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NEWS: Ar no Surge RPG Linked to Ar Tonelico With Shurelia's Return


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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7328
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:18 pm Reply with quote
Well then, instant buy when it comes to the US. Let's get Surge Concerto over here while we're at it.

Emerje
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Ambimunch



Joined: 30 Aug 2012
Posts: 2012
PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:55 pm Reply with quote
^ I have high hopes that NIS America will license it
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DangerMouse



Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Same here, will buy immediately if/when it comes to the US.
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 6:38 pm Reply with quote
Ambimunch wrote:
^ I have high hopes that NIS America will license it


But doesn't Tecmo Koei get first dibs since they own Gust?
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Aquaregia99



Joined: 19 Jan 2014
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:39 pm Reply with quote
This is kind of interesting news and I'm wondering if it'll affect chances of localization.

It's true that Gust Corporation has been a subsidiary of Tecmo Koei for a number of years and all items that have been published here from them since Atelier Ayesha have been published here by TK. If you check the vita releases of Atelier Totori Plus and Atelier Meruru Plus they were published by TK, as well as the Atelier Eschatology which is coming out March 11th.

It's weird because the character Shurelia is part of the Ar Tonelico series which was a multi-media project between Gust Corporation and Banpresto (most likely part of the reason that they started a new series with Surge Concerto as opposed to continuing Ar Tonelico, the other part being that Ar Tonelico is just over). These two companies have since become subsidiaries of different larger entities. So I'm wondering if there was some sort of licensing agreement for the IP with regards to Shurelia with Namco Bandai to allow them to use the character or if characters in Ar Tonelico are owned wholly by Gust (and therefore Tecmo Koei).

If the character had to be partially licensed and the details with regards to possible localization weren't worked out beforehand I could see this hindering or stopping possible localization. Granted this is all speculation and I have no idea who owns the character copyrights with Ar Tonelico.

It's not very likely NISA will be localizing this, TK does their stuff in-house as far as I know. I also wouldn't be surprised if NISA never localizes another game from TK.

I don't believe there as been any information as to whether or not TK will localize either entities in Surge Concerto (Ciel no Surge and Ar Nosurge). Personally I hope Ciel No Surge will be localized once all of the chapters are out. But if I were to guess Ar Nosurge probably has a better chance of localization as it's more of a standard rpg (looks a lot like Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica gameplay wise).

On-article topic: This is really cool, I'm wondering how Shurelia relates to the current story (assuming it'll be distant future from Ar Tonelico universe) and if they'll relate genomes to reyvatails.

Edit:
Just compared the 3d model of Shurelia to the original designer's (Nagi) work and it looks really similar. Looks like they might not have had Ntny (character designer for Surge Concerto series) redo her character design.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:51 pm Reply with quote
Well hot damn, finally something to do with a series that's been quiet for a while since that horrid Qoga (really that game was the worst of the trilogy).
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mewpudding101
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:22 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
Well hot damn, finally something to do with a series that's been quiet for a while since that horrid Qoga (really that game was the worst of the trilogy).


Completely agreed. I nearly jumped out of my chair and started running around the house when I saw this. All we need now is Jakuri...
Anyway, the Surge series was always hinted to be connected to Tonelico, but some things made fans suspcious... The biggest reason being that the singing language is COMPLETELY different.

Also, completely in agreement on the failure of 3. Such a disappointment.

Anyway, the reason that Ciel hasn't been licensed in the states... These are my theories after I've been playing the game.

A) Sinxe launch, the game has been FLOODED with bugs. Although a lot of them have been fixed, I personally have run into a game-crashing bug, a year after launch.
B) Although the game itself is around 50 bucks at standard price, the game is not a full game without spending 70 more dollars on DLC. I'm being serious. You only get two chapters of the story for free, and the rest of the game's story is locked. While some of the DLC are costumes for Ion, a large majority of the DLC are chapters of the actual story. Remember Ar Tonelico's long and full story? All on one disc? This is not that. Koei Tecmo probably would expect for the American version to be the same. This sudden flood in Gust DLC only started when they merged with Koei Tecmo.
C) The game has no RPG elements. It is a girlfriend simulator and visual novel. This takes away a big selling point of the Tonelico series.
D) This game would also most likely get a mature rating. Why? First the pure creepiness of the girlfriend simulator. Second... The breast physics. Not just of the main characters, but also of the Charls, fairies you birth from barcodes. Seriously, by choosing certain barcodes, you can choose if your Charl is flat or unimaginably busty.
E) The Charl barcode feature only works with Japanese barcodes, meaning the whole feature would have to be reprogrammed completely.
F) Going back to the visual novel problem, it's a lot of VERY complicated text.

So yeah. Pray. Ar no Surge is not understandable without Ciel as a prologue, as almost all the characters are returning, and this new installment unveils why Ion lost her memory... Not a spoiler, btw, just the premise of Ciel.
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aquagon



Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:23 am Reply with quote
Couldn't disagree more with the opinions on AT3. It's true that it was a large miss when it comes to its battle system, but its plot, characters and music were pretty good, and aside of also bringing full-circle the setting, it also gave a satisfactory ending to the plot that had been in motion since AT1.

And by the way, don't expect Jakuri here: the art for Shurelia shows her in an attire similar to the one she had in her childhood memories in the AT1 light novel, so it means that the Ar nosurge characters are being sent to the Sol Ciel of the First Era, prior to the Grathnode Inferia, and if that ends up being the case, we'd be looking at the world 300 years before Mir was born.

Additionally, Ciel nosurge isn't that expensive if you buy the Re-Incarnation version and buy only the bundle containing chapters 6 to 8. Otherwise, you'll end paying a lot.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:51 am Reply with quote
I found Qoga ridiculous altogether honestly. I just didn't like it at all. AT2 had some nonsense, but AT3 just went beyond stupid for me.
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mewpudding101
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:58 am Reply with quote
aquagon wrote:
Couldn't disagree more with the opinions on AT3. It's true that it was a large miss when it comes to its battle system, but its plot, characters and music were pretty good, and aside of also bringing full-circle the setting, it also gave a satisfactory ending to the plot that had been in motion since AT1.

And by the way, don't expect Jakuri here: the art for Shurelia shows her in an attire similar to the one she had in her childhood memories in the AT1 light novel, so it means that the Ar nosurge characters are being sent to the Sol Ciel of the First Era, prior to the Grathnode Inferia, and if that ends up being the case, we'd be looking at the world 300 years before Mir was born.

Additionally, Ciel nosurge isn't that expensive if you buy the Re-Incarnation version and buy only the bundle containing chapters 6 to 8. Otherwise, you'll end paying a lot.


Yes, I know what clothes Shurelia is wearing; I have read the light novel too. However, she wore this outside of the cosmosphere as well. Jakuri is quite ancient as well, you know...

Also, not only was the battle system terrible, but the character designs turned all the heroines into lolis, a majority of the music was horrendous, the 3D animations were awful, and undressing heroines one on one was degrading. At least with A2's bath system the guy wasn't involved. The loss of costumes for other personalities was boring. And the governate wanted me to pull out my hair...
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Aquaregia99



Joined: 19 Jan 2014
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:07 am Reply with quote
I thought I was the only one who liked AT3...

I think it was a little off-putting for some people due to the absurdist sexual humor that was permeating throughout the game (which was in the other two games, just seemed more present in AT3) as part of the battle system and innuendos presented in talk topics as well as a reduction approach to the battle system compared to the other two games (first one being simple, second being a bit complicated, third repeating the same pattern for every battle endgame).

But aside from that, I think the music and story were much better and more directed in AT3 than the first game. Not that the the music from the first game isn't awesome; I can't get over EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/. or EXEC_HARMONIUS/., but EXEC_COSMOFLIPS/. and EXEC_FLIP_ARPHAGE/. just beat those for me.
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aquagon



Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:10 am Reply with quote
mewpudding101 wrote:


Yes, I know what clothes Shurelia is wearing; I have read the light novel too. However, she wore this outside of the cosmosphere as well. Jakuri is quite ancient as well, you know...

Also, not only was the battle system terrible, but the character designs turned all the heroines into lolis, a majority of the music was horrendous, the 3D animations were awful, and undressing heroines one on one was degrading. At least with A2's bath system the guy wasn't involved. The loss of costumes for other personalities was boring. And the governate wanted me to pull out my hair...


As far as I know, she has never worn those clothes outside of the Binary Field after the First Era ended. And considering the time frame they are implying with Shurelia's appearance in Ar nosurge, Jakuri can't be alive yet there.

And I don't think we played the same game. Neither Saki or Finnel are lolis, and Tilia is pretty much like Mir on that front. The music wasn't horrendous: they sure diversified the styles in order to keep consistency with the setting, but we also had several songs with the classical style of Hymmnos that were excellent: all of the final battle suite, XaaaCi, Arphage, Fusionsphere, ViiBaCii Mjiira, Cosmoflips, Rebirthia Protocol, the opening and the ending songs...

And I agree with Aquaregia99: the story was much more focused than AT1's, which is why my personal ranking for the trilogy is AT2 > AT3 > AT1, which each game being excellent by itself.
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mewpudding101
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:36 am Reply with quote
aquagon wrote:
mewpudding101 wrote:


Yes, I know what clothes Shurelia is wearing; I have read the light novel too. However, she wore this outside of the cosmosphere as well. Jakuri is quite ancient as well, you know...

Also, not only was the battle system terrible, but the character designs turned all the heroines into lolis, a majority of the music was horrendous, the 3D animations were awful, and undressing heroines one on one was degrading. At least with A2's bath system the guy wasn't involved. The loss of costumes for other personalities was boring. And the governate wanted me to pull out my hair...


As far as I know, she has never worn those clothes outside of the Binary Field after the First Era ended. And considering the time frame they are implying with Shurelia's appearance in Ar nosurge, Jakuri can't be alive yet there.

And I don't think we played the same game. Neither Saki or Finnel are lolis, and Tilia is pretty much like Mir on that front. The music wasn't horrendous: they sure diversified the styles in order to keep consistency with the setting, but we also had several songs with the classical style of Hymmnos that were excellent: all of the final battle suite, XaaaCi, Arphage, Fusionsphere, ViiBaCii Mjiira, Cosmoflips, Rebirthia Protocol, the opening and the ending songs...

And I agree with Aquaregia99: the story was much more focused than AT1's, which is why my personal ranking for the trilogy is AT2 > AT3 > AT1, which each game being excellent by itself.


No... We played the same game.
My favorites are 1, then 2, then 3. 3 is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY behind 2.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:40 am Reply with quote
I can't take seriously anyone who thinks AT1 is better than AT2
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mewpudding101
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:
I can't take seriously anyone who thinks AT1 is better than AT2


I think the system of Ar Tonelico 2 is better. By a long shot.
But I cannot STAND being with Chroche and Luca. I've been replaying my Japanese copy, and they make me want to throw my TV out the window.
Although Jakuri is made of awesome, the amount of time spent with Luca and Chroche is too painful.

I really love the characters in Ar Tonelico 1. I even named by own miniature poodle after Aurica. Now I call the name "Aurica" every day. I actually enjoyed the world of Ar Tonelico 1 a lot as well. The battle system was not nearly as good as 2, but it was better than 3...

What's bad about liking the first one? You're making no sense.
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