Threads of Fate

For the 1915 silent film, see The Threads of Fate.

Threads of Fate
Developer(s)	Square
Publisher(s)	JP Square NA Square Electronic Arts
Director(s)	Koji Sugimoto
Producer(s)	Hiromichi Tanaka
Writer(s)	Daisuke Watanabe
Composer(s)	Junya Nakano
Platform(s)	PlayStation, PlayStation Network
Release date(s)	PlayStation JP October 10, 1999 NA July 18, 2000 PlayStation Network JP June 23, 2010 NA April 19, 2011
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game, Platformer
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	CERO: A ESRB: Everyone
Media/distribution	1 CD-ROM, download (PSN)

Threads of Fate, known in Japan as Dewprism (デュープリズム, Dyūpurizumu^?), is an action role-playing game for the PlayStation console developed and published by Square (now Square Enix). The story revolves around the adventure of two characters, Mint and Rue, and a highlight of the game is that the player is able to play from the perspective of either. Though an official sequel was never released, there exists a fan-made sequel called "DuoPrincess" for the PC in Japanese. It is an action-adventure game that lets you play as Mint or her sister Maya, with other characters from the main game appearing in the story.

Gameplay

The gameplay is simple and action-oriented rather than turn-based, playing more like an action platformer than a traditional menu-based RPG such as those in the Final Fantasy series. It is more similar in style to the Mana games by Square or even The Legend of Zelda series by Nintendo. The lead female character, Mint, attacks with a pair of chakrams, known as the Dual Haloes, and is a proficient magic user. The lead male character, Rue, is more physical and attacks with his axe, Arc Edge. He also has the ability to transform into various monsters that he defeats, utilizing their attacks and powers. The ring menu used to select Mint's magic attacks or Rue's shape-shifting is reminiscent of the menu system in Secret of Mana.

At the beginning of the game, the player is given the choice of playing through the game as either Mint or Rue. Depending on the selection, the game proceeds with one of two storylines. Though the quests are very similar, the storylines themselves have a branching quality that brings certain scenarios to life in one storyline without remotely mentioning them in the other; completing both games will give the player a holistic storyline to weave together from the two, as well as a 'true' ending to the game.

Themes

Threads of Fate has a reasonably uncomplicated story and (save for its rather unexpected plot twist) harbors minimal surprise and suspense, with its greatest story pull being in its character interactions, aided by flawless localization.

The simplicity of the story makes its theme oddly obtuse, however. The game's storyline is based heavily on the distinction between immutable destiny and choice. This is most obvious in Rue's storyline, as he gives many speeches near the end of the game about fighting the will of his master and refusing to accept fate, but many of the more important characters also follow through on this theme.

For instance, Mint's original destiny was to become queen of East Heaven Kingdom. However, she was thrown from her position, casting her out of her high fate. In response to this, she decided to write her own destiny by skipping the formality of ruling a kingdom and instead simply seeking to take over the world. Rod's fate, too, was written by his father Pleskin, and he expected to be the greatest swordsman of all time, capable of defeating his father, who held the title. Because Pleskin died, Rod was left to wallow in the despair of never being able to surpass his father's legacy until Lucine helped him realize that he needn't be tied by his assumed fate. He instead became a swordsmith-fighter-vagrant, determined to surpass his father's legacy in his own way, by becoming the greatest weapon crafter known to the world.

Music

The music of Threads of Fate is composed by Junya Nakano, who has worked on several other games for Square. Hidenori Iwasaki did the score's synthesizer programming. A soundtrack was released in Japan (titled Dewprism OST) and was available via import for several years in other countries. The soundtrack, though discontinued and out of print, was recently given a re-print in August 2006.

The OST has two discs, Disc RUE and Disc MINT, featuring all of the tracks played throughout the game. The tracks are divided between the discs according to which character they fit best. Much of the mellower music is contained on Rue's disc, with a fairly small selection of 'happy' tracks or battle tracks, while Mint's disc contains almost all of the more intrusive tracks, the happier tracks, and several battle themes.

Dewprism OST tracklist

Disc 1 - Rue (74:41) "Theme of Dewprism" "Premonition" "Bonded by Claire" "Passing Through the Forest" "Blood & Smokey's Theme ~The Foolish Rascal Brothers~" "Blood & Smokey Battle" "Feeling Good!" "Rocky Mountain Sky Garden" "Belle & Duke" "Dragon" "Ruins in the Lake" "Upper River Stream" "Mode Master" "Fancy Mel" "Reminiscence" "Book of Cosmos" "Sad Prima Doll" "Fear" "Doll Master" "Last Dungeon" "Final Battle 2" "Escape" "Circling Memories ~Klaus~" "A Chance Meeting" "Finale ~Rue~" "Church"

Disc 2 - Mint (71:10) "Dewprism ~Title~" "Wonderful Premonition" "Mint's Theme" "Village" "Belle & Duke 2" "Curse of the Eastern Sky Kingdom" "Underground Ruins" "Rod ~Impetuous Soul~" "Roadblock" "Mint's Scheme" "Ghost Temple" "Mint's Scheme 2" "Upper River Stream (Slow)" "Trap Master" "Fancy World" "Song of Sorrow" "Sorcery" "A Little Excited!" "Gathered Souls" "Maya's Theme" "Battle" "Final Battle" "Magnificence" "Fancy Feeling" "Finale ~Mint~" "A Pause" "Dewprism TV Commercial ~15 second version~" "Dewprism TV Commercial ~30 second version~"

Reception

The game was scored a 34 out of 40 by the Japanese magazine Famitsu.^[1] The game was re-released in 2007 under Square Enix's Legendary Hits label in Japan.^[2]

Manga

A manga based on the game was planned to be made by Ken Akamatsu of Love Hina fame, but the project was scrapped. Many of his character designs would later be redesigned and used in Akamatsu's Negima!: Magister Negi Magi.

PlayStation Network re-release

On May 4, 2010 Square Enix announced Threads of Fate will be released for PlayStation Network. It was released on June 23, 2010 on the Japanese Store.^[3]

On December 29, 2010 Square-Enix announced Threads of Fate will also be released for the PlayStation Network in North America.^[4] It was released on April 19, 2011, however this was one day before the PlayStation Network outage, and so was not widely available until June 2, 2011, when the network was restored.^[5]

References

1. ^ Doug "Stom" Hill (October 15, 1999). "Famitsu rates Square's Dewprism". RPGamer.com. http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-1999/101599b.html. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
2. ^ Spencer (November 15, 2006). "Square-Enix reprints their Legendary Hits". SiliconEra.com. http://www.siliconera.com/2006/11/15/square-enix-reprints-their-legendary-hits/. Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
3. ^ http://scrawlfx.com/2010/06/threads-of-fate-dated-for-jp-playstation-network
4. ^ http://ps3.ign.com/articles/114/1142166p1.html
5. ^ The Drop: Week of April 18th 2011 New Releases

External links

• Official Threads of Fate website
• Threads of Fate at MobyGames
• Threads of Fate at Game Rankings
• Threads of Fate at RPGamer