by laurenhiya21 Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:03 pm
Yay, late review for an obscure game that I didn't end up enjoying too much. wooo
3/18: Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel (PS3)
The first two Ar Tonelico games are two games that I really love. Both games have plenty of flaws and aren’t exactly the most polished of games, but I really enjoy them all the same. With that being the case, of course I was excited to play the next game in the series, Ar Tonelico Qoga. Unfortunately, while there were some aspects of Qoga that I really enjoyed, there were also some things about it that I really did not like.
As far as what I did like, Qoga has some of best features of the first two games including the interesting characters, deep world and lore, and amazing music (some of which are some of my favourites in the whole series). All three of these things really kept me invested throughout the game. Seeing recurring characters from the first two games was also nice to see. While a bit confusing at times, the story had some twists and turns which was enjoyable as well. However, while these aspects of the game did keep me invested in playing, the negative aspects did get debating about whether I wanted to even finish the game or not.
I had two very big problems with Qoga. Firstly, there were many sections of the game that were a chore to get through. Main areas you have to go through are often not very interesting to go through, as you mostly just keep walking forward (with very little to explore outside of that), and many of these areas are also quite lengthy. Additionally, there is one area of the game (called the Clustania Executive District) that is the worst to go through. For one, this area is not only lengthy, but also a confusing mess to get through. It’s six floors of nonsensical corridors and elevators, which was a pain to navigate even with fan-made maps (cause there aren’t any maps in-game yaaay). What makes this area the worst, however, if that you have to through it at least five times, and some of those times you have to make your way back to the entrance as well. This area was probably the worst instance of needless padding that I’ve ever seen.
The second big problem I had with Qoga (and probably the most annoying one) was it’s combat system. In the jump from the PS2 to PS3, there series decided to greatly overhaul the combat system. Unlike the first two games, which had a turn-based system for the first game and a semi-turn-based system for the second, Qoga switched to a completely action-based combat system. While I definitely tend to prefer turn-based combat, I wouldn’t have a problem with this change if it was done well. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of complicated little bits in the system, most battles basically boil down to mashing the attack button for a while. Sure you do have to make sure your magic caster (who is defenceless while they sing their ultimate mega attack) doesn’t get hit, and there’s also a thing where you have to time your attacks to the music to help charge the mega attack but you’re still mostly just mashing that attack button. Most of your party’s attacks don’t even really do much of anything anyway, as your magic caster will charge up an insta-kill attack way before your main party can kill enemies a majority of the time. This makes the battles really, really tedious and boring. If I could flee from every battle without any consequence, I would do so with no hesitation, but you have to get those levels sooner or later.
Unfortunately, because of those two big negatives, I would not say that I enjoyed Ar Tonelico Qoga. I do not regret playing it, as I really liked the characters and soundtrack, but it is very disappointing that those aspects aren’t in a much better game. Overall, definitely do not pick up Ar Tonelico Qoga if you are not familiar the series, and only consider maybe playing it if you are a big fan of the other two games.
On a side note, I’m also kind of sad that I am running out of Ar Tonelico games to play! There are only two that I haven’t played, Ciel nosurge and Ar nosurge. I think at this point, the devs are probably done with the series, so once I play those, then that’s it :/ Hopefully those two are more enjoyable than Qoga was for me.
