Resonance of Fate examination- Part 1: Breaking the rules.

It has been awhile but it's time for another multi part game examination. The last time I did this was for Solium Infernum and for this one I'm talking about Resonance of Fate, a RPG developed by Tri-Ace. Even though I've only played two games from the developer (this and Valkyrie Profile 2) I've come to enjoy their games. The main reason is that they seem to go out of their way to create non conventional RPG systems.

With RoF they have created a game that can throw a lot of RPG fans for a loop. Not because the game is so complex but because it does so many things different that it can mess up someone who is use to a traditional system.

For part 1 I'm going to take a look at the main differences between RoF and traditional RPGs and we have some big ones to cover.

Let's start with leveling, in RoF each member of your party has a max level which determines their weight capacity and their max health. The max level is made up by the sum of their levels in the three weapon skills in the game: handguns, SMGs and grenades. Doing damage to enemies with the respective weapon type will earn you experience with it and once you have enough you'll level up.

Your actual stats for combat are tied to whatever weapon you have equipped. Guns are customizable with parts you can either buy from the shop or create from item drops. Each part you attach will increase the gun's capabilities along with the weight. This is where leveling up is important as the better parts also have higher weight cost.

With everything to do with combat related to the guns and not the characters, it allows you to change the weapon type used by each character whenever you want without penalizing you while the person levels up. There is one important factor however for deciding who will use what weapon type but I'm going to save that for the next part.

Another advantage to these mechanics is that it also removes one of the requirements of most RPGs: to grind out levels to beat enemies. Combat requires tactics above all else and if you're not careful even that random encounter on the world map could give you a game over.

The game uses a chapter structure for progression; within each chapter there are side quests to do along with a dungeon that needs exploring. Once you completed the dungeon you can start the next chapter by returning to your home base, if you move to the next chapter without completing the side quests then they will be lost. You get the side missions from a place in your home town so you won't have to worry about hunting for a needle in a hay stack.

That does it for part 1, next up I'll be taking a look at the combat system and trust me it's going to be interesting.

Josh.