A series that I wanted to start last August before the tech gods took a dump on me and my luck. Either way that seems to be behind us now, and the first retro classic I'm trying out is Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia. Hope you like it! As a plug, A and S Rank Patrons will be able to vote on the next game I cover!

Ar Tonelico, Atelier Iris, and Mana Khemia are my fav games on PS2. In general, all of them are very similar, and specially combat and OST (the OST in all of them is just too good). I still replay them from time to time.

Oh man Ar Tonelico was awesome. You didn't even mention but the hymnos songs really puts the OST into a whole new level. EXEC Chronicle Key and Rig Veda are some of my all time favorites JRPG OSTs, never heard anything like them before

Yeah, played Ar Tonelico back in 2008 after beating Mana Khemia. Great games made by NIS Gust. Would love to see remasters on the Switch.

Welcome to the world of one of my favourite franchises. Better later than never man, enjoy. Especially Ar Tonelico II, that one is majestic. Was yea ra, chs hymmnos mea.

so, i would have NEVER heard of this series without having first played Ar no Surge and if you ever get the chance to... give it a chance... You will be blown away. Trust me. you are NOT ready for how meta and existential the story gets.

Ar Tonelico hymnos is what hooked me on the series, such a unique take in weaving the music, gameplay and story together

I love you giving more eyes to this series, its so underrated. The 2nd game is actually my favorite game of all time.

Love the series, and have all of the games. The music is heavenly, and I've imported all the OST and hymmnos cds.

I love this game especially the creative way they use the Reivateils mind with visual representation of their fears and trumas. My favorite is the second one, although the game in general is very easy. A pity that Ar Tonelico Qoga is very difficult to find and is not available on PSN in my country. A pity that the franchise's projects were not successful on PS3

Man, Ar Tonelico really looks like a series I'd love. From your description, it reminds me a lot of Stella Glow or Luminous Arc in terms of... general aesthetics, I guess. And I love those games. Shame I don't have the proper systems to get into the series. Either way, thanks for the video!

Love the intro skits. That random fish and chips got me

Ar Tonelico was great, and Ar Tonelico 2 is even better. The only issue is that to fully experience it, you'd need to get the relocalization patch.

Oh if you plan to play ar tonelico 2 be sure to use the fan-retranslation patch, the original has a lot of mistakes. You can easly find the retranslation made by Aquagon, a mad man devoted to ar tonelico since the dawn of time, it even adds an entire new difficulty.

Ar Tonelico 2 is by far the best in the series. no contest.

That Jrpg guidebook is a goldmine of information

The whole series is great. I think my favorite is 2 but 1 and 3 are still great.

i played the hell out of this game one of my childhood classics

Loved this as a teenager. Kinda sad that the series died.

I sadly missed the first two Ar Tonellico titles when they were new, despite being deep into RPGs back then just as I am now, I always hold out hope they'll get an HD Remaster one day. Also, I am so excited to see you getting into classic and retro RPGs! I can't wait to see the new reviews

Glad to see you played this! I haven't gotten around to it yet but it has been on my radar for a few years now. The moment I heard the premise I was immediately intrigued. It's good to know that it'll most likely live up to that intrigue once I get around to it.

Thank you so much for this review! Such games need more attention and your analysis was very cool!

You have no idea how happy my days are now because I discovered your channel.

This PS2 era of Gust with Atelier Iris Trilogy, Mana Khemia 1&2, and Ar Tonelico 1&2, will always be my favorite one. 😁

This game looks so good. Can’t wait to dive into it really. I’m all for this new series, I lost my way in my teens and I really only played shooters or MMO’s. Now I’m playing all of the jrpgs I’ve missed out on and your channel has shown me banger after banger after banger to play. Loving the content as always mate

I’m glad to have seen this review. I only learned pretty recently about Ar Tonelico through its ost in KZfaq that I got recommended that immediately hooked me. I started the first game around December and immediately got to enjoy its charm and gameplay through its shortcomings that didn’t bother me too much. Only got back to it last month after finishing phase 1 back in January (just couldn’t decide between Aurica and Misha, ended up deciding to pick Misha) and am currently in the middle of phase 3. I really can’t wait to listen to the Exec songs I haven’t got to hear yet and to know how this game plans to end, though I also got this feel that I wish the game would still go, I like its characters so much ! Thank you for the video, you earned a new subscriber !

Ey, don’t feel bad. I’ve never heard of this series until you put out this video!

Wow, another hidden gem jrpg on the ps2 I wonder how many are still hidden...

I hope you will do a video on the sequel, Metafalica as its very much a step up in story and characters from the first game in my opinion, also, I would recommend you play the version with a patch that was a retranslation and bug fix by fans (I think it was called Project Metafalica) because the original release had a lot of translation errors as well as a game breaking bug in one of the versions (either ntsc or pal)

Love your take on ar tonelico. My favourite game is all time is ar tonelico 2, the combat, music and setting enraptured me.

Brilliant. Love the into.

Love the content mate 👍

Great stuff as always. The game looks really interesting and I'll likely check it out after finishing the Trails series.

love the Ar tonelico and Surge series for its OST the Surge series is still in my backlog to do

My favorite is ar tonelico 2. its the same world as ar tonelico 1 so its kinda like kiseki. The undub version of ar tonelico 2 has more voice I believe so I played it on JP dub.

Well, I'm convinced. The game looks fun, might check it out myself. Funnily enough, I'm kind of in the same boat in that I'm also trying to go back and play older games I missed the first time around. So thank you for the suggestion! 👍

This game series is a treasure to both videogames and music, especially the later. The setting itself deserves WAY MORE attention, and I'd love it if it got an animated series, with all the music from it played in it.

I love how you started this video haha

I remember stumbling on Ar Tonelico through a very very old game review channel from the early days of youtube. It was mainly the innuendo that caught my attention cause it was so stilted that I had to see what it was about. I was delighted to find out the game was so much more than just the innuendo though, the dive spears, multiple endings and paths, and unique system over all just really drew me in. The OST was damn awesome too. I eventually played the second one, but never got the chance to play the third as I got rid of my PS3 before it came out due to losing interest in console gaming. To date, I have only found a couple games that even scratched the surface of the camp dialogue, but not so much as delved fully into a companion system like the dive system. It really makes you want to find more games like it since it pulls the characters together in a way most JRPG don't.

KZfaq recommends ar tonelico soundtrack, kisekinut releases ar tonelico video, coincidence I think not

Ar Tonelico switch port would be a dream!!

Good idea for a series. One suggestion for the end of these vids might be for you to let the viewers know whether the game can be played on modern systems in any way or if it is only available on original hardware.

Awesome choice, great game.

That opening song is so hypnotic

Ar tonelico is one of my fav RPG series

Shoulda bought this game a while back honestly, oh well emulation it is! Thanks again kiseki, this game i always ways wondered about.

This was one of the fewer gust works I wanted to play when it came around the mana khemia/iris time line. The combat in the game looked mad clean, iunno how anyone can get this game without emulating it now adays though. It's not cheap at all lol, and dope stuff as usual kiseki, I'd love to hear someone talk about some of these gust games

Second one is awesome as well 👌

These games were amazing! About 2 years ago Gust did 2 remasters of a few games from this series for the Switch and PS4. I was really hoping we would get them here in the West too. But it didn't happen. 😢😢😢

I love the concept of song magic and the world of Ar Tonelico had me so curious that I took all my courage, tried to ignore all the fan service and pushed through! To be fair the first game was still pretty mild in its fan service but I just love the world and the music so much that I played all 3 main titles + Ar No Surge and really enjoyed every one of them. Bossfights seldom hit as hard as they do in Ar Tonelico. In my opinion Ar Tonelico is one of the games that combined sci-fi and fantasy the best.

"It only gets more intense the further you go down." Ain't that the truth. ;) @11:05

I played this year ago and when I played Stella Glow in 3ds it reminded me of this. :)

god i loved these games. i even got Ooga's premium edition and i didnt even own a ps3

Cool bike, I gotta say~

now, if this was on switch today id prolly buy it day one

The sequel is even better, though I highly recommend playing it with the the undub patch

Ar Tonelico is fantastic. Especially the 2nd game. It has the best battle system of them all. Ar Tonelico 3 on the PS3 took some getting used to as the battle system got downgraded, but Gust released Ar No-Surge: a prequel to the entire series that gives us a souped up battle system that's a mix of the first two games. Absolutely love them, and the 2nd game even saw a fan retranslation that fixes bugs, restores hard difficulty, and replaces the English dub with the Japanese only. By playing the original NISA release and the retranslation, you get to see how badly things got bungled. Great series though that needs an HD remaster that'll never happen. Between Gust, Bandai Namco, Koei-Tecmo, and NISA, there's just too many spoons in the legal soup with Bandai-Namco having sole rights to the Ar Tonelico trilogy and K-T owning Ar No-Surge ...

A surprise, but a welcome one.

This seems like a good candidate for a straight to eShop port on the Switch like the older Atelier games

The review aside, that's one sick bike!

I also played all the ar tornelico games and enjoyed it very much. Stella glow has a similar dive in premise and multiple endings you can probably give that a shot

just reading the title ... GASP.

I love the series for many reasons but the main reason is father table flip spell

I really love these PS2 era Gust games.

I love this game. It's one rpg I've never forgot about. Though I personally pronounce it ar-tone-lee-co =)

Alright! so stoked to hear you say that! what was that jrpg book at the beginning? i recently bought a stella deus art book. thank you tkn

I’ve been putting off playing Ar Tonelico on my Steam Deck for awhile now, if this isn’t a sign I don’t know what is.

It is an amazing game.

This and the 2nd game was my from highschool. This and Xenosaga. Had a mp3 player that only had hymn songs on it. Was all I listened to.

Does anyone if that was a actual GUST information book? And where I can get one.

I'd definitely recommend At tonelico 2 as well

For ps2 generation jrpg, I recommend trying Musashi: samurai warrior. If you like swordplay, robots, talking cats, a princess to rescue and a flying whale, this is the game for you

I've always this PS2 era gust graphical style

I own all the ar tonelico games, but haven't played them. I have played Ar nosurge though and didn't know it had the same systems / was kinda part of the same series but not really.

Legit thought TKN was about to hear the voice of God after that music played in the intro

I got into the series through artiler iris to manage khemia to ar to nilico

What it lacks in story plots twists and turns it makes up for in OST. The story is nothing crazy but it gets the job done. Absolutely enjoyable RPG. I loved it.

Yo nice bike. I had a Yamaha R1 when I was 18 but I got shot (I'm American) and I have severe nerve damage in my right hand so I haven't rode in a while. I would have to have a total conversion with throttle and rear brake on left side instead of right.

The music in this game is nice, as with all the Atelier adjacent games.

Imagine a prinny presents nis classics with both ar tonelico 1 and 2. We can only dream...

Sounds very interesting game. I miss lot of PS2 weird jrpg

Misha is queen!

Singing is part of combat? As a Macross fan, you have my attention. 9:33 Probably not, since most video game casts voice their lines individually and at different times. More likely they didn't have a good voice director to give them context or line reading.

I've heard that they made this game a bit more lewd in the English localization, but the 2nd game definitely got butchered in this manner. I'm glad we at least have the re-localization patches at least.

Great vid dude I highly recommend the xenosaga trilogy and xenogears but saga episode 2 is not great from a gameplay standpoint.

I bought this waaaay back when it came out! Never finished it, but I remember that I got it because the store had the Collectors Edition in stock and the art was awesome! I still have that kicking around somewhere!

First of all, very sexy Ninja, second... Kiseki looking good, been hitting the gym or just hiding your swoleness from us? Ahem and now I shall watch the rest of the video.

🤔PS2 era and beyond? That leaves this wiiide open to explore the Xenosaga trilogy and the Shadow Hearts trilogy and some Wild Arms😉 They all need waaay more love. I mean, who can say no to a space opera, a dark trilogy, and a western JRPG.. and by western I mean horses and saloons and guns with Zelda style dungeons, not Mass Effect style😁

Son, I am disappoint. While not for everyone and certainly not without its faults, I thought the Ar Tonelico series was a lot of fun. If at all possible, try to get your hands on an undub of the games, because IMO the english language dubs were beyond horrible. Also, the X nosurge games (Ciel nosurge and Ar nosurge), they're set in the same universe and are also well worth your time.

Will you play Xenogears?? :D i think you will like this one a lot if you have not played it before. It's up your alley

Aurica best girl.

Is that Ninja 400 or 250? I ride the 2013 Z250 😊

I played this years ago but never finished it because my ps2 croaked

I played this back when it was released in my university days and I loved it, especially the soundtrack and the crafting elements - the way different characters could assign items goofy names was so cute. The way dives would unlock silly costumes and abilities made the progres feel extra rewarding too. And don't worry about Misha, she was my bae.

Damn, this game looks gorgeous. I just sadly do not own a Plasystation. Maybe I can find a good Lets Play or something. And I don't think the voice acting was that bad. At least the clip you showed us was pretty ok. Fire Emblem 9 on the other hand, that voice acting is awful. At least the English dub. FE 10 had a German dub that was pretty good actually. But damn, Aurica is really pretty. I instantly found the best ship in the game. But wasn't there more Ar Tornelico games? I remember one of those games had a white haired protag. I really enjoy retro games too, it's just sad I am so young that I missed them all. Btw, it's me, Nikita. I just changed my channel name, because I am sick and tired of people thinking I'm indian when I have never been to that country in my life. Hope oyu have lots of fun with all those retro games.

Shurelia best grill

the song and ost are amazing, they made a whole constructed language just for the hymn's

I haven't played Ar Tonelico, but I have played Ar Nosurge which is a "parallel universe" game of the same series to that series and uses the same mechanics. I am not sure why I picked up the game, I have to say I had a very similar experience - the story's pacing was all over the place and it felt like a rough diamond, but it was a diamond all the more because of its strengths, that being its character's deep dives and the unique song combat. And that game had some very dark deep dives psychologically speaking; the best RPG if you want to feel like a counsellor.

I just hope that SOMEDAY *someone* will remake this for new systems. Maybe tweak some of the scenes to improve the story. DEFINITELY get someone who actually knows what they're doing to handle making the American port, as NISA was just plain bad. Though they were worse in Metafallica, to be fair, but better than a game that automatically crashes if you don't beat a certain boss quickly enough is not exactly a high hurdle.

Bro has the Kawasaki Ninja. W Bike.