I'll admit it, I'm a sappy, sentimental, romantic kinda guy, growing up on games like Lunar and Grandia I really came to enjoy a good love story in my RPGs. Sadly for many RPGs a love interest is just shoehorned in, a tacked on extra or a checkbox in the big list of stuff they think they have to include, so much so that many people think they're pointless or add nothing to the game or even detract from it. So when the Ar Tonelico series came along I was really excited to see a series that really went for it with the love story. Of course I'm several hundred RPGs on since I started and there's a lot of things I like in an RPG, good music, a well thought out world that feels alive and has a sense of culture, large swathes of character interaction, likeable characters, a battle system that is both fun and different etc. Thankfully Qoga succeeds in a number of these categories and excels in a few. As with the other games in the series, Ar Tonelico Qoga takes place in a tower above their inhospitable planet of Ar Ciel which has been covered by the sea of death. Unlike the other games where reyvateils were partners and lived among humans or below them, in this area reyvateils dominate over humans and carry out cleansings and purifications, either killing humans or enslaving them in the name of Clustania. The scale of the story is both massive in scope and minute in detail and is constantly balancing between intimate personal issues, large scale political movements and events with world changing consequences in a really satisfying way. Of course the story hinges on the two female leads, Saki and Finnel. They're reyvateils, a race of artificially created(though still biological) humanoids with the ability to use song magic. Saki is optimistic and innocent, Finnel is pessimistic and cynical, two fairly standard personality types, however when you begin to unfold the events that molded their personality they really become great, memorable characters. A further and unique level of complexity is added to them in the form of their personae. Both of them have a number of alternate personalities that govern aspects of their personalities. Sarapatra for example is a more mature, adult side of Saki. I can't talk too much more about them without spoiling some of the fantastic twists and turns of the story but you're left questioning if these personae are truly other sides of them or something else as they often work against their other sides desires. The other vanguard characters, Tatsumi and Hikari, took me by surprise with how great they were too. With such an emphasis on the romance between the hero and heroines you'd expect them to take a backstage and play a bit part, but no, they have their own story and goals which you help them to achieve while they help Aoto with his quest too. In fact in the early stages of the game Tatsumi is so preoccupied with pursuing his own agenda that he seems pretty cold and seems to be constantly looking for an opportunity to leave the group. He just cant ignore Aoto's troubles though and through the course of the game develops to be a really great friend. Even beyond the main cast, many of the NPCs have amazingly well thought out stories, some of them even tying back into plot threads through the previous two games in the series. I particularly enjoyed Mute, Akane and Richaryosha. Mute is a massive muscular melee fighter, completely railing against the regular idea of a reyvateil as a songstress summoner. Despite her role as an enemy early on and her fearsome appearance she's quite a sweetie at heart and can be oddly cute at times. Though still terrifying when running around shouting HONEY! DARLING! Akane too is an enemy to Aoto, but she's also Finnel's childhood friend. she's a cold hearted ruthless commander at first, but if you're a good enough friend to Finnel you might just end up being friends with Akane too. The crowning glory of the Ar Tonelico series is definitely it's hymmnos, songs that are sung in a language specially created for the games. There are a couple of oddball tracks in there, particularly CUTYPUMP and EP=NOVA are strange tracks that I didn't like at first, but suit the characters really well. They hugely expanded the number of vocal artists working on this game and some of them are really great, KOKIA's tracks are beautiful. The rest of the soundtrack isn't quite as great and might be slightly disappointing to fans of the previous games but dont misunderstand, it's still a wonderful OST, better than almost everything else out there. It just had an unbelievable pedigree to live up to. Some of the slower tracks used in the more emotional and intimate scenes are really memorable soulful pieces. Overall out of the hundreds of RPGs I've played this will be one of those I really cherish, it's the only RPG so far this gen other than Valkyria Chronicles I feel is really a classic in the making.
Don't let the cute girly looks decieve you, this game plays closer to Virtual On or that old game Psychic Force than anything else with its selection of ranged and melee attacks and special variations by dashing while attacking and super moves by pressing two buttons at once, it's very much one of those simple to play hard to master games. The soundtrack is pretty nice too.
The game is plagued with plot holes, the characters are mostly unlikeable with a couple being particularly bad. The script is awful to the point of being painful to go through at times. Vast swathes of the story are essentially pointless and do nothing to further the main story, which is a real waste, it could have been more enjoyable if they put more effort into the overall story instead of derailing it into a series of dull fetch quests. Gameplay starts off pretty good with some new features like blindsiding but as you proceed and unlock more special moves it devolves into spamming the stronger moves, with MP death removed and MP recovery methods aplenty there's little to stop you, especially when you get the endgame attacks that have huge areas of effect. The game boasts over 200 quests but sadly most of these are just bring me 20 of x monster drop type deals with only a handful offering anything interesting to do.
The main cast of characters are a memorable group with unique personalities and a decent amount of development. The supporting cast is large and varied and each one has a reasonable amount of backstory to them too. Moreover the group as a whole becomes really memorable, as you pick and choose characters that you like and that work well together thanks to the great potential system, they bond together and will stick in your mind as Squad 7. The story itself is very enjoyable, a mix of romance, fantasy, war and racial tensions which draws many parralells with the real conflict of world war 2, overall it's a wonderful breath of fresh air and a much needed break from the myriad flavours of power fantasy. The gameplay system is great and really brought the SRPG genre along leaps and bounds. It becomes really enjoyable 1/4 of the way into the game when it starts throwing immense set pieces into the mix. The anime artsyle really looks great while at the same time it remains down to earth and not too garish. The bottom line is this is a must have game
A charming cast of characters and entertaining script elevate this RPG above the crowd. If you're looking for a save the world story, look elsewhere but if you love character interaction and lovable personalities this is top drawer stuff. As with most Gust games it also boasts a fantastic soundtrack. In gameplay terms the battle system is quite average, standard fare turn based combat. Thankfully combat is not the core of this game. Instead the item synthesis system takes center stage and this is incredibly well fleshed out. The game employs an addictive time management system where you'll hunt for ingredients, use these ingredients to make items, and use these items to fulfil requests for townspeople, improving your reputation and unlocking further quests. Overall a fun slice of life piece of pure enjoyment, free of the melodrama so many RPGs are plagued with.
