Ar-Tonelico-Qoga
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So, uh, what's an 'Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel' anyway?
As you know, our primary goal here at Joystiq is to provide you with a thorough, clear, and contextualized picture of video game news. It's with that in mind that we asked NIS America to explain the ... somewhat bizarre name of its forthcoming RPG, Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. We've been ribbing the game's title internally for some time now. And hey, can you blame us? It's nigh indecipherable! A NIS representative described the title as a "jumble of seemingly random letters," so we're not exactly alone in this. Anyway, NIS America reps kindly provided us with the breakdown of name that you see below, presented unedited: "Break down for Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel: 'Qoga' means "finale" or 'termination.' 'Knell' is like a chime that signals the passing of someone or something. 'Ar Ciel' is a name of a world. 'Ar Tonelico' is an artificial world tree (Yggdrasill). We wanted to use 'Knell' to indicate that this is the finale of the series because 'chime the signals the passing of something' is [the] perfect way of expressing the finale of [the] Ar Tonelico series." Still confused? We were too. Thankfully, NIS reps escalated their efforts several steps further, offering a detailed explanation -- as well as a bit of sympathy to confused readers -- directly from script writer Steven Carlton. "Many people may look at the title Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel and wonder what that jumble of seemingly random letters means," Carlton told us. "There are a few key terms from the game in the title, mainly Ar Tonelico and Ar Ciel."%Gallery-114535%
Ar Tonelico Qoga trailer is full of angsty teenagers
If Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel's suggestive moaning and nudity stuff hasn't weirded you out enough, know that it offers the power of song, love and lots of teenagers being all sad and stuff, too.
ESRB reveals Ar Tonelico Qoga's 'suggestive moans and comments'
The third (and supposedly final) Ar Tonelico game, Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, will arrive on PS3 in March. The ESRB's content description for Gust's RPG gives us a bit of a preview of what to expect: shame, mostly. "Some power moves cause female characters' clothes to vanish in layers," the ratings board says. "The characters are often depicted holding (covering) their breasts, wearing only underwear, or standing behind strips of light that obscure their genitals." Other described scenes feature "male characters [encouraging] a woman to strip" and a scene in which a male character removes a magical crystal from a female, accompanied by what the ESRB calls "suggestive moans and comments." How suggestive? "Aoto's putting his hand inside Soma," for example, and "Fumble around every inch inside of her . . . you will find what you're looking for . . . !" Though you might have already guessed, Ar Tonelico Qoga is rated M for eMbarrassing Mature.%Gallery-114535%
This is an announcement of three new NIS America games
NIS America held a press event last night during which it announced three new wacky, niche, NIS-style games for North America. Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, the latest in Gust's RPG incomprehensibly-named series, will be released on PS3 in spring 2011. It features a completely new storyline and setting, so if you're up for a JRPG, you won't have to do your Ar Tonelico homework first. Warning: "edgy and kinky special moves." The other two games are both for PSP. Cladun: This Is an RPG, officially the game with the most wonderful subtitle ever, is a PSN-exclusive localization of Classic Dungeon, a dungeon crawler with a similar intentionally retro-style presentation (and an extraordinarily similar logo) to 3D Dot Game Heroes. ZHP: Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman, which just immediately snatched away the "wonderful subtitle" prize we awarded to Cladun, is a localized release of Absolute Hero Modding Project, a superhero-themed, over-the-top strategy RPG. It'll be out this fall on both PSN and UMD. See trailers for Cladun and ZHP after the break.
