Shining Force (Genesis)

Hello world,

I apologize for the late review, but remembering that I hadn't played the game in several months, I felt I had to do it justice by going through it again. With this experience fresh in mind, I present Shining Force on the Sega Genesis.

The prologue describes the war between the Ancients and the evil Dark Dragon. The Powers of Light sealed it away, and how Dark Dragon vowed to return in 1,000 years. 1,000 years later, the Kingdom of Runefaust attacks Rune, shortly afterwards a small elvin girl is shown to be reading the book. She askes you for your name, and then the difficulty, and the story begins.

You play as Max (or whatever you named him), a Swordsman in training. You apparently took a beating, and are told that it was a good time to stop fighting. Knights approach your mentor, and you follow him to the castle. The character learns of how Runefaust has been threatening the land, and that you are to take a group of followers to help stop Runefaust. As soon as you leave the castle, you are met up with a small group, and the game takes off.

Like Final Fantasy, there are character classes, only instead of there being only six base classes and six stronger versions of those, there are actually 13 base classes and 13 stronger versions of those. Rather than try to explain them all, I'll list them from the Shining Force Wikia:

Basic classes

• Swordsman or abbreiviated in game to SDMN. This sword-orientated offensive class is given to the pre-promotion Human, Bowie, and later leader of the Shining Force.
• Priest or PRST - a class given to pre-promotion magic users who specialize in healing and defence magic such as Khris, Gong, Lowe and Torasu.
• Knight or KNTE - a class given to to pre-promotion male Centaurs such as Arthur, Ernest, Mae and Vankar.
• Warrior or WARR - a class given to pre-promotion males of short stature yet hardy resolve who specialize in blunt instruments and which include the Halfling Jaha and the Dwarf Randolf.
• Mage - a class given to pre-promotion male Elvish magic users who specialize in offensive magic, often calling on the elements or forces of nature. Examples of this class inlude Kazin and Tyrin.
• Wolfman or WFMN - a specific class given to pre-promotion Beastmen such as Zylo.
• Birdman or BDMN - a specific race and a specific class combined, given to the pre-promotion Amon and Balbaroy 
• Archer or ACHR - a specific range-based offensive class often seen in Elves such as Rick or Janet.
• Assault Knight or - a specific range-based offensive class seen in the female Centaur Lyle.
• Wing Knight or WGKT - a specific class given to the pre-promotion of Kokitchi.
• Magic Creature or MGCT - a specific race and specific class combined, given to pre-promotion and post promotion Domingo.
• Steam Kight or STKT - a specific class given to pre-promotion Guntz.

Promoted Classes

• Hero - the promoted version of Swordsman class
• Vicar or VICR - the promoted version of the Priest class
• Gladiator or GLDT - the promoted version of the Warrior class
• Paladin or PLDN - the promoted version of the Knight class
• Wizard or WIZ - the promoted version of the Mage class
• Wolf Baron or WFMN - the promoted version of the Wolfman class
• Bird Battler or BDBT - the promoted version of the Birdman class
• Sniper or SNIP - the promoted version of the Archer class
• Bow Knight or BWNT - the promoted version of the Rnager class
• Samurai or - there is no non-promoted class as Musashi comes already promoted

Advanced Clsses

• Robot or RBT - a specific race and advanced class combined in the character Adam

"Retrieved from "http://shining.wikia.com/wiki/Shining_Force:_The_Legacy_of_Great_Intention"

 

(Have note that some of the descriptions include later introduced characters.)

 

However, the Robot class upgrades to the Cyborg stage. Whoever typed up that list must not have ever upgraded Adam..must be due to how late you get him and how he is easily missed.

 

How "promotion" in this particular title works is that starting at Level 10, each character can upgrade to their higher form, allowing for more stat increase. However, it is recommended that you wait until Level 20, which is the highest level a non-promoted character can go up to. This is because the stat gain is slightly higher, and comparatively you don't lose as much stat points after the initial promotion.

 

Battles are done in the turn-by-turn method, each character/enemy taking their move, attacking, or using items. Depending on the character class, they can travel greater or shorter distances. Often those that can travel a great distance aren't very offensive, while those that are limited in their movement are occasionally more powerful. 

 

As you defeat enemies, you gain gold and experience points, which help you to level up and become more powerful. Often the case is with magical forces, once they reach a certain level they learn a better spell. Spells are incredibily useful, varying from healing, to damaging foes. Most if not all go in tiers, from the base spell, to Spell 2, to Spell 3, and then finally Spell 4. Some of these spells include Blaze, Freeze, Bolt, Aura, etc...

 

But you eventually find out that an evil man named Darksol is behind all of the occurences that had taken place. His goal was to break Dark Dragon's seal, becoming complete again. He was puppeteering the actions of Runefaust, collecting what he needed to break the seal. Eventually, you are able to get the Chaos Breaker, a legendary weapon. The Castle of the Ancients was brought up from the sea, and the team goes off to face Darksol and stop the resurrection of Dark Dragon.

 

Darksol is eventually defeated, however he lived on just enough to finish the ritual, and Dark Dragon returned. However, Dark Dragon was defeated shortly after, and Max thrust the Chaos Breaker into its head. The Castle of Ancients was starting to sink back into the ocean, and Max couldn't escape. He was bound to the Chaos Breaker. Using Egress magic, the team was warped out, bar Max, and he was presumed to be dead. The team continues on to restore the land of Rune, and the game ends...

 

However, after the credit roll, you see Adam, and an old farmer. There's a bit of conversation, and a third person appears. The farmer asks his name, and he turns around and...

 

Spoilers...

 

It's Max. He somehow survived, and would continue onward into a side-series, while a new character would come to lead a new Shining Force in the next game. The next game was quite a bit longer, and the story was more touching at times. However, both were excellent titles.

 

Final words, Shining Force was an excellent title, full of enriching gameplay, plot, and funny secrets (There are some well hidden costume items for two of the female characters, such as bikinis) and will take quite a bit of your time to finish.

 

I give Shining Force on the Genesis 4 Chaos Breakers out of 5.

 

Stay tuned for next week's review of...