A Bunch of Words

This post assumes that the reader is familiar with the game.

A few weeks ago, I bought several used games, and among them was Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star. I never played any of the Ar tonelico games, and I haven't touched the prequel, Ciel nosurge, due to the language barrier. I knew that Gust is the developer of Ar nosurge, though, and I did enjoy the PS3 Atelier games. Thus, I was willing to give this game a shot. I ended up spending about 60 hours with the game, and I fulfilled the conditions required to view the game's true endings. More than a week has passed since I finished the game, and I decided to finally jot down my thoughts regarding this interesting JRPG. My thoughts are on the localized non-Plus version, as I don't have a PS Vita.

The game's story is very engaging and far from predictable. In particular, I really liked the Interdimend concept, which was rather mindblowing when it was first introduced. It's incredibly meta, but it makes sense and is well integrated with the rest of the game's setting. I also liked the characters, even if some of them are based off the usual JRPG or anime tropes. Casty, for instance, is obviously a tsundere. I can easily overlook this, however, because I enjoyed watching the characters and the world develop as the story progressed. There is a lot of reading to be done, however, and I think I spent more time reading dialogue than fighting enemies. This game does require some patience in order to get the most out of it.

It is also strongly recommended that players read a summary of Ciel nosurge, such as this one, before playing the game, however. There are several plot points that don't have as much impact if the player doesn't know something that was revealed in the prequel.

I wouldn't give this game to a 13-year-old, however. Despite the game receiving a T rating in the United States, there are several instances of content that some people might find questionable. The Purification Ceremony is an obvious example and might feel horribly tacked on at first, but it admittedly does fit when you consider that the relationships between the characters drive much of the story's plot. On the other hand, I can't really defend some of the pictures that you can unlock, and the "attacks" that are unleashed at the end of Harmoburst are just...I don't even know. Expect some rather immature dialogue about various sexual topics as well. This is a Gust-developed JRPG after all! Personally, I just shake my head and laugh at the absurdity. It's best not to take it too seriously.

Ar nosurge's graphics are colorful and vibrant, and the character models are nice. The game does suffer from some frame rate problems, however, especially during battle. It's annoying when a slight pause occurs right before an enemy attack hits, as it usually prevents me from defending properly and taking unnecessary damage as a result. The limited budget does show in a few places, especially during certain Genometrics events that involve one character attacking another. The visual effects look rather cheap when that happens.

The battle system is interesting, but there isn't much room for in-depth strategies, especially once the challenge disappears midway through the game even on the hardest difficulty. Dealing with all those waves became tedious after a while, but at least the player could run away without suffering any real consequences. There isn't much exploration, either. The areas aren't big, and gathering feels more like an afterthought except in a few instances. There is also a crafting system that's really simplistic when comparing it to the alchemy featured in Atelier games, but it works well enough. The items are hilariously bizarre and match the humorous dialogue that comes after it. Again, don't go into this game expecting constant battling, because unless you don't craft anything at all or never dive into Genometrics, there will be long stretches where you don't kill any monsters.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack is amazing, as expected from a game developed by Gust. It's as diverse as the Atelier games, and the vocal work is outstanding. One of my favorite songs from the game is probably this really chaotic one.

It is a shame that the localization is sloppy, however. The game feels a lot less polished because of it. The localizers should have done another round of proofreading, as there are quite a few typos, some misplaced commas, and various other mistakes. The font size is inconsistent and really small sometimes. There isn't as many instances of text overflowing their boxes at least. Atelier Escha and Logy was horrible with that. Probably the most noticeable flaw is that the English voice acting likes to say "Jill" even though the actual name is "Zill", which is jarring. I think the English dub itself is okay, although Prim's voice is a bit annoying. The volume of the voices is really low sometimes, however, especially during certain cutscenes. I really wish those responsible for the localization put more care into it because this game deserves more than this lackluster effort.

Despite the subpar localization, playing this game was a memorable experience, and thus, Ar nosurge definitely earned a place in my video game library. I'm planning to revisit this game and start another playthrough after the Ciel nosurge Story in English Project is complete, as that would allow me to better appreciate the story and the game's setting as I grab the trophies that I missed during my first playthrough.