While enjoying an evening of rabbit holes and Wonderlands, thanks to Dolby 3D, I happen to stumble upon a Sega event in San Fran. Small world. So I stroll on in, run into some old Sega friends, and the next thing you know, I'm previewing Yakuza 3 and Resonance of Fate!

Resonance of Fate

Sega was holding an open event in Japan Town, and they invited the developer at tri-Ace, Takayuki Suguro, Mitsuhiro Shimano, to sign copies of their game, Resonance of Fate. Best of all, I got some more hands-on time with the game. For those of you who are hungry for a Japanese RPG without the cliched trappings that seem to plague so many JRPGs, you surely must have downloaded the demo by going on the Japanese PSN servers. Our own community member did a preview of it, and it definitely caught my attention since the game introduces some snazzy looking gun play to the traditional sword and sorcery concept.

Resonance of Fate plays unlike any RPG you ever seen. The story is unique: You are exploring a tower that serves as a gigantic machine clearing polution - polution which has nearly destroyed the world. Things are starting to unravel, and it's up to you to discover what the conspiracy is. The artstyle is quite impressive, evoking steampunk styling that you don't see too often in RPGs. According to the developers, movies like The Matrix and Equilibrium served as visual inspiration.

Movement is set on top of hexagonal maps, and battles all play out in semi-real time fighting, similar to Valkyria Chronicles (Just so happens that Tri-Ace worked on Valkyria Chronicles 2 in Japan, and also Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean: The Last Hope.) In combat, you don't control character actions specifically, but rather move them around the screen to time, position, and charge your attacks. Once you are ready to go, the game kicks into a quick Matrix-inspired action sequence, which looks amazing. In addition, you have two different forms of damage. One that does a great deal of damage, but is considered to be a flesh wound, so if you don't finish the enemy off, the enemy can recover. Another type of attack takes longer to pull off, but can deliver the finishing blow. It's up to you to juggle the type of attacks, along with the different characters and their abilities, and that's what makes combat stand out.

It'll be interesting to see how this game holds it's own against the upcoming juggernaut, Final Fantasy XIII. It's launching next week on Xbox 360 and PS3. Here's hoping people don't overlook this gem.

So before I headed over to check out Yakuza 3, I stopped to chat it up with some people, dig into some burgers, admire the DJ's scratching abilities, and checked out some keen artwork on display.

But it'a always back to the games!

Yakuza 3

Sega fans are finally getting their wish (well, there is still that little game called Shenmue that everyone craves), and are getting a new Yakuza game, this time on the PS3. Yakuza 3 was shown at the Sega event, and the text is now all in English. I played the game extensively before, so this time it was just seeing what the changes were. The game doesn't have the latest and greatest visuals anymore, since the game launched in Japan over a year ago, but it is a fun way to explore Japan. The game can be best described as 3D Final Fight, mixed with random mini games, light RPG elements, with liberal (and boy, do I mean liberal) cut scenes. The peculiar concoction of gameplay elements seem to work, and clearly the Japanese love it because it sells like crazy there. It even scored a 37 out of 40 in Famitsu. There was much speculation for years whether Sega would ever bring this series back to the US, and we finally have our wishes come true.

I've been to Japan a couple of times over the past few years, and every time I come home and share tales of my adventures there, it just seems like the experience is lost for most people. I'm excited for Yakuza 3 coming to the US simply for the fact that the game is the closest representation of modern Japan in a video game. I'm not talking about the gameplay specifically, but rather all the peripheral distractions you can play with, from the vending machines, arcades, bars, and just about everything else. While the conversations are now in English, the signs and stuff are all still in Japanese.

I am sorely disappointed that the hostess bars aren't included, which has now stirred up some fans of the game, who feel like its omission is a huge oversight. The reality is, the actual gameplay for the hostess bar scenarios is pretty light, so it's not like it reduces the gameplay appeal. But if you were to play this game to get a flavor of what Japanese people enjoy, then it does feel like a big piece is missing.

Actually, I would say that about this game in general. Gameplay wise, it's pretty straightforward, but the main reason you want to jump into Yakuza 3 is to explore the world. There is so much attention to detail that every other open world games are put to shame. You can walk into various restaurants, grab something to eat by looking at the menu. The menus even change based on what time of day you come in. The developers went out of their way to create real locations, with real stores, and real brands, and that to me is as close as you can get to exploring Tokyo without getting a plane ticket. I'm glad to say, the game's distinctively Japanese feel remains mostly intact.

[Edited By Moderator]