Does Resonance of Fate, the newest RPG to come from the JRPG mavens at tri-Ace, have a fancy-pants battle system with an ostentatious name? Of course it does! It's a tri-Ace game! In fact, the PS3/360 title isn't even due out in Japan until this winter, but this week's Famitsu has already laid bare Resonance's battles -- a little something that tri-Ace calls the "tri-Attack-Battle" system.
As Resonance director Takayuki Suguro puts it, the t.A.B. system combines hardcore, turn-based RPG strategy with the sort of really "cool" battle animations and effects people have come to expect in games from this genre. Here's how it works, basically:
1. At the start of the turn, you choose a character from the ones in your party who haven't taken action yet. This character is given a time limit, and he is free to move around the battlefield and switch between items as much as he wants; the turn ends when he attacks or time runs out.
2. When you press the "attack" button, a gauge begins to charge up; you can't unleash the attack until it's full. These charges can be stacked up to further strengthen your attack once you finally unleash it, and the closer you are to your targeted enemy, the quicker the charges will come. (Enemy attacks work this way, too.)
3. Once all three characters in your party take action, the turn is over. The enemy side does not get defined "turns" in this game; they can only move when your party is moving or attacking, and they can only target the character that you are currently controlling.
Special moves in Resonance take the form of "Invincible Actions." These moves work sort of like magic or skills, but require both a charge and for your character to traverse a pre-specified route on the battlefield -- the Resonance equivalent of the DeLorean having to get up to 88 MPH before it can go back in time, you could say. The casting character is invincible while he's charging up, but you have to plan these moves out carefully in advance, because if you are fully charged but don't kill the enemy with the Invincible Action, you're left wide open for attack afterward.
Another quirk to this battle system is the two types of damage it's configured to deal with. "Direct Damage" is caused by handguns and grenades; it doesn't cause very much, but it takes effect immediately. This is different from the "Scratch Damage" dealt by machine guns -- that type of damage gradually refills over time, but if you strike for Direct Damage on a foe before it fully regenerates, the damage will become permanent.
Sound complex enough for you, tri-Ace fans?
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