Ar tonelico Qoga Knell of Ar Ciel Impressions

I just got this game yesterday on my b-day and I love it. Ar (for short since its such a long name) is a great rpg game (for me at least). Here is the review. (P.S No spoilers so you have to get the game to find out what I'm talking about. Synopsis from Amazon).

Story

"Ar Ciel, a planet that was once lush with many prosperous inhabitants.

The humans of this planet created a new species with the power to convert songs into various energies, Reyvateils, and boasted about their highly advanced civilation.

However, a foolish release of immense energy triggered a global catastrophe that changed the world. The planet was shrouded by deadly clouds, called the Sea of Death. With the loss of the land, only three artificial Towers were left for the people to reside on.

The world of the Third Tower, Sol Clister, is practically controlled by Reyvateils.
The State of Reyvateils who reside in the upper part of the Tower, Clustania, exert their authority over most other nations from the top of the world.

Clustania aims to establish a society that consists only of Reyvateils and "Purified" human slaves.
To acheive that goal, they carry out genocidal campaigns, called Cleansing, upon the human communities that dare to defy them. They literally annihilate cities and towns, turning them to ruins. It is in this sort of world that a young boy meets a maiden who sing songs."

In the last installment of the Ar series you are in control of a 17 year old Aoto who is a steeplejack. His life gets turned upside down when he saves Saki a cute girl with enormous power and secrets. There are also many other characters during the journey and each have their own agendas and personalities especially Saki and a girl named Finnel.


Gameplay

Gameplay is pretty simple in this game. When you go into battle mode, you press the square button to attack and the joy stick to run. You will always have Saki or Finnel on your team and they can use Song Magic. To activate it, the heart at the bottom of the screen will grow until it says Purge Ready. That's when you click R1 etc to activate. Other wise its straight forward. Also to climb ladders walk in front and press x. The rest you figure out yourseelf. (By the way the game is full of fan service but after a while, I got immune to it. Its rated M for a reason). Also there are a few secrets waiting to be discovered....

Graphics

Graphics are pretty good except the fact that at some stairs you walk on the camera shakes. The backgrounds look like they are painted but the characters are in 3D so its like a scenery in 2D while your characters are 3D. I have no problem with it. I think its really cool.

Sound

The Ost is beautiful with full of lighthearted music and some somber sounds at the appropriate time. The voice actors are all awesome so far and I wouldn't change a thing.

Replay Value

I;ll just say a few words about this. You can play this on easy, normal or hard any time during the game or play it on the difficulty level you want. So yes you can replay and replay it. Still a really good game either way.


Final Impressions

I am really enjoying this game so far. I didn't add any other information because I want you to experience it. I'm not being mean. I'm doing this because I care. Well that's my review. RPGs Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!