Resonance of Fate Does one thing really well. The rest, eh
I could tell you Resonance of Fate is a fantastic game, but that would be lying. That is not to say, however, that it is a bad game, but with major elements of what makes a great game falling short of the mark, I am hard pressed to recommend this title as a must play. To focus on what the game does right however, Tri-Ace, no stranger to the role-playing genre (see Star Ocean III) decided to buddy up with Sega to make something a bit more unique. Stripping away a lot of what makes a typical entry in the genre, well typical, they have instead ventured out to left field. The reason that I put this in the win column is that RPG’s are stale, and anyone who tries to bend the rules and break the mold deserves credit in my book.
Let us get the rough parts out of the way first. When you sit down to embark on a 40+ hour adventure, you are going to want a story that will enthrall you from start to finish. The least you will accept is something that starts out slow and picks up part way through. Sadly, the story of Resonance of Fate is neither of these. Instead this is a tale that plays the “you don’t know what the heck is going on” card and though you kind of get an idea about two-thirds of the way through, the game never really unveils it in a satisfying matter. This unfortunately is paired with a limited 3 characters who fail to engage feeling throughout the play through, is pretty much a death knell for an RPG game, which at its core is all about playing a role in a story.
Another area that this game comes up short in is the visuals. It is always a sad day when you can mistake a game on the current generation of consoles for one from the previous iteration. Unfortunately, Resonance of Fate is not a particularly good looking game. Worse yet, that is the first thing you are likely to think as soon as you start playing it. The cinematic are lovely but as soon as you control the character for the first time, the blatant substandard look of this title is disappointing. There are a lot of blocky textures and jagged environments with a lot of hard edges. The lack of decent graphics along with the handicapped storyline really keep you from immersing yourself in this game.
Okay so what do they get right? The sound for one is pretty good. It may not be up to previous standards set by Tri-Ace with Square-Enix (You should play Star Ocean III) the score for Resonance of Fate is pretty good. Thankfully they had the foresight to realize how important an orchestra is for an RPG. Along with this, the sound effects for the weapons are developed nicely as well. This is important because you hear those same sound effects a lot. Couple in some decent voice acting performances with a few good moments of dialogue and the sound of this game stacks up pretty well.
Taking the awful visuals and the gimped story, the sound design wouldn’t make this game worth a second look. However, if you have any familiarity with the developers behind this title, you know that I have saved the best for last. Really the only reason to play this game is to experience one of the most interesting battle systems I have seen in a long time. Tri-Ace has always set the bar high for battle systems with their previous works but this game displays a successful attempt to rethink how a game of this genre executes the most critical component. The complexity of this system prohibits me from explaining it with any degree of doing it justice, but it is by far the best part of this game. It is an action battle system that is both a turn based and real time experience. This crazy hybrid of ideas mixed with layers of interactions and options for executing attacks on your foes, is truly something to experience if you like RPGs.
Spending all of your time developing a new battle system that is both new and interesting apparently causes you to forget that you have to make a decent game around it. Tri-Ace may have the groundwork layed for a fantastic new entry in a crowded and stagnant role-playing genre, but that is all it is, framework. A foundation that I hope they take with them into their next project. Just as long as that next project isn’t Resonance of Fate 2.
