2011 is a great year for role-playing fans, and one of the first promising titles for JRPG aficionados will release in two weeks time: Gust’s Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. The game features a completely overhauled combat mechanic, a relatively interesting storyline, some unique characters, and a very clean – albeit somewhat lacking – visual style.
Gary Green said: You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of the Ar Tonelico trilogy. The previous two games arrived so late in the PS2’s life-cycle that they simply went unnoticed. While most were tinkering with their shiny new PS3s, Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica were being ‘returned to sender’ by your local Game stores. Luckily, you won’t need to have played them to understand and appreciate this third and final chapter, Qoga (pronounced k-yoga) tells the story of a racial war between humans and Reyvateils, a breed of biologically produced female cyborgs capable of reproduction, while still having a digital mind.
Oh my god. I kinda wish this would get a remaster on PS5, it would be awesome. One of my favorite games on PS3.
That and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a shame that some stuff is stuck on PS3.
Ar Tonelico 3 is good I still prefer the first AT game. The music is solid in all the games and Akiko Shikata is a very talented singer bringing life to the game. Only annoying part is well I find is Saki I always choose Finnel or Tyria. KOEI so needs to HD remaster the franchise along with Ar Nosurge and Ciel Nosurge since it never came to North America. I would day one the Ar Toneliceo games and Ar Nosurge if they were remastered.
I still have the limited edition of Qoga unopened. Unfortunately it never went up in value like I had hoped all these years.
Used to own all these quirky JRPG on ps3 good times. Wish I would have kept them all
Digitally Downloaded writes: There was one of the semi-frequent Internet blow-ups late last week/ early this week, when a games journalist decided to write a review in which he states that fans of a certain game are perverts and perverse. Naturally that didn't go down so well with aforementioned fans of that game, or games like it, because contrary to popular belief within some circles, liking a game that has bikini girls or even (GASP!) nudity doesn't turn someone into a 'pervert' any more than Call of Duty, or any of the three billion games out there that depict gun death, turn people into mass murderers.
Despite the startling hypocrisy, it does remain a fact that games, particularly those that hail from Japan, are considered to be self-evidently perverse by many journalists, as long as they contain 1) women (or girls) and 2) clothing that doesn't rival the hijab or nun's habit for sheer conservatism. Rarely is context considered, so anything subversive, satirical, or empowering (because in Japanese stories, sexuality is often considered empowering) is still dismissed as exploitative and demeaning.
So, anyway, this week I'm listing ten games that got slammed unfairly for their depiction of sexuality, and I love them all. If you think that makes me a pervert, then take your gun games and GTAs and stay the hell away from me, you mass murdering lunatic.
Dungeon Travelers 2 is hella pervy, but it's also one of my favourite RPGs ever thanks to its intricate labyrinthine dungeons, excellent battle and levelling systems and thrilling white-knuckle boss battles. The sexy characters and enemies are a bonus. XD
Nothing wrong with pervy game as long as the girls are 18+ and dont look and act as a 3 year old.
most japanese stuff have very underage looking chars even doe they ''18''. some where on that list like hyperdimension, at first glance u think is a kid friendly family game but then u play it and perv scenes show up with very childlike characters in suggestive scenes like wtf. dat supposed to be ok? cmon
They were never misunderstood it's just that the PC culture happened and deemed them to be the devils spawn but thankfully level headed gamers enjoy and play them for what they are just games.
If music and video games aren’t a match made in heaven, then at least they deserve to be happy. Without doubt the scores and songs to our favorite games help greatly to make them the incredible experiences they are. Let’s look at a few favorites from a huge span of years.
Now, you see, I know Reviews are supposed to be opinions, and I agree with the score, but there's something that bugs me.
And that something is the "Music" score. The reviewer compliments the tunes, yet I feel that score, alone, is quite...low, in an objective matter.
In a world where generic, "Epic", I-can't-even-hum-this, wait-there-was-music-in-that-g ame?! OSTs are the norm, I find soundtracks like the ones in Ar Tonelico to be not only refreshing, but a godsend. Those, "generic" OSTs we see oh-so-much get 8s and 9s, whereas AT and, for example, NieR get lower scores?
I mean, seriously. It's annoying and bothersome. Just a little complaint of mine, though, since, as I said, every other score is something I, perhaps, can agree on, even when I find a completly obvious lack of consistency in every, or almost every, review out there.