Resonance of Fate

Resonance of Fate Tips & Tricks

• Quests

  Resonance of Fate is divided into chapters and to finish each chapter, you'll have to satisfy the conditions of one or more story quests. These become available as you meet certain requirements. Chapters tend to conclude once you've visited a dungeon and defeated a boss, but your quests may involve other objectives. For example, you may need to unlock a new area and meet with a character before your true mission becomes clear. As you work on those main quests, you'll also be able to visit Guild buildings placed throughout the land. There are several of them, each with a bulletin board where residents place job postings. You may also find bulletin boards elsewhere. When you check those boards, you'll find special assignments. Quests are available only within the chapter in which you first encounter them. Once you clear all story missions within a chapter, you'll have the option to continue to the next chapter. You'll be notified if any side missions haven't been completed and you can choose to delay chapter advancement until you've completed the side missions, which we recommend. Side quests that you complete award you with Hunter Points that allow you to receive loot from the Guild, just as most story quests do. You'll receive a package at the mailbox in front of your home base for every 100 points that you gain. Completing side quests also allows you to pick up powerful bullets and upgrades for your gun, all stuff that will make boss encounters go more smoothly. Those side missions may take extra time, but the rewards are sometimes worth it and you'll get more out of the game if you spend the time to explore and complete each one.

• Terminal Activation and Effects

  Terminals that are placed throughout the land serve as a final point of interest on the maps. Once activated, these terminals can have an effect on connected spaces on the grid, depending on how you place Energy Hexes in the adjacent areas. As an example, a terminal might allow you to gain an increased amount of experience from enemy encounters, or the rate at which enemies drop precious loot could be improved. By paying close attention to terminals, you can make things easier on yourself in the game's later portions. You can also combine effects if you find terminals that are close enough together. When you first are exposed to the concept of terminals, it can seem rather abstract. You need to learn to master them, though, or you will have a much harder time with certain side quests. The first rule of terminals is that you must activate one by placing standard hex pieces on the map. This is easy enough. However, you next need to connect available terminals to what is known as a Station Hex. Not every terminal needs to be connected to a distinct terminal, since you can chain terminals together, but at least one Station Hex must be connected to any grouping of terminals. You will most commonly obtain these Station Hex pieces in the Ebel City guild. Every Station Hex can be obtained by trading five Energy Hex pieces of any one color. For example, you might trade five blue Energy Hex pieces for one blue Station Hex. When you then place that station on the map, you can use Energy Hex pieces of the same color to connect your station to a nearby terminal that is available. Connecting a terminal to a Station Hex doesn't necessarily activate that terminal. Each terminal has a requirement listed that must first be met. You might need to connect thirty spaces on a grid to a given terminal before it will come to life, for instance. Once you do, you'll activated that terminal and you will benefit from its effects any time you are on a space within its area of impact until yo

• Map Exploration

  Exploring the world of Basel is no less complex than the leveling system. Essentially, you're on a huge tower with multiple levels, like a stack of plates attached to and balanced on a mop handle and twigs. Buildings and dungeons are positioned along the various plates, but you can't visit them until you unlock spaces on a grid fashioned out of Energy Hex pieces. You most commonly gain those pieces by defeating enemies. There are several shapes and types of hex pieces available to you. These will allow you to clear typical space, or to set up bases where you can rest and save your progress, to unlock areas that are central to plot progression and to trigger powerful effects on the map. The Energy Hexes that you'll need to use in order to access special buildings are typically doled out in story sequences, which is the game's way of preventing you from progressing too far until you are ready to do so. Along with Core Lift passes, the availability (or lack) of Energy Hexes means that you should almost never have to worry about encountering tougher enemies than you can theoretically handle at any given point in the game. There are exceptions to that rule. As you explore the maps, you'll occasionally come across glowing red spaces on the grid. These should be approached with caution because they represent a challenging enemy encounter. You should make sure to save (if you haven't recently) before entering any of those hex spaces, lest you find yourself overwhelmed by a powerful foe. There are rewards if you triumph over such nasties, of course. Also placed along the various levels of the tower are elevators that will lead you up and down one floor at a time. Like any other space on the grid, they must first be unlocked by placing hex pieces. Then you're free to use them to instantly shift levels. As you work through the game, you'll become intimately familiar with elevator and lift locations. You'll also become a master of navigating what at first can seem like a co

• Level Progression

  It's important to recognize that the level-up system in Resonance of Fate isn't going to function in the precise manner that you might imagine. You don't gain levels based on the number of enemies defeated. Rather, you gain experience points for each attack. This can lead to situations where a character who is weak in a given discipline can go up a level or two in a single fight before even one enemy has fallen. Your level that displays on the status screen represents the combined total of your degree of proficiency with three weapon types: hand guns, machine guns and cases. These level up independently of one another, so if you're constantly using the hand gun while ignoring your machine gun, for instance (common during the early portions of the game when only one machine gun is available to be shared between all three characters), you could be making things harder on yourself than they need to be. Make sure that you switch out weapons frequently so that all three weapon disciplines are advancing at a similar rate. The reason for this may not be immediately obvious. Each character seems to have a natural affinity with one type of gun or another, and it might seem that you'd want to keep the character equipped with that weapon so that he or she can specialize in it. However, that would mean that you miss out on HP and skill bonuses that come with each level gained. When a character goes up a level in any weapon discipline, he or she gains somewhere around 60 to 70 HP and the ability to carry around more weight. Suppose that you're only leveling up your hand guns. It won't take long before most encounters are a challenge because you only have half the HP that you really should given the number of battles that you will have fought. Around a third of the way through the game, you also gain the ability to dual wield, but if you haven't leveled up enough to carry around the weight that two guns require, you will have to level up for awhile before you can take advantage

• Gun Customization

  While leveling up your characters is a great way to make them a formidable presence in combat, it's not the only means to that end. Weapons also are key. As you progress through the game, you'll find all sorts of pieces that can be added to your guns to improve their rate of fire, their power and the amount of ammunition that they can carry. Upgrades add weight to the gun, so it's important that you don't make a gun too heavy for your characters to wield. Usually, this only matters if you're attempting to dual wield and your characters haven't leveled up enough, which is why we stressed that you should try to level characters up across all disciplines. That way, you can support any special upgrades that you make. Pieces for your gun typically are found by crafting at one of the shops in the game. You need to bring components that you have found by defeating enemies and those can be turned into equipment for your gun, provided you have the rubies to pay for the crafter's services. Pieces come in a variety of types and you'll see diagrams depicting their general shape and attributes before you make a purchase. Pay attention to that chart, and especially note the connection types. A given piece may have a '+' sign on the side, for example, or it may have the outline of a '+' sign. There's a difference. The actual '+' sign is like a circular button on the top side of a LEGO piece, while the outline is like the cylindrical underside of another LEGO piece to which it will connect. If those two match, that means that the two pieces can attach. Many pieces will have two or three types of connection and will have vary in length, so you need to keep all of that in mind as you purchase and build your weapons. There are a few types of piece: barrels, extenders, ammo clips and sights. These for the most part have one or two connection types, so you should quickly get a feel for what will work where. As you look in the crafting shop, you may find a piece that looks spectacula

• Additional Combat Tips

  Once you have a feel for the flow of combat, you can start planning useful attacks. As you do, you'll likely come to the realization that healing kits aren't particularly useful. If you're fighting well, you'll fare better by remaining on the offensive. In most cases, you'll be able to use heroic attacks without having to worry about running out of bezel crystals and you'll probably use two or three Tri-Attack maneuvers in nearly every boss battle. The last thing we would add is that you need to remember when to charge and when to release quick bursts of hand gun fire. Tougher enemies often have shields all around their bodies. A powerful, charged machine gun blast may only remove one shield or it may disable most or all of them. Just because a bunch of shields have turned blue doesn't mean that you've almost won, though. When you follow up with your handgun, pay attention. A host of blue shields typically means that you should fire a bunch of weak shots to disable each one rather than causing only a single shield to disappear. A huge shield encircling the enemy, on the other hand, means that a single charged shot is in order.

• Using Tri-Attacks

  When you're going up against certain bosses or even weaker enemies with strong defenses, it can sometimes seem like your heroic attacks aren't doing much damage. When you find that to be the case, it's likely time for a Tri-Attack. To use a Tri-Attack, you first need to gain one or more Resonance Points. The number of resonance points that you have will go a long way toward determining the duration of your Tri-Attack. One point means that you won't get to attack for long, but two points is much more reasonable. You can use more points beyond even that, of course, but they're hard to acquire because of the manner in which resonance points are obtained. To gain resonance points, you have to use heroic attacks without interruption, one per character turn. Essentially, your characters start each battle positioned on a line. Picture that line as A, B and C in order from left to right. If you have character A use a heroic attack, he or she needs to pass between B and C at some point. Otherwise, you'll lose most or all of any resonance points that you had previously acrued. When you're moving in the required direction and can expect to gain a resonance point, your character's line between the current location and the anchor that you are placing will appear blue on-screen to indicate that all is well. Then the next character needs to move in a manner that causes another blue line to plot his or her course and so forth. If you take a turn without using a heroic action or if you run out of bezel crystals, resonance points are quickly lost and you'll have to start fresh. Just walking around to position yourself for a better heroic attack will also quickly drain your resonance points, so you need to be careful. The easiest way to initiate a quick Tri-Attack maneuver is to have character B rush toward the diagonal left at the start of battle, then have character A head to the diagonal right and then have the third character initiate the Tri-Attack on his or her turn. Things g

• Using Heroic Attacks

  A heroic attack is a way to set up powerful combo attacks. Initiating a heroic attack will cost you a full bezel crystal, which is risky because you typically don't have many of those to spare. You need to make sure that when you use a heroic attack, you have a good chance of either finishing off your enemy or that you will inflict enough damage that a bezel crystal or two is restored to your own meter in the process. When you first initiate a heroic attack, you'll need to place an anchor. This anchor determines where your character will attempt to move. You can have enemies and walls between your character's current position and that anchor, but you need to be ready to compensate for such complications by leaping over them or by blasting them out of your way. When you have decided where to place the anchor, pressing the button again will begin the attack. Once a heroic attack has begun, an action gauge will rapidly drain until it is empty. Your character will run toward the anchor that you placed, moving in a straight line. You now can press the button again to leap into the air if you need to clear walls and other obstacles. You also can press the 'Action' button to fire your weapon. If you wait to press that button, your weapon will charge as your character's gauge drains and he or she reaches the anchor that you placed. Charged shots inflict more damage on your enemies according to the level of the weapon that you currently have equipped, plus powerful effects can periodically take place as you cycle up to higher levels, but it's not always best to worry about charging shots because the speed at which your weapons charge can vary depending on your equipment and your proximity to the enemy who you have chosen to target. You need to get a feel for which tactic will work best in each given situation.

• Inflicting Damage

  There are two distinct types of damage that you can inflict in battle: Direct and Scratch. Both types are important, since you'll need to combine them in order to defeat any tougher enemies that you encounter. Direct damage is inflicted using hand gun and grenade weapons. You must deal direct damage to kill every enemy that you encounter in the game, but there's a problem: most of your enemies have shields that you need to disable before direct damage is a reasonable possibility. Shields are particularly strong against direct damage (that's their obvious function), so you could find yourself spending several minutes whittling away at a shield unless you switch to a machine gun. A machine gun deals Scratch damage. This is easily recognized because it appears in blue on an enemy's life meter. When you deal scratch damage, you should consider it temporary. That scratch damage doesn't actually harm an enemy unless you follow it up with direct damage, in which case the amount of your enemy's life meter that had turned blue from scratch damage will vanish. If you take too long to turn scratch damage into direct damage, that blue will vanish and you'll have to turn it blue again. The obvious method to take out all but the weakest enemies in the game, then, is to start with scratch damage that weakens shields. Then follow that up with direct damage that turns the scratch damage into HP loss that forces shields and portions of the life meter to disappear. Then repeat the process in subsequent rounds until your opponent's life meter is toast. Even the toughest opponents in the game will fall to this strategy if it is properly applied, while even puny enemies could take ages to kill if you don't keep it in mind and put it to proper use.

• Combat System Basics

  When you encounter an enemy at random while exploring the world map, or as you advance through a dungeon, you'll be taken to a three-dimensional battlefield. Unless you're fighting your way through a key event, you can often escape by finding glowing patches along the edge of a given area. Any damage that you took will remain in effect, though, and the bezel crystals that allow you to perform your most powerful attacks and to sustain damage without dying won't be refilled. If you run out of bezel crystals, you will be unable to initiate heroic attacks (the best way to weaken and destroy your enemies) and every hit that you take will inflict a substantial amount of damage that could easily result in a "Game Over" screen. The only way to refill those crystals is to mount successful attacks on enemies that break through their defenses enough that they lose crystals of their own. If your characters find themselves taking damage and losing crystals, they can run around to try to collect shards and get back in the game, but by that point they've probably done enough things wrong that they're dead meat unless they manage to inflict the right sort of damage on a weakened foe in the general vicinity. Combat takes place in what you might call a turn-based manner. Enemies and heroes both have meters that indicate when they can attack. You can often cycle between characters when you get a turn. There's no cost to you if you'd prefer one character to attack instead of another, something that can prove useful as you try to set up Tri-Attack moves. Generally you will get a turn and then an enemy will, but it's not always that simple. Every step that you take drains some of your gauge and charging weapons to attack does the same thing. Not only that, but enemies can interrupt you. Filling a meter completely is seldom an option because a foe might pick you off from a distance if you aren't smart about things. You can only be assured a proper turn if you initiate a heroic attack.

• The Arena Tutorials

  The heart of Resonance of Fate is its complex combat system. The first thing you need to realize is that you can and should visit the Arena location, right near the start of the game. There, you can be walked through numerous lessons. You can make as many attempts as needed to clear each of these lessons and it's absolutely recommended that you do so on your first trip through the game because it otherwise doesn't feature a proper tutorial system. Since the combat featured here is rather unconventional, you should definitely give yourself a proper start and visit the arena at the earliest opportunity. Once you've cleared the tutorials in the Arena, your fun doesn't have to end. You can also stick around to fight tougher competitors for coins that you can use to purchase unique items. Again, time spent at the Arena will prove worth your while. If you place the Arena within the appropriate terminal effects, it's a great place to level up your characters (since you can fight some of the toughest monsters in the game there as you progress through the ranks) and to gather items from battle. Don't overlook it!

• Chapter 14 Dungeon Mystery

  In Chapter 14, when you head to the dungeon to fight the boss, nothing seems to happen. Run through the bottom section, go back to the dungeon map and run around to the top entrance. Go all the way south through the dungeon again and there will be a switch sitting in the corner, look for it and flip it. When you flip it a gate opens allowing you to return to the initial area. Go all the way southeast (backtracking through previous areas) and the boss will appear.

• Additional Combat Tips

  Once you have a feel for the flow of combat, you can start planning useful attacks. As you do, you'll likely come to the realization that healing kits aren't particularly useful. If you're fighting well, you'll fare better by remaining on the offensive. In most cases, you'll be able to use heroic attacks without having to worry about running out of bezel crystals and you'll probably use two or three Tri-Attack maneuvers in nearly every boss battle. The last thing we would add is that you need to remember when to charge and when to release quick bursts of hand gun fire. Tougher enemies often have shields all around their bodies. A powerful, charged machine gun blast may only remove one shield or it may disable most or all of them. Just because a bunch of shields have turned blue doesn't mean that you've almost won, though. When you follow up with your handgun, pay attention. A host of blue shields typically means that you should fire a bunch of weak shots to disable each one rather than causing only a single shield to disappear. A huge shield encircling the enemy, on the other hand, means that a single charged shot is in order.

• Using Tri-Attacks

  When you're going up against certain bosses or even weaker enemies with strong defenses, it can sometimes seem like your heroic attacks aren't doing much damage. When you find that to be the case, it's likely time for a Tri-Attack. To use a Tri-Attack, you first need to gain one or more Resonance Points. The number of resonance points that you have will go a long way toward determining the duration of your Tri-Attack. One point means that you won't get to attack for long, but two points is much more reasonable. You can use more points beyond even that, of course, but they're hard to acquire because of the manner in which resonance points are obtained. To gain resonance points, you have to use heroic attacks without interruption, one per character turn. Essentially, your characters start each battle positioned on a line. Picture that line as A, B and C in order from left to right. If you have character A use a heroic attack, he or she needs to pass between B and C at some point. Otherwise, you'll lose most or all of any resonance points that you had previously acrued. When you're moving in the required direction and can expect to gain a resonance point, your character's line between the current location and the anchor that you are placing will appear blue on-screen to indicate that all is well. Then the next character needs to move in a manner that causes another blue line to plot his or her course and so forth. If you take a turn without using a heroic action or if you run out of bezel crystals, resonance points are quickly lost and you'll have to start fresh. Just walking around to position yourself for a better heroic attack will also quickly drain your resonance points, so you need to be careful. The easiest way to initiate a quick Tri-Attack maneuver is to have character B rush toward the diagonal left at the start of battle, then have character A head to the diagonal right and then have the third character initiate the Tri-Attack on his or her turn. Things g

• Using Heroic Attacks

  A heroic attack is a way to set up powerful combo attacks. Initiating a heroic attack will cost you a full bezel crystal, which is risky because you typically don't have many of those to spare. You need to make sure that when you use a heroic attack, you have a good chance of either finishing off your enemy or that you will inflict enough damage that a bezel crystal or two is restored to your own meter in the process. When you first initiate a heroic attack, you'll need to place an anchor. This anchor determines where your character will attempt to move. You can have enemies and walls between your character's current position and that anchor, but you need to be ready to compensate for such complications by leaping over them or by blasting them out of your way. When you have decided where to place the anchor, pressing the button again will begin the attack. Once a heroic attack has begun, an action gauge will rapidly drain until it is empty. Your character will run toward the anchor that you placed, moving in a straight line. You now can press the button again to leap into the air if you need to clear walls and other obstacles. You also can press the 'Action' button to fire your weapon. If you wait to press that button, your weapon will charge as your character's gauge drains and he or she reaches the anchor that you placed. Charged shots inflict more damage on your enemies according to the level of the weapon that you currently have equipped, plus powerful effects can periodically take place as you cycle up to higher levels, but it's not always best to worry about charging shots because the speed at which your weapons charge can vary depending on your equipment and your proximity to the enemy who you have chosen to target. You need to get a feel for which tactic will work best in each given situation.

• Combat System Basics

  When you encounter an enemy at random while exploring the world map, or as you advance through a dungeon, you'll be taken to a three-dimensional battlefield. Unless you're fighting your way through a key event, you can often escape by finding glowing patches along the edge of a given area. Any damage that you took will remain in effect, though, and the bezel crystals that allow you to perform your most powerful attacks and to sustain damage without dying won't be refilled. If you run out of bezel crystals, you will be unable to initiate heroic attacks (the best way to weaken and destroy your enemies) and every hit that you take will inflict a substantial amount of damage that could easily result in a "Game Over" screen. The only way to refill those crystals is to mount successful attacks on enemies that break through their defenses enough that they lose crystals of their own. If your characters find themselves taking damage and losing crystals, they can run around to try to collect shards and get back in the game, but by that point they've probably done enough things wrong that they're dead meat unless they manage to inflict the right sort of damage on a weakened foe in the general vicinity. Combat takes place in what you might call a turn-based manner. Enemies and heroes both have meters that indicate when they can attack. You can often cycle between characters when you get a turn. There's no cost to you if you'd prefer one character to attack instead of another, something that can prove useful as you try to set up Tri-Attack moves. Generally you will get a turn and then an enemy will, but it's not always that simple. Every step that you take drains some of your gauge and charging weapons to attack does the same thing. Not only that, but enemies can interrupt you. Filling a meter completely is seldom an option because a foe might pick you off from a distance if you aren't smart about things. You can only be assured a proper turn if you initiate a heroic attack.

• Inflicting Damage

  There are two distinct types of damage that you can inflict in battle: Direct and Scratch. Both types are important, since you'll need to combine them in order to defeat any tougher enemies that you encounter. Direct damage is inflicted using hand gun and grenade weapons. You must deal direct damage to kill every enemy that you encounter in the game, but there's a problem: most of your enemies have shields that you need to disable before direct damage is a reasonable possibility. Shields are particularly strong against direct damage (that's their obvious function), so you could find yourself spending several minutes whittling away at a shield unless you switch to a machine gun. A machine gun deals Scratch damage. This is easily recognized because it appears in blue on an enemy's life meter. When you deal scratch damage, you should consider it temporary. That scratch damage doesn't actually harm an enemy unless you follow it up with direct damage, in which case the amount of your enemy's life meter that had turned blue from scratch damage will vanish. If you take too long to turn scratch damage into direct damage, that blue will vanish and you'll have to turn it blue again. The obvious method to take out all but the weakest enemies in the game, then, is to start with scratch damage that weakens shields. Then follow that up with direct damage that turns the scratch damage into HP loss that forces shields and portions of the life meter to disappear. Then repeat the process in subsequent rounds until your opponent's life meter is toast. Even the toughest opponents in the game will fall to this strategy if it is properly applied, while even puny enemies could take ages to kill if you don't keep it in mind and put it to proper use.

• The Arena Tutorials

  The heart of Resonance of Fate is its complex combat system. The first thing you need to realize is that you can and should visit the Arena location, right near the start of the game. There, you can be walked through numerous lessons.You can make as many attempts as needed to clear each of these lessons and it's absolutely recommended that you do so on your first trip through the game because it otherwise doesn't feature a proper tutorial system. Since the combat featured here is rather unconventional, you should definitely give yourself a proper start and visit the arena at the earliest opportunity. Once you've cleared the tutorials in the Arena, your fun doesn't have to end. You can also stick around to fight tougher competitors for coins that you can use to purchase unique items. Again, time spent at the Arena will prove worth your while. If you place the Arena within the appropriate terminal effects, it's a great place to level up your characters (since you can fight some of the toughest monsters in the game there as you progress through the ranks) and to gather items from battle. Don't overlook it!

• Infinite Money

  Chapter 6 or later required Combat Scope Betas cost 3000 gold, one glass shard, and one scrap of iron to make. The wandering merchant sells glass shards and iron scraps for 200 and 150 gold respectively. Combat Scope Betas sell for 4100. Profit is 750 per scope, multiplied by 999, is 749250. The best time to do this is chapter 6~7, before the merchant starts wandering she is always at the Waterless Bridge. In chapter 8 plus, she can be at Forsaken, the Waterless Bridge, or the Righteous Tower. Your best bet then is to get into an enemy counter, run away, and check the location to see if she is there. Time phase changes also change her position. Repeat as necessary.

• Chapter 14 Dungeon Mystery

  In Chapter 14, when you head to the dungeon to fight the boss, nothing seems to happen. Run through the bottom section, go back to the dungeon map and run around to the top entrance. Go all the way south through the dungeon again and there will be a switch sitting in the corner, look for it and flip it. When you flip it a gate opens allowing you to return to the initial area. Go all the way southeast (backtracking through previous areas) and the boss will appear.

• Reanbell's Outfit

  In the second chapter of a New Game+ playthrough, go into Reanbell's room and press X in front of the wardrobe. This will keep Reanbell in her original outfit instead of changing into the pig t-shirt in the cutscene.

• Gun Customization

  While leveling up your characters is a great way to make them a formidable presence in combat, it's not the only means to that end. Weapons also are key. As you progress through the game, you'll find all sorts of pieces that can be added to your guns to improve their rate of fire, their power and the amount of ammunition that they can carry. Upgrades add weight to the gun, so it's important that you don't make a gun too heavy for your characters to wield. Usually, this only matters if you're attempting to dual wield and your characters haven't leveled up enough, which is why we stressed that you should try to level characters up across all disciplines. That way, you can support any special upgrades that you make. Pieces for your gun typically are found by crafting at one of the shops in the game. You need to bring components that you have found by defeating enemies and those can be turned into equipment for your gun, provided you have the rubies to pay for the crafter's services. Pieces come in a variety of types and you'll see diagrams depicting their general shape and attributes before you make a purchase. Pay attention to that chart, and especially note the connection types. A given piece may have a '+' sign on the side, for example, or it may have the outline of a '+' sign. There's a difference. The actual '+' sign is like a circular button on the top side of a LEGO piece, while the outline is like the cylindrical underside of another LEGO piece to which it will connect. If those two match, that means that the two pieces can attach. Many pieces will have two or three types of connection and will have vary in length, so you need to keep all of that in mind as you purchase and build your weapons. There are a few types of piece: barrels, extenders, ammo clips and sights. These for the most part have one or two connection types, so you should quickly get a feel for what will work where. As you look in the crafting shop, you may find a piece that looks spectacula

• Level Progression

  It's important to recognize that the level-up system in Resonance of Fate isn't going to function in the precise manner that you might imagine. You don't gain levels based on the number of enemies defeated. Rather, you gain experience points for each attack. This can lead to situations where a character who is weak in a given discipline can go up a level or two in a single fight before even one enemy has fallen. Your level that displays on the status screen represents the combined total of your degree of proficiency with three weapon types: hand guns, machine guns and cases. These level up independently of one another, so if you're constantly using the hand gun while ignoring your machine gun, for instance (common during the early portions of the game when only one machine gun is available to be shared between all three characters), you could be making things harder on yourself than they need to be. Make sure that you switch out weapons frequently so that all three weapon disciplines are advancing at a similar rate. The reason for this may not be immediately obvious. Each character seems to have a natural affinity with one type of gun or another, and it might seem that you'd want to keep the character equipped with that weapon so that he or she can specialize in it. However, that would mean that you miss out on HP and skill bonuses that come with each level gained. When a character goes up a level in any weapon discipline, he or she gains somewhere around 60 to 70 HP and the ability to carry around more weight. Suppose that you're only leveling up your hand guns. It won't take long before most encounters are a challenge because you only have half the HP that you really should given the number of battles that you will have fought. Around a third of the way through the game, you also gain the ability to dual wield, but if you haven't leveled up enough to carry around the weight that two guns require, you will have to level up for awhile before you can take advantage

• Quests

  Resonance of Fate is divided into chapters and to finish each chapter, you'll have to satisfy the conditions of one or more story quests. These become available as you meet certain requirements. Chapters tend to conclude once you've visited a dungeon and defeated a boss, but your quests may involve other objectives. For example, you may need to unlock a new area and meet with a character before your true mission becomes clear. As you work on those main quests, you'll also be able to visit Guild buildings placed throughout the land. There are several of them, each with a bulletin board where residents place job postings. You may also find bulletin boards elsewhere. When you check those boards, you'll find special assignments. Quests are available only within the chapter in which you first encounter them. Once you clear all story missions within a chapter, you'll have the option to continue to the next chapter. You'll be notified if any side missions haven't been completed and you can choose to delay chapter advancement until you've completed the side missions, which we recommend. Side quests that you complete award you with Hunter Points that allow you to receive loot from the Guild, just as most story quests do. You'll receive a package at the mailbox in front of your home base for every 100 points that you gain. Completing side quests also allows you to pick up powerful bullets and upgrades for your gun, all stuff that will make boss encounters go more smoothly. Those side missions may take extra time, but the rewards are sometimes worth it and you'll get more out of the game if you spend the time to explore and complete each one.

• Terminal Activation and Effects

  Terminals that are placed throughout the land serve as a final point of interest on the maps. Once activated, these terminals can have an effect on connected spaces on the grid, depending on how you place Energy Hexes in the adjacent areas. As an example, a terminal might allow you to gain an increased amount of experience from enemy encounters, or the rate at which enemies drop precious loot could be improved. By paying close attention to terminals, you can make things easier on yourself in the game's later portions. You can also combine effects if you find terminals that are close enough together. When you first are exposed to the concept of terminals, it can seem rather abstract. You need to learn to master them, though, or you will have a much harder time with certain side quests. The first rule of terminals is that you must activate one by placing standard hex pieces on the map. This is easy enough. However, you next need to connect available terminals to what is known as a Station Hex. Not every terminal needs to be connected to a distinct terminal, since you can chain terminals together, but at least one Station Hex must be connected to any grouping of terminals. You will most commonly obtain these Station Hex pieces in the Ebel City guild. Every Station Hex can be obtained by trading five Energy Hex pieces of any one color. For example, you might trade five blue Energy Hex pieces for one blue Station Hex. When you then place that station on the map, you can use Energy Hex pieces of the same color to connect your station to a nearby terminal that is available. Connecting a terminal to a Station Hex doesn't necessarily activate that terminal. Each terminal has a requirement listed that must first be met. You might need to connect thirty spaces on a grid to a given terminal before it will come to life, for instance. Once you do, you'll activated that terminal and you will benefit from its effects any time you are on a space within its area of impact until yo

• Map Exploration

  Exploring the world of Basel is no less complex than the leveling system. Essentially, you're on a huge tower with multiple levels, like a stack of plates attached to and balanced on a mop handle and twigs. Buildings and dungeons are positioned along the various plates, but you can't visit them until you unlock spaces on a grid fashioned out of Energy Hex pieces. You most commonly gain those pieces by defeating enemies. There are several shapes and types of hex pieces available to you. These will allow you to clear typical space, or to set up bases where you can rest and save your progress, to unlock areas that are central to plot progression and to trigger powerful effects on the map. The Energy Hexes that you'll need to use in order to access special buildings are typically doled out in story sequences, which is the game's way of preventing you from progressing too far until you are ready to do so. Along with Core Lift passes, the availability (or lack) of Energy Hexes means that you should almost never have to worry about encountering tougher enemies than you can theoretically handle at any given point in the game. There are exceptions to that rule. As you explore the maps, you'll occasionally come across glowing red spaces on the grid. These should be approached with caution because they represent a challenging enemy encounter. You should make sure to save (if you haven't recently) before entering any of those hex spaces, lest you find yourself overwhelmed by a powerful foe. There are rewards if you triumph over such nasties, of course. Also placed along the various levels of the tower are elevators that will lead you up and down one floor at a time. Like any other space on the grid, they must first be unlocked by placing hex pieces. Then you're free to use them to instantly shift levels. As you work through the game, you'll become intimiately familiar with elevator and lift locations. You'll also become a master of navigating what at first can seem like a c