MisterIceTeaPeach Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I have bought Shining Resonance Refrain for a 50% discount. From watching a video the battle gameplay looked very similar to the Tales of series. Since I am a fan of this series and Action RPGs in general, and unfortunately the amount of games of this genre is rather low, SRR got all my interest. And my first impressions after two hours gameplay proved me this buy was justified. It plays similar to Tales of with slightly more complexity, for example by letting the protagonist turning into a dragon for a short time which grants him superpowers. The issue might be that higher leveled enemies turn into a solo fight because the other party members are too underleveled and will most likely die. The characters are very well represented and likable so far. It is nice that certain answers can affect the relationship to a co-partymember. It is even cooler that a few questions are based on time which makes it kinda hard to go for the right answer. I only have seen it in Tales of Xillia 2 yet (unfortunately) and was positive surprised to see it in SRR. That said I figured out it is an entire series. Since SRR is my first part, I would approve recommendations or discussions of the other parts like a discussion just about SRR. I am fairly sure that I am going to get stuck sometime later and going to use this thread for the one or other question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punished Dayni Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I'll be honest, I tried the GBA port of Shining Force and while it seems like a good way to play that one, I've never gotten into it. If it seems like it might interest you, then probably try Force 2, it's supposed to be much better. Also, I decided to look at the series as I though it was only really Shining Force. I was horribly wrong. There's (At least) two continuities, but thankfully they are separable by one point: Everything from before Shining Soul is one continuity, so in the list below I removed the remakes from the first period and tried to pin down one version for games which had many. There's also apparently another game coming out this week, which is an enhanced version of a fighting game (When you look a little, it is clear that they just got a bunch of variety, especially from Soul on). Spoiler The start and the two Force Trilogies: Shining in the Darkness 28 March 1991 Sega Mega Drive Wii Virtual Console Windows Shining Force 19 March 1992 Sega Mega Drive Wii Virtual Console Windows GBA (The start of the SRPG part of the series, which is most of the first continuity titles) Shining Force Gaiden 25 December 1992 Sega Game Gear 3DS Virtual Console Never released outside Japan. Remade as part of Shining Force CD. (There's also mobile versions for this trilogy. I don't know how international these are) Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya 25 June 1993 Sega Game Gear 3DS Virtual Console Released in Japan as Shining Force Gaiden II. Remade as part of Shining Force CD. Shining Force CD 21 July 1994 Sega Mega-CD Contains remakes of Shining Force Gaiden I and II and a new scenario. Shining Force II 1 October 1993 Sega Mega Drive Wii Virtual Console Windows Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict 30 June 1995 Sega Game Gear Never officially released in English; however, fan translations are available. Shining Wisdom 10 August 1995 Sega Saturn Shining the Holy Ark 20 December 1996 Sega Saturn Shining Force III Scenario 1 11 December 1997 Sega Saturn Released in the US and Europe as Shining Force III. Shining Force III Scenario 2 29 April 1998 Sega Saturn Never officially released in English; however, fan translations are available. Shining Force III Scenario 3 23 September 1998 Sega Saturn Never officially released in English; however, fan translations are available. Shining Force III Premium Disk 3 December 1998 Sega Saturn Never officially released in English; however, fan translations are available. The everything else: Shining Soul 28 March 2002 Game Boy Advance This was the first game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture (all previous ones were developed by Camelot Software); all games from this point onward are not part of the same continuity as the pre-Soul games. Shining Soul II 24 July 2003 Game Boy Advance Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon 30 April 2004 Game Boy Advance An enhanced remake of the original Shining Force, with a revised story, new battles, and new characters. Shining Tears 3 November 2004 PlayStation 2 Character designs by Tony Taka. Shining Force Neo 24 March 2005 PlayStation 2 Shining Road to the Force 14 April 2005 Japanese mobile phones The first non-remake strategy Shining game in over seven years. Shining Road Priestess of the Dark Dragon 27 January 2006 Japanese mobile phones Shining Force EXA 18 January 2007 PlayStation 2 Shining Wind 17 May 2007 PlayStation 2 Follow-up to Shining Tears. Character designs by Tony Taka. Shining Force EXA Mobile 10 July 2007 Japanese mobile phones Shining Force Feather[4] 19 February 2009 Nintendo DS Shining Force Cross 3 December 2009 Arcade Shining Hearts[5] 16 December 2010 PlayStation Portable Characters designed by Tony Taka. Shining Blade[6] 15 March 2012 PlayStation Portable Characters designed by Tony Taka. Shining Ark[7] 28 February 2013 PlayStation Portable Characters designed by Tony Taka. Blade Arcus from Shining EX 26 November 2015 PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena 28 July 2016 Windows Shining Resonance Refrain 10 July 2018 Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One Enhanced port of Shining Resonance; unlike the original PlayStation 3 release, this version was available worldwide. First game in the series for an Xbox console. Blade Arcus Rebellion from Shining 14 March 2019 PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Enhanced port of Blade Arcus from Shining with the addition of extra characters from Shining Resonance Refrain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Branniglenn Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 When I first saw Shining Resonance in the Switch eshop, I thought "What? They made more of these?". While it is neither the tactics gameplay of Shining Force nor the dungeon crawler style of Shining in the Darkness I guess it's cool to hear about an old franchise that's still out there. When people say to me "the Sega Genesis had no good RPGs", the first thing I'll tell them about is Shining in the Darkness. It sounds like the vast majority of games after the Sega Genesis were Japan only, hence why it was off my radar. Looking at trailers of that new game, nothing particularly interests me about it. I remember looking around the Switch eshop and deciding I would pick up Ys over that game if I needed a lengthy action rpg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 1 hour ago, Glennstavos said: When I first saw Shining Resonance in the Switch eshop, I thought "What? They made more of these?". While it is neither the tactics gameplay of Shining Force nor the dungeon crawler style of Shining in the Darkness I guess it's cool to hear about an old franchise that's still out there. When people say to me "the Sega Genesis had no good RPGs", the first thing I'll tell them about is Shining in the Darkness. It sounds like the vast majority of games after the Sega Genesis were Japan only, hence why it was off my radar. Looking at trailers of that new game, nothing particularly interests me about it. I remember looking around the Switch eshop and deciding I would pick up Ys over that game if I needed a lengthy action rpg. If people were saying to you the Genesis had no good RPGs they clearly had no clue what Phantasy Star was. Among others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Branniglenn Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 33 minutes ago, Jedi said: If people were saying to you the Genesis had no good RPGs they clearly had no clue what Phantasy Star was. Among others. Exactly. It's one of those holdover talking points as some kind of remnant of the console wars. "Genesis doesn't have Final Fantasy" becoming "Genesis didn't have RPGs" when us in the west started to grasp this was a whole genre of console games around the PS1 era. Believe me, it still comes up to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 I've played a lot of Shining Force, particularly the first two titles. I've played CD and a handful of ones on the game gear as well. They're definitely old, but if you like FE gameplay then they may interest you. I haven't played any of the new Shining games sans the fighting game, which is quite fun. (The new release seems like a port w/ extra characters.) One thing I will say is the art for the new games is fantastic, Tony Taka draws really cute girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterIceTeaPeach Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) 14 hours ago, Gemma said: I've played a lot of Shining Force, particularly the first two titles. I've played CD and a handful of ones on the game gear as well. They're definitely old, but if you like FE gameplay then they may interest you. One thing I will say is the art for the new games is fantastic, Tony Taka draws really cute girls. I would be interested in the old games from what I am reading. I could play the ones which came out for 3DS virtual console. I do not know if the Shining Resonance characters are drawn by Tony Taka, but I find its artstyle gorgeous. Edited March 11, 2019 by Necrofantasia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elieson Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 14 hours ago, Gemma said: I've played a lot of Shining Force, particularly the first two titles. I've played CD and a handful of ones on the game gear as well. They're definitely old, but if you like FE gameplay then they may interest you. I haven't played any of the new Shining games sans the fighting game, which is quite fun. (The new release seems like a port w/ extra characters.) One thing I will say is the art for the new games is fantastic, Tony Taka draws really cute girls. SHINING DUO! The first two, and the others released nearby (Sword of Hajya for Gamegear, or the Shining Force 3 / Book series) are staples. I'd recommend #1 and #2 always Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 2 hours ago, Necrofantasia said: I do not know if the Shining Resonance characters are drawn by Tony Taka, but I find its artstyle gorgeous. Yes, he did the art for Resonance 2 hours ago, Elieson said: SHINING DUO! The first two, and the others released nearby (Sword of Hajya for Gamegear, or the Shining Force 3 / Book series) are staples. I'd recommend #1 and #2 always The light is always on our side B) I've always wanted to play 3, had a hard time emulating Saturn though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flere210 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) On 10/3/2019 at 10:45 AM, Dayni said: I'll be honest, I tried the GBA port of Shining Force and while it seems like a good way to play that one, I've never gotten into it. If it seems like it might interest you, then probably try Force 2, it's supposed to be much better. Rotdd imo is strictly worse than even SF 1, mostly because the new OC are stupidly strong and i don't like much tge artstyle change. And the game has some terribly designe maps like the fucking second batle that will turn off a lot of people( as much as i adore using forests and muntains to nerf cavaliers, sf1 maps made of 100% forests are still idiotic.) That said, i am currently replaying sf2 on super and i am amazed on how it manage to avoid most FE pitfalls: - the quality over quantity design of enemies make sure that not even an op unit like Peter can go ahead and kill everyone -cavaliers are held back by the right amount of difficult terrain while archers and many low mobility infrantymen are unnafected by it or get more mobile promotions. Archers also get 2-3 range on promotion, wich only a couple of mages can match -the bonus defence on plains and other "base" tiles make so that flyers pay the price of their mobility with weaker defence. Even Peter dies in 2 hits on super. -Slade is how you do a magickarp right. -lategame matters because enemy scales into insanity and bases does not overshadow growths, but are more or less equal (Rhode and Elric both having pros and cons, while in a fe Rhode would likely be much better). I really feel the gane is incredibly well balanced on the harder difficulties, wich is astounding considering what a mess SF1 was(i distincly remember getting like +12 in certain stats lol.) Edited March 11, 2019 by Flere210 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 4 hours ago, Flere210 said: Rotdd imo is strictly worse than even SF 1, mostly because the new OC are stupidly strong and i don't like much tge artstyle change. And the game has some terribly designe maps like the fucking second batle that will turn off a lot of people( as much as i adore using forests and muntains to nerf cavaliers, sf1 maps made of 100% forests are still idiotic.) Zylo our lord and saviour I agree, 2 addressed a lot of problems 1 had quite nicely. The maps are much better, and units within certain classes all have distinctive stat advantages and disadvantages, giving you more clear options as opposed to the nutty growths of 1. I think my only complaints with 2 is that the number of units you have is very small until around halfway through, and the pacing is more slower than 1, making it a bit of a drag. I tried so hard to do a no death Super playthrough, so difficult. I had to give up on the Zalbard fight. Good memories of ragquitting and figuring out strats... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterIceTeaPeach Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 Is Shining Resonance meant to be hard? The first bosses are incredibly high leveled compared to the regular enemies and kill my team with 2-3 hits. Even the transformation of the main character does not help me much further. Barely could beat the first boss and now I am lost against the boss in the Primula rescue mission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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