1. Kthalas

   8

   Ar Tonelico Qoga is one of those games that will appeal to a select crowd. It is almost a traditional JRPG. This game likely will not appeal to gamers that are heavy into Western styled RPGs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout 3 or Demons' Souls. Graphically Ar Tonelico Qoqa is beautiful. Not quite cell shaded, but somewhere past that. The characters are anime style, in keeping with Japanese tradition. At times it feels almost as if your characters are on the background rather than in the background. The colors are varied and bright. Combat is similar to the Tales of series of games. It's not turnbased, but action based. You can time your attacks with the Harmonic graph/bar causing the Reyvateil's Heart beat to increase, eventually allowing you to do a "Purge" move. Sort of like a special attack that's pretty powerful. Good for boss fights, not as useful in normal fights. You can also hit the X button for a magic attack done by the Reyvateil in your party. At the beginning of each fight your Reyvateil begins singing. The strength of the magic attack is based off the song percentage. There are no enemies on screen so fights are random, but there is a gauge on the lower right of your screen that is sort of an indicator of when a fight is approaching. It can happen regardless of color but the closer to red it gets the more likely an encounter will happen. When the gauge is empty there is no more combat in the area until you zone out and re-enter. The story line is interesting, but slow to pick up. Around 6 or 7 hours before it really picks up. You are able to "dive" into the cosmospheres of your Reyvateils' (call it mind diving) and help them to over come aspects of their personality and to perform stronger magic attacks. There is an option to change the English voice acting to Japanese voice acting. Overall I have been enjoying Ar Tonelico Qoga. I hope others give this gem a try. As I said to begin, it won't appeal to everyone, but it is a solid title once you get past the minor flaws.… Expand

   • Helpful?

     9 of 21 users said yes
2. vahn

   6

   I always liked Gust's Rpgs for many reasons: they tend to be "old-style" and their stories aren't that serious but yet are enjoyable, reminding me of fables...well this game can be a sort of half-way work. First of all the story starts off rather rushed and fast but tends to improve with time (sort of); the graphics are ok and I particularly liked the backgrounds even if they are 2d and the music is nothing to be reminded but it does it's job good enough. What are the problems then? First of all, the battle system...it feels kinda weak, thin and totally lacking: your main job is to attack the enemies by pressing just one button 3 times and then cast the spell that your Reyvateil for finishing them by using purging for powering up their spells: the end. That's it mostly, and you don't even need to parry: it's automatic (by standing still...). You can also defend your Reyvateil by pressing circle when an enemy attacks her, but that's it basically: it feels like they rushed this battle system and your main job is to just help your Reyvateil to cast better magic, as your attacks won't be as strong as hers later in the game. But to me the biggest flaw of this game is just one: the fan-service. I mentioned before you need to purge for powering up your spells...and you do that by stripping your Reyvateil: it feels very annoying and very unnecessary and even though they explain "why" they have to strip it grows tiresome with time, making you skip their "strip" in battle from the start. However I enjoyed the game and if the players can pass the "purging" and fan-service gimmicks (or enjoy, depends on the taste) I would really say this isn't a bad game and it's worth a check before getting it completely.… Expand

   • Helpful?

     8 of 9 users said yes
3. Zemeckis

   4

   One of the best JRPGs on the PS3. Cutscenes are in the traditional way (text box and sometimes voice acting). It has a variety of endings that depends on your choices. Graphics are simple, but the illustrations are very well made in anime style. Battle system is cool and the characters are charismatic. I read some reviews saying that a negative point about this game is that it's pervert. Well, it is pervert, but what's the problem? There are a lot of games out there with intense violence, dirty language and bad manners. And they don't get lower grades by it, so what's the point? Pervert is a bad thing? Stop with false moralism. Anyway, why did I give a 4? Well, it has a serious problem that is being ignored by the publisher: constant freezing in the battles. You can enjoy the story, but when you get in the battle... that's when you start crying. It's impossible to fight without lags, low frame rate ou whatever you wanna call. The screen keeps freezing all the time and there's nothing you can do about, unless someday they release a patch fixing it. Otherwise... focus on the story and forget the fun of the battles. You can beat the game even with the freezing, but be aware that you will not be fully excited about it.… Expand

   • Helpful?

     2 of 2 users said yes

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