Ciel nosurge: Ushinawareta Hoshi e Sasagu Uta
Ciel nosurge is the first game in the Surge Concerto series, which shares a
universe and themes with the Ar tonelico games while sharing little in terms
of plot and setting. The game is divided into 12 main episodes, an epilogue,
and 3 additional episodes that focus on side characters. Gameplay itself is
split between the simulation segments in which the player interacts with Ion
and develops their friendship, and visual novel segments that explore Ion’s
memories.
Ion is an amnesiac girl who lives in a sealed world, where her only companion
is a shopkeeper named Nelico. One day, a strange terminal appears in her room,
and though she cannot receive any sound or visuals through it, it does give
her a mental connection to the person on the other side. The player is that
person, and their Playstation Vita is the tool they use to communicate with
Ion. Though she lives on her own schedule and may not always be available to
talk to, the more the game is played, the more Ion will try to synchronize her
schedule with the player’s. The player is able to talk to Ion, ask her to
synthesize new items such as clothes, go on dates with her, and dive into her
dream world to try recovering her lost memories.
Ion’s dream world is heavily damaged, and the player must fix it by using the
PS Vita’s camera to read bar codes from the real world. Scanned bar codes will
create fairy-like creatures called Sharls, which will then work to repair the
damaged memories once the player has spent Hymmno Points to make a pact with
them. The most efficient way to earn Hymmno Points is through online play, and
other online options also exist that allow players to communicate with one
another and interact with each others’ Sharls.
Once a memory is restored, the player can watch it play out in the form of an
uninteractable visual novel. As the memories unfold throughout the game’s 12
episodes, Ion and the player will learn more about the planet of Ra Ciela and
the important role she had in its history.
Ciel nosurge RE:Incarnation , released a little under a year after the
original release, came with the first four episodes and all patches up to that
point already on the cartridge, and was also packaged with a voucher to
download the fifth episode for free. A set of DLC costumes was also created
exclusively for this release, and some user interface changes were made as
well. A few months after that, the original version of the game was given a
discounted rerelease under the Playstation Vita the Best range.