Post by Gender on Jul 4, 2011 20:22:07 GMT -5
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
What a journey this was to finish for the platinum! Now is the time to share that journey in the first of at least another two reviews for some pervy JRPG's I'll be attempting to platinum. Let there be an awesome thread title with the Hellos' stricker on it.
Story:
In some far off distant futuristic world not so different from our own(as there is a brief mention of Kermit The Frog, although not directly by name) called Ar Ciel, humanity struggles to survive on small patches of land located on rock formations around three towers and in those same towers(This title taking place in the Sol Cluster tower, as the other two appeared in the previous titles). The planet below is covered in clouds of death, the Sea of Death as the inhabitants refer to it, killing everything and forcing anything that wishes to survive above the clouds. This all caused by a cataustrophy in the distant past involving a foolish release of energy that changed the world. Prior humanity had peaked as a civilization and created beings known as Reyvateils(cute girls with powers) that could manipulate energy through song (Song Magic) for just about any application. From seemingly communication, energy transfer, powering up city wide weapons, healing wounds and in Saki's case(one of the four major love interests) to perform "Miracles" with a prayer that seeming warp individuals and entire invasion forces into slices of cake(Including air ships into giant cakes).
After that brief introduction at the start of a new game, we are soon introduced to Aoto, a young apprentice Sleepjack under his mentor Steeps for the last 5 years since his arrival into Blue Canyon Hamlet as a child. Later on, right outside his door, Aoto discovers two individuals under the attack by Clustanian soldiers. Clustania has been the dominate force in the Sol Cluster for the past 600 years, being a society of pureblood beta-type(lot of types) Reyvateils, making them superior to regular humans. The armored cladded young woman(Sakia Lumei) asks for Aoto's aid and he easily dispatches Mute, who is a reyvateil of scary muscular proportions due to a hymn. After the enemies are dispatched of, Sakia turns into a completely different girl and the old manaccompanyingher, Kiraha, dies from his injuries after giving Aoto an item that he tasked him to give it to his son. Aoto from this point is dead set on bring this new girl, Saki back to her home, dragging in his local buddy, Tatsumi, who was just V-Boarding(seems like a mix between surfing and skate boarding on a flying board) at the time at the Bus Station. Their journey to bring Saki home brings them to another mysterious girl Finnel, a Reyvatologist Doctor Hikari Gojo and even the legendary Reyvateil administrator of the tower, Tyria(if your going for the true ends or her end). Although this simple track to return Saki home brings about many twists and turns for our characters, including Aoto's own decision on who he wants to really protect as he falls for these maidens.
Impact of the previous two titles in the plot:
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is the third title in this story, but as far as I can tell they do not have a direct impact on the story. We do have returning characters who do play parts in the story from both titles, but nothing that not knowing what they did previously will affect the story. But they are their for returning players to enjoy.
Battle System:
This is where I feel the game is lacking. Not that it is bad really, just missing that -omph- that would make me want to go into battle as many times as the game makes you.
Your going to be playing between three different characters, Aoto with his two handed sword/drill, Tatsumi with his V-Board as his weapon for a more fast paced combat role and Dr Hikari Gojo with his medical equipment as a long ranged fighter. Your main role is that of the Vangaurd, regardless of whatever of the three characters you play: You keep the enemy away from your Reyvateil as they sing.
You are given the following to accomplish this task:
- A standard attack by pressing square.
- Then later four individual super moves which is used by a combination of square and the directional buttons, this consumes your health in exchange. What they do varies, from knock backs to dealing damage quickly.
- Then there is the Super Ultra Moves for Aoto, Tatsumi and Gojo that require your Reyvateil to be purged up to three times and a good chunk of the Song Magic your've built up to that point, dealing tremendous amounts of damage and generally reserved to put bosses down. Animation and the game's graphics are mixed together for each move and results in said characters being in their underwear for some reason.
- If an enemy does get to your Reyvateil you have essentially the panic button. Press O, as a method of having character your controlling jump between the Reyvateil and the enemy to knock them away.
Also attacking at the right times, hitting the notes so to speak, will help build up the heart gauge faster for a purge of your Reyvateil.
Now what is so important about purging and protecting your Reyvateil?
They are your supporter in the party. Purging has them strip their clothes and in some cases involves them tearing it off to increase the speed at which you gather song magic and activate their hymns you programmed into them.
But as the supporter they will heal the characters, increase the damage they can deal and depending on the Hymns installed, increase your defense, healing, attack, provide passive resistance to curses and the like. They can also release that song energy per purge to deliver damage on your enemies through their little mind guardians that become stronger per purge. By three purges you can access the Ultra Super Move.
After four purges your Reyvateil will trigger the Flipsphere, which is essentially their Ultra Super Attack. It comes with a little animated scene that generally looks really cool right over bars that your prompted to tap X to make the attack more powerful activate the second part of the attack which deals a significant amount of damage. Your'll do it enough times to enjoy the music, see the attack itself and the animated scene.
There are ten Reyvateils with their own unique mind guardian attacks and flipsheres to go through, so there is a fair share of diversity there.
That covers it for the most part, but how it's set up is doomed to become somewhat repeditive and the purges themselves may come with a bit of a cutscene, depending on your system settings, of the Reyvateil's cloths lighting up and disappearing, resulting in them to occasionally do a sexy pose.
So yeah, flashy fights and the girls get more powerful by stripping to their under wear to become more powerful. This being the reason I got the game outright. Sue me I'm a pervert.
Problems:
- Completely random rare lag in fights. You will fight the same fight a dozen times and randomly it lags that one time. Seems like a bug to me, that or letting my PS3 run as long as it does. Battles thus far are the only thing that I've seen freeze up the game. Which is even more rare but I suspect ties into the lag.
- While there is absolutely no downsize from running away in battles. But the problem is you still have that encounter gauge siting at the bottom of the screen full and getting ever so red till your next random fight, which will likely happen eventually. The only thing you have to eleviate that bar is an item to reset it versus in the previous an item that completely drains it. That would have made the game that much better to have that, if for anything just for the trophy run your'll have and the many bars your'll end up emptying through just battling on to get place to place in an area.
Graphics:
I've played a lot of games, some I'd rate bad in the graphics department for this current console generation, some a true beauty to the console. This is no God of War or FFXIII, but it's leagues above an Iron Man 2. For example when I look at the so-so graphic 'dolls' of characters in Star Ocean: The Last Hope -
"That's sooo Boo"
To be fair, I absolutely detest the character designs in SO:TLH, despite my love for the combat system. But rather than looking at Edge do his victory cheer or his buddies run around like dolls, I'd rather watch Tyria get strip purge all day or see her using the Flipshere over and over.
Wait, that makes me sound like a pervert! The Pedo Bear is strong within this one!
She is 716 years old, I swear!
Although I guess my problem here is an example of one game trying very hard to get that detail, while having their characters appear near lifeless and hallow, while the other goes the simple route and easily has characters that have life in them.
Music:
Singing Hills ~Harmonics Tilia~
This is a game that revolves around having a cute girl singing for you every battle to support you. So there is a lot of music here. I'm a terrible critic of all things music, especially from anything in Japan, but I'd be shocked if you didn't find yourself tapping your foot or enjoying it. Especially in some boss fights and in game events. I sure as heck did.
Ar Ceil is pissed and I think Earth would sing something fairly similair dont you think?
Music pretty much everywhere in this game, even in special attacks for your Reyvateils. Your bound to find something your'll like and since the whole box for it comes with the CD, you can enjoy the music long after your done with the game. That is if you don't just go hunting on Youtube for the songs.
Characters:
Aoto, Tatsumi, Doc, Finnel, Tyria, etc, I loved them all. Character developement could have probably been a lot better for some of them, although I could think of countless characters with a much longer run to expand themselves that fell flat. Aoto for example, outside falling in love one way or another, seemed like the same guy at the start of this journey, with maybe a little less hate in his life for certain individuals, but thats about it. He went through his emotional ordeals, but it never really busted him out into a different person, well except for Masakado scenario that I point out later.
The only character I can say I somewhat grew to dislike this entire run was Saki. Mainly when she talked in third person, overally super duper cutsie version of the world in her mind and a somewhat forced relationship with Aoto, since the other choices for a love interest seem that much more believable and natural. Not that I hated the entire experience that is Saki, but it becomes annoying after a dozen or so times hearing her being all nutty in the background when she probably has a higher kill count by turning people into cakes then the entire cast. The only worse relationship, despite having small hints of it throughout the game was the mystery fourth lover of Aoto, which cannot be relieved by me! Due to spoiler tastic nature of it!
Saki does get points for Nyamo Mask secret crime fighting identity and this:
That made me laugh since it was COMPLETELY unexpected.
I'm not sure I could get into Personas without bringing in a large amount of spoilers as their existence is explored through actually playing the game.
Overall, different Reyvateils you can essentially swap around as equipment for the specific Reyvateil to replace said character.
Example: Saki, Filament, Sarapatra, Sakia Lumei or Finnel, Soma, Yurisica, Suzunomia.
Different stats, different looks, different attacks.
Menus:
They are all simple, with a design that fits the game.
There is absolutely no cause to find yourself confused or slamming your fists into the screen due to Menu frustration. You want to take a look at the System Settings? You scroll to them. You want to take a look at what Talk Topics or a brief character bio? Right under Status. It's overall simple and clean, with a design that fits well with the game.
You have the World Map when you leave an area, basically allowing for quick easy travel to destinations you have already visited for the most part, between cities, towns, etc. Its a very welcome addition to the game.
The Battle Menu straight to the point, items, a small map of the battlefield to see where you and your enemies are, the option to switch between the characters, access to your ultra super moves to see who you want to hit them with and the HP bars readily available for you to look at to see if you want to bust down the mob with the Reyvateil's attack.
Then there isthe Extra Menu at the Start Screen.
Every time you save your game, the System saves, this is where all that collectively goes. You will see your complete set of Hymns, BGM's, Glossary, Talk Topics, Group Topics,
CG gallery, Cosmospheres / Binary Field, movies, even the Image Synthesis Menu you use to forge items just to read any particular dialogue resulting from making items with a particular Reyvateil. You can pretty much see and listen to everything in the game without actually playing it. Good Feature right there and Satifying to see you have everything complete in it after the platinum.
Image Synthesis:
Basically this is how you make items in the game. You have the choice of picking one of the three maidens to craft a particular item and name it. Either it's default name or said maiden's choice. Crafting revolves around using their Divine Power stored up from battles on each maiden and the various items in your inventory from one place or another.
Outside the healing items, weapons and equipment, I don't see a need for the rest of the items. Sure they can be useful, but you can and will go battle through battle without having to use them at all. The one exception being starting hardmode at level one. Image Synthesis does provide you the best equipment in the game and required talk topics for Saki's(maybe Finnel too) to get the 100% cosmosphere completetion trophy(Talk Topics themselves not required, but diving into these characters before certain events are, damn Saki, Damn Saki.) Crafting also includes a lot of dialogue between the characters.
Song Synthesis:
Remember Hymns? I briefly mentioned it once up there in that wall of text, this is basically how you program them into your Reyvateils and their persona's(all individauls to program). You essentially feed your Reyvateil some food, which prompts them to raise their bar up to level four, then you ask them to strip. This allows you to not only view their them in their underwear but program the most powerful hymn's from your cosmosphere journeys into the Reyvateil your using to make battles a lot easier on you. The healing and defense increase in particular. I do love how you are given the option to ask them to strip again, despite already being down to nearly nothing and reading their various responses. Not so surprisingly enough, some seem open to the concept. Aoto you dog you.
I'm going to say this is all done through the installer port in said Reyvateils, which is basically a tattoo that you can actually put things inside and out of the Reyvateils(Since they aren't really remotely human, namely why when they die the turn into sparkles of energy and go poof and Aoto literally stuck his hand in there and went digging around Soma's insides, so if they had anything really resembling anything human I doubt that would have ended well.) I can't remember who described it was what, but it is pretty much akin to a certain part of the female body, let the pervyness explode.
Talk Topics and Group Topics:
Another way to flesh out the characters and fill in some parts of the story better. Because at the end of the day, Ar Tonelico 3 here has a ton of dialogue happening through these talk topics with the Reyvateils and Aoto, group topics. Heck even in the Image Synthesis we get a grand amount of dialogue to read through.
Basically you gain them through witnessing events in the story, clearing through the cosmosphere or walking around picking up the shining floating red ball you see on the ground or talking to NPCs / synthesize stuff This basically allows for you to talk to the three main heroines at night about whatever is going on or what happened or completely random things like the shape of this and that some times.
Cosmosphere:
Easily one of my favorite parts of the game. Binary field being my favorite. This is the method in which you increase your Reyvateil's power and gain new hymns to use in battle for them. It involves simply 'diving' into the Reyvateil's cosmosphere, to add that pervy lair to this game, it's pretty much a euphuism for sex, as Finnel describes it as her precious diving virginity, BUT ANYWAYS out of the gutter we go. Your basically looking into their mind / soul, which is the method in which you do character exploration, developement and build a relationship between the main character and said Reyvateil. You become privy to events in their past, help them get over emotional hurdles / mental blocks and ultimately make them fall for you. Each of the various personas pack their Mind Guardians, which your'll find interacting with Aoto for the most part through his journey in the Cosmosphere.
This is all done by using DP(Divine Power), something you collect from just battling with enemies for all Reyvateils in your group at the time, so it's plentyful. You find a dive ship, spend however much it costs(varies on which level of the Cosmosphere you on, there are 9 in total, with the exception of Finnel as she has false levels such as the one above) and go through a series of events inside the Reyvateils head, simply dragging Aoto from place to place on the 2D surface, reading through said events and selecting an appropriate answer, finding hymns and the like. The only real strategy that ever pops up is really in Finnel's as she basically has a section of her cosmosphere devoted to classic RPG and you send out her and hymns to beat the villian into submission, outside that it's pretty much story and no real strategy. Although there are missable events that can really !@#$ you over if you miss them for the 100% cosmosphere trophy, but Saki is the real threat in that department. This will also be the method of gaining other 'personas' to be usable outside the base 3 Reyvateils ingame.(Six personas are gained through this method, so if you want that variety your going to have to dive).
Binary Field:
Completely exclusive to Tyra. (Minus the DLC fantasy story for Ar Ru)
Much like the cosmosphere you going through a set of events using DP to select destination after destination and ultimately gain hymns for Tyria to use in combat. But there are the differences.
The Binary Field isn't a window into Tyria's soul, her emotional hurdles, self image and the like. It's a picture straight out of her memory before becoming the tower, in her past, 700 years ago leading straight into her becoming the tower. Here Aoto is faced with making various choices that affect the actual outcome of this story as to how she becomes the tower(Example, Normal, Bad and Good endings). The thing is, Aoto isn't going to be Aoto, his mind is warped into an actual character in this past scenario, a character Tyria described as most distant of them all from her, her body guard, Masakado. While something of Aoto's character remains, he is Masakado in the Binary field and the only difference between the other characters and him, he remembers the events from each jump into the Binary Field and basically strives to give Tyria the happy ending she doesn't get.
This is also the only method you can get Tyria's ending and true endings, as by this time all three heart points are used up in the main story, locking you out of her ending if you have all three used on a single heroine. Tyria being my favorite character in the game, you actually see this relationship build up through Masakado's decisions and it genioully feels to me like the best relationship choice in the game, not even giving the hint of being forced or really inconsistent with the story.
Although I often find myself questioning where Tyria's bewbs went when she puts on her tower outfit, because she certainly had them in the Binary field. Oh well, whatever, at least she looks fine out of it.
My Personal Rating:
I'd rate this game a solid 7.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game, I wouldn't have played it anywhere close to the length I did to platinum it if I didn't like it for one reason or another. It is however niched. And I'm not saying to the loli crowd. Damn you Finnel, damn you! Pedo Bear Approves!
But there are problems that tie my hands.
I'm talking about that random rare lag and dangling plot lines. Like really big !@#$ing deals that are briefly mentioned.
Examples:
Aoto being a Medley. Basically, Tyria hints at Aoto while having a humanoid exterior, while he still has active Reyvateillic properties under that skin.
8:30-9:40
*Feel free to watch the video for Tyria lawls 1:10-1:40, best character in the game.*
Which would basically explain why he's beating up Pure Blood Beta type Reyvateils without breaking a sweat throughout the game and going into the sewers filled with monsters when he was a kid without getting a scratch to explore them. The guy isn't entirely all that human and I really wish they elaborated on it.
Why Kiraha and Saki decide it was best to run from Archia and the Think Tank straight into Aoto's backyard from Clustania when they where easily more well protected there.
How bout Aoto's parents who are later revealed as Researchers? Border Disease that pops up like 2 or 3 times in the game? All this stuff is left out in the open making one be like "Come On!".
My Pervert Meter bumps it up to a 9/10.
Can't stop the perverty meter from bumping things up, thats nature.
What are you in for if you choose this PS3 JRPG Journey?:
There will be much boobs, innuendo, comedy, romancing, tears, more pervy dialogue, girls having their cloths light up and dissappear, friendships, suprise plot developements, cakes, more boobs, Tyria / Tilia being awesome, animated scenes and attacks, songs / music, pervy CG Galleries, choices that will affect the ending of the story and the game's length, etc etc. There might even be some nose bleeds in your future!
What a journey this was to finish for the platinum! Now is the time to share that journey in the first of at least another two reviews for some pervy JRPG's I'll be attempting to platinum. Let there be an awesome thread title with the Hellos' stricker on it.
Story:
In some far off distant futuristic world not so different from our own(as there is a brief mention of Kermit The Frog, although not directly by name) called Ar Ciel, humanity struggles to survive on small patches of land located on rock formations around three towers and in those same towers(This title taking place in the Sol Cluster tower, as the other two appeared in the previous titles). The planet below is covered in clouds of death, the Sea of Death as the inhabitants refer to it, killing everything and forcing anything that wishes to survive above the clouds. This all caused by a cataustrophy in the distant past involving a foolish release of energy that changed the world. Prior humanity had peaked as a civilization and created beings known as Reyvateils(cute girls with powers) that could manipulate energy through song (Song Magic) for just about any application. From seemingly communication, energy transfer, powering up city wide weapons, healing wounds and in Saki's case(one of the four major love interests) to perform "Miracles" with a prayer that seeming warp individuals and entire invasion forces into slices of cake(Including air ships into giant cakes).
After that brief introduction at the start of a new game, we are soon introduced to Aoto, a young apprentice Sleepjack under his mentor Steeps for the last 5 years since his arrival into Blue Canyon Hamlet as a child. Later on, right outside his door, Aoto discovers two individuals under the attack by Clustanian soldiers. Clustania has been the dominate force in the Sol Cluster for the past 600 years, being a society of pureblood beta-type(lot of types) Reyvateils, making them superior to regular humans. The armored cladded young woman(Sakia Lumei) asks for Aoto's aid and he easily dispatches Mute, who is a reyvateil of scary muscular proportions due to a hymn. After the enemies are dispatched of, Sakia turns into a completely different girl and the old manaccompanyingher, Kiraha, dies from his injuries after giving Aoto an item that he tasked him to give it to his son. Aoto from this point is dead set on bring this new girl, Saki back to her home, dragging in his local buddy, Tatsumi, who was just V-Boarding(seems like a mix between surfing and skate boarding on a flying board) at the time at the Bus Station. Their journey to bring Saki home brings them to another mysterious girl Finnel, a Reyvatologist Doctor Hikari Gojo and even the legendary Reyvateil administrator of the tower, Tyria(if your going for the true ends or her end). Although this simple track to return Saki home brings about many twists and turns for our characters, including Aoto's own decision on who he wants to really protect as he falls for these maidens.
Impact of the previous two titles in the plot:
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is the third title in this story, but as far as I can tell they do not have a direct impact on the story. We do have returning characters who do play parts in the story from both titles, but nothing that not knowing what they did previously will affect the story. But they are their for returning players to enjoy.
Battle System:
This is where I feel the game is lacking. Not that it is bad really, just missing that -omph- that would make me want to go into battle as many times as the game makes you.
Your going to be playing between three different characters, Aoto with his two handed sword/drill, Tatsumi with his V-Board as his weapon for a more fast paced combat role and Dr Hikari Gojo with his medical equipment as a long ranged fighter. Your main role is that of the Vangaurd, regardless of whatever of the three characters you play: You keep the enemy away from your Reyvateil as they sing.
You are given the following to accomplish this task:
- A standard attack by pressing square.
- Then later four individual super moves which is used by a combination of square and the directional buttons, this consumes your health in exchange. What they do varies, from knock backs to dealing damage quickly.
- Then there is the Super Ultra Moves for Aoto, Tatsumi and Gojo that require your Reyvateil to be purged up to three times and a good chunk of the Song Magic your've built up to that point, dealing tremendous amounts of damage and generally reserved to put bosses down. Animation and the game's graphics are mixed together for each move and results in said characters being in their underwear for some reason.
- If an enemy does get to your Reyvateil you have essentially the panic button. Press O, as a method of having character your controlling jump between the Reyvateil and the enemy to knock them away.
Also attacking at the right times, hitting the notes so to speak, will help build up the heart gauge faster for a purge of your Reyvateil.
Now what is so important about purging and protecting your Reyvateil?
They are your supporter in the party. Purging has them strip their clothes and in some cases involves them tearing it off to increase the speed at which you gather song magic and activate their hymns you programmed into them.
But as the supporter they will heal the characters, increase the damage they can deal and depending on the Hymns installed, increase your defense, healing, attack, provide passive resistance to curses and the like. They can also release that song energy per purge to deliver damage on your enemies through their little mind guardians that become stronger per purge. By three purges you can access the Ultra Super Move.
After four purges your Reyvateil will trigger the Flipsphere, which is essentially their Ultra Super Attack. It comes with a little animated scene that generally looks really cool right over bars that your prompted to tap X to make the attack more powerful activate the second part of the attack which deals a significant amount of damage. Your'll do it enough times to enjoy the music, see the attack itself and the animated scene.
There are ten Reyvateils with their own unique mind guardian attacks and flipsheres to go through, so there is a fair share of diversity there.
That covers it for the most part, but how it's set up is doomed to become somewhat repeditive and the purges themselves may come with a bit of a cutscene, depending on your system settings, of the Reyvateil's cloths lighting up and disappearing, resulting in them to occasionally do a sexy pose.
So yeah, flashy fights and the girls get more powerful by stripping to their under wear to become more powerful. This being the reason I got the game outright. Sue me I'm a pervert.
Problems:
- Completely random rare lag in fights. You will fight the same fight a dozen times and randomly it lags that one time. Seems like a bug to me, that or letting my PS3 run as long as it does. Battles thus far are the only thing that I've seen freeze up the game. Which is even more rare but I suspect ties into the lag.
- While there is absolutely no downsize from running away in battles. But the problem is you still have that encounter gauge siting at the bottom of the screen full and getting ever so red till your next random fight, which will likely happen eventually. The only thing you have to eleviate that bar is an item to reset it versus in the previous an item that completely drains it. That would have made the game that much better to have that, if for anything just for the trophy run your'll have and the many bars your'll end up emptying through just battling on to get place to place in an area.
Graphics:
I've played a lot of games, some I'd rate bad in the graphics department for this current console generation, some a true beauty to the console. This is no God of War or FFXIII, but it's leagues above an Iron Man 2. For example when I look at the so-so graphic 'dolls' of characters in Star Ocean: The Last Hope -
"That's sooo Boo"
To be fair, I absolutely detest the character designs in SO:TLH, despite my love for the combat system. But rather than looking at Edge do his victory cheer or his buddies run around like dolls, I'd rather watch Tyria get strip purge all day or see her using the Flipshere over and over.
Wait, that makes me sound like a pervert! The Pedo Bear is strong within this one!
She is 716 years old, I swear!
Although I guess my problem here is an example of one game trying very hard to get that detail, while having their characters appear near lifeless and hallow, while the other goes the simple route and easily has characters that have life in them.
Music:
Singing Hills ~Harmonics Tilia~
This is a game that revolves around having a cute girl singing for you every battle to support you. So there is a lot of music here. I'm a terrible critic of all things music, especially from anything in Japan, but I'd be shocked if you didn't find yourself tapping your foot or enjoying it. Especially in some boss fights and in game events. I sure as heck did.
Ar Ceil is pissed and I think Earth would sing something fairly similair dont you think?
Music pretty much everywhere in this game, even in special attacks for your Reyvateils. Your bound to find something your'll like and since the whole box for it comes with the CD, you can enjoy the music long after your done with the game. That is if you don't just go hunting on Youtube for the songs.
Characters:
Aoto, Tatsumi, Doc, Finnel, Tyria, etc, I loved them all. Character developement could have probably been a lot better for some of them, although I could think of countless characters with a much longer run to expand themselves that fell flat. Aoto for example, outside falling in love one way or another, seemed like the same guy at the start of this journey, with maybe a little less hate in his life for certain individuals, but thats about it. He went through his emotional ordeals, but it never really busted him out into a different person, well except for Masakado scenario that I point out later.
The only character I can say I somewhat grew to dislike this entire run was Saki. Mainly when she talked in third person, overally super duper cutsie version of the world in her mind and a somewhat forced relationship with Aoto, since the other choices for a love interest seem that much more believable and natural. Not that I hated the entire experience that is Saki, but it becomes annoying after a dozen or so times hearing her being all nutty in the background when she probably has a higher kill count by turning people into cakes then the entire cast. The only worse relationship, despite having small hints of it throughout the game was the mystery fourth lover of Aoto, which cannot be relieved by me! Due to spoiler tastic nature of it!
Saki does get points for Nyamo Mask secret crime fighting identity and this:
That made me laugh since it was COMPLETELY unexpected.
I'm not sure I could get into Personas without bringing in a large amount of spoilers as their existence is explored through actually playing the game.
Overall, different Reyvateils you can essentially swap around as equipment for the specific Reyvateil to replace said character.
Example: Saki, Filament, Sarapatra, Sakia Lumei or Finnel, Soma, Yurisica, Suzunomia.
Different stats, different looks, different attacks.
Menus:
They are all simple, with a design that fits the game.
There is absolutely no cause to find yourself confused or slamming your fists into the screen due to Menu frustration. You want to take a look at the System Settings? You scroll to them. You want to take a look at what Talk Topics or a brief character bio? Right under Status. It's overall simple and clean, with a design that fits well with the game.
You have the World Map when you leave an area, basically allowing for quick easy travel to destinations you have already visited for the most part, between cities, towns, etc. Its a very welcome addition to the game.
The Battle Menu straight to the point, items, a small map of the battlefield to see where you and your enemies are, the option to switch between the characters, access to your ultra super moves to see who you want to hit them with and the HP bars readily available for you to look at to see if you want to bust down the mob with the Reyvateil's attack.
Then there isthe Extra Menu at the Start Screen.
Every time you save your game, the System saves, this is where all that collectively goes. You will see your complete set of Hymns, BGM's, Glossary, Talk Topics, Group Topics,
CG gallery, Cosmospheres / Binary Field, movies, even the Image Synthesis Menu you use to forge items just to read any particular dialogue resulting from making items with a particular Reyvateil. You can pretty much see and listen to everything in the game without actually playing it. Good Feature right there and Satifying to see you have everything complete in it after the platinum.
Image Synthesis:
Basically this is how you make items in the game. You have the choice of picking one of the three maidens to craft a particular item and name it. Either it's default name or said maiden's choice. Crafting revolves around using their Divine Power stored up from battles on each maiden and the various items in your inventory from one place or another.
Outside the healing items, weapons and equipment, I don't see a need for the rest of the items. Sure they can be useful, but you can and will go battle through battle without having to use them at all. The one exception being starting hardmode at level one. Image Synthesis does provide you the best equipment in the game and required talk topics for Saki's(maybe Finnel too) to get the 100% cosmosphere completetion trophy(Talk Topics themselves not required, but diving into these characters before certain events are, damn Saki, Damn Saki.) Crafting also includes a lot of dialogue between the characters.
Song Synthesis:
Remember Hymns? I briefly mentioned it once up there in that wall of text, this is basically how you program them into your Reyvateils and their persona's(all individauls to program). You essentially feed your Reyvateil some food, which prompts them to raise their bar up to level four, then you ask them to strip. This allows you to not only view their them in their underwear but program the most powerful hymn's from your cosmosphere journeys into the Reyvateil your using to make battles a lot easier on you. The healing and defense increase in particular. I do love how you are given the option to ask them to strip again, despite already being down to nearly nothing and reading their various responses. Not so surprisingly enough, some seem open to the concept. Aoto you dog you.
I'm going to say this is all done through the installer port in said Reyvateils, which is basically a tattoo that you can actually put things inside and out of the Reyvateils(Since they aren't really remotely human, namely why when they die the turn into sparkles of energy and go poof and Aoto literally stuck his hand in there and went digging around Soma's insides, so if they had anything really resembling anything human I doubt that would have ended well.) I can't remember who described it was what, but it is pretty much akin to a certain part of the female body, let the pervyness explode.
Talk Topics and Group Topics:
Another way to flesh out the characters and fill in some parts of the story better. Because at the end of the day, Ar Tonelico 3 here has a ton of dialogue happening through these talk topics with the Reyvateils and Aoto, group topics. Heck even in the Image Synthesis we get a grand amount of dialogue to read through.
Basically you gain them through witnessing events in the story, clearing through the cosmosphere or walking around picking up the shining floating red ball you see on the ground or talking to NPCs / synthesize stuff This basically allows for you to talk to the three main heroines at night about whatever is going on or what happened or completely random things like the shape of this and that some times.
Cosmosphere:
Easily one of my favorite parts of the game. Binary field being my favorite. This is the method in which you increase your Reyvateil's power and gain new hymns to use in battle for them. It involves simply 'diving' into the Reyvateil's cosmosphere, to add that pervy lair to this game, it's pretty much a euphuism for sex, as Finnel describes it as her precious diving virginity, BUT ANYWAYS out of the gutter we go. Your basically looking into their mind / soul, which is the method in which you do character exploration, developement and build a relationship between the main character and said Reyvateil. You become privy to events in their past, help them get over emotional hurdles / mental blocks and ultimately make them fall for you. Each of the various personas pack their Mind Guardians, which your'll find interacting with Aoto for the most part through his journey in the Cosmosphere.
This is all done by using DP(Divine Power), something you collect from just battling with enemies for all Reyvateils in your group at the time, so it's plentyful. You find a dive ship, spend however much it costs(varies on which level of the Cosmosphere you on, there are 9 in total, with the exception of Finnel as she has false levels such as the one above) and go through a series of events inside the Reyvateils head, simply dragging Aoto from place to place on the 2D surface, reading through said events and selecting an appropriate answer, finding hymns and the like. The only real strategy that ever pops up is really in Finnel's as she basically has a section of her cosmosphere devoted to classic RPG and you send out her and hymns to beat the villian into submission, outside that it's pretty much story and no real strategy. Although there are missable events that can really !@#$ you over if you miss them for the 100% cosmosphere trophy, but Saki is the real threat in that department. This will also be the method of gaining other 'personas' to be usable outside the base 3 Reyvateils ingame.(Six personas are gained through this method, so if you want that variety your going to have to dive).
Binary Field:
Completely exclusive to Tyra. (Minus the DLC fantasy story for Ar Ru)
Much like the cosmosphere you going through a set of events using DP to select destination after destination and ultimately gain hymns for Tyria to use in combat. But there are the differences.
The Binary Field isn't a window into Tyria's soul, her emotional hurdles, self image and the like. It's a picture straight out of her memory before becoming the tower, in her past, 700 years ago leading straight into her becoming the tower. Here Aoto is faced with making various choices that affect the actual outcome of this story as to how she becomes the tower(Example, Normal, Bad and Good endings). The thing is, Aoto isn't going to be Aoto, his mind is warped into an actual character in this past scenario, a character Tyria described as most distant of them all from her, her body guard, Masakado. While something of Aoto's character remains, he is Masakado in the Binary field and the only difference between the other characters and him, he remembers the events from each jump into the Binary Field and basically strives to give Tyria the happy ending she doesn't get.
This is also the only method you can get Tyria's ending and true endings, as by this time all three heart points are used up in the main story, locking you out of her ending if you have all three used on a single heroine. Tyria being my favorite character in the game, you actually see this relationship build up through Masakado's decisions and it genioully feels to me like the best relationship choice in the game, not even giving the hint of being forced or really inconsistent with the story.
TyriaxAoto4life.
Although I often find myself questioning where Tyria's bewbs went when she puts on her tower outfit, because she certainly had them in the Binary field. Oh well, whatever, at least she looks fine out of it.
My Personal Rating:
I'd rate this game a solid 7.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game, I wouldn't have played it anywhere close to the length I did to platinum it if I didn't like it for one reason or another. It is however niched. And I'm not saying to the loli crowd. Damn you Finnel, damn you! Pedo Bear Approves!
But there are problems that tie my hands.
I'm talking about that random rare lag and dangling plot lines. Like really big !@#$ing deals that are briefly mentioned.
Examples:
Aoto being a Medley. Basically, Tyria hints at Aoto while having a humanoid exterior, while he still has active Reyvateillic properties under that skin.
8:30-9:40
*Feel free to watch the video for Tyria lawls 1:10-1:40, best character in the game.*
Which would basically explain why he's beating up Pure Blood Beta type Reyvateils without breaking a sweat throughout the game and going into the sewers filled with monsters when he was a kid without getting a scratch to explore them. The guy isn't entirely all that human and I really wish they elaborated on it.
Why Kiraha and Saki decide it was best to run from Archia and the Think Tank straight into Aoto's backyard from Clustania when they where easily more well protected there.
How bout Aoto's parents who are later revealed as Researchers? Border Disease that pops up like 2 or 3 times in the game? All this stuff is left out in the open making one be like "Come On!".
My Pervert Meter bumps it up to a 9/10.
Can't stop the perverty meter from bumping things up, thats nature.
What are you in for if you choose this PS3 JRPG Journey?:
There will be much boobs, innuendo, comedy, romancing, tears, more pervy dialogue, girls having their cloths light up and dissappear, friendships, suprise plot developements, cakes, more boobs, Tyria / Tilia being awesome, animated scenes and attacks, songs / music, pervy CG Galleries, choices that will affect the ending of the story and the game's length, etc etc. There might even be some nose bleeds in your future!
