/vr/ - Retro Games

>>6574103
Fucking hate western MegaDrive boxes, even the fucking manuals suck dick, specially with stuff like the Shining games where the art is great.
As for the game it self i recently have been into SEGA, Shining in the Darkness is great and pic related have been pretty fun, i also started playing Virtua Fighter on the 32X and can't believe how much fun is, i tough it would be like the first Tekken which is fucking clunky.

Fell in love with soul games after Shining Soul 2, but after seeing the new games i puked

The last boss fight and ending is very epic. The sequel has a totally different story which sucks it didnt continue from this game. The main character it appears goes off on some other adventure but the sequel stars a different character.

>>6574405
Shining Force Final Conflict (Game Gear) does continue the story of Max, Adam and Mischaella. He's not the MC, but he's important to the plot and joins the party.
If you want to know what happened to the rest of the cast, play Shining Force CD.

>>6574428
Yeah I skipped Shining Force Cd. I only played the Game Gear game that was released in the US.

When are you supposed to upgrade your character classes?

>>6574852
Last Lv you can upgrade is 20 but once they hit 10 you can upgrade them, is recommendable to do it at Lv 20 because the characters go back to Lv 1 but will retain like 80% of their stats, having them upgrade at a higher level will make them have better stats.

>>6574852

It's an easy game so upgrade them whenever you want.

>>6574852
I always promote them at the cap (20). That slight increase in difficulty that comes from using unpromoted characters is the best part.

>>6574141
Japanese Mega Drive box art is outstanding in all cases. It boggles the mind why they would change it to cropped generic pictures and grid paper backgrounds

I had the urge to finally start a play through to finish it Friday. I never made it to Rindo before as the zombies were too strong for me and I always felt like dying and continuing was unfair since I would keep all the exp and eventually keep leveling while not progressing. Turns out fire was good against the zombies. Feels good to progress in a game I wasn't able to years ago.

Are the double attacks a random chance? I remember last I played it seemed like Max, Ken, and Hans would always double hit but this time I haven't seen them do it but maybe 3 times.

>>6574987
7% chance for all characters, iirc.

>>6574987
>I always felt like dying and continuing was unfair since I would keep all the exp and eventually keep leveling while not progressing.
Just use the egress spell, it's the only real way to grind for experience after all

>>6574394
Me, except I've yet to touch modern Soul games.

>>6574405
Originally they were going to make a Landstalker type game with Max called "Shining Rogue", which is why he fucked off from the rest of the Force, but as I understand it there was a behind the scenes fight and it got canned and they just went with a (mostly) new story. There are connections between Shining Force 1 and 2, but they were contained mostly in Japanese only supplemental material... like most interesting lore tidbits about the Shining series.

>>6574103
More DnD games should have been like this

>>6574103
Comfy series.

Any of you hold hope that GG Micro is gonna get a western release with translated Gaiden or are they gonna be lazy and just not do that?

am I crazy or is one of the campaigns in CD the same as the GG one?

>>6574141
I prefer the western art tbqfhwy. Some nip covers are great, but that ain't one of them. I guess childish anime has begun to rot your brain.

>>6574960
I suspect your mind is easily boggled.

>>6576264
CD is a remake of Gaiden 1 and 2 with an extra chapter IIRC

>>6576270
>saying that about the art in SF of all things
I don't mind either cover but I hope you are shitposting

>>6576332
I agree about the cover art. I'm a sucker for corny Boris Vallejo styled shit but the Jap cover for Shining Force isn't very good.
It's not classy like, say, Alisa Dragoon's Jap cover.

>>6576270
>>6576359
The Jap Shining force art is more dynamic, it's slightly more "minimalist" but it has all the characters in dramatic action poses. The Western one looks like the hero is kind of tired and being mildly inconvenienced by equally lethargic skeletons. At least the Alisia Dragoon one features her in a somewhat dramatic pose firing lightning out of her fingers

Mae is bae

>>6576359
Alisia Dragoon is one of the rare cases where the western box art is actually a good alternative, and gives a better overall representation of the game.

>>6578708
Correct, but I'm gonna post Honesty for a change, because she was pretty good as well.

>>6578991
Here's a colored version just for you, friend.

>>6579403
Nice.

>>6578991
Posting Shining Force III is almost cheating. The amount of 10/10 waifus in III is out of this world.

>>6580101
3 has some flaws in character design in my opinion, most of the armors are a bit wonky and try a bit hard to stand out I feel. I liked the more coherent designs in 1.
But I agree the characters and the stories were all pretty fun and good. I really enjoyed playing through those games.

Shining Force was one of my first RPG games ever, and I loved it. Recently played Shining Force 2 and enjoyed it as well. What’s the best way to play these other Shining games?

>>6574103
I love this game. I had a buddy sell me on it and didn't stop til I had won. He gave me plenty of good tips. I still fondly remember him nicknaming the upgraded Gort "Tankasaurus Rex" (even though I found out later that Luke is better).

>>6580852
3 has a translation patch for the two scenarios that weren't released in the west, so make sure that you grab that. I recommend using SSF for it, the latest version of it even has a built in CD mounting function, finally.
Yabasanshiro and forks of that were buggy with the game, I think mednafen should work too according to some Anons but I can't speak for it.

In any case, I'd almost recommend a guide for the characters for 3 at least, unless you want to play through three 50 or so hour games a few times just to see everyone because you will probably miss someone.
Some of the character's joining conditions depend on things you did in the previous parts of SF3
The Premium Disk has a "make your own party" thing where you can see all the decision points, kinda, so if you don't want a guide, there's some hints on how to get characters there.

I can't speak for Gaiden or CD, haven't played them yet.

There is also the GBA remake of SF1 that adds some lore, or rewrites, and some QoL stuff for gameplay. From what little I've played of it it's fun enough, art is a bit wonky for the battle sprites compared to the original but it's nice otherwise.

There is also SF: Feather, which honestly plays really damn fun, but it's JP only with just a menu translation available. An english script is out there somewhere, but nobody put that into the game's rom.

Arguably there's also Shining Blade on the PSP, which is kind of a Force game in that it uses a Valkyria Chronicles like battle system, but it is also JP only and suffers from not really feeling like SF because of most of the designs and the limited party.

As far as classic Shining goes, there's Shining in the Darkness and Shining The Holy Ark, the latter of which is kind of a prequel to SF3. Both are dungeon crawlers.

Honorable mention to FEDA: Emblem of Justice, it's kind of a clone on the SNES that got an english patch a while back. Haven't played too much of it tho.

>>6582004
I appreciate all the info!

>>6574405
--The MC of Shining Force 2 is the Grand-nephew of Max (and the Grandson of Kain).

>>6578708
Mae x Max forever. When do we get to see their kids?

>>6576164
I concur. Is there anything like that besides Fire Emblem?

>>6582778
>SF:CD starts with some kids from the guys from SF1
>Mae nowhere to be seen
I honestly expected her to show up as the leader of the castle guard or something. To follow a similar path to her father. Maybe she went out to look for Max, who knows.

>>6582790
Is FE like it, I imagine Anon was referring more to the melting pot that are the fantasy races in SF, which FE doesn't really do.
There really isn't a whole lot, FEDA does it too on account of being an SF clone by some of the guys that worked on 1 and 2 IIRC, Quest flor Glory has a similar lineup I think and that's about all that comes to mind.
Well HoMM maybe, but that feels quite different and less like a coherent world, more just fun looking units for everything.

>>6582724
I really recommend going for 3, it's a long journey but it is also really fun. Tries a bit more with the story than the others, but at heart you still go out to defeat the big bad in the end. It's fun.

>>6582920
Chances are Mae ended up with Ken.
Ken's kid (Apis?) is wearing Mae's headband, after all.

>>6583256
Don't ruin my headcanon.

I'm trying Shining in the Darkness and I feel like I'm missing something. I feel horridly under-equipped. Am I just supposed to level grind until I'm strong enough to survive more than a few steps into the dungeon?

>>6585273
Right at the start? I mean, yeah. Is it your first classic RPG? Almost any oldschool game begins with a short grind, but it's the only grind you'll need to do. After that, getting lost in the dungeon will assure that you're never wanting for exp and gold.

I want a modern Shining Force game based on the classic Camelot games.
I'd even take a DotEmu remake/sequel.

>>6586112
No remakes, please. I'm getting tired of this current remake-remaster frenzy we're having when the games are already perfectly fine and playable. Gimme Shining Force 4 or another 1st person gridder ala SitD or Holy Ark.

>>6586312
Some threads ago someone suggested a port and QoL update to SF3, I'd still take that tbqh. You know getting a timeline feature so you can jump to decision points after going through the game and an official translation for everything. Maybe make abilities not just random.

But yeah SF4 would be grand and hopefully a return to form in how it feels.
And for my personal never ever, make it use the Valkyria Chronicles combat system

>>6574103
>>6574141
>>6576359
Strider has the GOAT art.
Some fat blonde 40 year old with a spandex.
Priceless.

>>6582004
>I can't speak for Gaiden or CD, haven't played them yet.
They're good. No map wandering sections though, only battles with a "camp" screen in between where you can buy items. There are still cutscenes, just the story is presented in a totally linear way since you can't wander and poke around in the towns.

>Shining Force's creator also allegedly said that the game wasn't based off of Fire Emblem, whose pacing he claimed was so bad not even he wanted to play it.
Was he full of shit?

>>6588041
Makes sense to me, they are very different games.

>>6588041
Sounds like cope over not being able to git gud at FE, which explains why SF games were so much easier.

>>6587832
Yeah, which is a bit of a shame, but not too bad either. I hear it also meant that the hidden items are all on the battle maps, which I imagine makes that a slight hassle vs the usual exploring.
Should still play them eventually.

>>6588468
>hidden items are all on the battle maps
Now I'm having Langrisser flashbacks

>>6589147
That's a game I should still play, It looks fun.
I wish the steam release had an option for the old battle animations and sprites tho, not just background and characters. Well and that it was cheaper.

Not sure on MD or SNES for the second game tho. I'm thinking MD just for the sake of not worrying about paths for a first go.

What's the story like for I and II there anyway?

>>6582778
Hopefully never.

>>6590219
>saying that when you saw healthy offspring of centaur/human couples in 3

>>6590219
man that is depressing

>>6590219
What >>6590245 said. See pic related, it's from SF3. My theory as to interspecies relations in the Shining series universe is that it's like the sex of a baby: you get male or female and the occasional outliers, e.g. hermaphrodites. So with human-centaur relations, the children will be either humans or centaurs in form and body even though genetically they are "half and half". So pic related's Justin, despite being listed as half-centaur, is completely centaur-like in appearance. I like to think that only occasionally would mutations occur, like maybe perhaps centaur x birdman would lead to a pegasus.

>>6586953
I was today years old when I realized the background enemies are clearly from 2E warhammer 40,000

>>6591551
I didn't even think of that guy, I was thinking of the families in Saraband that say their knight husbands went out to fight Synbios when you talk to them with Medion.
But I guess that works too.
>completely
Justin has cloven hooves IIRC, which is something that's somewhat unique to him.
>idea
Honestly the easiest one is the old "whatever the mother is the kid is"

>>6586112
Make a new Golden Sun game where new 8 characters join the previous 8 from Dark Dawn, besides the classic JRPG formula make it to a SRPG where husbando Isaac leads the SRPG part along the guys from Golden Sun and Lost Age.

Shining Force is my jam. Honestly feel like you are controlling an army though if a small one full of misfits. I love controlling massive armies in video games and always play as a summon/Nerco if possible just for that feeling. Try to get into FE but it just wasn't the same for me, always end up seeing them as blue axe guy, blue horse guy, etc. There is a point where controlling an army isn't that fun because the units may as well just be raw stat numbers after a point. 50 skeletons is 50 attack points for example which is why I couldn't get into Might and Magic.

Is there any good games comparable to Shining Force where you control an army but the units are different enough that they never turn into stats on a page? Gong is still one of my personal favorites, a true jack of all trades without being shit due to it.

>>6593798
I think half the fun for these kinda SRPGs or TRPGs or whatever you want to call them is having a good cast of characters for your armies.
Generic dudes can work too, but I think having characters you care about, even in a game without permadeath like SF, helps a ton.
>Might and Magic
Same kinda, it's fun, but the units really just turn into statistics.
>games
I am very biased because it's one of my favourite game series, but if you can take some weebery, Valkyria Chronicles.
You get a decent pool of soldiers that all have their own little thing. It's not much in the first game, but starting with VC2 the side characters also get their own little mission each to expand on their characters a bit.
I recommend it, but be aware that it's anime WW1/2, with some tropes here and there.
1 and 4 are on steam, 2 and 3 are PSP titles and as a result emulate easily. 3 has a translation patch because it was JP only. And if you end up enjoying the games, don't make my mistake and skip 2 because of school anime bullshit it turned out to be a pretty fun game and a decent enough story regardless.

Course those aren't quite the same in gameplay, VC is a bit unique in its combat system.
There's other SRPGs though that are more traditional, Jeanne D'Arc on PSP was also pretty good.
There's also still FEDA, which is that SF clone on SNES that got a translation at some point. More or less SF in gameplay and everything.

>>6593798
>Gong is still one of my personal favorites, a true jack of all trades without being shit due to it.
pic related, especially after looking around online for comments and mostly seeing him getting shit on

>>6593798
Langrisser has named characters as leaders of teams of nameless troops, so you have a strongly-characterized cast but also a large army. (Like Shining Force if each character also had a set of weaker unnamed soldiers associated with them.)

as a kid (~6-8 years old):
>played on Super because it sounded fun
>never did any grinding because I never considered it
>promoted at level 10 because it was an upgrade, right?
>never leveled up Max because losing him meant game over
I was basically playing a challenge run. zombies, circus fight and final boss were brutal.

I did the same thing in 2, until I got to Taros were it's required to use a buff Bowie, and that's when I figured out how to grind.

>>6594785
That sounds neat, I'll look into it.
>>6594853
>promoted at level 10 because it was an upgrade, right?
I'm not sure how /vr/ Shining Force experts feel about it but from my understanding exp is semi-random and semi-scaled to catch you up if you are lacking. Promoting early give basically the same result due to such. I could be wrong about this though so let's see if anyone can add to my comment.

>>6594974
exp is based entirely on what monster you are fighting, every type of monster will give you 48-49 exp on a kill if it is level appropriate until you start over leveling and start getting 30 and then 10 and finally 1 per kill.

How promotion figures into this is that a promotion class gains exp as though they are level 10 or 20 regardless of how many levels they have gained before promotion.

>>6586953
Neat they got Dave Coulier.

>>6593848
My man, I also love Valkyra Chronicles. Still only ever have played VC 1 and 2, though I actually own VC 3 and 4 but haven't played them to this day. I'll play them soon-ish.
>>6594584
Last time I played my Gong ended up being kinda shit tbqh, didn't level him up properly. I feel like that's the fate of a lot of monks, you kinda have to actually make them engage in combat and kill dudes, otherwise the exp gain from healing is too little to carry them.

>>6594974
>semi-scaled to catch you up if you are lacking
This is true for some of the SF games. Don't remember which though, I think SF2 onwards. The game kinda does a numeric check once every 5 levels or so on your characters to see their stat growth; if lagging behind, the next level up will be slightly better to make up for it. Still not enough to offset the bonuses from promoting late though, so in the end promoting later will still give overall better stats but just not by much.

>>6595159
in sf1 there is a lot more randomness to stat gains and while the game will attempt to weigh stat boosts to balance this out you can still get unlucky with level ups. Gong has one of the more extreme random variances for his attack, I recall it being something like between 40 and 76 at max level and without any monk weapon in sf1 low rolls for his attack will make him unusable

>>6595159
3 and 4 are also pretty good in my opinion. I really enjoyed them. So have fun with them.

>>6594853
I mean for a casual playthrough promoting at 10 doesn't really matter all that much, I've done it for all three games in a row and had no issues with any of them. Admittedly did a bit of grinding in 2 and 3, but still.
So unless you go for maxing out everything, I don't think you'll see too much of a difference.

>tfw to autistic to not level up all characters equally
I re do the Balbazack battle until all characters reached Lv15 and then upgrade them to level them up to Lv 5, all of them except for Jogurt.

>>6595746
I had that autism, until I got to the end of 3 and just didn't get around to finishing all the dungeons for the best swords and to get everyone to the exact same level instead of just finishing the game properly.
But godspeed

>>6595175
as a kid i remember thinking Gong was literally the worst character, and on later replays thinking he was one of the best. must've gotten bad rolls.

>>6595896
I once I got so lucky with the guy he actually lost stats after promoting.

Just finished Shining Force 3 (all scenarios) for the first time, and I’ve got a shit ton of stuff I wanna talk about. With SF 3 finished, I’ve finally completed every single Camelot-era Shining game other than Gaiden 1 and 2 which I’ve skipped since it’s been remade in SF CD, so I only played the latter. Some background: used Translation V.20 which was released in Dec 2018. Played completely blind and without a guide which meant, yes, I killed Spiriel, I missed Noon, I couldn’t find Hagane, I failed to rescue the train refugees, I only found one penguin, and Marky was murdered in cold (geddit?) blood.

Screenshots are all my own.
(1/4)

>>6596075
>GAMEPLAY
A ton of really good additions:

1. Really like the separate inventory slot for weapons and accessories. Much better than previous SF’s suffocating 4-item limit.
2. Attaching a spell to magic-type weapons (Rods/Staffs/Wands) is probably the best addition in SF3, combat-wise. Opens up so many different combos and strategies, allows spell-casters to remain relevant even way in lategame with proper spell utilisation, allows healers to fight and mages to heal, it’s so good. If SF4 is ever made, this is the one mechanic I absolutely want to return. Loved it.
3. In contrast, I am neutral about the whole weapon-triangle thingy (Swords > Axes > Lances) Camelot borrowed from Fire Emblem. Not that it’s a bad system, but it’s one of those that even if it was removed from any future hypothetical SF games, I wouldn’t mourn its loss. I’m not sure if it really adds any additional strategic depth to the combat. Kinda don’t care about it tbqh.
4. I kinda like the new criticals and specials they’ve introduced. Lots of variety, very good. The best ones are the ones that actually have an effect (silence, poison, etc.) rather than just a normal damage increase. The only thing that’s a bit iffy is how there’s a bit too much RNG; like I want my archer to use Spell Virus to silence a mage but he ends up using a different critical. That can be annoying. Maybe future games (heh ;_;) should slightly reduce the RNG variance.

(2/4)

>>6596079
>STORY
Story was very good in most places, though a few plot-points kinda fell flat in Scenario 3. I like the political intrigue, I like how the game isn’t afraid to use a LOT of story-important characters. The intersection of Synbios and Julian’s story was very well done. The throwback and references to Shining the Holy Ark was excellent. Overall everything’s like an 8/10. A couple things that somewhat disappointed me:
1. Rainbloods were not utilised well. They were really cool in Scenario 2 as this new scary threat, but in Scenario 3 is just used as a side-boss. Not even that plot relevant. At least Yasha was relevant throughout all 3 scenarios and had very important scenes.
2. I honestly think Jane was introduced far too late given how important she becomes towards the end, and indeed, in the ending itself. Her development and relationship with Julian just felt a tiny bit rushed though still serviceable.
3. Somewhat lacking resolution to the story of the Empire and the Emperor. Did Domaric got away with everything he’s done and remains emperor? What’s gonna happen to Saraband now that Garvin’s dead? Will the Aspinian Republic forever remain poor and impoverished? I feel like Scenario 3’s second half threw out a lot of the interesting political intrigue and settle for a more traditional Shining Force story of evil vs good which normally is fine by me, but given the buildup from Sce. 2 and 3, a bit of a shame, eh? But I don’t want to complain too much about this, Sce 3 still remains a very good conclusion.

I assume that Camelot were very aware of some of these unanswered questions and were planning to resolve them in future games, but RIP to that idea since Mario Tennis all day everyday.

(3/4)

>>6596082
One additional thing I want to add: it surprised me just how religious SF3’s story was. The Shining series has always had that element of religion since forever (save, cure etc. at churches/temples), but SF3 just takes that up a notch. Games being anti-religious has always been a thing, so SF3 was this really odd exception in how straight-faced it was in its exposition of “we worshippers of Elbesem are of the right religion and those Bulzome buffoons are the bad ones”. Elbesem, with its scriptures and godchild and temples, is pretty much an organised religion and organised religions aren’t that often portrayed in a positive light in most Japanese RPGs (FFX, etc.). I wouldn’t even call SF3 “pro-religion” since that implies a more “believers vs atheist” plot point and that was mostly absent; SF3 was just “religious”.

One thing that confused me is that if these guys worshipped Elbesem, then who is the Creator? They all talk about how the Creator sends down these spirits using the Holy Ark, but they never mention or refer to the Creator by name. Implying Creator =/= Elbesem. But then why worship Elbesem? Shit’s weird.

Anyways, that’s all for now. I probably have more shit I want to post and discuss later on, but I literally only just finished the game and kinda need more time to digest and think it through.

(4/4)

Also! That final bonus scene with Elise was some good shit mang. I already know that Elise will make an appearance since I accidentally read that somewhere beforehand, but that moment still made me excited. Sheeeeit. Wish we got a continuation.

By the way, I wanna ask, which army ended up being the strongest for you? Mine was Medion; despite the Julian army supposedly being the strongest in-canon, in my playthrough Medion's platoon was just straight up killing machines. They had the least trouble killing that bonus boss Taros. Although best spellcaster ended up going to Masquring. She was the first character to have both HP and MP >100 and ended up being one of the highest level characters across all three armies. Also she a cutie.

>>6596075
Well, F to Spiriel already.
I played through it earlier in the year, I finished a few months ago I think. Still got CD ahead of me though.

>>6596079
>spell to magic weapons
I am pretty sure that was in the other games too, wasn't it? Some weapons or rings could be used and they'd cast a spell. Sword of Light in particular comes to mind.
>specials
Still wish they were using some SP gauge or so and not triggered at random, I had more than one situation in my run when victory or death hang on one of those things. But they were fun.

>>6596082
>Rainbloods
Yeah, those guys kinda ended up as a disappointment. Still cool for designs, but they should've had them show up more perhaps on missions from Domaric as he schemed around. Kinda like Yashia, yeah.
>Jane
Yeah could've shown up in Scenario 1 too, kinda odd that she was just there at the end of 2, but then again, it also made you want to look at what happens in 3 with her, and then she was around at least a bit more. So I think it makes some sense. Especially considering she cared about Desheren, but not the two you kill in the first scenario IIRC.
>lacking resolution
Agreed again in a way. I think it made sense for Domaric to see that he was effectiely defeated by the time you get to him in Scenario 3. No doubt he would probably show up again later with his conquering plans, but that will be an issue for then. Albeit maybe he has grown too old for that, and Medion clearly isn't going to try that again, rather I think he was looking to work on the Empire first and foremost.

I think they kinda dropped the politiking, but that also made sense for the journey that Julian gets, which was always the outsider looking in and on his own path. So he ended up seeing the bigger picture.
Admittedly so did Benetram. It's mostly Domaric who just tried to use everyone to win regardless of Bulzome.

>>6596084
I mean it fits with SF as a whole with the Devils and all. Inventor was a silly name for the "good guys" though.

>>6596089
I think ultimately it was Julian, because I ended up levelling them quite a bit more simply because they started higher level than the rest.
But beyond that, as far as difficulty goes, I think they were all about equal.
I think my strongest character in the end was Honesty, because she ended up being very useful as a mobile ICBM and stealing XP.
>Masquirin
Yeah she can take off really well. Oddly enough though Grace took off for me for Synbios. She raced ahead of everyone in levels pretty quickly.
>a cutie
Also correct.

>>6596110
>Some weapons or rings could be used and they'd cast a spell
Yeah, that's been a thing since the very first game i.e. Shining in the Darkness. What I meant is equipping a mage with a staff grants that staff's special spell as the mage's 4th spell. Which is why magic users in SF3 only ever learn 3 spells and not 4 unlike previous SF. To leave a spare room for that "equippable spell".
>Still cool for designs
Absolutely, the Rainbloods had amazing design as these elite soldiers. Very cool.
>I think they kinda dropped the politiking, but that also made sense for the journey that Julian gets
Yeah I suppose. SF3 is in some way primarily about Julian's journey.
>Inventor
Innovator, you mean. It may be silly, but it's memorable because of how unusual it is.
>>6596120
>Honesty
Yeah, same here. She's a very good character, both story-wise and combat-wise.

>>6596157
Oh, yeah gotcha now, misread that then. Yeah getting some spells from staffs was fun. albeit I wish there had been an option to choose what it replaces.
>Innovator
Yeah that, my bad. But yeah it sticks, just felt a bit too mundane to me, but I guess it works too given the other side is all about destruction, while they were about building things.

As for >>6596084 again. I don't remember the details of the Creator, given he's not mentioned too much IIRC. But for a while, especially with the whole reset if stuff goes wrong business, it almost kinda felt like just a nod to the game itself, how you'd just reset if you messed it up.

Probably not it, but still.

But in-universe I think he was just meant to be a completely neutral entity outside everything that is looking in. Elbesem is some god, or perhaps an Innovator. So they couldn't be the Creator.

>Honesty
Yeah I really liked her character too, bit of a shame that while she had a good number of scenes in Scenario 2, that she just kinda goes silent in 3, I had hoped for a bit more from her.
I am sad I couldn't save the ship's captain because I didn't pick up that dumb key in scenario 1, but oh well.
Also a bit of a shame they didn't give her the tail feathers that the other pegasi have, I thought that was a really nice and sorta sensible design choice

Did you play Final Conflict and Premium Disc? Any thoughts on then?

I beat this with a friend like twenty years ago. I don't remember much except for centaurs and the ending. The ending was badass and hyped the fuck out of child me. Cool game

>>6596084
>The Shining series has always had that element of religion
never really thought about this. it is kind of refreshing that it's just a matter of fact in the Shining universe rather than some commentary on real religion which most games go for.

>>6578732
Except it doesn't. You still play as the girl on the left and have those creatures in it, not a warrior metal bikini lady

>>6597130
Yes, I did play Final Conflict. The best Gaiden game by far, beating out both Gaiden 1 and 2. Mostly because of how canonically important it was, bridging the gap between SF1, SF2 and SitD. Gaiden 1 & 2 kinda felt like "lazy" sequels in terms of its story; you have all these children of the heroes from SF1 but that aspect was never explored. They could just be random warriors and it still wouldn't have changed the story.
>>6597262
The ending was pretty cool, yes.
>>6597573
The thing that surprised me was how straighforward it was. It's just a "we're of the Elbesem religion and these masked fuckers worship Bulzome and have been causing havoc in the region and that's wrong, so let's wage holy war". There was no, like, a character questioning his faith, or people doubting the authenticity of their holy text, or any of those quasi-religious commentary. It makes sense though, in that Shining Force is the kinda story you'd read in a very old fantasy book. Like an old fable. Like a biblical story.

OH! One more thing to add. I fucking love Arthur the Centaur. Badass motherfucker, probably my favourite cavalry unit in the game. Camelot's official bio page for Arthur states that there *may* be a blood relation between SF1's Arthur and SF3's Arthur, and yes, before you ask, they are absolutely not the same person since SF1 takes place in a separate timeline from SF3:
>https://www.camelot.co.jp/force3/database/closeup2/arthur.html

>>6597130
Whoops, forgot to answer about that Premium Disc. No, I haven't played it yet. I did have a lookaround though, and see all the models and voice clips. That's nice.

Was the second final triple army fight in the snow kinda laggy for anyone else? I remember mine dropped framerates at that point. Probably because of the Saturn's limitations, but I was wondering if my choice of emulator (Mednafen) had anything to do with that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCuK7P-57OI
>We'll never get a follow-up to Galm and Elise's plans
Where's my finale, Camelot?

>>6598391
I don't remember it being, so perhaps it was Mednafen. But honestly, no clue.

>>6597775
>so let's wage a holy war
I mean, if we're fair, they were sabotaging two countries into war, albeit arguably Domaric let it happen, and then trying to summon a thing that would just end the world.
They were pretty evil culty.
>Arthur
He gets bonus points for also having the sensible SF1 armor design whereas everyone else was a bit silly in SF3. I do wish they'd gone for more like his for them all.

>>6597781
Just a note, the Premium lets you make your own party with everyone in it if you want to, it asks you about who you saved and what you did and obviously if you pick the right options it'll give you the full set for everyone. Then you can assemble your ideal party from that whole pool.

>>6598703
>the Premium lets you make your own party with everyone in it if you want to
Yeah, I'm aware. But feels weirdly inappropriate to do so without having recruited them properly.

>>6598415
Sorry anon, best I can do is a new Mario Tennis with Shining characters

>>6599349
True in a way, but I also didn't plan on playing through the games again in full just to get three characters.

>>6600001
>Shining Tennis
Fund it.
Shining Golf
FUND IT.

>>6574394
Ex was apparently a gauntlet clone

>>6600793
What about Shining Kart but they're either on horseback, running, flying, driving those silly tanks etc?

>>6593798
>Is there any good games comparable to Shining Force where you control an army but the units are different enough that they never turn into stats on a page?
Disgaea is good but not retro.

>>6601967
Imbalanced as fuck, but I suppose it can be balanced by giving proper attacks, specials, and HP values accordingly so it's like a battle racer. Speaking of racing, I'm surprised there's not a single reference or cameo to the Shining series in that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed game. We got a bunch of other retro stuff, like Shinobi, Panzer Dragoon, Alex Kidd, but just not Shining.

>>6594853
the first game doesnt ask you for difficulties though, thats 2.

>>6602206
Doesn't that turn into a giant grindfest?
Then again I just couldn't get into that one because it didn't seem like my kinda story and all

>>6602329
Yeah that could've been fun. Can't say I played it but it kinda looked like a fun racer too.
That said, I would've taken a reference in VC4 like they did with Vyse and Aika in VC1. Just put some of the humans in there with the same far off land background comment.
But then again if they were to do that I'd expect them to pick some of the new Shining stuff instead just to promote it.

>>6602845
Shining cameos are so damn rare. I'm still surprised pic related happened.

>>6602961
>ruthlessly
Come on, she's nice when you get to know her.

>>6602845
>Doesn't that turn into a giant grindfest?
Not really. I mean, you can grind infinitely if you want, it lets you keep playing with new game + and also item worlds. Item worlds are pretty neat, kind of like a roguelike style dungeon in each item, even shitty low tier healing items or epic weapons have them.

I never played over and over but my younger cousin actually ran the timer until it was frozen, either 999 hrs or 9999 hrs. It was a crazy amount of playtime, he left the system on while doing other stuff around the house but still.

>>6602961
>tfw Mishaela in Wreck-It Ralph

>>6602961
Oh that's cute and precious. I want to play those SEGA AGES titles but they're Switch only and I'm not buying a bloody Switch. Though the latest Herzog Zwei is very close to convincing me.

>>6602656
either way, the first game was still pretty difficult with 0 grinding and auto promotion.

>>6586953
Looks like Chris Pine.

>>6603767
There's a Herzog Zwei remake, or just a port on an AGES thing?

>>6603745
I thought that was said to not be her?

>>6604809
>There's a Herzog Zwei remake, or just a port on an AGES thing?
It's an AGES thing, but it's like the definitive version of that game with all the modern conveniences. I want it. Probably also runs better.

>>6604937
What did they add to it then? You know that an emulator doesn't?
Just curious. And yeah could be fun

>>6576270
>grid paper
You're thinking of the Sega Master System. Mega Drive were mostly full color art works (except some of the earlier ones, which had a grid background with a large colour picture in the middle, like the OP's pic). But I hate the PAL cover art for Landstalker, SF1, SF2. Shining in the Darkness is passable.

Phantasy Star on SMS was very average compared to the jap version.

>>6595946
That's normal though. His stats will increase at a faster rate after promotion.

>>6604947
See:
>https://www.gematsu.com/2020/06/sega-ages-herzog-zwei-first-details-screenshots
A bunch of stuff was added that an emulator can't like improved UI, online play, save games, save replays, a tutorial, etc. This is one of those AGES game that I feel like I really, really should buy.

>>6603745
>>6604809
it is definitively NOT her. look it up if you dont believe it.

I never bothered to look up the meanings of these Greek-lettered words in SF3. Anyone knows these?

>>6605538
Another example.

>>6605538
I'm not sure they mean anything. Shop and all tend to be named the same IIRC, but I think they just used them as a fantasy font. But maybe I'm a brainlet.

>>6605420
Oh yeah, that's neat then

>>6605538
>>6605543
It's nonsense and they did it because it looks foreign to Japanese.

>>6574103
best.

Inspires me to make a streamlined version of the game.

>>6574103
I just finished last night. Now I'm feeling a void in my heart. Is 2 any better?

>>6606306
What are you waiting for, anon, start coding today!

>>6606475
2 has some QoL additions, such as automatically handing items from Bowie to other members of the force when he picks stuff up, a larger open world to walk around sometimes and a few random encounters on that overworld you can repeat.
Also more cutscenes with a bit more animation, which is mostly to say sprites having seizures. But it's fun.

Definitely play it if you enjoyed 1. Personally I still enjoy 1 more for the overall story and character designs, but that's personal preference.
And then after that you can go for 3, which is also pretty damn good.

>>6606721
Not them, but there's that clone some guys on the forums were making and I really wonder what engine it runs on. Or rather seems odd that there's just a single SRPG maker thing out there. The genre seems like something that could have been fun to throw together some dumb scenarios for with some simple to use program like that.

>>6576270
>proud of having shit taste
>calls others childish
LMAO

>>6607575
>that clone some guys on the forums were making
Legacies of Veridocia? Yeah, that does look promising: https://youtu.be/QCUuWO6ZN7s

>>6607695
Yeah, haven't gone through the demo yet though. But it also seemed a bit dead.
>Island King
How can a single man be this based?
Shame we never saw merfolk again after that one, they could've used one that wanted to see the world or something for one of the mech suits or tanks in 3 or something like that.

>>6607715
Did SF2 not have any merfolk? I honestly don't remember.

>>6607738
I thought not, you don't really go out to sea after the first big journey.
Maybe as enemies but I don't think so.

Not retro, but anyone played Shining Force Neo, that weird game that tried to be a legit Shining game before they went the Tony Taka way?

>>6607770
Not me, sorry. Man, even Tony Taka-era Shining is kinda dead, the last one was Refrain and that's just a remaster of a 2014 game. Think about that. The last nu-Shining RPG was 6 years ago. SIX!

>>6603443
Does this series deserves to be known as "Waifu Showdown"?

Because fuck me, my younger self jumped from one girl on to the other between gameplays, imagining some nice love story between them and Max

>>6607770
I did give it a try, if only because it still tried to kinda retain a similar world. But the problem with that game was that it just wasn't a very fun ARPG, you don't have a lot of moves (at least not at the start), and that's it, you can't play as your teammates and you can't really do much else. And IIRC Exa is the same, except you get a cool robot base at some point or something.
Maybe I'll get back to it eventually, but if you want a more modern Shining game, Feather is probably your best bet. Unfortunately that was never translated and I'm endlessly salty about that, because the gameplay is pretty fun.

>>6607885
They had every chance to revive it after FE got big again, hell they did it with Valkyria Chronicles, who would've thought they'd make a sequel to that ever again. But they just kinda didn't for SF.
I'd even take the some of anime bullshit, just mix in some of the fairytale feel, the melting pot of races and make it an SRPG again.

>>6607921
>just mix in some of the fairytale feel, the melting pot of races
Don't forget the robots! I always love the robot characters in these Shining games. Adam in SF1 was cool. Robby in SF3 was my favourite, gave him tons of booster items. Ended up being a killing machine (heh) with MOV 7 and fuckloads ATK.

>>6608518
Zynk deserves some love, imo. Not the strongest character, but I like his design.

>>6608518
Yeah robots are mandatory, they all had fun designs too.

>>6610327
Very nice. Was this included in every Mega Drive copy of the game? As part of the manual?
I wish we know how pre-Holy Ark lands (Rune, etc.) and located in relation to Enrich and Aspinia. Were they separated by sea? Were these two continents aware of each other's existence?

>>6610763
There was a map that someone made that I dont have handy, that included Aspinia et al as a landmass next to SF2s places, separated by a range of mountains. With 1 and 2 on separate continents and I think one more island somewhere

>>6605538
>Kafi
>Veoursoil
I think it's supposed to be Baersol

>>6610778
>I think one more island somewhere
Probably the continent for Gaiden 1 and 2, yeah?

I'm still so fucking torn on whether or not to buy that stupid yellow Game Gear Micro. On one hand, it's just a novelty item that's way too small to be played comfortably and is mostly for collecting purposes. On the other hand, it's fucking SHINING FORCE. あああああああああああああああああ!!!!

>>6611174
If ir gets a localisation it is a buy. If it doesnt it isnt.

>>6611150
Yeah probably.

>>6611293
>If ir gets a localisation it is a buy
It absolutely won't.

>>6612703
Yeah but one can dream

>SF thread
I haven't been on /vr/ in a while but I'm glad to have caught this at least.
>>6594785
I know mobile games are considered trash, but I really enjoyed of what I played of the mobile game and it really made me yearn for a new SF once more. Pretty sad though that the actual remake of Langrisser looks and feels like it should be the mobile game instead though.
>>6611174
I feel you. It's very tempting to get since it's majority SF and I would like to display the box for sure, but the fact that I wouldn't get much use out of it besides that conflicts me.

>>6613883
It's odd that they went with that artstyle for the Langrisser remake. Then again I suspect they had the assets lying around from the mobile game?
>SF thread
Semi regular as of late it seems, most of why I'm around here anyway.

>>6614084
/vr/ is a slow board, as long as they are regularly bumped threads can be around for a long time. OP here posted two weeks ago.

>those pre-smartphone Shining Force games

I wonder if they were any good.

>>6615074
It will start to just autosage if it's getting too old though afaik.

>>6615112
Got some more sources on them?

>>6615279
Nothing much, just the original (archived) site of the two Road games. Google says it's a Shining Tears prequel.

https://web.archive.org/web/20061231124352/http://shining-world.jp/mobile/sr/home.html

There were also Gaiden remakes (not CD) that came out on JP phones, they were called Shining Force Chronicle (I, II, III):

http://sp.puyosega.com/appli/shining_force_chronicle3/index.jsp?param=sittop

Funny thing about this is that they also came out on Android, but were removed after a month.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.sega.shining_force_chronicle3.monthly.sum

>>6615619
Oh, I also found this.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/4uk5qygxyijrxmm/Shining_Force_Mobile_Resources.zip/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/7lcz6lufxgrf6rr/SFC3.zip/file

Resources of the three Chronicle games (portraits, bg, etc).

>>6615631
Oh that is very nice.

>>6615619
Never knew that all existed, shame about the removal, but then again with it being JP only I doubt I could've done much with it anyway.

>>6585261
What I wouldn't give for a remake or remaster that does shit like open the Trader early so that all those weapons he sells aren't obsolete right out of the gate. Or better yet, a dungeon that isn't in the labyrinth.

>>6585273
Sell your clothes, invest in a Short Sword, a Woven Robe, and a few Herbs.
Don't even think of going past the first few halls until you're at least Level 5.
You're probably going to get slaughtered by the first mini-boss because you won't see it coming. Level up to about 7, buy a Fur Coat or Gauntlet, then take it on again.
When you've done all that, then the real game begins.

>>6574141
Looks fucking gay compared to western box art

Which one is better, SF1 or 2. And why?

>>6616624
Been a long while since I played either, but I'll try and give a short answer; MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS:
>SF1
Less filler fights.
Better story pacing.
Tighter overall storytelling.
No "love triangle"/heroine getting cucked in the ending.
>SF2
Better actual gameplay.
More variety in characters and spells.
Way better music.
Deeper lore exposition including links to SitD.

>>6616624
I think I'll agree with >>6617123
Personally I ended up liking SF1 more, but gameplaywise it is the weaker of the two in that it lacks some QOL features. But that isn't really a dealbreaker.
Character designs and the different races also felt a bit more consistent in 1, feels like with 2 they started to add more and more and also made everyone look like they weren't really in uniform. That may be a plus or a minus depending on what you like, but I thought it was neat to get an army that kinda looked like one despite being a bunch of ragtags.
1 also had Mae so that's a plus

That isn't to say 2 wasn't a ton of fun either of course.

>>6617174
>1 also had Mae so that's a plus
Good anon.

>>6616624
The answer is CD thanks to its amazing OST.

>>6617123
>No "love triangle"/heroine getting cucked in the ending.
there really isnt a "love triangle". you have a (unbelievable as always) love at first sight thing with the with the princess, and then you have sarah out of nowhere throwing a tantrum at the end. also sarah is an ugly piece of shit with an annoying character, so fuck her. other than that, you're right on all points
>>6616624
personally, i think 2 is just an objective improvement. its bigger, more exploration, more secrets, YOU CAN GO BACK AND GET STUFF THAT YOU MISSED because you arent locked to locations by chapters, cooler bosses, better battle map layouts (seriously, the number of pure forest/mountain maps AND stupid choke points in 1 is atrocious), all of the QoL improvements, better character/weapon pacing and variety. however, some people prefer the simpler first game and feel that the second one is fluffed up too much. in regards to the plot and story, the first one is more direct "you're the hero, chase down and go kill the baddies!", but the second one has more sideplots/missions along the way, and fleshed out side characters/relationships and world lore. they tried to shoehorn in some sleeping beauty love shit, and it feels kind of forced, but the first one is just "fight for victory. period." 2 has more going on and might not always do it "great", so some people prefer the clear simplicity of 1.

>>6615619
>jp.co.sega.shining_force_chronicle3.monthly.sum

Someone saved the apk, right?

>>6617742
How's it going Sarah hate Anon?

>>6615619
kek

>>6617772
I suspect they didn't, or if someone did it's god knows where.

>>6617123
>SF2
>Way better music.
agree overall but SF1 has one of my favorite battle themes in any game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSEcBVl3FIU

Looks like we're not bumping anymore. Until next time everyone.

>>6617742
>hating first and best girl

Horses

>>6618881
horse pussy