The third and final song
Following Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PlayStation 2) and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica (PlayStation 2), Gust finishes up the series with Ar Tonelico Qoga. Qoga is a term according the game's language that translates to "finale."
What is the story?
Ar Tonelico Qoga takes place in Sol Cluster, the third region of the planet Ar Ciel. Unlike the previous two games, the region is mostly run by the Reyvateilic country Clustania, and these Reyvateils are very cold-hearted towards those who are not Reyvateils.
Aoto, an apprentice steeplejack who has been working for five years in hopes to become a full steeplejack, meets Saki, a Reyvateil who is being sought out by Archia, a company that holds key ties to her. After this fateful encounter, Aoto becomes a bodyguard for Saki, seeking to protect her from all harm. After meeting Finnel, another Reyvateil, Aoto ends up tangled in conflicts between Archia and Clustania as he embarks on a hero's journey to protect those dear to him as well as the world.
Despite the "hero's journey" being a common story structure in Japanese RPGs, Ar Tonelico Qoga is very emotional compared to most of the other games in the genre. This is mostly due to the main focal points being love, trust, and bonding. A structure of this type can be compared to those found in dating simulations and visual novels, the latter being a very accurate way of describing Ar Tonelico Qoga.
However, there is a reason that Ar Tonelico Qoga earned itself an "M for Mature" rating, and the story is the biggest factor. There is a heavy dose of sexual innuendos and suggestive themes, which are consistent factors throughout all three games but is the heaviest in this installation.
If you thought there would be more than one ending, you would be right. There are multiple endings depending on the player's actions towards certain characters in the party.
What can the player do?
The player, controlling Aoto, will travel throughout Sol Cluster, meeting various friends and foes, defeating enemies, synthesizing (a very common mechanic in Gust-developed games), collecting treasures, but most of all, forming bonds of trust (and possibly love) with Reyvateils. The player will spend most of the experience talking with Reyvateils and Diving into them in order to discover more powerful Song Magic as well as learning more about the girls. A new mechanic introduced into Qoga is the ability to have Reyvateils strip off clothing in order to gain more power. This mechanic is more important during battles, but can be used outside of battles to modify a Reyvateil's abilities. When on the field, you can open treasure chests for items, and there is an encounter bar that depletes after a battle. When it's empty, you won't have any more encounters until you leave for the world map or leave to another major section of the map.
Speaking of battles, this is where Qoga has changed the most from the previous two Ar Tonelico entries. As they were turn-based battles, Qoga opts for an action-oriented battle system that can be compared to games in the Tales of series (I gave Qoga the nickname "Tales of Ar Tonelico" because of this). You control one of three attackers (you can change who you control through the menu inside and outside of battle) and have the ability to freely run around a 3D field. You have normal attacks, special attacks that consume HP (these have to be learned), and a SUPERMOVE that can be executed if certain conditions are met. Normal attacks can be chained into special attacks, but special attacks cannot be chained into other special attacks.
One Reyvateil will join you in battle and begin singing, building up magic in order to execute a Song Magic attack. She usually ends up dealing the most damage out of everybody in the party in one single move if there is enough magic stored and she can target multiple enemies at once. However, enemies will sometimes attempt to attack the Reyvateil. It will be your job to protect her as she will not be able to sing if she is taking damage or if an enemy is within her field. Should the latter happen, you can press the O button to instantly move into her field and repel the enemy.
Now for the other main reason this game got an M-rating. If you meet certain conditions, you can have your Reyvateil strip some of their clothing off in order to increase their singing rate and power. This process is known as Purge and can be done up to three levels (this is done by holding one of the shoulder buttons and shaking the controller). In addition, if you time the Purge correctly, you will get a dynamic animation sequence of the Reyvateil stripping. There is one particular Reyvateil who practically ends up naked at level 3 and has some sort of green screen protecting her body. Don't go picking her just because I said that, she is actually quite powerful. I'm going to be frank, Purge = extreme fan service. Even though I singled out one Reyvateil for being totally naked under a screen, most of the other Reyvateils will come close.
There is a logical explanation for this. It is said that Reyvateils absorb magic through the skin, so by removing clothing, they can absorb even more. I said logical, not necessarily justified.
I strongly advise against letting anyone under 16 play this game because of the battle system alone. The previous two entries are fine (they both have T-ratings and use 2D sprites).
How does this game look? How are the visuals?
You know what, I was amazed at the visual overhaul of this game. The first two games were completely 2D, but Qoga was rendered beautifully in 3D. The graphics added a layer of depth to the game that, in my opinion, the previous two games lacked. However, I felt the animation team got lazy, because the same idle animations are used for quite a few characters and it just looked off because of it.
Will I like the music?
Totally frank answer, no. The soundtrack is the most forgettable out of all three games. Most of the tracks are plain and boring. Honestly, I usually just enjoy listening to the hymns, but even a good amount of them aren't too appealing. Despite the overall disinterest, I did take a liking to a few pieces. Unfortunately, none of them were battle themes because those were quite bad.
What does the player get for beating the game?
Aside from one of the multiple endings, the player is treated to, in my opinion, one of the best credit sequences ever and it does an excellent job of closing the series by tying in the first two games as well. Those who played the previous two games (I did) will take notice to some very familiar elements.
You are given the option of saving a "clear" file, which will allow you to start the game on a New Game+ setting. You can play the game over again with your levels, gold, and some items intact. You read that right, you carry levels over, too. Meaning if you were perhaps level 89 at the end -raises hand- you would be level 89 at the start.
But wait, it gets even better, and Qoga is actually the first JPRG I can think of over the last few years to do this. When you load up for New Game+, you can choose where to start off in the game. Well, to be more specific, you are given the option to start at certain phases of the game. Starting a new game this way will send you back to that particular part of the game, with all your stuff that was obtained by that point. It makes getting the multiple endings a lot easier.
What does Twenty Cent Gaming think?
I'm going to be honest, I enjoyed this game wholeheartedly. I'm used to over-the-top humor and found myself laughing most of the time at it. The voice acting is quite tolerable (this is a big issue when it comes to JRPGs), and it felt like the voice actors/actresses actually put forth an honest effort. The battles can get repetitive due to only having three normal string attacks and four special attacks. You will be loving the [] button a lot during battles.
However, the game is almost way too easy, even on Hard difficulty. You'll eventually find yourself going through battles and realizing that not much time has passed when that encounter bar has been completely drained. I mentioned over-the-top humor, and I meant it literally. If you find that over-the-top humor and heavy sexual innuendo isn't to your liking, you're going to be doing a lot of skipping of dialogue. Put it this way, there is one particular scene which, by look, is totally fine. However, if you aren't near the TV and can only hear the scene, it will sound like someone is having sex. I kid you not.
Ar Tonelico Qoga is one of the better games that got localized for North America this year. Go ahead and pick it up, but be mindful of where you're playing it :P
One more thing. You said "yes" to Downloadable Content
Yes I did. The PlayStation Store has extra chapters for Diving into one particular Reyvateil. These chapters form a side-story visual novel. You can buy them together or buy them separately.
The other DLC available are personality patches that affect a certain character in the game. These don't affect the story at all, just the dialogue of one character.
In my opinion, you can just skip out on the DLC. It's not expensive, but I would only recommend it to those who want the full experience of the game.
Is there a video or trailer I can watch to get an idea of how the game is?
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