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Ar Tonelico Qoga |OT| - Singing the Song that Ends the World

thundr51

Member
About 7 hours in and I have to admit, not really digging the combat yet, feels kinda spazz happy. I thought the combat in AR2 was MUCH better and precise while this just feels kinda..wait for a spike, square, square, square, direction+square. Anybody know if there are EX moves or anything?
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Having played the Japanese edition of this game to here and eternity, you'd think I'd grow bored quickly, but I'm enjoying the game all over again.

The synthesis dialogues are pretty funny too. I rather enjoy those. ^_^
 

kiryogi

Banned
RurouniZel said:
Having played the Japanese edition of this game to here and eternity, you'd think I'd grow bored quickly, but I'm enjoying the game all over again.

The synthesis dialogues are pretty funny too. I rather enjoy those. ^_^

Yeah I actually go out of my way to synth for this. The added bonus is that I get awesome equipment out of it. :D

Artbook isn't bad... Looks like the same one japan got. I want the real proper one from softbank... that and the visual book that famitsu put out.

Thudr: Yeah there is, they're called Ultra super moves now. And I agree about ArT2. I'm pretty sure ArT2 is probably the best of the 3, but this game isn't a slouch by any means.
 
thundr51 said:
About 7 hours in and I have to admit, not really digging the combat yet, feels kinda spazz happy. I thought the combat in AR2 was MUCH better and precise while this just feels kinda..wait for a spike, square, square, square, direction+square. Anybody know if there are EX moves or anything?
Personally, I'm enjoying the combat much more, and I initially wasn't sure.
 

Durante

Member
AT2's battle system is one of my favourite JRPG battle systems of all time (OF ALL TIME), so I didn't really expect them to outdo that. It would have been fantastic if they managed to of course.

I'm looking forward to finally getting the game next week and judging for myself.
 
BoilersFan23 said:
Personally, I'm enjoying the combat much more, and I initially wasn't sure.

Do you get combos of more than 3 in a chain? Coz the timing is very fast, instant 3 hit combo...wait.............................
 

Abylim

Member
Is this game for me?
I really enjoyed RoF and SO4, havent played much from these guys. I love stories in my RPG's, I'm on the fence about this one though. Help me gaf!
 

matmanx1

Member
Genjikage said:
Is this game for me?
I really enjoyed RoF and SO4, havent played much from these guys. I love stories in my RPG's, I'm on the fence about this one though. Help me gaf!

Well if you enjoyed SO4 then yeah I would say you would probably enjoy this. It's heavily anime influenced like SO4 but Ar Tonelico does this other story thing where you dive into your revyteil's self conscious to work out her problems and that part plays out more like a graphic adventure. Your rewards for diving are new and more powerful song magics and a furtherance of your relationship with that revyteil. There's definitely a romance/ relationship focus with these games and lots of innuendo although most of the time its more funny that steamy. If you dig that type of thing with your action RPG then yeah, definitely go for it.
 

Abylim

Member
Sounds decent, just need to wait for it to come out in Aus land.
I'm itching for a new jrpg. I'm thinking about picking up a 360 purely fr ToV and LO.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Do publishers ever release NIS game in AUS? I know NISA doesn't have offices elsewhere. Since the PS3 is region-free, you might be better off importing.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
klee123 said:
Usually Koei handles NIS's games for the PAL regions.

Ah, OK. I meant NISA-localized, obviously, since Ar Tonelico isn't NIS. I knew that the games were released in Europe, but didn't know about Australia.
 

Makoto

Member
It's a shame not all the music was on the OST. Just got to the
Lymph Vessel Tower
and this gem was playing and
the fact that it was getting distorted
added to the twisted beauty of it.
 

simtmb

Member
Playing this at the moment. I enjoyed the other entries, but can't say I'm liking this so far. Haven't played much, but I'm not really feeling the battle system, and the event scenes thus far don't exactly flow well.

But I'm sure I'll enjoy it later on. Got the whole Calendar set and all. Artbook came with black marks all over it though.. D:

EDIT: Not exactly proper damage so its all good xD Just rubbed them away with an eraser.

Also, Aoto's voice is horrible despite the voice actor being excellent. (Japanese). Haven't heard him in English yet.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
I wasn't a huge fan of Aoto's Japanese voice at first either, but he really grows into the character later on. :)

I marathoned this weekend and got 6 of the 8 endings. I'm a crazy sonovabitch.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Another one during a synthesis goes "Fast, Tough, and Horney. Sounds like my kinda ride!" (I'm paraphrasing, but I took a pic of it).

I won't spoil who says that though. ^_~
 

Axiom

Member
ATQ and Neptunia are both coming out in Australia at the end of the month...in theory. I was as surprised as anyone I didn't have to import and at least at EB you get the art books for pre-order.
 

Varion

Member
vidal said:
It's a shame not all the music was on the OST. Just got to the
Lymph Vessel Tower
and this gem was playing and
the fact that it was getting distorted
added to the twisted beauty of it.
Well they don't traditionally include the Hymmnos tracks on the bonus CDs anyway, much as it is a shame. If they were to include the whole lot it would be 4 discs of bonus CDs though, and I think the Japanese fans would object to US players getting 9000 yen worth of bonus CDs as a free extra.

Kokia's songs are amazing though. Cosmoflips is probably my favourite of the Hymmnos this time, so good.
 
cleveridea said:
Do you get combos of more than 3 in a chain? Coz the timing is very fast, instant 3 hit combo...wait.............................
I just get several 3 hit combos. I barely notice since the battles go quite fast (which is one reason I enjoy it).

I'll admit some characters don't have very good voiceacting, but most I seem to like. I do enjoy the soundtrack more than I thought, but some tracks I wish were on the OST. The game is definitely very pervy, haha.
 

lljride

Member
NightHawk17 said:
sounds interesting, how is everyone liking it so far?

I love it. At first it just seemed like a generic Tales of battle system, but once I started to really pay attention to the Beat Up/purge system everything clicked. It's really addictive.

Just got past the start of Phase 3 last night. I'm going to try to get most of the endings done with various saves on this playthrough (Finnel), then go back and wrap up anything else in a fresh Saki NG+.
 

matmanx1

Member
Played more tonight and I'm liking what I am seeing in regards to the story so far, especially as it pertains to the two heroines. They are both compelling and yet so very different. Seems like one is fairly sweet, innocent and straight forward while the other is a complicated, vulnerable mess although I am sure there are more surprises around the bend.

Battle system is pretty basic so far but at least the battles go by quickly. I'm definitely looking forward to more complexity later in the game though.
 
I'm genuinely curious, how old are some of you guys who are enjoying the game? I don't mean this in a negative way, I just know my tastes in RPGs was very different when I was 16. I'd like to compare notes, so to speak.

I played the first Ar Tonelico and wanted to like it (Any game that is sprite-based is an instant playthrough) but I couldn't get into it. I'm not sure how to articulate what it was about it, but everything about it just felt poor quality. The writing, the UI, the sprites, the works. Admittedly, I didn't get extremely far, so maybe the story picked up.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into bashing the first game (I did that once, and was rightfully jumped on) but I just wanted to get across that I genuinely wanted to like the first game.

I skipped the second, and I haven't been particularly impressed with what I've seen of this one-- but I want to be. What would you guys say is the biggest selling point of this game?
 

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Anonymous Tipster said:
I'm genuinely curious, how old are some of you guys who are enjoying the game? I don't mean this in a negative way, I just know my tastes in RPGs was very different when I was 16. I'd like to compare notes, so to speak.

I played the first Ar Tonelico and wanted to like it (Any game that is sprite-based is an instant playthrough) but I couldn't get into it. I'm not sure how to articulate what it was about it, but everything about it just felt poor quality. The writing, the UI, the sprites, the works. Admittedly, I didn't get extremely far, so maybe the story picked up.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into bashing the first game (I did that once, and was rightfully jumped on) but I just wanted to get across that I genuinely wanted to like the first game.

I skipped the second, and I haven't been particularly impressed with what I've seen of this one-- but I want to be. What would you guys say is the biggest selling point of this game?
I'm 23, started playing the series over a year ago and they've quickly become some of my favorites. You're doing yourself a big disservice by skipping the second. It's a fair bit better than the others.

As far as selling points, for me it's equal parts incredible music and lore. The stories themselves may be somewhat standard fare, the the care and creativity that went into the creation of the world, history and culture is incomparable.
 
artqogo1nn8.jpg


...

maybe this game ain't for me.

Anonymous Tipster said:
What would you guys say is the biggest selling point of this game?

you're not gonna want to hear this but the big selling point is getting the girls to strip :/
 

cyclenut

Member
Just got to the last phase.

I'm really enjoying it so far, though I have to admit that AT2's battle system/story/characters are much better than this one imo.

I really would've liked a 3d version of AT2's battle system. Also, the camera angle is really annoying as it's sometimes hard to see if the enemy tries to go for your revtail.

On another note, has anyone else had any freezes? So far i've had two. Both of which froze right at the splash/battle screen intro. (Playing on a brand new slim) I'm just glad that this game has plenty of save points (i'm looking at you SO4 ~_~).
 

Izayoi

Banned
luka said:
Goddamnit.

Goddamnit all.

I give up.
Don't be too upset, that's how a lot of people are going to see it no matter what you say.

I learned to get over that kind of thing a long time ago.

In any case, there are some amazing tracks in this game, and Ar=Ciel Ar=Dor is just fucking incredible.
 

androvsky

Member
WickedLaharl said:
you're not gonna want to hear this but the big selling point is getting the girls to strip :/

No, it really isn't. For one thing, I'm pretty sure there's no real nudity. It's the third game in an excellent music-centric RPG series; the random bits of innuendo and girls stripping down to their undies (gasp) are but a small bonus.

Weren't you also trolling the Neptunia thread, complaining about the outdated graphics? It was somewhat memorable, given your username... ;)
 
i don't get how stating a game has shitty graphics when it does have shitty graphics is trolling.

as for the stripping it is an important part of the game and no doubt helps sell the mediocrity even if they don't get completely nude.
 

Krujo

Banned
cyclenut said:
Just got to the last phase.

I'm really enjoying it so far, though I have to admit that AT2's battle system/story/characters are much better than this one imo.

I really would've liked a 3d version of AT2's battle system. Also, the camera angle is really annoying as it's sometimes hard to see if the enemy tries to go for your revtail.

On another note, has anyone else had any freezes? So far i've had two. Both of which froze right at the splash/battle screen intro. (Playing on a brand new slim) I'm just glad that this game has plenty of save points (i'm looking at you SO4 ~_~).

I had the game freeze too at the intro to battle. I'm on a slim. I like the game so far. Is the game short? I hope not.
 
Anonymous Tipster said:
I'm genuinely curious, how old are some of you guys who are enjoying the game? I don't mean this in a negative way, I just know my tastes in RPGs was very different when I was 16. I'd like to compare notes, so to speak.

I played the first Ar Tonelico and wanted to like it (Any game that is sprite-based is an instant playthrough) but I couldn't get into it. I'm not sure how to articulate what it was about it, but everything about it just felt poor quality. The writing, the UI, the sprites, the works. Admittedly, I didn't get extremely far, so maybe the story picked up.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into bashing the first game (I did that once, and was rightfully jumped on) but I just wanted to get across that I genuinely wanted to like the first game.

I skipped the second, and I haven't been particularly impressed with what I've seen of this one-- but I want to be. What would you guys say is the biggest selling point of this game?

Wasn't gonna bother posting this in the thread since it'll just get devoured. But what the hell. Let's stir.

AT1 is actually a pretty alright game. Combat is simple and fairly easy once you figure out how it works, but it's fun to set up the dominoes so to speak and watch them fall. Slow to start, dialog is pretty insipid, but once it starts to get knee deep up it's own ass as far as the mythology is concerned it's kind of neat. Soundtrack for event battles and certain areas is incredible, really makes some parts stick with you. And there are some choices that branch off the story in different directions depending on what you do.

AT2 was a localization nightmare. Non voiced dialog was atrociously edited, barely made any sense in that kind of honey bee inn FF7 kind of way. Half the game that was supposed to be voiced was not, and they removed the corresponding Japanese voices where they didn't dub the English, it also has some game breaking bugs not in the JP version. If you use HD loader this is correctable, assuming you want to hear the Japanese dialog and not the dub. Combat is a lot more "intensive" as it's now timing based. Depending on your love / hate for that kind of thing, it will style your flavor or frustrate you to no end.

AT3 seems more in line with AT1 localization wise (this is good). I'm not very far, but the combat seems overly simplistic. It's now action based, you have one attack button which you mash in tune with the EKG at the bottom of the screen. Doing so levels up your stripometer thingy and you hold a button and shake to charge whatever spell you're charging to a higher level, losing a layer of clothing in the process. There is a toggle-able animation for this that only shows up randomly even when it's on. The men lose clothes when they do super moves too, so I guess it's equal opportunity.

All 3 games are full or pandery nonsense, 1 had risque costumes that showed up during conversations, 2 had you putting characters in the bath together to power them up in addition to the costumes. 3 seems to have gone a step further and added losing layers of the aforementioned costumes. Your tolerance for this kind of thing will directly impact your ability to appreciate everything else.

Is it worth it? It's not nearly as "amazing" as the crazy brigade would have you believe, but if you're still interested play through the first one in full (since you already have it) and come back for more if you liked the direction that one took. The sequels definitely turn up the pandering several notches beyond the first though, so keep that in mind too.

AniHawk said:
so overall, the localization effort a significant improvement over at2?

It's on par with their other recent offerings as far as I can tell.
 

Makoto

Member
pancakesandsex said:
There is a toggle-able animation for this that only shows up randomly even when it's on.

Was trying to verify is this was actually random and I found that if you shake the controller at the high point where a BEAT UP would take place, it would trigger the full animation.
 

Makoto

Member
I knew someone was going to judge me. For the record, I don't play this game for the stripping. On the contrary, I'm playing for the music (one of which I've already mentioned in the thread) and I've found it to be the funniest game I've played yet with all it's sexual references. Like I also said earlier in the thread, "He who controls the stripping, controls the battle." Left me laughing for a good a couple of minutes. I'm new to the Ar Tonelico series and was looking for a wacky JRPG. Ar Tonelico Qoga has not disappointed.
 
vidal said:
I knew someone was going to judge me. For the record, I don't play this game for the stripping. On the contrary, I'm playing for the music (one of which I've already mentioned in the thread) and I've found it to be the funniest game I've played yet with all it's sexual references. Like I also said earlier in the thread, "He who controls the stripping, controls the battle." Left me laughing for a good a couple of minutes. I'm new to the Ar Tonelico series and was looking for a wacky JRPG. Ar Tonelico Qoga has not disappointed.

Judging you now. Paranoid much?
 
"THAT'S THE POWER OF LOVE, DICKNOSE!!!"
___Mute___
is going to end up being one of my favorite characters at this rate.

All right, lemme just throw this out there: I don't see how anyone who has ever had a close female friend could be bothered by anything that goes on in this game. I've befriended a lot of females in my life, and if there's a "TMI" line for the ones that confided in me, I have no idea where the hell that line is. The worst bits of innuendo do nothing more than poke fun at and exaggerate moments of awkwardness, and maybe a few insecurities, that most women have endured at some point. And how do the male characters respond to it? In an aloof and/or uncomfortable manner, as expected.

Ar tonelico is silly in places. I've played plenty of "serious" games. Please, God, give me more Silly. I refuse to discredit this game for serving up some intentional laughs.
 
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