With Shining Resonance about a month away from release in Japan now, Sega has decided to run another one of its monthly press releases for it, this time predominantly focused on introducing more storyline-related characters, as well as some of the merchants players can expect to meet over the course of their journey. Read our translation below.

Character Introductions

Jenius Aion (voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya)

“Let it be known that as one who walks down the path of the dragons, you will be struck down by this very blade in my hands.”

Jenius is a major roadblock in the journey of Yuuma and company. A swordsman of profound skill, he’s been known to down legendary dragons with just the lone blade he carries. However, he has no affiliation with any of the major powers, instead hunting down dragons as a loner, making his priorities most ambiguous. At the very least, imperial forces don’t consider him an ally in the least, given their own reliance on dragons themselves, especially after he manages to take down Gae Bulg, one of the Drag Machina. Either way, Yuuma’s fate is deeply tied to him, as he holds many of the underlying keys to the underlying proceedings.

King Albert (voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka)

King Albert is Sonia’s father and the man who runs Astoria. A wise man who always thinks about the needs of his people, he’s earned a deep level of trust from the citizenry. Naturally, as such a great man, Sonia looks up to him and respects him deeply. Although once a Dragoner of great renown, too, after getting injured in battle, he has since refrained from appearing on the front lines. Aware of Yuuma’s latent powers, he sends Sonia out to rescue him in the hope that they can become allies.

Captain Barrows (voiced by Unsho Ishizuka)

Captain Barrows is the leader of Astoria’s knights. A magnanimous individual, he’s regarded as King Albert’s right hand man and has a lengthy military record of protecting the people of his kingdom with his knights and fighting off the empire. He harbors some irritation towards Yuuma, who remains hesitant to fully align himself with Astoria out of fear of his dragon powers. Captain Barrows is also Sonia’s teacher when it comes to swordfighting.

New Location: Malga

Malga is the capitol city of the Astorian Kingdom and as such serves as the main base of operations for Yuuma and his party. The epicenter of world affairs, gods are thought to inhabit the city and the city has long been regarded to have a special place in society because of its historical ties to Alfheim. Indeed, it was after “The Great God Dragon War” that Astoria was founded by humans who had moved onto the island. Its current ruler is King Albert, Sonia’s father.

Merchants

Like any proper RPG, Shining Resonance is host to myriad shopkeepers that will help make life a little easier for Yuuma and the others as they go about their business. Rizelotte, for instance, is an elven woman with differently colored eyes who travels all around the world buying and selling various wares. She specializes in items and Materials, as well as a handful of Skill Pieces. Although she’s most often found in Malga, she’ll also pop up wherever you decide to camp out, meaning refills on critical items are never far away.

Meanwhile, Rapple, the goggled alchemist, can make items and Skill Pieces out of Materials, including things that can’t be bought off of Rizelotte. It’s as such a good time to pay him a visit when you either have excess Materials that need disposing or are just in need of some more items on hand all around. He’s especially useful for Skill Pieces, as Rizelotte only sells the most basic types, meaning that it’s necessary to use his services if you want to make the most of the Skill Tuning system and have access to a wide variety of Skills.

There’s also Lyle, a bespectacled artisan who can provide tune-ups to the party’s equipment. By requesting his services, you can change the nature of characters’ Tuning on their weapons, bestowing them with wildly different properties than what they previously had. As Tuning alterations can only be done through Lyle, it’s wise to pay him a visit prior to embarking off on major quests. Lyle can also swap out Skill Pieces as well, although this can also be done at any point on your own as you’re questing, too.

Finally, there’s Emma, the woman who runs the Seagull Inn. Talking to her and staying for a night will let the party heal up their HP and MP.

Beyond those main facilities, Malga also has a library, whereby you can review information on characters you’ve previously seen and monsters whose Figures you’ve picked up, as well as view CG cutscenes and tutorials again. Figures, for the record, can be gained either through drops from monster battles or via Lucky Egg machines that can be found in Malga.

Requests

The people of Malga have all sorts of problems and requests that you can choose to tackle, signified by special markers over their heads that can be seen as you run around town. If you help them, you’re likely to get a reward of some sort in return and you can even find yourself getting requests from characters you’d lease expect to hear from. If you happen to spot someone in dire straits, give them a hand and see what happens!

Shining Resonance is set to come out in Japan on December 11 for PlayStation 3. As always, you can pore over a new set of screenshots and artwork at the gallery here.

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