Shining in the Darkness

[MasterAkumaMatata]

This was one of my favorite RPGs for the Genesis during the 16-bit era. It was one of those traditional first person perspective RPGs (a la Phantasy Star for the SMS) where you roam around in this one big-ass labyrinth to rescue the princess. Ahh, yes, the classic tale of a knight in shining armor who rescues the princess who was kidnapped and locked inside the deep, dark dungeon, I mean, big-ass labyrinth.

For screenshots, visit here.

There was somewhat of a sequel released on the Saturn called Shining the Holy Ark. Maybe some of you might have heard of it or even played it.

I know I have.

 

[DrizztDo'Urden]

I only played it once last year, but definitely loved it and unlike Phantasy Star I I could actually memorize the damned mazes, due to some different looking places...(torchs, puddles, etc...)

Awesome game and a great start for the Shining series...

 

[wonder_k]

i busted the game back in '94 i think. great gameplay but sometimes it really was somehow frustrating that most dungeons only differed by the color of the walls.

anyhow, it took quite a while to play it through even if you already busted it.

 

[Nadius]

I bought this some long while back at a swapmeet. I was a bit disappointed when I found out that there was only "one big-ass labyrinth", but it was still pretty fun. I only hope that the when I decide to put it in the Genesis actually beat it, i'll remember where i left off, and at least a little about the general sections of the labyrinth.

 

[Tony Skyrunner]

I don't like labyrinths, but this game was really fun. Didn't finish it, though

 

[Alexvrb]

It was a great game, not as much fun as STHA or the PS series, but still very good. I loved the different equipment, there was a wide variety and for most of the game money actually mattered! Most games you had enough money to buy it all, some exceptions of the era were Lunar 1 (not 2, you could buy it all usually), PS II/III (sometimes IV as well), and some of the Shining games. I like it when money and leveling up are both issues, and indeed Shining in the Darkness requires some work. Shoot, it seems like a lot of RPGs today are getting too easy or otherwise lame. When was the last time a boss kicked your arse and made you reload and level up?

The dungeons are also hard, but not insanely so, especially since you have a map spell that comes in handy big time. I beat it entirely on my own, but of course I did not get all the Mithril and Dark Blocks. I DID however accidently stumble upon the second-best sword in the whole game, the... (fires up Genesis)... Ah, the Storm Sword! I found it while I was totally lost, and ironically my friend never found it even though he used a guide. He did get enough mithril to get all decked out, bah. Anyway at the time you find the Storm Sword, its way bigger than any sword you can buy and its only a few points away from the mithril sword. Also casts Bolt (2?) when you use it. One interesting thing about the Dark Blocks (they make cursed weapons) is that they are super powerful, but the curses are always waay too strong to make them usable. With every Shining game it seems, the curses became weaker, Shining Force 1 they were annoying, SF 2 they were almost negligible.

 

[Pearl Jammzz]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! I love this game. My first RPG ever....I got it when it first came out (91' I think? maybe even earlier, I dunno I was young). But ya, I hated it cuz I was too young to read yet but I still managed to get through the cave of str......I finally beat it in about 3rd grade, beatin it like 3-4 times since....I have gotten all but 1 Mithril piece, and this one was one of the ones u have to find by killing guys, so just a matter of time and luck. You remember the ice jellys or whatever they were? they gave you like 100k exp for each one and had like 1-2 HP but u could never hit them and most the time they ran.....goodtimes. I have yet to see another dungeon RPG that is as good as this one.....I liek it better than ark for Sat......

 

[killerstag]

Great game .Very technical and for the time it was released,it sure was something quite diferent from the one that everybody was used to....Its as boost a mark to the folow up ,SthA.