The Ship Date Of AR TONELICO Has Been Postponed

The distinctive simulation role-playing game, Ar Tonelico, will be released in 2007

NIS America, Inc. announced today that Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia for the PlayStation® 2 computer entertainment system has been rescheduled for a February 6, 2007 release.

Due to the extremely high volume of scripts and music, approximately three times more than that of Disgaea® 2: Cursed Memories, Haru Akenaga President of NIS America had decided to take a longer period of time for localizing Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia. “Because Ar Tonelico was such a huge hit in Japan, and it is an extremely distinctive title, I would like to provide the localization team more time to work on this game in order to bring the highest quality product of this very new and exciting simulation role-playing game to our local customers.

Moreover, Ar Tonelico is well known for the “Moé” (pronounced “mo-éh”) style RPG in Japan. I want the localization team to be able to express this popular Japanese feeling of Moe to the American gamers through the gameplay,” Haru Akenaga President of NIS America says.

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia will be released in February 2007.

Ages ago, the world was like any other. But, two apocalyptic wars changed everything. The sky has been sealed off by a deadly electromagnetic field and the ground is now an ocean of death. Humanity lives life peacefully suspended above the sea on continents powered by the magical tower of Ar Tonelico and protected by the knights of Elemia. However, evil is lurking upon humanity threatening the peace and balance of Ar Tonelico.

-Moé

-Interactions among characters reveal more depth of each character

-A new and unique “Song” battle system

-Virtual interaction with mood shifting characters

-Customizable weapons and items

-Over 300 creatable items

-Stunning animation

Moé has become one of the most popular words among Japanese “Otaku”. Various definitions of Moé have been presented. However, it seems like each individual give different definitions to the word.

Moé is used when a person expresses his/ her feelings of adoration, admiration, and love toward fictional characters, which are unreachable or unobtainable. Moé is a combined feeling of innocence, purity, and naïve. This feeling is often non-sexual. A good example is if you could remember the feelings of your first love when you were young, those pure and indescribable fluttery feelings. The Japanese Otaku tend to have that innocent love and adoration toward videogame characters, and Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia contains many characters that embody those feelings. Interestingly, each individual may describe Moé differently from others; some might say it is sexual, some might not. NIS America would like to represent Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia as a game that recreates those innocent feelings once again.