Customer Reviews
Great game if you like strategy
**Updated March 23rd**
I have played the game for about 30 hours (I believe the game is 60-80 hours long)so here is the review.
First of all, I love the game. The combat is awesome is you like strategy games. The game has more in common with strategy/rpgs rather than traditional JRPGs. As in any rgp you can roam inside the cities, get side quests, and explore the world map. However, the combat and the missions are very much like that of turn based strategy games. In fact, ROF is more like a strategy game under a JRPG disguise.
Although the combat looks flashy and cool, RoF is not an action oriented game. The combat is very deep and strategic. Also learning curve is steep, it takes several hours to learn all the intricacies of the combat, and I will not attempt to explain it here. However, the turn system is very similar to Valkyria Chronicles, it is a mixture of turn based and real-time (while you are moving the enemy also moves and can attack you). Flanking, timing, the type of attack etc. all plays a key role in combat and makes it very satisfying. They are nice to watch too, although your eyes would be on the action gauges most of the time.
There is a tutorial that introduces every battle action but it does not tell you about the tactics. (Think of chess, you can learn the rules in half an hour but you'll have absolutely no idea about the tactics). So the game got better as I played because I began to discover some of the mechanics and the tactics not described in the tutorial. It also has some realtime elements that require timing, which keeps things interesting and gives you some more tricks to help you. (For example, you can manually evade physical attacks if you time your movement right). I believe it will take a long time to master every trick of the combat, but it is very satisfying when you discover something new.
Leveling and customization is all about the guns not the characters. There are 3 types of weapons (handguns, machine guns, and grenades). As the characters use a weapon they get more proficient with that weapon and level up. A character's level is the sum of all 3 weapon levels. For example, a level 20 character can be level 15 handgun, level 4 machine gun, level 1 grenade. As they level up their hit points and respective gun weight limit improve. Also they gain some additional effects (5% stun chance for instance).
You can only customize your weapons. Guns have 5-6 attachment slots (magazine, grip, sights etc.) that you can upgrade with the parts you found. Also you can add extensions to all slots(e.g. adding another barrel to the barrel). However you have space and weight limits that you need to consider. Finally, you can also craft special parts from the basic materials you get from monsters. There is no other customization. There is no armor either. You can buy a lot of different dresses but they have no effect other than changing the looks of your character (this also affects cutscenes as they are done with the ingame engine).
The story is slow to start. It starts to pick up after Chapter 5 (which would be 10-20 hours into the game depending on the number of sidequests you do), but it is one of the weak points of the game. Simply put,this is not a story-driven game. There are a lot of fetch quests but at least the NPCs are quirky, and the interaction between the characters can be funny sometimes.
In sum, this is not a traditional JRPG like Final Fantasy or Lost Odyssey, it is more similar to Valkyria Chronicles. If you want fast paced, action oriented, quick resolution combats (e.g. Tales of Vesperia) then this is probably not the game for you. If you like turn based strategy/rpg games (Jagged Alliance, Front Mission, Valkyria Chronicles, etc) with a lot of depth then I believe you will like this game.
Resonance of Fate first 10 hours impression
Here is my first 10 hours impression of the Game, hope that this will help you out a little. I am more or less comparing this game to FFXIII but only a few little things not the whole game.
2D/3D Visuals:
The game is full 3D with 2D as background. The visual is acceptable, the 3D environment is not to bad for towns, but its a bit bare and boring during cut-scenes, the cinema animations are up to par, but the in-game animation cut-scenes are not very eye catching. (Been playing FFXIII for a while, its visual is really not that great compare to FFXIII)
Voice Overs and music:
The Voice overs are not bad, they sounds great, the music is a mix, some of them pretty good and some of them are annoying. NPCs do talk when you interact with them, even though its thoughtful but after a while you get sick of them saying the same thing over and over.
Combat System:
This is where the game shines. Instead of sword and magic, your 3 characters are using guns, either it be hand guns or machine guns. It will take you a while to learn all the things about the combat since there are quite a lot of rules. The animation in combat is pretty good, its better than the in-game animation cut-scenes, but then since they move so fast you can't really compare them. The combat visual feels like the Matrix, where you use guns to shoot your enemy while doing acrobatic moves.
How does combat work?
Its kind of a mix of RTS and TBS (Turn base strategy). There are two types of damage, Direct damage and Scratch Damage. Direct damage is caused by Hand gun, and Scratch Damage is caused by Machine Gun. You can heal Scratch Damage, but you can't kill with Scratch damage even if your enemy's health goes to zero, you will have to apply Direct damage to kill, also you can't heal direct damage (well you could but the item that you use to heal is expensive and hard to get)
There is also Hero Gauge, which is very important, at the beginning you only have 3 of them, it expends as you go through the chapters, at chapter 3 you should have 4 and 3/4 hero gauge, this gauge is expended by finding gauge crystals, which could be found either by exploring the maps or defeating a boss. Hero Gauge is replenished by killing your enemy or performed some sort of high damage move.
Hero Gauge is used to make Hero Moves and the Triad attacks. Its also your back up health supply. When one of your character received scratch damage and it reaches 0, you will lose one hero gauge and get your health back to max, but if you ran out of Hero Gauge, you enter critical stage, which you don't want to get into, because once you are in critical stage, the damage that your characters receive will be Direct damage and if one of your character dies, its game over. Once you are game over, you can reload previous saves, or spend some money to retry the battle.
Now lets get to the juicy part of combat. A Hero Move is a move that you can use to put massive damage to your enemy, once you decide to use Hero Move you will set a path for your character, and direct them to jump and attack or to run and attack, at the same time, if you use a hero move and run between the other two characters you gain a Resonance point, which is used to make the Triad Attack, a Triad Attack will enable all your characters to shoot at your enemies and the same time running in a triangle path.
It takes a while to get use to the combat system, you should go through all the tutorial in the Arena (Which is outside of the first town).
Character Leveling:
There are three different weapon levels that you can have for each of your characters, they can learn to use Hand gun, Machine gun and thrown weapon. Your Character's actual level is the sum of the levels of these three weapon levels, so if one of your character have a lv4 with hand gun, a lv3 with Machine gun and a lv2 with hand thrown weapon, your character's actual LV is 9. A character can reach lv 100+ (one of the trophies)The Max level for a character is 300, so lv100 for each weapon type.
Weapon Customization:
There are many different parts that you can add onto your weapon to make it a better weapon, these parts can be bought from vendors or you can ask a tinkerer to make the parts from different ingredients that you collect from enemies.
Map Traveling:
The game is set in a world where humans lives in a gigantic tower that is run by machines, so your environment is basically a tower, where there are elevators and stuff to move around different levels, at the same time the map is comprised with energy hexes, to be able to explore a new area, you will need to get energy hexes to unlock the map, there are regular energy hexes, and there are colored energy hexes, which will allow you to get to different areas.
Character appearances:
There are no armors in this game, but there are different costumes that you can buy or get for your characters, its quite a large selections, from head to toe, you can find something for your character, even the eye colors (they have eye color lenses) what is so amazing is that your in-game cut scenes and cinema animations will show what you have dressed your characters in. Which is quite fun, but I do have to say these items are quite expensive.
PROS:
1. Engaging combat system
2. Fun weapon Customization
3. Great selections of Characters' paper doll system (character appearances)
4. Good Voice Acting
CONS:
1. Visuals are only acceptable, could be a lot better.
2. It could be quite a grind sometimes to get your character's level up and unlocking the map
3. It has a steep learning curve for the combat system (but in the end its worth it)
4. Save points are not available to you all the time, in the beginning you can only save at your base, but later on there are energy station that you could buy to set a remote save point.
5. At times the constant combat could make you feel a bit frustrated, especially when you are fighting in a dungeon area.
Hope this help!
PS: This is only base on 10 hours of game play, I will say that the learning curve for the combat system is about an hour to get use to. There are a lot of information that you really need to learn first though.
PPS: Because its base on 10 hours of game play, I couldn't tell you much about the story line.
One of the Most Original RPGs in Years
Do you want a real RPG?
Do you want a difficult, strategic, gameplay-driven epic?
Did you hate Final Fantasy XIII?
Chances are if you answered yes to one of these questions, the last two RPGs you have played are more than likely either Mass Effect 2 or Final Fantasy XIII. Mass Effect 2, a glorified action game, was extremely light on the RPG mechanics and took more from Gears of War than the actual genre it is supposed to be stemming from. Final Fantasy XIII is similar, passing up typical RPG traits such as exploration and deep statistical character development for a more action-oriented and linear approach. This might be great for some, but for those looking for deep RPG mechanics, lots of exploration, and very deep character customization, those two titles failed on every front.
In comes Resonance of Fate, tri-Ace's latest project, and fourth title in the last 2 years. While tri-Ace's recent games have all had their degrees of excellence (Infinite Undiscovery's uniqueness, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume's writing, Star Ocean: The Last Hope's battle system), all of them have failed to live up to the company's otherwise near perfect reputation of delivering quality titles. Gone are the days of Star Ocean: The Second Story, and even though it has only been four years, the quality drop since their masterpiece Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria is most obvious. That is, until now.
The first part of Resonance of Fate anyone will notice is the setting, which is tri-Ace's second foray into a post-apocalyptic humanity. Unlike Star Ocean: The Last Hope however, the heroes of Resonance of Fate stay on Earth, with all of mankind living upon an enormous and gravity defying tower by the name of Basel. Basel, just like any decently run society based around class, separates its floors by the amount of money and power that person has. As is typical with this sort of society, the higher up the tower you go, the higher up in class its gets. The higher classes not only have the luxury of power and money, but they also have the safest neighborhood is. Conversely, the lower you go, the more dangerous it gets, with death running rampant throughout the streets.
The three main characters are a trio of mercenaries continuously hired by the upper class to do their dirty work, which usually involves miniscule tasks that are, for some reason, very important to the rich person giving the order. One such example has our group of heroes trudging their way through a dungeon of explosives and chainsaw wielding monsters. Why? For the sole reason that the person that hired you wants to find a perfect mannequin for his next work of art and had heard rumors of such perfection lying deep within the area. While it may seem like a waste of time at first, it actually adds to the satire that tri-Ace is trying to push; the rich have way too much time on their hands and are often very weird (and in some cases, mentally challenged). It is amusing and adds a nice sense of reality when you watch the normal nature of the middle and lower classes. In the end, you end up almost feeling uncomfortable to visit upper classes, as it is so different and severed from the reality that we know.
There is a story behind all of these tasks that Vashyron, Leanne, and Zephyr have to go through, though it is not what is most prominent. Rather than a constant stream of thirty minute dialog that tri-Ace has so fondly loved since the 90s, we instead are treated to the occasional five minute cutscene of interactions between the three heroes. Each cutscene represents either humor or something deeper and more philosophical, even delving into a conversation of the existence of God. It adds a nice slice of life to an otherwise over the top game. Instead of trying to force character development down your throat like most Japanese RPGs, tri-Ace instead plays the characters as normal and puts them in everyday conversations. Because of this, we grow to care about the characters far more than the inane JRPG character stereotypes that are not in any way believable.
Of course, with this being a tri-Ace title, the story and characters are mostly backdrops for what tri-Ace does best, which is gameplay. Taking a few ideas from the battle system of Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria and mixing them with guild missions and, to a lesser extent, the living world of Radiata Stories, tri-Ace has created a hybrid of many of their previous games all rolled into one. Except this time, we have guns, and a lot of them. The battle system is akin to Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria in the fact that it is a mix of real-time and turn-based. You can move whenever you would like, but when you move, so does the enemy. Conversely, when you stop, so does the enemy. When your characters begin to move, a meter depicting the amount of time they have left begins to count down. When this hits zero, their turn is over and the next one's begins.
During the actually turn of one of your characters, several instances can take place. You can either attack from a stationary position or initiate a hero action. A hero action is a line one of the heroes runs across (or jumps across) that puts them in an invincible state while attacking the enemies. The closer you get to the enemy, the faster a meter around the reticule begins to charge. At one charge, you can initiate your attack, but it will not do much other than at the beginning of the game. However, as you progress through the game, your character's skill in that certain weapon (Handgun, Machine Gun, or Grenade) levels up, adding a charge for each level. For example, if you are at level 10 with the Handgun, you will have 10 charges. Each new charge adds greater strength to skills, so racking up the chargers when attacking greatly benefits you.
Hero actions might seem broken at first, but tri-Ace balances this out with the Hero Gauge. The Hero Gauge is a meter that represents, in basic terms, how many hero actions you can do. When this runs out, you go into Critical Condition, with disallows Hero Actions and causes the characters to lose the ability of Scratch Damage (more on this later), as well as many other damning factors. But fear not, as defeating an enemy or breaking off parts recharges the gauge, which plays a huge part in success, especially during boss battles.
There is more to defeating an enemy than just taking away HP. In Resonance of Fate, there are two different kinds of damage: Scratch Damage, and Direct Damage. Scratch Damage (caused by Machine Guns) cannot kill an enemy and recovers over time, but it greatly diminishes the enemy's defense. Direct Damage (using Pistols and Grenades) is what incurs the real damage, but without Scratch Damage, its effectiveness is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is important to have a balance between doing Scratch Damage and Direct Damage, or else you will not find success.
There are many other factors to take into account as well. Shooting an enemy up into the air and juggling them will bring up a circular meter that has an arrow swirling around it. Matching the arrow up with the right portion of the circle will grant the player a bonus hit, which not only does a lot of damage, but also rewards the player with a copious amount of items. But if you fail on matching the arrow up, a bonus hit does not occur. However, the more you shoot the enemy into the air, the more the meter increases, heightening your chances. Not only this, but if you jump while the enemy is in the arrow and you attack, you have a chance to sustain a Smackdown, which smashes the enemy against the ground, dealing more damage and also rewarding many items.
Even more features are within the battle system, all of which play an important role. There are elemental attacks, different ammo that is more or less effective on different enemies, lead assaults, and much more. One specific feature is the Tri-Attack system, which is the "ultimate attack" of sorts in Resonance of Fate. Tri-Attacks consume Resonance Points, which are acquired by placing a Hero Action line across another character's Hero Action line, and running across it. Once a Resonance Point is earned, a Tri-Attack can be initiated if the player wishes. During this Tri-Attack, all three characters run in a triangle formation (which is determined by what position they are on the map at that point), all attacking the enemy at the same time. You cannot do this all of the time however, as merely moving your character or attacking take up a Resonance Point. So a lot of planning has to go into a Tri-Attack, as one false step (literally) can ruin the entire plan.
Getting used to the battle system is hugely important to Resonance of Fate. If you do not know what you are doing, then you will die. A lot. But if you die during battle, you are given the option to retry for a small fee, which makes it a lot easier than reloading from a certain save point, which there are very few of. And unfortunately, Resonance of Fate also follows the recent trend of RPGs where there is an automatic Game Over if your main characters die. What makes it more difficult however is that all three characters are considered main characters, so if any one of them dies, it's Game Over. This adds a lot of needless frustration, but at the same time it adds a sense of satisfaction when you barely scrape by a difficult situation.
Outside of battle is just as unique as it is when you are in it. There are towns, of which you shop and get missions, but what you'll spend most of your time in out of battle is the world map. The world map is laid out in several different hexagons call Hexes. These Hexes are locked off at first, but using Energy Hexes gathered from enemies, you can unlock them. Beneath these Hexes lie the occasional treasure chest, and in some cases, different locations such as terminals or towns themselves. There are a lot of Hexes to unlock on each level and will take hours to explore and unlock everything. What's more are the Terminals in the world map, which each have their own effect. However, to unlock these Terminals, you must erect a Hex Station of the color of your choice. Once this is erected, you must place that color of your choice down upon the World Map, and once there are enough Hexes laid down, the Terminal will officially effect those certain colored Hexes in that area. It might seem confusing, but spending time and Hexes on Terminals can have huge bonuses in the long run, especially when you are grinding or looting.
When you are not doing any of this, you are probably spending your time customizing your guns, and even more addicting, your actual characters. Customizing guns by adding scopes, larger magazines, different barrels, and more is very important to keeping your guns effective throughout the game. You can either buy these parts, or create them yourself by using items you pick up from breaking off enemy body parts. These parts increase everything from the speed of fire to the charge time and can be a deciding factor during close battles, so staying on top of recent gun attachments is very crucial.
The character customization is the feature that Resonance of Fate is mostly recognized for and is completely optional. This feature allows you to dress all three characters in the clothing of your choice, which is purchased from the local clothing shop or found in treasure chests. Not only that, but you can change your characters hair color, hair style, right eye color, left eye color, add countless accessories and more. It comes at a costly price though, as you may find yourself spending ungodly amounts of money just because you like the look of that piece. It is addicting however, and it is nice to see these changes of character appearance reflected in not only the cutscenes and battle, but even in the character portraits in the camp menu.
All in all, the gameplay is probably the most unique set of mechanics to come out of the JRPG genre in years. There has not been a JRPG like this and it adds a breath of fresh air to a dull and dying genre. It is a lot to take in, and you need to work at it, but once you get everything down, it is one of the most rewarding RPG experiences in a long time. Not only that, but the 10 difficulties and the New Game+ feature add a great deal of replayability that is unparalleled by most RPGs on the 360 and PS3. That, mixed with the deep gun customization, the character customization, the large amounts of exploring, and the many missions, and you can find yourself spending well over 80 hours on one playthrough. If it is one area that Resonance of Fate will be known for in the future, it is its gameplay.
While you spend your countless hours battling and exploring the world map, you will come upon many different locales that eventually all begin to look the same. The graphics do a great job of making you feel like you are part of the world, despite being underwhelming from a technical and repetitive standpoint. It is still a good looking game, and being an RPG, the graphics do not matter much, but coming from tri-Ace, a developer known for pushing a system to its limit, it is a bit of a disappointment. The characters are mostly great in design and occasionally very reminiscent of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, but as with the issues of the environments, muddy textures and the continuous use of brown and gray gets old after a while.
Accompanying the graphics is one of the most impressive soundtracks to grace the current generation of consoles. Present is the tri-Ace regular Motoi Sakuraba, who provides the battle and dungeon music, and always keeping it upbeat with an attitude. Sakuraba, known for his battle themes, creates a perfect hard rock mood and keeps away from the genre's typical obsession with making every situation epic. It is not particularly memorable, but it is lively and fits every battle absolutely perfectly. To balance the scale is the mostly unknown Kohei Tanaka, who provides a much more orchestral sound to everything outside of battle and dungeons. It is equally impressive and sounds a lot like Hitoshi Sakimoto, albeit coherent and memorable. Tanaka's work, just like Sakuraba's, does not try to go for epicness, instead trying to give a lighthearted, everyday feel to running around towns and other public places. It is a wonderful soundtrack that fits every situation that it is in and is certainly one that everyone should take a listen to.
Resonance of Fate is currently the most impressive JRPG outing this generation. The gameplay is the deepest the genre has ever gone and the sheer uniqueness of the game is one of its charms. The battle system is unparalleled in the amount of strategy you will need to use to defeat the harder foes, and despite the occasional repetition during grinding, you never feel bored with it. The graphics are a disappointment from the technical side, but bring you into the world like few can and is helped by the fantastic accompanying soundtrack of Sakuraba and Tanaka. The great main story is mostly non-existent other than a few mysterious cutscenes until around halfway through the game, but before that you are treated to wonderful character interactions and development between three very memorable characters. But just like the story, you have to stick with it. It is a tough game to learn and its complexities are seemingly endless at first, but once you learn the mechanics and get used to how the game flows, you are in for one of the most rewarding and original RPG experiences anywhere on the market. If you are in the mood for a very deep, challenging, funny, intelligent, and all around fun RPG, Resonance of Fate is one you should pick up immediately.
