I'm a little sad about this

[Gigacorona]

When I saw this game was coming out I did an unusal thing, I had herad about the Ar tonelico series before but because I live in Australia it was one of those series I had never played because it had never quite managed to get realsed here.

Anyway I went to some effort and obtained copies of the first two games about the same time this game came out and thus readied myself to play an entire series start to finish

Well they are not perfect games by any means but honestly I had a blast all the way through AT1 and AT2, I even immeditately played AT2 a second time so I could get all the content I could out of it, I thought it was an outstanding game overall and a great series.

However now I am playing AT3...and frankly it blows, If I hadn't just played two extermely good games in this series I'm really not sure I could stand to play it at all since I find myself really only wanting some closure to the overall series and not this game itself.

So, the thing that makes me sad here is that there surely are alot of people for whom this is the only Ar tonelico they will actually know, people who bought a PS3 who never had a PS2, people who live in countries like Australia where this is the only release they ever gave us. This is a great shame and bothers me immensely because the first two games imo where the far superior ones.

I'd be interested to hear what people who played the series thought of this game oppese to those who played this title on its own.

[Shuffle]

While it's true it's not the best in the series, but I still thought it was quite enjoyable especially when heading towards the True Ending paths.

[Gigacorona]

I'm not throwing it under the bus entirely, but the quality drop was very sharp in just about any area I could name - I don't begrudge people enjoying it anyway thou hehehe

You are clearly someone who has played the series proper as well, I'm certain there it quite a bit of value added in that sense - I do wonder about people who might have entered this game without that advantage.

[Shuffle]

Well let's just put it this way. I think that people who play Ar tonelico III as their 1st game may enjoy it, but once they play like the 2nd game or even the 1st, they'll realize that Ar tonelico Qoga is good but not excellent but does give the series a pretty descent ending. Of course I do hope for more games of the Ar tonelico series anyways. Of course for people who don't realize what Qoga means, some of them may think that this is the only game in the series, when Qoga's actual meaning will definitely tell you that this is no way the 1st game in the series.

Plus one thing that can draw people into the series is the music.

While I do not know why Australia didn't get the 1st 2 games especially with them having lower age ratings. but do feel bad for the people there who didn't import a copy from Europe to play it. I believe 505 Games did the 1st game in Europe, while Koei did the 2nd.

[stgermain]

I've also played the first two games in the series before playing this one, and I also agree that this is the weakest one in the series, although I enjoyed this one also. I feel that they taken out some of the things that I enjoyed from the first two (like alternate costumes), and instead replaced them with personae, which I didn't like. The combat is a water-downed Star Ocean or Tales style, and I can see that it's the first time Gust tries this style of battle, instead of traditional turn based combat.

[kraven_15]

Originally Posted by Gigacorona

When I saw this game was coming out I did an unusal thing, I had herad about the Ar tonelico series before but because I live in Australia it was one of those series I had never played because it had never quite managed to get realsed here.

Anyway I went to some effort and obtained copies of the first two games about the same time this game came out and thus readied myself to play an entire series start to finish

Bro, I live in Australia and I would love to know where you got them from. I'm in the same boat, missing lotsa great games that weren't released here where'd you get them from if you don't mind me asking. I'm a bit skeptical buying PS2 and last gen games because of regions. Thanks

EDIT:
Just read another thread... italy and france apparently. Any chance you could send me a link? I'd like to get them too

[Gigacorona]

I bought them on Ebay - unfortunately the users I bought them from no longer seem to have them listed so theres not much else I can do. Search for PAL copies on Ebay international and you should find some similar listings, and the prices are not too inflated despite the rarity since demand is not that high.

The covers and manuals for copies from the Euro region may come in whatever the local language is, but the game itself is localised for english.

If your a JRPG fan I reccomand the first two as they are worth the trouble, and once you have played them then I think the third game gains enough value to be worthwhile as a purchse itself - particualarly towards the later part of the game where it picks up quite a bit.

Edit* Of course if you need a ps2 as well you could also avoid the pal region altogether and buy an NTSC model - at least ps2 are cheap I just replaced mine since my first generation monolith ps2 finally bricked :P

[amocaliga]

It did take a dip in quality, but I didn't feel my time playing it was wasted or anything. Still its a decent RPG compared to some of the others that have been coming out in recently. Especially when I look at it and compare to Aterlier Rorona vs its predecessors..

[kraven_15]

Originally Posted by Gigacorona

I bought them on Ebay - unfortunately the users I bought them from no longer seem to have them listed so theres not much else I can do. Search for PAL copies on Ebay international and you should find some similar listings, and the prices are not too inflated despite the rarity since demand is not that high.

Guess I'll just do some searching on our good friend the internet and see what i can find aye thanks mate

[Rarutos]

While yes, the battle system and general system mechanics did take a hit in comparison to Ar tonelico II, I think the plot and characters of the story were at least the high point of III! The Cosmospheres are fun, and as always it's always fun to get to know the girls to see which one you like the best in the end.

Yes, I can completely agree that the lack of costumes is disappointing, and the battle system is underwhelming, I do overall love Ar tonelico III. It was a great "end" to the main series (As I truly don't believe they are going to stop making these games, the lore is too good and there's way more they can do with it!), and I can appreciate the game for what it gave me overall.