Ar tonelico 3 announced!

[fetjuel]

http://ameblo.jp/gameryou/entry-10335137753.html
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/ne ... 12813.html

The first link is to a blog post that I stumbled upon; it leads to the article in the second link. It's mainly about a new system called ADAMS, for creating "adaptive music" in games. Basically, this system would change the character of the music based on what's going on in the game; I didn't read into much detail, but it sounds pretty excellent.

What's most interesting, though, is the tantalizing bit where the article refers to an "unannounced game" that Tsuchiya Akira is working on, expected to be released next Spring. Tsuchiya's demonstration images in his presentation used Ar tonelico 2 art, and the series is overdue for another entry, considering that three Atelier games (Mana-Khemia 2, Atelier Rorona, and Atelier Annie) have come out since At2. And what better game to use an advanced music system in than the intensely music-focused Ar tonelico?

This is pretty exciting; if the game is due in Spring, we should hear an announcement very soon!

[aquagon]

I really hope that it's the case. The images shown in the article, and the Tsuchiya being the one that made the demonstration (not to mention being a system for making the music a much more important part of the game experience) really hint at it, and I'll be eagerly awaiting until an announcement is made!

[Kensou77]

(not to mention being a system for making the music a much more important part of the game experience)

those display chart images really look amazing.... if i understand it right, it seems like equipment and everything prior to a battle sequence can influence the battle music played in the upcoming fight...

and i think there's hints of trying to modify music based on battle attendance/health and mp changes/equipment/skills etc....

[ilutiern]

I-I-If what you're saying is true I think I'll faint with excitement when At3 comes out

Lady Tylia! Lady Tylia! /dies

[奈落天魔]

Judging from what I've heard AT3 already seems pretty amazing. Next spring? Waiting is something that is hard for me to do when it comes to AT but I'll try and live with it.

[Jeth86]

If this turns out to be AT 3, then I'll be eagerly anticipating it like a 5-year-old kid waiting for his long-awaited b-day present!

[D00D]

Hmm.. I'm gonna play the devil's advocate and remain cautious; for one thing it's just a meeting & for another I've yet to seen a single material of AT 3. So for now, I'm gonna put a wet blanket on my expectations until something concrete comes up.

[dervish_candela]

Being cautious is ok
But seriously, how many times I thought about such a music system that would be able to modify and attune music to the game. We've seen some primitive implementations of the idea, and simply changing music theme seamlessly to a variation, based on location, was already impressive. I can't imagine how mind-blowing would the full-featured aural ambience control be.
Let's just hope it won't be another rehash on the rhythm games, like 'audiousurf'.

I won't be disappointed if AT3 follows the established GUST tech, but if they manage to assemble something that revolutional, it will gain enormous buzz and AT will see more followers

[L-Voss]

Woah, that's exciting news and a great idea.

... would make no difference to me, though - no PS 3. *cries*

[Not_me]

What ? PS3 ?? I don't even have PS2.

Anyways, I hope the ENGLISH Translation is better than Ar Tonelico 2.

[L-Voss]

What ? PS3 ?? I don't even have PS2.

Anyways, I hope the ENGLISH Translation is better than Ar Tonelico 2.

I have serious doubts there is going to be an English translation at all...

[Not_me]

What about fan's translation ?

[AD-chan]

If it really is AT3 then it's definitely a great news!

[Kensou77]

where did you get ps3 from?.... i skimmed through the text and there's no mention of ps3 that i found....


The system that was explained was named Adaptive Music and it uses something apparently called ADAMS which i think is said to have been released January 2009. ADAMS is the item talked about in the first half of that page.


actually looking at it again and reading it now, ADAMS = ADAptive Music System

[L-Voss]

where did you get ps3 from?.... i skimmed through the text and there's no mention of ps3 that i found....


The system that was explained was named Adaptive Music and it uses something apparently called ADAMS which i think is said to have been released January 2009. ADAMS is the item talked about in the first half of that page.


actually looking at it again and reading it now, ADAMS = ADAptive Music System

If it's to be released in 2010, then I assume it to be on PS 3. Also, I think such a system would be more fitting for a PS 3 game.

And about a fan translation... it's possible the At 2 re-translation team might want to do it as well, but first, it would need to be released.

[Morganite]

It's also possible (maybe likely) that this system will be used in another game first, but if it works well I'd be surprised if it doesn't end up in AT3. As others have noted, it just fits so well.

-Morgan.

[fetjuel]

I am pretty confident that Ar tonelico 3 will be a PS3 game. GUST finally committed to the platform with Atelier Rorona. I see that game as a way for them to build up their codebase and development chops on PS3, so that they'll have some experience before tackling the next Ar tonelico, which needs to live up to its legacy as GUST's new (relatively) hit series. GUST relies heavily on shared engine code between their games; moving to a whole new platform is a huge deal for them, and I doubt they're going to look back to PS2 or switch platforms now that they've started their PS3 journey. (That doesn't rule out hiring other development teams to make side-games on other platforms, like the Atelier titles on DS, but they wouldn't do that for a flagship title.)

As for the music system being used in the game, the article says that Tsuchiya and GUST have spent 10 months working with a beta version of ADAMS, in an unannounced title, and that this title will be the first product to use the system. So there doesn't seem to be much doubt that the next GUST game will have the ADAMS system in it. Also, the article is pretty specific in saying that this unreleased title will be announced within this year, and released next Spring.

As for a fan translation, if NISA doesn't take it on for some reason, it would likely have to be a text script to read along with (like the Xenosaga Madness Project or Kayama's Sakura Taisen scripts) rather than a patch. I don't think that PS3 hacking has gotten to the level of patching games yet, has it?

[Morganite]

As far as I can tell, PS3 hacking is effectively nonexistent.

-Morgan.

[Dragonkingtatsu]

Yeah Ps3 hacking is pretty much non-existant, the best that has been done is a way to play ps2 isos using swap magic and a usb stick, and that's limited to the 20 and 60gb models. Other than that all that been done is a NES emulater using bluray java. That's it

[dervish_candela]

I am pretty confident that Ar tonelico 3 will be a PS3 game.

Your deduction is (reretfully) bull's eye. If they have a succesful PS3 project already, it's 100% certain that they will use the new platform. While being a small company does have its benefits in significant leeway as to the creative freedom vs expected commercial success, at the same time they are limited to maintaining one engine at a time.

... would make no difference to me, though - no PS 3. *cries*

Buy one used, play the game, and then sell it afterwards. It will cost you virtually nothing this way. I do this trick every time with expensive pro-grade lenses: I buy ones I can't afford (technically, I can, but «they are not befitting my status»©), play with them, and then sell them again