Well, admittedly, I always had a soft spot for JRPGs, especially if they implement adorable characters. In this particular case, Tears of Avia happened to catch my interest and although it turned out slightly different than I anticipated, I still managed to enjoy this title. You see, I played quite a few JRPGs already so I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing when one of them turns out differently than the ones I am used to. Anyway, I jumped at being able to play Tears of Avia and was curious to explore its world. In addition to that, the sudden release pleasantly surprised me, as well, as I didn't expect to be able to play it that soon.


Tears of Avia opens with a village getting attacked by the undead. After fighting those off, the main character starts their journey to investigate the happenings. There are various party members than can be found who will join the journey. After a short while, the main character happens to find a mysterious object that is known as a "Tear". Soon, the protagonist finds out that there is a dangerous evil being that lingers around, and thus, the world needs a hero who saves them from the terrible fate.


At the beginning of the game, the player can select the main character in Tears of Avia. However, it's important to mention that it barely matters what character the player ends up choosing as the story stays the same and every character can still be recruited for the party. Thus, I just decided to go for the character that I liked most. Anyway, I found it a shame that the game does offer their players to choose their own adventure, but at the same time, it doesn't really make a difference. Nonetheless, I was delighted that I could pick a character to my liking and wasn't stuck with only one possible protagonist.


Now, I was feeling slightly mixed about this aspect of the game. Although Tears of Avia mixes visual novel elements into the game, I found that these scenes weren't fleshed out enough. I often was unable to understand the intentions of various characters and, along with that, the character development suffered as well. I couldn't understand why they all stick together as there were barely any scenes where the cast gets to know each other better. It's evident that Tears of Avia focuses on the gameplay, however, that means that the player's motivation to go through the game might be lowered.


Tears of Avia is a turn-based game that relies on tactical gameplay a lot. The player can build a party with up to five members, although there are various classes available with different skills. Therefore, it's important to balance the party so there are melee, as well as range and heal classes available. I found the battles were enjoyable in Tears of Avia and some fights might take a while due to the high amount of enemies. In addition to that, there are optional objectives available that can be completed, although those are required.

• The World Map
  Something quite unusual in Tears of Avia is that the player starts in a village and enters the small dungeons with a teleporter. This means that this game is very linear and there isn't a lot to explore for the player. Eventually, the player will reach new villages although the teleporter is still the main objective during the game that lets the player enter battles so they can advance with the storyline. I'm not sure what I think of that system as it kind of takes away the immersion as I couldn't get attached to its world, however, that system still works out.
  
  Something that I absolutely disliked is that the camera is only moveable to a certain degree in Tears of Avia. This made it extremely hard for me to not get lost in huge cities as the player can only turn the character to the left or right side. Luckily, the game shows the player which direction they have to go, however, I still had the feeling I was restricted in exploring the very few locations I could move around.
  
  
• Skills Tree
  When leveling up, the player can unlock new abilities and attacks for each party member. There are three different trees for each class and to be honest, I found that it didn't matter much which one to unlock because they're all very strong anyway. Regardless, there are unique skills available such as summoning an animal for the ranger. Leveling up is quite fast in Tears of Avia and I ended up unlocking random skills in the end. Anyway, the player can still freely manage the skills and use the ones they prefer most.
  
  
• Equipment
  In addition to that, each weapon has its own skill slot as well, although the abilities and attacks vary depending on the weapon. I found this was a nice touch as that meant that equipping a new weapon meant that the player had to get adjusted to a new skill and I loved the different animations for each skill. However, I ended up skipping those soon as it took a lot of time watching each of them unfold. Thus, I am glad that there was a recent update that allowed the player to skip the animations, which might be quite tedious otherwise with a lot of enemies on the map. As a piece of side information, equipment and weapons can be found after completing a battle or are obtainable through the merchant.

Graphics-wise, Tears of Avia is stunning and supports up to 4k resolution. However, something that stood out to me is that some character sprites look crisp and clear whilst others were noticeable blurry. Anyway, the sprites were still lovely with multiple facial expressions that made them seem livelier. Luckily, the environment looked stunning and was a joy to look at, including the battle maps. In addition to that, Tears of Avia implements high-quality Japanese voice-acting that greatly improved the immersion, although it was a shame that those scenes fell rather short throughout the playthrough.


Would I recommend Tears of Avia? — My answer would be: It depends on. If you're looking for a non-linear game or a JRPG with an in-depth story, the possibilities are high that you won't have a good time with this game. However, I still found Tears of Avia utterly charming and managed to enjoy it, although it turned out to be slightly different than I assumed. Yes, this game isn't perfect, but it serves its purpose of delivering a few fun hours where I could immerse myself in its world. That being said, Tears of Avia isn't a game that will be enjoyable to everyone, however, it's a solid JRPG that has an interesting premise.

𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬!

Well, admittedly, I always had a soft spot for JRPGs, especially if they implement adorable characters. In this particular case, Tears of Avia happened to catch my interest and although it turned out slightly different than I anticipated, I still managed to enjoy this title. You see, I played quite a few JRPGs already so I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing when one of them turns out differently than the ones I am used to. Anyway, I jumped at being able to play Tears of Avia and was curious to explore its world. In addition to that, the sudden release pleasantly surprised me, as well, as I didn't expect to be able to play it that soon. [h2]Tears…?[/h2] Tears of Avia opens with a village getting attacked by the undead. After fighting those off, the main character starts their journey to investigate the happenings. There are various party members than can be found who will join the journey. After a short while, the main character happens to find a mysterious object that is known as a "Tear". Soon, the protagonist finds out that there is a dangerous evil being that lingers around, and thus, the world needs a hero who saves them from the terrible fate. [h2]Choose a Character[/h2] At the beginning of the game, the player can select the main character in Tears of Avia. However, it's important to mention that it barely matters what character the player ends up choosing as the story stays the same and every character can still be recruited for the party. Thus, I just decided to go for the character that I liked most. Anyway, I found it a shame that the game does offer their players to choose their own adventure, but at the same time, it doesn't really make a difference. Nonetheless, I was delighted that I could pick a character to my liking and wasn't stuck with only one possible protagonist. [h2]The Execution of the Story[/h2] Now, I was feeling slightly mixed about this aspect of the game. Although Tears of Avia mixes visual novel elements into the game, I found that these scenes weren't fleshed out enough. I often was unable to understand the intentions of various characters and, along with that, the character development suffered as well. I couldn't understand why they all stick together as there were barely any scenes where the cast gets to know each other better. It's evident that Tears of Avia focuses on the gameplay, however, that means that the player's motivation to go through the game might be lowered. [h2]Turn-Based and Tactical Battles[/h2] Tears of Avia is a turn-based game that relies on tactical gameplay a lot. The player can build a party with up to five members, although there are various classes available with different skills. Therefore, it's important to balance the party so there are melee, as well as range and heal classes available. I found the battles were enjoyable in Tears of Avia and some fights might take a while due to the high amount of enemies. In addition to that, there are optional objectives available that can be completed, although those are required. [*][h3]The World Map[/h3] Something quite unusual in Tears of Avia is that the player starts in a village and enters the small dungeons with a teleporter. This means that this game is very linear and there isn't a lot to explore for the player. Eventually, the player will reach new villages although the teleporter is still the main objective during the game that lets the player enter battles so they can advance with the storyline. I'm not sure what I think of that system as it kind of takes away the immersion as I couldn't get attached to its world, however, that system still works out. Something that I absolutely disliked is that the camera is only moveable to a certain degree in Tears of Avia. This made it extremely hard for me to not get lost in huge cities as the player can only turn the character to the left or right side. Luckily, the game shows the player which direction they have to go, however, I still had the feeling I was restricted in exploring the very few locations I could move around. [*][h3]Skills Tree[/h3] When leveling up, the player can unlock new abilities and attacks for each party member. There are three different trees for each class and to be honest, I found that it didn't matter much which one to unlock because they're all very strong anyway. Regardless, there are unique skills available such as summoning an animal for the ranger. Leveling up is quite fast in Tears of Avia and I ended up unlocking random skills in the end. Anyway, the player can still freely manage the skills and use the ones they prefer most. [*][h3]Equipment[/h3] In addition to that, each weapon has its own skill slot as well, although the abilities and attacks vary depending on the weapon. I found this was a nice touch as that meant that equipping a new weapon meant that the player had to get adjusted to a new skill and I loved the different animations for each skill. However, I ended up skipping those soon as it took a lot of time watching each of them unfold. Thus, I am glad that there was a recent update that allowed the player to skip the animations, which might be quite tedious otherwise with a lot of enemies on the map. As a piece of side information, equipment and weapons can be found after completing a battle or are obtainable through the merchant.[/list] [h2]Graphics, Voice Acting, and The Immersion[/h2] Graphics-wise, Tears of Avia is stunning and supports up to 4k resolution. However, something that stood out to me is that some character sprites look crisp and clear whilst others were noticeable blurry. Anyway, the sprites were still lovely with multiple facial expressions that made them seem livelier. Luckily, the environment looked stunning and was a joy to look at, including the battle maps. In addition to that, Tears of Avia implements high-quality Japanese voice-acting that greatly improved the immersion, although it was a shame that those scenes fell rather short throughout the playthrough. [h2]So, what do we have in the end?[/h2] Would I recommend Tears of Avia? — My answer would be: It depends on. If you're looking for a non-linear game or a JRPG with an in-depth story, the possibilities are high that you won't have a good time with this game. However, I still found Tears of Avia utterly charming and managed to enjoy it, although it turned out to be slightly different than I assumed. Yes, this game isn't perfect, but it serves its purpose of delivering a few fun hours where I could immerse myself in its world. That being said, Tears of Avia isn't a game that will be enjoyable to everyone, however, it's a solid JRPG that has an interesting premise. [quote]𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34470115/]𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞[/url] 𝐚𝐧𝐝 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/5413792/]𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬[/url] 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬!