Resonance of Fate Message Board

#randomencounters Thirty minutes. That's all I need. Thirty minutes to decide whether or not a role-playing game is worth playing. More »

#resonanceoffate Dialog-heavy Japanese role-playing games don't often make the journey westward with their wit intact. Tri-Ace's challenging role-playing shooter Resonance of Fate proves itself one of the rare exceptions, nailing both the text and the timing of this hilariously steamy scene. More »

In today's mostly complete episode of Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Dodgerwd wonders if everyone is having the same difficulty finishing their video games as he is. More »

There you were, lazing away a Sunday afternoon, when out of nowhere we throw you into an arena and start resonatin' stuff. Nope, it's not a dream -- it's a weird allusion to tri-Ace developed JRPG Resonance of Fate. And rather than sit here reading our weird allusions, why not spend your time actually playing the game in real life? Well you're one step closer to that possibility if you enter our contest below, wherein we'll be giving one lucky winner one copy of the game for their Xbox 360.

All you have to do is tell us about something so memorable from your life that it resonated throughout your own fate. Okay, okay, that's a bit serious. It can just be something memorable from your life, as long as it's clean and, preferably, funny. Drop it into the comments below and we'll pick one of you at random this week as a winner. You've got 24 hours starting ... now!

• Leave a comment telling us something memorable from your life, as long as it's clean and, preferably, funny.
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, because of restrictive sweepstakes laws in the province, unfortunately -- we assure you that we love the Quebecois!).
• Limit 1 entry per person per day.
• This entry period ends at 8:01PM ET on Monday, April 19.
• At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Resonance of Fate for Xbox 360 (ARV: $59.99).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition.

For more info on our policy, click here.

An unorthodox RPG hits and misses at the same time.

Newest RPG from Tri-Ace ready for consumption.

A possible sleeper hit? Catch the beautiful opening cinematic here.

#sega Along with the requisite trailers, screenshots, and character bios, the new website for Sega's gun-toting role-playing game Resonance of Fate has a couple songs for you to add to your collection of video game music you hardly ever listen to. More »

We've already pointed out a handful of times that there are just a few too many JRPGs boldly standing up against Final Fantasy XIII's near-guaranteed dominance in terms of sales. It seems that at least one of those is moving out of its previously believed same-day release date with FFXIII, with Sega telling us in a press release yesterday afternoon that the it's "happy to announce that Resonance of Fate, the next RPG coming from tri-Ace, will be launching in North America on March 16" on both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Clearly Sega is counting on die-hard FF fans to rush through the big release in under 168 hours, just in time for its bullet-riddled affair. We'll certainly see how it all shakes out in a few months when the sales numbers arrive, but we're betting the ground will be littered with chocobo feathers when it does.

JRPG Resonance of Fate, known by the equally ridiculous name of End of Eternity in Japan, will make its way to Europe on March 26, according to a Sega fact sheet. The title debuted to respectable numbers in Japan last month and currently has no official release date in the States, but GameStop seems to think it's March 9 -- yeah, that Final Fantasy XIII March 9.

Now, go ahead and watch that four-minute opener to the game again.

The debut of the Dragon Quest VI remake for DS proves that a Dragon Quest game doesn't have to be entirely new to sell like crazy in Japan -- just new enough. In its first week at retail, January 25-31, the new version of the classic Super Famicom RPG sold 906,458 copies, according to Media Create, making it by far the top-selling game of the week.

A pair of other newly-released RPGs also did quite well: the PS3 version of tri-Ace's shooty-RPG End of Eternity (we call it "Resonance of Fate") landed in second place on the weekly software chart with 118,088 units sold (the Xbox version charted respectably at #8, selling 27,048 units) and Ar Tonelico 3 hit #4 with 81,633 copies sold. Even the Japanese release of MAG managed to make it into the top ten!

See the complete weekly top ten sales list after the break.

Navigate the World Map and explore the towns in this import gameplay.

A fury of bullets is unleashed with careful planning in battle in the import Japanese version of Resonance of Fate.

The adventure begins with this introduction cinematic.

The first part of the introduction to Resonance of Fate, import edition.

The introduction to the story of Resonance of Fate continues.

For what it's worth, every bit of Resonance of Fate we've seen so far looks mighty enticing. From gorgeous screenshots, to long dramatic CG trailers, to those full of bullets (and even some gameplay), Tri-Ace's upcoming RPG certainly gives us the impression it'll be a blast to play -- heck, we even enjoyed our first hands-on with the game back at TGS 2009. All that said, even in light of the four-minute-long opening we've dropped above (from the Japanese Xbox 360 version, titled End of Eternity), we're about as worried as can be for any game set to release alongside Final Fantasy XIII. Will the intensity of the opening scene's suicide jump entice you enough to snag a copy over the much ballyhoo'd Square Enix release? We're not quite sure, but it certainly got our zipper-clad boots all in a tussy.

You can imagine our surprise when we discovered Nippon Ichi's Last Rebellion had gotten itself a release date -- it's been nearly nine months since we last heard anything on the title (and that was its announcement!). The game's set to hit PlayStation 3 consoles on March 12 in Europe and 'February' for North America, just in time for those of you who love JRPGs yet are stridently against the purchase of Final Fantasy XIII. In fact, between the release of FFXIII on March 9, Resonance of Fate launching the same day, and now this, we're inclined to rename the whole month with a JRPG theme. How about "Manarch?" Maybe "Marchic?" Perhaps "Marchlotsofbeltsandzippers?" Alright, alright -- we've clearly gone too far. Gallery: Last Rebellion

Interested in Resonance of Fate but afraid of being burned by another tri-Ace RPG? If you have access to a Japanese PlayStation Network account or (less likely) a Japanese Xbox 360, you can sample the game today. Sega released a demo of the gunplay RPG in Japan, with a tutorial that Siliconera reports is easy enough to follow along with even in Japanese. We were able to suss out the mechanics during TGS with little issue, but we doubt the downloadable demo includes a Sega rep, as our TGS demo did. What won't be easy to follow along with is the story and dialogue -- but referring once again to Star Ocean 4, maybe that's not the worst thing.

Get familiar with tri-Ace's new battle system and test your mettle in the final showdown of the End of Eternity PlayStation 3 demo.

Get a grip on your fighting techniques with this Japanese battle tutorial for Resonance of Fate!

The Japanese version of Resonance of Fate--Also known as End of Eternity--revamps the definition of smackdown.

Listen, we don't need to understand the primary language used in a trailer to know that it's completely awesome. After the break, you'll find a six-and-a-half-minute-long Japanese trailer for Resonance of Fate (or, as its called overseas, End of Eternity), and while we don't really understand what's being said, the video possesses plenty of the universal language: Totally rad gun ... shooting. Gun action. Firearm discharging ... coolness. Okay, there's not really a word for the video's awesome properties, but we trust that you'll know them when you see them.

The future of this industrial world hangs in the balance.

Lock and load with this futuristic RPG.

Resonance takes the stage as End of Eternity in Japan.

An RPG epic to start off the new year.

Sega celebrates the new Japanese release date with screenshots.

Resonance of Fate was given a North American release window of spring 2010 way back in May, leaving the question of its Japanese release (as End of Eternity) unanswered -- until just now. Sega previously launched a cute "count-up" site to reveal the date, which has finally arrived at January 28, 2010*. The official game site now shows this information, as well.Earlier this month, producer Mitsuhiro ShimanoIn told Joystiq that, with Resonance of Fate development on schedule, Sega had the freedom to set the Japanese release date "when it's going to be the best time to fully reach the potential." Apparently, the best time is ... a month after Final Fantasy XIII?*Note: At the time of this posting, our browser still shows that several hours remain, suggesting that the counter is based on one's local time zone.[Via Andriasang]

tri-Ace on its gritty, gun combat-focused RPG.