Review #314: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

 The first worthy rival to Smash?

 When it comes to games trying to be like Super Smash Bros, I feel like none has ever come close. And then came Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. What is PASBR? It's four on four fighting game, with simple controls, stage hazards and items to grab and cause havoc on the arena. Just like Smash, there's no life bars here, but instead of having to throw combatants off the platform, you have to land Special attacks to score points. Something to keep in mind, buying the PS3 version allows you to link the disc to your account, which nets you a free downloadable copy on the PSVita!

 When it comes to modes, the game skimps out a bit when compared to the competition. There's Tournament Mode, which is online only and seems to reset every few weeks or so, Offline and Online VS, which can be played against up to three CPUs as well. As for Single Player, there're Trials, a 'general' set of trials as well as trials specific to each character... although they are more or less the same to be honest. Then there's Practice, Tutorial and Arcade, Arcade having unique, fully voiced, intros and endings for each character, even the four DLC characters. Mind you, their stories are nothing to write home about, but they bothered to do them, which is nice. I didn't play the Arcade Mode on the PS3 as much as I did on the Vita, but on the Vita version, every now and then, the Arcade Mode would glitch and I would get no voice overs during the intros, endings and rival cutscenes, and no music during fights.

 The game offers 20 characters, plus 4 DLC characters. As far as DLC characters is concerned, the first two were free for a limited time, and the latter 2 could be gotten for free by buying one of the God of War games, so it's not too bad. Each character also comes with an unlockable costume, as well as purchasable costumes. Normally, I wouldn't complain about cosmetic DLC, like costumes, but Sony went out of their way to be as much in-your-face as possible with it. Going to a character's profile will have the costume listed, with the unlock condition being 'purchase at the Store'. Selecting a character will allow you to go through a character's DLC costume, alongside a conveniently placed button that takes you to the store. CPUs may wear DLC costumes during battles as well. It's incredibly tacky, and feels like Sony is constantly tugging at your wallet, trying to make you cave in and purchase those costumes, which I find it to be ArkSys-level disgusting. That aside, the character roster leaves a bit to be desired as well. Where's Crash? Spyro? They defined Playstation during its first console. And what is a Big Daddy or Isaac Clark doing here? If you were gonna have third party characters at least add characters like Lara Croft, who was synonymous with Playstation back in the day(Even though her games were on PC as well!), So yeah, the roster could've been better, plus, I feel like none of these characters have as much star power as Nintendo's classics, though maybe that's just the Nintendo fanboy in me talking.

 When it comes to gameplay, you have three attack buttons at your disposal: Triangle, Square and Circle, and holding different directions when pressing the buttons performs different attacks, for a total of 15 different attacks per character, not counting the aerial attacks. Something that I thought was genius, due to how simple yet fun to perform is, was having throws being done by tapping the right analog stick! IT works fantastically and made throws fun to use! L button guards, and tapping a direction in conjunction with it performs a dodge, there's even aerial dodges! Lastly, the R button performs the special attacks. Controls, as a whole, are spot on, and characters have diverse movesets. Plus, the overall 'feel' of the game is very, very tight. No other Smash-like game has gotten the physics so right before, movement is as fast and as loose as a game like this requires, and the physics are floaty enough as to allow for aerial combos, but it doesn't feel awkward. It's hard to explain, but if you play... say, Cartoon Network Punchtime Explosion and then Playstaton ASBR, you'll notice how much better it feels.

 Landing attacks doesn't cause damage, but instead increases your AP meter, which has three levels, each one corresponding to a different Special Attacks. And landing these are the only way to score points. Special Attacks are very different between each other, but as a general rule, Level 1 Specials are hard to land, and easy for enemies to hit you before you land them and thus cancel them, Level 2 Specials are instantaneous and cover a wide area while Level 3 affects every enemy. Honestly, I felt like Specials were a bit uneven, both between character and between the specials themselves on a single character. Take Heihachi's level 3, he instantly kills everyone for a total of 3 points, and that's it. While Isaac's or Sackboy's gives enemies a chance to avoid it, but allows you to score even more points! But let's go back to Heihach, his level 2 has the potential to net you more than three points, since it's active for a while, in which Kuma comes to aid you, and any enemy he attacks, he instantly kills for an extra point. And if you have two levels on the AP gauge, you can't just use a level 1 special twice, you have to use the level 2. Still, it's a bit of a conundrum, I feel. If you make all the Special attacks identical between characters, then you lose individuality, but in this case some Specials are blatantly better than others. And you could argue that Smash Bros Final Smashes have the same issue, which is true, but Final Smashes aren't as integral to scoring points as specials are on this game. But I digress, I think, considering how the game works, they did the best they could.

 And you gotta give them bonus points for the Stages, each stage is a fusion of two franchises. God of War and Patapon, Parappa the Rappa and Metal Gear, Ape Escape and Killzone, etc. And yes, there's a ton of clashing between visual styles, but it's not jarring, it's fun, specially if you know what comes from what franchise! And using a character nets you points, and as you 'level up' your rank, you unlock an extra costume, more taunt, more victory music, more victory poses, etc. It's a lot of extras for each individual character!

 Alright, so the PS3 is the ideal version to play the game, but only because it looks better. And offline multiplayer. And I mean that, the Vita version, while it doesn't look as good, runs very smoothly, and it has everything the PS3 version has, only that the graphics aren't as good. Loading times, on the Vita, can also be a bit long, but it's not too bad.

 I feel like Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is the first worthy rival to Smash Bros. It feels really good, controls are tight, and a lot of creativity went into the different stages and character movesets. The Character roster could've been a bit better, there're a bit too many guns(Radic, Drake, Dante, Ratchet, Jak, Isaac and Sweet Tooth all have guns as part of their movesets!) and not enough iconic characters(Big Daddy? Isaac? New Dante over Classic Dante?(And I liked new Dante!) Raiden? Gimme Crash, Lara Croft, Solid Snake, how about a Final Fantasy rep?) Still, overall it's a fun Smash-like fighter, with a bit less party, but a bit more 'fighty' feel to it.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

 Surprisingly good.

 So, funny story, I actually bought the PS3 version, but it comes with the Vita version, for free, so I kinda downloaded it on the Vita, and started playing it there and... it seems that's the version I'm gonna play until I dabble into multiplayer!

 I've played a ton of Smash clones, and they always get the 'feeling' wrong. Movement always feels too floaty, too loose or too stiff, and it happens to every single one of them. Onimusha - Blade Warriors, Cartoon Network's Punchtime Explosion, Jump Ultimate Stars, TMNT Smash up, TMNT - Melee, Tales of Vs.... none get it just right, unless they do their own thing(Like, say, One Piece Grand Adventure, the Godzilla Gamecube games(Which, although I disliked it, at leas movement felt right) or Powerstone). Bottom line is, Smash Clones always feel off, always.... Until Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale came along. Damn, they got the movement just right. It's tight, but fast, the jumping is just the right amount of floaty to allow juggling without feeling weird. So right off the bat, extra 10 points for getting it right.

 Still, my biggest beef comes with the roster. Playstation's most iconic? Big Daddy, the guy from the multiplat Bioshock franchise? Is Fat Princess really that important to Sony? Raiden over Solid Snake? And Reboot Dante? I like new Dante, and I understand Capcom had to promote their new game, but classic Dante, the 'iconic' one, not even as an alternate costume?? And where's Lara Croft? Crash? Spyro? But more importantly, who thought giving Cole two different spots was a good idea? If he has a 100% different moveset from regular Cole I'm gonna be a bit bothered, since it means that he could've taken the spot of another character(Even though reusing a character model is cheaper than making a new one from scratch) Something named 'Playstation's All Stars' carries a certain expectations, and those expectations are not met. Not for people following the brand since its roots. Or since the Ps2, like I did(I've always been more of a Nintendo dude).

 As for the overall gameplay... I liked it. I only did the tutorial and a few of Dante's trials, but they gave me a clear idea of the overall gameplay, and I like it. It's similar enough to Smash Bros so as to make Smash players feel comfortable, but different enough as to maintain interest. Did you know? There's three attack buttons here, even though there are not tilt attacks(Or rather, Smash attacks?). As for the special attacks, I think it could've been handled better. Giving each character different Specials means that not all specials are equally as useful, but the problem surfaces when it comes to a character's specific specials. Take Dante, his level 1 is much more useful than the second one, since its easier to aim, but if you've built 2 bars of specials, you can't use the level 1 move twice, instead, you have to use the level 2 special.

 Still, overall, I'm impressed, I like it.

Review #313: Ar Tonelico Qoga - Knell of Ar Ciel

 A sad reminder of what JRPGs have turned into.

 A few years ago I played Ar Tonelico 1. While I was bored with it every now and then, it wasn't too bad. Then again, Ar Tonelico was one of the Japanese Fanservice waifu moe games™, which is the kind of games I dislike, so I skipped the second one. And then I saw gameplay from Qoga(Ar Tonelico 3), and damn, it looked just like Tales of! I had to play it. And play it I did.

 The story.... the story is Ar Tonelico 1 gone full Japan. Seriously, I felt like I was playing Ar Tonelico 1 all over again. Let's start with the three Reyvateils(Basically, Songstresses), Finnel(The brunette) is a flanderized version of Mischa from AT 1, Saki is a flanderized version of Aurica, and the third Reyvateil looks exactly like the third Reyvateil from AT 1. Even their backgrounds are VEEEEEEERY similar, only more moe. There's also an Ayatane look-alike, because why not. It's hard to explain, but the way the story progresses also feels a whole lot ton like Ar Tonelico 1. Then we have the 'Vanguards', also known as the 'three other guys that form the party'. there's the main character, Aoto, who's your generic 'I WANT TO PROTECT X!!!!' anime hero with not a single drop of originality to him, there's Tatsumi, who's plot twist is given away 4 hours into the game, and then there's Gojo who barely gets any development, and what little development he gets, its during non-voiced cutscenes, because who cares about Gojo? As for the dialogue, it was laughable, I found myself laughing out loud at times, due to how cringy or stupid it all was. It's also filled to the brim with generic Anime situations, like the accidental boobgrab and what not. Not to mention the plot threads that are mentioned but kept.. dangling never to be addressed again, right Aoto? The cosmospheres are back, which are basically sidequests which delve deeper into a Reyvateil subconscious... which can be funny, but they are a way to simulate character development, except that at the end of the day, its just filler, the girls will behave like they've always behaved. They don't grow, they don't evolve, they stay as generic waifu stereotypes. Did I mention that this game goes full Japan? The girls get stronger as they get rid of their clothes. Yup. And instead of costumes, now the girls get 'personalities', which is a way to get even more generic waifu stereotypes into the game, the 'mature sexy lady', the 'sexy secretary', the 'sexy assassin', the 'sexy cat-like nekomimi girl', etc. Which, y'know, there's definitely an audience for these games, except that I'm not part of it. Now then, if you happen to like this type of game, there's about 8 different endings depending on when you finish the game, and a few choices you get to make throughout the game.

 I've stopped talking about graphics when it comes to games because it's something entirely subjective, and unless I want to note how much I enjoyed the visual style, or the art direction, I don't usually bring it up. But Ar Tonelico 3 looks incredibly underwhelming. I hate it when people say 'it looks like a 'insert a console' game', but Ar Tonelic Qoga does look like a PS2 game, a very sharp PS2 game, but a PS2 game nonetheless. Environments are simple to a fault, while dungeons are fully 3D, the towns are completely done in 2D, so you've got 3D models running around 2D planes, which looks terrible. The character models are disgustingly simple as well, with little in the way of shadows on them, and are very non-detailed. Dungeons are pretty bland as well, not only will they bring back memories from AT1(Which might be a good thing?) but sometimes they are even interchangeable with each other, with little to set them apart between each other.

 It doesn't stop there, the game feels fairly amateurish as a whole. When moving around dungeons, you'll notice a few hiccups. For instance, the jump button will have a hard time working when you are walking down a slope. Or running down stairs will have your character running on air for a few seconds. And try to aim a jump towards an object, it's not unusual to be able to stand on the side of an object. These aren't very annoying, since they have no negative, or positive, impact on the gameplay, but.... on battles, your attacks may not come out if you are too close to an ally. Y'see, when you press square, your character automatically runs towards the enemy before executing an attack, but if an ally is in the way, instead of running around him, your character will stop dead on his tracks in front of said ally. Fun. Once, my CPU ally stopped moving after I run onto him, and I had to move out of the way in order for him to remember how to move. This doesn't happen on Tales of games!

 And it's a valid comparison to make, seeing how it seems to borrow so much from its combat system. Battles are engaged through good, old, random encounters, and they take place in real time. Your party is made up of three vanguards and one Reyvateil(There's only three vanguards, but you can switch the Reyvateils, from each of the three girls... and their personas), the Reyvateils starts singing automatically at the start of a battle, and she confers passive bonuses to the rest of the party, although you can order her to shoot her magic at your will. As for the Vanguards, you can play as any of them, and they deal close-ranged attacks, their job being to protect the Reyvateil. Except that there's not much  they can do to keep enemies away from the Reyvateil. Y'see, in a Tales game, you can usually see everything that's going on, not so much here, the camera is zoomed in too close to your character, so you'll never have a clear picture of where is each enemy. I mean, you could press X to freeze the action, since its the 'Use Magic' button, see where is everything, and then cancel out of it. The targeting system is terrible as well, because there's none. When you press Square, your character will choose an enemy to attack, based on... I don't know what. Vanguards have a basic three hit combo with the square button, and holding a direction on the directional pad while pressing Square will produce a special attack. It sounds decent, but there's no combo system, no nothing. There's no nuance to the combat. Oh, wait, pressing Square according to the songs tempo will enlarge the heart gauge faster, allowing you to 'purge' the Reyvateil's clothes faster, which makes them stronger. Yeah... Japan. Except that you purge by holding a shoulder button and shaking the joystick, which isn't very responsive.

 Did I mention that your vanguards have a hard time keeping the enemies away from the Reyvateils? That's because A) The camera is terrible, so it's easy for enemies to get to them while you can't see them. B) The AI is terrible, so you can't count on them, nor can you tweak their strategies. C) Your attacks have no knockback. If you, and the CPU, decide to gang up on an enemy you can stunlock him in place though, but if an enemy decides to ignore you and make a run for it, they are gonna get to the Reyvateil. Mind you, the circle button is an 'emergency attack' that will knock back the enemy, but it has a cooldown period. Still, the combat is so easy, that even if they get to the Reyvateil, you'll never be in danger of losing a battle. But I don't mind the combat being easy, I mind it being so limited and dull. The combat is not fun, there's no strategy, and there's no style, which turns combat into a chore. I found myself longing for Ar Tonelico's 1 combat, at least it had more substance to it.

 The exploration is dull as well. Towns have very few secrets, if any at all, so exploring them isn't very fun. Dungeons are dull and tedious, sometimes with labyrinthine roads, probably to make up for the tedium of them not having any sort of puzzle or stuff to solve. As mentioned previously, they aren't even interesting to look at or memorable. The only thing that made them stood out was how much they reminded me of Ar Tonelico 1's dungeons. And for whatever reason, when buying equipment, you can't compare the stats between the item on the store and what you've got equipped. It's Final Fantasy 1 all over again, where have all those years of evolution the JRPG genre went through gone to?

 I've admitted that Ar Tonelico 1 bored me at times. This is Ar Tonelico 1 all over again, times ten. It's even worse thanks to how dull the combat system is. How boring dungeons are. How stupid the story and its characters are. How creepy the premise is. Ar Tonelico Qoga is nothing more than a sad, sad reminder of what JRPGs have turned into. Breath of Fire IV, I'm sorry for calling you 'ordinary', compared to this, you were a shining diamond.
 3.0 out of 10

Review #312: Under the Skin

 What the...

 I've made it abundantly clear that I absolutely dislike most forms of modern Japanese multimedia, due to their undying focus and need of fanservice, and their over reliance and overuse of the same plot points and dialogues, there's only so many 'THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP' storylines I can take, while the main characters talks about protecting this girl, or his friends or 'those precious to him', or how he needs to get stronger, or how the bad guy is unforgiveable... Which makes the fact that my favorite videogame director is Japanese all the more hilarious, but y'see, Suda 51 is not like most Japanese developers. He dares to be different. He doesn't confine himself to standards, he doesn't restrict himself to cliches unless it's to put a twist on them. Under the Skin is a quirky Japanese game that's fairly unique, which makes it right up my alley.

 This is a very arcadey game, the kind I like, very easy to pick up and play, fast gameplay and based around scoring points. You play as an Alien(Called 'UFO' by the game), actually, you can pick from about 11 aliens, all of them equipped with the same abilities(Although their 'special pranks' differs between each other), but most importantly, with a Scan Gun. Y'see, aliens are pranksters by nature, but they are fragile and scare humans into attacking them, that's when the Scan Gun comes into play, with it you can disguise yourself as a human and play pranks on them! Pranking the humans makes them drop coins, the objects you must collect. Pranks come in very different flavors, from basic guns(Yeah, the pranks can get hardcore), to fireworks, bad singing, farting or tornadoes and... I don't know why some of these are called pranks. Regardless, pranks, even the deadly looking ones, only incapacitate humans for a while, and they also anger them, which makes them chase you. As a human, you can only take two hits before reverting to your Alien self, and taking hits without a disguise makes you drop coins. But it's alright, because you can scan humans even while disguised, and by walking below an UFO you can disguise again.

 When you first boot up the game, only 'Story Mode' is available, comprised of 8 different stages. Your goal on each mission varies, from gathering 500 coins while avoiding another alien, gathering more coins than the other alien or co-operating with another alien to collect 500 coins. Each mission has a time limit of 10 minutes, which means that you can finish the game in under 60 minutes. I played the game on Normal and got an A on my first playthrough, which unlocked the three other modes: Trial, in which you must collect as many coins as you can under a set amount of time, VS, which lets you compete against another alien(CPU or Player) on any of the 8 Story Mode stages and Co-Op, which lets you cooperate with another alien to collect 1000 coins on said stages. Beating the game also unlocks your Master as a playable character, and beating the game again as the new character unlocks the 11th alien. Basically, you can see and get everything the game has to offer in under 2 hours.

 I give Under the Skin props for having an original idea, but it's far from a hidden gem. While the game's box boasts about '40 different pranks', the game itself gets old pretty fast. I think it has to do with how slow the game can be, while the gameplay is relatively fast-paced, the amount of coins you must gather is rather high, and considering you are competing against another alien, it can turn into a power struggle, which makes 'matches', or 'stages', go by relatively slowly. It also doesn't help that there's only 8 stages in all.

 Under the Skin is what it is, a quirky Japanese game that's fun for about as long as it lasts, which is about 2 hours. The extra multiplayer modes might get you some extra mileage out of it, although the split-screen felt a bit too cramped for my taste.
 5.5 out of 10

Review #311: Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS - Force

 Bandai Namco misses the mark.

 It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Gundam VS games, Extreme VS and Full Boost being among my favorite games of the past generation. Extreme VS has received two major revisions, Maxi Boost and Maxi Boost ON, but us console gamers have been left in the dust. We've waited years for the next console port, only to be greeted with... this.

 What is the Gundam Vs games known for? For the 2 on 2 fighting. Every console port of the series has included at least Arcade Mode and Offline VS(Player and CPU), ever since Federation VS Zeon on PS2, and most of the time, they also included lengthy Missions Modes for Console players. Extreme VS Force only has Mission Mode.  Oh, there's offline VS too... but not against CPUs, only other players via ad hoc. What the...? They made a mode that's always been an extra, that's been a diversion, the main course. The only course. And it's only 93 missions long. Extreme VS' mission mode had over 100, and I think Full Boost had almost 100. But they also included Offline VS CPU, Online VS and Arcade Modes with multiple routes. This is a problem.

 So, what's 'Force Mode' all about? It's a collection of missions with various goals. Usually you have to defeat every enemy, defeat the enemy ship or capture all bases before your ship is destroyed or the enemy captures all bases. Missions have different requirements, depending on the missions you'll be allowed to take up to five units with you, divided into four teams of twos, and sometimes, even a ship unit. The A.I, when engaging in fights, is decent, but they won't move unless you tell them to, which you do by tapping L. You can't tell'em to go after a unit, but you can pinpoint them to key spots on the map, and they'll fight anything that comes their way, which is a bit weird to say the least. Destroying enemy units will net you Force Points which can then be used in the Strategy Menu, which range from temporary damage buffs to healing. There's no real depth to the game, but it can be fun.

 It can be fun because the engine was not made for this type of game. For instance, the camera and the lock on target is terrible. This works in the 2 on 2 battles the engine was meant to run, but when there's up to six targets on the screen, locking on to your desired enemy can be a bit of a pain. Sure, you can use the right analog stick to direct the lock, but it's still not very efficient. While not locked onto a unit, you can rotate the camera with the right analog stick or press R+O to set it behind your back. R+O is also used to release the lock. It's a bit cumbersome, but it can be managed.

 Finishing missions grants your units experience points, which makes them stronger as they level up, and grant you GP. GP is used to unlock certain missions or to buy buffs before missions. They are also used to restore your machines. Y'see, the game wants you to play as the other units, so using the same machine more than once in a row will lower its max HP for the next mission. It's dumb, because it's counter-intuitive. You want to level up your units, so you have to use them, but if you use them too much they deteriorate. And why did they do it? Because this is the only way to play the game there is, and they don't want you to get bored by relying on the same units over and over again. Which would've been fixed by having a VS CPU mode, like every other game in the series, because even the word 'Versus' is on the title, but Namco just couldn't be arsed. So many times did I unlock a new unit and thought to myself 'Cool! Now let's try out on a fight!'... only to remind myself that I had to play one of the missions. To be faire, there's a few 2 on 2 fights among the missions, but it's always against the same units.

 And then there's the character roster. Vanilla Extreme VS had over 60 units. Full boost had over 90. Let's go even before that, Gundam VS Gundam on the PSP had over 60 units as well. Extreme VS Force only has 40. The other games also had more modes as well. And the saddest part is I could've done with the reduced character roster if only it had had offline VS CPU at least.

 On its own, Extreme VS Force is a decent game. On its own. But as part of the Gundam VS franchise, this is so underwhelming. So lackluster. It's not up to the series standards. All that said, the game is receiving a steady flow of free patches with Arcade, Offline VS and more units. But I don't have any of those yet, so I'm reviewing the game as is. Once there's more meat to it, I will come back to it and rereview it, because I love the series, but as of now, this is shameful towards the franchise..
 4.0 out of 10

Now Playing; Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS - Force

 I hate Sony's Vita account system.

 The way the Vita account system makes it a hassle to get to play with the pre-order bonuses, goddamn it Sony. The PS3 had an excellent account system, but now? Get Sony'd.

 That out of the way, EXTREME VS IS BACK! Kinda. And I'd rather have Maxi Boost, but I'll take what I can get. Anyways, Extreme Force is a bit weird, because it uses the 'Extreme Vs' brand but doesn't even have an offline VS CPU mode. There's only 'Force Mode' and Ad-hoc mode. Because the Vita is so popular. There's also about one third the amount of playable mobile suits Full Boost had. A THIRD. And I could've dealt with the reduced roster if I could've had Offline vs. Which makes this a rather polarizing game...

 ... is what I would've said. The Japanese has been patched, and the Hong Kong version is gonna get the patch in about a month as well, to add offline VS CPU. And it includes 3 more units. And then there's patch 1.03 which adds another 3 units. Which means we'll be getting more free units in the future. And there's offline VS now as well! And I think they promised an Arcade Mode as well.

 Anyways, the game works well on the Vita, after getting used to the shoulder-button shortcuts for the special attacks it's a bit weird going back to double button presses, but it's not too bad. The missions themselves are OK, but it's very clear that this engine was not made for this kind of game. Which means that this could've been a great extra mode, like Mission Mode on Vanilla and Full Boost, but not the main --and only, mode. But it's being fixed now with the addition of other modes via free updates.

 And I'm not in favor of 'fixing', or 'completing' games after release, I actually hate when companies release unfinished games because 'they can patch the rest down the line', y'know, like Capcom and Street Fighter V. But this is Gundam Extreme VS, dammit!

Now Playing: Ar Tonelico Qoga - Knell of Ar Ciel

 Now this game is borderline creepy.

 Oh, Japan, you crazy bunch of perverts you! Taking creepiness into the next level, Ar Tonelico is a game where waifu moe girls that look 10 years old or younger get stronger as they lose clothes. Yeah, they went full Japan. As years went by, Japanese Media has centered around fanservice, and there's no escaping it, it doesn't matter what show you are watching, what manga you are reading or what game you are playing, if it comes from Japan, chances are it's gonna have fanservice. And I got tired of it. Which means we're already off to a bad start.

 But here's the deal, I wasn't the biggest fan of Ar Tonelico 1, so I never got the sequel, and even if I considered it, the game breaking bug surrounding a certain boss was a huge turn off. But then I came across some footage from Ar Tonelico Qoga, and 'OMG IT LOOKS JUST LIKE THE TALES GAMES!', so I decided to give it a try! And here I am, rather disappointed.

 The combat is a shallow shadow copy of the one from the Tale's games. Battles take place in real time, while three combatants run around dishing damage and protecting a fourth, a girl that sings magic. It's a bit more complex than that, timing your hits with the tempo of the song will make a gauge, in the form of a heart, fill, and then you can purge their... you can purge their clothes, to make them stronger. Welcome to Japan. And that's the gist of it, it's simple to a fault.

 And then there's the story, it feels like I'm playing Ar Tonelico 1. There's substitute characters for the two Reyvateils, and the third 'secret' one is a carbon copy of AT 1's secret Rv, there's even an Ayatame look alike too. The 'Diving' works exactly like the one from AT 1 and follows the same lame generic Japanese waifu-related situations. And while the plot is slightly different, it still plays out in the same way, as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure the brunette Reyvateil works for the bad guys, just as the brunette Reyvateil did on the first game.

 Basically, if you like waifu, fanservice fests, this is your game. If you liked Ar Tonelico 1 and don't mind more of the same, this is your game. Because there is an audience for this game, one that I'm not a part of. Everyone else, like me, would do better to skip it. Except that I already bought it, so I'm gonna follow this game all the way to the end, even if it kills me.