Nights of Azure & Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the new Moon - Review

[@nightv4x601]

11:21 you do realize you also have the ability to guard in the first game as well right granted i also forget that i have it

[@ValkyrieAurora]

Oh! I don't even remember it from the tutorial. Oopsie! My bad.

[@TheSmugOjou-sama]

I came for the yuri and stayed for the music... and the yuri.

[@syn010110]

gay is certainly the best way to get me interested in a game but this is hilariously male-gazey.

[@RedxApollo]

Ooo baby, double feature!

[@rkbrillant5265]

Oh! Been eyeing these games for a while but haven't pulled the trigger since my backlog is a frickin nightmare. Thanks for the video super entertaining as usual. :))

[@lathier]

One of the things I adore about your channel is that you give time for many styles and types of games, and don't focus on the flavor-of-the-week. I love these reviews, and have gotten the chance to play some amazing games from them

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

I really like both games but they are full of cliches and mechanics don't get deep enough to be outstanding. However for some reason the gameplay loop felt really addictive, almost like Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star in some ways. Also I think the single best thing for this series is the beautiful character design.

[@shadowmoses8204]

You have amazing reviews Valkyrie! The way that you describe games is super-unique. You have an awesome vocabulary anf seem to pick out just the right words to describe what you're playing. SUBBED!

[@LittleBigLucas51]

I actually have been thinking about getting this game for quite some time now. Watching your review made me want to buy it right away! xD Tur att sommarrean börjar snart! ;)

[@SuperFusionAJ93]

So basically these games are kinda a mix of Tales of and Raidou Kuzunoha with Yuri

[@0-Noony-0]

I've never heard of these and they look interesting! ..thanks Sophie 😜

[@RULe57]

Noony so you’re that kind of moogle...

[@0-Noony-0]

@@RULe57 Aah, go away from my other life kupoooo...! 😫

[@RULe57]

Noony I’m everywhere 👁

[@ZioBlader]

'inserts "They seem to be very good friends"-meme here'

[@roynobody]

they are currently on sale on the psn store and im glad you made this video

[@leonard_y32]

I tried the 1st one for the yuri. 2nd one I have but haven't got to start playing it.

[@Snake-sg7yc]

I hate lesbians!!!!!

[@morriganrenfield8240]

@@Snake-sg7yc I hate bigots. Go fall in a ditch

[@Snake-sg7yc]

@@morriganrenfield8240 You shut up!!!!!!

[@roribabaaneneka]

Arnice is read as Ar-nice like the word "nice", yes like "nice." Aluche is read as "A-loo-she" like "she" in "sheriff." I loved both games despite the setbacks. (edited) Very informative review, I am subscribing now!

[@NotTheOnlyMattAround]

Hello to those who are here because they FINALLY put Azure 2 on sale again on Steam. Oh, and we still miss you, ValkyrieAurora. I hope life is good.

[@blendbastien]

thank you so much for the subtitles, i'm french and i'm really bad at english (like all the french lol !) help me a lot

[@Catherine_Ea]

Aww.. that is so sad. I was sooo into the story, I was like "holy f- this game is for me!", but then you said what you said... A pity indeed, it had so much potential... Still, from all what you said n showed, I still think I will enjoy it more or less. Thank you for telling people about the game. I will try to buy it as soon as I can in a sale as you suggested!

[@darkhawk5]

Thank you for the review, i've often thought about picking the series up but was in the fence. I think after this i'll give it a shot!

[@Valoe7]

I've been curious of the games but never took the dive since gameplay of it seemed a bit eh. Thanks for the review!

[@Bantetsu518]

Hm... I'm getting this feeling that Ar Tonelico is an inevitability. Hype? Thanks for the review. You did a good job being fair to this enjoyable series.

[@EzraGenesis1]

I’m actually surprised to see you do a review on these games. I played the first one a while back and thought it was decent enough to buy the second one, but I never got around to playing it. I greatly appreciate you playing these niche titles though!

[@waifusmith4043]

I preferred NOA 1 over 2, I enjoyed the combat more so in 1, and the fact you had like...well 5 transformations? Transformations that you get by having different servan loadouts, and having 4 different servan parties, and also the weapon variety you can switch to whenever. My problem in NOA2 is the fact that unlike in the first game, weapons are tied to specific servans, and are time limited, and your amount of servans in one party is 2 instead of 4, and you have servans that are either only weapons or support types. Since you can only have two servans out I found it much more a pain considering I felt like in most cases I had to limit myself to 1 servan that's a weapon and 1 that's a support so I could be prepared, meanwhile in NOA 1 I had 4 different parties that would allow me to be flexible not only because of their composition but the transformations that would allow me to change up my playstyle beyond just the basic 4 weapon types. I love the series myself but I do hope it can do better, I loved the first game but the story of the second game didn't exactly gel with me. I don't mind them doing a zelda where the premise is the same each time but I want a bit more variety, and while 2 had some I felt like it could have done more, because this was a game I was def hyped for, even buying the LE (which was like $112)

[@LunaPPK]

more or less felt the same as you 2 was just oof to me felt like the fanservice was worked on more then anything the Lilly system was nice tho and i love the girl in the story for the most part aside from two >.> and i hate how it the ending kinda...yea ugh

[@flariz4824]

NoA 2 basically wanted to distract players from all its shortcomings with the ridiculous, excessive fanservice/yuri pandering. Its really sad.

[@richie616]

"Was it an impulsive 4 am PSN sale purchase? Yes, and no." Didn't need to see more; that was enough to get me to click the Subscribe button. ^.^ But you did a great job with the review, and your combining both games into a single video works very well.

[@zerozyra0]

Alucard Dracula Hasn't this been done to death already?

[@bingo784]

Oi! Don't diss mah boi Alucard. Is a good name, it sounds posh. And foreign, like he could be from Romania or something.

[@zerozyra0]

@@bingo784 I meant that Alucard is Dracula reversed. Like it used to be a plottwist at some point but it is used so often that it's obvious now.

[@AdmiralSamStarcraft]

@@Valkyomi The sniper scientist woman that revives you is also named Alucard, meaning probably his daughter

[@dewaynethomas6693]

Still wish Ar Tonelico would make a comeback as a remaster.

[@Reggie21]

Ar tonelico trilogy. Please Gust & Banpresto

[@ChroahCresta]

Your reviews are great and all but I mainly watch your videos because your voice is aesthetic af. That said, I always loved Gust games. I also have always put these games in the back of my mind but I’ll give them a try now whenever I have a day to burn.

[@Tiiliuu1]

New to the channel, thanks for the review. I've been looking at these games for ages but seemed iffy about them. But your video made me decide to get them. I liked everything you told me. You made the gameplay parts themselves seem fun and I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. And I also really like fanservice and I'm basically immune to the possible detrimental effects it might have for the serious moments. Helps a lot that the girls are insanely cute as well. Thanks again for the review, cant wait to get into Atelier thanks to you as well.

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

Finally someone who agrees with on the fanservice subject. It's not intrinsically bad, but more often than not it's distracting and actively detracts from the story. It's hard to take any story seriously when there's boobs bouncing all over the place and sexual innuendos that don't really belong in the plot and are just gratuitious fanservice.

[@neonaofumi5572]

As a Japanese artist, it is my opinion that nudity isn't necessarily something to make people feel aroused, which is evident in a lot of classical paintings and sculptures. I will admit, the scenes from Nights of Azure do suggest that the creator has Yuri fetish, but nudity also means honesty and intimacy (we do bathe together while being completely naked after all). This is a weird reference, but in the opening theme of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" there is one memorable part of the lyric that says "脱ぎ捨てる　裸になる　自由を舞うバラのように" which translates to "strip off become nude like a rose dancing in freedom" which does represent a lot of the show's character development. I'm sure these "fan service" scenes serve the purpose of luring some horny person to buy their games but unless there are overwhelming amount of sexual innuendos I think people should at least assume that there are some other intention to those depictions of nudity.

[@koheikyouji]

I'm glad SOMEONE has finally played these games. I love them so much and their music is to die for.

[@TheScarletSeeker]

What a lovely review! This has definitely made me curious I might just have a look at this one. Well done :)

[@FernaMedel]

Although I am not too fond of the art style, I am all about gameplay and your explanation of the story was interesting, I will be checking this series out in the far future, my backlog is humongous.

[@flariz4824]

If you really care about gameplay then please take your time with the first original game, enjoy it, because the 2nd game kind of drops the ball in the gameplay part.

[@FernaMedel]

@@flariz4824 Noted, thank you good sir.

[@Ellesdy1]

Can you heal during battle? Can't figure out how... or resurrect while in battle??? Also, how do you keep your SP up after you burn through it?? Thank You!! I love the games!

[@DemonChisae3112]

Got both these thanks to ps now and I haven't played a lot of them yet but the stories have me interested so going to play them in my own time. I didn't even know they were Gust games when I first started them. Great video by the way✌🏻💜

[@theladyofwhims]

Pretty much agree with most of what you said, I do wanna give my thoughts about Lilyisse and Liliana though. In NoA1 Lilyisse had this opinion that she needed to go through with the ritual, and she butt heads with Arnice as a result. With Liliana in NoA2, she seems to comment once or twice about it, but was more resigned to follow Aluche's lead. I can't help but feel that NoA1 did a better job in that regard, it made the relationship more relatable. This could also be because NoA2 had all the other characters to focus on as well, though I do like that they all had greater focus, especially with the Lily quests. I also have thoughts on the endings of NoA2, but I'm not sure to begin with them.

[@TarksGauntlet]

Really enjoyed both games in this series. 2 has the better gameplay, but I think 1 has the more memorable character interactions. Found out when I done my review a couple years ago the creator of the series also created one of my other favs (Fatal frame,) and I guess it kind of shows. So many similarities between pinnacle events in the games story and setting.

[@flariz4824]

" 2 has the better gameplay" PLEASE explain to me how it has better gameplay. Help me understand, because I cant see it. No cool transformation, only 1 Weapon (I know you have the Servan-weapons but typically your Servans will be those that you actually need to open gates in the maps- itself a terrible decision), Servans as a whole got downgraded to basic companions that dont even follow your orders, no real postgame, NO Arena at all, combos felt more clunky and awkward than the original, camera is arguably even worse, framerate issues, worse item/gear upgrade system... This is not a hate comment. I mean I do dislike NoA 2 but, maybe you can help me understand how the gameplay is better... a may need a different perspective!

[@TarksGauntlet]

@@flariz4824 If you want you can just go to my channel, sort by highest viewed videos, and my review for NOA2 should be close to the top. I go more indepth on it, but in short, the combat in NOA1 felt way too passive. The servans were the crux of it and pushed your player character more into the background. I prefer how much more effective you feel as a fighter in the second. Doesn't feel like i'm sitting in the backseat watching somebody else drive while I occasionally tell them what streets to turn down anymore.

[@flariz4824]

Oh I see. Well, I guess it makes sense. I actually really enjoyned the Servans in the original, I thought it was a cool idea- an idea I was expecting to be improved upon in the sequel. And then they were more or less replaced by the Yuri companions... Yes I agree, the servans were probably more important/powerful than anything Arnice could do and thats not good. Ideally it should be a 50/50, and it was more like 70/30 with the Servans doing 70% of the combat. I would have prefered if they *improved* on this for the sequel, instead of essentiality getting rid of the whole mechanic/problem altogether... But, thats enough for now. I will check the video later and probably resume this there.

[@TarksGauntlet]

@@flariz4824 If you liked the combat in NOA1 you'd probably like the PS3 game Folklore quite a bit. I think this is mostly just a "Different strokes for different blokes" kind of thing going on. I wasn't exactly a fan of them replacing servans with new characters either, but for me the problem came more in the form of each character feeling less important. It cluttered the cast and left the over-all story feeling a little less centered. Rather than have 1 great relationship like in NOA1 you have a bunch of "Kind-of OK" ones, that just don't leave as long lasting of an impression. But I guess harem fantasies are popular for a reason haha.

[@reizakun7476]

I think NOA2 actually had similar focus issues like previous title as well. The first part of the story focused of the trio Aluche, Liliana & Ruenheid but somehow after you progressing the story it become more to just Aluche, to the point if you remove Lilia from the story it not gonna affect the story a lot. The other playable characters only appear for the side quest & nothing else. For example, there a scene where Rue get kidnapped by spider lady & when Aru try to save her you can see characters like Muveil just stand around in her usual spot like she's not even included in the main story. Anyway, thanks for the review~

[@comicobsessed9283]

Nights of Azure 2 has quite a few improvements over the first one but then again also quite a few downgrades like the stupid day system that is fairly limited, not to mention that the Switch version has pretty poor performance so at times is hard to put one above the other. Then again, NoA2 has Ruenheid who is easily the best romantic partner in the series and that means a lot in this kind of game.

[@maxpalmer3212]

I got nights of Azure 2 yesterday and so far I’m really enjoying the game

[@2ndEntity]

Thanks for the review, always been curious about these games just from their amazing artwork. Out of interest, what microphone do you use? Your voice always comes through super clear!

[@VillainViran]

Woop woop, the fanservice is a positive for me :D

[@nerofiorentino1971]

Tales of Berseria and Tales of Berseria 2 look good!

[@aiharakotokorulesbluerose4170]

except the real one is better

[@Fallen-Saint]

last night i beat 2 witch is my first game form this series and after going thru the true end along with the epilogue, i kind of wanted to cry.....was not expecting a ending like that but also, really makes it so a 3rd game could hopefully be a happy end for all. the setting reminds me of Pandora hearts and that was a manga that made tears come, i long to see al free again...

[@fy8798]

My opinion is near identical, and I played them BECAUSE of the yuri (yuri fangirl, nuff said). But jeesh, the service was just... scene killing. Look, writers, have the romantic scene here, and the mysterious blood scene over there, all with their own moods and themes. You don't need to throw bikini-nightgown-things into the latter! We're paying attention either way.

[@BrainScratchComms]

Gust's pretty low-budget and outside of the Atelier games, it always seems like they only halfway manage to execute whatever concept they were going for. Blue Reflection has a lot of the same problems, in a different form. I guess they aren't able to dedicate quite as much in terms of time and resources to their attempts at new IPs, and with that comes the lack of confidence you spoke of. Nights of Azure 2 is... alright. A decent way to spend a weekend, in any event. I just wish they could produce a new IP like this one and give it the kind of care and attention their flagship franchise gets. Maybe Atelier Ryza will be the jump-start that franchise needs to take off in the west and bring in some more money so they can really stretch their legs the next time they attempt something like this or Blue Reflection. - Lewis

[@BrainScratchComms]

As it happens, Nights of Azure 1 is currently on sale on PSN, so I decided to pick it up. For some reason, I only ever bought the second one before (and they have since released DLC for it), so I figured that while I'm in a Gust mood I'd complete that particular collection.

[@Aidan_705]

I started listening to the ost because of this review. Thanks for the music suggestion lol.

[@unironicallydel7527]

I like a good Yuri story as much as anyone. Though you can definitely do it without excessive fanservice. But ill give them credit, they didnt make their sexuality the only thing to focus on. It seems, atleast from this review, they made compelling characters that are who they are because of their persons, not their sexualities. That i can respect.

[@flariz4824]

The first game yes, it was actually a solid game and the fanservice, while present, wasnt literally the only thing the game was about. And the characters had personality as well beyond "lesbos". Now, the second game...THAT is the one that is obsessed with fanservice and the game quality suffered for it. I hate it.

[@humanLucifer]

I've been thinking about getting this game/these games for a long time now, let's hope you'll give me the answer i need. Going through the niche JRPGs on PSN i really hope we'll someday see a video like this for "The Witch and the Hundred Knight". I'd love to see your take on that.

[@katarinalavoie6476]

Thank you for this review. Helped my final decision in whether to get the game or not.

[@slipperyprism4851]

Black cat: "meow..."

[@nicke20686]

Bought physical copies of both of these and ended up reselling before playing either.. in some sense I regret it but at the same time I knew I'd probably never find the time to go through them with my huge backlog

[@skeletor959]

Alternatively they talk about their vulnerably feelings while at the pool since it leaves them in a more vulnerable state to one another. It’s common to have deep talks at the beach/pool/tub in real life and games. Instead of the fan service ruining these scenes for you, are you ruining the scenes for yourself because the fan service is there? Or is it just like you said and they don’t have the confidence to feel they can hold peoples attention without a scantily clad girl .-.

[@pyrosianheir]

I'd been seeing the sequel in my recommendations for a while. Good to get a bit more info beyond what the dry Wikipedia descriptions give. Dunno if I'll buy it yet, but good to know.

[@MultiJellybones]

i really like your content since you make videos on these kind of games. quite curious about your stream time, when do you usually stream? please include timezone lol

[@bamboofighting4576]

Had my eye on these games for a while. Definitely need to get around to them now.

[@Harley411]

are you up for code vein ?

[@roribabaaneneka]

You reviewed Nights of Azure games. I am subscribing to your channel now. 😎 Yeah I agree it's not best game but it was really fun for me too. Played more than 150 hours of NoA2 on Switch. The problem is that the timing was really bad when they released the sequel.

[@flariz4824]

The timing was bad?... What do you mean?

[@thunderanime27]

Have these gamesbeen can translated on vita. Cause I know these games was on vita on Japan. I say this cause currently I don't have the money to buy it yet and wanted to try these games out.

[@MarihanChao]

Hi, Sophie, thank you for the great video~! I have to admit i've written Nights of Azure off as fanservice bait after release even tho i was really looking forward to it when it was announced, so seeing you talk about it in a MOSTLY positive light really made me interested in it again! Also really surprised that the combat is actually really fun, which i wouldn't have expected to be honest~ Just a small question! Even though it has wild tonal dissonance and overbearing fanservice at times and without going too deep into spoiler territory, i'm curious: Does it stick the landing? Did you feel satisfied with the stories' conclusions or did it leave a stale taste in your mouth that made the experience bittersweet? Thank you in advance, keep doing what you do, your stuff is great~! ♥

[@flariz4824]

"i've written Nights of Azure off as fanservice bait" For the *first* game, you were wrong, its actually a decent game if you can look past some of its flaws. Now, for the sequel... you are spot on. Thats pretty much most of the game in a nutshell.

[@JohnDoe-ug3su]

thank you! been wanting to check the bride of azure 2 on steam

[@ΝίκοςΣ-γ7β]

Enjoyable review and it made me want to try the games my self. Unfortunately the ps4 version is 60€ digital and the vita version hasn't been released outside of japan (why?). So I guess that it'll have to wait for a price cut.

[@lxzy-413]

Early bird, love you ❤️

[@cacherow]

Thanks for the review, It's always nice to have a more in-depth look at niche JRPGs. Speaking of niche, have you ever played the Ys series? I'd love to see your take on it, especially the latest game, Ys VIII.

[@flariz4824]

Is Ys VIII even considered niche?... I mean its obviously not AAA popular, but uh...

[@lysandriah8290]

Hmmm, a premise where the main character is wiling to do whatever they have to in order to save the one they love? Hmmmmmmm... :3

[@patrickleighpresents749]

You know, I'm fine with fan service if it's done in a clever way, but a character doesn't lose his or her appeal when having an emotional moment. Besides, all fan service all the time means that the fan service kind of loses its charm. You need to space it out a bit, mix it up with awesome combat and other things, to keep it from getting stale. I'd rather have a few moments of great fan service that's clever and entertaining than a bunch of repetitive fan service which just gets boring after the twentieth time. I'm not sure if I'll give these games a try or not, but I'm glad you made this review, at least.

[@Paragondrake]

man i hope for the third game from this serie i love this game

[@Emberrs]

15:45 I've never heard "yuri" pronounced like that

[@konrad8541]

Well, it's Japanese word and she speaks Japanese, I guess that's how it supposed to be pronounced

[@Snake-sg7yc]

I hate lesbians!!!!!

[@morriganrenfield8240]

@@Snake-sg7yc I hate worms

[@ludwigziffer6895]

Honestly, I really liked the first game but I haven't even touched the second one. They had a game that sold overwhelmingly because of its terrific soundtrack and then the second game's soundtrack was just so... I dunno, less catchy, less memorable? Also, did you notice that the first game is super easy so long as you do exactly what the Curia wants you to do but whenever you don't follow their orders (like going down side paths and unlocking the true ending) it suddenly gets a lot harder? I found that really cool.

[@flariz4824]

Literally the only good music in the 2nd game is the final boss. The rest is either merely okay, or just forgettable.

[@streamofthesky]

@@flariz4824 I also really liked the music when you encounter the boss at the start (Omen; variation of the final boss theme), the level up room's music is great, and the true/best ending credits theme (Tsukikage no Bisui) is possibly my favorite song in the series. But that's about it. Overall, NoA1's soundtrack is indeed far better. Has a few dozen incredible tracks, that I listen to often.

[@kosterix123]

12:17 that scene is gorgeous. So safe to say skip NoA1 b/c bland personas. Found the atmosphere and tension between the characters very intriguing. So what if they are sometimes in bikini - perhaps cv problems at the pool?

[@karurosu4121]

does someone know if the atelier games run well on switch? I'm interessted at the newest one that will come to the switch and i wanted to know if gust does the ports well.

[@ndnbane]

The scene kid reference. Spot on.

[@Bluelyre]

Might pick up the second one on a sale then. thanks for the review!

[@MrXMysteriousX]

I played the 2nd one some time back and the points you raise are pretty accurate. Ultimately it felt like a game which was trying its best but its best wasn't quite good enough.Perhaps with more funding and more experience they'll become better than just an average game.Not that it sucks,i certainly enjoyed it and all that "plot"/fanservice.....well i'm as redblooded as the next guy about it so it didnt bother me but yeah,tone wise it just seems....off,like its lost in translation,perhaps because its more acceptable and common in japanese anime style things to have super skimpy outfits because....reasons. Its the sort of game you play for the yuri/attractive anime type so in that sense i understand why they try sticking them in revealing clothing with thinly veiled reasoning. The music is pretty good,probably its best asset,i intended to get the soundtrack but forgot to do so at the time.

[@TakedaDoujin]

I've been debating these games for a while now. They're on my steam wishlist, but I could never pull the trigger. This is one hell of an endorsement though, so I'll snatch them for the summer sale

[@mrdormant1314]

can this game be played with an xbox on controller on pc?

[@OtakuDaiKun]

I've gotta say I completely disagree with the fanservice breaking the tone. I suppose such things are subjective, but I genuinely felt the blood strengthening outfits made sense. I suppose for every time it pulled you out, it pulled me in. If there's anything I can say about these games it's that the stories start off great and get worse as they go on. The endings make little to no sense and simply made me feel like all my efforts throughout the story were for naught. They're fun games with phenomenal aesthetic design, but I never felt the world building was grounded enough to follow too seriously.

[@TheWingedBeatle624]

“You also have your Devil Trigg- I mean demon form.” Sophie, if a guy with white hair and a blue coat starts asking you about your motivation, start running.

[@tigerfestivals5137]

I literally just played through the first game on a whim last week, it had been sitting on my shelf for a year.

[@AdmiralSamStarcraft]

Did you ever get to the true ending on either of them? It is definitely quite an experience, especially the second one.

[@HybridAngelZero]

So, the main character is a half demon that can transform, jas white hair and a red outfit. Hmmm 🤔 Jokes aside, I really want to get both of these games, I love the style and atmosphere, and tonal whiplash doesn't really bother me as much as it does most people. If I can take all the Kingdom Hearts games seriously, heels in the pool are definitely not a deal breaker xD

[@aiharakotokorulesbluerose4170]

the gameplay for the first one is eh not good as for the second....idk i have not played it

[@HarryBillyBobGeorge]

So Yuna and Rikku against The Night King. Got it.

[@Darth_Bateman]

Oh god please don't bring that 20 year disappointment up. . . .

[@NongIng]

Anyone still remember when Buns called Aurora “PepsiVicodin”? Should we chuck that NieR:Automata disc back at Buns?

[@Manlyman47]

Is it anything like Ys? I just thought it kinda looks like it.

[@hackerkyle7387]

I was curious about Nights of azure 2. I played the first game and while I found the story to be interesting. All the problems you had with it I also had issue with, that and it made my PS4 fan sound like a jet engine. It's a little sad to see the awkward fan service return in 2. But I'll give it a shot. But one question if I can ask. Do you think I need to finish the first game to enjoy the story of the second game?

[@jonnysac77]

Is the frame-rate in this something I should be concerned about?, it looked pretty bad in the video

[@kappanova1302]

2:20 I call it now, the plot is just Okami with - somehow - even more cute girls

[@siden87]

Never expect you to actually pick up this series lol Anyway, played and plat all Gust games as well, except Ar Tonelico series (maybe you might want to give it a try, but beware the fanservice). I admit at first I'm a bit uncomfortable with the fanservice/yurism in Night of Azure/2, at that point I'm already resistant to these kind of games, and especially because I love Gust, I played anyway. Simple and fun combat, love the aesthetic, the music. Story and (side) characters...not so much because I never took them seriously with the all the "distraction" going on. Personally I think story/character have never been Gust's strong point anyway, and they're known for fanservice contents (regardless of amount), even in Atelier games

[@zempmasterz]

Now all that's left are the artonelico games

[@Nekucloud]

I love both these games, and wish there was a third game!!!😍

[@magnuscritikaleak5045]

Let's just fingers crossed. But I heard Arnice is coming crossover into tecmo Koei's Warriors franchise, I heard that Warriors Orochi 5 is in the making and Arnice plus the other caste of the sequel game might be entering the orochi game soon.

[@magnuscritikaleak5045]

Warriors All stars has Arnice and Chrisrophorus, but I think we need a sequel.

[@extremewirehead]

"Heavy handed thing I have ever seen" Exactly why I never bothered to buy them haha

[@tulfrich]

I was wondering if I should buy this one, thanx :)

[@ndril]

once you recognize the secret reason for her exposure, you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds.

[@JoyceW-Art]

Now I'm curious to play these actually The art looks amazing and the aesthetic is indeed up my ally. It's indeed a shame of the bad-placed fanservice. Like you said, I don't mind it as much in general (I'm kinda used to it mostly with how much I see of it in general) but it's better to have a filler fanservice-episode than have the fanservice-episode happen during the serious part of the story. (Like those beach episode in anime) Then you know what to expect and can simply enjoy it without it taking away from the main thing

[@stephen2624]

Having serious stories with cute girls and intimate relationships without committing to the bit and throwing in fanservice for the sake of it is the Gust's stock and trade.

[@mintysballroom]

Please do an Ar Tonelico/Ar Nosurge video if you haven't already. Much appreciated!

[@cshadow1666]

this pls

[@EvilDethex]

Hey! Have you played the Ar Tonelico series? Never heard you mentioning those games.

[@streamofthesky]

I found NoA1 to be better than 2 in almost every way. NoA2 has a better start (actually really great), the side characters are a bit better (and more of them, but I really liked Simon/Alucard/Lloyd too), the graphics got an upgrade, and...that's basically it. NoA1's main duo was more interesting, the plot was better, the "open" design where you could traverse between regions freely was way better than being stuck in the same for a given outing in 2, the weapon switching and combos were more interesting than 2's limited system, the four decks of four servans and variety in skills between even the same type of servan gave you WAY more tactical variety and options, the music was better (I really...don't know how you think 2's OST is better), the bosses were vastly better.... Just to name a few things... Plus NoA1 had the arena with all sorts of scenarios that really made you delve into intricacies of the combat, even things like summoning servans at the right moment to use their entrance attacks. It was just much more fun and felt way less repetitive and same-y than 2. Which the limited nights out and basically having to do a NG+ full 2nd playthrough just to get the best ending certainly didn't help, either. And finally...it's rather shocking to me that you have such a problem w/ fan service (you spent quite a lot of time complaining about something you "don't usually mind") and *still* preferred 2 to 1... The dream area outfit is basically the only major fanservice in 1, it's actually a surprisingly tame game from what one might expect. 2 on the other hand has chock loads of fanservice and a whole harem of female friends that get swimsuit outfits. Usually, fanservice is an area that people agree that 2 "outshines" 1 in. Anyway, I found NoA1 to be one of my favorite games this gen, and NoA2 to be a huge letdown from it but still a decent game.

[@magnuscritikaleak5045]

I love your explanation man love it.

[@seoulrainme]

I played 2 and liked it, but it felt like I rushed through the story soooooooo quick, I didn't even get to finish the characters affinity quest.

[@justarock9553]

Other reviewers: this game lag sometimes, graphics are okay, and the combat sucks. Valkyrie: *goes deeper than those reviewers and even reviews the soundtrack* Me: Finally, some one with some culture review this game. Will probably buy it (the second one) when I have money or find it at a lower price.

[@AwokenGenius]

I've been playing these games recently too as they were on sale, not bad games. Borrowed the main characters names (Aluche and Arnice) for my BDO characters. A mix between lacking creativity and all the names I could think of being taken.