Shining Force

[Shattered Dreamer]

I was given the Ultimate Sega Mega Drive collection as a Christmas present & I got really into playing the RPG Shining Force. I finished the game a few days ago & thought it was a pretty solid RPG. Opinions please people?

[Bolivar]

Definitely a solid RPG as you said. One of my favorite series of all time, and I really enjoyed having an HD version to play on my PS3, so props to SEGA on that collection last year. At $30 new for HD remixes of all my favorite games from when I was a kid, it was a bargain and 3/4.

Shining Force is just all around great. The music is original and I really like the sequencing you find in JRPG music like this, where it's obvious where the chorus is, what part is the bridge, what part is the verse. The art style was great as well to me. The way battles give you a full artistic interpretation of what's going on was a great way to make an SRPG.

I just hope after Sonic 4 Sega has the common sense to move on to the next S-4 game it needs to make, and I'm not talking about Streets of Rage 4, although that needs to happen as well.

You should play Shining Force II.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Definitely a solid RPG as you said. One of my favorite series of all time, and I really enjoyed having an HD version to play on my PS3, so props to SEGA on that collection last year. At $30 new for HD remixes of all my favorite games from when I was a kid, it was a bargain and 3/4.

Shining Force is just all around great. The music is original and I really like the sequencing you find in JRPG music like this, where it's obvious where the chorus is, what part is the bridge, what part is the verse. The art style was great as well to me. The way battles give you a full artistic interpretation of what's going on was a great way to make an SRPG.

I just hope after Sonic 4 Sega has the common sense to move on to the next S-4 game it needs to make, and I'm not talking about Streets of Rage 4, although that needs to happen as well.

You should play Shining Force II.

Started Shining Force II just after I finished Shining Force, a bit faster paced battle wise which is kind of a pain but I intend to finish it I love this type of RPG.

I would definitely rate Shining Force up there with all the heavyweights of the RPG genre. It's only failing was that the battle with the Dark Dragon at the very end was a little bit too easy when compared to some of the games other battles. I love the way this games difficulty was just perfect not too hard but by no way too easy as the AI really did punish you for tactical errors.

[oddler]

SF and SFII are very memorable games from when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure they were the first SRPGs I ever played. Of course, I'm partial to SFII because of it being a little more open as far as the exploration goes and having a more involved storyline.

And this guy...

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx303/oddlereizon/ani_oddler_npc.gif

[Quindiana Jones]

Just because of the things said here, I'm going to buy the Mega Drive collection.

EDIT: There we go. Ordered off of Amazon. :D

[Bolivar]

SF and SFII are very memorable games from when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure they were the first SRPGs I ever played. Of course, I'm partial to SFII because of it being a little more open as far as the exploration goes and having a more involved storyline.

And this guy...

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx303/oddlereizon/ani_oddler_npc.gif

I actually always wondered if your name came from that game. Great story arch.


I love the way this games difficulty was just perfect not too hard but by no way too easy as the AI really did punish you for tactical errors.

That's the interesting thing about the game. On the surface it seems more strategy-lite/less tactical and more accessible than say, Final Fantasy Tactics, partially because there isn't a sophisticated customization system. However, towards the end of each Shining Force you're really focused on group formations and character spacing, whereas at the end of FFT I'm just trying to do as much damage as I possibly can before the enemies win.

Another interesting tidbit about SFI's difficulty is the enemies in the middle chapters do not get progressively harder as they do in the first and last halves of the game. It's been argued it's because some of your characters should start being promoted at that time, and the game compensates for their "Promotion Sickness" (stat-resetting after promotion) by giving you easy enemies you beat in the previous few chapters. Interestingly you also take a break from Rune at this point in the story to go to an island, it's like a little vacation to send your characters to return to the continent promoted and ready to kick ass. As for the last battle, Dark Dragon is a little easy, but it was an interesting battle event, story and design-wise, and at that point in the game I'm happy to have completed the epic, classic-JRPG adventure and take in the ending.

[Alex151]

Yes I love the Shining Force Series. It's what really got me into RPG's overall. Shining Force 2 is Still probably my 2nd to 3rd Favorite game of all time. The music still sticks out to me, sometimes I find myself randomly whistling one of the tunes. The stories were great and I loved the battle system. Classic games overall.

[Skyblade]

Personally, I always preferred SFII to the original, though both are excellent.

One of the things I absolutely love about this game that neither FFT nor Fire Emblem (the other tactical RPGs I've played) has is the ability to actually explore towns and talk to people outside of combat. The others just use menu systems, but this game lets you get a feel for the world, actually hunt down new characters and special items, and it was a great feature.

The music was also top notch. I still have the SF2 OST.

[Polnareff]

Shining Force 3 was also really good, but good luck finding it. It's for Saturn and super hard to find, not to mention it's split into three games. Besides it my favorite Shining Force is Shining Force CD, which is a remake of the Game Gear games (which are also worth checking out). IMO the characters are some of the series' best and the gameplay is pretty balanced for the most part.

There's also a Shining Force game that is a remake of the first game, called Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, but IMO it's not very good. The fact that a different developer did it is probably why.

There are a few spinoff games-- that is, games that are in the Shining series but don't play like the originals, and don't make many references to the SF world. Shining in the Darkness (a dungeon-crawling RPG), Shining Force EXA, Shining Force Neo (both are Diablo-like games), Shining Tears (another Diablo-like game, sort of), Shining Soul 1 and 2 (more Diablo-type games xD) and a new game called Shining Force Feather for DS, which is a strat-RPG but the battle system is completely different from before.

Shattered Dreamer, in case you want to play the other Shining games, I'll list them all here and what platforms they can be found on.

Shining in the Darkness (Genesis) (I just remembered this is also on Genesis Collection)
Shining Force III (Saturn)
Shining Force CD (Sega CD)
Shining Force Gaiden (Game Gear) (JP-only)
Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict (Game Gear) (JP-only)
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (Game Gear)
Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (Game Boy Advance)
Shining Tears (PS2)
Shining Soul (GBA)
Shining Soul 2 (GBA)
Shining Force EXA (PS2)
Shining Force Neo (PS2)
Shining Force Feather (DS) (JP-only)

There are also two mobile phone games I believe but I don't know much about them.

As for a Shining Force 4, it COULD happen but if it did it probably wouldn't be until Camelot finished Golden Sun DS. Or maybe Sega would get a different developer to do it like the SF games from the past few years.

[Bolivar]

^ Props for the extensive write-up, we needed one of those!

I played one of the Game Gear ones, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, which is the same battle system but with towns only being menu-based like in FFT. I played it to get ready for Shining Force II in HD on the Ultimate Collection and it actually has a pretty good story with the same great combat and characters. Music from SFII as well. There really wasn't a whole lot to tie in but it was pretty good overall, I'm glad I played it at the very least to make me more experienced with the combat.

[Vyk]

This thread makes my day. Shining Force is by far my favorite "classic console" rpg series. And I really like seeing so much love for it here. I played and loved all the ones up until the GBA Shining games started coming out and they lost track of what a Shining game should be like. Its really amusing that one of the first communities I joined online was a Shining community, and they actually banned talk of Final Fantasy on there, and hate everything Final Fantasy. So its pretty ironic to me, that a Final Fantasy site has so many people who love Shining. That sad community wound up hating everyone and everything though, which is why I wandered away, and made my way here. Yay my history.... Anyway. SFCD has to be my favorite. They brought two of the GameGear games to console and added a bonus story at the end. Enhanced graphics and CD quality music put me in Shining ecstasy

As for a little bit more Shining history for anyone interested. Shining in the Darkness was made by a couple of people who had a little difference of opinion on where the series should have gone afterwards. And they split up. I forget the details. But Shining Force isn't the only sequel. I think the game was called Landstalker? It could be considered a spiritual sequel as well. It was one of the first "Alundra" style games (or a Zelda for Genesis). It had that weird isometric angle and cartoony style with action/adventure platforming and stuff with its RPG elements. Amusing visuals, characters, and story. A lot of things SF is known for as well

[oddler]

As for a little bit more Shining history for anyone interested. Shining in the Darkness was made by a couple of people who had a little difference of opinion on where the series should have gone afterwards. And they split up. I forget the details. But Shining Force isn't the only sequel. I think the game was called Landstalker? It could be considered a spiritual sequel as well. It was one of the first "Alundra" style games (or a Zelda for Genesis). It had that weird isometric angle and cartoony style with action/adventure platforming and stuff with its RPG elements. Amusing visuals, characters, and story. A lot of things SF is known for as well

Odd, I had no idea that Landstalker was in any way related to Shining Force. That was another one of my favorite games back in the day! And some of those puzzles in that game were stupid hard.

[Skyblade]

Its really amusing that one of the first communities I joined online was a Shining community, and they actually banned talk of Final Fantasy on there, and hate everything Final Fantasy. So its pretty ironic to me, that a Final Fantasy site has so many people who love Shining. That sad community wound up hating everyone and everything though, which is why I wandered away, and made my way here.

If I am interpreting your post correctly, you are wrong. Shining Force Central (http://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/) does not hate FF. They just felt that if FF discussion was allowed, it would overwhelm the boards. It has happened at plenty of other forums. Most of the posters and admins on that site enjoy FF. They just try to keep the focus of the site on Shining Force, and banning FF discussion was the best way they found to do that. It's a great site and you can get an incredible amount of info on the Shining Force games there.

[Vyk]

No, Moogi and a good half the mods (at -least-) abhor Final Fantasy (the couple admins are little older and wiser). Granted a lot of members may like and off-handedly bring it up in discussion as "the series which shall not be named". And I get her reasoning. I've even defended it a time or two. But I have seen many many times them encourage the hatred of Final Fantasy (even ridicule those that like it, especially "newbies"). A few members might not be as bad, and it is a great site for info. But in general, they're an underdog with a bad attitude. But it -has- been something like 5 years since I left, and Moogi was planning on stepping down at the time. So there is a good chance things have lightened up in that time

I just go there every once in a while for the memories, music, pictures, and extensive info these days. Great website. (Possibly) bad forum. Join the community at your own risk :}

[Skyblade]

Some of them hate the games, sure, but I don't remember it being that bad when I was there. The forum is a little stagnant, though, just because the games are a little on the obscure side.

Anyway, the games are great, and I'd really like for a continuation of the series (or for a full translation of SF3).

[Vyk]

Hm. I'll stop ranting about other-forum drama. But when abouts were you active there? I wonder if I knew you in another forum-life lol

[Polnareff]

^ Props for the extensive write-up, we needed one of those!

I played one of the Game Gear ones, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, which is the same battle system but with towns only being menu-based like in FFT. I played it to get ready for Shining Force II in HD on the Ultimate Collection and it actually has a pretty good story with the same great combat and characters. Music from SFII as well. There really wasn't a whole lot to tie in but it was pretty good overall, I'm glad I played it at the very least to make me more experienced with the combat.

It's smurfin' scary how well Shining Force transferred to the Game Gear; I mean the graphics and animations were IMO almost as good as the Genesis games. Camelot were able to pump a lot of power out of the Game Gear with those games.

Yeah the story is good. Well, what little I could understand of it anyway. :P I mostly played Sword of Hajya since it was in English. :jess:

Right now my aim is to try to find Shining Force III (an uphill battle, I know). I had a friend who had the game but I haven't seen the guy in like 10 years. Because of him I was able to play it.

I also have another friend who loves Shining Force, at least 1, 2, and Resurrection. He's never played any of the others. :( For his birthday I'm thinking of getting Sword of Hajya and a Game Gear for him.

[Bolivar]

It's smurfin' scary how well Shining Force transferred to the Game Gear; I mean the graphics and animations were IMO almost as good as the Genesis games. Camelot were able to pump a lot of power out of the Game Gear with those games.

Yeah the story is good. Well, what little I could understand of it anyway. :P I mostly played Sword of Hajya since it was in English. :jess:

Right now my aim is to try to find Shining Force III (an uphill battle, I know). I had a friend who had the game but I haven't seen the guy in like 10 years. Because of him I was able to play it.

I also have another friend who loves Shining Force, at least 1, 2, and Resurrection. He's never played any of the others. :( For his birthday I'm thinking of getting Sword of Hajya and a Game Gear for him.

I know, it's a shame the Game Gear and later Sega Nomad never caught on because they were so much more powerful than the Game Boy and even later Game Boy Color. In any case, the games were really good and with the exception of town wandering, was essentially another experience of the console games.

Sega should maybe look into PSN/XBLA translating and porting of titles like Shining Force III. I think the niche people who would download it would be enough to cover the, what, 5 guys you would have to pay to do it?

[Skyblade]

Hm. I'll stop ranting about other-forum drama. But when abouts were you active there? I wonder if I knew you in another forum-life lol

Years ago. Not sure when. But I am and have always been Skyblade, so if you knew me, it would be by that name.

The Nomad was an awesome system, but both it and the Game Gear drained batteries like crazy. And the Nomad was hard to find.

I never saw the Game Gear SF games though.

[Vyk]

I had a fondness for the Game Gear games because they were more like direct sequels than Shining Force 2 was. Especially for people who managed to get a ROM of (the finally translated) Shining Force: Final Conflict game to complete the Game Gear trilogy. Total pity it didn't make it into the SFCD collection