 |
| James Quentin Clark |
The full import review will come eventually. Until then, check out our impressions of the newest tri-Ace title.
02.06.10 - 6:46 PM
Coming down from three glorious weeks with FFXIII was no easy task. A little yoga, daily meditation, and the occasional bout of Demon's Souls helped get rid of that goofy Square Enix smell that had been hanging around for weeks. My mind thoroughly refreshed, I was ready to move on to my most anticipated JRPG of 2010 – Sega and tri-Ace's ambitiously titled PS3 / Xbox 360 offering End of Eternity, known as Resonance of Fate for the rest of y'all.
Folks with Japanese accounts can download the demo for themselves. It's not terribly long and will reveal precious little of the story. It is essentially a battle simulator that ought to let you know what controlling all those artsy gun battles you saw in the trailers will be like. I am only a few hours into the actual game at this point and have thoroughly gone through the game's training mode to get a sense of what to expect.
So what should you expect? What should you not expect? Thanks for framing the question like that!
What to expect:
- John Woo-esque gun battles and lots of them. Battles combine turn-based attacks and multi-character assaults. You'll chain attacks with SMGs, grenades, handguns, and likely other weapons yet to be experienced. The trick is to balance scratch and direct damage by mixing up weapon types and organizing your attacks efficiently. It is gratuitously fun and quite possibly tri-Ace's best battle system yet.
- Stunning visuals. The graphics are off the chain, son, and the fluid animations as characters leap / slide / cartwheel / triple lutz across the field are gorgeous. Sure, it's not FFXIII-level, but toss in some variety of outfits, special attacks, weapons, and enemies, and you have potentially the sexiest fights ever done in an RPG.
- A decent challenge. Demos are usually a joke but I actually died on the normal mode, and that's with unlimited grenades. Enemies hit hard and will exploit poor tactics and careless character placement.
- Lots of customization, and not just costumes either. Gear is ridiculously customizable as are guns thanks to a variety of gun accessories.
- A curious soundtrack that combines gorgeous orchestral melodies with cheesy rock. The rich, beautiful string music is a treat though.
What not to expect:
- Swords and Sorcery, it would seem. Aside from special attacks there does not seem to be any magic, summons, or even melee attacks for that matter. Could change.
- Characters that run around environments in a normal way. Seriously, Zephyr and Reanbell both move around like they have a disorder.
- Crappy characters or a crappy story...at least so far. This is far more mature stuff than Star Ocean: The Last Hope at least, and none of the protagonists seem flat or silly. Could change.
- Umm... well golly gosh gee-willickers, I don't know what to say. A lot is still up in the air, and as they say in Washington, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
That last sentence ought to keep you busy for a few minutes. Look for a full review of End of Eternity soon!
