Random Game O' the Day: Shining Force

[digitalpress]

Today's random game generator chose Shining Force II for Genesis, but let's expand the discussion to all of the Shining Force (but not it's prequel) titles.

I love this type of game. RPG's are fun but I much prefer the strategic elements of RPG battles, so games like this get much higher marks with me than your standard RPG. What do you think? Which of the Shining Force games do you like the best? Have you played them all? Are there other games that use this concept (Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Vandal Hearts, etc) that you prefer over Shining Force? Why? Write your mini-review here!

NOTE: imports have been intentionally left off of the list below but feel free to comment on those as well.

DP Guide sez:

Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (Game Gear, by Sega) $/R +
Role-Playing/Turn-Based/Battle-Centric. Released 1994. #2524.

Shining Force (Genesis, by Sega) $20/R2 +
a.k.a. The Legacy of Great Intention
Developed by Sonic/Climax. Role-Playing/Turn-Based/Battle-Centric. Released 1993. #1312.

Shining Force II (Genesis, by Sega) $25/R3 +
a.k.a. Return of the King
Developed by Sonic Team. Role-Playing/Turn-Based/Battle-Centric. Released 1994.

Shining Force III (Saturn, by Sega) $50/R4
Role-Playing/Turn-Based/Battle-Centric. Released 1998. #81383.

Shining Force CD (Sega CD, by Sega) $40/R4 +
Role-Playing/Turn-Based/Battle-Centric. Mouse compatible.

[maxlords]

Shining Force is one of my favorite series ever. The cartoony battles, the actual strategy required, decent story, it all adds up. The particular combination that is Shining Force has never been really matched, although games like Langrisser and a few others come somewhat close. But Shining Force, the way it's put together, it's just DAMNED FUN! It doesn't make you micromanage, it doesn't frustrate TOO often, and it's just all around GOOD.

Shining Force has always had my vote for the best strategy/RPG series around, and then only REAL gripe I have is that stupid Sega didn't bring parts 2 and 3 of Shining Force 3 here. I also love the battle animations...oneo f my favorites in any series ever. I really don't consider FF tactics or Ogre Battle in quite the same vein as Shining Force either. FF Tactics especially is more turn based (if that makes sense) while Shining Force is more of almost a board game strategy, where your side moves, then their side moves. IN some ways that cheapens the strategy, but I still find it challenging because the enemy can mass you all on one turn and if you didn't choose proper placement, well, you're SCREWED!

Anyway, great selection, machine of gaming greatness! I humbly applaud Sega for such an awesome series...one that I find that I go back to play far more often than many others.

[NE146]

Shining Force is one of my FAVORITES! I burned out on RPG's long ago.. but Shining Force is beyond that and is still very playable and fun for me. If you like games like Advance Wars, Military Madness (TG-16), Vandal Hearts, etc. Then Shining Force is right up your alley :D Sure there are differences.. but the idea of moving and positioning power units, artillery, magic users/special units, etc. put them all on the same page

My favorite versions of it are the Sega CD and Gamegear versions since they toss out the majority of the RPG conventions (i.e. walking around towns talking to people x_x ) and concentrate pretty much on the BATTLES :D I also love the symphonic soundtrack on the Sega CD version (Shining Force definitely has some memorable tunes). I do also enjoy the regular old Genesis versions of the games as well when it comes down to it.

One of the bigger tragedies for me is that I've never tried the Saturn version of Shining Force.. I just could never find it! But my Saturn is ready to go w/ any copy (U.S., Jap, or copy) that finds it way towards me in the future :P FYI currently I'm starting to play Shining Force CD again on the XBox via Gensx which does an EXCELLENT job of emulating it... no need to break out the SegaCD! :)

Aaahhh Great game ^^;

[Alex Kidd]

Shining Force... God I love these games.

I had just finished Super Hydlide and was lookin for a new RPG for my Genesis. I seen Shining Force at Wal-Mart. I said "Mom I want THAT for my birthday" I had never heard of it, but it had a dude beatin' down a skeleton and had that purple sega "role playing game" label.

Sure enough a month later I had it for my birthday. It thru me for a loop at first, I couldn't get used to the combat system for some reason. But once I did I was on Cloud 9. Then a few years later my aunt got me a Sega game for Christmas, and it was Shining Force II, I hadn't even known there was a sequal made, and she just happened to get it! Shining Force II was EVERYTHING SFI needed to make it better. Less Linear story, Bigger Worlds, better animation, More item/weapons, More classes.

Me and my buddy mike played these two Shining Force games like Religion in our teenage years. I got them originally when I was 13, but by the time we were 16 (1997) everyone had Playstations and we didn't. A combination of being unable to afford it, and just not really liking the games on it. So we dug out our old Segas and played these.

Besides, gotta love a world where everyone wears those big brown leather shoes, horse/centaurs have cloven hooves, the objective item in the game is always divided in a light and dark half!

Alex Kidd

[lionforce]

Probably my favorite RPG Series of all time, its a shame that there are games in the series that have not made it to these shores yet ;) go to www.shiningforcecentral.com for everything shining force, and I still enjoy playing part one the most ;)

[Tempest]

I'm a huge Shining Force fan. I even bought Shining Force III parts 2 and 3 for the Saturn (I have a huge book of translated text). About the only thing I never beat was the extra museum stage in Shining Force CD since it picked a bunch of characters that I never used and were way too underpowered.

Tempest

[Bighab]

I don't think I can say more than what has been said about the series. Its one of my personal favorites. I remember about 3 years ago when I really started getting into playing alot of different games I picked up Shining Force2. Being a huge Genesis fan I couldn't believe I had let this one slip past me. I loved the battles and the story was cool too. Shining Force CD is probally my favourite one in the series. Just good ole battling baby! :D Feda Emblem of Justice(SuperFamicom) plays very similar to Shining Force. I am eagerly waiting for a Shining Force 4

[orrimarrko]

Favorite series ever.

'nuff said.

[Atariguy]

Shining Force is the best game series ever. When I got the first game, I went straight to my room and played it for what I thought was like 10 minutes. When I looked at a clock, I found out that it was six hours. That's when I knew that this was truly one of the greatest games of all time. To this day, no game has ever made me lose time like Shining Force 1 did.
I tried Final Fantasy Tactics for a little bit, but it just seemed like Shining Force with poorly done, cramped battles. I haven't played it much, but it's definitely not even half as good as any Shining Force.

[Dahne]

Ah, ol' Shining Force. I was, oh, maybe around 10 while playing it, so my strategy mostly consisted of "Go forward as fast as possible. Hit people."

I got surprisingly far.

Only problems were that the battles got old after a while (at least to me), and there were like, what, 3 songs in the entire game? LOL

I wonder if everybody else who's read this thread has the town music in their head now too.

All I remember abour Shining Force 2 is that I got pretty far, then got stuck. I tried EVERYTHING. I went EVERYWHERE. Nothing. This was in the days long before the advent of the 'net and every roadblock lasting only as long as it takes to type www.gamefaqs.com, so I just gave up.

Dang, I gotta go dust that one off.

[geelw]

even though warsong (der langrisser) came out first, and sorcerer's kingdom was probably the first sega RPG to combine strategic battles with movement and traditional RPG combat, to me, the shining force series (and you have to include shining in the darkness, as it introduced the simplified menu scheme, character designs, music, and concepts expanded upon in the strategy games) is the sega RPG at its finest. (phantasy star is great, but too inconsistent a series to stand up under such scrutiny). i remember my younger bro and i renting shining force and spending 28 hours straight playing through and leveling up characters. i think it took about 45 or so hours to beat, whereupon we started again simply because we saw this goofy-looking squirrel/ferret thing pop up from time to time and we wanted to find EVERYTHING.

so, after spending a few hours leveling the initial party members up to 10 in the first 2 battles (a LOT of flying to town and restarting), we went on a hunt for that thing, and eventually got a new character, jogurt- possibly the single most USELESS bonus character in game history! 1HP, and leveling him up didn't change any of his stats! AND he drops his "jogurt ring" in battle every few turns! but we had him! i made the mistake of equipping another character with that damn ring and...well, if you have the game, and haven't seen the effect, go play for yourself...we took a six hour nap, and ended up with a solid 41-hour stretch of playing the game, searching every nook and cranny for hidden items and characters. of course, all of that fun stuff showed up in part II, which took us even longer to complete.

i did the gg and sega cd versions on my own, but the limited "towns" made the game a bit less attractive- i like all those little dramas and subplots a -perkin'. still, the two games were great in the way they pulled me in from the start. the trick to the SF games is to exploit the AI (let the enemy move first, then attack) and level up loops (like the port battle with the giant kraken, and having your healers cast spells that give them mucho experience each time) so that you have total badasses by the end of the game that even high-end boss magic won't damage much. SF & SF II are probably the best of the series- SF III is next, as we didn't get the full story. i was SO disappointed in the ending to SF III (part I) that i yelled "WHAAAAAT?!!!" out an open window- that was NO way to "end" the series for u.s. audiences, and sega has YET to rectify the situation...

the simplicity of the SF games also spoiled me for a bit as i picked up many tougher games thinking they'd be just as easy to pick up and play. master of monsters, dark wizard, warsong, and later dragon force have a more human impact in their battles in some respect- you can play SF and NEVER lose a character (if you're good), but you definitely can't say that about some of these others... :hmm:

[kainemaxwell]

Shining Force is a great series and it actually turned me on to playing Orge battle as well. SF combined great graphics and sound with a well-made strategic combat system and simple gameplay.