Ar tonelico
It receives praise in the same areas as its predecessors, particularly the music, strong characters, and engaging storyline, though its characters have also come under criticism due to the focus on the alternate personae of the heroines. The gameplay is its most criticized aspect due to not being an evolution of the battle system used in Ar tonelico II, and instead being what players have come to call a "half-baked attempt at a real-time combat system", between the few attacks the players can use, the absence of multiple kinds of Song Magic and the lack of variety in enemy models.