Sega has released another video demoing one of the game mechanics in Shining Resonance. Gematsu shares that this new video features the B.A.N.D. system. The B.A.N.D. system refers both to the configuration of your active party members (most importantly, who is chosen as the player character or “Center”) and the special benefit that comes with a B.A.N.D. Attack. B.A.N.D. Attacks are triggered by filling up at least one third of the gauge on the left side of the screen during battles, now officially known as the Battle Mana Performance gauge.

When activating a B.A.N.D. Attack, certain buffs will be bestowed to your party members based on who is placed as the Center character. The buffs will steadily deplete the entirety of your Battle Mana Performance gauge, regardless of whether or not an entire bar is full all of the way. What isn’t immediately clear is what strength the B.A.N.D. Attacks will be at when activating the Attack with a gauge that isn’t full, but based on looking on the glowing gauge numbers you’ll only get the B.A.N.D. Attack strength level of the highest-leveled and filled gauge. So even if, for example, you have one and one half of a gauge full, it seems you’ll only get the buff strength of gauge level one instead of gauge level two. Depending on how the buffs may vary, it’s an interesting consideration to note in battles. Perhaps depending on the situation, it may be better to fill your gauge all the way to the MAX level or go for lower-leveled but more frequent buffs from B.A.N.D. Attacks.

Also, in the video that Gematsu linked we get some little details confirmed that may be of interest. First, one of the bonuses of having Kirika as the Center is that when the B.A.N.D. Attack is activated, Kouryuu Irvan’s berserk mode will be nullified and he will revert to Yuuma Irvan. This was a special ability of hers that was teased early on in promotional materials for the game, but it’s nice to see confirmation for how it works. In addition to that, Kirika’s outfit changes color depending on the Rune Song used for the B.A.N.D. Attack, as Siliconera writes here. (More information on Rune Songs can be seen here.) If a seasonal-themed Rune Song is chosen and Kirika is the center, her costume’s colors and designs will reflect that Song’s season in battle. Sonia will also have a special costume option, which I will highlight after the video later in this article. Lastly, it seems that during B.A.N.D. Attacks, Yuuma takes on the role of conductor instead of directly playing an instrument. Perhaps it’s fitting for someone positioned as the main character!

To check out the two minute video and some images of Kirika and Sonia’ costumes, hit the “Continue Reading” button!

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Gematsu writes that Sega recently uploaded a new video for Shining Resonance that details Yuuma Irvan as Kouryuu Irvan, the dragon. A central part of the story of Shining Resonance and Irvan’s character is that Irvan has a human form (Yuuma), but naturally exists as a dragon created without artificial assistance: a rarity for his time.

It turns out that players can quite easily switch between Irvan’s dragon and human forms without inconvenience as long as Irvan has MP; it is possible there is otherwise no cap on the number of transformations. By default, battles begin with Irvan in his human form, but by controlling him and pressing both the L1 and R1 buttons, players can activate the dragon form Kouryuu Irvan. Irvan’s MP will steadily decrease but your AP (Action Points, a numerical cap on individual actions) will not change. Another bonus of activating Yuuma Irvan’s dragon form is that your party’s MP consumption is cut down by a certain proportion.

If Kouryuu Irvan’s MP drops to zero, then the much talked-about and dreaded berserk state results. During Kouryuu’s berserk mode, he is uncontrollable and attacks indiscriminately, sometimes affecting party members. While apparently Kirika can revert a berserk Kouryuu Irvan to his human form, it might be worth sparing the trouble and pressing L1 and R1 before your enemies can capitalize on your moment of weakness.

Check out the minute-long video below! There are descriptions written in Japanese written within the video, which may be of interest to any of our readers who can understand Japanese.

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Vergil and Sephiroth, step aside. Shining Resonance reveals their own take on the cold, katana-wielding pretty boy character by officially revealing Jenius in a recent press release. We’ve seen him occasionally in trailers and other media, and BeastNote‘s entries on Shining Resonance have regularly made reference to the character. But it appears that leading up to Shining Resonance’s release Sega is periodically sending out press releases to explain more about the game and hype it up. I will provide my own recap based off of Gematsu’s exhaustive translation provided of the newest press release in this article.

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