On Saturday, I finally received my Shining Tears DX package from Rei – arigatou! 😀
So, today I’ve spent a bit of time prepping some updates here – I’d do more, but unfortunately I have to work this afternoon. Ah well, it pays for the Shining habit I suppose 😉
Head along to the Video Archives for several new Shining Tears movies & even one from Shining Force PS2, ripped from the Shining Tears Bonus DVD. Note that for some reason, no matter what program I used to rip them, the aspect ratio seems a little out. Also, the TGS Stage Event video came out at almost 200MB, as it’s over 20 minutes long – I have therefore chopped this into 8 smaller files for people to download and watch in a row. Hopefully the smaller files will help out dial-up users out there.
I’ve also updated the Shining Tears Collectables section with new pictures and information – more to come!
The Shining Tears artwork/covers page is now getting underway with over a dozen scans, and there’s also one picture now available in the Shining Force PS2 section. I’ll try to add some RotDD artwork soon too.
On an unrelated note, the Shining Force II Fanart section has also been updated – why not take a look and leave some comments?
Before I get started on my initial comments about the game, I’ve got a suggestion – I could do a live demo of the game on YIM! if people are interested, with my webcam & mic, so you can see a bit more of the game. Whaddya think?
Right, now for what you want to hear…
I’d like to start by saying that I’ve made no attempt to cover my excitement about Shining Tears, since I first saw pictures of it. As time passed, I continued to look forward to the release, and started to notice many similarities to the Shining Soul series, from what was written on the Sega Japan website. I’ve not let that put me off, as although Shining Soul was a dreadful game for the most part, Shining Soul II offered vast improvements and was quite an enjoyable little game 🙂
So, what does this have to do with Shining Tears? Anyone who’s played Shining Soul II (and, to a degree, Shining Soul) will find this game quite familiar. Just as Shining Soul II made improvements and changes over the original, so Shining Tears makes improvements and changes over Shining Soul II. The fact that Nextech developed the games does seem to support my theory that Shining Tears is, in essence, Shining Soul III.
From the map with marked locations to jump to, to the shop systems, smithy and gameplay style, this game says Shining Soul III all over it! Go up a level, and you’re rewarded with points to apply to your statistics and to increase your skills – sound familiar? Kill monsters and win their information cards – getting the idea?
Okay, I don’t need to go on and on about that similarity now, when you play it, you’ll see what I mean if you don’t already.
What? You want to know more? …
The loading times seem to have been exaggerated by other sites, claiming loads of up to 15 seconds – I’ve yet to experience anything over 10 seconds, and for the most part it’s far less. A little annoying when occasionally the loading time is longer than the scene which follows (perhaps due to my skipping most of the text quickly, I can’t read most of it anyway ;)). No real complaints in the loading department though, and it’s not as if the loading screens are dull to look at either.
Speaking of looking, the game really does look gorgeous. My other half is insisting that the landscapes aren’t really 3D, but I’m convinced they are – SFIII style, with 3D maps and 2D sprites made to look 3D. It’s quite stunning IMHO, and feels very Shiny indeed. The characters do not seem to have such oversized heads as was originally thought, they look almost Shining Force III style to me too. Other graphical effects so far such as spells have been nothing short of impressive (though remember, I’ve not played many ‘modern’ games in the last few years, so I don’t have much comparison there), and the display of full character portraits during conversations really adds to the feel of the game – where sprites are unable to convey much emotion, the animated portraits give us an idea of how the characters are feeling even if we can’t understand most of the text.
As if that wasn’t enough, many of the cut-scenes feature full spoken dialogue, giving us more of an indication of the mood and a feel for the characters themselves. Aurally, the game is enjoyable and maintains that Shining feeling – the music always fits the mood, and is of a good quality IMHO. Kudos to the composer!
In terms of gameplay, as I previously noted, it is mostly Shining Soul style – areas to battle hordes of monsters, cards and items to collect & identify. The story though seemingly quite lengthy, given the cut-scenes, does seem to be fairly basic, as with the Soul games. Obviously without being able to understand more of it, I can’t really comment further on that. Playing the game itself is quite simple once one gets to grips with the controls – I did find the first hour quite tough as I strived to determine which button performed what action, and tried to remember them! So far I’ve yet to find much of a challenge beyond mastering the controls – the enemies are not very smart (they seem IMHO to have taken a leaf out of Shining Soul’s book, rather than Soul II), and quite easy to defeat, and the areas I’ve fought in so far take less than 5 minutes each to complete. Presumably as I progress through the game, the areas will become more expansive and be in close succession rather than a 5-minute cutscene & exploration apart.
Having gathered my allies and fought with each of them in turn, I seem to now be able to choose my fighting partner for each area. I must say it’s really quite novel controlling two characters at once (I’ve yet to try the 2 player mode with Lee) – takes some getting used to, and makes the game far easier than it already seems to be, but is very good fun 🙂 Start charging your partner up to do a link attack, run Xion behind enemy lines to acquire a target and then let it rip – kerrrrpowww! Top stuff 🙂 Or, if you prefer to leave your partner running around and attacking by his or herself, you can do that instead, but I do feel they provide a little too much support in this role, stealing kills & experience… but failing to pick up the items and coins dropped by the enemies.
After playing for a couple of hours today I found it hard to put the game down long enough to write this introduction! I guess that’s not a bad sign 😉
I feel I should be writing far far more, but I think it will have to wait until I’ve played more of the game. If you have any specific questions, feel free to send them via the SFC Mailbag, or post at the forums and I’ll do my best to answer.
Those of you wanting a new Force style game may find yourselves disappointed by Shining Tears, those who enjoyed the Soul games will likely enjoy this no end.