Shining Force (Series)

[Jarlaxle]

This is the place to talk about all of the Shining Force titles; although not the ‘Shining series as a whole, since the others are mostly quite different. Here I’m referring to the TRPG instalments, dating back to the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. First up, a brief history of these games in chronological order. Feel free to skip to the end of my post before the screenshots for a little Shining Force profile you can fill out if you are quite familiar with the series.

~ Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (Genesis) – Released over a decade and a half ago, this was the first of the SF series (Shining In The Darkness being the first ‘Shining game). You move your party members around the battlefield manually with the directional pad, rather than point-and-click, and your menus to attack/use magic/items/etc are the standard fare. The missions can get quite addictive. Somewhat unusual for most TRPGs, you actually move around towns and converse with NPCs in a similar way to standard RPGs, where strategy games tend to use drop-down menus for interaction in villages. This adds another great level of fun to the game, if you like the little jokes and lots of text. Anyhow, there are 30 missions to the game, and you can replay them if you retreat, thereby gaining extra experience if you desire so. As in Fire Emblem, once you reach level 10 with a character, you can promote to a higher class; without needing a special item. But it’s always best to wait until you are as close to level 20 as possible, to maximize stat gains. Conversely, once you promote said stats are instantly slashed quite a bit; but you get a hell of a lot back in the end as you begin to level up yet again.

~ Shining Force Gaiden (Gamegear) – Never saw a US release on this format.

~ Shining Force Gaiden II: Sword of Hajya (Gamegear) – See below.

~ Shining Force CD (Sega CD) – Thankfully released in the US, this title contains the first two Gaidens in English, with superior graphics more akin to Shining Force II for the Genesis. The first title takes place 20 years after the original SF, so the continuation should draw any old fan in. I won’t spoil any plot points, though. The second Gaiden takes place relatively right after the first. But there are some extra adventures as well, so this game is quite huge. However, they don’t have the ‘town roaming’ element that the original Shining Force did.

~ Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict (Gamegear) – The third and final title in the Gaidens, this one takes place between the original Shining Force on the Genesis, and SF II. It wasn’t released in the US, but thankfully a fan-made translation patch was made. Sadly they didn’t re-release it on the Sega CD, probably because the days of the PSX and such had arrived (in Japan, anyway). Anyhow, the true RPGer doesn’t care about graphics, so this game is quite playable, albeit be prepared for an obvious step-down after playing the re-released Gaidens.

~ Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing (Genesis) –

“Shining Force II is more free-roaming than the original Shining Force, as it doesn't use chapters. You're free to go back to any town during the game, assuming you have a way to get there and that there are no obstructions. It doesn't follow directly from Shining Force as far as storylines go, in fact it's really a story in its own right. That being said, the story is connected to that of the original Shining Force through various aspects of Shining Force Gaiden Final Conflict.”

– Taken from Shining Force Central. The original was great. This one’s even better.

~ Shining Force III Scenario 1: God Warrior of the Kingdom (Sega Saturn) – SF in 3D. I haven’t got around to playing this one, but all is in readiness for me to do so when I get up to it. Apparently it is pretty epic, and as usual a lot of fun. Great story, over 50 hours of gameplay…and hell, it’s only the first of three.

~ Shining Force III Scenario 2: Target: Child of God (Saturn) – This title never saw an official English release. Thankfully, yet again, it received a fan-translation a few years ago. However, people only view it as 99% complete, in the sense that everything has been translated and the patch released, it just hasn’t had a thorough proof-reading. So you’d have to excuse a few errors/typos from time to time, no doubt. Apparently they are even to this day still working on this project, so a more solid translation should be released eventually. Scenario 2 takes place at the same time as the first one, although from the side of the opposing army. How could it not have been brought out in English?

~ Shining Force III Scenario 3: Bulzome Rising (Saturn) – Takes place after the first two Scenarios, but I’m not sure how much time has passed since them. Naturally has the best visuals of the three. It too never saw an official English release, but luckily a few fans are working on a translation patch. It may take another year for a rock-solid release though, so patience will be required. It’s bound to be worth the wait, as I would not be interested in a half-baked rush-job.

~ Shining Force III: Premium Disc – Not actually a proper game in the series but worth mentioning, this ‘bonus disc’ contains the following:

“The disc includes extra battles (against the main bosses of most of the games in the series - in 3D!), a savegame creator for Scenario 3, a sound test, movies, interviews & adverts, artwork & 3D models.”

It, too, received an unofficial fan-translation. These guys are on a roll. Definitely worth a look, if possible.

~ Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (GBA) – Okay, I broke the chronological order trend here just for this game. It’s a remake of the original Shining Force, and a pretty damn good one, at that. Aside from a visual overhaul, there are more missions, a few new characters, some rebalancing in the difficulty, and the story is enhanced somewhat. It’s well worth replaying, in any case.

Now you also have Shining Force Neo and EXA, but they aren’t TRPGs like the rest, so I’m leaving them as the other differing ‘Shining titles which have no place in this thread. Then you have some Shining Force mobile-phone adventures in Japan, but I don’t see those becoming proper releases any time soon, but feel free to discuss them if you know much about them. And finally you have Shining Force Feather that came out for the DS, which again is not a proper TRPG. Will there never be a Shining Force IV?

Anyhow, I’m currently on a Shining quest, meaning I intend to play through all the Shining games, and having completed Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force I, Shining Force CD and Gaiden III (Final Conflict), and about halfway through SF II. I’ve taken plenty of screenshots along the way, so I’ll share a few at the bottom of my post. Use this thread to comment on any aspect of these SF titles, or to start with fill out this little profile:

~ Favourite Shining Force title?

~ Memorable characters?

~ Interesting town or NPC moment you are fond of?

~ Have you actually finished half of these games?

~ Favourite mission/battle that you might remember?

~ Any thoughts on a proper Shining Force IV? Hand-held, semi-2D-goodness, or console HD masterpiece?

~ Any other Shining Force comments you’d like to add, or have added to these profile questions?

---------------------

Shining Force I (Sega Genesis)

-----

-----

And a few more:

An Adventure

Meet The King

Roaming The World

Zylo's Power

Engaged In Battle

Down With Adults!

Gort VS a Durahan

Equipment Change

---------------------

Shining Force CD/Gaiden I (Sega CD)

---

---

Days Long Since Passed...

New Journeys

Ken and Nick

Goons Seeking Slave-girl

I Beg Your Pardon?

Battle Map, Mission 3

That Healing Light...

You Can Say That Again

[idl12]

I only ever played and finished the first Shining force for the genesis, one of the oldest rpg's I played now that I think about it, I can barely remember most things about it apart from the first few skirmishes but I enjoyed it, the gba remake sucked imo.

[vhailkor]

My favorite Game is II, not played beyond Shining Force CD, and not completed that, i agree with idl12. the gba remake blew.

Zylo from the first game sticks in my mind, and for a while i had his pic as my user pic on my comp.

[Dilandau]

Very good post!! SF2 was awesome, i have to play the sf in saturn!!