Well maybe this article will help.. SRPG 101.  Tries to explain the difference between strategic depth/complexity and strategic difficulty, and a few other SRPG related things.  I don't agree with that analysis of skill, but read that first and if it doesn't help let me know.  There are more degrees of skill than black and white, and some SRPGs have relatively much higher strategic difficulty.

http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/04/srpgtbs-101.html

lol nerd raging and having a meltdown on the internet at complete strangers you know nothing about.  Making the badly flawed assumption that because I made a legitimate criticism of the review that I didn't already know what I was pointing out.  Oh and yes I'm so ignorant about SRPGs.  Please teach me wise master.  I don't believe the mods let your kind of impotent nerd rage fly on this board.  Now if you want to actually know my contributions, experience, and skill related to playing SRPGs..

http://tbtactics.blogspot.com
http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/04/list-of-turn-based-tactics-and-srpg.html
http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/04/srpgtbs-101.html
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/5373.html?type=1
http://www.youtube.com/user/mjemirzian


I was referring to the review on rpgfan.  You didn't mention the ratio of dating sim to SRPG combat unless I stupidly missed something.

I don't think pissing off the girls would make the game much more difficult.  There's just not that much depth to explore in the first place, your strategy is the same with or without stat bonuses, it'll just take longer and more healing.

I played about 15 hrs of the PS3 version, really did not like the forced 3-4 random encounters in between every tiny plot advancement, and the combat system just felt like boring busywork having to readjust everyone to link them up again and again.  The few bosses I fought were cheap with one shot attacks and the only strat is to keep reviving until you have enough AP to gang bang them with a group attack.

I was already supposed to know it's 75% dating sim 25% combat and the combat is incredibly simple relative to other SRPGs?

Those are pretty important facts to be ignoring or misstating.

I'm not trying to discuss whether it's enjoyable or not, just pointing out facts that the review looks over.

I've played some of it and Idea Factory still lives up to its reputation.

JRPGs are story focused.  They don't want to hassle you with legitimate scoring systems, or make you feel like there's any kind of judgment of your skill going on.

What you're really asking is 'when will JRPGs be based on skill?' the answer is never, because the genre exists to tell you a story, not test your skill in a legitimate or in depth way (low skill caps, etc.).

There are plenty of other games and genres (including SRPGs) that will test your skills if you are seeking to do so.

I really disagree with the review calling the game challenging.  And it failed to mention the ratio of srpg to dating sim is something like 25/75%.  That highly skewed ratio is worth mentioning to people who may not be as interested in dating sims.

The combat system is very basic and simple. There are very few differences between units, no customization, no buffs/debuffs, etc.  The battles overall are very easy especially if you win your female allies favor.  The area move system adds some interesting dimensions to the battlefield, although the developers rarely make it a strategic choice about which area to be in. Most non-boss fights are against generic robot cannon fodder that can get pretty boring. Some of the large bosses with multiple body parts hold promise, but the strategy is all the same 'destroy the damage dealing parts then hit the weak point a couple times'.  Trudging through many hours of dating sim just to get to a short, boring and easy boss fight will not be pleasing to experienced SRPG fans. I never had to restart a single mission nor did I ever lose a single unit - the game is just that easy.

Sorry but if you think the SRPG content is challenging you have a lot more SRPG playing to do.

I actually liked FFXIII's extreme linearity and action focus.  I'm used to linear SRPGs and linear action games that don't make the player backtrack or hold up on the analog stick for minutes at a time.  Now if only there were some decent SRPGs coming out this year.. VC2 is coming out but I've heard it's easy and even more broken than the first one in terms of imbalanced classes.

I think RoF a decent game, worth a playthrough if you are a fan of RPGs.  Maybe not quite worth launch price of $60, but if you want to play the game 10 times in a row you will get your moneys worth.

I did edit the review slightly since I posted it.

Finished the game a couple days ago and wrote a review.  If you don't mind typical RPG tedium and repetitious battles you'll probably like this game.

http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/03/resonance-of-fate-review-good-combat.html

I'm playing it now.  It's good, too easy though since I was used to playing up to level 10 in the demo.

There is a 1 screen tutorial early on that explains shrouds, it's easy to forget about.

So I decided to start a new challenge run for a day or two until Resonance of Fate hits. Here are the limitations:

No auto-battle.
No shrouds.
No grinding or fighting the same enemy group twice.
No missions during the main game (besides the mandatory Ch 11 ones).
Get 5 stars on every encounter.. preferably as quickly as possible.
I may possibly add no weapon/accessory upgrades, but I'm not sure whether that's necessary or not. In any case I haven't upgraded yet.

Anyone tried their own challenge run yet?

My review of the game:

http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/03/ffxiii-review-press-buttons-1-6-to-win.html

I've also posted some hints for gamers having trouble with the combat system.

http://tbtactics.blogspot.com/2010/03/want-to-be-good-at-ffxiii.html

I'm hauling it through ff13 to be able to play this at launch.

I'm disappointed that the combat is so easily breakable with lv 100 MGs/full scratch damage, but maybe some player defined challenges will do the trick.