August 9, 2022
Resonance of Fate is a traditional RPG title in the Japanese style, and while it follows up on the popular games in the genre for the majority of its gameplay, it also brings some very innovative additions to the genre, with the final result being a varied and intriguing title which holds many hours of entertaining and challenging gameplay. And even though Resonance of Fate initially doesn't manage to stand out from the rest of the similar titles on the market, those who do try it quickly fall in love.
Gameplay
One of the most interesting aspects of Resonance of Fate is its combat system. It's a very refreshing experience to go through a battle in this game, and you'll soon start looking for enemies just so you can enjoy the fights. Basically, you'll get a combination of real-time and turn-based elements – you'll have three characters which you can control during the battle, taking turns controlling each one.
During your turn, your character has a set number of action points (similar to games like Fallout), which are used in real time – that is, you can freely move and attack, and you can keep performing actions until your points are drained.
The curious thing here is that enemy characters are allowed to make their moves during your own – and they can even attack your stationary characters, opening up some very interesting tactics. Also, keep in mind that even if you've got plenty of action points left, performing any sort of attack will end your turn immediately, so make sure that your attack is the finishing move in your entire set of actions during a character's turn.
Graphics and System Requirements
Resonance of Fate looks great. Even though it doesn't utilize either console's hardware to its fullest, it still offers some very attractive graphics for you to enjoy, especially when it comes to combat effects. However, we should mention that the playing field during combat looks a bit bland and poorly detailed, and the developers could definitely have put more effort into animating the characters (it's not as bad as some other titles, but some of those moves look really stiff for an engine this powerful).
There weren't any noticeable slowdowns, and even if you do manage to find conditions which drag the game's performance down, keep in mind that the gameplay is turn-based and in the end, it doesn't really matter if you're a few frames per second behind the optimum.
Other
The game's English version slightly differs from the one sold in Japan, though rest assured that you're not missing out on anything important, as the gameplay and story are largely the same. Also, if you're curious to see some of the concept art that was used in the development of the game, you may want to check out the art book released shortly after it.
Conclusion
A very entertaining game, Resonance of Fate could only use a slight improvement in the variety of its environments in order to become a true masterpiece – though even in its current state it's still a few levels above your average RPG title.