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Durante · Oct 11, 2014

I just got my first S ranking in battle towards the end of phase one - I didn't even know there was an S ranking.

Also, don't tell it to people in other threads, but I played FF13 for an hour, and even though it looks absolutely fantastic now on PC and with its asset quality and production values, its gameplay really just made me want to quit and play Ar nosurge. Makes me appreciate the Ar nosurge battle system all the more.

kiryogi · Oct 11, 2014

FINALLY CAME IN THE MAIL. Collection complete for now! Need soundtracks now D:

Basileus777 · Oct 12, 2014

Yeah, once you get access to the better songs, earning A and S ranks becomes trivial and so does raising DP/XP thanks to the multipliers. Money never seems to be important in this game.

R_thanatos · Oct 12, 2014

I have this game since more than a week but i haven't started it because i hadn't finished reading the ciel summary.

GODDAM the terminate pack.. i want to start playing the game right now but i'll just go to sleep to process the last 2 chapters

afreaknamedpete · Oct 12, 2014

R_thanatos said:
I have this game since more than a week but i haven't started it because i hadn't finished reading the ciel summary.

GODDAM the terminate pack.. i want to start playing the game right now but i'll just go to sleep to process the last 2 chapters

It shouldn't be understated how great the Ciel Summary is. I obviously can't compare it to the actual game, but it made me care about the characters and managed to convey a really complicated plot in an effective manner.

I can't imagine playing Ar Nosurge w/o reading the summary and just being bombarded by a parade of strangers.

Basileus777 · Oct 12, 2014

I like how sometimes a character's name is romanized in multiple different ways in the course of one conversation.

And Phase 2 spoilers

Why does no one remember who Undou is? I'm trying to remember what encounters with him in Ciel were reset and what weren't, but he was at least mentioned enough that it seems strange that no one else seems to know who he is.

I also really like how they tie all the silly dialogue choices you can make as Delta into the plot.

R_thanatos · Oct 12, 2014

Started the game this morning :

-so happy i read teh ciel summary first .
-Such an improvement in graphics regarding AT3
-Talk system is quite good now that they react on the fly to what is happenning , much needed change
-music is fine
-Much confused about the choices i want to pick while diving
-i think i understand the mess going on quite well.

-Some weird text/dialog on the npcs here and there.. did nobody QC the extra dialogs ??

game is good so far

afreaknamedpete · Oct 12, 2014

Basileus777 said:
I like how sometimes a character's name is romanized in multiple different ways in the course of one conversation.

And Phase 2 spoilers

Why does no one remember who Undou is? I'm trying to remember what encounters with him in Ciel were reset and what weren't, but he was at least mentioned enough that it seems strange that no one else seems to know who he is.

I also really like how they tie all the silly dialogue choices you can make as Delta into the plot.

Wasn't he

stuck in the loli body all game? I was waiting for a joke about that the whole damn game and was disappointed when it never happened. They never really explained how he got his old body back anyways....

redhairedking · Oct 12, 2014

kiryogi said:
FINALLY CAME IN THE MAIL. Collection complete for now! Need soundtracks now D:

No Ar + ?

Basileus777 · Oct 12, 2014

afreaknamedpete said:
Wasn't he

stuck in the loli body all game? I was waiting for a joke about that the whole damn game and was disappointed when it never happened. They never really explained how he got his old body back anyways....

His appearance is one thing, but even after he reveals his name and identity they don't know him. And he was a fairly important character. I'm in mid-phase three and they haven't explained why Kanon is alive either.

GreatMightySymp · Oct 12, 2014

R_thanatos said:
Started the game this morning :

-so happy i read teh ciel summary first .
-Such an improvement in graphics regarding AT3
-Talk system is quite good now that they react on the fly to what is happenning , much needed change
-music is fine
-Much confused about the choices i want to pick while diving
-i think i understand the mess going on quite well.

-Some weird text/dialog on the npcs here and there.. did nobody QC the extra dialogs ??

game is good so far

Yeah, some of the correct answers for the Dives are a bit trollish. Especially Ion's. xd

And yeah, it seems like TK had different people translating different portions as I've noticed certain sections are generally fine but others give the wrong person's name when they're talking or they'll switch from Corsal to Korsal randomly (heard something about the Japanese version not sticking to the correct naming but it didn't matter due to the language, where in English you can't get away with that).

Got to Phase 3 last night.

The beginning of that phase and the last moments of the prior phase were basically shitgetsreal.gif. Although I guessed the Shirotaka (sp?) = Dr. Leolm thing a mile away even though I'm using Eng. voices so I didn't have the Genometrics that could have possibly spoiled me.

Also pretty sure that scene before they reactivate Interdimend to Delta was implied to be an off-screen sex scene.

Also got Cass's Lv2 Genometrics done up to the point where the game blocks you. Assuming I'll have to finish it once I get closer to the end. That church scene was interesting, though.

Also, it said something about an "ultimate attack" being unlocked after that scene. Guessing it's something I can do if I max out the gauge in battle when using Delta/Cass?

EDIT: Does someone know what song plays during the scene where

Delta and Cass are in the bed w/ that CG artwork when the game starts doing all of the flashbacks before she sings the song to reconnect Interdimend?

I was listening to some pieces of the OST but I couldn't put my finger on the exact song it was that was playing.

kiryogi · Oct 12, 2014

redhairedking said:
No Ar + ?

Not yet, I was really tempted to considering the costumes. . . But priorities, need to finally play Ciel. And I must say, it's pretty awesome. The interactions with Ion and the ties into real time are frankly, really neat. It really was meant to be a game that you'd play over 2 years on the side. Thank god for the time skip, although right now she's asleep and I'm not doing much about it. (possibly astronomically high costs to skip her sleep phase currently) But it's a novelty that she talks in her sleep.

On side note, blackraen, the guy that did the awesome indepth Ciel summary is usually doing daily streams of Ciel offline with commentary if folks want to watch.

http://www.twitch.tv/blackraen

Basileus777 said:
His appearance is one thing, but even after he reveals his name and identity they don't know him. And he was a fairly important character. I'm in mid-phase three and they haven't explained why Kanon is alive either.

I haven't gotten far enough in domestic personally if they really explain that or not, but it's more of a connect the dots thing. I've been going at this topic for awhile on gamefaqs myself. Also probably requires prior Ciel knowledge too. A mix of blackraen and my answer:

The key is the Microquasar. "Essentially Kanon and Cosal were turned into energy at the center. Ultimately, when Ra Ciela Fusor was sang, Ra Ciela and its inhabitants (including the center) all combined to form the microquasar. As you can see at the Placenta, COSAL was resurrected through the Microquasar, and prior you see a lifeless vessel for Kanon in stasis at the Genomirai Church. It's not the first time this was hinted at though. Remember that Zill also extracted Ion in the alternate timeline. During Chapter 12 we heard two ideas put forth. Initially during 12-1 Renall mentions to Ion that PLASMA/former Tenmon researchers are investigating the possibility of extracting Cosal and Kanon's souls from the energy core in the middle of the Center of Power (ryokuba). They reported that they believed it would be possible, just that they weren't sure what to do about a vessel (remember, Kanon had to be specifically modified by the gRNA Virus Alpha version 229 in order to successfully house Cosal inside her).

Considering Zill's focus of research on the creation of artificial vessels (sharls, etc) if the research on extracting their souls was already complete or documented, Zill would be easily capable of assembling a vessel, especially if it was going to be essential to her plans (access to Cosal).

Also regarding Undu, I don't think they ever really know who he was in the current timeline from Ciel to Ar. I mean, us, as Earthes knows, but not the 7 I believe. Pretty sure they never learned what Zill's actual ambitions were. She was always just manipulating and pull strings to work towards that ultimate goal. We only learned due to the alternate timeline madness.

GreatMightySymp said:
Yeah, some of the correct answers for the Dives are a bit trollish. Especially Ion's. xd

And yeah, it seems like TK had different people translating different portions as I've noticed certain sections are generally fine but others give the wrong person's name when they're talking or they'll switch from Corsal to Korsal randomly (heard something about the Japanese version not sticking to the correct naming but it didn't matter due to the language, where in English you can't get away with that).

Got to Phase 3 last night.

The beginning of that phase and the last moments of the prior phase were basically shitgetsreal.gif. Although I guessed the Shirotaka (sp?) = Dr. Leolm thing a mile away even though I'm using Eng. voices so I didn't have the Genometrics that could have possibly spoiled me.

Also pretty sure that scene before they reactivate Interdimend to Delta was implied to be an off-screen sex scene.

Absolutely

Also, it said something about an "ultimate attack" being unlocked after that scene. Guessing it's something I can do if I max out the gauge in battle when using Delta/Cass?

Yup, when you max out your harmonics, go into the pause menu and select the "HarmoBurst" option, you'll go into a infinite attack phase with the Harmo gauge as a timer, keep attacking until your Circle attack changes to something like Divide End (I don't know the english equivalent yet) and execute that for some fancy shenanigans.

GreatMightySymp · Oct 12, 2014

Hoping they release that GS-exclusive DLC later down the road as paid like they did for one of the Atelier games a while back. Was hoping they would have been put on eBay like the Atelier retailer DLC but no dice so far.

I'd have to do a new game run, though, since IIRC some of the chats are locked out if you didn't have the DLC when they would have been unlockable, but I was planning on doing a 100% run a few months from now anyway.

Suzushiiro · Oct 13, 2014

GreatMightySymp said:
EDIT: Does someone know what song plays during the scene where

Delta and Cass are in the bed w/ that CG artwork when the game starts doing all of the flashbacks before she sings the song to reconnect Interdimend?

I was listening to some pieces of the OST but I couldn't put my finger on the exact song it was that was playing.

Class::AR_NOSURGE#RE:Incarnation;

kiryogi · Oct 13, 2014

GreatMightySymp said:
Hoping they release that GS-exclusive DLC later down the road as paid like they did for one of the Atelier games a while back. Was hoping they would have been put on eBay like the Atelier retailer DLC but no dice so far.

I'd have to do a new game run, though, since IIRC some of the chats are locked out if you didn't have the DLC when they would have been unlockable, but I was planning on doing a 100% run a few months from now anyway.

Oh I forgot to answer this, they did I thought? Or at least in Europe.

GreatMightySymp · Oct 13, 2014

kiryogi said:
Oh I forgot to answer this, they did I thought? Or at least in Europe.

I heard some other DLC went up in EU, but I dunno which ones.

All I remember is that the Shirotaka DLC went up in NA and that was it so far.

OceanBlue · Oct 13, 2014

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/10/12/ar-nosurge-requires-real-dedication-want-get-anything/

Ar nosurge makes you work a little bit for your fun, but it is honestly worth the effort. That’s the key takeaway for me with regard to the game. While it may take work to sift through some of the initial confusion the plot has thanks to the first game, Ciel nosurge, not having seen an English release, I still feel that Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star is a return to the PS2 days of JRPGs, where the genre really flourished. It was the kind of JRPG that I’ve long since been hungry for.

An article praising Ar Nosurge. I thought it'd be pretty negative on the title, but I'm happy that the article mirrors my enjoyment of the game.

(Although I still haven't finished the game lol. I got too sick to really enjoy video games so I took a break in the middle of Phase 3.)

kiryogi · Oct 13, 2014

OceanBlue said:
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/10/12/ar-nosurge-requires-real-dedication-want-get-anything/

"I still feel that Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star is a return to the PS2 days of JRPGs, where the genre really flourished. It was the kind of JRPG that Ive long since been hungry for."

Seeing someone quote it along these lines (as IGN did with Ar Tonelico 2) you know you got something magical on your hands with this series as a whole.

Shame no one else really will give it the time of day though.

redhairedking · Oct 13, 2014

kiryogi said:
Seeing someone quote it along these lines (as IGN did with Ar Tonelico 2) you know you got something magical on your hands with this series as a whole. Shame no one else really will give it the time of day though.

Well yeah, the game has gotten a reputation for being a nonsensical perv-fest thanks to reviewers who know nothing about the series as a whole.

Basileus777 · Oct 13, 2014

Does anyone know if crystal effects stack? Can I equip multiple burst enhancing crystals together and get all the benefits?

End of Ion's final genometrics Spoiler

I've played/read things with 4th wall breaking and direct player involvement, but I've never married a video game character before. Hah.

Durante · Oct 13, 2014

Basileus777 said:
Does anyone know if crystal effects stack? Can I equip multiple burst enhancing crystals together and get all the benefits?

I really want to know this as well. Not just for crystals but all equipment.

Someone with more time than me needs to do some scientific testing if it's not documented yet.

GreatMightySymp · Oct 13, 2014

Finished Ion's final genometrics level last night, along with getting that *that* area in Phase 3.

Was neat having the LE artwork used in that scene I have to admit. Really liked how the whole segment was done with the land gradually lightning up as you cleared the stages.

Never played AT1 so the whole Ar Ciel thing didn't do much for me, but the area seems neat. Saved at the first save point so I haven't really explored the land much. Was glad they didn't overly sexualize Cass's new outfit.

Also lol at Sarly's Lv2 Genometrics, once the clone thing was brought up I had a feeling there was going to be a "why not marry both" joke placed in there.

Since I've enjoyed Ar so far, thoughts on if it's worth picking up AT 1-3 if I can find each of them for a good price? Seems Amazon still has AT3 for $25 or so.

Basileus777 · Oct 13, 2014

GreatMightySymp said:
Finished Ion's final genometrics level last night, along with getting that *that* area in Phase 3.

Was neat having the LE artwork used in that scene I have to admit. Really liked how the whole segment was done with the land gradually lightning up as you cleared the stages.

Never played AT1 so the whole Ar Ciel thing didn't do much for me, but the area seems neat. Saved at the first save point so I haven't really explored the land much. Was glad they didn't overly sexualize Cass's new outfit.

Also lol at Sarly's Lv2 Genometrics, once the clone thing was brought up I had a feeling there was going to be a "why not marry both" joke placed in there.

Since I've enjoyed Ar so far, thoughts on if it's worth picking up AT 1-3 if I can find each of them for a good price? Seems Amazon still has AT3 for $25 or so.

That area is having me considering playing the PS2 games after I'm done with this too.

kiryogi · Oct 13, 2014

Basileus777 said:
That area is having me considering playing the PS2 games after I'm done with this too.

That area is exactly why AT1 is recommended prior to playing this. The amount of emotional nostalgia that washes over you the very moment you Land is so immense. And who you meet even!

And absolutely yes, if you enjoyed AR nosurge, you will love the rest of the series. Just understand that at1 is on the older side and AT2 imo, one of the best Jrpg ever... Although at3...only play that after playing the first 2. As its the low point of the series, but you might be more open minded to it after having invested in the series to this point.

R_thanatos · Oct 14, 2014

AT3 is only enjoyable if you've played AT1 or AT 2 ( or both ) , there are so many things in that game that would have been unforgivable if you hadn't see/played the first 2.

The third cosmosphere loops are the meanest things i've ever experienced during my entire life playing rpgs and Visual novels.( 1 exemple of many )

And despite all of that ?
i platiniumed that game ( without cheating lol ) . it would have been unthinkable if i hadn't been so invested thanks to AT1 & AT2

Stuart444 · Oct 14, 2014

R_thanatos said:
there are so many things in that game that would have been unforgivable if you hadn't see/played the first 2.

I'm sorry

(still enjoyed it... may pick up AT1 + 2 eventually... and maybe import Ciel offline if it doesn't get localized in a year or something maybe).

Anyway today in Ar nosurge, I faced off against

Zill/Jill (seriously, pronounciation is always the same but seen it written as both, Zill when she's talking, Jill in the small chat thing while walking about...)

and got what imo was the first piece of truly great music and reminded me of how much I loved the AT3 OST.

Do battles get more challenging later? I personally don't mind easy games/RPGs but with how easy it is, I'm almost wanting some resemblance of a challenge now.

edit: Oh and when I was talking to Sarly in her shop, every single time I spoke to her, to synth stuff, buy stuff, whatever. It kept bringing up a scene. I was half way tempted to find out if it ever ends. I got like 2 or 3 recipes just by talking to her over and over.

Also kinda annoying when I want to quickly synth/buy something and go off and continue the story but some of the scenes are humorous so I can't get too mad about it

GreatMightySymp · Oct 14, 2014

Stuart444 said:
Do battles get more challenging later? I personally don't mind easy games/RPGs but with how easy it is, I'm almost wanting some resemblance of a challenge now.

edit: Oh and when I was talking to Sarly in her shop, every single time I spoke to her, to synth stuff, buy stuff, whatever. It kept bringing up a scene. I was half way tempted to find out if it ever ends. I got like 2 or 3 recipes just by talking to her over and over.

1) I've been playing on Normal since I want to experience the story more than the battles (going to switch to a higher one when I do a 100% completion run sometime in the next few months) and the latter half of the game does require some thinking but it's still easy. I like to make it a game of how optimal I can break the enemy and gain more turns personally.

I'd say bump up the difficulty if you're on Normal, although some bosses have a huge difficulty spike so you may need to drop it down temporarily.

2) Yeah, one time I had like 10 of the scenes after synthesizing stuff. At least most of them are pretty humorous.

OT, but found a good deal on eBay for AT1 & AT2 in basically like-new condition. Not sure if I should try playing them in PCSX2 on my SP3 or get a new slim model from Amazon since my phat won't read discs anymore.

Suzushiiro · Oct 14, 2014

Stuart444 said:
I'm sorry (still enjoyed it... may pick up AT1 + 2 eventually... and maybe import Ciel offline if it doesn't get localized in a year or something maybe).

Anyway today in Ar nosurge, I faced off against

Zill/Jill (seriously, pronounciation is always the same but seen it written as both, Zill when she's talking, Jill in the small chat thing while walking about...)

and got what imo was the first piece of truly great music and reminded me of how much I loved the AT3 OST.

Do battles get more challenging later? I personally don't mind easy games/RPGs but with how easy it is, I'm almost wanting some resemblance of a challenge now.

What difficulty level are you on? Random encounters are never particularly difficult unless you're going for a full clear in one fight, but veteran boss battles can be pretty punishing.

edit: Oh and when I was talking to Sarly in her shop, every single time I spoke to her, to synth stuff, buy stuff, whatever. It kept bringing up a scene. I was half way tempted to find out if it ever ends. I got like 2 or 3 recipes just by talking to her over and over.

Also kinda annoying when I want to quickly synth/buy something and go off and continue the story but some of the scenes are humorous so I can't get too mad about it

Yeah, synthesis is a much bigger timesink in this game than it was previously (especially since synthesizing almost everything is required for the true ending.) They could certainly have cut a lot of fluff out of it (both in terms of the exit cutscenes and the number of items to synthesize.)

Stuart444 · Oct 14, 2014

Suzushiiro said:
What difficulty level are you on? Random encounters are never particularly difficult unless you're going for a full clear in one fight, but veteran boss battles can be pretty punishing.

I'm not even sure what difficulty I am on. Will have to check tomorrow.

Also on the Synthesis thing, the dance during it made me WTF the first few times. It's cute though haha.

GreatMightySymp · Oct 14, 2014

Suzushiiro said:
They could certainly have cut a lot of fluff out of it (both in terms of the exit cutscenes and the number of items to synthesize.)

IMO, I kinda liked the scenes popping up as it helped build the characters more for me.

I'm a bit of sucker for those kinds of modes, though, so I can understand why some people might find it repetitive.

R_thanatos · Oct 14, 2014

Stuart444 said:
I'm sorry (still enjoyed it... may pick up AT1 + 2 eventually... and maybe import Ciel offline if it doesn't get localized in a year or something maybe).

Hey i don't plat games i don't enjoy ..
So yeah despite all of that i enjoyed it.

Anyway off to play some ar no surge tonight for me.

macklelol · Oct 14, 2014

Basileus777 said:
Does anyone know if crystal effects stack? Can I equip multiple burst enhancing crystals together and get all the benefits?

End of Ion's final genometrics Spoiler

I've played/read things with 4th wall breaking and direct player involvement, but I've never married a video game character before. Hah.

I had some free time so I played around with some crystals. I think most crystal effects do stack. It's easy to see this when you equip multiple Attack Power or Maximum HP crystals.

I actually don't know how Burst Bonus/Burst Enhance even works. Is it just supposed to increase the amount of Burst you get from attacking? Cause it doesn't increase the amount you get from getting a Break Bonus. I'm not sure how you would even test Singing Speed, either. I'm sure Damage Resist works as it should (though it should be noted that Damage Resist actually reduces the effect of Jamming those dune buggy enemies do).

One of Delta's crystals (Defense and Burst Bonus) gives him a massive amount of Burst Bonus (Burst Effect in the status page), which nearly doubled the amount of Burst I got whenever I got a Break Bonus. I don't think Earthes has a crystal with a similar effect.

Also, while doing all this, I found out changing Cass' crystals restores all of her song magic. That's kinda weird, since the same doesn't happen to Ion...

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Now that we have some folks that have completed it. . .

Here's a little something from the Japanese version you get to see if you had the Ciel nosurge connection that gives closure for the ending:

http://i.minus.com/ikwKxUTyFvXB5.jpg spoilers of course! click at your own risk

Also been really enjoying Ciel nosurge. . .Maybe I'm new to these life sims such as love plus, but the amalgamation of mechanics from here and there make for a rather engaging experience. The backgrounds are gorgeous too. It's really interesting as you're repairing Ion's memories seeing past and present to the different areas of Ra Ciela, really bringing it to life. I honestly don't know how they'd bring this over without absolutely butchering it or something. For importers, let it be known even for Offline, you need a JP account for the full experience and as mentioned earlier, at least 6 gigs free even with the game card itself. I mean I felt the same way with Ar nosurge too and we got it, but Ciel is just a whole 'nother can of worms. Like, I'm sitting here in bed with Ion and having pillow talk with her, asked her to sing a little lullaby and she does. Then asked her about the book she's been reading, and seriously, she goes full on in very lengthy chatter about this book. The amount of voice and interaction is just, amazing and I can see as something being a huge obstacle to localization, unless they go JP audio only or cut it out. . . Boy would the latter be horrible.

Stuart444 · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
Now that we have some folks that have completed it. . .

Here's a little something from the Japanese version you get to see if you had the Ciel nosurge connection that gives closure for the ending:

http://i.minus.com/ikwKxUTyFvXB5.jpg spoilers of course! click at your own risk

I clicked it and I don't understand the spoilers (nice picture though)... I'm guessing that's a good thing though.

fedexpeon · Oct 14, 2014

I had to drop this game since Tears of Tiara is coming tomorrow.
Ar nosurge is too much of a snoozefest for me to continue.
Battle is too easy with breaks, and the diving gameplay is too much of a chore when you made mistake/grinding for points.

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Stuart444 said:
I clicked it and I don't understand the spoilers (nice picture though)... I'm guessing that's a good thing though.

It's for the true ending of the game.

From Gamefaqs

Ion sends you a message via the internal voicemail system in Ciel nosurge. She successfully returned back home and arrived back at almost the same time in which she disappeared so she was happy it didn't cause too much of a fuss. She talks about how it's a bit too peaceful there and how it's also lonely. She explains that she's going to use a machine that's tied to the Exapico universe to send you the message she's making now. She worries that if she does, there's a chance that she might get sent back to Ra Ciela, however she also states that it might not be a bad thing since it also means she might get a chance to meet you again. The reason why she's sending you a message is because in the game you and Ion got married so she thought as your wife it was strange that she couldn't contact you and wanted to make some sort of message for you, as your wife. Then she starts to cry a bit and says that instead of cheering you up that because of her crying you might end up worrying about her. She then sort of recaps about the time when you made contact in Nelico's world, the time in which you were destroyed and rebuilt and she thanks you for being there for her. She also talks about the feeling that she won't ever be able to meet you but she says that she's studying hard to find a way to meet you in person. She then says she's about to cut off soon and thanks you but continues on about if you're happy then she's happy. Again, she states the she's going to try her hardest at researching for a way to meet you. She tells you she loves you and talks about no matter how far the distance is between you two, the bonds that you two have connects both of your hearts together. She tells you to be well and then says "arigatou watashi no taisetsuna anata" and it cuts off there.

There's another voicemail that say's she's glad the message she sent got through and recalls an event about something to do with some sort of strawberry dish(I didn't know what it was or what the event was but I figured it was probably something in Ciel nosurge) and then says she would like to talk longer but she has school and then says goodbye and winds up the music box which plays the op theme of the game and she leaves. After a few moments the message cuts off.

Basileus777 · Oct 14, 2014

Endings question

Should I hold off on creating reincarnation, are the endings without it worth seeing first?

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Basileus777 said:
Endings question

Should I hold off on creating reincarnation, are the endings without it worth seeing first?

There's some differences here and there. It's primarily one certain outcome. If you're up for clearing the game 4 times over to see it all, go for it.

Basileus777 · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
There's some differences here and there. It's primarily one certain outcome. If you're up for clearing the game 4 times over to see it all, go for it.

If the differences aren't that significant then I don't think I'll do it.

Arthea · Oct 14, 2014

If I disliked AT3 a lot, would I like this?
To clarify, the game was more or less OK, not particularly good but bearable, except all fanservice: it was overblown, overdelivered, tasteless and so on.
I wasn't following this game because I thought I'm done with AT, but I'm still curious

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Basileus777 said:
If the differences aren't that significant then I don't think I'll do it.

You should just leave a separate save in case! I don't wanna spoil it personally, but lets say some scene dialogue does change.

Arthea said:
If I disliked AT3 a lot, would I like this?
To clarify, the game was more or less OK, not particularly good but bearable, except all fanservice: it was overblown, overdelivered, tasteless and so on.
I wasn't following this game because I thought I'm done with AT, but I'm still curious

Thickstone said:
Thanks for the responses and yeah, i'll read the detailed ciel summary beforehand. AT 1 is fairly pricy in EU. I still think that they should have included a summary of ciel a la Final Fantasy XIII-2 but whatever.

Since my scars from AT3 still haven't completely healed, I'll possibly wait for a price drop.

The music is totally awesome and miles better than in AT3 so now I actually know what all the fuss is about. Minakata (apparently the battle theme) really sold me on the game.

Thickstone said:
Initial impressions:

- glad to have read the summary before (!)

- i'm enjoying the game

- graphics suck

- nice music and battle system

- nay's ass window is lol

The cool thing about having only read Ciel Nosurge is that it is a joy to see these characters in motion and as...well...actual characters.

Originally Posted by kiryogi

So this means for you it's already a ton better than Ar Tonelico 3?

Thickstone said:
No contest, really. Ar nosurge is really enjoyable and the combat, while not really deep, gets the job done and is quite fun. Plus dat battle theme. Qoga's battle system is badly executed and simply not fun at all.

The story...phew. It's certainly enjoyable but it is baffling how much it relies on ciel nosurge. The beginning of Ion's first section wouldn't have made a lick of a sense to me if I had ignored the summary of ciel. In a way I pity those who are not aware that Ar is a sequel and you are supposed to know about the stuff the characters talk about. I'm not a fan of how TK has handled the series in the west. It is possible to follow the story without prior knowledge but you have to stay super focused on the terms and the short explanations the characters provide.

It also shows that the budget of this game is about $5. No dealbreaker at all but it took some time to get used to personally. Still better than Qoga which i played yesterday and that beginning alone is vomit inducing in every respect.

In other words also to reply to you, yes there is fanservice here, but nowhere on the degree AT3 was. It's more like AT1/2. Very toned down.

Arthea · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
You should just leave a separate save in case! I don't wanna spoil it personally, but lets say some scene dialogue does change.

Originally Posted by kiryogi

So this means for you it's already a ton better than Ar Tonelico 3?

In other words also to reply to you, yes there is fanservice here, but nowhere on the degree AT3 was. It's more like AT1/2. Very toned down.

Oh, that's good to know, thanks, if it's more like AT1/2, I think I'll pick it up.

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Arthea said:
Oh, that's good to know, thanks, if it's more like AT1/2, I think I'll pick it up.

Oh didn't know you played AT 1/2, it's right up your alley. . . But if you have the time, and it's a fantastic and IMO necessary read to enjoy this, read the Ciel nosurge summary.

http://www.unit03.net/view/Ciel_nosurge/Summary

Arthea · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
Oh didn't know you played AT 1/2, it's right up your alley. . . But if you have the time, and it's a fantastic and IMO necessary read to enjoy this, read the Ciel nosurge summary.

http://www.unit03.net/view/Ciel_nosurge/Summary

Yup, I liked AT series... until AT 3, that is (><)

bookmarked, will read before playing, thanks again

Basileus777 · Oct 14, 2014

The last boss in this game is such a bore. A damage sponge with weak attack power. What were they thinking with this? Yeah, I'm not doing that 4 times.

Stuart444 · Oct 14, 2014

Spoilers about Nay:

Does she become an empress? I've been synthing everything and gotten so many bloody scenes (I'm over 10 now in one go) and she goes all "I'm an empress" with the empress sweets recipe. I don't think it's been mentioned that she's an empress, just a princess (?) and it's making me wonder if these scenes should have popped up later rather than now.

edit: I think We've passed the 15 scene mark on how many scenes I've watched at Nays, having now gotten the

New Character

recipe thing.

Basileus777 · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
It's for the true ending of the game.

From Gamefaqs

Ion sends you a message via the internal voicemail system in Ciel nosurge. She successfully returned back home and arrived back at almost the same time in which she disappeared so she was happy it didn't cause too much of a fuss. She talks about how it's a bit too peaceful there and how it's also lonely. She explains that she's going to use a machine that's tied to the Exapico universe to send you the message she's making now. She worries that if she does, there's a chance that she might get sent back to Ra Ciela, however she also states that it might not be a bad thing since it also means she might get a chance to meet you again. The reason why she's sending you a message is because in the game you and Ion got married so she thought as your wife it was strange that she couldn't contact you and wanted to make some sort of message for you, as your wife. Then she starts to cry a bit and says that instead of cheering you up that because of her crying you might end up worrying about her. She then sort of recaps about the time when you made contact in Nelico's world, the time in which you were destroyed and rebuilt and she thanks you for being there for her. She also talks about the feeling that she won't ever be able to meet you but she says that she's studying hard to find a way to meet you in person. She then says she's about to cut off soon and thanks you but continues on about if you're happy then she's happy. Again, she states the she's going to try her hardest at researching for a way to meet you. She tells you she loves you and talks about no matter how far the distance is between you two, the bonds that you two have connects both of your hearts together. She tells you to be well and then says "arigatou watashi no taisetsuna anata" and it cuts off there.

There's another voicemail that say's she's glad the message she sent got through and recalls an event about something to do with some sort of strawberry dish(I didn't know what it was or what the event was but I figured it was probably something in Ciel nosurge) and then says she would like to talk longer but she has school and then says goodbye and winds up the music box which plays the op theme of the game and she leaves. After a few moments the message cuts off.

Well I wish that wasn't locked away in the US version of the game, because the ending feels incomplete without that. The last 1/3 of phrase three as a whole felt anticlimactic really, there was very little tension once

you go to Ar Ciel

. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but the genometrics finales were much stronger than how the main plot actually ended. The combat system is simple and it was sometimes hard to find the right difficulty to play on to keep it consistently interesting, but most of the game is spent reading, so it worked well enough for me.

This was also a pretty easy game to platinum, other than two missable trophies you get via dialogue choice, everything else comes just from playing the game normally.

Ending spoilers

kiryogi said:
I don't think it was that off for Nelo personally, she had a change of heart originally in Ciel thanks to Casty and gang prior until Revelt betrayed her on humanity's behalf.

I felt this was inconsistent characterization as well. She flip flops off-screen with no real explanation. This was a character that well after that moment in Ciel was still willing to kill everyone but Casty to return home. The game tries to make its antagonists sympathetic (all of them but whoever was controlling Prim), but a lot of it was just too convenient or unconvincing.

Stuart444 said:
Spoilers about Nay:

Does she become an empress? I've been synthing everything and gotten so many bloody scenes (I'm over 10 now in one go) and she goes all "I'm an empress" with the empress sweets recipe. I don't think it's been mentioned that she's an empress, just a princess (?) and it's making me wonder if these scenes should have popped up later rather than now.

She became empress before the start of the game, during the end of Ciel Nosurge. She just hides her identity from the public, but Cass and Delta know.

Stuart444 · Oct 14, 2014

Basileus777 said:
She became empress before the start of the game, during the end of Ciel Nosurge. She just hides her identity from the public, but Cass and Delta know.

Oh right.

Just since I don't remember seeing it mentioned earlier in the game is why I questioned it.

Kresnik258 · Oct 14, 2014

kiryogi said:
It's for the true ending of the game.

From Gamefaqs

Ion sends you a message via the internal voicemail system in Ciel nosurge. She successfully returned back home and arrived back at almost the same time in which she disappeared so she was happy it didn't cause too much of a fuss. She talks about how it's a bit too peaceful there and how it's also lonely. She explains that she's going to use a machine that's tied to the Exapico universe to send you the message she's making now. She worries that if she does, there's a chance that she might get sent back to Ra Ciela, however she also states that it might not be a bad thing since it also means she might get a chance to meet you again. The reason why she's sending you a message is because in the game you and Ion got married so she thought as your wife it was strange that she couldn't contact you and wanted to make some sort of message for you, as your wife. Then she starts to cry a bit and says that instead of cheering you up that because of her crying you might end up worrying about her. She then sort of recaps about the time when you made contact in Nelico's world, the time in which you were destroyed and rebuilt and she thanks you for being there for her. She also talks about the feeling that she won't ever be able to meet you but she says that she's studying hard to find a way to meet you in person. She then says she's about to cut off soon and thanks you but continues on about if you're happy then she's happy. Again, she states the she's going to try her hardest at researching for a way to meet you. She tells you she loves you and talks about no matter how far the distance is between you two, the bonds that you two have connects both of your hearts together. She tells you to be well and then says "arigatou watashi no taisetsuna anata" and it cuts off there.

There's another voicemail that say's she's glad the message she sent got through and recalls an event about something to do with some sort of strawberry dish(I didn't know what it was or what the event was but I figured it was probably something in Ciel nosurge) and then says she would like to talk longer but she has school and then says goodbye and winds up the music box which plays the op theme of the game and she leaves. After a few moments the message cuts off.

That was lovely. It's a shame we won't get to see that in the English version.

Maybe one day in the future if we get Ciel and Ar+.

kiryogi · Oct 14, 2014

Basileus777 said:
Well I wish that wasn't locked away in the US version of the game, because the ending feels incomplete without that. The last 1/3 of phrase three as a whole felt anticlimactic really, there was very little tension once

you go to Ar Ciel

. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but the genometrics finales were much stronger than how the main plot actually ended. The combat system is simple and it was sometimes hard to find the right difficulty to play on to keep it consistently interesting, but most of the game is spent reading, so it worked well enough for me.

This was also a pretty easy game to platinum, other than two missable trophies you get via dialogue choice, everything else comes just from playing the game normally.

I dunno, stakes were pretty high until the very end. Having gone to Ar Ciel to form the Heart of the Land. (Something major in the Ar Tonelico series actually) Ar Ciel being that planet they traveled to, and learning the birth of the Teru Tribe was actually from Telefunken and the exploration crew sent 5000 years ago. (Again, Ciel knowledge prior was required here) Also on the finale further explained by Aquagon:

By the way, I can explain the things with the final battle: Class:EXSPHERE_NOSURGE; isn't used to transform Soreil into that monster.

Instead, that was done through a REON-4213 command that served to fuse it with the Maternal Overseer and feed it the energy from the...

Spherial Rings that was going to be used for Ra Ciel Reincarnation. Also, Exsphere nosurge is used there just rip out Ion's soul.

So what you're doing in that battle isn't destroying Soreil: it's beating out the Maternal Overseer out of it while you using the energy
aquagon

(draining it from the monster) to recreate Ra Ciela.

Although yeah, I could agree the battle wasn't difficult at all. Unfortunately by that point if the game, you're just too overpowered. That said, it can't be denied there was some execution and budget issues here, hence some of the more lukewarm reviews from those understanding Tsuchiya's ambition (much rather than the ignorant ones that didn't bother to grasp everything)

Ending spoilers

I felt this was inconsistent characterization as well. She flip flops off-screen with no real explanation. This was a character that well after that moment in Ciel was still willing to kill everyone but Casty to return home. The game tries to make its antagonists sympathetic (all of them but whoever was controlling Prim), but a lot of it was just too convenient or unconvincing.

Nelo was literally in tears when Revelt was sealing her heart away actually. Again actually having played Ciel would have helped here D:

: http://youtu.be/i5SBwwXvV0U?t=7m2s

Stuart444 said:
Spoilers about Nay:

Does she become an empress? I've been synthing everything and gotten so many bloody scenes (I'm over 10 now in one go) and she goes all "I'm an empress" with the empress sweets recipe. I don't think it's been mentioned that she's an empress, just a princess (?) and it's making me wonder if these scenes should have popped up later rather than now.

edit: I think We've passed the 15 scene mark on how many scenes I've watched at Nays, having now gotten the

New Character

recipe thing.

Fun fact of the day, whenever you synth something that has a purple icon in the image of the item in the lower right that says "Event", it means you'll get a cut scene afterwards. XD

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