On Thursday night, I went to NIS America's annual press event/buffet. They weren't showing off a whole lot of new material, but one of the flashy things we saw was this trailer for Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. I realize JRPGs are generally pretty weird, but this video reminds me of watching recorded Kids' WB episodes of Cardcaptors on a broken VCR and doing shots of six-dollar tequila while my roommate keeps blasting Björk techno remixes and arguing with his girlfriend.
I mean, you know. Not that I've ever done that.
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is the final part in the Ar Tonelico trilogy, and it's out March 15th for Playstation 3. Also, the ESRB has given it an M-rating, which caught me off guard, because it doesn't look particularly offensive. Destructoid alumnus Ben PerLee was at the event, and he told it was because "You stick magic crystals inside of girls, and sometimes their clothes fall off and there's boobies."
I thought he was kidding, but the ESRB's report confirms it. Oh Japan.
Max Scoville is the co-host of The Destructoid Show on Revision 3 and left-leg component of the original Megazord. Born in France, raised in Connecticut, and while he studied painting & drawing at the SF Art Institute his true passion is entertaining others.
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The intro to Super Metroid, Uppercutting somebody in Mortal Kombat, Lucasarts 1989-1998, The "!" noise in Metal Gear Solid, Duke Nukem 3D's puerile sense of humor, Frank Zappa, Steve Martin, and William Gibson.
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I want to play this game because the graphics look amazing, I don't like the perversion part though. Which also sums up my feelings for Hyperdimension Neptunia
I haven't played the first 2 games, but already preordered it since I heard it was a good game. Although I've seen the videos, I never really saw much of the dialogue. That was just awesome! lol
The ESRB description makes things out to be way more graphic than they actually are. I imagine the partial nudity comes from Reyvateils changing costume ala sailor moon.
I think the music itself is beautiful. The english dubs are just agonizingly bad though. I don't even know if it's the voice actors. It might just be the ridiculously melodramatic script crammed into a 4 minute trailer. I'd be down for some japanese.
Ar Tonelico 1 was an interesting game -- if only b/c it was the first of a new concept. AT 2 was absolutely horrible. Anyone here proclaiming this series to be one of the best JRPGs clearly does not play JRPGs, or at least enough of the genre.
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
Ar Tonelico 1 was an interesting game -- if only b/c it was the first of a new concept. AT 2 was absolutely horrible. Anyone here proclaiming this series to be one of the best JRPGs clearly does not play JRPGs, or at least enough of the genre.
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
Ar Tonelico 1 was an interesting game -- if only b/c it was the first of a new concept. AT 2 was absolutely horrible. Anyone here proclaiming this series to be one of the best JRPGs clearly does not play JRPGs, or at least enough of the genre.
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
the gameplay looks like it could be a fun jrpg but I just hope they include the option for japanese audio, those voices would be unbearable in any game over 10hours
All I can say on the subject of Ar Tonelico is that you should give it a chance before you judge it.
There's an awful lot of fanservice and perverted humor, which means not everyone will enjoy it, but there are a lot of good things about it as well.
The story is pretty interesting, as are the characters.
The first two games feature beautiful sprites, and the battle system is very unique.
If you like JRPGs and can deal with humor that makes you want to groan and roll your eyes, I recommend giving the series a chance.
Sorry about posting the video on Springboard. I hate it just as much as everyone else. I've seen that fucking Mindjack trailer way too many goddamn times. When I posted this, YouTube was being wonky. Fixed.
@SourGr8pes
Qoga is designed to work as a standalone story too, however there are characters from 1 and 2 that feature.
@ScottyG
Give it a chance. The character development they employ tends to be crazy and unique. as for the Battle system, The previous two were turn based, so it's innovative to the series more than to the RPG.
...AT2 was a nice twist on the turn based RPG too tbh.
I'm in no way trying to tell you how to spend your money or even what games to play, but I would really recommend giving this series a shot. To me this series was breath of fresh air in a world where everything tries to takes itself way to serious.
@ everyone asking about alternate voice tracks:
The first two have alternate voice tracks so I would assume that this entry would also. And the english voice acting in this sounds about 10x better than the first in my opinion.
I loved the first one, skipped the second because I heard a lot of bad things about it, definitely buying this one. Been waiting for this damn game for a long ass time, cant wait to play it.
"this video reminds me of watching recorded Kids' WB episodes of Cardcaptors on a broken VCR and doing shots of six-dollar tequila while my roommate keeps blasting Björk techno remixes and arguing with his girlfriend."
I dont think you could have worded it any better, I felt the same way.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 02.12.2011 | 
Pretty much all you need to kow about Ar Tornelico right here.
LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wtf!!!..
I haven't played the first 2 games, but already preordered it since I heard it was a good game. Although I've seen the videos, I never really saw much of the dialogue. That was just awesome! lol
That's... kinda a fact.
Ok, WTF did i just watch?
@The Silent Protagonist: LMAO.
Maybe I should pick up a PS3 sometime.
i had better be able to pause the, ahem, "action" so i can do some "action" myself.
talking about masturbating.
and what the fuck is wrong with dtoid, when i click play i have to watch game advertisments to watch a fucking game advertisement?
fuck springboard, i thought we did away with this months ago and here we are again. 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
As long as there's a Japanese language option...
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
AT is a mediocre franchise whose popularity is solely based on the Japanese perversion with prepubescent girls. It's appeal is only for teens and pedos desperate to get off on girls who look like they're 12 years old.
I could barely stomach AT1 -- those dive sessions were mind-blowingly bad; I gave AT2 a chance but it only took the bad parts of AT1 and magnified them. Not to mention all the bugs (a game-ending one) and the very poor translation.
AT3 looks like another mediocre game -- that of course pushes more of the weird otaku stuff Japanese folk love.
Sorry, I'll pass. Japanese developers really need to find ways to make better games; it's games like AT that remind me how far Japanese games have fallen over the last few years.
shut the fuck up.
Ar tonelico is a great series, if you see past the "OMG LOL SEXUAL INNUENDO" there's a great mythology which is truly fascinating.
There's an awful lot of fanservice and perverted humor, which means not everyone will enjoy it, but there are a lot of good things about it as well.
The story is pretty interesting, as are the characters.
The first two games feature beautiful sprites, and the battle system is very unique.
If you like JRPGs and can deal with humor that makes you want to groan and roll your eyes, I recommend giving the series a chance.
And since when is a real time battle system in an rpg innovative? :\
Qoga is designed to work as a standalone story too, however there are characters from 1 and 2 that feature.
@ScottyG
Give it a chance. The character development they employ tends to be crazy and unique. as for the Battle system, The previous two were turn based, so it's innovative to the series more than to the RPG.
...AT2 was a nice twist on the turn based RPG too tbh.
I think I'll just wait for Disgaea 4 to fill my JRPG needs.
I'm in no way trying to tell you how to spend your money or even what games to play, but I would really recommend giving this series a shot. To me this series was breath of fresh air in a world where everything tries to takes itself way to serious.
@ everyone asking about alternate voice tracks:
The first two have alternate voice tracks so I would assume that this entry would also. And the english voice acting in this sounds about 10x better than the first in my opinion.
You now owe me a beer, and possibly a new keyboard.
I dont think you could have worded it any better, I felt the same way.