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**Updated April 25th**
I have finished the game (it took about 80 hours) so here is the final review. I have also added combat tips to the end.
First of all, I love the game. The combat is awesome if 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, as I saidbefore, 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. (I have added some tips and tricks at the end). 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 real-time 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). It takes 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, however characters can equip two rings some of which are protective. 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 in-game 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. It does get interesting, but a lot of things are left unexplained even after the game is finished. Simply put, this is not a story-driven game. There are a lot of fetch quests at the beginning but at least the NPCs are quirky, and the interaction between the characters can be funny sometimes. Later on, I got more interested in the story but game only hints at what's going on and never fully explains the background or the motives of the characters.
In sum, this is not a traditional JRPG like Final Fantasy or Lost Odyssey, it is more similar to strategy games like Valkyria Chronicles. Also 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.
*** Some Combat Tips and Tricks ***
In ROF, you have access to the full combat from the beginning (opposite of Final Fantasy XIII from what I hear). However, as you play you get a better understanding of the mechanics and the tactics. In other words, the combat opens up naturally and always stays fresh. Below are some tips but I believe half of the fun is discovering them. If you feel confused, then these might help. Also the guy next to the billboard in the guild gives one new tip each chapter. Always talk to him.
-The letter next to the enemy bar indicates which one of your characters the enemy is aiming.
-The enemy won't shoot until the end of the turn (even if their aiming bar is full) unless they are aiming at the character you are moving. If they are aiming at the character you are moving, they'll shoot in real time when their aim gets full.
-During hero runs you are invincible and also you can regenerate more because the turn lasts longer (depending on the distance). However, that also means enemies will have longer time to aim at characters.
-The circular green bar around the enemy is their equipment health (weapon, armor, shield etc). You will not be able to damage their body until you create/find an opening. The green bar is not always a full circle and if that's the case, you can make a hero run (or walk around while they are aiming at somebody else) and shoot when you have the right angle to hit the body. Or if you jump during hero run you randomly hit all body parts, you might get some hits to the body even if they are shielded.
-Getting rid of the enemy parts (equipment) will give you materials for upgrades.
-Try to set up the tri-attacks in a long range. The longer the running distance, the more time to shoot (and regenerate).
-You can make a tri-attack even with 1 resonance point. This can be helpful if the distance between the characters is long. You can also use it to move one of your characters to safety if he is going to be shot as soon as you end the turn of the current character.
-Charge acceleration is very important. Try to add barrels as much as you can. Also try to shoot at the highest possible charge to activate the skills.
-Dual wielding helps a lot in the later game(after chapter 10-11). It doubles your damage and chances of activating skills even if the second weapon may reduce some of your stats.
-During a tri-attack, the enemies inside the triangle won't move, the ones on the outside will.
-If you are outnumbered stun and electro grenades can give you valuable time.
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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.The combat is difficult almost from the start so know what you are getting into. The game throws you into battle with little intro and the way you fight is unlike any other game out there. But, if you are patient with yourself and learn the controls, and like a challenge, you'll very likely enjoy the combat. It is worth mentioning that the combat is only partly turn-based. Once you start shooting with a character, you are fighting in real time until that character's turn has ended. I prefer a more carefully planned turn-based combat. The real time combat involves a certain amount of luck and perhaps a bit more luck than I would like.
The framerate is solid. There's normal mapping effects on everything to make things look shiny and shimmery. It is distracting rather than good looking.
The story is darker than usual for a JRPG which is fine with me. The world isnt very interactive though and you'll see the same characters roaming the streets of the towns over and over again.
I would have liked more choices about how to build the 3 characters (since this is an RPG) but there's actually little one can choose except mods on weapons. That sounds fun but you quickly realize there isnt that much complexity to modding a weapon. In fact that's my only real complaint: There's exactly 14 weapons in the game and not a lot of meaningful choices for modding them. There's different bullet types but those are expensive and basically meant for boss fights. None of the 3 characters have special abilities to make them different from each other short of some hit point differences. So basically it is a great combat engine, but there's not a whole lot of "rpg" going on. The fights occur in a variation of the same place every time: there's some destructible walls and boxes but that's all you'll see in the fighting areas over and over again.
There's some repetition and grinding along the way to level up -that's pretty standard in a JRPG but here the characters dont get new abilities along the way and the comabt for all of its fun, starts to get old.
Overall it is a solid JRPG, but more like a B+ than an A-
Read Best Reviews of Resonance of Fate Here
I tried to get into this game, but I just didn't find it to be that fun. There seems to be a pretty cool and unique little combat engine here, and I can see how it might be cool if you could get into it. For me it just wasn't worth it. Some of the reasons why I say that...Unfortunately, the learning curve is quite steep, and the game and manual teach you very little about how to play. I felt like I had to buy the strategy guide to even figure the game out enough to determine whether or not I liked it. There should be WAY MORE in game help or at least a detailed manual.
The graphics are surprisingly poor. This is the first game I played on my PS3, and I was really disappointed about the system in general until I tried another game and realized that the graphics in resonance of fate are particularly bad and most games look much better. It's not just that the graphics are bad, it's also that the environments are just not that interesting, particularly the combat settings. Maybe this improves if you play the game longer.
There isn't any story to pull you in and keep you interested. Maybe one develops as you play more, but at the start of the game there basically is no story.
Overall, it just isn't a fun game.
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Tri-Ace and Sega went all out for this game. Not only are the character models detailed and the environments lush but they've gone a LONG way from the freaky uncanny vally that the last few Tri-Ace games had. For the first time I actually like the protagonists.The interface takes a little getting use too. And go out of your way to hit the Arena and do the practice battles there to get use to battle timing, but once you do and you experiment a little, it will come a second nature to you.
The puzzlemaps are fun to unlock and if you pay attention to attributes you can do silly things like linking together mutliple bonus in a tier and turn areas into item farms, monster exp zones, etc. It's your choice how to customize an area.
Dungeons are basically a series of battles so don't step into them unless you're equiped and flush on special ammo/grenades.
Timing and camera controls are VERY important. But the games doesn't get punishing until you get past the first few turorital chapters. Boss fights are gloriously hard and rewarding. Save often, this game lacks FF13's ultra forgiving auto-save.
The character dress up options are wonderful and I like custom looks on the characters.
For Tri-Ace actually trying something new and it working, I hope there is more RoF style games in your future.
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