I agree that it's too early to decide on a "final" party just yet, but reading about them ahead gives me a idea of what to expect about them going in.  I seriously doubt we've heard anywhere near these characters whole stories just yet, but I'm intrigued enough to actually want to know more.  Only way that'll happen will be to play the game and feel them out.

^

Been reading through the character profiles and interviews on the main site and they're starting to look more interesting than I thought they'd be.  Even Dorian with his Porn 'Stache of Power.

I didn't know about that, but it's no biggie now.  I'll be happy to have DDS in my hands one way or another.

Yet another legend on the PSN.  It's awesome to be able to play Nocturne and DDS since I missed out before.  Well, I managed to find a hard copy of Nocturne, but DDS is damn near impossible to find nowadays.

True.  Then again, I'm too used to playing Origins with mods on the PC version.  Several of which allowed you to have the Warrior Talents once you learned the Arcane Warrior specialization.  That made the specialization a lot more fun to play.  I'm hoping the Knight Enchanter allows more to do without having to mess around with mods as much, that took some time to learn to figure out.

I'm just looking forward to playing a proper Warrior Mage again.  As much as I enjoyed DA2, I missed being able to slice and dice things apart in addition to blowing new craters into the ground.  And no, whacking things with my blade on a stick just did not feel the same.

YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS~!

Finally got the game today.  Liking what I've played of it so far, but boy does this game love its tropes.  This game couldn't be more "battle harem anime" if it tried.  At least you don't have to play your main character as a complete doormat/dumbass like 90% of the protagonists out there.  >_>;

Also, am I a horrible person for this scene popping in my mind whenever the girls appear onscreen?

http://youtu.be/h87JSL9nbbU

Hoo boy...just two words to say on that: Man Festival

But I thought that was the whole point---oh wait, I see what you did there.  :P

I'll have to wait a few days until my order comes in from Amazon, but I'll fully admit that this game will be a guilty pleasure to play.

While I wasn't exactly looking for anything particularly deep gameplay wise (it's a glorified dating sim, for goodness' sake.), it is discouraging to hear that the reviewer didn't enjoy it very much.  I have a pretty high tolerance for sexual humor, though it was interesting how much Ar Tonelico tried to sound like vanilla pr0n.  I'll echo the question of how bad the innuendo gets.

I had a chuckle at this and I needed a chuckle today.

I wouldn't say no, though who knows when I'd actually get around to playing them.  :P

Anyone decided on who they'll go after first, based on the introductions and demo playthrough?  I'm thinking Fuuko, myself.  Not sure why besides the fact that she just seems so charmingly normal (relatively speaking, of course).  I guess I'm weird that I go for either the normal girls or the crazy ones (bonus points if they end up being both).

A lot of games I've played with multiple options on who I can end up with generally tends to lack a harem ending, or at least are so well hidden that I never managed it.  Granted I haven't played many so I'm sure I'm missing out on quite a bit.

Thinking about it now, I agree that a harem ending wouldn't be out of place considering you have to make each of the girls happy to create good units anyway.

When Grandia first came out for the Sega Saturn and I imported it, I was ashamed because it was all in Japanese and I couldn't explain to any of my roomates what was going on in the story.  The game was (and still is) awesome, so I regret nothing nowadays.

Nowadays, I think I might be ashamed of liking anything released by Working Designs.  Particularly the Lunar series, Growlanser Generations, and Vanguard Bandits.  They're all great games, but I also know that the localizers knowingly (and at times gleefully) went off the original script and displayed a lack of restraint when it came to their twisted sense of humor.  I hang around the anime/JRPG purist community enough that I do at times feel bad for liking those games when I should condemn Vic Ireland and his staff to eternal burning for mucking up the original script.  Then I have to remind myself that I just don't care, because WD's work made what would likely have been a dull script actually entertaining.