starting pitch come various meetings and events that will take you to the four corners of Metafalss, a world in which you will evolve for a good number of hours more or less filled. The world map, as in the first part, shows you the different places that are accessible to you and unloads you after a very reasonable loading time, the same system being applied to the different areas of the cities that you will have to survey. No change in exploration.

In terms of the combat system, this translates into an infallible ergonomics since basic, but which nevertheless gives rise to never uninteresting confrontations. This second episode of Ar Tonelico reintroduces of course the Reyvateils in the center of the fights, always in turn by turn, where you will pass from the phases of Attack to those of Defense. These will allow you to protect your precious singers from enemy attacks by showing good timing. Each of the two characters in the first line is assigned a key, which serves as much for the offensive as for the protection, and a third allows the player to launch the symphonic magic mastered by the Reyvateils.

Magic, let's talk about it. Or rather, let us evoke their neat aesthetic, which contributes to build the identity of the software. A tribute to the old RPGs on SNES, the graphic paw used can be confusing, but is full of a real beauty, unfortunately pulled down by rather uneven decors, inviting a moment to contemplation, then attacking your retinas the next moment. The whole remains pretty and slightly finer than in the first part, but we regret at times this sawtooth realization.