Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem (アンジェリーク 天空の鎮魂歌, roughly translated as "Angelique Heaven's Requiem") is the first Neoromance role-playing game. Canonically this game is the direct sequel to Angelique Special 2 and Angelique Maren no Rokukishi.
Ruby Party members later commented that its conception began when written questionnaires indicated a high demand for a Koei role-playing game, a genre which experienced a boost in popularity due to titles such as Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII. Since Team-Infinite was simultaneously developing a game for male appeal, Ruby Party was given the inquiry for an Angelique adaptation targeting the female side.
The Premium Box edition includes a fully colored leather-bound manual. Consumers who purchased this title during Koei's 1999 double campaign obtained an original clear file.
Plot
The Sacred Beast Cosmos is born, and its queen has been chosen. After a brief stay at the Sacred Bird Cosmos, the fledgling cosmos has become hospitable and manifested its first planet. The new Queen and her aide monitor their growing if lifeless realm together in their newly built palace.
One day, a powerful entity calling himself "the Emperor" invades the Sacred Bird Cosmos to conquer it for himself. He separates the Sacred Guardians and converts the residents of her home planet into monsters. With the weakening Queen forced into hiding, Rosalia hurries to the Queen of the Sacred Beast Cosmos for assistance. Rosalia gives the protagonist clothes for combat and a legendary rod, Ellicia the Gray, to prepare her for her journey. The protagonist must locate her allies and rescue the Queen of the Sacred Bird Cosmos from the Emperor.
Gameplay
General
The player names their protagonist and assigns her astrological sign and bloodtype at the start of the story. Like other games, astrological sign and bloodtype affect her starting compatibility ratings with the romancable characters.
Characters have personal attributes and growth similar to those seen in typical JRPGs. They are: Health Points (HP), Magic Points (MP), Attack, Defense, Magic Attack, Magic Defense and Agility. Fighting in battles increases their experience, and earning experience increases their level. Unless a special item is used, a character's base stats can grow only when they gain levels. Equipment (weapon, armor and one accessory) can also increase a party member's performance. Every character has their personal preferences.
Once the player has recruited enough characters the player can swap party members outside of battle. A total of five characters can form the current traveling party. The player cannot remove the protagonist and/or Arios from their party; only their positions for battle can be changed. After a party is formed, the player can alter their party's formations to have characters in the front or back. Characters in the front deal and receive more damage from physical hits; characters in the back receive less.
Exploration is no longer limited to Holy Land as the player can travel to different planets within the Sacred Bird Cosmos. The player can access a space map to instantly hop between worlds. Once a world is selected, a world map of available locations is presented. Confirming a location takes the player to the location. From there, the player can freely explore the vicinity with the protagonist's party. Most villages/towns provide the following buildings:
- Item Shop - purchase restorative items or equipment with gold.
- Fortune Teller Shop - unusable until Mel is recruited. See section below for details.
- Inn - instantly recovers lost health. Often provides Angel of Time (save spot).
Monster encounters are random and only occur when exploring dungeon-like areas. Combat is turn-based, and commands are inputed for party members by sequence. Agility decides the execution order of commands for both the party and monsters. After a certain point in the story, characters can use special attacks. Characters can combine their techniques for a duo or triple attack. Winning a battle rewards experience, gold and hearts. Hearts can be used for players interested in the romance aspects of the game.
Main story objectives are stated to players within the game script. The player is free to finish them at their own pace to unlock more locations on their star map. Unlike previous Angelique entries, the player is required to finish the main story to experience the romance endings.
Character Routes
Every male character in the main party can be romanced. Romance events are now triggered by having high Intimacy ratings and by resting at the inn of a specific planet and location with the character in the current party —which changes depending on the character. Events now have specific cut off points during the main story. They can be seen after the main party receives the Queen's final blessings and stop once Ellicia the Gray is repaired. As long as the player carefully completes the main story events, it is possible to earn and experience every romance event with every character in a single playthrough.
Intimacy can be built by having the character within the party at all times. Choosing to guard for a character gives a boost for each battle. Character messages change based on their Intimacy ratings with one another. High Intimacy levels between characters automatically leads to them volunteering to cover for the person they respect, overriding the commands which the player has inputed. Due to the sensitivity of the AI, it is possible to have a battles which have the male characters guarding the protagonist/one another with the protagonist as the only fighting participant. To avoid this scenario, it may help to limit friendships between the male characters.
Alternatively, the protagonist can use their hearts to purchase presents for characters within the Heartmark Shop in Light Snow Village at Planet White Dawn. Each character has their preferences for gifts; giving them one of their favorite items or the expensive Secret Box leads to an substantial Intimacy increase. Presents can be given multiple times and will have the same effect each time. The protagonist can easily reach maximum Intimacy levels with the entire cast as long as the player has enough hearts.
Most villages will have a fortune telling shop. Once Mel is recruited, he charges the protagonist hearts for his services. It costs 1 ♥ to look at current character relationships between the cast and 30 ♥ for this game's Lovelove Flash. LoveLove Flash affects Affinity between the two selected characters. If the player chooses the protagonist and a male character, it helps maintain their romance ratings. Casting the charm over two male characters affects their friendship ratings.
In order to view a character's final romance event for their ending, he must be in the final party. If the player wishes to view multiple character endings, it might be best to save at the save point before the final battle.
Modes
New Game
Self-explanatory.
Continue
Self-explanatory. Proceed from previous save.
Options
- Extras: Gallery mode which can be accessed once the player has completed a playthrough. Place to view images or movies from successfully cleared events.
- Settings: BGM speaker settings and the option to hear or mute voices.
Characters
Main Party
Emperor and His Knights
Other Characters
Expansions/Spin-offs
- Angelique History - March 30, 2000. PlayStation version repackaged with four other Angelique games.
- Angelique Maren no Rokukishi
Differences between ports
- The beginning sequence/tutorial is different between both versions. Rosalia teaches the protagonist about combat and serves as the protagonist's early escort in PC-FX version; the PS version switches this role to Victor.
- Mel's home world is a location only in the PC-FX edition, meaning Pastha and Sara's cameos and any mentions of their appearances within the script are omitted completely in the PS version.
- Players can complete the game without ever recruiting Merchant in the PC-FX edition. He becomes a mandatory party member in the PS version.
- The Heart Shop is a PS exclusive change; it replaces a normal item shop from the PC-FX port.
- Lovelove Flash is limited to three attempts for the PC-FX while the PS is infinite.
- Character growth, spell effectiveness and boss stats were tweaked for the PS version.
Related Media
Guidebooks and fan mooks mainly based on the PS version were published. Free samples of the four panel comics anthologies published by Koei can be read online at Gamecity. Their short story anthologies are listed on the series's site.
During the year of its release two Angelique radio programs were on the air, Angelique Fire ♥ Dream Paradise and Angelique Kiss ♥ Kiss Paradise. Kenyu Horiuchi (Oscar) was one of the MCs for both programs. Takehito Koyasu (Olivie) joined him for Fire Dream while Toshihiko Seki (Luva) worked with Horiuchi for Kiss Kiss.
Angelique Love Love Tsushin published a miniature novel series which covered the background stories for Leviath and his knights. These stories were compiled into a single book titled Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem ~Kuroki Tsubasa no Moto ni~ (subtitle written in French as: Auprés des Ailes Noires). The story was written by Midori Kusanada and illustrated by Junko Taguchi. Kuroki Tsubasa no Moto ni was later used as the base for one of Ruby Party and Otomate's collaboration titles, Angelique Maren no Rokukishi. The out-of-stock novel was republished in anticipation for the game.
Kusanada returned to write the scenario for the first Angelique animated feature, Angelique ~Shiroi Tsubasa no Memoire~ (subtitle written in French as: La Mémoire des Ailes Blanches). The two part OVA attempts to bridge the gap between the ending of this game and trois; one of the animated movie endings from the RPG is even reused in the OVA. JET SETS, a musical unit produced by HOTEI, performed the opening and endings songs, Jiyuu no Shisha and HELLO respectively. The animated feature has two illustration books published for it, Sweet Album and Premium Album.
Angelique Gaiden 3 ~Sanctuary no Kagami~ is the CD drama series set during the same time as this game with bonus interactions with Leviath and his knights. Other CDs include a soundtrack CD with mini voice dramas and a soundtrack for the OVA.
To introduce younger audiences to the then upcoming Maren no Rokukishi, a live drama set within this game's setting was presented at Neoromance ♥ Festa 12.
Allusions
- my GAMECITY had Leviath and his knights act as enemies for the Angelique universe.
Gallery
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Angelique ~Shiroi Tsubasa no Memoire~ VHS cover Part 1
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VHS cover Part 2
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DVD cover Part 1
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DVD cover Part 2
