On Friday, SEGA and tri-Ace Inc. announced that they have formed a partnership in order to create a new role-playing game called Resonance of Fate. Tokyo's tri-Ace Inc. are the developers of this new entrant to the Xbox and PlayStation 3 systems, and they claim to be working on a ground-breaking product.

The first screenshots we've seen are gorgeous. Beautiful art and environmental design, and a look that reminds me more than a little of the Final Fantasy series. Sega promises "realistic gunplay and engrossing action". How they plan to have realistic gunplay in an RPG with giant robots and (presumably) magic, I'm not entirely certain.

In case you were wondering, tri-Ace is the company behind the Star Ocean and Valkyrie franchises. They promise to deliver a rich, "highly stylized" mechanized world. They also promise "Hollywood-style" action scenes. Judging by the released photos alone, we can see that. I think that tri-Ace is on a good track here. If the story and gameplay behind Resonance of Fate is as well put together as its graphics engine and interface, we could have the start of a new gaming legacy on our hands.