The Neverending Fate [part 2]

Finished Resonance of Fate, finally :D Beating almost everything this game to offer, on normal mode of course (hard and unknown not available on first playthrough). The Arena, every sidequests, and the typical Tri-Ace bonus dungeon, Neverland (aka the likes of Seraphic Gate, Cave of Seven Stars etc). At first my aim was to get perfect 1000/1000 for the game, but seeing that it require me to play the game for a 2nd time (albeit we can speedrun easily in a few hours), and battling the whole 500 Arena battles for 2 Achievements, I decided to leave these two for now, and revisit the game once I'm done with others. Overall although Resonance of Fate give a lot of Valkyrie Profile Silmeria's vibe, in actual both games are vastly different in the way the story is presented, and many other gameplay aspects. For this entry, I'd like to give my opinion on two things:

The bonus dungeon, Neverland

This bonus dungeon is f*cking ridiculous. Seriously. Probably the hardest among all bonus dungeon that Tri-Ace has included in their past games. You go at level 100+ and you'll get raped easily, even at your very first random encounter. Go again at level 150+ and you might have decent chance to complete the dungeon, providing you have the right setup. The monsters here are ridiculously stronk, and even worse that most of their attacks can easily went over 2k-5k each. Just as the difficulty of the main game is, Neverland difficulty was quite steep. Without the right setup, it was hell. With proper setup, it was a walk in the park - damage reduction accessories (preferably 30%), level 90+ MG level (for Full Scratch AND Stun rate), and against some, Armor-Piercing rounds (trade from Arena). With this setup, the bosses at the Gate of Heaven are virtually jokes. Stun, stun and stun.



Storyline
Uh..okay, so...what was the story about again...? It seems to me that Tri-Ace intentionally made the plot this way - leaving so many ambiguity and confusion about the story, leaving the player's on their own to interpret what actually happened. Plotholes, depending one's point of view. All in all, the way they present the story is unique, but at the same time, kinda leave discontention among many players. I would say that even I myself are not quite sure about what's the main story is trying to convey. From the moment human's life are bound to the quartz, Leanne's experiment as the 20th sample, Zephyr and Vashyron's past (the massacre, in particular), Sullivan and the demon-like loli (I only know her name is Rebecca after going into Neverland), Rowan's plot, the thing that Zephyr and Vashyron hide from Leanne, and most importantly, the "Miracles", which what I thought was what happened when the ending scroll (Rebecca smashing a quartz, people defeated returned to life etc). After a bit of digging, I found this posted on gamefaqs, which somehow answered some of my lingering questions. Recommended reading material for those who find the story confusing!

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=959317&topic=54076899

In the end of the day, the title Resonance of Fate is quite relevant to what's happening in the game. Unique presentation, albeit I'm hoping for some sort of sequel or other type of media (manga/light novel or something) to thoroughly explains the in-depth stories currently void in the game.

Next stop: the ever-overhyped Final Fantasy XIII

p/s: Resonance of Fate: the review coming...next week.