It's a mixed bag, but one thing is certain: Resonance of Fate is definitely not your typical JRPG.
At times an absolute blast, at others an absolute bore. For a good while, the gameplay, which is unlike anything before seen in a RPG, is so flashy and over-the-top that it's a total joy to watch. However, the novelty eventually wears off, and boredom begins to set in - especially when it comes to grinding. Resonance of Fate is so unbelievably difficult that it is nearly impossible to get past the boss in some levels without spending copious amounts of time grinding. The leveling sytem in RoF is extremely complicated and, like the gameplay, deviates away from what is the norm for most RPG's. Instead of having the standard system where you have a certain number that represents how far you have to go until you level up, and each enemy you defeat nets a certain number of points that contribute to the total, RoF basically gives you experience for the amount of damage you do to enemies, with enemies of higher levels leading to larger amounts of experience. Due to this system, until you can earn weapons of higher levels to maximize damage output, and can find enemies of higher levels to contribute to a bonus, it can be extremely difficult to speedily level up.
Boredom can also begin to set in once you realize that every aspect of combat is available to you from the get-go and that at no point throughout this very lengthy game will you discover anything new to mix things up. That being said, there are a fair amount of sidequests, an arena, collectibles, weapon upgrades, and extra outfits available to keep things relatively fresh, and between the fairly extensive amount of complex moves available during combat and the large number and variety of boss fights, the game really doesn't become too monotonous except for when grinding becomes necessary - and believe me, it will become necessary.
((Graphics))
Like almost every other aspect of RoF, the graphics are a mix. While they are technically very well done, they can leave something to be desired from an artistic viewpoint. Characters themselves are quite gorgeous, especially the three main characters, as they have an unbelievable amount of clothing options to unlock, ranging from jackets, t-shirts, hoodies, hairbands, contact lenses, glasses, boots, tennis shoes, gun holsters, gloves, bracelets, skirts, costumes, dresses, and more. Each piece of clothing is unique, and you can mix-and-match your character's clothing to create a mind-boggling array of outfits. Unfortunately, such an amount of artistic detail is lost on the rest of the game. The vast majority of enemies - the noteable exception being bosses - are either painted in neutral shades or muted colors, and most are simply palette swaps of other enemies, so that 75% of the time you are fighting a group of enemies that look almost completely identical, but are a different color.
Unfortunately, the games levels and environments are devoid of any color whatsoever, so you'll quickly appreciate the character's zany and colorful outfits, and even enemies half-hearted splash of pale blues and greens as they are the only spot of color in what is otherwise a very dull and dreary game. While I understand that the game is taking place in a near-apocalyptic world that is almost entirely composed of various machinery, there are so many browns and tans present in the game that pretty much every single level of the game is indistinguishable from the others.
((Sound))
Voice acting ranges from superb to stupid. The three main characters are all very well done, as are most of the other voiced characters, but then a character will come along and open his/her mouth and just leave you rolling at how remarkably bad they sound. Given, most of these character's voices match their personalities, so this was probably intentional. As for sound effects and background music, they are spot on, and the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns and blasts of grenades helps lend a believable and intensifying feel to battles.
((Controls))
The controls for this game will definitely take some getting used to, as the game's instruction manuel is not very explanatory and the gameplay is unlike pretty much any other game I've ever seen. There's also no mandatory tutorial like most games, so you will definitely want to hop over to the arena at the first chance you get and go through the tutorial battles there. All that being said, once you get used to the game's controls, everything operates smoothly and they will become second nature.
((Story))
The game's weak point or focal point? It's hard to say, as I still haven't completed the game. However, I'm nearly half-way through it and I can say that I still don't hardly know what on earth I'm doing as nearly every quest and storyline thus far has involved random quests and favors for citizens of Basel, the game's world, and there really hasn't been any cohesiveness to the story. However, that's not to say that the story hasn't been captivating and entertaining - it's actually been both, there's really just no rhyme or reason to why you're doing what you're doing.
From what I understand from word-of-mouth and reading other reviews, the story never really explains just what the point of the game is until right near the very end when everything is pulled together in a very hurried and confusing rush. This will most definitely be a killer for most people, but, as I already said, while there may not be a sense of purpose in the game it is definitely entertaining - this is one of the most humorous videogames that I have played in a long time.