Wednesday 27 April 2011

Shining back

First post in AGES.... but I've just read some news that got me interested for once.

One of my favourite game brands is due to make a return - with Sega announcing that a new game is in development in the Shining RPG series - woohoo!

I owe a lot of my childhood development to Shining Force 2. I was absolutely hooked into its magical lands, set of characters, turn-based overhead grid-based battle system & quirky script back in the days of 1994, when I was the age of 13. And while it was nothing new, I also loved the way the developers used different tones to represent each character's voices during conversations - from the deep, low hum of the giants to the shrill chirps of the fairies.



The key to Shining Force 2 (and its prequel, which I only got to play many years later on the Sega Megadrive retro collection) was how user-friendly it was when compared to most other turn-based RPGs of its age. The tactical RPG genre, particularly on the MegsDrive, usually meant daunting menus, stat overload & overly serious style, but everything from the excellent quick menu system to the dramatic battle visuals made Shining Force 2 stand out. It had a lot of charm, great music, intruiging story & exciting cinematics. Who can forget the quick escape in the boat from the earthquake that destroys your hometown

The game also introduced me to the concept of levelling up. Often a chore, levelling up was nothing less than fascinating on Shining Force as the satisfaction of eventually reaching level 20 for each of your squad of characters - and therefore having the ability to 'promote' them to an entirely more kick-ass version of themselves - was always the reward, let alone the ongoing treats of surprising new spells or spell upgrades. You could even promote them to an alternative class if you had collected a secret item - tough decisions!

Anyhow - great news about the return. Though it will only be good if there are loads of centaurs in it like normal.

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