1. Sieghardt

   10

   I'll admit it, I'm a sappy, sentimental, romantic kinda guy, growing up on games like Lunar and Grandia I really came to enjoy a good love story in my RPGs. Sadly for many RPGs a love interest is just shoehorned in, a tacked on extra or a checkbox in the big list of stuff they think they have to include, so much so that many people think they're pointless or add nothing to the game or even detract from it. So when the Ar Tonelico series came along I was really excited to see a series that really went for it with the love story. Of course I'm several hundred RPGs on since I started and there's a lot of things I like in an RPG, good music, a well thought out world that feels alive and has a sense of culture, large swathes of character interaction, likeable characters, a battle system that is both fun and different etc. Thankfully Qoga succeeds in a number of these categories and excels in a few.
   
   As with the other games in the series, Ar Tonelico Qoga takes place in a tower above their inhospitable planet of Ar Ciel which has been covered by the sea of death. Unlike the other games where reyvateils were partners and lived among humans or below them, in this area reyvateils dominate over humans and carry out cleansings and purifications, either killing humans or enslaving them in the name of Clustania. The scale of the story is both massive in scope and minute in detail and is constantly balancing between intimate personal issues, large scale political movements and events with world changing consequences in a really satisfying way.
   
   Of course the story hinges on the two female leads, Saki and Finnel. They're reyvateils, a race of artificially created(though still biological) humanoids with the ability to use song magic. Saki is optimistic and innocent, Finnel is pessimistic and cynical, two fairly standard personality types, however when you begin to unfold the events that molded their personality they really become great, memorable characters. A further and unique level of complexity is added to them in the form of their personae. Both of them have a number of alternate personalities that govern aspects of their personalities. Sarapatra for example is a more mature, adult side of Saki. I can't talk too much more about them without spoiling some of the fantastic twists and turns of the story but you're left questioning if these personae are truly other sides of them or something else as they often work against their other sides desires.
   
   The other vanguard characters, Tatsumi and Hikari, took me by surprise with how great they were too. With such an emphasis on the romance between the hero and heroines you'd expect them to take a backstage and play a bit part, but no, they have their own story and goals which you help them to achieve while they help Aoto with his quest too. In fact in the early stages of the game Tatsumi is so preoccupied with pursuing his own agenda that he seems pretty cold and seems to be constantly looking for an opportunity to leave the group. He just cant ignore Aoto's troubles though and through the course of the game develops to be a really great friend.
   
   Even beyond the main cast, many of the NPCs have amazingly well thought out stories, some of them even tying back into plot threads through the previous two games in the series. I particularly enjoyed Mute, Akane and Richaryosha. Mute is a massive muscular melee fighter, completely railing against the regular idea of a reyvateil as a songstress summoner. Despite her role as an enemy early on and her fearsome appearance she's quite a sweetie at heart and can be oddly cute at times. Though still terrifying when running around shouting HONEY! DARLING! Akane too is an enemy to Aoto, but she's also Finnel's childhood friend. she's a cold hearted ruthless commander at first, but if you're a good enough friend to Finnel you might just end up being friends with Akane too.
   
   The crowning glory of the Ar Tonelico series is definitely it's hymmnos, songs that are sung in a language specially created for the games. There are a couple of oddball tracks in there, particularly CUTYPUMP and EP=NOVA are strange tracks that I didn't like at first, but suit the characters really well. They hugely expanded the number of vocal artists working on this game and some of them are really great, KOKIA's tracks are beautiful. The rest of the soundtrack isn't quite as great and might be slightly disappointing to fans of the previous games but dont misunderstand, it's still a wonderful OST, better than almost everything else out there. It just had an unbelievable pedigree to live up to. Some of the slower tracks used in the more emotional and intimate scenes are really memorable soulful pieces.
   
   Overall out of the hundreds of RPGs I've played this will be one of those I really cherish, it's the only RPG so far this gen other than Valkyria Chronicles I feel is really a classic in the making.… Collapse

   • Helpful? 4 of 13 users said Yes.
2. 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 22 users said Yes.
3. 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? 9 of 10 users said Yes.
4. 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? 6 of 6 users said Yes.

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