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Shining Series Appreciation Thread

F

Fou-Lu

Member
The Shining series. It gave us such masterworks as Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force 1-3, Shining Force CD and Shining Soul. It's really too bad what happened to it, but once upon a time it was truly great! Shining Force 2 was quite possibly the first video game I ever beat (it might have been Breath of Fire 2, my memory is fuzzy of that early on). The battle sprites absolutely blew my mind back then.

SICGkbC.jpg


I used to play it yearly and have only stopped in recent years as I put more effort into my backlog. It was quite a few years later before I played the original Shining Force, but it is still am amazing game.

My younger brother actually made the activity log of our Wii show more than 24 hours of playtime in a single day because of his completionist attitude toward Shining in the Darkness.

I still have yet to do a full, proper play through of Shining Force 3, but I would like to one day. My Saturns keep dying on me and I am getting tired of buying new ones.

Show Shining a little love in this thread GAF!
 
T

THE-JUV

Member
one of the greatest series of all time and I would love for a new one to be released focusing on the classic SRPG gameplay based on the recent success fire emblem is having, though I know it will never happen
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
I replay the Shining Force 3 trilogy every once in a while and it never fails to be so fun and engaging. Sadly my last playthrough's save file ended up being corrupted 70% through Synbios's scenario which was a bummer.

Out of the SRPGs I've played, none have been as good as this series. Incredible stuff that leaves me wondering why we didn't get more since. Not even re-releases.
 
R

randomlee26

Member
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya was my jam back in the day. I loved that game and bought a battery pack for my Game Gear just so I could take it on long trips (since the Game Gear's battery was so poor).
 
U

UncleSporky

Member
randomlee26 said:
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya was my jam back in the day. I loved that game and bought a battery pack for my Game Gear just so I could take it on long trips (since the Game Gear's battery was so poor).
Click to expand...

I played through most of this on 3DS Virtual Console and it is a pretty cool lite Shining Force.
 
M

Mental Atrophy

Banned
Shining in the Darkness is decent. SF1 is the best and one of my favorite games, period. SF2 is great. Game Gear ones are good too and I'd recommend giving the fan translation of Final Conflict a whirl if you can't read Japanese. Shining Force CD is also neat, which is a remake of the first two Game Gear games, updated with graphics similar to SF2 and CD audio. Shining Soul is okay but Shining Soul 2 is pretty dope, and highlights how important depth of content is for that style of game. I'm not actually a fan of the Saturn trilogy, but they're massively better than everything I haven't specifically mentioned.
 
Mikey Jr.

Mikey Jr.

Member
Despite shining force series being my top 5 franchises, I have actually never touched sf3.

How does it rank amongst the rest? Sf2 is my absolute favourite.

Sf3 never seemed really appealing. Sf1 and Sf2 were really light hearted. Sf2 was awesome. Go to a new land, create a new village, explore some new lands.

Sf3 seems really political.
 
Bog

Bog

Junior Ace
I just recently grabbed boxed copies of the JP Game Gear games to go with my JP copies of 1 and 2, and 3a, b, c (Already had every US release). Just need to grab the Premium disc, which is shockingly cheaper now than it was 15 years ago when I was looking for it.

Probably my favorite Sega series, to be honest.
 
TriAceJP

TriAceJP

Member
Funny, I'm playing through Shining the Holy Ark right now.

Great fun with a bad ass Motoi Sakuraba soundtrack. Even if it uses the most uncharming 3D graphics, it's still a good play. I believe it's one of the two first person RPGs in the series, along with Shining and the Darkness, another great game.

One of my high school highlights was playing through Shining Soul 1 and 2 with a Buddy. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe you could link up and play through dungeons together.

Not much needs to be said about Shining Force. Excellent series. The team who worked on the translation patch for the remaining games is about to release a revised update (if they haven't already), so get excited for that.

I have a few threads over on GBATemp bookmarked which are translations for the PSP games that didn't make it over here, so it's cool to know there are more games coming in the future (even though they look more like visual novels, but we will see).
 
P

pmj

Member
I've played a lot of Shining Force 1 and 2, but never touched 3 despite owning them for years.

I'm going to change that as soon as my cart arrives that makes my Japanese Saturn region free so that I can finally play my PAL copy of 3. And then find a DVD burner I guess so that I can rip scenarios 2 and 3 and apply fan translations and burn them to discs and oh god this is why I haven't played these games yet.

1 and 2 are awesome though, they are the only turn based games I've ever managed to really get into.
 
cireza

cireza

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
Sf3 seems really political.
Click to expand...
The story and characters are much more complex. It is a political conflict with a religious sect acting in the background for its own benefits.

Gameplay wise, it is a lot of fun, but I think I get it why you really love Shining Force II, and you probably won't find the same things in 3.

Each scenario does not offer 30 characters to choose from, but either 20. Some characters leave, some can't be got (because you must choose between two) etc... So in fact, you don't have as much liberty in the way you play. When you can only make a party of 12 among 18 or 16 characters, you are a lot more limited. The game is also much easier (at least in the default setting), and there is not need to power-level some characters. In SF1 and 2, some characters should be promoted as late as possible. It is not always necessary to power-level a character (because he gets most of his stats at level 10 in SF1 or 20 for SF2), but for some characters it was a great thing to do (ex: Gong in SF1). In SF3, there is no need for that at all.

Battles tend to have many events and things happening (especially in scenario 2 and 3), which also gets tiresome, and takes a lot of time. The pacing of the game is a lot slower. And this can bring pretty huge slowdowns.

Well don't think that it is all negative things I have to say about SF3. I love those three games, my favorite still being the first one. But it does feel pretty different than SF1 and 2.

Two things are pretty nice in SF3 : the friendship system, and the fact that you power up your types of weapon. Each character can equip various types of weapons, and will gain levels and special attacks for each type. This gives some good replayability elements to the game.

I created a hack for SF2 a year ago. Nothing stellar, I only used existing tools and knowledge to make something that would feel fun and a bit refreshing to play. It is not a difficult hack at all. If you are interested, you can give it a try here :

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2684/

Also, I can't recommend enough playing SF CD. You get the two GG games remastered with amazing music and great graphics, plus a third book with a few battles that is completely stupid and really fun to play.

And finally, Shining Force Final Conflict has a translation, and it is also a very good game on GG, with characters from both SF1 and SF2 (as the story is set sometime between the two games).
 
A

Aru

Member
Shining Force 2 was my first SRPG and still one of my favorites. It's also one of the few SRPGs to feature an overworld and proper towns. Also, it has a few replayable encounters.

I miss Motoaki Takenouchi. His work on SF1 and 2, and also Landstalker, was amazing.
 
S

Syril

Member
Square2015 said:
Isn't Shining Wisdom apart of the series?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a sequel to Shining Force 2, but the North American script had to change all the names because Sega wouldn't let Working Designs use them in localization. Because welcome to the late 90's, when Sega's greatest foe was themselves.
 
H

Hippopuncher12

Member
Man I loved this series so much when I was a kid. I really wish they would bring about a proper new entry but alas that will probably never happen..
 
Z..

Z..

Member
Only played SF2, SF3(1) and SitD. Very nice series, but clearly fourth fiddle to FE, TO and FFT.
SF2 was a blast as a kid, though. Can't hold a candle to contemporaneous efforts like Genealogy/Thracia or Tactis Ogre, though, which is saying quite a lot, since SF2 usually gets tauted as the pinnacle of the series. Sega kid here, btw.
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
randomlee26 said:
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya was my jam back in the day. I loved that game and bought a battery pack for my Game Gear just so I could take it on long trips (since the Game Gear's battery was so poor).
Click to expand...

I remember playing it with my best friend, each of us seated to either side of the outlet so it could stay plugged in.
 
Mikey Jr.

Mikey Jr.

Member
cireza said:
The story and characters are much more complex. It is a political conflict with a religious sect acting in the background for its own benefits.

Gameplay wise, it is a lot of fun, but I think I get it why you really love Shining Force II, and you probably won't find the same things in 3.

Each scenario does not offer 30 characters to choose from, but either 20. Some characters leave, some can't be got (because you must choose between two) etc... So in fact, you don't have as much liberty in the way you play. When you can only make a party of 12 among 18 or 16 characters, you are a lot more limited. The game is also much easier (at least in the default setting), and there is not need to power-level some characters. In SF1 and 2, some characters should be promoted as late as possible. It is not always necessary to power-level a character (because he gets most of his stats at level 10 in SF1 or 20 for SF2), but for some characters it was a great thing to do (ex: Gong in SF1). In SF3, there is no need for that at all.

Battles tend to have many events and things happening (especially in scenario 2 and 3), which also gets tiresome, and takes a lot of time. The pacing of the game is a lot slower. And this can bring pretty huge slowdowns.

Well don't think that it is all negative things I have to say about SF3. I love those three games, my favorite still being the first one. But it does feel pretty different than SF1 and 2.

Two things are pretty nice in SF3 : the friendship system, and the fact that you power up your types of weapon. Each character can equip various types of weapons, and will gain levels and special attacks for each type. This gives some good replayability elements to the game.

I created a hack for SF2 a year ago. Nothing stellar, I only used existing tools and knowledge to make something that would feel fun and a bit refreshing to play. It is not a difficult hack at all. If you are interested, you can give it a try here :

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2684/

Also, I can't recommend enough playing SF CD. You get the two GG games remastered with amazing music and great graphics, plus a third book with a few battles that is completely stupid and really fun to play.

And finally, Shining Force Final Conflict has a translation, and it is also a very good game on GG, with characters from both SF1 and SF2 (as the story is set sometime between the two games).
Click to expand...

Great, thanks. Hmmm, I want to play sf3 eventually though. I'll just go in with lowered expectations and take it for what it is.

Ive also played sfcd, but wasn't a huge fan. I missed the exploration part. It was all battle>cutscene>battle>cutscene, etc.
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
I loved Shining Force 1,2 and 3. I consider them to be better games than the similar (but not really) Fire Emblems. How I wish more true Shining Forces would be made. I also really liked Shining the Holy Ark. Shining Wisdom I had high hopes for, but in the end didn't quite turn out to be that good. I also own Shining in the Darkness, but haven't really played it yet. Are there any more Shining games that are really worth it? I tried Shining Soul and didn't like it at all tbh.
 
B

Beartruck

Member
If youve never played it, try out Shining Force Feather for the DS. It plays like project x zone but with no grid, and the combo attacks can be a blast to pull off successfully. The story is basically a fantasy version of Outlaw Star. It was made by flight plan who also did the Summon Night series. No translation, but its pretty easy to get through with an FAQ.
 
A

Alric

Member
Shining was my favorite of that genre. Not often in these types of games you get to actually move about in a town. Been playing Fire Emblem Fates lately and just keep wishing I was playing a new Shining Force game that kept that 90's anime style.
 
R

RedZaraki

Banned
Loved Shining Force 1 and 2 to death.

Oddly, have never played SF3, but plan to someday.

I would LOVE for Atlus/Sega to make a 3DS port of Shining Force 2, ala Resurrection of the Dark Dragon. Add a couple new characters etc.

That would be sick.

I don't really care for what the series became after Shining Force 3.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
cireza said:
I love your avatar. Care to share some info about it ?
Click to expand...

It was Shining Tears, over a decade ago I think. The combat was boringly simple and unsatisfactory, the story, extremely generic (the main protagonist was amnesiac, ha), and the rest I don't remember. But nothing about the game grabbed me. I didn't even finish the game.
 
A

allenpergallon

Member
Good series with what I feel is a lot of untapped potential. My favorite thing about the early titles was how everything was connected, it always added to the experience. 3 and Holy Ark are particular favorites, though all of the pre-Soul titles are solid.

After Camelot left SEGA the series has just been all over the place. SF: EXA was ok, but I never got into SF: Neo, the Soul games, or Wind/Tears. A big part of it was just missing the art style, let alone the strategy/dungeon crawling duality and charm of the Camelot games. I played a little of SF: Feather and it seems like it could be a weird, interesting title, but I just need to make time for it.

As for the latter Tony Taka games, I've always been curious to see how they were since some of the systems look interesting from a concept perspective, like a pseudo-Valkyria combat system, but I honestly haven't had it in me to play imports for a few years now.
And the art style is even worse
 
Bolivar687

Bolivar687

Banned
Aru said:
It's also one of the few SRPGs to feature an overworld and proper towns.
Click to expand...

This is an often overlooked feature, I once read a designer saying they were never trying to make strategy RPGs, the were trying to make Dragon Quest with better combat.

Amazing series, SF1, SF2 and Final Conflict are killer games. Hoping to try SF3 one day.
 
Q

Qwark

Member
Love, love, love the Shining games, at least the SRPG ones. I really should finish my playthrough of 3 now that all the scenarios are translated.

AmyS said:
EGM's all-Sega magazine: MEGA PLAY look at Shining in the Darkness.
Click to expand...

Camelot has some kind of connection with Dragon Quest? I'm guessing some of the employees just worked on DQ3/4 previously. That's interesting.
 
cireza

cireza

Member
AuthenticM said:
It was Shining Tears, over a decade ago I think. The combat was boringly simple and unsatisfactory, the story, extremely generic (the main protagonist was amnesiac, ha), and the rest I don't remember. But nothing about the game grabbed me. I didn't even finish the game.
Click to expand...
I see. Never played this game !

It is not really on topic, but I was asking about your picture :)
Where does it come from ? Was it drawn by you ?
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I wish there was a way to play SF3 Scenario 2 + 3 on a US Saturn.

Stopped caring about the series after that game. Loved all three Force games, though.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
cireza said:
I see. Never played this game !

It is not really on topic, but I was asking about your picture :)
Where does it come from ? Was it drawn by you ?
Click to expand...

It's Elsa from Frozen. Not drawn by me. I believe I found it on Deviant Art. It's fan-made, not official art for the movie.
 
N

Novel Mike

Member
*points to avatar*

The Shining Series is one of the best RPG series out there (well pre PS2 at least) but the Shining Force games were always the best. Played and beaten all of them at one time or another its a fucking shame what Sega has ultimately done to the series with how crazy popular Fire Emblem has become (THAT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU SEGA!!!!!) in the west.

I'm working on a review of the original game right for my youtube channel, I just did a Let's Play series of the first two games with crazy additional rules added to make it harder (no grinding, permadeath, limiting or not using shops, ect) its such a fun series to playthrough again and again since you'll generally never use the exact same force every time, these last two lets play series I did taught me one thing: RNG fucking hate me XD

Although its pretty different from the general setup I've always thought that Shining Force 3 was the magnum opus of the series, it has such a huge and massive story to tell with dozens and dozens of characters you meet along the 3 game journey and its a shame we only ever got the first part in the US. I've been apart of the SFC (Shining force central) community for years and I've gone from signing petitions to see if Sega would re-release the game in the west to seeing the entire script of the 3 games translated, to watching as fans put that script together and actually put into the game as a fan translation. You can completely play SF3 in English now and that is just amazing to me.

The community on SFC has only gotten smaller as the years go on with absolutely no chance of Sega actually bringing any of the newer Shining games to the west. It amazes me how unknown this series is compared to so many others when there is just so many great things about it, but again thats mostly Sega's fault. They seem content with making game after game of the Shining label with clearly less and less effort put into them, they are just shallow versions of the Tales series at this point and with how shallow the newer Tales games have been... That's absolutely pathetic. I'll still always curse Sega for the last few games we got in the west of the series being Shining Force Neo, Exa, and Shining Tears. Exa was pretty okay (but should have never been called shining FORCE) but Neo and Tears were trash and none of them sold well since even the best of the three was just pretty much mediocre.

I just wish Nintendo would purchase the rights to the series and give it Camelot to work on again or do a cross over with Fire Emblem, sounds crazy but 14 years ago I never thought I'd get a chance to play SF3 in English either so might as well dare to dream.

SolVanderlyn said:
I wish there was a way to play SF3 Scenario 2 + 3 on a US Saturn.

Stopped caring about the series after that game. Loved all three Force games, though.
Click to expand...

You absolutely can do that with a Pro Action Replay cart for the Saturn, at least the Japanese version for sure since thats how I played all of them to begin with. IDK if that will let you play like a burned ISO if you meant the fan translation though.
 
TriAceJP

TriAceJP

Member
Novel Mike said:
You absolutely can do that with a Pro Action Replay cart for the Saturn, at least the Japanese version for sure since thats how I played all of them to begin with. IDK if that will let you play like a burned ISO if you meant the fan translation though.
Click to expand...

You can, but it's not fun. You can either wear down your motor with a disc swap or find some hard to get mod chips. There's a new thing in the works that will load games from external media via the expansion port on the back, but there isn't an eta as far as I know.

They run great with emulation, it's the best way right now.
 
cireza

cireza

Member
TriAceJP said:
You can, but it's not fun. You can either wear down your motor with a disc swap or find some hard to get mod chips.
Click to expand...
This is wrong. Here is the method :

1) Open your Saturn, put tape on the switch that detects if the trail is open
2) Load your original Japanese game
3) Go in a menu or wherever you want (in SF3, simply wait for the first text that appears before loading the game)
4) Wait a few minutes for the console to go in stand-by : the disc stops spinning
5) Open the trail, the console does not detect it because of the tape
6) Exchange the original disc with the english patched one
7) Soft reset A+B+C+Start
8) The game loads and you are playing a patched game on your Saturn without breaking your motor or installing a mod-chip.

This is how I have been playing all my english patched games until now.
Playing on the real console is definitely the best !
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
shining force 1-3 are some of my favorite games ever.

SF 1 i hold dear to my heart as that was my first RPG that i played and beat i think i was 5-6yo. loved watching my brother play too and reenact the moves the character do.

I replay atleast one of them annually. probably SF1 the most. every which way. I've even done a playthrough solo with just the hero. something I'd really like to do is try out the mods out there for the games though.

Still waiting for the day when I play SF3 scenario 2/3... I know its been translated by fans but i can never get the emus to properly work for it. I think I have to just buy a jap saturn and copy of the game and read along with a translation...

I also think this is the perfect blend of adventure and SRPG games should have. I can't believe so few games have a similar approach. Vandal hearts is supposed to be close to it, but it has yet ot be released on psn.

between the music, design, and story these games OOZE with charm

Also here's some SF humor for you

Q: How do you unlock the millenium falcon in shining force 1?
A:
you play as Hans solo
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
Loved SF 1-3, although I never did get around to episode 2 and 3 of SF3. Super charming character designs for both characters and monsters. But the biggest thing that made me like it was having towns between maps. SRPGs often give me a claustrophobic feel of being funneled along in a super linear fashion. These at least gave you some freedom to explore the world you are in and converse with it's people directly. Arc the Lad 2 does this quite well as well.
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
If you dig Shining Force, definitely play the original Arc the Lad trilogy. Not 1:1 the same but it scratched the same itch for me.

I was obsessed with the series back in the day. Fond memories of playing Sword of Hayja on my blue game gear.
 
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