Resonance of Fate Review
Game Review | April 18, 2010 12:17 pm
What iss Resonance of Fate, you might ask? Well, I'm not surprised if a majority of you don't know of this game because of the fact that SEGA decided to release it a week after Final Fantasy XIII, originally supposed to be released on the same day ... they were fighting a losing battle, but I can definitely see this as a very underrated JRPG.
The story takes place somewhere in the distant future where the surface of the earth is inhabitant due to an unknown source; probably what 2012 will look like. Survivors of this tragedy decide to build what is known as the Basel, a purifier to slowly make the land inhabitable again. However, the remaining survivors began to become attached to the Basel, and made it their home. The people relied so much on the purifier that it began to become defective and bring birth to horrible monsters (Though none of this was explained in the story ... you had to read up on it to know) . This is where you guys play a role in this whole thing. At the beginning of the game, you're Hunters for hire, doing whatever job comes your way, whether its retrieving an item or just flat out taking out some monsters that others are afraid to confront. The game doesn't form any real story line, except the fact that they are a comedic group of hunters, until around the half way point of the game, which makes it hard to keep focus on playing if you have no real goal to what your doing. The characters aren't really anything special until late into the game when you learn more about their backstory; however they do come out with stupid actions, jokes and such that you can't help but enjoy before you take on your missions.
The Battle System is quite unique and a huge plus in making the game. You can either stand and shoot or perform what is known as a hero action, where you can plot a course for a character and have them run and shoot as they move through their course. As you are running this course, or standing in place to shoot you have a gauge that determines how strong your attack is at that time, however be wary that it can only be used to its fullest once you level up that weapon more. This may seem like the better option, however the amount of Hero actions you have is limited at the beginning of the game. The battle system sounds simple enough, but can prove to be quite a challenge, especially to those uncommon with the RPG genre. The only problem with this battle system is that there is nothing more to it than that; in games like Final Fantasy, they slowly add new things in the early stages of the game and there is more of a variety, such as spells and summon. Though challenging as it is, all your going to get is Guns a Blazing. If you want a more detailed tutorial on the battle system, please view the link below:
The leveling system is also a unique set up. Every character has 3 levels that equal up to their main level. A Handgun Level, Machine Gun and Grenade Level which increase according to the amount of experience you gain using that particular weapon. The level system gives you extra effects when fighting in combat, depending on how long you let your gauge charge in combat. One of the key features to this game is the Gun Customization , where you can trick out your gun to have a faster charge to your gauge , a large magazine size, stronger barrels , scopes , etc, etc. Gun Customization becomes key once you leveled up and progressed more in the game; without a good gun your nothing but a target. Funny thing is Gun Customization holds many possibilities (Heres an example). Another thing about customization: Early in the game, there is only a certain amount of weight you can carry until you level up more, so the amount of customization you can get on your gun is limited for quite a while as well. I think I understand where the developers were going with the weight limit, especially with how easy Magna Carta 2 was when you could use the strongest weapon RIGHT away if you downloaded the DLC.
Traveling is a big factor in RPG's, however it is a bit different in Resonance of Fate; on the map you have what are known as Hexes, and you remove those hexes by putting a Hex you have in your inventory over them to open a path through out the Basel. I like the concept of having to clear a path and make use of your hexes, however this just makes the world smaller, which isn't what an RPG is supposed to be like: It is supposed to be more open and frustrating to travel in, and if you're not going to give us that, at least give us a more appealing environment: A city in the sky going to ruins gets boring after the first time i see it, and its the same in the random encounters and areas you fight in ... there is no variety to them; they're just a bunch of pieces of metal scattered everywhere
I guess if you think these might be review worthy , first there is an interesting fact about the clothing: You can swap out the clothing you wear and buy new outfits that also change in the cinematics of the game. Second, the music, there's no real variety to the music and nothing epic to play an RPG to; I found myself plugging my ZUNE in about 15 minutes into the game.
Achievement Wise this game is only really long; it'll take about the same amount of time as Final Fantasy XIII, if you can bare with that time in a boring environment. You have to perform a couple miscellaneous achievements, beat the game (obviously) do all the guild missions (which are missable, by the way) and the Arenas (The LONGEST thing you will do in the game). The hardest thing about this game is Neverland .... even after you thought you leveled up your character to the point where they are gods ... you'll get crushed in what is the secret dungeon of the game.
Overall ... i like the challenge the game brought, something ALL RPG's should have , however it can get VERY tiring VERY fast with the same old boring environment and constantly going in guns a blazing in each fight, and nothing else. I give the game a 7.0; its challenging, but it doesn't matter if it can't keep us hooked right away; Guns a blazing should stay in FPS.
Rating: 7.0 of 10
Reviewed: Resonance of Fate
Keywords: None
(already pre-ordered, just need to pay off hahah)
