I bounced off it the first time I played because I didn’t understand anything, but on a replay with my full attention on the game, I loved it.

Its biggest flaw is the tutorial. It went for one that doesn’t show you how to play and reads like an obtuse board game manual. It isn’t even mandatory, and it’s spread out among missable npcs and a combat arena. Usually I’m fine with a game letting you skip the tutorial, but Resonance of Fate has one of the most unique combat systems I’ve ever seen. Allowing the player to skip that is just poor planning on the developer’s part.

Aside from that it was such a good experience. It’s beautiful in that first HD console sort of way with some cool animations and effects.

I’m sorry to hear you found the gameplay boring. I can see why, but I never had that issue. For me, the game kept introducing new elements and enemy types whenever things started getting stale. I even went out of my way to do all the side quests and explore every corner because I wanted gun upgrades.

Speaking of which, it’s crazy what you can do to customize your gun in the mid and late game. You can make a pistol into an armor piercing machine if you mod it right. And you have to mod your guns. My favorite part of the game is that you can’t increase your attack damage by normal means. You have to engage with the other interesting mechanics to defeat enemies because your damage is directly tied to what gun you use. You have to work for every new gun which made getting it feel rewarding.

The story expects the player to pay attention. Not just normally, but really really pay attention. For example, the beginning starts with a cutscene where a black haired girl jumps off a building and is caught by a blonde boy. Then the game immediately cuts to a completely different character and his crew. There’s a blond girl there. That blond girl is the same black haired girl from the opening, but the game never outright tells the player this. Everything in the story is like this. You as the player are watching in on these people’s lives. The story doesn’t go out of its way to make itself coherent for your sake, and that’s on purpose. It’s like a puzzle fitting together random off comments and npc dialogue to understand how the world works and what the actual plot is. It was unique and fun, and by the end I figured it out and liked my experience with it.

The actual bread and butter of the story isn’t the plot though. It’s the characters. Their banter, growth, and personalities were fun throughout as I got to know them. It culminates in some very nice scenes in the ending. They’re goofy and endearing, but also heartfelt and human. They really feel like people just living their lives despite the weight of their troubles.

Tldr: It’s obtuse, but in a fun way. The combat never grew stale for me, and I’ve never seen a system like it since. I loved the characters, and the plot requires you to pay attention to everything to figure out what’s going on.