Japanese rpg fan here.  Been eyeing Resonance of Fate for sometime now.  Currently I can get it at under $30 via Amazon.  Is it worth a purchase, rental, avoid?  Or should I wait a while longer?  Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks.

No no!, its a purchase, its very enjoyable, has a good storyline, though it got its humor moments as well, the battle system is great though needs a bit of thinking before charging in , but if you figure a battle out you can win with style which gives you more bonus , grinding is fun in this game, you wont get bored of battling because every battle feels different, there are towns, weapon costumization , clothing costumization , and ontop of that the soundtrack is great, there are only 3 main characters and the game is long,voice acting is a mixed bag , some voices are weird and some are spot on.

Just remember DONT overuse the "Bullet Time" thing (forgot what its called) if you overdo it without killing or doing critical damage to your enemies your characters will panic and will not move quick and not aim well and also shoot little ... in other words you are screwed.

its not really difficult if you know what you are doing (i didn't know people thought the game was difficult)

It's not really difficult. But atleast for me it's a bit of a mindfuck at the start because it's different than any other game I played. But it's not that complicated after like just doing the tutorials that are in the battle arena.

It's not a traditional JRPG battle system at all, it's more like mini-SRPG battlesystem. It's not easy easy though. It was a blast for me 20-25 hours. But for me it ran out of steam at the end the last 15-20 hours. Also I found the humor more entertaining than the story. Because the story was just akward... which also takes place at the end... I found the start much more refreshing and entertaining than the end. I'd rate like the start a 9.0 and the end a 7.0-7.5

They give you basically all the abilities at the start. But the battle system doesn't really evolve and it gets stale imo.  At points later it actually devolves for a little bit. The battle arena environments that you'll spend most of your time in is bland.

Still though, there's good humor. Good Music. A great battle system.  And a really interesting JRPG, with flaws and more flaws that I mentioned.

I'd give it an 8.0/10

I bought it for 30 and it was worth it.

Seems more difficult in the beginning than it is once you get into it.

Still, wouldn't say the story is anything special, it's enjoyable but for me it was more of a gameplay game, as in some strategy and some tinkering, rather than story and characters.

I platinumed it, which took A lot of patience. i found it wasnt really a story based RPG, it was more about the battles, which were pretty good actully, but there was nothing really great about it. its by no means bad, just not that great either. a medoicure game from my perspective.

but the battles are fun, but other than that i would not play it again. i would say if you have a choice, get Nier instead.

disagree kinda :D

niers story was more interesting story wise (I only played a few hours) and the music is better... graphics are way worse. But god, I got bored playing it. and the combat was too clunky imo

The battle system in RoF entertained well atleast 20 hours before it started to get a bit not as entertaining.
I guess depending on which you prefer.

Well i only got about 1/4 of the way through Nier, i didnt really play it properly though, i just dont have time to devote to it at the moment.

lol, yeah, the battle system got a bit same-y towards the end, but i just felt there was not much of a story, a lot of game is doing the sub-quests, so you can level up to do 1 main quest. i think Nier's story is probabily a lot more entertaining than ROFs, but i havent finished it so i wouldnt really know.

Valkyria Chronicles is pretty easy once you get a hold of the enemy locations. It only gets truly difficult when you unlock hard mode (not to mention the EX Hard DLC).

OT: I bought the game last week. So far, I'm trying to grasp the battle system, since it's out of the norm. But I like the music and art direction. Story seems weird.

Avoid at all costs, it's horrendous.