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[Pancakes]

Hey guys, so I finally started playing this last night for about an hour and a half.

And holy shit! I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what the hell I'm doing. I went through every tutorial at the arena and only through sheer dumb luck was I able to clear some of them.

I honestly cannot wrap my mind around some of these systems. Will I be able to see the light at some point or am I just that fucking dumb?

It starts out very rough but eventually you'll realize that there is a very distinct way to win battles and that trying any other way will result in frustration.

Usually what I did was: pistol user on the left, MG user in the center, and other pistol user on the right. Send MG user to scratch up and many fools as possible(Hero actions)->send a HG user (doesn't matter what side) to kill the scratched targets and perhaps chain break a monster as well. At this point you will have 2 resonance points and should start a Tri-Attack. What I did was just attack as fast as possible in hopes of getting a bonus shot and killing the enemy. Rinse and repeat and you win .

 

[trejo]

It starts out very rough but eventually you'll realize that there is a very distinct way to win battles and that trying any other way will result in frustration.

Usually what I did was: pistol user on the left, MG user in the center, and other pistol user on the right. Send MG user to scratch up and many fools as possible(Hero actions)->send a HG user (doesn't matter what side) to kill the scratched targets and perhaps chain break a monster as well. At this point you will have 2 resonance points and should start a Tri-Attack. What I did was just attack as fast as possible in hopes of getting a bonus shot and killing the enemy. Rinse and repeat and you win .

See, I understood about 70% of that. I'm going to keep at it some more tonight, since so far it does seem to be worth the effort.

Can you change targets at will during hero actions? I'm assuming that's when you press X and they start running and jumping all Matrix style.

 

[TheChaos]

See, I understood about 70% of that. I'm going to keep at it some more tonight, since so far it does seem to be worth the effort.

Can you change targets at will during hero actions? I'm assuming that's when you press X and they start running and jumping all Matrix style.

Yeah. You press one of the R or L buttons and it switches over. Get used to moving around the enemy because they might have a ton of armor in the front that would be useless to scratch off.

Also, try to find as many Besel Shards (those red gems you see on the bottom of the screen from hidden places and enemies. More hero actions that way.

 

[RurouniZel]

Yeah. You press one of the R or L buttons and it switches over. Get used to moving around the enemy because they might have a ton of armor in the front that would be useless to scratch off.

Also, try to find as many Besel Shards (those red gems you see on the bottom of the screen from hidden places and enemies. More hero actions that way.

An elaboration. You find these either on the world map by unlocking HEXs, or beating a boss at the end of a chapter.

 

[Risette]

Is there anywhere I can grind for scrap iron (or things that reduce to scrap iron)?

For some reason a β scope of mine was worth 4100 when they're usually only worth 3000. I guess it was one that I got from a quest. Anyways, yeah they're about a free 1000 per so I need more scrap iron!

 

[Pancakes]

Is there anywhere I can grind for scrap iron (or things that reduce to scrap iron)?

For some reason a β scope of mine was worth 4100 when they're usually only worth 3000. I guess it was one that I got from a quest. Anyways, yeah they're about a free 1000 per so I need more scrap iron!

You need to find the traveling sales girl, she sells an infinite amount of iron scraps and glass shards (to make B scopes) so you can basically get infinite money.

I forget where she wanders off to though.

 

[Yoshiya]

Is there anywhere I can grind for scrap iron (or things that reduce to scrap iron)?

For some reason a β scope of mine was worth 4100 when they're usually only worth 3000. I guess it was one that I got from a quest. Anyways, yeah they're about a free 1000 per so I need more scrap iron!

You've found the game's infamous money glitch. Basically, once you can buy scrap items from the traveling merchant (make sure to do the sidequest for her on chapter 5 or 6) you can get infinite money by doing scrap iron and glass shard runs. Its possible to make almost 1000000 rubies in profit in 20 minutes if you have enough money to start with.

Edit: Beaten! She is at 'foresaken' on level 5 at first, and then moves down to around level 7 or 8 for most of the game.

 

[Mo0]

She occasionally pops up back to Forsaken, actually. It seems to be she changes places once a day.

If I remember right, the three places to check are Forsaken on Level 5, Waterless Bridge on Level 7, and the Tower Of Really Long Name on Level 8.

 

[Windom Earle]

See, I understood about 70% of that. I'm going to keep at it some more tonight, since so far it does seem to be worth the effort.

Can you change targets at will during hero actions? I'm assuming that's when you press X and they start running and jumping all Matrix style.

I was in your situation on the last page :lol And yes, it is totally worth it to dig into the battle system. Together with Nier, my favourite RPG this gen.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I just did the battle arena tutorials, I have no clue what's happening. I even had to look on Google to pass some of them as the game didn't really explain them. I'm stuck on 'smackdown' where you must jump above an airborne enemy...I can't find any jump button and the enemy only stays airborne for half a second.

 

[archnemesis]

1. Run towards an enemy using hero action.
2. Continue shooting until the enemy gets launched into the air.
3. Jump with the same button that you use the start an hero action (square button on the PS3, IIRC)
4. When your character is above the enemy, shoot him again for a smackdown attack.
5. ???
6. Profit.

 

[Pein]

Just bought it, Didn't know it was still full priced but I didn't really care. I needed a 360 rpg and it was either this or magna carta 2. Hope I made the right choice.

 

[Windom Earle]

I just did the battle arena tutorials, I have no clue what's happening. I even had to look on Google to pass some of them as the game didn't really explain them. I'm stuck on 'smackdown' where you must jump above an airborne enemy...I can't find any jump button and the enemy only stays airborne for half a second.

Yeah, I had to google the smackdown attack as well. It's NOT explained properly in the tutorial, kind of a joke that they got through 1st party certification with that. (Also the Y-Button icon is misplaced and overlapping with text in the tri-attack manual page, wow)

 

[Sblargh]

Just finished it.
Frustration gem of the generation.
I love the game, but it frustrated me to no end.

I think I spent some 4 hours retrying the last boss and a lot of those retries I almost got it, but something always happened; either someone bumping during a crucial tri-attack, or enemies unexpectedly focusing fire on one character or simply being overpowered when the boss health was less than 10%.

I am considering a true testament of my will that I did not gave up on this game.

 

[GeekyDad]

Hey guys, so I finally started playing this last night for about an hour and a half.

And holy shit! I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what the hell I'm doing. I went through every tutorial at the arena and only through sheer dumb luck was I able to clear some of them.

I honestly cannot wrap my mind around some of these systems. Will I be able to see the light at some point or am I just that fucking dumb?

I don't think it's you, man. I had basically the same experience with the game. I'd say it took my roughly the first three hours (and my daughter helping me to figure out the hex-grid system) to finally wrap my head around the game. That being said, I was still discovering a lot about the game late into the story.

Once I "got it," I have to say, the combat system really, really impressed me. It sort of has a mix of Rogue-like mechanics mixed with real-time action and turn-based strategy gameplay. It's an odd beast, to say the least.

 

[trejo]

OK, a noble woman asked me to deliver a fake rose to some abandonded city on level 6. You get to the city and have to run through several fights in a row. There's a ton of fat guys who do scratch damage like every couple of seconds and some enemys who carry exploding oil drums.

I'd get a Critical Condition at seemingly every fucking turn and they obliterated my little red hero action jewels constantly. I retried several times. I got my ass handed to me Every. Single. Time.

I just cursed at my screen and said fuck this shit. Just turned the console off in frustration a couple of minutes ago.

The game seems like it has potential but my god that is an overly complicated goddamned piece of shit fucking battle system.

Maybe I have to spend a dozen hours leveling my guns up on those first weak enemies but god damn it am I not in the mood right now.

 

[B-Rad Lascelle]

Just started this game over the weekend and I think I'm in love. At first I was thinking the battle system would be a variation of classic X-COM mixed with Valkyria Chronicles and then my guys started flying through the air and it turned into a wonderful symphony of Tri-Attacks, armor breaks via machine gun fire and aerial acrobatics.

Couple that with the addictive crack known as the hex-based world map bringing back fond memories of SoulBlazer and I'm hooked.

The early game can prove especially daunting so for those of you struggling the best recommendations I can make is to: fully mod your initial 3 guns (sights, barrels, grip, cartridge) via tinkerer upgrades, get familiar with the battle system in arena battles (getting 10 wins per rank may seem tedious but it's a great way to learn) and swap your guys regularly between handgun & machine gun to level up ranks quickly so weight restrictions cease to be a hindrance.

Apart from those 3 things, I haven't found a need to grind at all. Next step is to wrap my head around chaining the bonus terminals as I haven't messed with 'em much apart from ones in the immediate vicinity of dungeons.

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

OK, a noble woman asked me to deliver a fake rose to some abandonded city on level 6. You get to the city and have to run through several fights in a row. There's a ton of fat guys who do scratch damage like every couple of seconds and some enemys who carry exploding oil drums.

I'd get a Critical Condition at seemingly every fucking turn and they obliterated my little red hero action jewels constantly. I retried several times. I got my ass handed to me Every. Single. Time.

I just cursed at my screen and said fuck this shit. Just turned the console off in frustration a couple of minutes ago.

The game seems like it has potential but my god that is an overly complicated goddamned piece of shit fucking battle system.

Maybe I have to spend a dozen hours leveling my guns up on those first weak enemies but god damn it am I not in the mood right now.

Are you using the Tri-Attack? if you can try to land in a place were you might not get shot at, like behind a block or a barrier. Use your environment in your advantage, also check if the battle you enter is not one of those RED ZONES battles, because those are hard and they are meant to be hard.

 

[dramatis]

OK, a noble woman asked me to deliver a fake rose to some abandonded city on level 6. You get to the city and have to run through several fights in a row. There's a ton of fat guys who do scratch damage like every couple of seconds and some enemys who carry exploding oil drums.

I'd get a Critical Condition at seemingly every fucking turn and they obliterated my little red hero action jewels constantly. I retried several times. I got my ass handed to me Every. Single. Time.

I just cursed at my screen and said fuck this shit. Just turned the console off in frustration a couple of minutes ago.

The game seems like it has potential but my god that is an overly complicated goddamned piece of shit fucking battle system.

Maybe I have to spend a dozen hours leveling my guns up on those first weak enemies but god damn it am I not in the mood right now.

You can aim for the exploding drums and possibly deal enough damage to take care of those guys in a couple of shots.

Generally, if you pick your positions well and avoid taking too much damage, if you do a run machine->handgun, you will always pick up a shard. Use barriers, or distract the enemies with a different character. Enemies also act in fairly predictable patterns, and you can plan around that. Figure out who in a group you should knock off first.

No, you do not have to spend a dozen hours leveling your guns up. Hopefully that isn't your solution, because while leveling helps increase your stats, it's not going to help you play any smarter.

 

[B-Rad Lascelle]

This I actually find kind of funny, because I'd actually really advise not grinding excess weapons for bonus HP because it can bite you. Crossing the 1K HP mark early on makes getting hurt pretty brutal, and an 1000 HP Zephyr leveled exclusively on MG is going to be a ton more useful than an 1000 HP Zephyr leveled equally on all three. At the very least, leave a 100 HP buffer between the character and the next 1K mark, otherwise you can end up with a single full-scratch busting all your bezels.

Quick question for the Resonance of Fate experts...

While I'm not grinding for the sake of stats (it's a fair argument that earning stars in the Area qualifies as "grinding"), I have elected to take a balanced approach to levelling up my characters in the early game - switching off between HG & MG - to boost their levels quickly. Yay for fully specced out firearms with no weight restriction concerns in the single-weapon verse. (At least through Chapter 3.)

Now my question is this: it seems from the above that specialization is the way to go instead of the balanced approach at least when it comes to facing whatever ultra-powerful uberboss awaits me at the end of the game. Is this correct and if so would I be fine maintaining my balanced approach until I get to say around 10/10/5 (L25) for each of my guys and branch out into specialized roles from there?

 

[trejo]

What do you do when you get a Critical Condition? Seems to me like you're pretty much fucked once that happens.

Just got my ass handed to me by the boss in that area. Used the debris in the area as cover and took advantage of the oil drums by positioning them next to him and blowing them up. Had him down to a sliver of health and got Critical Condition'd. I noticed he'd actively go after the shards scattered about in order to regain some health.

I still can't figure out how to perform a tri attack.

This game has me cursing and screaming like a madman and yet I keep coming back. :lol

 

[Pancakes]

What do you do when you get a Critical Condition? Seems to me like you're pretty much fucked once that happens.

Just got my ass handed to me by the boss in that area. Used the debris in the area as cover and took advantage of the oil drums by positioning them next to him and blowing them up. Had him down to a sliver of health and got Critical Condition'd. I noticed he'd actively go after the shards scattered about in order to regain some health.

This game has me cursing and screaming like a madman and yet I keep coming back. :lol

Basically yea, the only way to recover is to kill an enemy or destroy one of their body parts.

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

Quick question for the Resonance of Fate experts...

While I'm not grinding for the sake of stats (it's a fair argument that earning stars in the Area qualifies as "grinding"), I have elected to take a balanced approach to levelling up my characters in the early game - switching off between HG & MG - to boost their levels quickly. Yay for fully specced out firearms with no weight restriction concerns in the single-weapon verse. (At least through Chapter 3.)

Now my question is this: it seems from the above that specialization is the way to go instead of the balanced approach at least when it comes to facing whatever ultra-powerful uberboss awaits me at the end of the game. Is this correct and if so would I be fine maintaining my balanced approach until I get to say around 10/10/5 (L25) for each of my guys and branch out into specialized roles from there?

You can go balance for the first 7 chapters, but after that try to specialize in 1 weapon type per character if you can.

 

[MjFrancis]

Now my question is this: it seems from the above that specialization is the way to go instead of the balanced approach at least when it comes to facing whatever ultra-powerful uberboss awaits me at the end of the game. Is this correct and if so would I be fine maintaining my balanced approach until I get to say around 10/10/5 (L25) for each of my guys and branch out into specialized roles from there?

The balanced approach is recommended for the early portion of the game, but you are correct that specialization will be necessary at a certain point. Waiting until everyone is 10/10/5 is probably a good place to set your regular MG and HG characters. Specialization for your third character is unnecessary - alternating between grenades and pistols will come naturally, and since their turn is taken last this will enable them to keep their level up with the other characters.

 

[semiconscious]

I still can't figure out how to perform a tri attack.

as you start a battle:

1) mg (center character) cross to mid-left
2) hg (left character) cross to mid-right
3) hg (right character) cross to upper-center
4) on next turn, trigger tri attack...

it's simply about crossing paths to form a triangle...

 

[Deadly]

You can go balance for the first 7 chapters, but after that try to specialize in 1 weapon type per character if you can.

Are some characters better at wielding a certain weapon than others? Because I got my 2nd SMG but Vashyron is the only one that could dual wield them (1 fully customized the other one probably less so), so I opted to wait instead but I'm ~L40 already. Will they eventually be able to dual wield them both fully customized?

 

[MjFrancis]

Neverland is seriously busting my balls, even with stats such as these:

Vashyron 154 32/100/22
Zephyr 197 89/88/20
Leanne 150 94/24/32

I've starred in the Arena up to 45-3. Currently I am planning to equip every weapon with two Long Scope Pro's, and possibly collect more armor-piercing rounds. I need to find more Crystal Cores and Rare Metal Shards to grant my characters the best protection - at least one -30% physical damage coat per character and probably some material to keep everyone from freezing. So far, that's one of my biggest problems in Neverland - one of my characters is frozen, and they're killed quickly thereafter.

Don't get me wrong, the game becomes too easy, even at half these levels when I started the final mission. Neverland is a whole new beast, though, and I'm teetering between absolute enjoyment and hair-pulling frustration. The strategies that got me through the majority of the story chapters are failing here - almost spectacularly.

Any and all advice is welcome.

 

[djtiesto]

I didn't have too much trouble with Neverland, then again my levels were 259 V/219 Z/224 L... equipped all my guys with 2 Protective Paddings and had 14 Bezels. You want your MG user to be at level 100 so you get the Full Scratch Damage bonus, and then keep on trying to take down shields/give Full Scratch. Most of the random battles I ran from (I still couldn't tell you had to beat the Gold Slime). But in the levels, I would target the fat gangster guys first since they could set you aflame. And go for the turrets last, they seemed to do the least damage on my guys.

Honestly, I had much more trouble on level 45-3 of the arena than any of Neverland... with the exception of some of the random battles (2 tar men... *shudder*). Even the final battle wasn't bad as long as you keep

Spoiler

Rebekah

stunned throughout and beat her first. Good luck with it.

For leveling up, looks like your Grenade levels are low for all your characters... a nice way to get a lot of HP easily would be to level them up on any of the regular 45 battles... chuck a Grenade to Direct Kill the turrets when their scratch damage is full. If you did what I did (equip 2 EXP trainers on everyone, link the terminals 1.5 EXP and double terminal effect to the arena), your Grenades will level up VERY quickly.

 

[MjFrancis]

Thanks, I shall up my 'nade levels after I max Zephyr's HG and MG stats. Low 200's should help me out. Truth be told I haven't even attempted to beat 45-3 yet. I played it twenty or so times to up Zephyr's MG, always targeting the right helicopter and simply exiting before taking on the left one! I could see how it could be frustrating when I finally do take it on, it has a ridiculous amount of shields that are pretty resistant to scratch damage.

Are Protective Paddings the one with -20% physical damage? I have one -30% and was hoping to arm each character with one of those and something to keep those machine gun fatties from inflicting ice or fire status ailments on all my character. Or just two -30% paddings. I'll target the fatties before anyone else and see how that helps, too. I was able to beat one hex in Neverland, but tried the others on that level half-a-dozen times with no success.

I do have 14 bezels to back me up. I even considered taking on Neverland after a New Game+ so I could double that! :lol

 

[trejo]

This game is fucking awesome.

 

[Pancakes]

Thanks, I shall up my 'nade levels after I max Zephyr's HG and MG stats. Low 200's should help me out. Truth be told I haven't even attempted to beat 45-3 yet. I played it twenty or so times to up Zephyr's MG, always targeting the right helicopter and simply exiting before taking on the left one! I could see how it could be frustrating when I finally do take it on, it has a ridiculous amount of shields that are pretty resistant to scratch damage.

Armor piercing bullets are godsend friend .

 

[BobTheFork]

I have slowed down a bit; I'm only up to chapter 6 now. The game had a good sized jump in difficulty so I am taking more random battle. I really love the insane combat system.

 

[djtiesto]

Thanks, I shall up my 'nade levels after I max Zephyr's HG and MG stats. Low 200's should help me out. Truth be told I haven't even attempted to beat 45-3 yet. I played it twenty or so times to up Zephyr's MG, always targeting the right helicopter and simply exiting before taking on the left one! I could see how it could be frustrating when I finally do take it on, it has a ridiculous amount of shields that are pretty resistant to scratch damage.

Are Protective Paddings the one with -20% physical damage? I have one -30% and was hoping to arm each character with one of those and something to keep those machine gun fatties from inflicting ice or fire status ailments on all my character. Or just two -30% paddings. I'll target the fatties before anyone else and see how that helps, too. I was able to beat one hex in Neverland, but tried the others on that level half-a-dozen times with no success.

I do have 14 bezels to back me up. I even considered taking on Neverland after a New Game+ so I could double that! :lol

I haven't tried the NG+ yet (it's the only trophy I am missing... but I was burnt out on the game after about 80 hours playing and wanted to go through Galaxy 2 among other games), but I hear you can only go up to 20 bezels...

Also, if you Gauge Break with a handgun, you can stun an enemy, as I'm sure you already know. Definitely exploit this, especially with regards to the helicopters and Neverland battles. Neverland itself doesn't really increase that much with regards to difficulty, so once you get the hang of it you'll be A-O-K. I didn't even bother equipping an item pack, specialized rounds (just used 2 MGs) or doing anything that fancy when I played through it.

Protective Paddings are the 20% ones, ideally if you have the paddings that give you 30%, use them instead of course.

Spoiler

You also get a 50% padding in one of the chests in Neverland

 

[MjFrancis]

I've got about twenty total battles left to do before I star the entire Arena, but I wanted to see how my characters were shaping up so I stopped by Neverland for a single hex battle. The battle was long, but I emerged victorious on the first attempt.

Suck it, Neverland. Suck it.

 

[RedSparrows]

Went back to this after a month or two off. Did Chapter 7 in one go. Kicked ass.

Forgot how good the game is, despite its irritating plot pacing (sloooow to develop, thus far) and half-funny/half-dull-and-irritating Leanne piss taking.

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

Are some characters better at wielding a certain weapon than others? Because I got my 2nd SMG but Vashyron is the only one that could dual wield them (1 fully customized the other one probably less so), so I opted to wait instead but I'm ~L40 already. Will they eventually be able to dual wield them both fully customized?

Nah, no character has an advantage over certain weapon, well only if you have highter level for that weapon the character will work better. And yes, later you will be able to fully customize and dual wield 2 weapons you have.

 

[HiResDes]

Just finished it.
Frustration gem of the generation.
I love the game, but it frustrated me to no end.

I think I spent some 4 hours retrying the last boss and a lot of those retries I almost got it, but something always happened; either someone bumping during a crucial tri-attack, or enemies unexpectedly focusing fire on one character or simply being overpowered when the boss health was less than 10%.

I am considering a true testament of my will that I did not gave up on this game.

I had the same experience with Last Remnant, but I found Resonance of Fate less frustrating as there weren't any moments where I felt completely hopeless like in the aforementioned game.

 

[Coverly]

Where is the cheapest place to get this game (ps3 or 360)? I thought it would have been in the 30-40 dollar range by now, but looking online, it's more expensive than ff13!

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

Where is the cheapest place to get this game (ps3 or 360)? I thought it would have been in the 30-40 dollar range by now, but looking online, it's more expensive than ff13!

And its worth the 60 dllrs unlike FF13, IMO.

 

[bunbun777]

Just picked this up at the Kmart (34.99) and I am liking it, though I too felt a little dumb trying to pull off a tri-attack. And then I did something pretty sad-

Used up all the red hexs you get at the beginning and saved 1, needed 2 for Lucia- looked online and it seems they spawn 'around Lucia' from fat gangsters, but I have not seen them, just gremlins and skinnies. ack- is there any hope or should i start over?

-edit- ok figured it out you just have to put your arrow over red hexs- good fun. my party all have glasses, it's like nerds with guns.

 

[trejo]

Oh shit, just got me some cat ears for Leanne! This game just keeps getting better!

I also changed everyone's hair color, they looked too much like some sort of aryan supremacy squad before. Zephyr with red hair and mismatched blue/green eyes? Motherfucker looks pimp.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Well I just want to say that I bought this thanks to Kmart and have really enjoyed it so far. Best Tri Ace game I've played bar none. 24 hours in and only on chapter 6 and its still pretty awesome. That is all.

 

[trejo]

Uhm, where can you easily find mannequin heads? I've got about a hundred torsos and fifty legs but only three heads and I need five of each for a quest. I've been fighting enemies at the forest of idols for a while and I've yet to come across another head.

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

Uhm, where can you easily find mannequin heads? I've got about a hundred torsos and fifty legs but only three heads and I need five of each for a quest. I've been fighting enemies at the forest of idols for a while and I've yet to come across another head.

Don't worry you weren't he only one like that, this game likes to fuck you up in that mission a lot. Just keep trying until you get the piece you want, that is how I did it. =/

I remember there been a tip for this, but I just don't remember, use the search function on this topic, you might find the answer.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I am sorry, but this is one game where I don't believe the "grinding is unnecessary" folks :\ Not necessarily for levels, perhaps, but for materials Grinding is necessary.

 

[Rahxephon91]

I am sorry, but this is one game where I don't believe the "grinding is unnecessary" folks :\ Not necessarily for levels, perhaps, but for materials Grinding is necessary.

Well even if level grinding is necessary(which I think it is), its seemingly easy to manipulate and do. Just switch off and on with weapons and have 1 character do the actual damage.

Buy you may need to grind for parts because I think upgrading your weapons is very important. I mean you want your charge rate to be as fast as possible.

 

[alexel]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of picking up this game tomorrow for a weekend marathon, but I was wondering if there was a superior version between the 360 and PS3 ones? I'm not looking to start a comparison flame war, just wanted an honest opinion if one was better than the other. Thanks.

 

[Teppic]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of picking up this game tomorrow for a weekend marathon, but I was wondering if there was a superior version between the 360 and PS3 ones? I'm not looking to start a comparison flame war, just wanted an honest opinion if one was better than the other. Thanks.

I've heard there's no real difference between them. I've only played the PS3 version and found nothing wrong with it.

 

[MjFrancis]

Beat this a few weeks ago, thanks to some of the help in this thread. 1000/1000, too!

Every character was maxed on HG and MG with their grenade levels in the 40's or 50's, so everyone was leveled around 250. My weapons weren't ideally configured, but amply accessorized. Doubled up on protective paddings for everyone. Armed like this, I walked through Neverland in one go, all the way through the final boss encounter. I won't spoil the ending there, but I suspect that I could have gone through Neverland with a party under level 200 with a solid strategy.

The narrative had potential, but faltered when the time to deliver the goods arrived. Typical JRPG stories are as piss poor and predictable as a Harlequin romance novel, so Resonance of Fate may very well be Huckleberry Finn by comparison. And this is from a narrative that is delivered in disjointed bite-sized pieces that aren't terribly relevant to the main story arc for the first half of the game!

The battle mechanics take a while to familiarize with. It took me about fifteen hours to master, but then there was a very linear strategy to follow for the rest of the game. My biggest change was optimizing my equipment loadout for Neverland, and this will be the only change any player needs to make after they understand how to continually execute Tri-attacks. The learning curve of this one strategy is the entirety of the difficulty in Resonance of Fate.

I think this game could have been a lot better if it was condensed into a thirty hour main adventure. Trim any grinding for the main quest, make travel between unlocked hexes quicker, create a more expansive bonus dungeon and iron out an episodic story with zero filler. The spirit of the game would remain intact, and the battle mechanics would never wear out their welcome. Anyone who chose to grind would be given ample opportunity in a Neverland that would rival the main quest in length and difficulty.

Do it, Tri-Ace. You were so close.

 

[mjemirzian]

I suspect that I could have gone through Neverland with a party under level 200 with a solid strategy.

The battle mechanics take a while to familiarize with. It took me about fifteen hours to master, but then there was a very linear strategy to follow for the rest of the game. My biggest change was optimizing my equipment loadout for Neverland, and this will be the only change any player needs to make after they understand how to continually execute Tri-attacks. The learning curve of this one strategy is the entirety of the difficulty in Resonance of Fate.

I think this game could have been a lot better if it was condensed into a thirty hour main adventure. Trim any grinding for the main quest, make travel between unlocked hexes quicker, create a more expansive bonus dungeon and iron out an episodic story with zero filler. The spirit of the game would remain intact, and the battle mechanics would never wear out their welcome. Anyone who chose to grind would be given ample opportunity in a Neverland that would rival the main quest in length and difficulty.

Do it, Tri-Ace. You were so close.

Your opinion just about totally agrees with my review of the game.

Grinding sucks. Still don't understand why their artificially lengthened the game like that.