Shining Force

[IceDigger]

Just a heads up for all you Shining Force fans. Shining Force for the GBA is now available at your local video game store!

 

[schi0249]

I just realized the other day that I have this on my DC. I wiped out my copy of Smash Pack and realized its on that. Man that game rocks. Has anyone heard anything about the GBA release?

 

[racketboy]

good reviews

just like the original only a few tweaks.

If you like the Genny game, you should like the GBA one

 

[schi0249]

Cool. I might have to pick that up then.

 

[Darsh]

I can't wait for the other Shinning Force games. They look to be very promising I think.

Good to hear that the GBA Shinning is out. I'll pick that up this weekend for sure.

 

[Caelestis]

Personally, I didn't like the GBA Shining Force much. They made level 20 promotions useless for everybody but spell users (you get like no stats for the first 10 levels after promotion if you promote late). The game was dumbed way down (though on each subsequent playthrough, I guess it gets slightly harder).

And oh yeah, they completely butchered the storyline... so badly that it screws up everything they've said in the other games.

It's not a horrible game by any means... but I'm a perfectionist, and they screwed up a lot of what was right.

 

[Alexvrb]

Originally posted by Caelestis@Jun 11, 2004 @ 04:28 PM

Personally, I didn't like the GBA Shining Force much. They made level 20 promotions useless for everybody but spell users (you get like no stats for the first 10 levels after promotion if you promote late). The game was dumbed way down (though on each subsequent playthrough, I guess it gets slightly harder).

And oh yeah, they completely butchered the storyline... so badly that it screws up everything they've said in the other games.

It's not a horrible game by any means... but I'm a perfectionist, and they screwed up a lot of what was right.

Oh great, it sounds like they pulled a Lunar. I hate when they tinker with my favorite games too much.

I guess I can still hope against hope that we'll see a new console Shining Force.

 

[Darsh]

I don't think they messed with it at all that much. I can't notice that much of a change at all with the story except the extra characters they've added.

The promotions aren't as bad as you say. You'll get really good ones inbetween the weaker level ups, it's just hard to level everyone equally and do extreamly well. So it's pick your team off the bat pretty much.

I'm in chapter 5 and I had a blast playing the game, especially with the new characters. The story wasn't screwed up, the visual revamps rocked, and the new characters rocked. Also little things made it more user friendly and less stressfull. Like buying in bulk and having an item box etc etc... it was a really good port I think. I don't know what happned to Lunar on GBA having not played it but this I can tell you from playing almost all of the GBA Shining Force isn't messed up at all. It's actually better in my mind then the old one, but that's my take on it.

 

[it290]

I haven't played the remake yet, but is it really that dumbed down? I mean, Shining Force was never really about great AI anyway. Also, I heard they made the enemy think a lot faster, which is cool.

 

[Caelestis]

Originally posted by Darsh@Jun 19, 2004 @ 07:56 AM

I don't think they messed with it at all that much. I can't notice that much of a change at all with the story except the extra characters they've added.

The promotions aren't as bad as you say. You'll get really good ones inbetween the weaker level ups, it's just hard to level everyone equally and do extreamly well. So it's pick your team off the bat pretty much.

I'm in chapter 5 and I had a blast playing the game, especially with the new characters. The story wasn't screwed up, the visual revamps rocked, and the new characters rocked. Also little things made it more user friendly and less stressfull. Like buying in bulk and having an item box etc etc... it was a really good port I think. I don't know what happned to Lunar on GBA having not played it but this I can tell you from playing almost all of the GBA Shining Force isn't messed up at all. It's actually better in my mind then the old one, but that's my take on it.

You wont notice the storyline changes too much until... Chapter 7, I think it was. Once the big ones (and I do mean BIG) start coming though, they don't let up. It was so bad, I didn't want to finish the game...

IMHO, the game was dumbed down quite a bit. It's not so much that the AI has changed a whole lot. There are still weaknesses (though I didn't notice the classic 'Balbazak refuses to move' AI), but on the whole the AI may be tweaked a bit in the harder direction. Of course, this is more than offset by a few subtle gameplay changes. New weapons and rings are available for purchase (or you get them for beating battles in a specified amount of turns). These can add physical or magic defense (a new stat), evasion rates, etc... and the new weapons are typically useful against certain types of enemies (at about a double damage rate).

Simply put, the enemy got a bit smarter... but you got a whole lot better equipment which completely negates any bonus the improved AI might have given them.

The promotions are as bad as I said, by the way. If you promote at level 10, typical Shining Force level-ups will follow. The classic 20 pts in one level and 0 the next. But if you promote at level 20 (as a lot of people did), you will maybe gain a grand total of 10-15 stat points over the first 10 levels after promotion.

The graphical changes are simply a matter of opinion. You might enjoy them, but there's no debating that the portraits for almost every single character got much, much worse. Everything else it a toss up, and simply personal preference.

And just because I'm feeling oddly compelled to point out how unbalanced the new characters make the game... (may be spoilers ahead)

Zuika 'freaks out' when his hp drops low enough after promotion, doubling every single one of his stats (besides hp)... His move gets up in the 'teens' and he can one hit kill almost every monster.

Narsha gets some insanely useful spells. Boost increases the magic power of your allies to a very large degree. Attack and Aura are pretty damn useful spells too... but the one that really gets me is the Step spell. It increases the move of characters (up to 5 characters at once) by up to 3 points. Guntz gets the movement range of a Paladin...

And Mawlock is definately the most unbalancing character of them all. If you collect the cards, you can give other characters some impressive abilites. Using the Kokichi card on another character will let them fly for the rest of the battle. If you use 'move' on the card of a character currently in your battle party they'll receive 2 turns each round until the end of the battle.

Let's put it this way...

Zuika 'freaks out'. Narsha casts Step and Attack on him. Mawlock uses Kokichi's card on him and uses 'Move' on Zuika's card.

Zuika can now move about 15 spaces each turn (including going over mountains and rivers), with an attack that will one hit kill anybody... and he gets to do this twice each round. (back-to-back usually, too)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the 'enhancements' to gameplay really just make the entire game way too easy. And the storyline changes are definately horrible. The only thing the remake might have over the original is the graphics. And from what I've seen, public opinion is about 50/50 on those.

 

[Darsh]

I do notice it being easy as I continue to get further in the game, but I'm still having loads of fun. As for the story, I guess I'll have to get there and see what you mean.

I agree in that the enemies should be a lot harder then they are and that your characters are way too strong.

I promoted most of my characters at 10 except the spellcasters so they can get all their spells. I get some pretty good level-ups.

I haven't played the old one in ages so I might play the origional after I'm done with the remake to help me decide which one I like better. I think the handiness of being able to play anywhere on the GBA is just an overall plus. Although I do own a Nomad I don't have a copy of the game heh heh.

 

[Alexvrb]

Thanks for the heads up, Caelestis. I thought SF1 had a decently balanced difficulty, even if the AI was primitive. SF2 had better AI, especially on Ouch, but I pretty much only found Ouch to be challenging - and that was only because the enemy is as cheap as possible. SF3 had a better balance with AI and difficulty of monsters. If they ever remake SF3, I really hope they don't make radical non-graphical changes. They could feel free to translate the other discs, of course. 😀