In upcoming tri-Ace developed, SEGA published role-playing-game Resonance of Fate, the game’s models are designed to take advantage of HDTVs, but the text is SDTV friendly. Yay!

Other good news: You can quick save any time in the game, there’s a handy battle retry option and Resonance of Fate is disc-swap free.

Resonance of Fate reveals new features [Sega Nerds]

The tri-Ace developed title will be released January 28 in Japan. No word about the Western release.

As we mentioned earlier, the game is set on the man-made spire of Basel. That’s where the residents of Earth live in the future, now that we’ve polluted the planet to the point that it can no longer support human life or even vegetation.

As with most future societies, Basel has an easily understood hierarchy of placement on the spire. The rich rest comfortably near the top, the dirt-poor peons near the bottom. Your team of Private Military Firm employed heroes-Vasheron, Zephyr and Leanne-naturally live closer to the bottom, amongst the gears and levers that power the giant machine that is Basel.

エンド オブ エタニティ、カウントアップ中の発売日がバレて公式サイトが自虐に走る [読みゲー ]

Tri-Ace’s role playing game Resonance of Fate is getting the big roll out at the Tokyo Game Show. A big TGS roll out needs a big TGS trailer. This is that, apparently.

Published by SEGA, Resonance of Fate will be released in the West next Spring.

Dubbed Star Ocean: The Last Hope International, the game will be hitting the PS3 February 4, 2010 and priced at ¥8,190 ($104). The game features reworked menu screens and a tweaked battle system with auto-targeting. SO4: International also features English and Japanese voice acting. It really is international!

Sega reps at Gamescom said that Resonance of Fate is “not the traditional RPG” that one might expect from tri-Ace, with a heavy emphasis on gunplay, some of it real-time, some of it turn-based in action. We got to see some of that action in real-time, as demonstrated by a Sega rep this week at Gamescom, to get a better sense of how just non-traditional Resonance of Fate is—dogs in formal wear and all.

The game is set on the man-made spire of Basel. That’s where the residents of Earth live in the future, now that we’ve polluted the planet to the point that it can no longer support human life or even vegetation. Yes, it’s a bleak future without the comfort of cotton, with our heroes likely forced to battle in leather and polyester.

As with most future societies, Basel has an easily understood hierarchy of placement on the spire. The rich rest comfortably near the top, the dirt-poor peons near the bottom. Your team of Private Military Firm employed heroes—Vasheron, Zephyr and Leanne—naturally live closer to the bottom, amongst the gears and levers that power the giant machine that is Basel.

Vasheron, Zephyr and Leanne will take jobs from various citizens of Basel, exploring the world’s hex-based environment. Access to that environment is given to your team with the use of “hexers,” essentially keys that unlock portions of the world map. You’ll be given hexers upon the completion of certain missions and from defeated foes which, when used, give Resonance of Fate a bit of a strategic puzzle aspect in parts.

The battle scenes tend to veer a bit closer to what one expects from a traditional Japanese RPG.

With the exception of the game’s focus on gunplay—and a lack of fancy armour and ornate swords—the battle system may look a little familiar. We watched as Vasheron, Zephyr and Leanne each took their turns trading bullets with a team of humans in futuristic battle gear (and a dog in a neck tie). Some of the attacks, like the semi-automatic machine gun fire, dealt “scratch damage,” a rapid fire shot that chips away at an enemy’s hit points. That scratch damage can be recovered by enemies, so the heavy shot members of your team will need to step in a deal heftier blows to finish them off.

Most of the action appeared to be input by simple commands, but the Sega rep controlling the demo did have to decide when to make characters jump and fire, two choices that will affect how much damage your team of PMFs will do to foes.

One interesting aspect of the battle system is the concept of squad leaders. It’s pretty simple, just finish off the leader of the group and your opponents will scatter. Good for ending a fight that’s potentially close, but less beneficial in terms of gaining experience points and item pick ups.

Sega wouldn’t offer much in the way of information beyond what we saw in the demo, holding some of Resonance of Fate’s features close to its chest. The game’s due out in Spring of 2010, so we’re guessing that we’ll know a lot more about tri-Ace’s original effort soon… probably by the time Tokyo Game Show rolls around.

But tri-Ace’s upcoming role-playing-game End of Eternity is being published by SEGA, not Square Enix.

Explains tri-Ace developer and EoE director Takayuki Suguro, “Because SEGA has a more open attitude towards accepting new RPG ideas than Square Enix, we’d decided to have SEGA release End of Eternity.” Previously, Suguro worked on Square Enix titles Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics

The multi-platform End of Eternity is set in a future where mankind near extinction due to environmental changes. EoE is slated for release late in 2009.

スクウェア・エニックスよりセガの方が新しいRPGのアイデアを受け入れる姿勢がある [ゲームメモ via はちま起稿]

Sega of America is bringing the tri-Ace-developed role-playing game End of Eternity stateside, renaming it Resonance of Fate for some reason. And it’s also apparently jamming in some butt rock.

As evidenced by the newest trailer—still heavy on the pre-rendered CGI—for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 role-playing game, Sega’s proud butt rock tradition will continue with Resonance of Fate, which goes from piano and clarinet duet to hot shredding royalty-free rock faster than you can say “What’s wrong with the name ‘End of Eternity’, anyway?”

Hey, ours is not to question why. Ours is just to point and mock.

For reference’s sake, please watch the original End of Eternity trailer before viewing the Japanese language free U.S. debut of Resonance of Fate. We think it’s worth it. For the context!

Yes, in a break for developers tri-Ace (who normally always publish their games through Square Enix), Sega will be relieving Square Enix, and releasing the game in North America and Europe in the spring of 2010.

It’ll come with a new name (Resonance of Fate), and if the Western release is anything like the Japanese one, it’ll be available for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

SEGA Announces Resonance of Fate! [Sega]

The childhood friends are both around 8 inches tall and come in window box — each with their own weapons*. Those interested in picking them up can find them online or at your local Japanese figure shop or both.

*stars and planetary terrain not included

Star Ocean 4 -The Last Hope- Play Arts Reimi Saionji & Edge Maverick action figure by Kotobukiya [Neko Magic]

We’ve already seen Sega and tri-Ace’s upcoming role-playing game End of Eternity in screen shot form, but those screens failed to capture the magic of subsequent images running at approximately 24 frames per second.

The debut trailer from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 RPG is full of things you’d expect from your teasers, including Japanese text, pretty girls, evil faceless organisations, and fancy lads with expert weapon skills. The CG looks spot on—which it had better, considering the entire thing is pre-rendered.

With End of Eternity shipping this Winter in Japan, it makes me wonder what takes Square Enix so damn long in getting those Final Fantasy games out. tri-Ace knocks ‘em out like once a year!