The story is set in the world of Sol Ciel, a planet where the inhabitants live on floating cities or continents high above a dense sea of clouds surrounding a central tower known as Ar Tonelico. Sol Ciel is unique in that it has been destroyed and rebuilt twice: the first time was because of human folly, but the second time was because of artificial life forms known as viruses that spilled from the tower. Fortunately for the world of Sol Ciel, a group of magical beings which came to be known as Legendary Maidens appeared and defeated the viruses with Hymn Crystals and the Power of Song. To protect the people from the threat of recurring viruses from the tower, the maidens formed the city of Platina. For centuries, the descendents of the Maidens and their special order known as the Knights of Elemia fought off the attacks of the monsters, but one day, a mysterious threat shattered the defenses of the Knights, potentially threatening the entire world.
Players take on the role of Lyner Barset, a young Knight of Elemia sent to another floating continent (known as the "Lower World") in search of the Purger, a Hymn Crystal that is the only hope for the Knights to eliminate this new strain of virus. While the location of the crystal has been lost for quite some time, Barset vows to retrieve the artifact and defeat the creatures overflowing the tower and city. Luckily for Lyner, he'll be joined by a number of companions along the way, including special characters known as Reyvatiels. These people are a special race similar to the Legendary Maidens that have the ability to use the power of songs for supernatural effects.
Interestingly, during battle, these characters don't have any weaponry that they can use; instead, they rely on one of two kinds of song magic to help party members out. Red magic is typically used for powerful attacks, while blue magic is used for health recovery and stat increases. There's a bit of a balancing act involved with the Reyvatiel's song magic: songs become much more powerful the longer they're maintained, but they quickly drain the energy of the character, making them weak. Stopping a song allows these beings to replenish their powers. As a result, players need to decide when they want to engage a Reyvatiel's skills in a fight, or if they want to save them for a stronger battle. Fortunately, players will have a little extra help deciding if they want to even get into fights, thanks to the encounter gauge. The redder the gauge becomes, the more of a chance players have of getting into a random battle. Once the gauge is completely emptied in an area (either by fights or flight), you can explore at will.
Like all RPGs, you'll win experience and gold from your fallen enemies. However, Ar Tonelico places a different spin on items thanks to its Grathmeld system. Essentially an item synthesis mode, players collect the ingredients for various items, weapons or other equipment from stores or monsters. Most of these consist of some basic item and a Grathnode crystal. Once the proper components are gathered, you can assemble a number of items. Depending on the quality of the elements that you include, you can increase the effectiveness or value of the item that you create. You can also choose to additionally enhance some of these items with supplementary Grathnode crystals, which can impart new effects like stronger defense, elemental protection or additional attacks. We'll have more on Ar Tonelico soon, but for now, take a look at these new movies of the game.