Art Book Review

Software publishers of the RPG niche games such as Atlus and NISA have been offering a lot of bonus content to the games that they localize in the United States. Most of the time, you have to pre-order the game to get the bonus. Sometimes they are packaged with the game. Art books, Soundtracks, Posters, Keychains are some examples of the goodies you can get when you pre-order/buy these games. I must admit that as an Anime/RPG fanatic, this strategy works in giving hardcore gamers an huge incentive to buy these games even before they come out as opposed to waiting for the prices to go down in a year or so. Even Konami is adapting this strategy with the newly released Suikoden Tierkreis. Today I'm going to review the following bonus art books from the following games:

• Ar Tonelico
• Ar Tonelico 2
• Eternal Poison
• Persona 3
• Persona 4
• Luminous Arc 2
• Suikoden Tierkreis

Let's Get Started:

Ar Tonelico Melody of Elemia Official Artbook (52 Pages)

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of the Character & Enviroments, Detailed Descriptions of Characters, Environments, Game Mechanics, Terminology & Timeline. This is an example of an art book that doesn't stop giving. What makes this art book special is the amount of information that you can get. It's amazing at how much detail & effort went into putting this artbook together. The descriptions of the environments & terminology used in the game paints such a vivid picture of the world of Ar Ciel. Artbook was packaged with the game. Hardcover.

Cons - You can never have enough Ar Tonelico.

Rating: 5/5 Stars, definitely a must-have

Ar Tonelico 2 Official Art Collection (20 pages)

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of Characters & Environments, that's it =( Boooo!!

Cons - Compared to the amount of detail the 1st Artbook had, this one pales in comparison. I must say, I was very dissappointed but alas, I'm an Ar Tonelico Fan so I must have it. Artbook was packaged with the game. No Hardcover.

Rating: 3/5 Stars, Eye Candy Art Work for the hardcore gamer

Eternal Poison Librum Vespera (100 pages)

Pros - A whopping 100 page artbook of Eternal Posion Eye Candy Art work with detailed Character/Majin & Environment Descrptions & Creator Comments. This artbook has a more mature, darker, gothic tone. What makes this artbook special is section that covers the Majin Artwork. The creatures are so fascinating. Makes you ask yourself, "what were the creators thinking when they drew these?" Makes you want to catch em all.

Cons - A Hardcover would have been nice. You had to pre-order the game to get it.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars, A must-have for those who would enjoy a darker version of pokemon

Art of Persona 3 (52 Pages)

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of Characters, Environments, Persona. Detailed Descriptions of Characters. Creator Comments. In-game 3D Sprites for main characters are also included for your viewing pleasure. The Artbook was packed with the game. Cd sountrack inluded in the Artbook.

Cons - Not much infromation on game mechanics, the whole persona compendium would have been nice. No detailed decrptions on secondary characters & villains.

Rating: 4.75/5 Stars, definitely a must-have for Persona fans

Persona 4 Visual Data (100 Pages)

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of Characters, Persona & Environments. Creator Comments. Creator Design Sketches. Contains a lighter tone that its predecessor.

Cons - No Detailed Descriptions. Bigger and Chunkier but the space was not utilized well. One picture/sketch would usually take more than half of a page. Cd Soundtrack is no longer included in the Artbook and you had to pre-order the game to get it. Hardcover would have been nice.

Rating: 3.75/5 Stars, Definitely a must-have for Persona fans unfortunately a toned down version of its predecessor

Luminous Art (60 Pages)

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of both Luminous Arc & Luminous Arc 2 Characters. Detailed Character Descrptions & Cerator Comments. Soundtrack was packaged with the game.

Cons - No Artwork on Environments that shows the world of Luminous Arc. Quality of paper used for the artbook diminishes the quality of Artwork. Smooth, Glossy Paper would have worked wonders. Nothing on game mechanics. No Hardcover. You have to pre-order the game to get the artbook.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars, Must-have for those who love the fantasy genre with emphasis on knights, witches, wizards etc.

Suikoden Tierkreis

This one is a little complicated because instead of an actual artbook, Konami placed their Art work on a Cd that doubles as a Soundtrack.

Pros - Eye Candy Artwork of Some of the Characters, Environments. The soundtrack plays while you sift through the artwork.

Cons - No Detailed Descriptions of Characters, Game Mechanics Etc. It's a little inaccessible if you don't have a laptop with you at all times. It would have been nice if the artwork featured all the 108 stars of destiny. I believe that a regular artbook would have been better for my personal library than a digital one.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars, A solid effort for a first try, Konami

Thank you for listening to my Art Book Review. If you would like to get your own copy of the artbooks, 50% of the time someone is selling them on ebay so get them while you still can.