Shin Seiki Ar Tonelico

Heh, w/ this title i could've used a Evangelion pic too. anyways, w/ this post i've started my Shin Seiki Cyber Formula theme w/ mostly Hisayuki Hirokazu art taken from the Road to Infinity Artworks (based on the PS2/GC games in which Hisayuki did designs for, like the PSX one). Anyways, what better way to start off w/ than by having his main race queen, Rena Yuki to start things off (seen at way bottom). Now let me just say that she does appear in SIN but only during the ending credits as her appearance was mainly the games as do some other characters from the games. I'll post more about that in my CF focused post. Anyways, I mainly wanted to write about Ar Tonelico today.

First, this game caught my attention mostly w/ the OVA coming out soon. It piqued my interest even more when 1up said that it would be coming over to NA, though i'm still waiting for a official confirmation from Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) America. I never followed or cared for NIS America published games as they were mostly Strategy RPGs and i HATE strategy RPGs. Atelier Iris didn't interest me much except for the artwork it had for it. So yeah, back to Tonelico, i started doing some research and browsed thru their site and the first thing i noticed was the orgasmic music that they play on there, oh yeah the art is awesome too, love the chara designs (prolly the same as Atelier as both are done by Gust and could be some of the same team). all the females are soo hawt, well except for the ones that look 12-13 and under, since i'm not a loli-fan. So yeah, the music. I swear i listened to this track (called Green Lands) like non-stop for a day and then tracked down the OST. The OST is very awesome and apparently it's in the same style as Atelier since they ARE composed by some of the same composers. Wow, maybe i should track down Atelier's OSTs now....naw, i don't like listening too much of the 'same thing'. Anyways, I also got the Hymmnos Concert Album. This one mostly contains the very awesome vocal tracks that are contained in the OST, however there are a some tracks that the OST doesn't have. I totally recommend getting them both even if you haven't played the game or if you like VG music. Obviously once you play the game these songs are will be much better and meaningful, however it's still amazing as is. YES, it's that great. i've been listening to it for 2-3 days straight now. You can check out a review and sample some songs at RPGfan. Oh yeah, u may go WTF when you read the review about there being rap, it's actually not that bad and probably consists of only 5 lines of rapping. This is in 2 tracks iirc and they're quite short. The guy bascially raps in the beginning of the track and then it's all music or he raps at the end of the track and it was all music in the beg. The rapping basically sounds like the guy from Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike's Menu/Chara select. Also go to the official site and listen to Green Lands constantly, you'll love it (i hope :P) and while you're there, do check the character section (awesome art) and the movie section at the official site to get another small dose of the stunning music. The anime sequences look okay and I'm kinda looking forward to OVA, especially if it contains new music. In any case, i'm definitely looking forward to this game whenever it's announced thanks to the art but mostly the music. As for the game, i heard it's aight. scored a 28 on famitsu and mostly got 70's in Dengeki. Meh, i sitll want.

as for the Olympics, WTF?!!! the Swiss pulls a Czech on Canada, which i jokingly predicted w/ my friend X(.

and my theme: