Bear with me here, since I’m treading on unfamiliar territory. My Game News Flash are reporting that Ar Tonelico III is rated 18+ — the highest possible age-rating — in Korea. This seems rather odd, considering it’s rated CERO C (15+) in Japan and will most likely be rated “T” by the ESRB just like its predecessors, if it gets localized. From what I can tell of the box, the reasons behind the rating are violence and some kind of sexual content… but this is a Gust RPG.
Ironically, the game is rated “all ages” in Hong Kong. There’s no reason for the 18+ rating provided on the Korean Game Ratings Board site, like there is for several other games, so it’s hard to determine the exact reason. While I don’t understand a lick of Korean, I did manage to find some other games, with a help of a friend , that were rated 18+. Nothing seems out of place; they all seem like the usual candidates:
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Dead or Alive: Paradise
Aliens vs. Predator
Resident Evil 5
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Fist of the North Star Musou
Fable 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
The Orange Box
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Onimusha 3
WET
Granted, there’s a ton of games I haven’t mentioned, because the names are all in Korean and I can’t read them. Perhaps one of our Korean readers (provided there are any) would like to give us a little insight to the GRB’s guidelines? Is the 18+ rating a big deal?
