The Seven-Dimensional Let's Play [Ar Nosurge]

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Seven-Dimensional Let's Play [Ar Nosurge]

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Video- �Ar Nosurge Intro�

Watch

A God that comes from a world far away, descends and creates utopia on a new world�
That Song shall bring destruction and blessings to a perishing world.
People call this God� Earthes.

And now it’s that time again, once more Gust has put one of these out and once more unto the breach of :japan:

I shall ride. Let�s bring a couple things up now.

What is Ar Nosurge?
Ar Nosurge is soooort of a sequel to the Ar Tonelico series in a conceptual sense, though its actual setting and timing relation to those games will not be immediately apparent as of the start. It is also a direct sequel to a game we probably will never see, Ciel Nosurge. It features a whole bunch more awesome music from series veterans Akiko Shikata, Haruka Shimotsuki, and Noriko Mitose, as well as Yoshino Nanjo (who actually was a voice actress in the original Ar Tonelico) and the sadly late Origa (who passed in January to lung cancer). It�s also a very close second to Ar Tonelico 2 for best game in the series in my opinion.

You mentioned Ciel Nosurge and that this is a sequel?
Yeah, so about that. If you�d really like to look up a synopsis of that game it would I suppose make some things more clear, but honestly I didn�t find it that necessary. This game does a pretty decent job getting across what you need to know about Ciel Nosurge, on purpose I think because they knew this would be getting a western release and that wouldn�t.

EDIT: Viewer FrantzX helpfully provided a link to everything you could ever need to know about Ciel Nosurge.

Note on Localization:
So, this is the first game in the series that wasn�t localized by NISA. You�re probably thinking �oh that�s good, because NISA is constantly loving things up.� Well guess again, because this game�s localization is riddled with inconsistencies in location and character names. You won�t necessarily notice unless you watch the text in voiced videos, though, because I�ll sort that out in the transcripts for readability.

A Note on Spoilers:
Please don't, if you know what's coming you also know it's awesome and it would suck to spoil it.

LET'S BE CLEAR HERE
If a major thing from Ciel Nosurge's plot happens to actually get a pretty significant treatment in this game, please do NOT mention it so it can be a surprise for everyone else!

Cast:

Delta:
A pretty laid back guy who owns a restaurant. Seems to have been a part of an elite security unit before doing something that got him kicked out. Voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch.

Cass:
Delta�s friend, and a Genomis. Part of PLASMA, an elite anti-Sharl unit. Voiced by Stephanie Sheh, sung by Yoshino Nanjo.

Ion:
The Lighthouse Keeper, and the main character of Ciel Nosurge. Was just rescued from limbo after having her destroyed memories reconstructed. Voiced by Cristina Vee, sung by Akiko Shikata.

Earthes:
A badass robot Ion built, because she does things like that. Is being remote controlled by someone it seems. Unvoiced.

Sarly:
Seems to be someone Delta and Cass know, we saw her in a dream sequence. Voiced by Cherami Leigh.

Nay:
Lives a double life as the Divine Empress of Felion and Nay the Gale. One day long ago pants destroyed her village, and she has sworn eternal enmity against them. Is secretly a human in a Sharl's body. Voiced by Kira Buckland, sung by Haruka Shimotsuki.

Kanon:
The Enlightened Sovereign of Sharanohiar. Is greatly respected by the Sharl, and good friends with Ion. Voiced by Carrie Keranen, sung by Origa (RIP).

Prime Minister Undou:
The Prime Minister of Felion, and second only to the Divine Empress. It seems he used to know Zill on Ra Ciela.

Shirotaka:
A guy whose technical excellence is only matched by how weird a dude he is. Was believed dead, but it turns out he was Doctor Leolm the whole time. Voiced by Todd Haberkorn.

Renall:
The former Prime Minister. We don't know much more about her because Nelo screwed up her memories. Voiced by Karen Strassman.

Prime:
A weird person we briefly saw in a dream. Later we met her in Cass's Soulscape. Voiced by Sandy Fox.

Prim:
A Dream Genom created by Cass and Delta. Identical to Prime from the Soulscape, though they are different entities. Also voiced by Sandy Fox, and sung by Noriko Mitose.

Cosal:
The Lord of the Genom. Was slightly killed when Ra Ciela was destroyed but has since gotten better. In spite of his self-proclaimed moral superiority to humanity is also Lord of the Dicks. Probably started the Genom/Sharl trend of pants-resistance.

Zill:
Archbishop of the Genomirai Church. Trying to become a god called the Maternal Overseer. Voiced by Wendee Lee.

Nelo:
A strange girl that was holding Ion captive. Also came from another dimension. Voiced by Mela Lee.

Nelico:
A strange person we met inside the world Ion was trapped in. Was actually an Astrocyte Modulation Virus meant to keep her from escaping. Actually seemed pretty nice in spite of that. Voiced by Michelle Ruff.

Tattoria:
A Sharl Ion and Earthes made friends with. Voiced by Erica Mendez.

Vio:
A Genom who lives with Tattoria.

Shurelia:
The first Reyvateil, and administrator of the tower of Ar Tonelico. Her actual name is Eolia, but she doesn't care for that. Voiced by Janice Kawaye.

New Episode :japan:

Icedude supplied this awesome animated version of the Ar Nosurge OS Logo:

Tarezax is a really cool guy and did some art of everyone's favorite IPD

Lunar Suite presents Ar NoSurge.png

Feinne fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Apr 20, 2016

# ? Apr 6, 2015 22:37

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 05:31

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Alright, it�s late. Time to go to bed. What? You want another story? Ugh, fine, how about I tell you about the time we� Huh? A new story, one I�m not even in? Alright then, how about this? I got this one from a friend, and though it�s not so much a new story, I�m sure you haven�t heard it before.

Video- �What Came Before�

Watch for Music

Feinne�s Notes:
The track that plays here is one of Origa�s, and we�ll hear it in full later in the game so I won�t link it now. It�s worth the wait, because it�s one of my favorites and I want a real opportunity to gush over it then.

Long ago, somewhere far away�

There lived a world called Ra Ciela.

When the people of Ra Ciela found themselves in danger, they sacrificed their home in the hopes of escaping.

But something went terribly wrong, and their loss was in vain.

They lost not only their world but their Songs, and were left adrift in despair.

Trapped aboard the ship that was supposed to take them to a new world.

Even then fate was cruel to their people, as strange creatures appeared to attack them, the Sharl.

Some people chose to try and coexist with the Sharl.

Others, to fight them to their last breaths.

Everyone, holding on to the hope that one day they�d escape their floating prison and step foot on the world they were promised.

They�ve been telling me starting stories in the middle of the action is big these days, so let�s do it.

Video- �In Media Res�

Watch

A young man named Delta finds himself someplace strange, not entirely sure how he got there.

A young woman is with him, his friend Cass.

Huh? R-Right, okay!

As is a strange person he�s never met before.

Hehe. Waiting.

Waiting?

Yeah! So you better come find me!

Hey! Hold on!
�Who was that�?

After speaking, the strange girl disappeared into thin air.

Delta and Cass came upon a strange locked door.

If you think it�s suspicious, you should try opening it.

I would, but it�s locked�

So? You already know the passcode, right?

Huh?

Well come on, type in some numbers.

Um� All right, how about�5, 0, 4�9.
It opened? Seriously?

Told you so.

Why? Whatever. Let�s see what�s inside.

Inside the room, they found a young girl and a mechanical soldier!

W-What the hell are those things?!

Here they come!

Damnit!

Feinne�s Notes:
Here is our main combat tutorial. I�ll summarize and accompany with screens as I feel the need to. Combat starts with us choosing a Song Magic. We�re back to being able to choose from multiple Songs now, though for now we�ve only got the one with Cass.

Having chosen our Song Magic, we�re thrust into our turn. Let�s examine the battle screen so I can point out the various parts.

The right side of the screen is ours, and the left the enemy�s. In the top right we see our Burst, how strong our Song Magic currently is. This raises automatically as turns pass in battle, but at a greatly accelerated pace depending on our performance. More on that later. Directly below that is our heroine�s Barrier, effectively our hit points. The heroine has four Barrier sections, and when one is fully depleted it becomes much harder to heal that damage back. We�ll talk more about that in a more advanced combat discussion later. Further down we see our attacks, including how many of each we currently have. Square attacks are our standard combo, triangle attacks hit multiple targets, and �x� attacks knock enemies back and do heavy Break damage. Circle attacks exist, but we don�t have access to them right now. At the very bottom we see the Harmonics gauge, which can be used to power more powerful attacks and is charged by our combos. Now, you might notice two of the enemies have little exclamation points above their heads. That means they�re the enemies that are going to attack us.

When the enemy turn comes around, any enemies that had warnings that are still able to attack will and we�ll be forced to Defend. We want to hold the Circle button down when the attack actually lands, which can be tricky timing sometimes. I say enemies still able to attack, because we have several techniques to stop them. The first, obviously, is to kill all the enemies that are going to attack. If we can�t do that, though, we can also Break enemies. As we attack them, a little meter below their health will fill. If we can fill it up, they�ll be Broken and their turn will be skipped (except for some very powerful enemies, which will merely lose some of their actions). If we can defeat/Break all enemies that were going to attack, we get an extra turn and bonus Burst charge. This is important because most fights actually only give us limited Turns, as we�ll see next time when we fight a regular random encounter. Up top we see the Enemy Waves, which tells us how many enemies are left and also lets us know if we�ve got powerful enough Song Magic to just win. Again, we�ll discuss that next time. Let�s get back to the game.

It seemed Delta knew this girl as well.

Sarly?!

Now, if you don�t mind, could you get me out of this prison?
Then, when we�re alone together, you can wipe these tears from my face with those big hands of yours�

What are you talking about�? And where are you?

You�re horrible!

What?!
Urgh!?

Video- �Delta and Cass�

Watch

Opening on a dream sequence is also pretty big these days.

Cass�? What are you doing here?

I have the day off, so I thought I�d come by and help you out again!

How many times have I gotta say it? You don�t need to do that.

What?!

I can run the place by myself.

Maybe during the week, but that�s because you only get customers on the weekends when I�m here!

H-Hey, wait a minute!

Just get up! I�ll start cleaning, you go set up the sign. Chop, chop!

Yeah, yeah, all right�

You know come to think about it, why is it that nobody I�ve ever met or heard of who runs restaurants can actually cook?

�

�It sure is quiet.

That�s because there�s no one here.

Yeah� Not a single fly, even with you here.

You don�t have any ingredients! Who�d want to visit a restaurant with nothing on the menu?!

I do too have something on the menu! Chazen fried rice!

Your �fried rice� is just a huge mound of rice with salt on it!

It�s filling!

It�s just rice and salt, you idiot!

Hey!

Whatever. Close up and we can go buy some ingredients.

You were the one who told me to open in the first place!

Well, I didn�t think a restaurant wouldn�t have any food in it!

Come on, it�s hard to take that sign down once it�s up. You want ingredients, you go buy them!

There was something else behind the argument, though it wasn�t clear what.

After you� after you did THAT to the city!

�

�Sorry. Let�s just go get some ingredients, alright? We can�t make anything otherwise.

�Yeah.

Cass worked for the special anti-Sharl unit, PLASMA, as it seemed had Delta until recently.

�Hasn�t changed much since you left.

Haven�t there been more deployments lately? And more Sharl attacks�?

That�s classified. You know I can�t talk about it.

Yeah, I do, but people are starting to catch on. They know something�s up, and they�re scared.

You�re just paranoid. Besides, the Sharl can attack all they want, they can�t break the Barrier.

What about the people outside the Barrier?

We�ve been telling everyone we can not to go to the outside, and we run regular patrols out there too.

So they should just abandon their homes and farms to live inside the Barrier? Where would they live?

Nay�s working on that. Things are going to get better.

How many people in Felion are going to get taken by the Sharl before they do?

You need to stop talking now.

�

Cass, it seemed, did not want to talk about work on her day off.

Hm� Chazen, Stuffed Hamburger, maybe some Salsalad� And how about Terolcake for dessert?

Not bad.

Right?

What else?

That�s it.

Wait, seriously?

I think I�ll call that the A Meal.

What about the B Meal?

There is no B Meal.

So it�s just a slightly fancier version of a normal dinner�?

My restaurant is about quality, not variety.

Ugh�

All right, meat comes first!

Work, however, intruded whether she liked it or not.

Yes, this is Casty.
What? Oh�okay, yes� I�ll get going then, Bye.

What happened?

Nay�s run off again.

Not again�

I think I know where she�s gone. Would you mind coming with me? Since we�re already out here.

What? Why�?

Because I�m helping you on my day off!

O-Okay, I get it� So where are we going?

Outside the Barrier.

Outside� Wait, you�re serious?! What if we get attacked by the Sharl?

Well, if they aren�t hurting anyone, we can always just run away.

Can�t we just let PLASMA take care of this?

What if Nay runs into some Sharl? No, we need to bring her home, now.

Then let PLASMA look for her!

She�s probably in disguise. That�s why the Prime Minister called me.

Gah� Why can�t she act more like a princess?

You don�t know how many times I�ve asked myself the same thing. Come on, we need to move.

Okay, it�s seriously getting late now. We�ll pick this up next time. Bed, now.

Next Time, Ar Nosurge: Nay the Gale

# ? Apr 6, 2015 22:37

FrantzX: Jan 28, 2007

While knowledge of the prequel, Ciel nosurge, is not necessary, I think that it does help alot. If you have a couple of hours to spare, you can get a comprehensive writeup of Ciel nosurge at the following link:

http://www.unit03.net/view/Ciel_nosurge/Summary

# ? Apr 6, 2015 22:50

Internet Kraken: Apr 24, 2010; slightly amused

Well this setting seems somewhat interesting. From the way people were talking about this game in your last thread though its supposed to have massive amounts of :japan:

in a bad way. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 23:17

Seraphic Neoman: Jul 19, 2011

I dunno, I don't think anything can go as far as Qoga did. That was a hell of a thing even by the series' standards.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 23:26

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

It's not really as :japan:

as Qoga, nothing can be.

Update probably tomorrow? I really love this game so if I've got content I'm going to get it out as quickly as I can.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 00:02

AstraSage: May 13, 2013

Thankfully not as :japan:

as Qoga. Even though it does still have a few eyebrow-raising moments...

FrantzX posted:

While knowledge of the prequel, Ciel nosurge, is not necessary, I think that it does help alot. If you have a couple of hours to spare, you can get a comprehensive writeup of Ciel nosurge at the following link:

http://www.unit03.net/view/Ciel_nosurge/Summary

Actually, the guy that made up the writeup went a step further and is currently making (Up to Chapter 2's end at the time of this post) a Video Playthrough of the what you need to know from the game.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 00:07

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Is it me, or is the game's audio poorly balanced? A lot of times, the music drowns out the dialogue. Like, during the intro, the song began to completely drown out the narrator towards the end. And then again during both the discussion about PLASMA between Delta and Cass and the meal options, their voices were drowned out by the background music.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 00:56

Icedude: Mar 30, 2004

Been looking forward to this one! But yeah, this is going to get nowhere near as :stonk:

as Qoga, so you don't have to worry about that (although the pink-haired girl and another character's designs seem to be trying to come close).

Oh, and if you're crazy enough to care about what all the green terminal text in the introductory "What Came Before" video says, here's a pastebin version of the bit from the start of it and the bit at the end.

AstraSage posted:

Actually, the guy that made up the writeup went a step further and is currently making (Up to Chapter 2's end at the time of this post) a Video Playthrough of the what you need to know from the game.

Well, I was beaten to posting that. It's not too far in yet (only up to the end of Chapter 2), but it's pretty good quality.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 01:13

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

AradoBalanga posted:

Is it me, or is the game's audio poorly balanced? A lot of times, the music drowns out the dialogue. Like, during the intro, the song began to completely drown out the narrator towards the end. And then again during both the discussion about PLASMA between Delta and Cass and the meal options, their voices were drowned out by the background music.

I can mess with the audio balance in the game for the future and turn the dialog up. It won't affect the next update (which is already recorded) but will go live for updates 3+.

Oh and since I brought this up in the Hundred Knight thread here is the first in the Ar Tonelico drink series (in case you need a little liquid courage for this game).

The Aurica:

1.5 oz White Rum
0.5 oz St. Germain (elderflower liqueur)
Dash of Grenadine

You should end up with a light pink drink, sweet with floral hints.

The management is not responsible if you die of alcohol poisoning.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Apr 7, 2015

# ? Apr 7, 2015 01:33

wdarkk: Oct 26, 2007; Friends: Protected
World: Saved
Crablettes: Eaten

Here we loving go. This will be magical.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 03:43

legoman727: Mar 13, 2010; by exmarx

And once again, Feinne LPs pure Japan for our sins.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 03:55

Pollyanna: Mar 5, 2005; Milk's on them.

I can already tell this game will be special (read: not very good).

# ? Apr 7, 2015 04:03

Einander: Sep 14, 2008; "Yeh've forged a magnificent sword."

"This one's only practice. The real sword I intend to forge will be three times longer."

"Can there really be a sword as monstrous as that in this world?"

"Yes. I can see that sword... Somewhere out there..."

I absolutely love this game--it's a fantastic story, and it's pretty fun to play too. Whoever was in charge really studied Ar Tonelico 2 and figured out why that one was the best in the series, and it really shows.

Shame that, like AT2, it's also riddled with some pretty catastrophic bugs (had to replay four hours due to one; that was not fun), but it's in my top five JRPGs list and may crack top five games, period. It's great.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 04:49

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Pollyanna posted:

I can already tell this game will be special (read: not very good).

This game is pretty amazing at what it's trying to do, honestly. Once you 'get' what's happening it's pretty great.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 05:16

Pollyanna: Mar 5, 2005; Milk's on them.

The dialogue isn't impressing me, but then again there is little to go off of. I'll stick it out and hope it gets better.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 05:50

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

Didn't this suffer from some really bad/lazy translations in some parts?

# ? Apr 7, 2015 06:00

Icedude: Mar 30, 2004

Feinne posted:

This game is pretty amazing at what it's trying to do, honestly. Once you 'get' what's happening it's pretty great.

Do you thing running with a 'No Spoilers' rule would be a good idea?

Argas posted:

Didn't this suffer from some really bad/lazy translations in some parts?

The only really bad stuff is the inconsistencies with character and place names, as Feinne already mentioned.
Well, that and a bug that caused all minor town NPCs to say the last line of another NPC's dialogue and then the first line of their own, leaving everything they say totally incomprehensible, but that eventually got patched :v:

Oh, and also I couldn't post this nice gif of the Ar noSurge logo earlier as I wasn't at my PC:

I tried to make an avatar of it a while back, but I couldn't get it to come out looking good and stay under the size limits

Icedude fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Apr 7, 2015

# ? Apr 7, 2015 06:12

David Corbett: Feb 6, 2008; Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.

A new Ar Tonelico game? With music by the same people? That's less creepy? Man, count me in. I still keep some of the hymmnos on my iPod; hoping there will be more.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 06:18

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Since it was brought up, I will articulate that yes for the love of god don't spoil stuff about this game, it's goddamn crazy later and it'd be terrible to ruin that for people.

Probably an update tomorrow, then likely Thursday for the next one since it's going to be a bit more text heavy (I'm sure people who've gone through all three of the previous games have an idea what we might run into earlyish in the game that's super text heavy).

David Corbett posted:

A new Ar Tonelico game? With music by the same people? That's less creepy? Man, count me in. I still keep some of the hymmnos on my iPod; hoping there will be more.

You will not be disappointed, the new performances for this are very solid. Akiko Shikata actually did a whole new language for Ra Ciela and you also get some really interesting effect from the fact that Origa's two are actually in Ra Cielan and Russian.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Apr 7, 2015

# ? Apr 7, 2015 06:20

Argas: Jan 13, 2008; SRW Fanatic

I guess I better dust off my PS3 and make time for this game because I don't think I can just sit back and follow the LP of one of my favorite series.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 06:25

Tzarnal: Dec 26, 2011

If nothing else the Ar Tonelico music will always be good.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 08:32

Lord Ephraim: Feb 22, 2008; That's one way to get ahead in life, but nothing beats an axe to the face.

I didn't read anything about Ciel Nosurge, jumped into Ar Nosurge and felt lost. As I played more of the game, I came to grasp the story better, but I still felt one step behind. It doesn't help that a lot of the talking is just filler and boring, just ended up skipping most of the text.

Gameplay was weird and unappealing. Even the mindless battle system of Qoqa felt more involved.

I did feel a little nostalgic when I heard Johnny Yong Bosch voicing a JRPG protagonist again.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 09:26

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

It's storytime with Mir again :woop:

. At least, narrator feels like Feinne's Mir.

It's way, way too early to speculate, so I'll just notice that apparently we have magical songstresses again, but they don't seem Reyvateils.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 09:30

Wales Grey: Jun 20, 2012

Feinne posted:

You will not be disappointed, the new performances for this are very solid. Akiko Shikata actually did a whole new language for Ra Ciela and you also get some really interesting effect from the fact that Origa's two are actually in Ra Cielan and Russian.

Yes.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 10:36

AfroSquirrel: Sep 3, 2011

Icedude posted:

Well, that and a bug that caused all minor town NPCs to say the last line of another NPC's dialogue and then the first line of their own, leaving everything they say totally incomprehensible, but that eventually got patched

I knew something was off with NPC chatter, but that... is a creative way to screw up.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 11:16

FrickenMoron: May 6, 2009; Good game!

Its actually a pretty good game, I read the summary for Ciel though before playing this and it helped, a lot. My main gripe with this game is the art design for some characters. The artist who does the CG is terrible.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 11:29

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

In case this wasn't clear, the previous game was about all the stuff that led up to their planet blowing up. I don't think it's particularly confusing though: it feels mostly like they're setting themselves up for a huge flashback at some point, and then you slowly realize it'll never happen but you've already picked up on the important bits anyway.

I guess what I mean to say is that you can tell something's missing, but it's not all that important.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 11:50

filthychimp: Jan 2, 2006; Damned dirty ape

Yeah, the fact that Feinne titled that second video "In Media Res" is no coincidence. If you played the previous game, you'd know a bit about these characters, but have no clue what they're doing now or why they're doing it. The fact that it's hard to separate "stuff I don't know because I skipped a game" and "stuff I don't know because that's how this game is written" makes the opening stages of the game even more disorienting than intended. And oh god that NPC dialogue bug.

I wish the combat in this game was more involved. I'll settle for the LP.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 12:48

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

The combat in the game is kind of as involved as you make it, on Normal you will walk over everything with laughable ease but if you raise the difficulty things can definitely get more exciting at times. Update sometime later today.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 14:27

ACES CURE PLANES: Oct 21, 2010

Aww yeah, here we go, it finally begins. Good luck Feinne.

I do disagree on the Ciel Nosurge stuff not being necessary though. There's just so much poo poo in it that this game calls back to, and stuff like basic character motivations or actions sometimes just don't make any sense without it. It's a cool idea, doing the multiple game thing across systems, but making the one that sets everything up basically impossible to port over is kind of dumb, even by Gust standards.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 18:54

FrickenMoron: May 6, 2009; Good game!

I do pity the japanese nerds that spent over a year playing Ciel though, the updates came out like once a month or so and you had to babysit the game every so often I Think? Also Ar Nosurge came out and spoiled the Ciel ending before the Ciel ending was even done in the game.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:00

ACES CURE PLANES: Oct 21, 2010

Oh, yeah, totally. I actually forgot about all the dumb babysitting stuff and just remembered the actual plot of the game. That just makes it worse.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:05

Opiomorphone: Nov 30, 2014

Is there any reason why it takes place in 7th dimensions? Or was it the developers rolling a d6 and adding 3/4. Because it seems random, like why remove 3 whole dimensions?

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:21

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Opiomorphone posted:

Is there any reason why it takes place in 7th dimensions? Or was it the developers rolling a d6 and adding 3/4. Because it seems random, like why remove 3 whole dimensions?

All I can say without spoiling quite a bit about the game is yes, yes there is a reason. So much so of a reason that I ended up passing over much funnier titles for one that mentioned it.

EDIT: Also update in strong progress, and includes a thing I know everyone familiar with this game has been waiting for. Y'all who don't know what's coming are going to DIE it's just amazing.

Feinne fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Apr 7, 2015

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:24

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

So, having just watched the intro and skimmed the first update, this looks like Ar Xenosaga to me. Not that I won't wait with bated breath for more updates...

# ? Apr 7, 2015 20:29

Giovanni_Sinclair: Apr 25, 2009; It was on this day that his greatest enemy defeated, the true lord of darkness arose. His name? MARIO.

Yay another Ar Tonelico series game, all of them been a fun wild ride (Qoga was a really fun one).

# ? Apr 7, 2015 21:39

Feinne: Oct 9, 2007; When you fall, get right back up again.

Jeez, settle down, I�m getting to it. So, last time Delta and Cass were sent to look for someone named Nay, who was outside of Felion�s Barrier.

Feinne�s Notes:
The world map is one of the big offenders as far as having localization issues. These very screens I�m about to show call their ship the �Soreil� and �Orei� (I�m going to suspect it�s probably supposed to be the �Soleil� given Gust is a big fan of French words but Orei is what they use most commonly in the localization so I suppose I�ll go with that).

There were few people still living outside the Barrier, thanks to the constant Sharl attacks.

Yeah, me too.

Feinne�s Notes:
Now we�re in an area with two new systems, random encounters and the Community Ring.

So, first the encounter bar. The color coding, as always, tells us how close we are to an encounter. The main thing to watch for though is the number in the circle, which tells us how many Waves are present in the area still. See, when we run into a random encounter in an area, we run into ALL of them at once. So for example here we will run into 15 waves, for which we will have something like 5 Turns. Combat ends when we either run out of Turns (by ending too many of our own turns without having killed or Broken every enemy), killed all the Waves, or use Song Magic (which always ends a random encounter whether it wipes out all enemy Waves or not). It�s pretty nice honestly, since if we do things right we get one random encounter in an area then we�re good to explore.

The Community Ring is just a little something where the various people hanging around with us at any given time will say things about the situation, location, and items we pick up. I might just collect them into some side updates except for ones that really seem relevant to what�s going on.

Here�s our first combat resolution screen. For the most part our goal in combat is to get the highest Burst we can in order to multiply our rewards by as much as possible, which helps minimize how much we really need to do random fights. Alright, on with the game now.

Their ship, the Orei, was not exactly in the best shape even without strange creatures attacking people.

�Then again, for all we know we�re the only ship out here. Wherever �here� is�

I don�t know if the navigation system is even working anymore.
We don�t seem to have moved since the first time I looked.

Well when you put it that way, I guess nobody knows if the Orei is moving at all.

How long do you think we were in stasis, looking for a new planet?

Long enough for the people living around Felion to call us �Ancients.�

Yeah� I feel like a bit of a fossil.

Video- �Nay the Gale�

Watch

A rather familiar robot and a group of Sharl awaited on the other side of the door.

Oh no, this looks bad.

We need to protect those people!

Someone else, though, was already there.

It wasn�t in the best circumstances, but they had found their friend Nay.

Man: It�s her! She�s here!
Woman: Help us, Ms. Nay!

It�s Nay the Gale!

Nay!

I told you, it�s Nay the? Cass? Delta! What are you guys doing here?

Later! What are those things?!

I dunno. They just smashed through the wall a little while ago.

We have to stop them!

Yeah, but how?

With force, naturally.

Come on Delta! You can help!

�This is really not how I was hoping my day would go.

Feinne�s Notes:
A few more tutorials here. The game tells us about Breaks officially now, you always want to Break enemies that are going to attack if you can. We also get told about Harmonics levels and one of the major benefits we get out of raising them, support effects from our partner. In very basic terms, she�ll shoot song magic poo poo at stuff we�re attacking to support our efforts in increasing amounts as the Harmonics level rises. There�s more to it, but that�ll wait for another day given how tutorial heavy this update�s already been (and that there�s still more to go).

I cannot personally recommend relying on robots for security purposes, it�s way too easy to have them turned against you.

I�m sure the Sharl were sent by the Genomirai Church, just like always.

Again? It seems like they�ve been pushing closer and closer to Felion lately.

There�ve been fewer and fewer people out here too. They�ve already taken so many of them�

Is this machine from the Church then too?

No idea. It just appeared out of nowhere and busted through the wall.

Hm�interesting�

I�I think I�ve seen this thing before.

What? Where?

This morning. In�um, in a dream.

What�?

Ha ha ha�seriously? Are you still half-asleep? This is ridiculous!

I-I�m not asleep!

If you were that tired you should�ve slept in!

You were the one who woke me up!

Nay, however, seemed interested in hearing more about Delta�s earlier dream. I guess the dream sequence is a winner, let me note that down real quick.

I don�t really remember, but�Sarly was there.

Stop that. Sarly is�

That�s enough, Cass. Why don�t you call PLASMA to come get rid of this machine and help these people?

Right. Sure.

Delta, I want you to tell me as much about your dream as you can remember.

Okay. �Cass and I were in some place I�d never seen before.
She kept saying stuff I didn�t understand, so I just kind of ignored it. We got to this locked room�

What happened then?

There was a machine in there, like that one, and Sarly�

Did she say anything?

Something about helping her, and�big hands�?

Hmm.
Okay, I think I got it. Would you mind coming back with me? After Cass cools off a bit�

I don�t mind, but I think she might.

Why?

She kept grumbling about how his was her day off.

Hm�? Oh, yes, it was. Okay, I�ll send someone to pick you both up some other time.

Fine by me.

And I�ll make sure you get a reward for what you did today too. See you then!

Some other time, at PLASMA Headquarters�

Hey, I�m the one getting jerked around here.

Details! This place is so formal and stiff, though. I hate it.

Well you won�t have to suffer long. Just white-knuckle it.

Ugh�
PLASMA Troop A: The Divine Empress awaits. Please, enter.

Video- �Divine Meeting�

Watch

Being called for a meeting with the people in charge is less impressive when you actually know them. Then it turns into a huge argument when you make one little crack about them getting lost all the time, so touchy.

Casty Rianoit, Delta Lantanoil, you have served us well.
Your valor is deserving of a reward.

Th-Thank you very much.

There is something further I wish to ask of you.

Is this a royal request from Her Majesty?

You may view it that way if you prefer.
After telling us they would soon return, we lost contact with our engineer sent to infiltrate Quanturv.

Was this engineer Sarly�?

It seemed their friend Sarly really was missing and they were to go find her.

Wait, you mean Delta too?

The Prime Minister will furnish you with details, but in short we mean to hire him. As a mercenary.

What?!

�Ahem.

Uh, he�s already been kicked out of PLASMA once, and he, uh�

Is there a problem?

�No, just�

I�m honored by the offer, Divine Empress, but I�ve got a restaurant back in the city, so�

Your business will be seen to. You needn�t worry.

Ugh� Thanks.

Delta Lantanoil.

Yes?

PLASMA has neither forgotten nor forgiven your transgression. Remember that.
This task is a chance for you to prove your loyalty to Felion. I look forward to seeing you do so.

�Sure.

Mmm? What did Delta do? We haven�t gotten there yet, just wait.

What was?

I just�well, I never thought I�d be working for PLASMA again.

You aren�t. You�re a mercenary.

Same difference.

No it�s not!

Really?

�You understand what this mission�s about, right?

Yeah. Sarly dropped off the radar, we�re supposed to find her.

That�s the official description, yeah.

Wait, there�s more?

Are you really that dumb?!
PLASMA thinks you might work for the Sharl. This mission is a test!

�Huh. Guess I can�t really blame them.
That doesn�t explain why you�re coming with me though.
Quanturv is an enemy stronghold.

It seems that by being close to Delta, Cass had also suffered some problems due to whatever it is he�d done.

What? Why not?

Well, I haven�t been paired up, even though I�m a Genomis.

Why not? Are they shorthanded or something?

No, I�I don�t want a new partner.

Why?

That�s� Look, the point is we�re trouble, so they�re trying to get rid of us.

Nay wouldn�t do that.

Not everyone in PLASMA thinks like Nay.

Hm. Yeah, I guess you�re right.

�Let�s just get going, okay? I�m worried about Sarly.

Hey, Cass?

What?

You know I�ve got your back, right? Whatever happens at Quanturv, I promise I�ll protect you.

Wh-Where�d this come from?! Of course you will, that�s your job!

�Right. Yeah.

So c�mon, let�s go!

Fine. How�re we getting there?

We�ll have to pass through the Power and Residential districts, so let�s get to the Power District.

Before they could leave, Delta had a terrible premonition.

Huh? What is it? Is something wrong?

I just got the weirdest feeling� Like something�s happening at my restaurant�

What? Come on, that�s just your imagination.

No, no, something�s happening! Let�s just stop by and check, okay?

Delta�s worries were founded, though, as something was indeed happening.

What the�?

Oh, hey there guys! Did you forget something?

N-Nay? What are you doing?

Working here, obviously. What do you think? Looks pretty good, right?

Yeah, not bad at�wait, what are you doing working in my restaurant?!

Well, I couldn�t just leave it empty until you got back, so I thought I�d help out.
Here, look, I made a whole new menu!
System Message: Obtained Recipe �Nay�s New Menu�!

What..?

A recipe for my new menu! I was just thinking about making it, you know, to try it out.
Oh! Why don�t you help me? Then you can eat it before you leave.

What do you mean help? This is MY restaurant!

Just calm down, okay? She gave you a new recipe, why don�t you give it a shot?
The only other thing on your menu was that rice anyway.

Yeah, I know, it�s just�

Good! It�s decided! Now let�s get to work!

Feinne�s Notes:
Synthesis is back, and works basically like it did in AT2. You go to the appropriate shop and if you�ve got the items you need you can make a thing. There are some wrinkles to the system that I�ll mention when we get a bit farther into the game and really understand how it works, the big thing you need to know is that synthesis is how you get basically 100% of your stuff in this game, both equipment and consumables. Oh, and of course the chats on the items as you synthesize them are back, and also watch this video below, I hope the accompanying screenshot is enough to indicate why you might want to do that.

Video- �Synthesis, Food with Nay/Delta/Cass�

Watch

And like I said before nobody who understands the first thing about food ever opens restaurants it�s really weird.

That smells really good. I think my stomach�s growling.

I know, right?

Hmm� But what�s this feeling? There�s something different about the smell compared to regular sukiyaki�

Isn�t that because it�s Nay�s original recipe? Mind if I have a taste?

Go ahead, try it while it�s hot.

Alright! I�m gonna dig right in!

Hey, wait Delta! That�s not fair�

URGH!?

D-Delta, what�s wrong!?

�T-there�s this really crunchy texture and sweetness in my mouth�

Wait, why�s there fish in sukiyaki!?

Well, I wanted to change it up from regular sukiyaki, so I replaced the meat with fish.

At least this story has someone other than me suffering from it.

Wait a second, this faint smell� Is this coconut milk!?

Cass, you�re right on the money! I�m surprised you noticed through all the sukiyaki sauce.

Why wouldn you put something like that in here!? Shouldn�t it be obvious that doesn�t go with this!?

I made it different. This flavor and texture are things you don�t have with normal sukiyaki, right?

Yeah, you�re right� It�s something I never want to put in my mouth again.

I think it would be better to call this Sukiyucky than sukiyaki.

That does sound more like real food than some of the things I�ve seen made, though.

A good fit for a restaurant whose previous entire menu was �pile of salty rice�.

Nonsense, you just have to chew it a little. You can get used to anything if you eat enough of it.

Huh�?

Oh, um, in case it wasn�t clear before, Nay is the Divine Empress.

All the people around here know me as Nay, they don�t know I�m the Divine Empress too.

That�s not really the issue�

Besides, I always wanted to run my own restaurant.
So I get to live my dream, and you guys don�t have to worry about the restaurant. Two birds, one stone!

Aaaaaaaaaah!

Wh-What happened?!

M-My sign�

I really have to approve of this play, just going in and putting your mark on things. It�s a good power move.

�

Oh, that old thing. It was so boring. I got you a new one!

You changed it completely! You can�t just put your name on someone else�s restaurant!

Hey, I think you�re being a little harsh. You can always change it back later.

You nailed it up!
I mean, it�s practically part of the wall now!
�No, I take that back, it IS part of the wall! I�d have to take this wall out to get rid of it!

You�re exaggerating.

N-Nay, you didn�t hire Delta to go to Quanturv so you could take over his restaurant, did you�?

�What?

N-No, of course not. I would never do something so clever and perfectly-executed!

Oh no�

Dammit!

Look, you don�t need to worry about the restaurant. I�ll take care of everything! It�ll be fine!
You just need to focus on finishing your mission. I want to know what�s happening out there, so hurry.

As is getting other people to do your busywork.

Honestly, I�ve kind of been letting the Prime Minister manage PLASMA.
My job is to make sure all of our citizens are doing okay, and I like to do that on a personal basis.
As Nay the Gale, of course.
Things are rough right now, I know, but once we get everyone inside the Barrier, we�ll be safe from the Sharl.
I�ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Nay�

Dammit! This sign isn�t budging! Hnnnnnngh!

And then the right finisher for a conversation you don�t want to be having, changing the subject to something they don�t want to talk about.

Wait, that would mean I�d need to connect my heart to his!

Well of course. You�ll need to if you�re going to be partners.

No! No way! I can�t chain with him! He�ll see everything!

All the other Genomis Chain their hearts to their partners.
You understand, right? Genomis weave Song Magic through the world in their hearts. Through Genometrics.

I-I know! I just�

I�m not trying to suggest anything here.
All I�m saying is that we don�t know what�s going to happen, and you should be prepared.

It�s not that simple. I don�t want someone else digging around in my heart.

Nobody�s going to see very far without going into the depths of your Genometrics.
�I don�t think the two of you would be able to go very deep right now anyway.

�

Well, it�s up to you, of course. I�m only saying it�ll be dangerous out there, so be prepared.

�Okay.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Bistro �Nay au Francais�!

Ah no� The nail broke off� Gah!

That�s all for tonight, we�ll pick this up next time with the Genometrics. Which is like a Dive. I think.

Next Time, Ar Nosurge: Trust Issues

# ? Apr 7, 2015 22:06

Icedude: Mar 30, 2004

I love just how unenthusiastic Delta is about this whole dancing thing. What's even better is that if you switch over to the Japanese audio, the characters you're synthesizing with have a song that goes along with the music, and Delta's just as bored sounding as you expect :allears:

_{We've actually kinda seen that dance before already too. If you go back to the dream sequence at the very beginning, Cass is doing the same dance in the background when Delta's talking to Sarly}

And yeah, Nay's the other uncomfortably :japan:

character design I mentioned before.

Feinne posted:

Feinne�s Notes:
The world map is one of the big offenders as far as having localization issues. These very screens I�m about to show call their ship the �Soreil� and �Orei� (I�m going to suspect it�s probably supposed to be the �Soleil� given Gust is a big fan of French words but Orei is what they use most commonly in the localization so I suppose I�ll go with that).

I always thought that the ship itself was the Soreil, but the spherical section where Felion and other residential districts and such are located was known as the Orei. Does kind of make sense that it's just another botched translation though.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 22:39

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 05:31

Internet Kraken: Apr 24, 2010; slightly amused

quote:

I've seen some silly hats before but this is just ridiculous.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 23:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The Seven-Dimensional Let's Play [Ar Nosurge]

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