Douglas's game of the week: Shining Force: Ressurection of the Dark dragon

[Sim Kid]

I'm sure you know that Codiekitty and I did not have much fun playing the original-To clear a few things up, I didnt' really hate it, It had quite a few things done right, but quite a bit of it was executed terribly. Shining Force: Ressurection of the Dark Dragon is a remake of Shining Force-I played it at a friend's house and actually liked it-I have NOT slipped to the dark side, as I'm neither a Fire Emblem Fan or Shining Force fan CK, I'm just a strategy whore. I am rather impressed that Sega's fixed quite a bit of the flaws the first one presented-Maybe Atlus had something to do with it?

The graphics of Shining Force: Ressurection of the Dark Dragon are a big improvement from the original-In the words of Dark Gaia, the first party members you get look like the 7 dwarves. In Rodd, they look much less like the 7 dwarves-Sure, they still look a bit like the 7 dwarves, but they look Much less like them-And Hans's portrat has really improved. He no longer looks like a Faerie (In the bad way), and he looks more like an Elf. Same with Diane (Is that her name again?), and Khris has probably improved the most-In the original, her portrait looked just plain freaky, and in here, she looks a LOT better, even though her sprite still looks like that. (Boo) Still, quite a bit of the enemies and characters are pallette swaps, and some of the characters are as tall as they are wide-This is excusable in some places, but it's not excusable with the Centaurs and the citizens of the Island you land on after that ship battle. (AAAIIIIEEEE!!!) Still, I like the battle sprites-They look pretty good, though most of their animations until they bet promoted is meh, but still, after you promote Narsha, when she casts a spell, she looks so cool.

Speaking of Narsha, there have been a few minor changes to the storyline-Narsha, the princess of Runefaust plays a significant role in the story, and she leaves her castle to join the Shining Force with Mawlock (The master of the cards, which I'll explain later), and Zukia(sp), an assassian. Other than a few changes, the storyline is still the same boring plot it was-Sega should AT LEAST think up a name for Dark Dragon, that way it sounds more original. Still, I like how it's just a story you're reading Simone, who now sits on a wall in broad daylight.

The Cards are a great feature sega added-Only Mawlock, the master of the cards of fate, can use them. Some of the cards are used for attacking, making your party members move twice, or creating an illusion of them for the enemies to go after. (Just create an illusion of Max-They'll go after him anyway) The cards can be found everywhere-sometimes your party members can give them to you. This feature would have been really great if it weren't just limited to Mawlock.


The AI has improved since the original-In the original, the enemies just went right for Max completley ignoring everyone else. Here, my characters actually risked getting surrounded. Still, quite a bit of the enemies will just go right for Max or will only attack if Max is nearby, or will just stand there going "duuuh" if you're shooting them with an arrow or throwing spears at them. It's an improvement, but the enemy AI could still use much more improvement.

Unlike the original, I didn't need just Max, Domingo, Centaurs, Lowe and Khris, and maybe Zylo and/or Guntz to beat the game. Not all Centaur Knights rip up everything in their path like in the original-At the start of Chapter 7 in the original, the only non-centaur characters I ever needed besides Max were Domingo, Lowe and Khris, and maybe Guntz and/or Zylo. At the start of Chapter 7 in the original, I only had ONE centaur who wasn't really that good and the rest were tearing up everything in their path. Still, if you use the Centaurs too much, they'll become too powerful, and the fact that some characters are weak and can't level up still remains in this game-But thanks to Narsha's attack spell, leveling up low-level characters can be easier, even though Narsha herself joins at level 1 (Though I promoted her at level 20 so now she's a key member during battles) but you can use it on her to buff her up and promote her.

The music is still as addicting as ever-Some of it is pretty repetetive, but I love that battle theme, Darksol's theme, and the Circus in Rindo theme-I can't get them out of my head. Like in the original, you still hear the blibby noises when the characters talk-luckily you can turn it off. Also, some of the weapon sounds need to sound more realistic-The swords actually SCREECH unless they make critical hits here. Still, the spell sound effects are pretty nice, and when swords make criticial hits, then it sounds more like a slash and less like a screech.

You haven't won yet T2K and Hobbes-I may have had fun playing the remake of Shining Force, that still doesn't change the fact that I didn't have fun playing the original. CK, I reccomend you try it first-That's how I knew I would actually like it, and do keep in mind that I'm neither a Fire Emblem fan nor Shining Force fan-I'm both actually. Back on topic, if you're a Shining Force fan, then get this, if you're a Fire Emblem fan, then don't get it-But if you're both, it's better to try first. While some of the flaws that were in the original still exist here, Sega did fix quite a bit of them, so if Sega were to fix the remaining flaws (And release the PS2 Sega Ages and remake Shining Force 2), then me likey. 7.45/10

Pros:
-=Some musics are pretty good=-
-=Some nice battle graphics=-
-=The Centaurs are no longer one unit war wagons=-
-=Narsha=-
-=The new card system=-
-=I no longer run out of MP so quickly unless using level 3 spells=-
-=It's easier to buff up weak units=-
-=Some portraits have improved=-

Cons:
-=The plot is the same as ever=-
-=Some of the flaws from the orignal still exist=-
-=The characters talk a bit too quickly=-
-=The AI has improved some, but still needs more work=-
-=Some of the music is repetetive=-
-=Zylo doesn't get enough lines=-
-=Some of the characters are as tall as they are wide=-
-=The swords screech unless they do a critical hit. AAAIIEEE!!!=-

[Codiekitty]

I'd really like to finish Shining the Holy Ark before I buy this.

Shining in the Darkness did not catch my interest at all. I bought it, played for a few minutes, put it a way, and this is the only time since then that I've even thought about it.


Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

[Sim Kid]

Shining in the Darkness was okay for when it was released, but I was bored-silly when I played it recently, and I reccomending trying it first CK, because there's still a chance you may not like it.

[Codiekitty]

*taps forehead*

You haven't been reading anything correctly lately, huh? I already bought the game. I already tried it. I was already bored-silly by it.


Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

[Mr.Hammermap]

I still perfer Fire Emblem to Shining Force, but it beats Advance Wars. I like the idea of a whole ton of named units that you get to like or hate better than Commanding Officers. So I'd say out of tactics games currently still being made:
FE>SF>AW

[Sim Kid]

Wait, I think I'm just misunderstanding you. Are you talking about Shining Force: ressurection of the Dark Dragon or Shining in the Darkness? I was just saying my opinion on Shining in the Darkness that it was okay for the time being but now it's boring as hell.

[Codiekitty]

I was talking about Shining in the Darkness with my last post. What were you talking about?


Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

[Sim Kid]

I was talking about Shining in the Darkness, hence the part of my post that said: "Shining in the Darkness"

[ August 09, 2004, 03:24 PM: Message edited by: Digi ]

[Codiekitty]

Including the line "and I reccomending trying it first CK, because there's still a chance you may not like it."? Because like I said, I already tried Shining in the Darkness. Ressurection of Dark Dragon is another story.


Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

[Sim Kid]

I said I reccomend you try Shining Force: Ressurection of the Dark Dragon first, not Shining in the Darkness, as it's boring either way.


And oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that Narsha's spells cost WAY too much MP. Attack level 1 costs like 8 MP when you might only have like 10 MP. (though at higher level's it's not a problem. Attack level 3 costs like 40 MP and I don't even have 40)

[ August 10, 2004, 12:17 AM: Message edited by: Digi ]