Not much time to update today, so I’ll keep this brief.

Today sees the launch in Japan of Shining Force Neo for the PS2, and it seems the game has gone to #2 in Sega Direct’s sales charts – I guess interest in it picked up.

Sega Japan’s SF Neo Site has been updated a couple of times in the last few days to include a buttload of new wallpapers, which I have put up here at SFC.

There’s also been an update to the characters page, to include some information on Kane, Vandorf and Maria, as well as the addition of a FAQs page, which you can find here Babelfished. Most of the questions aren’t of much interest, covering the release of a couple of books (one tomorrow, one late April) and general questions about the game. There is, however, one question I found interesting, asking about the relationship between the original SF’s Max, Kane and Adam, and those found in Neo. The answer seems to imply that the characters were named thusly only in homage to the original… strange, since Neo really does seem to tie into the story changes encountered in Resurrection of the Dark Dragon.

Anyhoo, enough babble. I’ve got a busy day ahead, and Lee’s off work next week so I’ll not be around so much…

Hoping to have time to do a bit more translation/script revision for the Final Conflict patch, but I don’t think I’ll get it finished off for z80 today >.<;; Sorry folks, but I guess it does give you all the chance to spend some time on Shining Tears instead, which was released in the USA in the last few days. Some quick links, for anyone looking to try either game... and contribute to SFC at no extra cost... Buy Shining Force Neo from Lik-Sang for US$59.90 (free shipping!)
Buy Shining Tears USA Version from Amazon for US$49.99 ($2 will go to SFC)
Buy Shining Tears Official Strategy Guide from Amazon for US$14.99

Lil’ update at Sega Japan’s SF Neo site today, in the form of a new gameplay video and three rather fancy desktops.

To save you the hassle of streaming the low quality vid, as usual I’ve uploaded the high-res version to the SFC Video Archive, and the desktops are available for download here too.

Can’t say I’m impressed by the vid, but what you think might be another matter.

Off to the shops now, then time to continue the FC translation – much more exciting than Neo IMHO 😉

Just a quick update, as I’m currently working on more FC translation for the patch 😀

Sega Japan’s Shining Force Neo site has had a small update today to announce that the manga will be launched in “Magazine Z” on April 4th, retailing at 530 yen (around US$5) per issue.

There’s also an article about Neo on Sega’s “Sega Voice” column, though right now I’ve not got the time to read it – have a look at what Babelfish makes of it if you’re interested 🙂

Back to the grindstone 😉

Thanks to SFCer Rocknroll1 for pointing me to The Magicbox for the first screenshots of Shining Force Chronicle.

The game is, as speculated, a remake of Shining Force Gaiden I and looks quite nice indeed. Let’s hope these mobile titles make it outside of Japan in some shape or form.

Judging by the “I” behind the Shining Force Chronicle logo, we can expect to see Gaiden II and perhaps even Final Conflict (Gaiden III) remade for mobile phones too!

Speaking of Final Conflict, I’d best go and get translating – z80 has said that if I can get a few of the files ready in the near future, he’s willing to release a 50% playable patch for all to try. I think, if I work hard today, I’ll be able to get the whole lot done – it’s not a very long script and I’m eager to help get it finished for y’all. If that means my SEE update has to wait until next week or the week after (or is that Lee’s easter break? Not sure…), so be it. I think an English playable FC is more important at this time!

It’s not often we get great news right out of the blue, but that’s what happened this morning!

Over the last few years, since I translated the Final Conflict script, various people have contacted me requesting permission to use it in an attempted translation patch. All had failed thus far. When I saw the email subject line “Final Conflict Translation”, I thought “Ah, fresh blood! Someone else is going to try…”. Needless to say I was surprised when I read the email fully only to find the author claiming to have made a working translation patch.

It had to be a hoax.

But it isn’t!

Attached to the email was a set of files including an IPS patch for the Final Conflict ROM. I tried it, dubiously… and much to my amazement, it worked. Final Conflict – with English text (and not ‘cavespeak’ either)! Huzzah!

It seems a kindly fellow going by the name of z80 gaiden has spent a number of years working on this patch and has now got it into the final stages of completion. All it’s lacking in fact is some input from me in the form of a couple hundred missing lines of translation (basic text for item usage, status effects etc) which need to be added to complete the script.

I shall be hard at work on these ASAP, as well as revising the script to sound a little more English rather than Engrish 😉 I did, afterall, translate it to be as close to the original meaning as possible without ‘floawing it up’, so to speak. Time for some flowers, methinks.

I never thought the script would really end up in the game, and I think this news is fantastic. z80 has been kind enough to send me all the files needed to finish off the script for insertion into the patch and has given permission for me to post a few screenshots. No, these aren’t PhotoShop edits – I applied the patch to my ROM of the game and took these myself less than an hour ago!

I think I can speak for all of us when I say a huge thank you to z80 for his years of hard work on this project and the amazing results. I know we’ll all enjoy playing the game in English 🙂 I know he’d like the patch to be tested before it’s put up for download (which won’t be until after the script is finished either – don’t worry, I’ll be as quick as I can!), so at some point I’ll be asking a few peeps I know I can trust not to distribute the patch to play through the game and check for problems. Please do not email me asking to be a tester, if you do, you won’t get to be one :p Likewise, please don’t ask me for the current patch as it’s been sent to me as a private demo for the time being.

Soon… yes soon, my friends, there will be a time when we can all enjoy the wonder that is Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict in English!! Huzzah 😀

My apologies for not getting this update done yesterday – had a lot of things to see to around the house after my long weekend away!

Plenty of news on the Shining front, and indeed another piece of news (which I find most exciting of all!) to be posted after this article. So, I’d best get cracking!

Sega Japan have totally revamped their Shining World site and with it the Neo and Tears site. New sections of Shining World include a brief history of the Shining series (good to know they’ve not forgotten any games, and not added any that don’t belong there), and a section about the forthcoming Game Parade Mobile Phone titles: Shining Road: To the Force and Shining Force Chronicle. The Shining Force Chronicle site is not yet available but apparently will be within a few days. Bearing in mind that the ‘Shining Next Project’ announcement’s ‘few days’ turned into a few weeks, let’s not hold our b breath 😉 For the time being, all we know is that it somehow relates to Shining Force (seemingly about their offspring, and a new power of darkness) and is a strategy RPG. So, Sega – the PS2 video games console isn’t a suitable console for strategy RPGs, but a mobile telecommunications device is worthy of two in a row?! Not that I mind them being mobile games, but I would at least like an opportunity to play them without having to live in Japan and subscribe (it’s a 315 yen monthly fee to pay – that’s around US$3, which isn’t bad IMHO).

Regarding Shining Road: To the Force we now have much more info as it seems the game is now available for players in Japan to subscribe to – since March 14th, I believe. I could spend ages translating every detail, but I think you’ll gather as much as I can by taking a look at the page via Babelfish, here. For those of you too lazy to take a looksie, here’s what I can make of it thus far. The game would seem to be a Shining Force/Shining Soul hybrid, merging (at a glance) the best features of both. We have at last some almost classic Force style battles, in an isometric 3D-style 2D view with graphics much like those of Shining Soul II. With distributable stats, monsters dropping chests of items when they die, a card collecting system and over 200 items of varying rarity, this game’s roots are quite apparent. Although it’s a turn based game, it seems that the characters will respond to one another’s moves, joining in the attack if positioned correctly. There are four characters in the force: Arfen the Human Swordsman, Ralzack the Claw-weilding Wolfling, Tiaris the Magic Bunnygirl (she looks very much like the bunnygirl in Shining Tears, it probably is, I just can’t recall her name!) and Steel Dragon Ogre a Dragonman who uses Halberds and the like. I think it looks really sweet, it’s a real shame we’re unlikely to be able to play it. Time for a holiday in Japan I guess 😉 I wonder whether Rei could buy me a phone, download/subscribe to the game and then send me the phone? *lol* There must be an easier way…

An update to the Shining Tears site echoes some of the other info on the Shining Road Site, though I don’t entirely follow it. The story seems to be set seven years before Shining Tears, and relates to the Kingdom of Bestia. Within the game one can collect cards, and depending on the card collected, the player may download artwork (some exclusive and quite rare) from the website. Presumably this artwork is for use on the mobile phone and isn’t downloadable on a PC. There are certainly some nice pics there, and I’m guessing the half-obscured Yog pic is one of the rare ones >.<;; Maybe they'll surface on the web sometime.

Last, but not least, an update to the Shining Force Neo site, detailing a launch-day promotional contest at Akihabara stores much like the one held for Shining Tears last November. Shoppers purchasing Neo in-store on its launch day will be allowed to draw a ticket to see whether they have won an exclusive item. The items range from hand drawn autographed illustrations, to clear plastic files and the like. I think more precise details on the nature of the prizes will be posted on the site nearer launch-day.

Just got back from my weekend away, no time to post much now 🙁

Sega Japan’s Shining Road Site is now up – looking good!

Enjoy 🙂

I’ll post more about it tomorrow!

Unfortunately, I have to keep this brief. In a couple of hours I’m going away for the weekend, and I need to get my stuff together 😉

Sega Japan have updated their SF Neo site today, in particular the System and Story pages. Sadly, I don’t have time to translate them, but I’m sure you can all go and babelfish them to get the gist, or some kind soul might translate them for us *hint hint* 😉

Just taking a quick glance, there’s a bit about Weapon Skills, and the icons shown read (1st column, 2nd column):
Taunt, Sacrifice, Knockdown, Haste, Meditation, Slow and Sneakshot
The skills seem to be MP based. There’s also a bit about ‘random dungeons‘ – oh dear.

In other news, Quiter recently reported (thanks Aspartate, for pointing this out) that Shining Road’s full title will be Shining Road: To the Force and is going to be a mobile game for FOMA phones in Japan. The information was apparently made available in the new Shining Tears Visual Material Collection artbook, so it would seem the game ties in to Shining Tears somehow. Is this the Shining Tears Mobile game Sega Japan announced at the end of last year?

Okay, must dash. More on Tuesday when I’m back, no doubt.

I guess I caught Sega during their update when I updated this morning, as another page has been added to the Shining World site today… with yet another Shining Music CD!

I’ve not yet added it to the collectables, as I’m not certain whether it is the same CD as Sega Direct has had listed for a while. It’s possible that this is the final info/design for the CD, and that Sega Direct will update… or perhaps it’s another CD altogether. They do appear to be of similar purpose (songs from the recent games), the same price of 2,200 yen and indeed the same release date of March 30th.

Aside from that, a couple of updates here that you might be interested in – thanks to a tip I picked up at GameFAQs, I’ve been able to download high-res versions of Sega Japan’s SF Neo videos – they’re certainly much clearer than the tiny ones from before. So, I’ve updated the Video Archive with the new versions (note the much larger filesizes). I’ve watched through them and I’ll try to withold my comments about this over the top graphics fest… oh sorry, did I type that ‘out loud’? 😉

Seriously though, I watched the vids and find myself quite enjoying the anime clips… but then the gameplay footage kicks in and suddenly I’m moved to tears by what might’ve been, and what they have actually made of this ‘Force’ game. Sorry folks, it might look to be a bit of a laugh to play but it’s unlikely to be anything spectacular IMHO… that being said, it’s worked its way back into the Sega Direct preorders chart, in at position 5.

I’ve also updated the Collectables area today for Tears and Neo… and made the mistake of asking Rei to order the Neo DX package for me. I figure I can sell it on to someone here who wants it, once I’ve scanned/photographed the various bits and pieces. Or, they could be contest prizes… what have I done? Fifty quid for all that… I guess it could be worse!

Well, I’m going to have to leave it at that for today. I’d hoped to get some SEE updates done and up some new fanart & desktops too… but I’m going away for the weekend from tomorrow morning, so I need to bake some cookies this afternoon for my sister & her hubby 😉 Neo? Bah. Cookies… mmmmm 😀

Sega Japan have updated their SF Neo site today, to announce the release of a Shining Force Neo Soundtrack, to be titled Shining Force Neo Music Collection.

The disc will apparently feature 42 pieces of background music from the game. It will be available from March 30th at the very reasonable price of 1,800 yen (which is around US$18).

It is being released under the Wavemaster label (product code WWCE-0501) and will be up for pre-order at Sega Direct in Japan.

When I babelfished the info, something came up which concerned me:
“In addition, this each time BGM of “Shining Force Neo” was recorded ‘The Shining Force Neo Music Collection’ came to the point of with with 1000 limitations selling with the Sega direct.”
I wonder if this means that there will only be 1000 copies available?

Looking at the Sega Direct site to get a better idea of what’s going on, I notice that the SF Neo DX package seems to have had another item added to it – a ‘Force Frame Necklace‘. The crazy collector in me is starting to give in, and thinking about asking Rei to order the package… I can always give the extras away as contest prizes, or sell ’em.

…and the Sega Direct site confirms the limited availability of the soundtrack:
“Furthermore, because it becomes 1000 limitation productions, as soon as to become without it becomes end. Please order ahead of time.”
I’d best email Rei now. I’m sure if I don’t like the music, someone here’ll want it!

Definately going to need to update the collectables page later 😉

Just a little update today on Sega Japan’s SF Neo site.

There’s a new video, previewing the SF Neo promo DVD (available with preorders) – you can find it here in the SFC video archive. It seems the DVD will be quite packed, with game footage, cast/staff interviews, TV spots, music videos and character data with artwork.

There will also be a set of 5 phonecards available for Neo in the same way as for Tears – a different one for each shop from which you might buy the game. Can’t say I want ’em, but then I’m not big on the Neo artwork. Click here to take a look at them.

Looks like I’ll need to update the collectables section soon!