I picked up a copy of Resonance of Fate about a week ago and have been playing it off and on. I'm still in chapter 3, so I haven't gotten into the real nasty mess of combat, but I can safely say that RoF has renewed my faith in (some) JRPGs.

The two killer features are honestly the dual audio tracks (for my inner weeaboo, though the dub is good too) and the Suspend function. Being able to stop just about anywhere is really convenient because I just really don't have that much time to sit and not be able to sit through hour-long cutscenes or not be able to save for several hours. Unless it is a boss fight, I've been able to stop within 20 minutes max.

The other plus is that it doesn't take itself serious at all. The game knows it is cheesy as hell, and plays up on it. A lot of JRPGs recently take themselves so seriously but still filled with such stupid situations that I can't take them seriously. Resonance of Fate plays it up worse, really getting into its own cheesiness, and it works wonderfully. It comes off as a Buddy Film and the over the top John Woo style combat ties into it perfectly. The stand-alone nature of the chapters also works nicely into my schedule that doesn't always give me a lot of gaming time.

Plus you even get to play dress-up with the characters (like FF X-2 but more fun).

The real shining star is the combat system. It requires a combination of strategy, technique, and general skill to be the most effective. The system necessitates that you are able to use the variety of methods (each requiring planning) to gain back the gauges that you need to pull off the flashy moves. Even those are vital, because enemies will turn away from you to guard themselves. That combination requires the strategy to be in the right spot, the technique to pull it off, and finally the skill and timing to get that one last shot off. There is always room to grow in skill, even after you've got a handle of the complexity behind the combat. I still can't pull off Bonus Shots reliably.

Let your guard down for even a little bit, and you die really fast.