First Looks// Resonance of Fate

Posted 3 Aug 2009 18:09 by
With each character’s turn, you can move a certain distance to set yourself up for an attack or defence. Much like Valkyrie Profile’s battle system, whilst you’re moving around, the enemy can do so as well to prepare for the worst.

In terms of that enemy, green health bars act as shields that the enemies hold and which, when depleted, turn blue indicating that they are weaker to your assaults.

As your characters land attacks, you get a build up of red points at the bottom of the screen. Once you’ve got a specific amount of them, you can perform Special Attacks that involve the craziest Matrix-esque gun-toting moves seen in an RPG yet. You simply select a path to take, watch your character perform acrobatics like the circus depends on it, and press the attack button at the right times to deal the most damage.

With both random-battle, 2D world map exploring, and 3D dungeon-crawling (with no random battles, I’m told) it looks like Resonance of Fate won’t be short of action. The graphics that I’ve seen are quite impressive, with the mechanical world featuring all manner of intricate locations and backgrounds involving intriguing steel contraptions and landmarks.

It’s certainly a unique style and angle for a JRPG to take – and certainly not a direction Tri-Ace would have taken with publisher Square Enix, whom most of their games have been released by. But why team up with SEGA, particularly since Square Enix has recently spoken of trying to appeal more to Western markets as well? Suguro-san explained that SEGA’s rooting in the West is perhaps a better fit for Resonance of Fate, while another reason is that SEGA is more receptive to new RPG ideas.

Seems like the collaboration is going well, and underneath all the brown copper hues and the cowboy-style gun holsters lies an RPG with mechanics that JRPG fanatics can enjoy as well. Let’s hope the game can be approachable for Westerners in terms of storyline and gameplay, as well as style and design.
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Comments

jslbdabfka 3 Aug 2009 20:01
1/2
they should develop for the Wii
Joji 5 Aug 2009 12:48
2/2
It sounds interesting enough, and I'll keep an eye on it.

I think sometimes what we'd like to see is jrpgs set in the real world. the only real ones to do this are Parasite Eve and Persona series. I agree that my interest in jrpgs is on the slide, and that's down to lack of true positive change, while jap developer are content to play out the same cliches, for the millionth time. While this might be okay for the conformist japanese gamer, gamers outside japan need more stimulation and occasional pushing of the envelope of what possible.

I'd be interested in finding out, what the japanese gamers thought of Mass Effect, which is the kind of thing that many japanese studios are so scared of creating, for fear of alienating core jrpg fans. The tables have turned, and I think its games like Mass Effect, Bioshock and Fallout 3, that show what is really possible, when you think beyond tested, worn formula. Its more of a shame that many japanese devs ignore such games, and thus learn nothing new, condemning themselves for treading so safely.

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