As promised folks, here’s a bit of a rundown on what’s new in Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, compared with the original Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (I still think the original name is cooler ;))
Here are the screenshots again, for those who can’t be arsed to scroll down!
Shining Force Remake: Exclusive Screenshot Slideshow!
The game itself remains true to the original in many ways, but takes some aspects a step further in a way reminiscant of the various changes we encountered in Shining Force III when comapred with Shining Force II. The basic storyline remains unchanged as far as I can tell, and the battles etc are in essence the same. There have been a few additions to the storyline, but nothing which conflicts with the original so far, and in fact much of the tranlsation is more true to the original Japanese release than the original English release was! However, unfortunately due to my life situation, I was unable to get my corrections through to Atlus in time, and as such some mistranslations or slightly odd renamings remain in-game, for example the Swords of Light and Darkness are now the Light and Dark Sabres, the Legacy of the Ancients is now the Legacy of the Gods, and we now have things like “DEF Potion” instead of Protect Milk. But these aren’t make-or-break issues IMHO. In addition to the overall storyline changes, we also have a lot of character development and history added, for example while in HQ, your Force-mates wander around telling you of their homes, families, past exploits and the like. It’s really quite lovely 🙂 There are more cutscenes in this game too, which add more depth and intreuge to the story, and for those who’ve not even played the original, this offers the chance to meet characters and see locations from much later in the game while prepping them for the events to come!
Obviously, the graphics and sound have been updated. I won’t say “improved”, because to be honest in some ways I think that’s not the case 😉 But, don’t get me wrong. This game is beautiful, in fact I’d like to refer to it as Sweetness Incarnate! I can tell you right now that this game is going to sell like hot cakes, and if this doesn’t revive the series, bringing in a new generation of fans (for whom I’m sure the majority of these changes have been implemented) – nothing will!
The sound has been spruced up a little, Shining Force CD style, though in some cases it has been altered a little, there won’t be many parts of the music that you don’t recognise if you’ve played the original. New sound effects have also been added, such as the squeak of our dear little Yogurt when first encountered at Gong’s hut, and the sound of centaur-hooves clopping on the ground as they wander around the battle map. Small though these additions are, they are very nice nonetheless!
I’m pleased to say that the updates to the graphics are for the most part very pleasing, as far as items, sprites, and tiles go – a little more colourful, perhaps, than the original, but they work very well on the GBA. The introduction sequence remains essentially unchanged, using the original graphics and text, though leading to a new and improved Simone to welcome us to the game. The only downside with the new graphics is likely to hit old-skoolers more so than the new recruits to Shining Fandom, being the character portraits. Though it’s nice to see some previously faceless characters given a portrait of their own, some of the old characters just didn’t need the facelift they got – as I’m sure you can see from the screenshots I’ve posted! However, none of them thus far have been terrible, just different and to be honest those I didn’t like are already growing on me, and some I even prefer to the originals (such as Max, Tao and Hans, amongst others). Some other graphical enhancements can be noticed throughout the game – new specially animated encounters with Yogurt, the screen panning to relevant locations when mentioned by a character (for example, when King Alterone mentions the Dragon’s Head, the screen pans to it) and the like.
But, those are just the superficial changes. There are a number of interesting and useful additions to the game too! For starters, items. Not only are there a lot more of them (with lovely icons, I might add!), but you can hold and equip more of them than previously. That’s right folks – at last, we have seperate item/weapon slots in this game, allowing a character to hold up to four items in addition to their equipped weapon and rings/accessories (note that you can now equip more than just the one ring!). Did you ever get sick of having to keep selecting to buy an item over and over? Well, no more of that now! In the remake, you can select a quantity of an item to purchase too – following which, your purchase will be put in the brand new “Item Box”, a rather nifty storage facility which adds to the ease of gameplay in as much as one can swap out items very quickly, even distribute equipment and the like mid-battle! No doubt it was also a slight annoyance to have to remember to equip an item after buying it – that problem has now been eliminated too! Many items now have extra special effects, such as being more effective against certain foes than others, or having the ability to prevent certain negative effects on a character. An entirely new type of item has also been added: Cards. These are more than just collectable pretties, they are used by the new character Mawlock, during battle. More on this as I progress with the game 😉
Battle-wise we also have some new features – most notably, the new side-story battles revolving around new force members, but I’ll not spoil too much of that 😉 One can now earn a bonus for completing the battle’s objectives, for example killing a boss, defeating it in X turns etc. The bonus is usually in the form of Gold or an interesting item. To add to the tactical side of the battles, a turn list is now available, meaning you can see who gets to move and when – this can in some ways make the battle easier, but it does allow for that extra element of planning, which I find great fun. Another change allows players to check the movement range of monsters in a battle, much like in Shining Force III, again most handy! But, beware – you won’t be able to check the stats of any monster you’re facing until you’ve killed at least one of them in the battle! If you encounter a chest in battle, don’t think you have to give up an entire move to get it, a character can now open the chest and still go on to make a move and attack as normal.
I must admit to having found the game quite easy so far, and I think the Shining Force II style experience is perhaps to blame. Experience now rolls over (ie, is not reset to 0 after a level up), meaning levels are gained far more quickly and character stats along with them. So far stat gains seems to be much like the original, varying from one measly point to your DEF, to 6+ on a number of stats. Growth charts for each character can be found on their stats screens, along with their kills, defeats and number of attacks, which is a nice addition. The battles do seem to be getting a bit more tough now, but I’m not allowed to talk specifically about anything beyond Chapter 2 at this point.
Overall, some wonderful improvements and additions, making this game at least as good as the original. Dare I say it might be better? Not until I’ve played more. But at the moment it’s shaping up to be some truly hot stuff!
I’ll post more when I can, I hope this little preview has been enough to whet your appetite at this stage 🙂