The combat system seems to take a lot of cues from Neptuna Victory/Rebirth's combat system, where you have enemies with guard meters, X is break, Square is a power attack and Triangle is a rush and/or area attack.
And as mentioned earlier, you'll want to crank it up to Veteran if you're anywhere competent with RPGs, as the game is on the easy side.
It should also be mentioned that the game seems to be trying to give a rough summary of what happened before Ar Nosurge through the brief intro and the fact that Delta can't remember anything prior to him waking up from stasis a few years ago. I don't know how GOOD of an explanation it will be, so reading the link above will give you a good idea of what to expect.
That's what I read, takes around 30 minutes and gives a good short version of the whole Ciel Nosurge story.
Thanks for the link. Oddly enough pastebin is blocked for me at work, but I can get to the full story summary linked in the pastebin (using my phone to get the link).
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
So do you start Ar Nosurge still trapped in her head? Did they ever say who the other woman there was? Or is that dealt with in ArNo?
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
So do you start Ar Nosurge still trapped in her head? Did they ever say who the other woman there was? Or is that dealt with in ArNo?
Well, I haven't Zapped to her story yet, so I'm not sure. I'm certain it starts with her booting up Earthes though, because that's one of the scenes KT America showed off already in a trailer. The game starts with Casty and Delta (Tabou in Ciel, or 'Turbo' in the Ar flashbacks) a few years after their 5000 year sleep.
I don't think they've discussed who the lady with Ion is in her CS, but I would have to assume it's Nero, since it's the only personality that went with Ion.
I'm maybe... 3 or so hours into Ar Nosurge, so I can't exactly give you definitive answers on what's explained or not yet.
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
So do you start Ar Nosurge still trapped in her head? Did they ever say who the other woman there was? Or is that dealt with in ArNo?
Well, I haven't Zapped to her story yet, so I'm not sure. I'm certain it starts with her booting up Earthes though, because that's one of the scenes KT America showed off already in a trailer. The game starts with Casty and Delta (Tabou in Ciel, or 'Turbo' in the Ar flashbacks) a few years after their 5000 year sleep.
I don't think they've discussed who the lady with Ion is in her CS, but I would have to assume it's Nero, since it's the only personality that went with Ion.
I'm maybe... 3 or so hours into Ar Nosurge, so I can't exactly give you definitive answers on what's explained or not yet.
Mostly just making sure I didn't miss anything in my readthru. Anything that gets answered in ArNo I'm happy just knowing it's brought up.
Can't wait to get started on it. Just have to finish up Qoga first!
Actually just ended up reading the pastebin on my phone. Interesting stuff. It's a damn shame we won't get Ciel Nosurge in English
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
If I read that right Ion ended up being in her own Cosmosphere that whole time, right? So goes to move the terminal to the robot and that is where Ciel ends.
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
It's a little more polarized than that. Apparently if you have Ciel save data it's more explicit that you are, but if you don't(i.e. the US players typically would not), you're basically treated as just some robot created by Ion to help her escape and Ciel NoSurge is glossed over almost entirely. Personally I'm somewhat conflicted by this direction, but if they both end up getting localized for the Vita it won't be that big of a deal in the long term.
Far as I'm aware the only soundtracks the west ever got were with the limited editions that were sold at launch.
So import. Gotcha.
I seem to remember playasia.com being a good place to order from. That still the case? I would prefer non-bootleg soundtracks (I don't know if bootlegs are still as prevalent as they used to be).
Edit: Maybe it's finally time to start using iTunes. Reading up on things Japan has it's own version of iTunes, and you can get iTune cards so you don't need a Japanese credit card. hhuumm.
Far as I'm aware the only soundtracks the west ever got were with the limited editions that were sold at launch.
So import. Gotcha.
I seem to remember playasia.com being a good place to order from. That still the case? I would prefer non-bootleg soundtracks (I don't know if bootlegs are still as prevalent as they used to be).
Edit: Maybe it's finally time to start using iTunes. Reading up on things Japan has it's own version of iTunes, and you can get iTune cards so you don't need a Japanese credit card. hhuumm.
The soundtracks have been out of circulation for a while now. You can look, but outside EBay there's not much chance of finding them, and if you want the concerto discs (which you do), get ready to spend $40 each for those.
I don't usually support bootlegging, but then again the copyright issues for those songs to get from Japan to the US is staggering. I bootlegged, and I don't feel bad about it... your options are incredibly limited.
Memory loss. I'm not a fan, but I suppose it has it's uses.
I do think they go a little too far to disassociate the game from its prequel for those that haven't played Ciel, but I've still seen much worse. (Chrono Cross)
Well, part of the way into Phase 2, and loving it so far. Definitely has that feel of "just a few more dive points/items to synthesize/etc" that I got from the first two games.
Unless things really go to hell from here on out, I can definitely say that at the very least it is better than 3. Dunno if it'll be my favorite in the series, but it may pull off second favorite.
Combat is fast and fun. On the easy side, but that's ok with me. I'm here for the story and setting, and Sci-Fi themes and spaceships push my buttons.
Really seems like they took the mechanics and refined them. Diving is awesome, purification is good.
Party members are almost a little TO chatty in the field, but that is ok. Shop Events go a little nuts, at least in the beginning.
Turn it up to Veteran for trash enemies and turn it down for bosses. That seems to give the appropriate difficulty curve.
I'm still kind of face-slamming against bosses in Veteran regardless, but the difficulty is so out of whack for bosses in Veteran that you basically need to use Barrier Recovery items every turn just to survive even while I'm mowing down trash like a wheat thresher.
Combat is fast and fun. On the easy side, but that's ok with me. I'm here for the story and setting, and Sci-Fi themes and spaceships push my buttons.
Really seems like they took the mechanics and refined them. Diving is awesome, purification is good.
Party members are almost a little TO chatty in the field, but that is ok. Shop Events go a little nuts, at least in the beginning.
Turn it up to Veteran for trash enemies and turn it down for bosses. That seems to give the appropriate difficulty curve.
I'm still kind of face-slamming against bosses in Veteran regardless, but the difficulty is so out of whack for bosses in Veteran that you basically need to use Barrier Recovery items every turn just to survive even while I'm mowing down trash like a wheat thresher.
I have it on hard and I'm fine with leaving it there. Over 6 hours in now, and a good bit of that has been in the shops.
Edit: Make that 9+ hours. Exhausted the shop events from Sarly, but still getting them with Nay. Of course, when you get a Lv 4 talk topic from doing so (and you are still in Lv 2) it's time to give the events a rest!
Speaking of talk topics. I've gotten every Lv 1 topic for Cass except the first one on the second row. Anyone gotten that one? It just something that shows up later?
Apparently word's going around that there's a bug with TxBIOS equipment, where harmonics level 1 will activate BIOS items equipped to level 2, level 2 harmonics will activate level 3 equipped BIOS, and level 3 -> level 4 equipped. BIOS items equipped to level 1 will never activate. I've played around with it a bit and it seems like this really is the case.
I have no idea if they're going to patch it, but for now keep in mind that you'll want to keep your BIOS items equipped for level 2 or higher, don't bother equipping anything to level 1.
There needs to be more games with couples banter like Earthes and Ion have. Some of the cutscenes are way too hilarious and adorable without going into anime tropeville. I actually think their interactions make the Delta/Cass side of the story a little more boring as a result.
Additionally, once you get to the point where Nay will craft for Earthes/Ion, you're going to want to re-craft all of the recipes you've already made with Delta/Cass, as there are additional cutscenes between Earthes/Ion/Nay for each of these items. For example, Nay will weave a whole back story around the origins of the "curse of Akiko Sarumi" when you first craft the snack with Delta/Cass, but when you craft it again with Earthes/Ion she'll invent an entirely different origin for the curse.
It always gets on my nerves when writers keep using the same villains over and over.
Zill tricked them into doing something that ended up killing a LOT of people (and that is just at the very end of Ciel Nosurge), and now they are going to go in stasis for 5000 years? She should have been executed on the spot. There is no reason she should have been enabled to even cause problems in Ar Nosurge. Her story should have ended in Ciel Nosurge.
Bleh.
Anyway. Now I have Ion and Earthes. They didn't waste any time busting out of Ion's head
It always gets on my nerves when writers keep using the same villains over and over.
Zill tricked them into doing something that ended up killing a LOT of people (and that is just at the very end of Ciel Nosurge), and now they are going to go in stasis for 5000 years? She should have been executed on the spot. There is no reason she should have been enabled to even cause problems in Ar Nosurge. Her story should have ended in Ciel Nosurge.
Bleh.
Anyway. Now I have Ion and Earthes. They didn't waste any time busting out of Ion's head
Well, even I admit the Ar Tonelico series was one where the games were there to slowly build the world rather than the characters. But it's not the only time characters return, hell for GUST it's a pretty big staple for their games to come in 3's and for some characters to come back. It's almost never the villains, but it's happened a few times.
Mir comes back after AT1 to be the third reyvateil in AT2. Also, the Ayatane clan is a fairly constant villain group that keeps coming back, where pretty much every one of their clan you run into looks the same anyway. May as well be the same person.
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
Decided not to stream as my connection has been spotty lately.
Also is there any particular benefit to having one girl or another name your items, or is BBQ Soda its own reward?
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Decided not to stream as my connection has been spotty lately.
Also is there any particular benefit to having one girl or another name your items, or is BBQ Soda its own reward?
Nope, just different names and new scenes to watch, but nothing more than that. AT2 there's a difference, but only because the same recipe literally makes different items depending on which girl does the synthesizing.
Posts
And as mentioned earlier, you'll want to crank it up to Veteran if you're anywhere competent with RPGs, as the game is on the easy side.
In the meantime, where can I find the best story summary of Ciel Nosurge that covers all the details?
http://pastebin.com/egW4rhTK
That's what I read, takes around 30 minutes and gives a good short version of the whole Ciel Nosurge story.
Thanks for the link. Oddly enough pastebin is blocked for me at work, but I can get to the full story summary linked in the pastebin (using my phone to get the link).
So, full story for me!
A question about the end of Ciel and the beginning of Ar Nosurge
Does Ar pick up with her hooking up to the robot and still in her Cosmosphere?
Not really a spoiler but yeah, the robot Earthes is the same receiver from Ciel, and is basically you. At the end she remarks there's no guarantee she'll contact the same person, so she doesn't act like she knows you, unless you have Ciel save data.
So do you start Ar Nosurge still trapped in her head? Did they ever say who the other woman there was? Or is that dealt with in ArNo?
Well, I haven't Zapped to her story yet, so I'm not sure. I'm certain it starts with her booting up Earthes though, because that's one of the scenes KT America showed off already in a trailer. The game starts with Casty and Delta (Tabou in Ciel, or 'Turbo' in the Ar flashbacks) a few years after their 5000 year sleep.
I don't think they've discussed who the lady with Ion is in her CS, but I would have to assume it's Nero, since it's the only personality that went with Ion.
I'm maybe... 3 or so hours into Ar Nosurge, so I can't exactly give you definitive answers on what's explained or not yet.
Mostly just making sure I didn't miss anything in my readthru. Anything that gets answered in ArNo I'm happy just knowing it's brought up.
Can't wait to get started on it. Just have to finish up Qoga first!
It's a little more polarized than that. Apparently if you have Ciel save data it's more explicit that you are, but if you don't(i.e. the US players typically would not), you're basically treated as just some robot created by Ion to help her escape and Ciel NoSurge is glossed over almost entirely. Personally I'm somewhat conflicted by this direction, but if they both end up getting localized for the Vita it won't be that big of a deal in the long term.
Enjoy the Origa song at the beginning when they briefly sum up Ciel. One of my favorites of the new game.
Soundtracks. Import only or can we get them in the US?
Been a long time since I imported Japanese music. Damn you Ar Tonelico!
So import. Gotcha.
I seem to remember playasia.com being a good place to order from. That still the case? I would prefer non-bootleg soundtracks (I don't know if bootlegs are still as prevalent as they used to be).
Edit: Maybe it's finally time to start using iTunes. Reading up on things Japan has it's own version of iTunes, and you can get iTune cards so you don't need a Japanese credit card. hhuumm.
The soundtracks have been out of circulation for a while now. You can look, but outside EBay there's not much chance of finding them, and if you want the concerto discs (which you do), get ready to spend $40 each for those.
I don't usually support bootlegging, but then again the copyright issues for those songs to get from Japan to the US is staggering. I bootlegged, and I don't feel bad about it... your options are incredibly limited.
Like giving reason to tell the Yanks what happened before the amnesia...
I do think they go a little too far to disassociate the game from its prequel for those that haven't played Ciel, but I've still seen much worse. (Chrono Cross)
This weekend I'm starting up a new playthrough of Melody of Elemia.
Stream it? Y/N
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Backlog Challenge List
Don't know how long I'd be able to watch, but I'd check it out.
Just to hear Snazzin Smith's horrible voice again.
CDJapan! I used to order from there. Forgot all about them.
Unless things really go to hell from here on out, I can definitely say that at the very least it is better than 3. Dunno if it'll be my favorite in the series, but it may pull off second favorite.
Combat is fast and fun. On the easy side, but that's ok with me. I'm here for the story and setting, and Sci-Fi themes and spaceships push my buttons.
Really seems like they took the mechanics and refined them. Diving is awesome, purification is good.
Party members are almost a little TO chatty in the field, but that is ok. Shop Events go a little nuts, at least in the beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5zvzTcqrE
Turn it up to Veteran for trash enemies and turn it down for bosses. That seems to give the appropriate difficulty curve.
I'm still kind of face-slamming against bosses in Veteran regardless, but the difficulty is so out of whack for bosses in Veteran that you basically need to use Barrier Recovery items every turn just to survive even while I'm mowing down trash like a wheat thresher.
I have it on hard and I'm fine with leaving it there. Over 6 hours in now, and a good bit of that has been in the shops.
Edit: Make that 9+ hours. Exhausted the shop events from Sarly, but still getting them with Nay. Of course, when you get a Lv 4 talk topic from doing so (and you are still in Lv 2) it's time to give the events a rest!
Speaking of talk topics. I've gotten every Lv 1 topic for Cass except the first one on the second row. Anyone gotten that one? It just something that shows up later?
I just defeated
I have no idea if they're going to patch it, but for now keep in mind that you'll want to keep your BIOS items equipped for level 2 or higher, don't bother equipping anything to level 1.
Additionally, once you get to the point where Nay will craft for Earthes/Ion, you're going to want to re-craft all of the recipes you've already made with Delta/Cass, as there are additional cutscenes between Earthes/Ion/Nay for each of these items. For example, Nay will weave a whole back story around the origins of the "curse of Akiko Sarumi" when you first craft the snack with Delta/Cass, but when you craft it again with Earthes/Ion she'll invent an entirely different origin for the curse.
Zill tricked them into doing something that ended up killing a LOT of people (and that is just at the very end of Ciel Nosurge), and now they are going to go in stasis for 5000 years? She should have been executed on the spot. There is no reason she should have been enabled to even cause problems in Ar Nosurge. Her story should have ended in Ciel Nosurge.
Bleh.
Anyway. Now I have Ion and Earthes. They didn't waste any time busting out of Ion's head
Well, even I admit the Ar Tonelico series was one where the games were there to slowly build the world rather than the characters. But it's not the only time characters return, hell for GUST it's a pretty big staple for their games to come in 3's and for some characters to come back. It's almost never the villains, but it's happened a few times.
Also is there any particular benefit to having one girl or another name your items, or is BBQ Soda its own reward?
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Backlog Challenge List
Nope, just different names and new scenes to watch, but nothing more than that. AT2 there's a difference, but only because the same recipe literally makes different items depending on which girl does the synthesizing.
I forgot, was it Luca that could cook, or was it Jaqli. Because Jaqli always wins, so we have a paradox if that isn't the case.