Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel

1. Sieghardt

   Apr 3, 2011

   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 loveI'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.… Expand

   • 6 of 17 users found this helpful
2. metatcn

   Sep 9, 2011

   8

   A good end to the trilogy. This game had great characters, and dives are a little more fleshed out then usual and is a very welcoming changeA good end to the trilogy. This game had great characters, and dives are a little more fleshed out then usual and is a very welcoming change as it gives the characters more development and personality then the last 2 games offered. Also the music in game is the best in the series yet. Also being the last means they finally answered some lingering questions that was previously left unanswered and overall the story is just more fleshed out then normally. Mutliple endings adds great replay and allows you to explore your fav Reyvateil more intricately. Sadly the biggest complaint about the game is that it incorporated a very average action RPG gameplay. It's just very plain and basic. A disappointment considering Ar tonelico 2 had really great turnbased gameplay but it's still better then Ar tonelico 1 gameplay. It's a shame they didn't add to the great turnbase gameplay if the game had the gameplay it would of been a great game. But as a fan of the series it was still the best game in all the other fields and it was still fun to play through, so for that I give it a 8.… Expand

   • 3 of 6 users found this helpful
4. Kthalas

   Mar 21, 2011

   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 appealAr 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

   • 11 of 25 users found this helpful
5. seieko_pherdo

   Jul 13, 2011

   6

   After the first's game flawed emergence into the world followed up by superb squeal (with a not so superb localization) one would think theAfter the first's game flawed emergence into the world followed up by superb squeal (with a not so superb localization) one would think the 3rd game would a golden rainbow that hands out candy. Sadly this game is a step backwards, in more ways than one. For whatever reason it's similar to the first game rather than the second one. The combat while no longer turned based is not all that good. While the match the attacks with the meter thing at the bottom of the screen was a nice touch the combat lacks the "Tales Of Game" flexibility to pull that off. For the most part the Reyvateils that are considered so useful and valuable throughout the games don't even feel necessary. By time the magic is strong enough to be useful without spamming super attacks the enemy will already be dead from constant wailing. Then there's the weird stripping function which replaces different song magic, while the system works well there is no reason for the strange removal of clothes. Though to make it even the males lose theirs when they use their super moves too which creates what I like to call, "The hot spring laser barrage" Besides the music being awesome and story tying up all the loose ends through the last two games, it was a nice touch to add more detailed conversations during item creation. And while the mind diving is still interesting the Characters aren't as good as the ones in Ar Tonelico 2 and their respective life stories are not as interesting. In a way moving the last game to 3D didn't do a whole lot of good for the game and it's sad that the grand finale of the Ar Tonelico saga wasn't as good as it could have been.… Expand

   • 2 of 5 users found this helpful
6. sgb

   Mar 31, 2011

   5

   In a nutshell, this third AT game is mostly a step back from AT2. The character interactions are a little better, but the gameplay is muchIn a nutshell, this third AT game is mostly a step back from AT2. The character interactions are a little better, but the gameplay is much worse.
   
   Starting right with the bad, the battle system in AT3 is very bare-bones. They went with a Star Ocean style battle system, but forgot to give your characters any interesting skills to make these battles fun. You will pretty much just be spamming the same attack over and over and over. To make matters worse, there are only three non-Reyvateil party members the entire game. In previous AT games, your Reyvateil(s) had a numbers of different songs (aka spells) to choose from. Here, you get one attack spell and that's it. The final nail in the coffin is that, like the previous games, the difficultly is still laughable. Your Reyvateil's attack is so strong that all non-bosses will die in one shot, and unlike AT2 you have to charge and use this in every battle past the halfway point as your melee attackers hit for 10 damage on enemies with 20000+ HP. The controversial gimmick in AT3 is the purge system. Basically you hold a button and shake the controller every so often and your Reyvateil will...strip. Doing so increases the song damage and special effects provided to the others. There is absolutely no sense whatsoever to this beyond blatant fanservice, seeing as AT1 and 2 took place in the same world and yet have never heard of this Reyvateil 'power-up method'. It's really just a huge step down from AT2s gameplay, and you really have to wonder if the game would have been better off as straight visual novel this time around.
   
   
   The popular synthesis system is back, but unlike previous games the sole benefit to using it is for the banter while making it. As noted above, your non-Reyvateil party members are little more than distractions, so equipment upgrades have almost no impact on performance. Not that you need to get your upgrades this way, as enemies drop equipment and accessories like candy. Basically you will make everything once to see if it triggers a talk event afterwards, then never looks at the stuff again.
   
   
   The game's saving grace is the Cosmosphere and character banter. The characters in AT3 have better chemistry than in previous games, so the relationships don't feel completely forced by the writers. The secondary characters get developed a bit more than previous titles as well. As other reviewers have said, this game flies past the semi-subtle innuendo in previous titles and goes right into openly discussing sexual fetishes. On one hand, it gets a little crude at times, but on the other hand it's somewhat refreshing to dispense with the *winkwinknudgenudge* dialogue for once. Combined with the purge cutscenes, that M rating is fully justified so be warned. There sadly aren't alternate costumes like in previous AT games, instead having (without spoiling any plot) a few different 'personas'. It's not quite as good, but I guess they couldn't justify having 9 different costumes per Reyvateil with the purge cutscenes. The overall story isn't amazing, but it provides a reasonable conclusion to the AT series.
   
   
   All in all, there's not much to say here. For fans of the series the game's strengths are the same as previous titles, and the weaknesses...are sadly standard to AT as well. You won't be playing this for the gameplay. Players new to the series looking for a new jRPG should run away. This is a visual novel first, and a game second.
   
   FINAL BREAKDOWN:
   6/10 for AT fans
   4/10 for anyone else… Expand

   • 15 of 26 users found this helpful
7. deadlysilentbob

   Apr 24, 2015

   5

   Extremely inferior to the first 2 games, which were for the ps2. The first 2 had an engaging storyline, did not try to muddy the backstory toExtremely inferior to the first 2 games, which were for the ps2. The first 2 had an engaging storyline, did not try to muddy the backstory to add a preceived depth to the world and did not have an oversaturation of pervy dialogue which i dont usually mind but in this game it becomes tiresome. The stripping of the heroines is also a feature which gets tiresome. if it was once in a while as like a reward mechanic then i could see it being an enjoyable thing, but every single little battle is a bit much (unless your a 14 year old boy whom has never seen a naked woman). i also wish they left the graphics as sprites as they had for the first 2 games, they were very charming and this game suffered for the poorly rendered and implimented 3d models they went with.
   
   possitives: the cosmosphere is more entertaining this time around as its not just a static path, the heroines are likeable and very distinct, the hymnnos music is as always very interesting, and an alpha male for a main character is HUGELY WELCOME.
   
   negatives: slow confusing storyline, feels like a rushed game, too much reliance on pervy mechanics.
   
   overall i only recomend this game to anyone who played the first 2 and wanted to the the conclusion to the trilogy.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
8. Slsr

   Jul 26, 2013

   4

   Well, battle system isn't too interesting, game content is kinda odd in Japanese style, some might like it but this game is IMO just pervertedWell, battle system isn't too interesting, game content is kinda odd in Japanese style, some might like it but this game is IMO just perverted and that's why not for all. I mean for example person makes such spell in which she turns someone to cake and her clothes vanish in that process that is kinda we are dealing with here, I can take it as joke tho kinda but seriously not cool... Luckily other of game isn't as stupid like that at least so there is some content that is not useless even if rather silly still all the time. Still no way I am finishing this game, it is not for me but I will give it some points still as it's by means not terrible and there is audience for this game for sure, even if I don't find terribly much to like here.… Expand

   • 0 of 3 users found this helpful

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