Ye Olde Blah

Anyone played this game yet? I'm currently playing through chapter 2. I stopped at the mage city and am building my team up to be promoted.

In my opinion, the game is really neat. It has the good ole Shining Force feel that i've loved since SFII. I really like the music Sega managed to pull off on the GBA, although you can hear heavy compression with headphones on. I am also relieved that the main character actually speaks whole words instead of "..." on every line of dialogue in the SFIII scenarios. :lol:

The game does have its annoyances though. For one, Sega dumbed it down a bit. When the main character meets each new character, they always say something like "I am a <insert class here>. I like/dont like to be <in front or back> of the fight and I like to <insert skill here>." The game is assuming that players wont know a healer heals or an archer shoots things from a distance. :roll: The developers also instituted cards into the system which, to me, sounds ridiculous. I dont even know how they are used yet...

Anyone care to share their view of the game?

sega didn't make it.  Camelot made the original, and some random company made the remake.
I hate the remake.  I don't like the new graphics (they looked squished), and I don't need the card collecting fad ruining another perfectly good game.
The original was infinitely better.

The original was a lot more unique than this version, but still I like the additions. The additional battles are pretty interesting, and the game becomes progressively harder as you replay it.

I'm not totally fond of the new graphics either, but I love a lot of other new things about it, such as the revision of spells, and the battle bonuses :).

Well the new version ain't that bad - the new Graphics are Ok - I guess we can agree on the fact that they needed improvement tho the new style can be discussed.  The new battles are really cool and the new story sideline aswell. The card stuff is IMHO useless and doesn't fit into the universe but thanx to Magic:The Gathering, Duell Masters,  Yu Gi ....and all that crap it was unavoidable. It's a shame that companies like SEGA go that far mainstream. But the same can be said about the new PS2 Shining Force game....  Already before we know if it's a good or a bad game we can state that it's a shameless piece of namedropping.

I haven't used any of the cards yet, because I just sort of dropped it halfway through a battle in Chapter 3, but I like the new graphical style - if they were revamping the game with new battles, side-stories and so on, there's no way they could've kept the graphics as they were and still market it as a "new game". If you can get by without using the cards, which clearly you can, then there's really nothing to complain about.

Also, although Sega published the game and a company called Salamander Factory developed it, I would still assume that Sega had overall control over the project, and thus any serious changes would have had to be run past them. I'm not sure quite what bEn means when he says "it's a shame Sega go that mainstream" - putting cards in a Mega Drive remake is mainstream? Have you even seen Sega Supserstars? Sega have to make mainstream games these days just to survive, and if that means more people buy and play and enjoy SF:RotDD then I'm all for it. Although, as I said, I haven't played it since Chapter 3, but after Christmas when I have my new toy (:D) I probably will.

My problem with the new graphics is that the squares are no longer...square, and I find the overlapping sprites in battle to be a tad confusing, and headache inducing.  I just find that change to be unnecceesary.  Other than that, the graphics are fine.

not to be the Off Topic Nazi...but..

i havnt the faintest idea what the hell you guys are talking about :( and my head hurts.

anybody got a link?

I like it, its good. Yeah.

Yeah you got me wrong. What I meant with mainstream is again this kinda namedropping (just now it is featuredropping) - what is the card feature good for - in fact not much. It doesn't even fit well to the overall scenario. It's just that they wanted to get all those freaks that will think that this is the next Yu GI Oh ....  well maybe the even sadder thing is that in press this has been boosted to a major feature....

Next to that going mainstream doesn't mean that this will do any good to the company as it'll lose those edges that make it special. Look at eidos - they were number one with Tomb Raider but as they have gone completely mainstream they lost the race in the long run. Same counts for Looking Glass (they tried to survive with Thief 2 which was just a rip off of the original). On the other hand the absolutely non mainstream Jagged Alliance series kept Sir Tech alive - sadly they lacked any other good game so they lost anyway in the end.

You pedantic fuck.

As for the whole mainstream thing, I think the main reason the card feature was mentioned in all the press releases was actually as a means of enticing the people who had played the original SF and wondered if there was anything new that's worth buying, although it's equally possible it was to appeal to the card-collecting fad that does seem to be around at the minute. It's probably both. They're all jumping on the SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighter's Clash! bandwagon though, if you ask me. Best game ever.

And Sean, we're discussing the Shining Force remake on the GameBoy Advance. There's lots of nice screenies here (http://www.fantasyanime.com/shiningforce/sfgbashots.htm) :)

Oh I played this, didn't mind the addition of cards too much, but I couldn't stand how walking around was like steering a romote control greased pig on ice, whilst drunk... slidy all over... scary. That was enough for me sadly, since I really wanted to enjoy it...

the cards wouldn't have been so bad if they'd introduced them better.
Just having you apparate in a cave and talk to someone who has nothing to do with the current situation was stupid, however.

*talking in high pitched girlie voice* Surely the cards will bring victory

*Manly Voice* wait..my balls have dropped for a second...

:lol: no offense to anyone but that show/game sucks...hard.

Having no real experience with the game as of yet, i will say that the trendy Card schpeal can be appealing if introduced in the proper way (as suggested above)
What im waiting for is a game that uses the cards completely. As In, while you play the card game the cards gain 'Experience' or 'Levels' and can be physically plugged into the handheld and used in the RPG element of the game.
No im not talking about people in the middle of the street going 'Gognumen GO!' and plugging a card in...Sorry...No. Think of it as a compliment to the RPG, cards would augment weapons or reward with neat things if your good enough in the card element.

Maybe its too japanese but eh *shrug* its the only forum where i could say 'Yeah this game is cool'.

Sorry im the out of the blue element in the thread ;)

I kind of like the game although the original was a hell of a lot better. I'm not to impressed with the Barbie Horseback Adventure graphics but the game still has it's original feel to it. It's also kind of weird using the run button.

Some people are never happy. After all this complaining about Sega neglecting the SF battle system, they release SF:RotDD, which is a perfectly good game with the characters, towns and so on that we know and love, and what do you complain about? Walking diagonally. Squares not being square. The run button. Brilliant.

Those are just distractions.
The only real complain I have is the aforementioned throwing in of a card system to pull in the kiddies.  It's like making a legend of zelda extreme card battle challenge.
just no.

I didn't know that this was a remake of the original Shining Force. The first SF I played was SFII. Thanks for the heads up guys. :)

Well Newts your are right the issues are minor and don't change the fact that it is a great game. As I said I even think many new stuff works well and if I have  choice I would even prefer the remake to the original.

*hides behind a barrel to avoid getting beaten*

Nevertheless even minor issues can kill a game like for me the first Vampire the Masquerade sucked due to the fact that I didn't get along with the controls very well - it's not a big thing but it destroyed the fun.

Next to that I think we see a trend in the behavior of SEGA - probably caused by the fact that they lack money AND that the DC which had pretty unique games didn't sell well - are dropping uniqueness for mainstream behavior.
Think of the remakes, this card thing, the new SF being no Round based strategy game etc.  I'm not sure if that will help them sell games but for sure it will cause them produce worse games than they could do.

I have one quick question before I get too far into the game (I'm at chapter 6 right now).

Will there be a battle that will require ALL of the characters that have joined my team to participate? No specifics please, I dont want to spoil the storyline. :)

It was not the case in the original....
But they made a few changes so ... maybe...

My copy finally arrived *YAY* and i played it some. And Atlus isen't some nobody gaming company.  They've made some 5 star tactical rpgs (Disgaea, Ogre Tactics) My major complaint is the movement in battles. Its kind of difficult to get on the right block because of the 3dish graphics

Another MAJOR complaint. Max isen't the cool collected silent guy any more hes some pussy talkitive guy thats too damn nice. I allways pictured Max as sort of an ass

I never like the name of max. That's why I renamed him to Synbios when I got the chance. :wink:

After beating the game about a week ago, I have one suggestion: Look EVERYWHERE for cards. In book shelves, in walls, and any other place you would suspect cards to be at.

I still haven't brought myself to playing this game again, after the discovery that if really was Shining Force: On Ice

I really wanted to like this game but the stupid walking in towns - is unbearable - and also hints of "rushed" and EA sports :S

No, 12 character's maximum.  That never changes.

*cough* DARK DRAGON *cough*

NO I HAVEN'T DAMNIT!!!

I have to say that shining force resurection of dark dragon for the gameboyu advance is by all means better than the original. But the card system in the game makes it all but hard. I was displeased with my two favorites charaters, bleu and gort. But a few others came up to the call. Luke becomes a tank, dimingo is outstanding with his ice magic, zylo just becomes god like, Hanzou made it in my heart after he learned desoul, ken if ye keep him through the whole game he becomes a very hard hitting knight, Arthur becomes the number one knight when he learns his magic, Earnest is hard hittin even at a lower level than the rest, Alef of course has awesome magic, and Max he is just a pimp! Especially with his attack when he swings his arm and a blaze of fire erupts on the enemy! :D

Graphics are much better for the game, story line picks up more and tells ye more about Max and his past with Kain, music is alright, the laser eye battle stil sucks (not meaning a crappy battle meaning tough battle) and yet out of all the good things I have found a flaw....Ye can't put in a code to name all the characters. But other than that I couldn't put the game down. Three cheers for Atlas and sega!

No 3 cheers for atlas. Fuck sega atlas rules

Atlas is fucken awesome. They have revamped and created some of the best tactical games ever! (in my opinion)