RPG players spend such a great amount of their time in battle that there’s no way a battle system should be treated merely as something that’s tacked onto a good story.”Īfter Sega’s lackluster support of the Shining series on the Genesis and Saturn, Takahashi moved on to greener pastures. “I could never accept that and I wouldn’t go along with it. “Even today, you see many role-playing games that are designed according to a philosophy where battles are just a bonus and the story is the main thing.” Takahashi said in 2010. The pared-down approach to storytelling totally works here, and it’s completely by design.Ī magazine ad for the North American release of Shining Force. There’s a captured princess, a sword of light, and cookie-cutter baddies like “Darksol” and “Dark Dragon.” New recruits won’t change the direction of the story in any meaningful way. While the story of Shining Force is serviceable enough to get you from one map to the next, this is not a game you play for fascinating lore and character development.

Shining Force isn’t as challenging as Wargroove - the difficulty level is more on-par with Fire Emblem: Three Houses without permadeath. If you get stuck on a tough fight - or your team’s leveled unequally - you can easily grind experience by repeating past maps. Each battle gradually ratchets up the difficulty, introducing deadlier enemy attacks and map gimmicks that’ll force you out of your comfort zone. Once you clear a few maps and start feeling a little too confident, Shining Force will knock you down to size. “Simulation games didn’t have to be crap.”

(Strangely, one of the best is a flying squid who casts ice magic.) Simply swapping one or two new recruits into your active roster of 12 can completely change your strategy between battles. But there are loads of intriguing riffs on familiar types, and with a little effort any character can become a powerhouse. There’s the usual assortment of tanks, ranged fighters, support characters, and melee all-rounders. You’ll recruit as many as 30 characters over the course of your journey - many of them optional or easily missed.

And combat is where Shining Force excels.

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