We’ve known the unfortunate news that Shining Resonance’s protagonist is not a complete dragon, rather a half human, half dragon that can interchange between both forms.
However, thanks to a new preview via Famitsu, we’ve learned a bit more about Irvan and his dragon form, as well as some new characters revealed in the print version of this week’s Famitsu.
When in human form, Irvan (known as Yuuma Irvan) is voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki. He’s a young man who is deeply worried by his own destiny. Due to his living in more remote areas, he is not used to commonly found customs, and as such tends to come off as a bit passive, and lets others make the decisions.
During battle, Irvan can transform into his Shining Dragon Irvan form, also known as the “Progress Body” form, which you can see a comparison of below:
While Irvan’s Shining Dragon form is the stuff of legends and grants him untold new power, he is still inexperienced and as such, has much to learn.
We’ve also learned just how much Irvan can control his dragon transformation. In battle, Yuuma can fight as a swordsman class, and he fights with the ridiculous looking Dragon Roar Blade Vanderhorn, which in itself is described as a physical manifestation of his powers.
He can apparently transform into his dragon form at any moment using the Vanderhorn as a catalyst. The problem arises when he transforms, he is in a half conscious state, meaning if he abuses his dragon form, he can get out of control and unleash havoc.
Now let’s move onto the new characters. In the print version of this week’s Famitsu magazine, we’ve learned of two new characters, Rinna Mayfield (voiced by Ai Kayano), and Fromage (voice is unknown at this point).
As Shining Resonance is a music based RPG, it makes sense that Rinna is an elf who specializes in wind magic, and unleashes it via her Dragon Spine Tran Rod, a wind instrument. She’s a Dragoner of the Elven country Wellant, tasked to help Astoria defend their Alfheim stronghold, after it became attacked by the Lombardia Empire. She is welcoming and cheerful, but secretly harbors a love for mischief, and a very sharp tongue to match. She’s been a friend of Kirika since childhood, and is one of the few people to get to know her personally.
The other character, Fromage (a name I still can’t get over), takes the form of a penguin. She’s apparently the game’s mascot, and is filled with lines that make her extremely picky about music taste. She doesn’t take part in battles, but she can provide support by dishing out advice – whether you want to hear it or not.
Shining Resonance is coming to the PlayStation 3 in Japan on December 11th. A western release has not been confirmed, but we’ll keep you guys posted.