Really solid TRPG and my introduction to the genre. The plot is very basic and predictable, but the battles are great. There's enough room for strategy that winning feels earned, especially against the boss enemies with their annoying regenerating health. Very much proof that a game doesn't need tons of bells and whistles to be enjoyable.
Fire Emblem but on turn rotation, with movable units and done by the same Golden Sun team. Amazing.
For this month's TR centered around Camelot-developed games, I had a few games to choose from, but I decided to go with the earliest one I had, the original Shining Force. Thankfully for me, it was recently released on the Switch Online Genesis service, so I played it there. It took me about 19.5 hours to play through the English version of the game with very limited save-state and rewind use (only used it a couple times when the fiddly UI made me end a turn when I hadn't meant to XP).
You play as Max, a knight in training in the tiny kingdom of Guardiana, whose life is suddenly thrown into disarray when the evil kingdom of Runefaust invades. Runefaust seeks to unleash the ancient Dark Dragon and destroy the world, but it's up to Max and his team, the titular Shining Force, to put a stop to the Runefaust's evil machinations. The story is pretty straightforward for a fantasy story of the time, but it's remarkable in just how excellently its translated for 1993. A colorful world full of silly characters and fun quips (from a talking space-hamster to a bunch of centaurs to an armadillo man in a steam-mech suit) make the world of Rune a very memorable one.
The gameplay of Shining Force is a strategy RPG very much like Fire Emblem (a series also in its infancy at the time, as FE2 predates this game by only about a week), and reads very much like Sega's answer to Fire Emblem. Very much like Fire Emblem, you (effectively) have different classes of units composed to NPCs you recruit throughout the game, these units level up semi-randomly upon level-up, and they can equip weapons to make themselves stronger. Unlike Fire Emblem, Camelot decided to lean more into the RPG aspect of things rather than the strategy, having towns you can walk around and talk to NPCs in, mages that learn spells with levels rather than items, and simply buying items that have no durability, but there are also a lot of less than ideal consequences to that.
But first, let's start with some good and welcome innovations (or at the very least things I like) compared to Fire Emblem. First of all, there is no perma-death in Shining Force. If an ally goes down, they can be resurrected for super cheap back in town if you get a game over (i.e. your main character is taken out) or win the battle. There are also virtually no consequences for getting a game over, as you just get sent back to the last church you saved at but keep all of the items and experience you gained in your last encounter. Being able to level grind like this is a really cool feature in a game with semi-random level-ups and lots of characters (many of whom are admittedly not worth using). You also don't recruit characters in battle, and recruitment is always done in towns by just talking to people. Even level-ups have a really nice feature in that they have a built-in stabilizer for just how many bad level-ups you can get. If you're stuck with a few bad levels in a row, you're much more likely for the next one to give you BIG bonuses to get you to where the game thinks you "should" be at that particularly level. These are all really nice features that make the game, on a surface level at least, a very welcoming and forgiving experience compared to the (certainly at the time) far more brutal SRPG of Fire Emblem.
However, Camelot make a lot of baffling and (I would argue) bad choice in their further RPG-ifying of Fire Emblem's formula. First and foremost above all of them is how turn order is handled. The order each character goes in is determined by their respective speed stat combined with some hidden RNG, and this effectively means that you have no idea when a character's turn is coming. You can get an idea sometimes, if you're in a map with only a few enemies, but in larger maps, an enemy very well might get two turns and run forward to snipe your character before you had any meaningful chance to react. There are global turns limiting this (so they at least can't get like, three turns in a row), but with how hard many enemies hit and how hard the game can be at times, that's pretty cold comfort. This is made an even further problem by having no real way to tell how far an enemy can move, as while you can see their movement stats, you can't see how terrain affects it, so you can only hazard a guess at how safe you are from any given enemy. The game also lacks counterattacks of any kind (automatic or otherwise, at least so far as I experienced), so if you aren't getting in the first strike, you're getting the crap kicked out of you. And then on top of all THAT, the enemy AI is AWFUL, so it's a total crap shoot on if the enemy won't just stand there while you pummel their head in because something in their AI has bugged out so hard that they just don't know what to do.
The end result of all of this is that it's very, VERY difficult to meaningfully strategize in this "Strategy RPG", and it can lead to a lot of annoying game overs with your most valuable units getting sniped (robbing you of the DPS necessary to beat the many auto-healing bosses). A lot of them wouldn't even be THAT big of a problem if there were just turns like Fire Emblem (and so many other SRPGs) use. Thankfully, the fact that the penalty for dying is so minute and how you can grind whenever you want means that these aren't game-breaking problems. They're still big problems, and they make a lot of maps feel more like RNG chores to slog through rather than strategic puzzles to solve, but they keep the game from descending from "annoyingly bothersome" to "unforgivably mean-spirited".
Then on top of that there are some other problems that are more just things you can chalk up to the game's age and a lack of proper foresight in their design. Something that's sorta in between both of these spaces is how mages work. They level VERY slowly, and they have very low MP, so healing is a very limited resource compared to a lot of Fire Emblem games. It's not nearly as bad as Fire Emblem 1, where healers need to get attacked and survive to level up (because healing doesn't give them EXP), but it's still glacially slow compared to the rest of your party, and it makes those cheap shots earned by bad luck on the turn order feel that much worse and cheap.
Magic is also incredibly dangerous almost the entire game, as there is no way to defend against it with stats. Until you get to higher HP values (which some characters simply never do), you're almost always one or two magic attacks away from being killed, no matter how high your defense stat may be. In one last move that I consider well-meaning but ultimately not very good, things such as double attacks, evasion, and critical hit chance are all linked to hidden, fixed values for each character and monster type, so you never know just how much danger you're going to be in (unlike a Fire Emblem where you generally have a speed or luck stat that determines when those things will happen). None of them are outright game breaking, sure, but it all contributes to that "this is a slog I need to get lucky to win at" feeling that plagues a lot of the game.
The presentation is quite good. It's a Mega Drive game from 1992, and it's a damn nice looking one at that. Character portraits are pretty, as are the environments. The monster designs are also very cool, bringing that "fantasy meets ancient high technology" aesthetic that the Shining series is known for to full bore through very pretty attack animations. The music is also very good, and makes the slogging times much more bearable when they happen.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Given the two points that the localization is so good AND Fire Emblem wouldn't be localized for roughly a decade, it is not that surprising to me how Shining Force captured so many hearts and minds back in the day and continues to be a fondly remembered game now. But in 2021, I think the game has aged very roughly with just how poorly the strategy elements are executed. This is a game you'll likely find charming in its presentation and not utterly impossible in its difficulty, but if you're more used to more polished strategy game or SRPGs, then you're likely going to have a quite boring if not frustrating time seeing Shining Force through to the end.
You play as Max, a knight in training in the tiny kingdom of Guardiana, whose life is suddenly thrown into disarray when the evil kingdom of Runefaust invades. Runefaust seeks to unleash the ancient Dark Dragon and destroy the world, but it's up to Max and his team, the titular Shining Force, to put a stop to the Runefaust's evil machinations. The story is pretty straightforward for a fantasy story of the time, but it's remarkable in just how excellently its translated for 1993. A colorful world full of silly characters and fun quips (from a talking space-hamster to a bunch of centaurs to an armadillo man in a steam-mech suit) make the world of Rune a very memorable one.
The gameplay of Shining Force is a strategy RPG very much like Fire Emblem (a series also in its infancy at the time, as FE2 predates this game by only about a week), and reads very much like Sega's answer to Fire Emblem. Very much like Fire Emblem, you (effectively) have different classes of units composed to NPCs you recruit throughout the game, these units level up semi-randomly upon level-up, and they can equip weapons to make themselves stronger. Unlike Fire Emblem, Camelot decided to lean more into the RPG aspect of things rather than the strategy, having towns you can walk around and talk to NPCs in, mages that learn spells with levels rather than items, and simply buying items that have no durability, but there are also a lot of less than ideal consequences to that.
But first, let's start with some good and welcome innovations (or at the very least things I like) compared to Fire Emblem. First of all, there is no perma-death in Shining Force. If an ally goes down, they can be resurrected for super cheap back in town if you get a game over (i.e. your main character is taken out) or win the battle. There are also virtually no consequences for getting a game over, as you just get sent back to the last church you saved at but keep all of the items and experience you gained in your last encounter. Being able to level grind like this is a really cool feature in a game with semi-random level-ups and lots of characters (many of whom are admittedly not worth using). You also don't recruit characters in battle, and recruitment is always done in towns by just talking to people. Even level-ups have a really nice feature in that they have a built-in stabilizer for just how many bad level-ups you can get. If you're stuck with a few bad levels in a row, you're much more likely for the next one to give you BIG bonuses to get you to where the game thinks you "should" be at that particularly level. These are all really nice features that make the game, on a surface level at least, a very welcoming and forgiving experience compared to the (certainly at the time) far more brutal SRPG of Fire Emblem.
However, Camelot make a lot of baffling and (I would argue) bad choice in their further RPG-ifying of Fire Emblem's formula. First and foremost above all of them is how turn order is handled. The order each character goes in is determined by their respective speed stat combined with some hidden RNG, and this effectively means that you have no idea when a character's turn is coming. You can get an idea sometimes, if you're in a map with only a few enemies, but in larger maps, an enemy very well might get two turns and run forward to snipe your character before you had any meaningful chance to react. There are global turns limiting this (so they at least can't get like, three turns in a row), but with how hard many enemies hit and how hard the game can be at times, that's pretty cold comfort. This is made an even further problem by having no real way to tell how far an enemy can move, as while you can see their movement stats, you can't see how terrain affects it, so you can only hazard a guess at how safe you are from any given enemy. The game also lacks counterattacks of any kind (automatic or otherwise, at least so far as I experienced), so if you aren't getting in the first strike, you're getting the crap kicked out of you. And then on top of all THAT, the enemy AI is AWFUL, so it's a total crap shoot on if the enemy won't just stand there while you pummel their head in because something in their AI has bugged out so hard that they just don't know what to do.
The end result of all of this is that it's very, VERY difficult to meaningfully strategize in this "Strategy RPG", and it can lead to a lot of annoying game overs with your most valuable units getting sniped (robbing you of the DPS necessary to beat the many auto-healing bosses). A lot of them wouldn't even be THAT big of a problem if there were just turns like Fire Emblem (and so many other SRPGs) use. Thankfully, the fact that the penalty for dying is so minute and how you can grind whenever you want means that these aren't game-breaking problems. They're still big problems, and they make a lot of maps feel more like RNG chores to slog through rather than strategic puzzles to solve, but they keep the game from descending from "annoyingly bothersome" to "unforgivably mean-spirited".
Then on top of that there are some other problems that are more just things you can chalk up to the game's age and a lack of proper foresight in their design. Something that's sorta in between both of these spaces is how mages work. They level VERY slowly, and they have very low MP, so healing is a very limited resource compared to a lot of Fire Emblem games. It's not nearly as bad as Fire Emblem 1, where healers need to get attacked and survive to level up (because healing doesn't give them EXP), but it's still glacially slow compared to the rest of your party, and it makes those cheap shots earned by bad luck on the turn order feel that much worse and cheap.
Magic is also incredibly dangerous almost the entire game, as there is no way to defend against it with stats. Until you get to higher HP values (which some characters simply never do), you're almost always one or two magic attacks away from being killed, no matter how high your defense stat may be. In one last move that I consider well-meaning but ultimately not very good, things such as double attacks, evasion, and critical hit chance are all linked to hidden, fixed values for each character and monster type, so you never know just how much danger you're going to be in (unlike a Fire Emblem where you generally have a speed or luck stat that determines when those things will happen). None of them are outright game breaking, sure, but it all contributes to that "this is a slog I need to get lucky to win at" feeling that plagues a lot of the game.
The presentation is quite good. It's a Mega Drive game from 1992, and it's a damn nice looking one at that. Character portraits are pretty, as are the environments. The monster designs are also very cool, bringing that "fantasy meets ancient high technology" aesthetic that the Shining series is known for to full bore through very pretty attack animations. The music is also very good, and makes the slogging times much more bearable when they happen.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Given the two points that the localization is so good AND Fire Emblem wouldn't be localized for roughly a decade, it is not that surprising to me how Shining Force captured so many hearts and minds back in the day and continues to be a fondly remembered game now. But in 2021, I think the game has aged very roughly with just how poorly the strategy elements are executed. This is a game you'll likely find charming in its presentation and not utterly impossible in its difficulty, but if you're more used to more polished strategy game or SRPGs, then you're likely going to have a quite boring if not frustrating time seeing Shining Force through to the end.
Very comfy TRPG with a fun cast of characters, great music, and good gameplay. I kept finding myself coming back to this one over and over, so it obviously drew me in well enough to keep me playing. A lot of the menus are terrible to navigate, and some of the area/map layouts are frustrating (why are there so many bushes blocking paths in towns!?). Having hordes of enemies in the late-game maps that do a set amount of high damage regardless of your characters stats/levels was also a bit annoying. Still, I had a good time with this game, and can't wait to see what's in store for the second one!
Shining Force answers the question "what if fire emblem and Dragon Quest were boring?" very succesfully
Now that I finally have access to the Genesis games on the Switch (very few of which I had played because I was not a Sega kid whatsoever), I was recommended to check out Shining Force, at least the sequel which is supposedly an overall improvement. But I'm glad I started here so I can see that evolution when I get there.
The first Shining Force is a very archaic game in its menuing and the pacing of battles, and the information the game makes available to you vs. having to read the manual (and even then there's stuff that isn't really explained). It's a bit like going back to early-gen Pokemon. But if you can have patience with all that, there is a lot of charm here. I enjoyed the character design a lot, and the constant variety of people who inhabit this world and your party, from centaurs to bird people and more. Even the ones who look like humans might be dwarves, elves or halflings. The spritework is very charming and effective, and the localization is pretty solid despite the unremarkable story. The ending made me surprisingly emotional.
It's not a hard game, and battle strategy can be limited. A frustrating point is that you kind of have to commit to your chosen party members (you can only bring 12 into battle at a time), as if any of your characters fall too far behind in levels they quickly become useless and, unfortunately, if they don't do much damage to their enemies then neither will they receive much experience, meaning that you can't really make them viable again unless you were to grind an absurd amount. Thankfully, there is no permadeath, nor are there even game overs (you'll just get sent back to the last town if you lose), so grinding (at least grinding your already viable characters) IS an option if you're having trouble with a battle. Some characters do no damage even initially as soon as you recruit them, and might get stronger later on, but it seemed like it would be quite a project, so I tended to just not invest in anyone who wasn't providing an immediate payoff.
A fun but potentially annoying aspect is that the boosts your characters get from leveling up is random, and decided at the point of their leveling up (I tested this using the rewind feature once but after that didn't abuse it to get luckier rolls, though you could if you wanted lol). So some level-ups could be huge for a given character while the next one does almost nothing for them. You also can't make anyone too OP because their boosts will peter off and disappear completely (or almost completely) once they hit a certain level. This could lead to every playthrough feeling a bit different in which characters are your "stars".
Finally, this game appears to have a few secrets, as I did my best to explore and talk to NPCs but I know I missed getting a few characters in my party.
This game was a charming mix of tactical battles in between RPG towns and setpieces. Although it can be slow paced and tedious, sometimes too simple and sometimes frustrating with some of its hidden mechanics, I kept coming back for more and enjoyed the experience.
The first Shining Force is a very archaic game in its menuing and the pacing of battles, and the information the game makes available to you vs. having to read the manual (and even then there's stuff that isn't really explained). It's a bit like going back to early-gen Pokemon. But if you can have patience with all that, there is a lot of charm here. I enjoyed the character design a lot, and the constant variety of people who inhabit this world and your party, from centaurs to bird people and more. Even the ones who look like humans might be dwarves, elves or halflings. The spritework is very charming and effective, and the localization is pretty solid despite the unremarkable story. The ending made me surprisingly emotional.
It's not a hard game, and battle strategy can be limited. A frustrating point is that you kind of have to commit to your chosen party members (you can only bring 12 into battle at a time), as if any of your characters fall too far behind in levels they quickly become useless and, unfortunately, if they don't do much damage to their enemies then neither will they receive much experience, meaning that you can't really make them viable again unless you were to grind an absurd amount. Thankfully, there is no permadeath, nor are there even game overs (you'll just get sent back to the last town if you lose), so grinding (at least grinding your already viable characters) IS an option if you're having trouble with a battle. Some characters do no damage even initially as soon as you recruit them, and might get stronger later on, but it seemed like it would be quite a project, so I tended to just not invest in anyone who wasn't providing an immediate payoff.
A fun but potentially annoying aspect is that the boosts your characters get from leveling up is random, and decided at the point of their leveling up (I tested this using the rewind feature once but after that didn't abuse it to get luckier rolls, though you could if you wanted lol). So some level-ups could be huge for a given character while the next one does almost nothing for them. You also can't make anyone too OP because their boosts will peter off and disappear completely (or almost completely) once they hit a certain level. This could lead to every playthrough feeling a bit different in which characters are your "stars".
Finally, this game appears to have a few secrets, as I did my best to explore and talk to NPCs but I know I missed getting a few characters in my party.
This game was a charming mix of tactical battles in between RPG towns and setpieces. Although it can be slow paced and tedious, sometimes too simple and sometimes frustrating with some of its hidden mechanics, I kept coming back for more and enjoyed the experience.
Decent game for 1992. I enjoyed mixing and matching classes for battles. The UI was clunky but you get used to it. It was a breezy game to play and surprisingly addictive tactical rpg. Looking forward to playing the rest of the series eventually.
Shining Force is a captivating alternative to Fire Emblem. While story was very simple I look forward to seeing it further refined in later entries. It's use of Fantasy and Science Fiction brings a level intrigue to the world that I had not expected and was a pleasant surprise. The gameplay while similar to Fire Emblem fixates more on leveling and gear compared to the weapon triangle found in Fire Emblem which is a nice change of pace.
Legit My Favorite Game of ALL TIME!
I've played the GBA version a while back, but I don't remember finishing this one at all. The only redeeming factor that I had with this game is the music. All of them are bangers whether which version you're playing on. With the sweet mixes of the dpcm channel and the Gameboy PSG make them all feel familiar to the Genesis one, but for all those short songs (or some songs I don't remember) get extended and they sound much better.
Played this one over the months on my phone, when I had nothing better to do. It’s fun, a fairly simple strategy RPG which I think lent itself decently to mobile gaming, but is overall a little unremarkable nowadays, although at the same time it's enjoyable and it doesn't really ever do anything wrong, outside of having a ton of very slow stages.
There's a weird jellyfish secret character and he's very silly but I missed him so I'm docking half a point
There's a weird jellyfish secret character and he's very silly but I missed him so I'm docking half a point
nice try sega, you cant trick me into playing fire emblem
When Fire Emblem caught on in the west I was like "oh cool nintendo's finally got a shining force it's neat that someone's making those games." I still think this is a better game, because at no point does it try to pass off Rock-Paper-Scissors as a meaningful mechanic.
It's interesting seeing how despite being an early competitor of Fire Emblem, a lot of Shining Force's ideas would make their way into Fire Emblem, whether intentionally or not. For example, there's an easter egg where you can change two of the characters' map sprites to show them in bikinis which clearly predicted modern Fire Emblem's emphasis on pointless fanservice and pandering to people who unironically use the word "waifu."
You can't have a better roster of characters for an SRPG, really
Foi divertido não entanto este estilo de jogo não é para mim
Played for a little while on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, using my cousins' Xbox 360. Did not make it very far, but I may restart it later using Genesis Plus on my modded Wii.
Cleared on March 11th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 52/160)
Another really long game, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Shining Force is a Tactical RPG where you control multiple hero units as if you are playing Chess to clear out all enemies on the field or at least until you cleared out their leader. I've never really played any games of that genre, not even Fire Emblem, but I have tapped into Shining Force several years ago and never seen a game quite like it. It felt bizarre, but I found it captivating.
The premise is a classic light vs darkness where you must stop Darksol, who if you recall, is the main villain of Shining in the Darkness... well, at least that's what localizers made you believe. The thing is, the Darksol of this game is the original Darksol and the one in Shining in the Darkness, Dark Sol, was actually his son named Mephisto. The game's premise is very similar to Shining in the Darkness, but unlike that game where much of its story is just... there, there is actually more effort into making the story engaging as there is much more dialogue across the game with many towns to visit and villains to confront. I would at least say that out of the stories in the Sega Genesis line-up from the 52 games that I've played so far, it's probably my favorite although that bar has been very low.
The cast of characters are quite vast although many of them are pretty one-note as they don't really contribute much else to the game's plot. The villains do stand out with their corruption, evil, and just being a menace like how Mishaela burned your boat and forced you to go find another. However, I think my annoyance with them is that they have a habit of confronting you on the battlefield and rather than ensure your demise they are just... "I'll let the minions deal with you!" and run off. I understand we're not strong enough to beat them at the early stage of the game, but it just feels oddly convenient. Of course, there are supposedly an array of other problems that come with the story, some of which you'll have to come up with your own explanation, and others feel rather convenient. The most bizarre of which is the Prompt plotline where the civilians start out as complete morons which is presumably an act they put on, the king throws you in prison because he thinks you're a spy, then some random breaks you out, and now all of a sudden he and the entire civilization grows a brain probably bigger than all of Rune. Even the children there are schooling the teachers, and even though the game acknowledges it, I don't know what the fuck happened. To be fair, the game does take a more comedic approach when visiting towns and talking to civilians. I think one of the highlights was when you can turn yourself into a chicken and everyone just reacts to you differently. It's not even required to progress the plot, and it's incredibly pointless, but it's just so comical that I can't help love it. Another one of my favorite moments is at Shade Abbey where it's not as funny as it is bizarre and downright creepy. Like I genuinely thought the game was bugged when I was wandering around.
As far as the playable characters go, there are 30 of them in the game and it's very unlikely you'll use them all on your first playthrough. In fact, I didn't even get a chance to use Domingo, Lyle, Torasu, Jogurt, or Adam throughout the game. But who are they all and what do they do?
Starting with the Hero, Max. He is the protagonist of the game and mandatory for all teams because he is the character you control in the overworld. On the surface, he might just seem another lowly knight compared to the centaurs that mock him in the beginning of the game. However, he does have his own tricks up his sleeves. Other than being one of the strongest characters in the game as far as stats go, he has the power to use Egress which is a spell that can allow you to retreat battle when needed. If you find yourself in a bad situation or just need to grind levels by forcing the foes to reset, this is what you should cast and since your mana and health fully recovers in the overworld, it's practically free to use as long as it's his turn. But here's another interesting quirk that he has. The enemies are all going to want him dead no matter what. Since Max is the leader of the Shining Force, if he dies, then you'll be forced to retreat to the overworld and restart the battle all over again. This can make it rather intimidating to try to use him in fights. However, you can actually work this to your advantage as you can force the enemies to bend over backwards trying to kill Max and put yourself at a huge advantage, and if you got some healers on your side, you can just have them spam heals on him while he takes damage.
The healers of the game include Lowe, Gong, Khris, and Torasu. Lowe is your starter healer who's main advantage is learning stronger healing spells earlier with more mana which makes him more consistent as well as a stronger Quick and Slow, but trying to level him up is a major pain and he does not have any AoE healing. Gong's advantage is that he hits the hardest and takes the most damage, but should probably be treated as more of an off-healer since his mana is lower than the others. Khris has the advantage of using Aura before you get Torusu, but trying to level her up is really challenging and her Quick and Slow is not as strong as Lowe's although she learns hers earlier than he does. Torusu's advantage is being able to use Aura 4 which is a heal that applies to everyone on the board, but as far as I can tell, his single-target healing is the worst in the game.
The knights in this game are quite a lot and they are all centaurs. There's Ken, Mae, Arthur, Pelle, Vankar, and Earnest. Ken and Vankar have the advantage of being high in HP which makes them more suited to taking on magic foes since the damage they deal is set. Mae, Earnest, and Pelle have the advantage of being high in defense which makes them ideal in the face of more physical foes. Then there's Arthur who is statistically the weakest of all the knights, but he has the ability to use magic which does sound promising until you realize it's all Level 1 which sounds like it falls off even late-game. Probably one of the worst characters in the game.
The wizards consist of Tao, Anri, Alef, and Domingo. Each of which are categorized by their strongest elemental. Tao has the strongest Blaze in the game which is not as strong as Freeze or Bolt, and this could mean she falls off late game. However, she does have the advantage of being able to boost an allies physical attack which would make her the premiere mage choice in a more physical orientated team. She also has Dispel which I had no idea what that did until I looked it up and it says it mitigates spells which might've been more useful than I would've thought. Anri has the advantage of being able to use both Level 2 Bolt and Level 2 Flame as well as Level 4 Freeze, and even though Bolt 4 is stronger, it still holds up really well even at the final boss and since you get Anri much earlier, she is way more accessible. Unforunately, her Muddle spell never really works for me. From what I read, it confuses the foe which may cause them to miss or hit themselves, but I can never get it to land. Alef is a hard one since she comes late game, but the reward is having the strongest spell in the game in the form of Bolt 4. She also gets Desoul which is a OHKO attack, but it has very low accuracy and just not worth trying your luck. There's also Domingo who I ended up missing because I had no idea you were supposed to get his egg where you recruit both Anri and Arthur. However, he is arguably the strongest mage in the game as he learns Freeze 4, and he can actually fly.
The archers in the game include Hans, Diane, and Lyle. As far as I'm aware, the only distinction is their level curve. Hans starts out weak, but can outmatch Diane who has a more stable learning curve that lets her outmatch Hans, but does fall off. Lyle, from what I've heard, has more attack compared to the two, but lower agility which means the turn order. Also, because he is a centaur, he moves remarkably slow in forest battles compared to Hans and Diane who could freely move about.
The dwarves are similar to the centaurs being melee fighters as they are Warriors, but they have the advantage of not having movement hindered in mountain battles. Those two include Luke and Gort. Luke apparently starts out stronger than Gort, but because Gort comes in earlier, there's a good chance that he won't be on your team much longer.
A unit that can ignore all terrian and be able to bypass even walls that can normally not be crossed are fliers. Other than Domingo, there's also Balbaroy and Amon which are both Birdman as well as Kokichi who is easy to miss. These three are very valuable for their ability to fly although once you get Bleu, one of the top three best units in the game, they really fall off.
Other than Bleu, who can fly and deal impressive damage. We have Zylo and Guntz who don't fall under any traditional classes, but they are ground units that can take impressive amount of damage, deal damage right back, and even ignore terrain. Zylo is undeniably powerful and arguably a must-have, but Guntz is rather odd because he starts out really slow and at first, you might think there's no reason to be leveling him because his fat ass takes too many turns to get to where everyone else can get in just 1 turn. Well, just wait until you give him a promotion, the movement ring, and the Valkyre and he suddenly becomes a powerful force of nature overnight.
So this leaves us with Adam, Musashi, and Hanzou (Also Jogurt, but he's literally designed to be a troll pick). Musashi is really strong, but he's very secretive and unavailable for promotion. If you know where to look, you could have a powerful samurai on your hands that grows strong in the late-game. Both Adam and Hanzou come really late into the game, and while they can be strong under the right circumstances, given how slow the battle system is (unless you decide to use fast forward feature), grinding them out is a serious pain. In Hanzou's case, in particular, the units actually get a lot more difficult because the chimera and the dragon units keep dodging which makes it harder to grind out experience, so I decided it wasn't worth trying.
In case you want to know what my final team was. It was Maximus, Tao, Gong, Gort, Khris, Anri, Diane, Zylo, Guntz, Bleu, Alef, and Musashi.
Each unit has their own set of classes and progression, and can grow in power via promotion. It is recommended to level them to Level 20 before giving them a promotion since they gain a better base stat total since their level resets to 1, and even allow them to grow stronger faster because the game will think there's a huge level difference between you and the foe, and you will just level up like crazy.
And I say you'll need it because the foes do get really difficult, especially during the final five battles where they bring out the chimeras and the dragons, and because flying enemies tend to dodge attacks better, they will just be a pain to hit unless you are using magic which will never miss. Also, they will use magic and even have a chance to double strike using magic which will chunk your HP. It's a massive difficultly spike, and you'll need to brace yourself. On the bright side, the final boss was a highlight and a visual spectacle.
Overall, I had a good time with the game. It's a long game that you will be using fast forward and rewind just to help you with grinding and getting through with slower parts of the game, so don't expect another playthrough from me for a long time. Maybe when I next play the game in 8 or 10 years from now, I'll use the romhack that nerfs the battlefield size.
Another really long game, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Shining Force is a Tactical RPG where you control multiple hero units as if you are playing Chess to clear out all enemies on the field or at least until you cleared out their leader. I've never really played any games of that genre, not even Fire Emblem, but I have tapped into Shining Force several years ago and never seen a game quite like it. It felt bizarre, but I found it captivating.
The premise is a classic light vs darkness where you must stop Darksol, who if you recall, is the main villain of Shining in the Darkness... well, at least that's what localizers made you believe. The thing is, the Darksol of this game is the original Darksol and the one in Shining in the Darkness, Dark Sol, was actually his son named Mephisto. The game's premise is very similar to Shining in the Darkness, but unlike that game where much of its story is just... there, there is actually more effort into making the story engaging as there is much more dialogue across the game with many towns to visit and villains to confront. I would at least say that out of the stories in the Sega Genesis line-up from the 52 games that I've played so far, it's probably my favorite although that bar has been very low.
The cast of characters are quite vast although many of them are pretty one-note as they don't really contribute much else to the game's plot. The villains do stand out with their corruption, evil, and just being a menace like how Mishaela burned your boat and forced you to go find another. However, I think my annoyance with them is that they have a habit of confronting you on the battlefield and rather than ensure your demise they are just... "I'll let the minions deal with you!" and run off. I understand we're not strong enough to beat them at the early stage of the game, but it just feels oddly convenient. Of course, there are supposedly an array of other problems that come with the story, some of which you'll have to come up with your own explanation, and others feel rather convenient. The most bizarre of which is the Prompt plotline where the civilians start out as complete morons which is presumably an act they put on, the king throws you in prison because he thinks you're a spy, then some random breaks you out, and now all of a sudden he and the entire civilization grows a brain probably bigger than all of Rune. Even the children there are schooling the teachers, and even though the game acknowledges it, I don't know what the fuck happened. To be fair, the game does take a more comedic approach when visiting towns and talking to civilians. I think one of the highlights was when you can turn yourself into a chicken and everyone just reacts to you differently. It's not even required to progress the plot, and it's incredibly pointless, but it's just so comical that I can't help love it. Another one of my favorite moments is at Shade Abbey where it's not as funny as it is bizarre and downright creepy. Like I genuinely thought the game was bugged when I was wandering around.
As far as the playable characters go, there are 30 of them in the game and it's very unlikely you'll use them all on your first playthrough. In fact, I didn't even get a chance to use Domingo, Lyle, Torasu, Jogurt, or Adam throughout the game. But who are they all and what do they do?
Starting with the Hero, Max. He is the protagonist of the game and mandatory for all teams because he is the character you control in the overworld. On the surface, he might just seem another lowly knight compared to the centaurs that mock him in the beginning of the game. However, he does have his own tricks up his sleeves. Other than being one of the strongest characters in the game as far as stats go, he has the power to use Egress which is a spell that can allow you to retreat battle when needed. If you find yourself in a bad situation or just need to grind levels by forcing the foes to reset, this is what you should cast and since your mana and health fully recovers in the overworld, it's practically free to use as long as it's his turn. But here's another interesting quirk that he has. The enemies are all going to want him dead no matter what. Since Max is the leader of the Shining Force, if he dies, then you'll be forced to retreat to the overworld and restart the battle all over again. This can make it rather intimidating to try to use him in fights. However, you can actually work this to your advantage as you can force the enemies to bend over backwards trying to kill Max and put yourself at a huge advantage, and if you got some healers on your side, you can just have them spam heals on him while he takes damage.
The healers of the game include Lowe, Gong, Khris, and Torasu. Lowe is your starter healer who's main advantage is learning stronger healing spells earlier with more mana which makes him more consistent as well as a stronger Quick and Slow, but trying to level him up is a major pain and he does not have any AoE healing. Gong's advantage is that he hits the hardest and takes the most damage, but should probably be treated as more of an off-healer since his mana is lower than the others. Khris has the advantage of using Aura before you get Torusu, but trying to level her up is really challenging and her Quick and Slow is not as strong as Lowe's although she learns hers earlier than he does. Torusu's advantage is being able to use Aura 4 which is a heal that applies to everyone on the board, but as far as I can tell, his single-target healing is the worst in the game.
The knights in this game are quite a lot and they are all centaurs. There's Ken, Mae, Arthur, Pelle, Vankar, and Earnest. Ken and Vankar have the advantage of being high in HP which makes them more suited to taking on magic foes since the damage they deal is set. Mae, Earnest, and Pelle have the advantage of being high in defense which makes them ideal in the face of more physical foes. Then there's Arthur who is statistically the weakest of all the knights, but he has the ability to use magic which does sound promising until you realize it's all Level 1 which sounds like it falls off even late-game. Probably one of the worst characters in the game.
The wizards consist of Tao, Anri, Alef, and Domingo. Each of which are categorized by their strongest elemental. Tao has the strongest Blaze in the game which is not as strong as Freeze or Bolt, and this could mean she falls off late game. However, she does have the advantage of being able to boost an allies physical attack which would make her the premiere mage choice in a more physical orientated team. She also has Dispel which I had no idea what that did until I looked it up and it says it mitigates spells which might've been more useful than I would've thought. Anri has the advantage of being able to use both Level 2 Bolt and Level 2 Flame as well as Level 4 Freeze, and even though Bolt 4 is stronger, it still holds up really well even at the final boss and since you get Anri much earlier, she is way more accessible. Unforunately, her Muddle spell never really works for me. From what I read, it confuses the foe which may cause them to miss or hit themselves, but I can never get it to land. Alef is a hard one since she comes late game, but the reward is having the strongest spell in the game in the form of Bolt 4. She also gets Desoul which is a OHKO attack, but it has very low accuracy and just not worth trying your luck. There's also Domingo who I ended up missing because I had no idea you were supposed to get his egg where you recruit both Anri and Arthur. However, he is arguably the strongest mage in the game as he learns Freeze 4, and he can actually fly.
The archers in the game include Hans, Diane, and Lyle. As far as I'm aware, the only distinction is their level curve. Hans starts out weak, but can outmatch Diane who has a more stable learning curve that lets her outmatch Hans, but does fall off. Lyle, from what I've heard, has more attack compared to the two, but lower agility which means the turn order. Also, because he is a centaur, he moves remarkably slow in forest battles compared to Hans and Diane who could freely move about.
The dwarves are similar to the centaurs being melee fighters as they are Warriors, but they have the advantage of not having movement hindered in mountain battles. Those two include Luke and Gort. Luke apparently starts out stronger than Gort, but because Gort comes in earlier, there's a good chance that he won't be on your team much longer.
A unit that can ignore all terrian and be able to bypass even walls that can normally not be crossed are fliers. Other than Domingo, there's also Balbaroy and Amon which are both Birdman as well as Kokichi who is easy to miss. These three are very valuable for their ability to fly although once you get Bleu, one of the top three best units in the game, they really fall off.
Other than Bleu, who can fly and deal impressive damage. We have Zylo and Guntz who don't fall under any traditional classes, but they are ground units that can take impressive amount of damage, deal damage right back, and even ignore terrain. Zylo is undeniably powerful and arguably a must-have, but Guntz is rather odd because he starts out really slow and at first, you might think there's no reason to be leveling him because his fat ass takes too many turns to get to where everyone else can get in just 1 turn. Well, just wait until you give him a promotion, the movement ring, and the Valkyre and he suddenly becomes a powerful force of nature overnight.
So this leaves us with Adam, Musashi, and Hanzou (Also Jogurt, but he's literally designed to be a troll pick). Musashi is really strong, but he's very secretive and unavailable for promotion. If you know where to look, you could have a powerful samurai on your hands that grows strong in the late-game. Both Adam and Hanzou come really late into the game, and while they can be strong under the right circumstances, given how slow the battle system is (unless you decide to use fast forward feature), grinding them out is a serious pain. In Hanzou's case, in particular, the units actually get a lot more difficult because the chimera and the dragon units keep dodging which makes it harder to grind out experience, so I decided it wasn't worth trying.
In case you want to know what my final team was. It was Maximus, Tao, Gong, Gort, Khris, Anri, Diane, Zylo, Guntz, Bleu, Alef, and Musashi.
Each unit has their own set of classes and progression, and can grow in power via promotion. It is recommended to level them to Level 20 before giving them a promotion since they gain a better base stat total since their level resets to 1, and even allow them to grow stronger faster because the game will think there's a huge level difference between you and the foe, and you will just level up like crazy.
And I say you'll need it because the foes do get really difficult, especially during the final five battles where they bring out the chimeras and the dragons, and because flying enemies tend to dodge attacks better, they will just be a pain to hit unless you are using magic which will never miss. Also, they will use magic and even have a chance to double strike using magic which will chunk your HP. It's a massive difficultly spike, and you'll need to brace yourself. On the bright side, the final boss was a highlight and a visual spectacle.
Overall, I had a good time with the game. It's a long game that you will be using fast forward and rewind just to help you with grinding and getting through with slower parts of the game, so don't expect another playthrough from me for a long time. Maybe when I next play the game in 8 or 10 years from now, I'll use the romhack that nerfs the battlefield size.
Gran juego, una historia de fantasía épica hecha y derecha. Super simple, al ser un rpg por turnos tiene algunos detalles que lo hacen fácil de ganar por afano, (cosa distinta en los fire emblem) pero entretiene bocha. Banda sonora en el cuore y yogurt, qué se yo. Se me metió algo en el ojo, chau.
I absolutely adore this game. It may not ever be revered in the pantheon of great RPGs, but I will always have a soft spot for my first ever tactical RPG, which was something different from the games I was used to. It's got a diverse cast of characters to utilize on the battlefield, and its basic story of attempting to stop the resurrection of a great evil makes it easy to root for the heroes you play as. It's simple, but satisfying!
Hay algo extraño con esto y es difícil ponerle nombre. Shining in the Darkness ya hacía un gran esfuerzo para, a pesar de no diferenciarse, tomar ciertas convenciones y crear una dinámica con ellas. Lo suficientemente interesante como para crear esa sensación de "una vez y ya".
Esta secuela de apenas un año después se diferencia básicamente por cambiar a otro género y así conservar en parte lo mismo, su identidad visual, pero cambiando el aspecto jugable a otro género, el táctico (¿se estaba volviendo más popular seguramente?). Aún así no se conforma y va más lejos e imita el estilo de FE Gaiden, el cual tenía segmentos de JRPG clásico. Pero, al mismo tiempo, ignora lo que esta saga valora, y Shining Force no desea que haya vínculos entre los personajes de tu propia unidad, o siquiera entre tú y ellos. O tú y tu avatar principal. Por eso no hay permadeath, porque sería totalmente inconsecuente ya hubiera personajes desarrollados entre tus filas o no. Además, matan al rey al principio de la historia sin una razón de mucho peso (eso sí es permadeath), y esa figura tiende a ser emblemática en los JRPGs de los que toman referencias. Una acción como esa, teniendo a su lado toda aquella despersonalización de personajes con los que más vas a verte involucrado (es decir, ¡la Shining Force!)... da la impresión de que el equipo detrás no sabe abordar bien el drama, o un mínimo concepto de pérdida.
La usuaria Marianelalela consideró en un texto suyo que bien podrían categorizarse los videojuegos en función de las emociones que transmiten y no tanto en sus formalizaciones de gameplay. En ese sentido, se queda lejos de transmitir algo y lo poco que hace con sus ingredientes jugables se queda en un germen. Puedes mover las piezas que te dan, pero ahí está el problema principal: que solo puedes hacer eso. Vuelve cualquier proceso de avance, lento, porque tanta despersonalización y ausencia de drama omite cualquier pieza sentimental. No existen y no se pueden mover por tu mente.
Esta secuela de apenas un año después se diferencia básicamente por cambiar a otro género y así conservar en parte lo mismo, su identidad visual, pero cambiando el aspecto jugable a otro género, el táctico (¿se estaba volviendo más popular seguramente?). Aún así no se conforma y va más lejos e imita el estilo de FE Gaiden, el cual tenía segmentos de JRPG clásico. Pero, al mismo tiempo, ignora lo que esta saga valora, y Shining Force no desea que haya vínculos entre los personajes de tu propia unidad, o siquiera entre tú y ellos. O tú y tu avatar principal. Por eso no hay permadeath, porque sería totalmente inconsecuente ya hubiera personajes desarrollados entre tus filas o no. Además, matan al rey al principio de la historia sin una razón de mucho peso (eso sí es permadeath), y esa figura tiende a ser emblemática en los JRPGs de los que toman referencias. Una acción como esa, teniendo a su lado toda aquella despersonalización de personajes con los que más vas a verte involucrado (es decir, ¡la Shining Force!)... da la impresión de que el equipo detrás no sabe abordar bien el drama, o un mínimo concepto de pérdida.
La usuaria Marianelalela consideró en un texto suyo que bien podrían categorizarse los videojuegos en función de las emociones que transmiten y no tanto en sus formalizaciones de gameplay. En ese sentido, se queda lejos de transmitir algo y lo poco que hace con sus ingredientes jugables se queda en un germen. Puedes mover las piezas que te dan, pero ahí está el problema principal: que solo puedes hacer eso. Vuelve cualquier proceso de avance, lento, porque tanta despersonalización y ausencia de drama omite cualquier pieza sentimental. No existen y no se pueden mover por tu mente.
Shining Force is a charming tactical RPG from SEGA back when they were a force to be reckoned with. It's got a lot of character but misses out on a lot of simple conveniences that make playing it more arduous than it needs to be.
The story is simplistic and follows the Tolkien tropes of evil prophesised to return and good rising to oppose it. So when evil invades our homeland we form the Shining Force - a team of heroes who will try to save the world. The large cast of characters are kept very one-note with basic motivations for joining the team, while most of the storylines for each chapter boil down to 'arrive at a problem', 'solve it by killing all the bad guys'. The lack of depth can be chalked up to limitations and the young target audience but it does get too blunt at points with contrivances, deus ex machinas, and needless twists resolved as soon as they happen.
Mechanically the game is centred around tactical combat, this was my first foray into TRPG games so despite being overwhelmed at the size of the cast I welcomed the introduction to the genre's mechanics (luckily it plays very much like D&D). Each tactical role is represented by iconic character designs with centaurs, dwarves, elves, and more joining the force, and the first characters introduce you to the way melee, magic, projectile, and healer classes work. Future characters are intended to expand on, replace, and supplement these roles to provide more tactical options. You'll end up with 12 in the party and more in reserve so the hardest part is managing everyone's status, equipment, and items since menus are hidden behind certain NPCs and information isn't always clear - I had to make my own table just to keep track.
The combat itself is a matter of move and attack, but the strategy is in learning to overlap your attack ranges while being careful of the enemy doing the same. There's a couple of especially tough battles but most were easy to get through once you learn to protect your leader, use a checkerboard formation, and try not to let any one unit get too far ahead of the team. This made combat very slow albeit well defended and the slow combat wasn't helped by enemies only participating in small groups despite every enemy on the board taking its turn and doing nothing. There's also maps with narrow mountain passes that take 3-4 turns to squeeze everyone through due to the rough terrain, which made those battles very tedious, not helped by very annoying high agility enemies that can take forever to kill while they chip at your HP.
The game's biggest issue is taking a complex genre and trying to simplify it. Reading the manual is like taking in a D&D book which I expect would have overwhelmed a younger audience. It's only because I'm familiar with D&D that I felt I understood how to play regardless but there's many fundamental mechanics which aren't explained. Why do characters some times attack twice? When is MP recovered? How is terrain affecting my movement? What's the turn order? Some of it becomes clear as you play, but it makes a game based on deliberate choices feel unpredictable.
On top of that there's a lot of basic information that isn't easily accessible - seeing character HP in battle requires you to slowly switch modes and check them individually. What is or is not equipped isn't clear, not every menu shows who is in the party, shops don't tell you if a weapon is an upgrade or not, shuffling inventory is painful, I had no idea some weapons/rings have 'use' functions... Some of this I know is just a product of the time, UI was not well designed in the 90's, but combined it made getting through the game more arduous than it had to be as I spent a lot of time making my own notes.
On the up side I liked the incorporation of sci-fi elements, the artwork throughout the game was very impressive, and I loved the detailed attack animations with the dramatic angle and beautiful pixel art backgrounds. The character designs are also very iconic and the secret characters were some of the best of the roster, with many being mainstays of my final team. As mentioned it has a lot of charm despite being surface deep so it's a shame that elements like the UI, communication, slowness of combat, basic story, and fine-but-repetitive music undermine it's good qualities.
A great concept but a rough execution. I hope the next games in the series improve on the formula.
The story is simplistic and follows the Tolkien tropes of evil prophesised to return and good rising to oppose it. So when evil invades our homeland we form the Shining Force - a team of heroes who will try to save the world. The large cast of characters are kept very one-note with basic motivations for joining the team, while most of the storylines for each chapter boil down to 'arrive at a problem', 'solve it by killing all the bad guys'. The lack of depth can be chalked up to limitations and the young target audience but it does get too blunt at points with contrivances, deus ex machinas, and needless twists resolved as soon as they happen.
Mechanically the game is centred around tactical combat, this was my first foray into TRPG games so despite being overwhelmed at the size of the cast I welcomed the introduction to the genre's mechanics (luckily it plays very much like D&D). Each tactical role is represented by iconic character designs with centaurs, dwarves, elves, and more joining the force, and the first characters introduce you to the way melee, magic, projectile, and healer classes work. Future characters are intended to expand on, replace, and supplement these roles to provide more tactical options. You'll end up with 12 in the party and more in reserve so the hardest part is managing everyone's status, equipment, and items since menus are hidden behind certain NPCs and information isn't always clear - I had to make my own table just to keep track.
The combat itself is a matter of move and attack, but the strategy is in learning to overlap your attack ranges while being careful of the enemy doing the same. There's a couple of especially tough battles but most were easy to get through once you learn to protect your leader, use a checkerboard formation, and try not to let any one unit get too far ahead of the team. This made combat very slow albeit well defended and the slow combat wasn't helped by enemies only participating in small groups despite every enemy on the board taking its turn and doing nothing. There's also maps with narrow mountain passes that take 3-4 turns to squeeze everyone through due to the rough terrain, which made those battles very tedious, not helped by very annoying high agility enemies that can take forever to kill while they chip at your HP.
The game's biggest issue is taking a complex genre and trying to simplify it. Reading the manual is like taking in a D&D book which I expect would have overwhelmed a younger audience. It's only because I'm familiar with D&D that I felt I understood how to play regardless but there's many fundamental mechanics which aren't explained. Why do characters some times attack twice? When is MP recovered? How is terrain affecting my movement? What's the turn order? Some of it becomes clear as you play, but it makes a game based on deliberate choices feel unpredictable.
On top of that there's a lot of basic information that isn't easily accessible - seeing character HP in battle requires you to slowly switch modes and check them individually. What is or is not equipped isn't clear, not every menu shows who is in the party, shops don't tell you if a weapon is an upgrade or not, shuffling inventory is painful, I had no idea some weapons/rings have 'use' functions... Some of this I know is just a product of the time, UI was not well designed in the 90's, but combined it made getting through the game more arduous than it had to be as I spent a lot of time making my own notes.
On the up side I liked the incorporation of sci-fi elements, the artwork throughout the game was very impressive, and I loved the detailed attack animations with the dramatic angle and beautiful pixel art backgrounds. The character designs are also very iconic and the secret characters were some of the best of the roster, with many being mainstays of my final team. As mentioned it has a lot of charm despite being surface deep so it's a shame that elements like the UI, communication, slowness of combat, basic story, and fine-but-repetitive music undermine it's good qualities.
A great concept but a rough execution. I hope the next games in the series improve on the formula.
domingo :)
Soundtrack 10/10
Characters 10/10
Story 10/10
Gameplay 9.75/10
Characters 10/10
Story 10/10
Gameplay 9.75/10
A great tactical RPG and one of the best games on the Genesis. Shining Force made a Hell of an impression in the West considering its localization predates the Ogre Battle series and Fire Emblem here.
Genuinely fascinating world and characters, despite the plot ending up quite generic you see Darksol & gang as being quite the haters. Could be a little longer, but the potential of replaying this game with a different roster is there. Domingo is the best caster until Tao unlocks Flame lv 4, fight me.
A hood classic in the mega drives library. too bad it ended before i could get my party as strong as i wanted them to be. The story was charming but also pretty generic ngl but i ain't here for that. The fun of the game is building a really cool team of various different fictional creatures and havin em fight in these big strategy RPG battles. Honestly one of the few games that I wish was longer, not only so I could get my gang to max level, but also because I just want to spend more time in the game world.
Mon premier TRPG. Disponible dans la collection "SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" et ne connaissant que de nom, j'ai lancé le jeu par curiosité, m'attendant à avoir entre les mains un JRPG classique. J'ai très vite compris lors du premier combat que j'étais en face d'un type de jeu où je n'avais aucune expérience. Mais le gameplay de ce premier "Shining Force" est finalement très accessible et extrêmement addictif (à noter qu'il est très facile de fuir un combat tout en gardant l'expérience gagnée pour revenir avec de meilleures stats et/ou en adaptant sa tactique, un véritable plus pour le néophyte que je suis). Les phases d'aventure sont quant à elles sommaires, mais juste ce qu'il faut pour donner un charme, un humour et une personnalité à ce petit bijou. Et si l'écriture n'a rien d'exceptionnelle, la quête est suffisamment épique pour nous tenir en haleine jusqu'au bout (surtout que le tout est accompagné d'une direction artistique remarquable).
J'ai tout de même utilisé très souvent l'option d'avance rapide de l'émulateur pour passer les tours, certains combats durant vraiment des plombes.
J'ai tout de même utilisé très souvent l'option d'avance rapide de l'émulateur pour passer les tours, certains combats durant vraiment des plombes.
If you want a game that makes you feel something, try this out. People on the sides of good and bad will be dropping like flies as the AI is no joke. Fights really feel like a desperate struggle against evil; and once you triumph, you really feel like you conquered a force that did it's best to overwhelm you.
The music is what makes this game fucking excellent. From the second you boot up the game, you are greeted by a swell of 16-bit synths and midis conveying to you that you are playing something special. When something bad happens, the music makes you feel like shit, when you win a battle, the game makes you feel great (even better when music swells higher when you level up). Because of the permadeath, when you are attacked by an enemy, the enemy attack theme makes you really feel like you're in danger.
As time goes on, a lot of older games from this generation and beyond become more and more antiquated, only to be played to be remembered in a historical context. Shining Force shakes notion as it and it's two sequels are worth playing.
The fact that the spirit of this game has yet to be revived thirty years after it's release is a fucking detriment to the game industry. Where the fuck is the goddamn SHINING FORCE?
The music is what makes this game fucking excellent. From the second you boot up the game, you are greeted by a swell of 16-bit synths and midis conveying to you that you are playing something special. When something bad happens, the music makes you feel like shit, when you win a battle, the game makes you feel great (even better when music swells higher when you level up). Because of the permadeath, when you are attacked by an enemy, the enemy attack theme makes you really feel like you're in danger.
As time goes on, a lot of older games from this generation and beyond become more and more antiquated, only to be played to be remembered in a historical context. Shining Force shakes notion as it and it's two sequels are worth playing.
The fact that the spirit of this game has yet to be revived thirty years after it's release is a fucking detriment to the game industry. Where the fuck is the goddamn SHINING FORCE?
Classic tactical strategy game with a huge collection of characters.
Originally released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis, Shining Force has been re-released many times, and as of fairly recently it has been ported to the iPhone. I loved this game as a kid, and playing it again on the iPhone brought back a lot of memories, not to mention the game still holds up as a great experience. Below I am listing out 5 good reasons to play Shining Force and though there are many more reasons, these are just some that stand out for me.
Originally released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis, Shining Force has been re-released many times, and as of fairly recently it has been ported to the iPhone. I loved this game as a kid, and playing it again on the iPhone brought back a lot of memories, not to mention the game still holds up as a great experience. Below I am listing out 5 good reasons to play Shining Force and though there are many more reasons, these are just some that stand out for me.