a shining in the darkness

So here I am in my local EB and this guy is talking to me about the copy of Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon I bring to the counter.

"Have you played the original?"
"Would I be buying this if I hadn't? Look at the fucking cover."
"Yeah, it's pretty hideous isn't it. This is more than just a port, though - some of the battles have been tweaked to make them easier, and there's this new card bonus system..."

I stopped him before he could continue. After all, I've pretty much been waiting for this game since I got my GBA. I figured I would ask him about Four Swords Adventures while I was there, because the price tag seemed a bit steep (I guess from the "free" GBA-GCN link cable included in the box). He had not played, but we got on the subject of the Gamecube. The only thing worse than a non-gamecube owner is a reformed Gamecube owner. "Oh, I sold mine. There aren't any games for it." I'll skip over that and move along to the next part of the conversation, because frankly it made me want to punch him in the face. Like any true game geek, opinions are worn on sleeves, and so he proceeded to give the thumbs down to both Wind Waker and Metroid Prime. Now Wind Waker I can understand to some degree - the makeover wasn't for everyone, and the storyline may have added to the perceived childishness of the title. But Metroid Prime? I asked why (politely of course), stating that I was a devout PC gamer and it made me even question the validity of most FPSes post-1999. The guy claimed it was "unexciting", complained about unwieldy controls, and an overall sense apathy towards the title. Slightly perturbed, I left the store with my new purchase trying to focus on why Shining Force is so fucking awesome.

I can't help but reiterate the disgrace of the cover - I really wasn't kidding. Any new gamers that didn't have the opportunity to play the original will be immediately turned off if they happen to see it while browsing. This deeply troubles me, because these same people might not even look at reviews after this initial visual assault.

The most noticable difference to players of the original game will be the graphics. Back in its day, the Genesis was pretty hot, but they definitely needed an update. The world and battle maps still smack of tilesets, but on the smaller screen the poor quality isn't as noticable. The character portraits have also been redrawn, giving them a distinct anime feel, instead of the saturday morning cartoons of the original. The close-up battle character models were also redone, looking softer and more three-dimensional, kind of like the battles in Golden Sun. A few of the game's battles were tweaked a little, as some may remember them getting excessively hard after only the second chapter. What comes to mind is the battle with the Laser Eye superweapon at the crux of the Runefaust army - I remember having to replay the mission constantly, because no matter how much I strategized as soon as I got near the Eye itself my forces would be annihilated with one blast.

The turn based combat system is elegant in its simplicity: surround your enemies and attack, repeat as required. The menu interface is straightforward to navigate, and it's clear where Camelot's influences were when they designed Golden Sun's. Very little effort was spent detailing the weapons and equipment part of the game; most of the time character skill improvements alone will make all the difference in battle. Every 100 experience points a character earns they level up. However the most experience is gained when killing a monster. Like in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, it becomes apparent very quickly who your strong characters are, as the gap between your seasoned squad and backup characters grows wider. You can upgrade a character's class every 10 levels by Promoting them, which brings with it increased attributes, attack and defense bonuses. I will remember not to promote Zylo, though, as he is much more useful in his untamed state. I learned that the hard way when I first played Shining Force; upon being promoted Zylo gained this really lackluster magic attack that didn't do nearly as much damage.

What some players might find useful is a new card system, that uses cards you can find scattered in dungeons or town buildings. They will either have a specific action or a member of Shining Force on them. This new system is controlled by Mawlock, one of the game's new characters that does not start in the party. Instead, chapter epilogues contain a parallel storyline with Mawlock and Princess Narsha of Runefaust, who eventually join up with the Shining Force halfway through the game. Only then can he actually use the cards that you've been finding up until that time in battle. Each card can either provide Mawlock with a character's ability (using their respective card), create a clone of that character to fight on the battlefield, or give temporary power-ups to a character. In theory this should balance the field later in the game, because most of the end battles are still pretty hard. With that said, I still feel that the new system and characters feel forced into the original game's flow, kind of like seeing the new material in A New Hope: Special Edition.

With all the noise everyone is making about the NES "classics" being re-released on the GBA, Shining Force should recieve as much, if not more, criticism. The game is essentially the same as the original. Which is fine for me, because as soon as I started playing my strategies of the past gently bubbled to the surface, allowing me to get through a good portion of the game before I stopped for the day. I suppose there's a bit of nostalgia at work here as well, as I was able to look past many of the game's faults. Yes it is a remake of a game that was great in its day, but with the new subtitle I expected a bit more, at least enough to justify the cost of the game. I suppose that's Metroid: Zero Mission talking again, but it's true. Nintendo has set the standard.

I couldn't help comparing Shining Force with FFTA, because without Shining Force I doubt the genre would exist in its current form. But when you're faced with the choice of a game that is based on a deep character upgrades system, and combat mechanics that make me want to bathe in their complexity, it's hard to accept Shining Force as analagous. The graphics are dated, the combat is simplistic (I kept trying to approach enemies from behind for better attacks) and the theme music is extremely limited. If you want this game to rekindle fond memories of the Genesis version, by all means get Resurrection of the Dark Dragon because it's a fine port. And anyone who hasn't played Shining Force, but considers themselves a fan of the genre, might be interested in this bit of gaming history. Otherwise, you'd be better off spending your money on Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre. I may have been waiting for Shining Force on the GBA, but I can't say it was worth my own hype.