Ar Tonelico III detailed

Yesterday, during an event in Tokyo, Banpresto finally detailed the upcoming PS3 JRPG Ar Tonelico III, to be released in Japan on January the 28th, 2010.

The game wil be the first of the series to use 3D graphics, with a lovely cel shaded style that fits the series perfectly, and will be paired with beautiful anime cutscenes. You can see quite a lot of screenshots and artworks on the Japanese website Game Watch, and the new official trailer below.
If the music through the game will be even near to the quality of the track used for the trailer, we're in for a treat for sure. After all music plays a central role in the Ar Tonelico series, and this third chapter will be no exception to that rule.

While the Reyvateils (a race of artificial humanoids able to use the power of the hymnos to attack their enemies) of the Ar Tonelico series always fought using music, the third chapter will use the Adaptive Music technology of the CRI Middleware to actually create the music in real time.

The game is still set in the world of Ar Ciel, and more precisely in it's third tower. Inside an immense structure named Soul Cluster there are two cities, Clusternia, ruled by reyvateils, and Archia, ruled by humans. The relationships between the two cities are very tense.

Clusternia is divided in districts. The Reyvateils' district is a perfect utopia ruled by Original and Beta Reyvetails. Every aspect of one's life in the district is planned to achieve a comfortable and serene lifestyle. Near the base of Clusternia there's the Slaves' district, where humans live in slums made of small and poor houses. Humans are basically treated as servants and subject to the rule of Reyvateils.
The story will start in the village of Aoi Valley, situated at the very border of the slaves' district, inside the weather control system. Due to it's location the wind always blows very strong.

For now three characters have been revealed:
Aoto: he's a disciple in Tower construction, he's very reckless and hard headed, but also characterized by a strong sense of responsibility. Initially he isn't really interested about the political rule of Clusternia, but he starts to antagonize them after meeting Saki and witnessing the destruction of his village. He's voiced by Noriyaki Sugiyama (well known for having lent his voice to Uryu Ishida in Bleach).

Saki: Escaped from the Archia laboratory, she's been created for an unknown us purpose. Her escape several years before the beginning of the story apparently jeopardized some important plan, and that's why she's forced to hide. When put in a strong state of stress she can use a power named "miracle". She's voiced by Mai Goto.

Finnel: She's a clumsy and goofy Beta Reyvateil that works as a barmaid at the Yokkora restaurant. She seems to be the key of an important plan originated from the government of Clusternia, and to have a peculiar ability to get in trouble. She's voiced by the popular Eri Kitamura.

During the game Aoto can "dive" in the spiritual world of each Reyvateil, called Cosmosphere, deepening his bond with them and chosing between various personalities that will affect the way in which the reyvatail fight. Such personalities are represented by different clothes, that increase the power of the Reyvateil when worn (in a SailorMoon-Like transformation).

During battles Aoto's task will be to defend the Reyvateil behind him so that she will have the time to unleash her power without being harmed.
When the power of the reyvateil is unleashed, the R.A.H. system is activated, combining several elements chosen by the player to create music dynamically. If the combination is correct the power created will be devastating.

Ar Tonelico III definitely looks like a top-notch title and marks the passage of another popular JRPG franchise to the current generation of consoles. Now that the PS3 is starting to become really popular in Japan due to the price cuts, we can definitely expect the JRPG genre to bloom again, as the PS2 will finally reach it's well deserved retirement even for smaller developers. We'll have to see if Microsoft will try and keep up the JRPG push that they attempted during the beginning of this generation, but at the moment, expecially due to the strong sales in the domestic market, the PS3 definitely looks more and more likely to take the title of JRPG queen back from it's rival.
Personally, I can't be more happy to see the JRPG genre raising to glory again, after the slow start. We've been fed even too many western games with their generally mediocre stories (besides a few lovely exceptions) until now, and a rebirth of the Japanese gaming industry can only be welcomed as a positive fact for classy gamers. I have a good feeling, and I'm quite sure that we'll see quite a few interesting games announced in the next few months.