Shining the Holy Ark

Saturn first person RPG from Sonic Software in the same vein as Shining in the Darkness (by Climax and Sonic Software Planning) on the Mega Drive. Did you like it?
 
I thought this was a very good game, myself. I never was able to beat the end boss though... very tough.
 
This is one of my favourite games on the Saturn.
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As soon as I started playing it, I put all other games aside until I finished it. It just had me completely hooked.

When I buy an original (hopefully soon) I'm going to play it again as carefully as I can because I'm sure there is much that I missed.

It's a shame there wasn't a sequel made...

I was massacred in the final battle the first time. I then got the fairy bell and trained heaps and the tables were turned.
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I've heard so many good things about this game, I wanted it ever since I saw it back in some magazine that isn't around anymore, and i've repressed the urge to find and burn this game, (i've repressed the urge to burn any games after playing lunar with a tainted/lacking feeling, actually). A few things I want to know:

It's not one huge dungeon is it"? like it's predecessor, Shining in the Darkness?

Is there any character development throughout the game?

How much would I expect to pay for it in american dollars?
 
It's not one large dungeon, it is several seperate dungeons.

Yu have towns, NPC's and some decent character development.

All in all, it was one of the better Saturn games, and it was very high on my list... if only it had been longer or had a direct sequel... ah well. It is part of the Shining Series though, if you notice, Galam (I think that was his name), one of the characters in Shining the Holy Ark, makes an appearance in Shining Force 3, at least chapter 1... as I don't have the other chapters
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I found the end boss to be fairly easy myself... I think I only died a couple of times in the game, once in the mansion, and anotehr in the mirage tower (was that the name?). I can't remember for sure since it has been quite a long time since I played it. I had to sell the game since I was a student at the time and needed to sell old games in order to get new ones... I hate that now that I have money to simply keep the old ones... lol.

EG
 
A brilliant game, one of my favourite games ever.

This is a very immersive RPG and it's bigger than most too. The battle system is of the random encounter style but to me it never seems to get boring or repetitive like most other RPGs that use this system.

Something I liked a lot about this game were the puzzles, there are two that had me stuck for a while and i felt good when i figured out how to solve them.

Overall, a brilliant game and a worthy prequel to my favourite game of all time; Shining Force 3.
 
I love this game! Wonderful areas, fantastic gfx, cool caracters, good story and perfekt gameplay. Its one of those rpgs that you simply should have played. Its just very fun and a perfect difficulty level. The only bad thing i can find is that there is slowdown in some battles and the in the town of Enrich. However, Far East Village looks fantastic and it has no slowdown at all, so its no problem. Two thumbs up!
 
I liked this game but it's only an average Shining game. It was the first "real" shining game because I don't the Shining wisdom is a real one. Graphics are greats, story is good but the game is a little short, I was disapointed when I saw I finished the game, I thought at this time I 've done above half of the game and it was the end
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Also it's the only shining game I've never played another time from the beginning to find everthing missing (like little fearies), I think this game don't have something which make me playing hours and hours on others "Shining" games.
 
Erm... wasn't Shining in the Darkness on Mega Drive (Genesis) the first "Shining" game? This was then followed by Shining Force, Shining Force 2 and Shining Force CD also on the Mega Drive / Mega CD (not to mention the Game Gear incarnations).

The whole "Shining" concept was originally developed by Climax and Sonic Software Planning, the latter eventually developing the future games on its own eventually changing their name to Camelot.

I'm afraid Shining Wisdom was a true "Shining" game, whether it was as good as the others or as true to the theme in most people's opinion. It was developed by Sonic Software Planning, as were the later "Shining" incarnations on Saturn.

I agree with all the postive comments about this game. I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad I managed to pick up a copy. On the down side though, the scaled graphics system turned out quite chunky, especially when enemies came in to attack. I also found that the character and enemy designs were a bit too comical for me. There was way too much bright pink
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Incidently Camelot didn't do Shining Soul for the GBA...Sega took over the reins of the franchise.
 
Mowgli, I know what is a "Shining" game and that the first one was "Shining in the Darkness" on MD. I was meaning "the first real shining game ON SATURN", I thought everyone would understand.

I bought every shining I could on their release(SITD,SF1,SF2,STHA and SF3), and I keep in mind "Shining THe Holy Ark" is not long enough. Also I played others(SFCD,SF Gaiden I & II) on emu or borrow them from friends.
 
Ah yes, Shining the Holy Ark. What a great first person RPG. I had played Shining in the Darkness for the Genesis before, so I bought this game from EB for $29.99 shortly after I bought my Saturn. I was not disappointed. I was still in college when I got this game, and I beat it in a week. What I really liked about this game was the music. Since the game doesn't use CDDA for in-game music, it's a good thing I've snatched the MP3s of the game music when Ice had them up on the Sega Music section.
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vbt: Have you noticed that both of Mowgli's posts have been edited by RevQuixo? The last one was edited before you made your post.
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He should correct also posts I make because I'm sure there are many mistakes.
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MasterAkumaMatata : Thanks for your comment, I didn't notice that Mowgli's posts were modified.
 
You know what the real challenege of this game is? finding all 25 fairies, it took me FOREVER and i finnally did it, i doubt i could ever bring myself to do it again however, but this is one of the best all time games for sure!
 
Originally posted by MoonKnight@Sep. 01 2002, 6:52 pm

You know what the real challenege of this game is? finding all 25 fairies, it took me FOREVER and i finnally did it, i doubt i could ever bring myself to do it again however, but this is one of the best all time games for sure!

You mean 50 pixies:
  • 10 Fairies
  • 10 Succubuses
  • 10 Incubuses
  • 10 Leprechauns
  • 10 Pixes
If you're really stuck, I'd recommend vising this site. It helped me find that last pixie: Incubus Boris.
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Indeed, this is one of the most enjoyable RPGs I have played in a long time. I have had my Saturn for less than a year (never had the money to get one until now), and Shining the Holy Ark was one of the games that came with it. Along with Dark Savior and Legend of Oasis. Needless to say, my previous experiences with the Shining series predisposed me to playing this game, as well.

The story was decent enough, but it was the classic Camelot gameplay that kept me coming back. It was very much an upgrade to the formula presented in Shining in the Darkness. The biggest bonus was the fact that there was an auto-map. Don't know what I would have done without that...

Anyway, my fondest memory (other than stomping the final boss into the ground) is levelling up killing the Hattari in the next to last area (the one with the plants you could climb, can't remember the name). My party levels went through the roof, and the challenge through the floor. That's okay, though, the final battle needed buildup of your characters, anyway. It was still long and tough.

Only complaint: slowdown / framerate.

Anyway, enough about this. I realize this isn't the game of the week, but hey, the post is still here, how could I pass it up
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Sarge
 
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