Forums > Site Announcements > Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica Popularity Contest - the official thread

We're offering fortunate gamers the chance to win Ar Tonelico II just by participating on the site in a meaningful way. What's meaningful? We'll let you decide! For more details, view the contest page. And if you have any questions, feel free to post them here. That's meaningful to us!

This is an interesting idea, and I'd participate if I owned a PS2.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

I might shoot for this one... I'm not entirely sure what the popularity thin entails, though. Like it has to be more than just referring people... And that's really hard to do anyway since I"ve tried asking several people and only managed to get tentative interest most cases. Could it just be visibility around the site? Or other visible contributions?

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

It's all of that stuff or perhaps none of it. This is a pouplarity contest, so a lot of it will come down to just being visible and helpful on the site. Refer any friends you have--no better time, now that we have multiple contests running for cool stuff--and encourage them to get involved. Contribute stuff yourself so that others can enjoy the site more. Post thoughtful responses to new reviews. The possibilities are endless if people get involved, and the idea here is to reward not just any participation, but participation that the bulk of the community can appreciate on an ongoing basis.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Site staff members are ineligible.

Well, looks like I'll just be an unpopular asshole for the duration of this one. That is, assuming this game is a highly-rated good RPG I'd like. If not, I'll be cool like I usually am. By which, I mean super-cool, like the other side of the pillow if it was in an igloo.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Am I staff, or just freelance? Is there a difference? I'll totally participate in site building if it means a chance at a unique RPG!

First thing's first... I'll head on over to Devil's Lair and get some buzz stirred up.

Then it's off to secure us some advertisement at fanime with my connections there.

Hmmm... I could maybe even talk to Capcom through Reuben Langdon and Dan Southworth...

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

By the way, has anyone else heard about the massive nigh-unavoidable glitch in the American version of this game, where they took out a boss' attack code (last boss, no less!) but left in the attack option, so that if it uses the attack, the game freezes and you have to restart from your last save?

That along with many other localization issues (such as removing huge amounts of text and other random codes, as well as changing names and voices... the usual bullshit) makes me sadly skeptical of what is definitely a unique RPG experience.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Well, Zipp, if you're right about that glitch, it looks like I'll remain as cool as the other side of that igloo pillow. I'm not a big fan of staging epic protests over not receiving games that may have major issues such as broken final boss fights.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

There's a difference between staff and freelance, zipp, and you're the latter. Staff have a whole bunch of extra duties on top of things and also access to stuff that you don't... like the ban feature. So don't be giving us no lip!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

How about tongue? Can I give you tongue?

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Is AR2's story a continuation of the first?

Dogpile on Gwinnett!

I'll stay unpopular then, since I've already got the game. :p

Don't panic!

Well, with any luck, we'll grab some new reviewers from the sites I've advertised us at. I know that for sure we should be seeing some interesting reviews from some of the folks at the Lone Wolf fan site:

Tower of the Sun

And I hope to see some more from Devil's Lair

OCREMIX is more of a long shot, but there's no harm in trying.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Holy heck, a Lone Wolf fansite? I never even thought to look for one of those. I remember reading those... Kai, Magnakai, and whatever came after that. I kind of regret selling them.

//Zig

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Zig. There's a website up called Project Aon that has all the Lone Wolf (and Grey Star spinoff mini-series) up online, so you can play through the books again. I made myself a little set of 10 cards to signify the random number table and have been going back through them. Those books were just awesome. You got better from one book to the next and didn't have the insane "death unless you do everything perfect" insanity like that line with Deathtrap Dungeon and the rest.

Speaking of insane difficulty.....my next review will be for Leather Goddesses of Phobos.....just to capitalize on this hardcore crazy-ass hentai vibe our site's on.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Those were Fighting Fantasy, and they ruled too. Had to make maps and stuff, though I cheated like hell on those ;)

Lone Wolf was definitely more forgiving, and it was cool learning new skills from one book to the next.

//Zig

Not sure how to make a sig? While logged into your account, you can edit it and your other public and private information from the Settings page.

I can't vote for Venter huh...

Steampunk?

Hell yeah, Lone Wolf! I've been part of the LW community for years... about six years now. I even wrote some expansions to the gamebooks which were later translated into three languages.

OD has it right. Go check out Project Aon.

Dever has also rewritten and re-released the books through Mongoose publishing.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

That's right....Fighting Fantasy.....and yeah, unless you had the luck of the gods with rolling dice, you had to cheat like hell to beat some of those. I remember in Trial of Champions (the sequel to Deathtrap Dungeon), you had to not only be utterly perfect in getting all the necessary items to pass certain tests (or die), but you had to beat something like three encounters towards the end that all had 10-11 combat skill and a decent amount of HP......meaning you had to pretty much roll consistent 11s and 12s to have a chance. That was just cruel.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

That is so 2009, man.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

Spam fail.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.