Localization is certainly a difficult task, and at times, for diverse reasons, we get some really dreadful hatchet jobs instead of faithful adaptations of games not originally written in English. Of course, Japanese games are among the most widespread victims.

Ar Tonelico 2 for PS2 is one example. Among bad grammar and game-breaking bugs, it had so many issues that NIS America President Haru Akenaga had to apologize about it during a press event back in 2009.

Luckily, the Ar Tonelico series has a loyal niche fanbase and among those, a group of coders and translators going by the name Project Metafalica, took things in their capable hands, and completely redid the botched localization, replacing the dialogue with enjoyable lines, re-introducing the cut scenarios, and generally doing the job that the paid professionals should have done back when the game was released in the west.

Recently, they announced that the project is complete, and can be downloaded here.

In order to use the patch, and rediscover an absolutely lovely classic that deserves a place in the library of every self-respecting JRPG lover, you'll need an ISO of your PS2 disk, whether it's the North American or the European version, but the patch will convert the European version to North American, so your European saves won't work (but I don't see a reason why you wouldn't want to replay it from the start anyway).

You can also check out a trailer below.

[Thanks for the tip: SieKensou77]