Originally Published on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page
Reviewed by Contributing Writer Chris Barsoum

Pros:
-Very well done artistic choice for the games graphics
-Very easy to learn for veterans of the strategy world
-Tutorial is in-depth and rather well explained, if you can wait the two hours to get to it
-Solid soundtrack and original voice dubbing

Cons:
-Fight system, rewind controls, and tutorial are at times complex and hard to manage
-Lackluster environments that make the title hard to enjoy
-Battlefields could have used more design and variety to provide a unique experience

 As a fan of the strategy genre, this game was one that seemed like it had a chance to be unique and rather inventive in the genre for strategy RPGs. Instead this game quickly dishevels that idea and tosses it aside. In Tears of Tiara 2, players will be able to make note of the art, which is one of the things that actually sticks out the most. The game itself is what you would consider a standard strategy RPG, which is expected, and this is why the art style works so well, but this is where the problems do begin to form.

Unfortunately, the game has no cover story, which gives no background for players who are unfamiliar with the series. This is something that makes it a bit difficult to get into. It leaves the questions of how, why, when, who, and where in the back of your head. This doesn’t even change once five hours in, which can become a problematic ordeal for those who are story driven versus gameplay driven.Though in that time frame many of the interactions that take place as well as the conversations within them, they seem to be ones that you can rub off, ones that almost do not seem to do much with the game as a whole. This is something that can seem somewhat troublesome to those unfamiliar with the franchise.

 First and foremost are the basics of the fight system. These are something that are not thoroughly explained, which means players will find themselves digging through the games manual feverishly in order to discover what controls do what. This also means the special and or unique controls for Tears to Tiara 2 are hidden deep within the games tutorial, which is not present until around two hours in; that’s assuming that you even make it that far. This is something that will frustrate newcomers and even leave some veterans kicking a can in the dirt hoping that the basic controls will at least appear in the tutorial, which reluctantly, they do. It seems that within the tutorial the key notes to how the game works had been left out. This is the same for advance controls for any that could be used as well as any tactics the game could advise players to find themselves crawling around with.

As a fan who loves difficult games; strategies none the less; there was one option that was infuriating, which to some may not be as bad; the rewind option. This allows players who are having troubles are able to go back through moves, time, and plan out what needs to happen with their units if they find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Don’t forget, this means you can also save squad members that may just be about to bite the dust at the swing of an enemy’s weapon. The part that sucks about this option? It shouldn’t be here, this is a strategy RPG, which means the game is meant to have a form of difficulty. For beginners this might be a nice option, but for veterans, this is a let down.

 Once managing to get past the issues that are present due to a long delayed tutorial, a story that can’t easily be explained to those unfamiliar with it, the game does run into another problem; the environments. Within these environments players would expect something unique. Large glorious fields, combat torn terrains, cliff sides, mountains, castles, and so on, but this does not happen. Instead the game itself feels as if someone had taken some form of an RPG Maker title and threw out a simple dungeon. The combat fields truly felt rushed, uninspired, and well just sloppy. Something that in a sense that could have helped this title was depth, coordination, but also a uniqueness to each map. Some form of direction for players to feel at home with. In the opening, you do begin in an area with tons of people whom are at random buildings, the story explains you are some kind of servant who is working to patch up a shrine. Yet the character lives right up the hill near the worksite. This would have been nice had some direction been given between towns, events, and combat fields. Sadly this does not happen well and hopefully will see a future patch to enable this.

Combat itself is very simple and feels like it would be a part of one of the many strategy RPGs that came before it. Some of you may recall the limited movements per turn, attacks per character, and the overall setting up of using grid based movement; this is something Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of the Overlord does. Attacks can be given each turn if the enemy is close enough based on your characters attack range, some of the classes such as sage or archer can do this from a ranged area, some of them from only a few grid spaces away, but do note that if further away the hit chance does go down, which can be problematic for some who are not used to counting out the grid spacing to ensure a successful attack. Upon a successful attack each character will gain XP as well as SP, which allows them to become more reliable in combat and ultimately provide a better chance of clearing out the map itself. Like in previous titles, players can edit their parties equipment, and setups to ensure that their team will be strong enough for what they are trying to do. This will provide a better and more beneficial use when setting up your characters for each scene, but do not forget to make sure to check your items and swap them out as needed. This also can ensure a chance at survival while players push on through the games main campaign.

 Outside of the games combat scenarios, character editing, and overview, the game itself is rather unique. Thanks to the rather beautiful art style and animations used, the game does seem to have some promise for fans of the series, but for ones that are unfamiliar to it; the game will be a let down or a huge mess of confusion. Like many titles that come from this genre or from Japan for that matter, Tears to Tiara 2 uses a well known set up, the graphic novel like approach that gives the game a entertainment value for those who aren’t big into the strategy rpg combat set up the game uses. Unfortunately, much like past titles, the game does seem a bit of a fan service, which can make the average adult looking for a form of entertainment cringe. This cringe factor is due to the rather over usage of barely cloth clad cleave, skimpy close, and well pantie shots that seem to be a big thing as of late. Even with doing all that, it did not help redeem the game as a whole, and unfortunately has left it as a game that will surely need some help in order to keep it alive unless you are someone who absolutely wants to skip all the conversations and shoot straight for the combat scenes. Even with all this said this game itself has only a small bit of entertainment value, it may be recommended to try and import some of the older titles from Japan that didn’t seem like a bit of a fan service.

So what does Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of an Overlord manage to fight itself to in a score? Unfortunately it has only landed itself with a mind breaking 3 out of 10.

Originally Published on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page
Written by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
-Great anime themed graphics and cell shading
-An amazing soundtrack that could easily be comparable to any anime out there
-Diving into a character’s mind to unlock songs and new powers is definitely a growth on character development
-Combat is well flushed out and remains strong as the new system adds in a wave mode not seen in the former Ar Tonelico titles

Cons:
-Quickly goes from RPG to graphic novel in long conversations and diluted ramblings that have no meaning to the main story
-Conversations with the female leads brings in a rather interesting exploration of the title, but also leads to an undeniable sense that a side story tends to be more important than the main story at times
-Frame rate can noticeably be seen dropping between each of the games terrains and can seem problematic to those who are purists for clean frame rate
-Feels as if it belongs more-so on handheld devices

Ar nosurge is set in a universe where civilization has begun to crumble after having been promised tranquility, a never ending, and vast amount of it. The issue? They had to seek it out, but then something arose, an issue that caused their planet to be destroyed, and in turn, they are forced to live upon a spaceship in search of a new home. That was over 2,000 years ago, where we are quick to take up the events where Sharls are attacking and abducting the city of Felion’s residence. This city being protected by a border allows for it to be guarded against the Sharls until one day the defenses begin to falter and outer cities are beginning to be attacked.

Ar nosurge is one I desperately tried to fall for in the essence of a great and solid story. It is one that made me lift my head up and try to be excited once it made its way across the seas, but the issue was that it didn’t. Most of them I did see just playing mostly as Delta and Cass. This to me was a bit of a problem. What was most of it? In the game Gust tries to get you to fall for the characters so that you can get to like them, part of this is done by doing what’s called a “Dive”, which allows your main character to jump into the mind of the female protagonist; this is known as Genometrics. This is where the game goes from RPG and to a very, at times, drawn out experience as a graphic novel. Within these instances, players will be making decisions, these decisions can unlock new Gems (Genometrica Crystal). These crystals can be used to upgrade both the main character and the sidekick. These crystals work as your stats. The unfortunate part is, you don’t just have to use the “Dive” feature to obtain them, you are quickly informed by your partner (this case Cass) that a purification process must be done as a ritual before this event can take place.

What makes this odd? The ceremony is where both characters (within the first thirty minutes or so within the game) strip down to their skimpies and decide to bathe together. This allows them to also “talk” so that players can learn more about the characters and their thoughts and or backgrounds. This is also where you can actually use those gems we mentioned, which can be placed in the arms, legs, torso, abdomen, and well the head. Why is this odd? Because it doesn’t just give you spots to use. You unlock them with trust levels through conversations and or dives. These conversational pieces have to be found too. Think that’s all? Well for the most part it is unless you want to unlock new and more powerful songs.

While the main character, Delta and his partner Cass are not taking a bath together or chatting about moments that make you question whether you are watching a romance or a drama, their combat skills put those trust issues the two have seemingly go away. Want to know more about the diving? Lets just put it this way, it’s weird, and it’s one of those moments whether you question if you’d like to continue this game or not. So lets talk about that a moment. Especially because this graphic novel like part is based around these “Dives” and well the points that are required to do it called “Dive Points”.

In the ‘Dive’ you do initially you get to meet the main character who works with Delta known as Cass. In this mini-game like graphic novel, Cass is at war with another side of her, the other personality named, guess what? Cass. We also get to see a rather destructive and reportedly end of the world scenario based version of Delta. These two sides are at war due to a misunderstanding, one thinks Delta’s monstrous portrayal was summoned by the other in order to take out the other. Unfortunately, this is not something that seems to be taken lightly by Cass herself. In order to proceed with these conversations, players must choose the proper conversation, which puts Cass in the place to expose her distrust for Delta because of some past events that have occurred. To carry on each of these conversations though, players must have more dive points. If you don’t have enough? Well get ready for the pacing of entering more combat scenarios than before. Who doesn’t enjoy taking out mass waves of Sharl though? I do, which is something that lead to farming for more XP, but also Dive Points to experience the game a tad bit more than previously thought.

This also leads to the idea of farming for materials in order to synthesize, which allows players to get more food, and obtainable items through a restaurant that has unfortunately been stolen from Delta by another Plasma member named Nay. This is where the game does take a bit of a relief from humour, something that caused a bit of a laugh to the game since her rather comedic value is definitely noted since she seems to set Delta over the edge. Why is this? His cooking compared to hers is subpar, which lead to her taking over his restaurant and becoming the places vendor. Though as minor as this is it doesn’t take place to one of the more major things to take a peek at: Combat.

Unlike many traditional RPGs, Ar nosurge follows a bit different of a format, which is where players can enter a combat and leave it at the flick of one ability. This is because of how broken characters tend to be when fighting. Enemies will come in via waves, which each of these waves can easily be dispatched in one turn. Instead, players can build up their burst, use it, and dispatch the entire wave by using a “song magic”, which Cass can use to literally take out enemies by passing the damage through all the waves by having Delta charge up her damage. This includes boss fights, which unfortunately do not feel like boss fights at all. However, if you wish to not use songs, this is not a problem. Luckily the game itself can be done this way as long as the damage you can unleash is high enough, your percentage of damage dealt can go up in insane amounts as it pass through each enemy wave. This is something that many of you will undoubtedly use no matter how long it takes to complete the campaign. Due to its length, this is not a game that will easily be fought through and read through in just a day or two. This game could possibly take weeks due to how much story there is to read through and how much side chatter is put up to the game to have in place.

Overall, Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star is a valiant attempt for Gust to grab more fans by the hands and lead them on, but unlike their other franchises, this is one that is easily forgettable and not highly memorable. It is one that as much as many people have tried, will feel like they are trudging through a pool of tar due to the high school like conversations that take place as well as the drama that tends to dilute the focus on the main campaign for Delta and Cass. However, for those of you who love games that feel more like a drama filled graphic novel than an actual game, this is one that will go straight up your alley and will definitely fill up hundreds of hours of a semi-comedy filled title. For those unfamiliar with the series, this is a direct prequel to Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, which we do highly recommend.

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So what kind of score did Ar nosurge manage to bellow out of musical chords? A magical 7 out of 10. (Updated as of 4/12/2015)

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About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at@GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Originally Published on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page
Written by Dustin Murphy

Writers Note: Please note there are going to be a LOT of Persona based puns in this and their “typos” are fully intended.

Pros:
-New fighters and rebalancing of old make combat much easier to find the fun with
-Continued story from where Persona 4 Arena left off allows for a more flushed out storyline
-New arenas and gutsier conversations leave even more fun to be had
-Persona 3 Midnight Hour Fog enters the Sho for a blast from the past scenario
-No log playing online, which allows for a lot more fun
-Constant DLC support adds for a great and enjoyable time with the game.

Cons:
-Instant-kills to newcomers can still be challenging and somewhat hard to learn
-Some characters can still be seen as overpowering or troublesome
-Storylines are much shorter than before putting focus on the Persona 4
-Combat between storyline scenes can be unbearable for some to take notice too

 If you are like many fans out there, Persona is a series that rings a bell among JRPG fans and sets the mood for very dark, but enjoyable storylines. This happened last year when many players got their hands on Persona 4 Arena, a game that had shown itself as a title that has a rather enjoyable storyline that seemed to set the mood for many others. This hasn’t changed with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, which has set the lights, made the mood bearable, and prepares to turn the dial on those TV’s for the sho to begin.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was developed by both Atlus and co-developer Arc System Works, which have gone out of their way to bring a story that is a direct follow up from the past title and once more links Persona 3 and 4 together. Doing this we are introduced to the newest group of fighters to enter the sho, which could be quite enjoyable for those who want to eat some pho while playing! These new fighters include two new versions of the games antagonist Sho Minazuki (with a persona or without a persona, he’s enjoyable); a Rise Kujikawa that has found her ability to fight; baseball bat and uniform clad Junpei, Ken, and Yukari. all of these fighters do bring in a new round-about way to fight as well as their capability to be rather strong contestants within the P-1 Climax. For those wanting more characters Adachi and Marie are both available for a limited time for free or are 5 USD each. Players will also be able to obtain Margarate as of now. We are sure more fighters will make way soon. On Top of the regular fighters, players can also choose a ‘shadow’ character mode that will change their fighting capabilities, but also the elements of how the fighting engine will act. This is something that players can take advantage of within the game itself.

 Stepping away from the new line up as well as the changes that have been made, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax also offers a continued story mode, which is separated between both Persona 4 (which has to be completed first) and Persona 3, but also any downloadable characters that the game may get storylines for. The only one that has a current storyline out of the DLC characters is Adachi himself. For those that complete the storyline, there is a new mode available called Golden Arena. This “arena mode” can be amounted to what many fighting games have done before, which is a scaling tower, but in this case a special one: the Tower of what seems to be Tartarus that was experienced in Persona 3.

So lets take a look at this mode since it is the only mode that has not been repeated through this game as well as the previous title. In the Golden Arena, players will adventure through dungeons that are filled to the brim with enemies, which will require players to level up and increase stats to become a better fighter. For those interested, the old screen from leveling up has made a return, and can easily be seen as one that has made a return. This is definitely a throwback that can be appreciated. The biggest change compared to other tower modes that have been seen in games such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and many others, is that this is a survival mode that will not require health and energy management. Instead you will have the ability to customize your stats as before, which allows you to also pick up skills, and adjust your character overall to your play style.

Just as before, this is at its core a fighting game, which does mean multiplayer, and offline game modes are something that will be at the main focus. This time, just like last time, players can enter a virtual arcade of sorts. Here you will be able to edit a Persona-esque avatar and search for matches as well as lobbies. This is something that’s actually quite fun as players go through familiar environments and match information for matches going on around them. The only issue? It’s only available for the PlayStation 3, which means this is where the core experience will be sitting for those that want a unique take on the game. Sorry Microsoft players, there doesn’t seem to be plans for this to head there, which is unfortunate.  The game also seeks to enhance the player profiles, which is rather nice since the customization is a bit easier to go through with this time around. This doesn’t seem something that won’t be enjoyable as the time spent to make a unique profile can take some time and be rather hysterical in the process. So why not get your Sho on the road and see if you can become the beary strongest to enter the arena?

 As it comes down to its care as we said before, this game at its heart is a fighting game, which means people wanting to enjoy a solid fight are the ones whom are at the ones to focus upon outside of the campaign. The biggest draw here will be the expanded roster, the rebalancing that has been done to make characters such as Naoto seem not as broken, but also the new system that has taken place within the game itself with the shadow variants. Those shadow variants that were mentioned before are unique since they do not have a burst mode that will be a last ditch effort when close to losing, but instead they have a Frenzy. This frenzy allows them special abilities, which can only be used during frenzy. The issue here is that they can constantly use them and will require their opponent to rather quickly change their play styles to match these frenzy moves.

Now onto the new characters we you may want to know more about such as Ken and Koromaru, Sho Minazuki, Junpei, Rise, and Marie. Adachi is one that seemed and will remind many of a mix between Naoto Yosuke, which is a rather nice fighting style since it’s fast, aggressive and does not leave room for attacking. Sho Minazuki is one that is actually rather interesting thanks to his very aggressive dual wielding attacks that can put players on edge and have to think quickly as well as defensively. His persona version is just as dangerous thanks to the addition of its grim form that stands within the distance. Junpei is easily one of the most admirable out of the new additions thanks to his baseball uniform clad self fits the role of how clumsy he tends to be. Brandishing his baseball bat, quick attacks, and medium range; Junpei can easily dispatch enemies at both close and mid range without an issue. This is partially due to the buffs he can obtain landing certain hits or combos. His persona also helps with this issue. The most interesting out of these is Ken and his canine pal Koromaru. With them making an entrance to the game, players will notice that Koromaru has his own HP bar, this can be expected since he acts on his own as a companion that’s always summoned, but this does not limit Ken from being a rather harsh adversary to fight. Rise as expected uses a microphone stand as her personal weapon, which fits to her role as a singer, but this also goes to state that her persona actually fits its role quite well. Giving her a close range advantage just as it should.

The most interesting character to some will be Marie. As a host for many of the problems that can go on within the Velvet Room and the world outside of it, she fits her role perfectly. With an advantage as a “trap” character; Marie will easily be one for players to lure enemies into her traps and then dispatch them, this is something that will easily put players into a troublesome spot compared to before. This will easily put their shadow versions as something that many players will find themselves gritting their teeth at once they enter the arena.

 With all that aside, the game overall has come to a very unique place thanks to the games story mode, which leaves place for a possible third entry or even a tie in to a future title. With the Kirijo Shadow Operatives and the Investigation Team being at the helm of the story, players will easily find out what has occurred, what drove the sho to once more show up on the Midnight Channel and why this new antagonist has come out of his hidey hole. This will definitely leave many players wanting more, which is something that can be quite deserving for a series that has easily earned itself a spot upon any BlazBlue or Persona fan’s shelves.

So what rating did we decide to give this new sho on the Midnight Channel? A solid 8 out of 10 channels.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at@GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.