PixlBit

You may know a little bit about Shining Force III, the strategy RPG for the Sega Saturn.  It was released in three parts, creatively titled Scenario I, Scenario II and Scenario III.  Kidding, they have other names to differentiate them; for example, Scenario II is subtitled “Target: Child of God!”  Shining Force III is misleadingly titled!  It isn’t the third game in the series at all.  Did they forget about Shining Force CD, or maybe they wanted to forget about it?  (Point- it wasn’t very good)  By my estimation, Shining Force III is the fourteenth game in the series, and it isn’t even one game at all- it’s three full Shining Force games in one! 

The Shining series is a venerable one, filled with RPGs and action RPGs of every type.  Having played almost all of them I can say without hesitation that most of them are of very high quality.  For a while there, developer Camelot had complete control of the series, and their art style and gameplay quirks are completely consistent throughout the spiritually-related series.  There are a bunch of cute characters with distinct, if generic, personalities.  The dialogue is written in expressive italics, and the text speeds and slows for effect.  Shops sell and buy items, but also offer repairs and deal options for items that are a bit out of the ordinary.  There are recurring story themes that run throughout the series as well, and (to get back to the point, here) Shining Force III connects to that other Saturn stalwart Shining the Holy Ark in various subtle ways.

The hook for Shining Force III was that the three parts formed a cohesive, continuing tale that could only be understood by playing through each scenario.  Not that each game didn’t stand alone, but the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, or something.  And of course the story of SFIII took a sad turn when Sega decided not to release the last two scenarios in North America.  Those who played and enjoyed Scenario I back in 1998 were left unfulfilled, wondering how the story ended.  And it took over a decade, but now we have excellent fan translations of Scenarios II and III.  Those left disappointed at the lack of support can finally get their hands on rest of this excellent series of games.

A review for Shining Force III might as well be a review for the two games that came before them, the gameplay is so similar.  These are strategy RPGs with a lot of personable characters, the Genesis version of Nintendo’s Fire Emblem series.  You move your characters through various battlefields, destroying enemies, protecting allies, navigating various obstacles the enemy throws at you.  One battle might have you escorting a king across a treacherous minefield while another might have you dodging a flying fortress’ aerial attacks while advancing on the enemy.  Like in Fire Emblem, the battles have varied and interesting objectives that keep the action fresh throughout. Where Shining Force differs from Fire Emblem is between all the fighting.  In the world of Shining Force you are free to explore the land around you, and though you can rarely return to villages or areas that you have visited once the story has progressed, these more traditional RPG elements lend the game a more cohesive feel than some of the game’s strategy counterparts.

Lots of weird characters and large towns to explore.....

There are items scattered across battlefields and towns, just waiting for you to position your character in front of a suspicious tree or a hidden barrel to find them.  These items range from normal healing fare to very powerful weapons and accessories, and uncovering one of them is always cause for a little celebration.  Villages and cities especially are bastions of secrets, hiding potential party members and some powerful gear in difficult-to-reach places.  Now I’m not knocking Fire Emlem, a series I love to death (I’ve killed over it, so don’t test me), but I always wished that I was able to explore the world’s colorful environments more fully.  Shining Force allows this, and it is this crucial difference that places the series on the same level.

Because here’s the thing, and this isn’t exactly a knock on the series- Shining Force’s battles are WAY more forgiving than those in Fire Emblem.  This difficulty dip comes mostly from the fact that there is no permadeath in the Shining Force series.  Unlike in Fire Emblem, you can sacrifice a character for the greater good and then mosey on over to the local church to bring him back for the next battle.  Sure, there are associated penalties involving loss of friendship support stats every time a character dies, but it isn’t enough of a deterrent to make you any more cautious.  The battles in Shining Force can be tense, but there is never that terrifying fear of permanently losing a character in exchange for a difficult battle’s victory that comes from Fire Emblem’s mortality system.  (And here is where I’ll stop the comparisons for a proper review, and save the vs. stuff for another post.)  Once the fear of death is removed, you are free to throw caution to the wind and devise strategies that are more offensive in nature.  This, in and of itself, makes battles a slightly less stressful affair, and enemy AI goes even further to make you feel like victory is always within your grasp.  Enemies will mostly target your army’s leader to the exclusion of all else, and like any good strategist, you will use this to your advantage.  A lot of the time you can have weak mages or low-leveled characters run up to enemies without fear of reprisal, knowing that the monsters would rather bash their heads against the brick wall that is your main character than eliminate lesser threats.

But the battles are FUN!  Sometimes you want toast, sometimes you want eggs and bacon.  Actually, you always want eggs and bacon and rarely want toast unless it is on the side of eggs and bacon.  But my point is, don’t disparage Shining Force because its battles are less complex and have a different feel than the more complicated strategy titles.  If you play these games for the pure thrill of battlefield planning, then maybe you should pick up a Tactics game and ignore all the cutesy characters and bright graphics of Shining Force.  But if you enjoy a leisurely, engrossing take on tactical RPGs that involves less hardcore defensive positioning and more character management and exploration, then this is the game for you.  It takes all kinds, as they say.

You get a variety of different units, which should come as no surprise to veterans of the genre.  There are the dwarf warriors, the elf archers, the frail mages and agile ninjas, and they all have special abilities typical to the archetypes.  Then there are rangers, birdmen, dragons, penguins and robots.  It’s all so cartoony and Japanese in its weirdness, but the inherent charm of what might have been stock anime characters shines (ahem) through and induces an emotional commitment from the gamer.  Well, this gamer, anyway.  You pick your favorites and send them off to some elaborate game of chess. 

A tactical RPG is only as interesting as the battles within.  Here’s a likely inaccurate history lesson:  I (maybe incorrectly) remember Mystaria for the Sega Saturn as being the first such game for the system.  It was called Burning Heroes or something like that when it was first released, but Square had released a game of the same name back in Japan, and thus had to change it up after a successful lawsuit against.  Neither of the two games was very good, but the point I’m trying to make is about Mystaria.  I recall the battles being the same each and every time.  Move your units across the map and kill some enemies.  That’s it.  Very little in the way of alternate goals or unexpected battlefield objectives.  Every fight went the same way- position your mages and archers behind your warriors, and move forward slowly.  Wait for the enemies to come within range and then pick them off in small groups.  It gets boring, and quickly. 

Shining Force III messes with the formula in almost every single battle.  The first few fights are simplistic for the obvious reason that it is attempting to teach the player how the game works.  But once the first chapter is completed (five battles or so), the gloves come off.  You start with your basic escort mission, where, in addition to keeping your hero alive and destroying all foes, you must make sure to keep certain story-important characters healthy enough to make it across the field.  Then come the rescue missions, where some baddie is chasing townspeople across the map to deliver their final reward.  You have to run your army over to protect the innocents, all the while fending off monsters who are taking advantage of your recklessness by closing in on all sides.  There are missions with environmental hazards, such as a flying machine that each turn damages all characters (friend or foe) that are not hidden behind walls or in sink holes.  Every turn, the machine destroys some of the walls, forcing your army into the open, where they are pecked at by mages and archers standing impervious on ledges.  Other times your force may be split into two, and you have to carefully make your way to a central location, hoping that enemies fail to exploit your obvious weaknesses.

This type of variety mentioned in the previous paragraph is not exclusive to Shining Force III, but then there are battles that are even crazier.  Battles where there are statues shooting lasers everywhere, battles where a trek through shallow water forces your team to face a many-tentacles sea monster.  There are a few aboard a warship, where you must manually engage enemies flying in from afar while maintaining control over the ships cannons that must be fired at an opposing vessel before they can disable your locomotion through their own volley of cannons.  There are fights that are even crazier and more complicated than the ones I just mentioned, but best to allow the player to experience the surprises first hand.  What the game lacks in pure strategy, it more than makes up for in creative set pieces.

The graphics are in that first generation polygonal style that was all the rage back in 1997.  You either hate it or really hate it, but the cartoon veneer of Shining Force’s world makes it more palatable.  The entire game is in 3D, but only during battle zoom-ins does the game look particularly blocky.  The game’s look is pretty much the natural evolution of the look developed in the earlier games of the series.  By today’s standards it’s subpar, but it isn’t as bad an offender as many others.  The music is pure Shining Force through and through, which is to say that there is very little to distinguish it from its predecessors.  That isn’t an insult, and there certainly are some catchy tracks.  One of my favorites is the battle theme while facing the Rainbloods, an elite and mysterious enemy force.

It doesn't look bad at all, what with all the polygons and such.

RPGs don’t pack much replay value, but I’ve always felt that there are reasons to play a Shining Force game more than once.  Not that I’d waste my time with that sort of thing, but some people get great enjoyment from mindlessly playing through the same scenarios over and over.  Shining Force III has a lot to recommend further playthroughs for any gamer, however.  While the battles might play out in similar fashion, there are enough characters that you cannot possibly experience each of them fully on your first go around.  This holds further for characters you might’ve missed or failed to rescue or whatever.  There are items all over the place, and finding and equipping a particular weapon can alter a character’s play style. 

Then there’s what I called the main hook for the three scenarios.  The story in Episode II is directly related to the story in Episode I.  Whereas you control a Republic army in the first, you control their Imperial counterparts in the second.  The two leaders forget a fast friendship on the battlefield, and interact with each other in various ways throughout each episodes story.  Events that occur in the first game are further explained in the second, while repercussions of the actions of the Republic are felt by the Imperials later on.  Where it gets very interesting is in the choices you make for each character as the plot progresses.  Kill a character in Scenario I, and that character cannot join your force in Scenario II.  You might find a special item and be asked to give it to some NPC, only to have that NPC use the item in another character’s story.  There is enough variety and world-changing decisions in each playthrough to warrant further exploration of what might occur if you had chosen differently.  You can play through any of the scenarios in any order, but for the plot to make complete sense, you will want to transfer your save data from Scenario I to II to III.

It's not all pretty, but the good greatly outweighs the bad.

There isn’t much more to say about what is yet another excellent Saturn game that we never got in this country.  More’s the shame, as this is the kind of title that would’ve won over a bunch of older RPG fans and perhaps extended the system’s shelf life a bit longer.  Long enough to get games like Policenauts, Princess Crown, etc.  Ah, but just feel lucky that you now have an opportunity to play this gem of a sequel in English, even if it’s been over a decade since you’ve completed the first.  For those who want a mix of traditional RPG elements with friendly tactical action, Shining Force III, and particularly Episode II, is the pinnacle of the genre.

OVERALL SCORE: (37/40) Highest Caliber.