“Shining Force 3, set in an ancient civilisation where battles between Good and Evil were commonplace. You and your party face many battles along the way, you’ll need both brawn and brain in equal measures if you wish to succeed in this quest. A truly Epic game featuring sensational battle scenes. Traverse across vast lands with full 360 degrees movement, enter lush towns where you’ll be able to upgrade your arsenal of weaponry and meet potential party members. You’ll also meet a host of interesting characters along the way, some friendly and others not so. With over 50+ hours of gameplay Shining Force 3 is one of the biggest Saturn RPG’s to date.” – from the Shining Force III box.
Only Scenario 1 of Shining Force III was released outside of Japan, but even on its own it’s a great game. My first thought when I saw it was, “Whoah!!! Shining Force in 3D!!!”. The game is simply beautiful (okay sure, so they’re not amazing graphics by today’s standards, but they aren’t too shoddy for Moogie!), the soundtrack (by Motoi Sakuraba) is amazing and the game has a very in-depth plot – much more than your usual “save the princess” story. This tale has political twists and turns, backstabbing, impostors… the works!
The game not only introduces the wonderful new 3D battle system, but has other great new features. Characters who fight together become “friends”, and give each other attack/defense/magic bonuses when fighting together. Different weapon types can be equipped, gaining special attacks as the characters skill with that weapon increases. Magic-users learn only three spells, gaining a fourth from the weapon they equip – spellcasters can use weapons that give them healing spells, and healers can gain attack spells in the same way!
Shining Force III Scenario 1 was recently re-released in Japan, available through Sega’s D-Direct online store. Needless to say, it sold out very quickly, and is once again no longer available.
Such a short page as this can’t possibly do this massive, amazing game justice – why not check out some of the game guides or other sites about this game?