Ar tonelico 3 coming to the PS3 January 2010

[ZeronHitaro]

Huh, so basically a New Game+ only you don't have to hop back through the whole game to see the new ending (well, unless you want a different Main x Girl ending I assume). Doesn't sound too bad.

Although now that I'm starting to have nostalgia trips about the other two games I have to ask: Are Cosmospheres still locked off at a certain level if you decide to 'focus" on a specific character ending like AT2 (I hated that so much. XP ) or have they opened it back up so you can full-play everyone's Cosmosphere in one go like the original AT?

[Yoda]

what's a Qoga?

[Annubis]

what's a Qoga?

Qoga means 'end' in Hymmnos.

EDIT: for all other hymmnos related questions: http://hymmnoserver.uguu.ca/search.php?word=qoga

[Kstar]

Although now that I'm starting to have nostalgia trips about the other two games I have to ask: Are Cosmospheres still locked off at a certain level if you decide to 'focus" on a specific character ending like AT2 (I hated that so much. XP ) or have they opened it back up so you can full-play everyone's Cosmosphere in one go like the original AT?

Unfortunately, they are, but the game makes it really obvious that once you decide on a particular girl, you're locked to her and can't see the ending of the other girl's cosmosphere. And it doesn't happen until late in the game, so you've seen the majority of the others' cosmospheres, anyway. I agree with you there, I also missed being able to see everyone's cosmosphere all the way through like the first AT game. 

[ZeronHitaro]

Ah crap. XD Oh well, maybe this time I'll actually bother with multiple save slots for a change instead of trying to retread the whole game. Should be fun to see what sort of Cosmosphere antics are pulled this time though. They're usually quite amusing; well...not counting that weird Cloche-Luca only Cosmosphere thing in AT2. ~.~;

[Cyril]

If you think about it, lore-wise, it makes sense to only get into one girl's cosmosphere.  The cosmosphere is meant to only open up to the deepest subconscious level when you're extremely intimate, and even then it won't always open for every partner.  I can't imagine in real life being that emotionally intimate with 3+ partners at once, not to mention eventually one of the girls would likely get frustrated and "close" the depths of her mind.

I mean, I understand gameplay-wise that it's an annoyance, and I don't like it either, but lore-wise it makes perfect sense.

[Annubis]

They even fixed AT1 by having Jacqli (god I hate typing that) say that Lyner is a « legendary diver who cleared 3 girls ».

A normal diver can go to lvl 5.
A good diver can clear his partner.

[ZeronHitaro]

They even fixed AT1 by having Jacqli (god I hate typing that) say that Lyner is a « legendary diver who cleared 3 girls ».

A normal diver can go to lvl 5.
A good diver can clear his partner.

Lol, Jacqli's just lying to preserve his pride. XD Think about how extremely dense Lyner was. I'd say it's more like 3 girls cleared him.
*part joking-part serious*

[CDFN]

Review score was even lower than I expected.

[Dice]

Review score was even lower than I expected.

Review score was exactly what I expected.. =/

[WildArms]

Review score was even lower than I expected.

Review score was exactly what I expected.. =/

A review you would expect from someone who seems to have a weird hate againts loli/cute anime girl characters, and that obviously barely know the world of ar tonelico... I mean, there were so many wrong things... I've never seen such a baseless and personal based review before, considering is a game with a huge, HUGE, background to look out for, im not expecting the reviewers to know everything about it's predecesors, but... there is a limit you know?
A gamer that has played the first two games would surely feel bad reading something as incomplete as that. Not meaning any offense, but it seems the reviewer is a woman right? i can imagine some parts on the game appealing even less just for this fact... (getting on with the sex innuendo too much?)

"On top of that, the tired JRPG "save the world" plotline is still present. (...). Unfortunately, in the developers' attempt to make the narrative accessible to newcomers, the main story doesn't have nearly as many connections to the past two games as I would have liked."

First of all, there is no world to save, they are in the last of the three towers left in the world that maintains the land afloat, stating "the world" simplifies things way too much, without giving out a lot of the complex part of Ar tonelico's story, this game is not just some girls taking out their clothes and being saved.

The main story of the ar tonelico games are hardly ever connected to the last game.

Saki destroys this game the same way Alfinia in Grandia III and Ryfia in Arc Rise Fantasia did for many. She looks like she's ten, talks like a baby in third person, pretends she's a cat, and is simply incapable of independent thought.

So yeah, you not liking a character's personality, means to give it a whole pharagraph of badmouthing..., when ar tonelico girl's characters are always weird, (for example Aurica from the very first game, so, sooo pesimist, Luca of the second game (simply a devil at some parts of the game)) I can understand if you hated a character, but that is not something you have to say on a review.

Maybe including an auto battle would have been nice for how repetitive these random battles can be

. . . .


Another disappointment is the addition of 3D graphics that just don't measure up to what we've seen on the PS3 - they're quite ugly

What we've seen? Or what you've seen?, can't you just say you didnt felt fond of the graphics, and ask the people reading to check screenshots to see if it appeals them? It really gives a bad mouth taste reading this...

Almost everything that Ar tonelico Qoga provides has been done before in a JRPG; the lack of original content and presence of overused content doesn't leave much to praise


Please tell me another rpg where there are singing women fighting alongside with you, that are not human, a world where there only exist 3 towers, wich give powers to the revytails, where you gotta get into their minds, and knowing a whole new side of them, where there are dialogues when you syntethise, GREAT SOUND, HYMNS (You just dedicated a line for this part!?), etc.... (or if you want me to get into your game, a JRPG where girls lose clothes as they gain power?, or where enemies are turned into cakes?)


And i dont even want to go on...


It's ok if you say you think this game is worst than it's predecesor... But seriously, there are better reasons to go for than these, all i felt while i was reading is that you didnt liked the game... Instead of giving a more objective view of it.

Anyway, this is just my point of view of the review, im not expecting for Ms. Kim to change it or anything, just stating my opinion, even if it may offend someone, i dont meant any offense, i just think reviewers should ne a little more conscious, considering there is actually people that may depend on that to know if they want to buy a game or not.

The only reviewer so far that has really made a good job has been Patrick.

Anyway, knowing these forums, flame me if you want, i seriously think this review is way too superficial and way too personal.

[supersonic]

nice to see WildArms posting again.

Anyway, 68% by RPGFan standards means a completely and utterly broken game. I find it hard to believe AR3 is that bad. Thing is, of course, that none of us has played the game yet, so challenging the review seems a bit silly at this point. All I know is that my pre-order can't get here soon enough.

[WildArms]

nice to see WildArms posting again.

Anyway, 68% by RPGFan standards means a completely and utterly broken game. I find it hard to believe AR3 is that bad. Thing is, of course, that none of us has played the game yet, so challenging the review seems a bit silly at this point. All I know is that my pre-order can't get here soon enough.

Lol, haha it has been a while eh?, i've been really busy and found some other nice places to visit too, and i just had to come here again after reading that review, even if i don't post, i still check the page a lot :P

I'm with you, im also waiting for my game :D, but yeah, i've heard a LOT about the game from a friend that got the jp version.
I know im in no position to talk about the game yet, but reviews like this would really scare some people away without many valid reasons, and this of course, as a fan, makes me pretty sad-- wait no, makes me pretty mad. It didn't felt like a good review... And was way too short compared to others too, but i guess i pretty much mentioned what i felt in the post above.

As you can see in all i said, i just talked in a general form from all the games in ar tonelico. I mean... it kinda sucks to see a great story being ignored by going all the way (almost all the review) with sex innuendos (and is not that big of a deal anyway ._.) , or X girl wasnt of your liking, and as for repetitive dungeons, well, the first 2 ArTonelicos you had to backtrack at some places a lot too, so is nothing new in the games anyways, ....but i can understand this last part to be mentioned on a review.

All the good things i saw in the review was that there were "cameos" from characters of the other games... And they are not "cameos" =.=, for example Cocona (and other characters that appear there from older games) Had a reason in why they had to go to that tower (the third tower for us).... And finish their own stories/objectives there... I can't really call that "cameo"

And as for the recycled things... As with what i've seen, it doesnt seems there are many, but the same things that were in the games before and are now again, just makes Ar Tonelico games feel like Ar tonelico, changing that would be like changing phoenix down's name from all the final fantasies D:

But well, im so excited to get this game already!

[Kyle]

sex innuendos (and is not that big of a deal anyway ._.)

Not that big of a deal, eh? Well, you don't happen to be a woman.

[Kstar]

Oh, I'm going to have fun with this.  I'm sorry that you disagree with my review.  However, you are wrong on just about every single point that you bring up, and it's clear that you're a fanboy whom will pitch a fit if any reviewer doesn't agree with you.  Let's take your "argument" point by point.

A review you would expect from someone who seems to have a weird hate againts loli/cute anime girl characters, and that obviously barely know the world of ar tonelico... I mean, there were so many wrong things... I've never seen such a baseless and personal based review before, considering is a game with a huge, HUGE, background to look out for, im not expecting the reviewers to know everything about it's predecesors, but... there is a limit you know?
A gamer that has played the first two games would surely feel bad reading something as incomplete as that. Not meaning any offense, but it seems the reviewer is a woman right? i can imagine some parts on the game appealing even less just for this fact... (getting on with the sex innuendo too much?)

Strip everything sexual out of the game and it's still a generic ARPG with an obtuse battle system that's not very fun with some mediocre dialogue.  I loved the original Ar Tonelico and I was a fan of AT2, even if it wasn't as good as the first one.

First of all, there is no world to save, they are in the last of the three towers left in the world that maintains the land afloat, stating "the world" simplifies things way too much, without giving out a lot of the complex part of Ar tonelico's story, this game is not just some girls taking out their clothes and being saved.

The main story of the ar tonelico games are hardly ever connected to the last game.

I was unaware that you had played the game.  Would you like for me to spell things out in the review?  You're right that the story section is simplified - it's a review, not a wiki entry describing the plot.  In regards to the 'hardly ever' comment, I'd be happy to give you a quick shot of just how wrong this statement is:

Code:

One of the characters in your party is a female character from the previous game crossdressing as a male.

Hm, absolutely no connection to previous games, check.  Oh, wait, sorry, what's the exact opposite of that?

So yeah, you not liking a character's personality, means to give it a whole pharagraph of badmouthing..., when ar tonelico girl's characters are always weird, (for example Aurica from the very first game, so, sooo pesimist, Luca of the second game (simply a devil at some parts of the game)) I can understand if you hated a character, but that is not something you have to say on a review.

I took an example of a single character I dislike out of an entire slate.  The individual characters, a few aside, are awful.  Many are either one-dimensional, uninteresting, or both.  Are you telling me I shouldn't say when characterization in a game is awful?  At least the characters in the previous titles had a modicum of depth to them.

. . . .

In regards to auto-battles, this game's battles are far and off too numerous and too long.  You act as if this is some sort of feature that's not used in RPGs.  Persona and Radiant Historia are two recent games, both incredibly popular, that featured autobattling to remove the tedium of grinding.  There's a lot of grinding in AT3.

What we've seen? Or what you've seen?, can't you just say you didnt felt fond of the graphics, and ask the people reading to check screenshots to see if it appeals them? It really gives a bad mouth taste reading this...

Even compared to a port of an Xbox 360 title from years ago, these character models don't stack up.  Forgive me if you're too much of an idiot to disagree.

Please tell me another rpg where there are singing women fighting alongside with you, that are not human, a world where there only exist 3 towers, wich give powers to the revytails, where you gotta get into their minds, and knowing a whole new side of them, where there are dialogues when you syntethise, GREAT SOUND, HYMNS (You just dedicated a line for this part!?), etc.... (or if you want me to get into your game, a JRPG where girls lose clothes as they gain power?, or where enemies are turned into cakes?

Fact of the matter is, making a world with history doesn't make it any good.  To quote Ken Rolston of Oblivion fame, "I've seen 10,000 years of history from other people before, but I've seen a lot of it that wasn't any good! Sheer volume isn't enough."  You can make history, give it what appears to be a unique sheen, and at the end of the day?  It's all cliche.  It's like half of the fantasy novels on the face of the planet, despite all of the words created for the world and the "unique" setting, it's just like all the rest.

It's ok if you say you think this game is worst than it's predecesor... But seriously, there are better reasons to go for than these, all i felt while i was reading is that you didnt liked the game... Instead of giving a more objective view of it.

Would you like a more objective view?  The game has a broken, obtuse battle system, subpar graphics, mediocre voice acting, and half of your player characters are borderline retarded.

Anyway, this is just my point of view of the review, im not expecting for Ms. Kim to change it or anything, just stating my opinion, even if it may offend someone, i dont meant any offense, i just think reviewers should ne a little more conscious, considering there is actually people that may depend on that to know if they want to buy a game or not.

It's of my opinion that the average RPG fan is going to dislike this game.  The otaku will probably like this game - far be it from me to tell them not to.  RPGFan sees literally more than a hundred thousand users over the course of a month - the otaku are a small amount of them.  I'm not telling you not to like this game, if you like it, more power to you.  This game is very carefully targeted, and despite the fact that I liked the first two titles, this one is so much more over the top with its sexual themes that it will cut out a great deal of the previous audience.  Please, purchase the title and put your own opinion on it.  I'm not telling you not to like the game, I'm telling you my experience with it, and that was a negative one.  If you want objectivity, read a preview, but saying that a review shouldn't be subjective is a moronic statement.

I don't mean to offend.