Ok, the year is, um, actually I don’t know. *checks* Ahem, 1996. Yes, 1996. Christmas in fact, and Sega has the dubious honor of releasing a long-awaited sequel to the classic dungeon crawling RPG, Shining in the Darkness. That’s right, today we’re looking at Shining the Holy Ark. The only direct dungeon-crawling sequel ever made in the Shining series, Shining the Holy Ark was one of the least noted Shining games. Consisting of a very straightforward interface virtually identical to that of the original Shining in the Darkness, spiffy 3D graphics, and a much more cohesive storyline, Shining in the Holy Ark was one of the best US released Shining games. Unfortunately, no one seemed to really notice it. Possibly because of the sudden influx of PS1 RPGs in a more modern format than the traditional dungeon crawler, possibly because of the fairly slow pacing, or maybe just because people are picky bastards, it never seemed to get the recognition that Shining Force III or Panzer Dragoon Saga or other excellent Sega offerings received.
Shining The Holy Ark is basically a throwback to the old PC era of RPGs, before the advent of modern console gaming. With a first person viewpoint, updated to incorporate continuous scrolling rather than single non-moving frames, a standardized menu system (very similar to all other Shining games), and traditional linear gameplay (i.e. do this, go to this town, find this item, etc) Shining The Holy Ark really made traditional RPGs interesting. The plot is excellent, the characters are quite memorable, and the gameplay itself is fun, though a bit on the slow side. I found it to be a rather interesting diversion from the expansive wide-open modern RPGs we as gamers have gotten used to over the last 5-6 years or so. The focus on such a smaller detailed storyline is something that in my opinion has almost been lost over the last few years in favor of the sweeping epic. Certainly parts of Shining the Holy Ark are epic, but it has such a different feel to it that it’s very much different from say, Xenogears or Grandia 2 or other such world-saving quest style games. That’s not such a bad thing either!
Graphically of course, Shining the Holy Ark is firmly rooted in early 3D, being on the Saturn. It consists of fairly simple graphics with spiffy particle effects and such for attacks, jaggy backgrounds, and cutesy, cartoonish characters with squeaky sound effects instead of voices. The music is standard RPG fare, decent but not stunningly memorable. Sega always seems to make quality game music however, so you won’t be being tortured by any means (except by the squeaky voice sounds). Control is simple, basic graphic menus for battles and menu options, and the whole game is very easy to control, with no complex sub-menus or mega-customization, but of course it’s not really necessary with a game like this. Ultimately what we have is a classic RPG with a solid story in a quasi-modern shell. If you like a nice simple straightforward RPG that you may have missed, this is definitely the game for you.
Conveniently, Shining the Holy Ark has never really jumped in price . I’ve rarely seen it higher than $25 for mint complete copies. Complete copies on eBay are averaging $25-40, but the game can easily be found from private sellers for $25 or less if you’re patient. For the generally low price it goes for (considering it’s a Sega RPG), Shining the Holy Ark is definitely worth a look-see for the RPGer and maybe even some casual gamers with a taste for the older style games. Here’s some pics, go check it out!