Review: Ar Nosurge

Current mood: Might as well not have comprehension skills because I can't read or do math!

I lied. It wasn't Star Ocean, it's Ar nosurge because I suddenly remembered I have a save file. I was 8 hours in and can't be bothered to go through the tutorials again so I started another playthrough... just to experience the second-hand embarrassment which is sex jokes, more sex jokes, and accidental perverts all over again. How did this game got a 16+/T content rating, idek. This thing has more sex than the opening of AC Brotherhood (a fade to black sex scene, and I played this fucker in the living room while my parents were there, in full volume so there was no mistaking what happened), heck, it has more sex than the whole of Bayonetta, and that game has a 18+/M rating. The sex in this game is that bad.

I'm going off on a tangent here but the reason I even considered getting this 8-year-old game is thanks to a small niche series by the name Ar tonelico by Gust, which develops the more popular synthesis rpg series Atelier. Ar Nosurge is part of the Surge Conserto series, which in of itself is in the same canon as Ar tonelico but in the distant past. Basically a prequel series. You got all of that? No? It's ok, I don't understand half of what they're implying in this game either.

The game series uses a lot of computer tech-speak and there's nature and space and aliens (somewhat), so the mechanics of how the world works don't really need much explaining. Sometimes it's as simple as installing shit into the brain. There's a really nifty twist halfway through the game but it's literally impossible to not spoil it in a review when introducing characters, so I'll try my best!

In a weird coincidence, this game also has dual protagonists, kind of. It's not dual perspectives as much as it is two different playthroughs with little crossover. We start off with Delta and Cass in channel 1, then move on to Earthes and Ion in channel 2. The story is separated into 3 arcs, or 'Phases' as the game calls it.

The setting: essentially a space opera without the cool fights. Humanity is stranded in a spaceship heading towards nowhere when they failed to migrate to a new planet hundred years past. You have the normal humans on the ship, but you also have 'incarnated' humans, individuals who were alive back during the migration of humanity 5000 years ago, recently awoken from their cryoslumber. Delta, Cass and most of the major NPCs are incarnated humans so everyone knows each other. There is also the Sharl, a sexless, humanoid lifeform which comes in a few monster girl flavors including catgirls, foxgirls, demongirls, mermaids, pixies, fairies and elf-y girls. If humans are normal then Sharls are like the wierdos who can use magic and shit. For humans to use this 'magic' they either have to be special (infused with non-human DNA) or partnered to someone who can use it. This magic is song magic, downloaded, installed and stored in the mind like a program. Things are slightly confusing if one does not go through the prequel Ciel noSurge first; I have no prior knowledge as well with only snippets of spoilers as info.

Phase 1 starts with channel 1's Delta, an amnesiac 21-year-old and his childhood will-they-won't-they friend, Casty aka Cass. It later switches to channel 2's Earthes, freshly built by Ion. The meat of this phase is the human-sharl conflict viewed by two sides - channel 1 fights for the humans, channel 2 for peace between the two races, but ultimately sides with the sharl. The war comes to a head with the end of Phase 1 with the two channels crossing over and the big bad achieving one of its many goals.

The end of Phase 1 marks the start of Phase 2: the two channels are still not in agreement regarding the war, but with everything that's happened in the previous phase, more disturbing revelations are had, and people are like "hey, I think we can all agree that we should solve the problem which is the big bad sacrificing lives to power up right?" Cass confronts Delta about his amnesia and blindness, and he admits that he is being controlled by someone from the 7th dimension-- us, the player. Big bad had Interdimend installed in him after his capture, which is why he could see and know things he shouldn't thanks to the constant channel switching. See, I told you there was a twist.

Phase 2 ends with a red error screen as Earthes is destroyed protecting Ion. Delta uninstalls Interdimend and you lose all connection to exa_pico... until Ion rebuilds Earthes and reestablishes the connection, which kicks off Phase 3. Realizing he couldn't possibly protect anyone he cares about in his current state, Delta reinstalls Interdimend. Channel 1 goes to a distant planet, the one everyone was supposed to migrate to-- Ar Ciel (the planet in the Ar Tonelico games). There, they learn a way to make a planet through song, and thus Ra Ciela is reborn. 

With the end of Phase 3, Ion and Nelo bid you goodbye one last time before the connection is lost. The Interdimend mission is a success, and the terminal shuts down... 

Cover for Ar Nosurge DX

Gameplay: Despite the amount of sex in the story, the gameplay is decent. Heck I wouldn't even say decent, it's good! Literally the most fun I had after playing action jrpgs for the last few months. Something fresh for the mind. Synthesizing is surprisingly fun, the diving mechanic is a little different but still the same old that I remember from the Ar Tonelico games. The battle system is cool and fun and it's satisfying to see a song obliterate 30+ waves of enemies in one go.

Story: At first it plays like a standard video game, you control the character, there's a menu, you pick options etc, and at first I didn't understand what the spoilers meant until I reached a pivotal point in the game where Earthes is destroyed and the red screen of death occurs. Ion's later genometrics also go ham on breaking the fourth wall. You control Earthes as your avatar in the game, but Delta is a living person with his own life, controlled by you. You are basically hijacking his body. The game menu is the terminal menu. While the meta-ness blew my mind, the story itself is so-so, dragged to the trenches by the amount of sex.

Soundtrack: Hands down the winner of all categories! The songs for these games always deliver. The bgm still has a similar vibe to the Ar Tonelico series, but the songs are different and varied now that there's two new star singers (as we call them) joining the usual trio of Akiko Shikata (as Ion), Haruka Shimotsuki (as Nay) and Noriko Mitose (as Zill/Prim): Yoshino Nanjo as Cass and Origa (bless her soul in the afterlife) as Kanon. It is weird that they decided to have series staple Haruka Shimotsuki and Noriko Mitose sing for deuteragonist and villain, giving the main character to Yoshino Nanjo, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

Overall rating: It's no time travelling bullshit but it is interdimensional bullshit, it's so galaxy brain I had to give it to them. As much as I want to give it a higher rating, the amount of sex really killed it for me. A 6 only for the banger songs and gameplay. It's short and sweet, definitely the kind of game you'd revisit after a few years away. I'm already thinking of replaying Ar Tonelico 2. The meta-ness makes me want to try Nier all of a sudden, but knowing Yoko Taro it's best I don't if I want to preserve my sanity.

However! Hooo boy. This game has a fucking problem I swear. I expected the sex to be particularly bad precisely because it's a game in the exa_pico universe but of all the sex problems this game chooses to have it's a fucking loli problem. Most event stills (CGs like in visual novels) are more eyebrow-raising than sexy to me. I dunno, maybe it's because I'm not its target demographic of a straight Japanese male, in which case, WHAT THE FUCK JAPAN????? The 3D model for Cass can easily pass for a young adult, albeit slightly underdeveloped in... certain areas, but not for Sarly or Nay. These two look like teens in or out of cutscenes, their 3D models are significantly shorter than Cass, Sarly's state of dress is ok but Nay has her ass out 24/7. And the game outright reveals that their bodies stopped growing so they're actually older than they look. Prim is also child coded and she doesn't wear pants. Also the CGs oh god the CGs... Cass looks even more like a teen in the CGs, and if she looks younger, guess how Sarly and Nay look like? Literal children. You cannot imagine the horror when I realize that the 'spicy' CGs with partial nudity all involve Cass, Sarly and Nay. From the top of my head there's two with Cass and Nay literally naked, Sarly in a translucent towel, one of Cass in a questionable position with suspicious fluid on her fingers, another of her sleeping next to Delta with only her undergarments (sex was heavily implied in this one), one of Prim with her clothes torn (she's literally dying you can show it without needing to make her almost naked), and one with Shurelia (another NPC with youthful looks) where she's half undressed and roleplaying some generic porn plot. That's not all of the loli problems oooooh no. Shirotaka, a NPC introduced in Phase 3, is obsessed with Nay (as her fan) and by the end of the game is most probably dating Sarly. There's even a whole side plot where they get married in not-real-life. This is fucked up man.

After the sex problem there's also the art. It's... not bad but I wouldn't put it up there with the Ar Tonelico series either. As mentioned above, the 3D models look nothing like the art. Character portraits yes, but not the CGs. Worst offender: Kanon. Her 3D model looks like a mature, older woman... but her art has her look significantly younger, the vibes don't even match!

Overall the art is not as polished, the artist probably has a fetish and I'm not fucking around to find out. Thank god they had a new artist do the Surge Concerto DX artwork, I will lose my fucking mind if I see another fucking nipple GODS.

Character impressions:

I have neutral feelings for most of the cast but ugh Cass. Tsunderes are annoying as fuck. Delta is a fucking saint for tolerating her, but I think he's just too dumb (and good) for the shit that she's throwing at him. In the early parts of the game she even starts to suspect Delta is in kahoots with the villains without considering "hey, this guy was captured by the bad guys, was held captive for 6 months but came back unscathed and with amnesia, now he knows stuff he shouldn't but has no idea why, maybe the bad guys did something to him?", but instead decided to trauma dump on him. If Sarly the overly logical person wasn't there to diffuse the situation, Delta would have no way of defending himself. Cass would have destroyed their relationship there and then, with her own hands. Cass is insecure and lacks self-confidence (not as smart as Sarly, less capable than Nay, small chest, less mature body etc). Relatable, but not enough for me to like her as a character. She's tolerable at most. Get rid of the tsundere attitude.

Cover for Ciel Nosurge DX

Honestly, the games kinna went downhill from AT3 onwards. AT3 is the game to 'switch it up' so to say: only one of the three original sound team members remained and they had a newcomer. It introduced more star singers for various characters, which made certain songs more pop than folk. Not all guest singers are that bad though; KOKIA for instance, has multiple albums in the folk genre, and Origa the Russian vocals wonder lent her voice to various anime orchestral pieces as well. Should've known it was going to sound different when they didn't use Noriko Mitose as much as before... There's more sex in the main scenario (the spicy CGs were only confined to the diving mechanic in previous games), yes I checked the artbook, it has more CGs but at what cost? Bear in mind it is also the game to introduce song magic power-ups not by changing clothes, but by taking them off. The sex now run rampant in the series, which is why we have a CG of Cass riding Delta with suspicious white-ish clear fluid coating her fingers. That is not even the most lewd CG Ar Nosurge has to offer. I won't elaborate on that.

When will GUST develop another game in the same canon? The concept and lore is amazing, the gameplay is no slouch and the music never fails to impress. I guess the fact that it's a niche series makes it hard to justify making another title. Why spend resources making a game for a small subset of people when the Atelier series is right there for the milking? Now that I've plat this game, maybe Star Ocean time?