Shining Force 3 Review

High Points:
Purdy graphics
Good Story
Best Strategy RPG on the Saturn (one of the only ones...)

Low points:
Voices...
Why does everything have to be 3-D?

Hmmm. What do I think of this game? Move over Final Fantasy Tactics, because this game leaves you in the dust. I think it is one of my favorite games of all time, among others. At least we finally see a “true” appearance of the Shining series on the Saturn. While there was “Shining the Holy Ark” and “Shining Wisdom” those games had nothing to do with Shining Force, except the look. I can’t tell you how much I love this game. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it, I had to order it, since most retailers didn’t carry this gem, and there was a limited quantity. Chances are that you haven’t played this game because it came out late in the Saturn’s life, and was in limited quantity, just as Panzer Dragoon Saga was. But hey, just cause you can’t find a copy doesn’t mean you can’t read my rave review. Go on…

The graphics in this game are a GIANT leap ahead of the other SFs. All though I loved the cool 2-D animated battle scenes in the first two games, and the Game Gear game, the new 3-D battle scenes are neat-o. I’m talking about some of the best graphics on the Saturn, if not the best. The characters are completely polygonal in the battles, and look very smooth. Very, VERY smooth. Your standard “walking around” graphics aren’t too shabby either. Walking around towns, you can rotate the screen a full 360 degrees, making it easier to navigate. But once again, the character you navigate is “highly pixelated”. But the rest makes up for it. There are also some “action” text boxes. For example, when you examine a chester drawers, a text box may come up and say “uh-oh” then become really huge and say something to the effect of “CLEAN UNDIES!”. You might have to figure out what I’m saying for yourself. And as in any game, there is a nice, action packed CG intro.

The sound is nice. You can hear it loud and clear. Right after you turn on your Saturn, a thunderous sound comes up along with “SONIC TEAM” across the screen and the CG intro begins. Nice and loud. But then again, the tunes in the game aren’t as good as previous games. Where in SF1, 2, and SFCD the music was nice and relaxing, and melodic, the music in SF3 is childish, wacky, and even annoying at times. It’s not bad music, but it just doesn’t set the tone for a Shining Force game.

For those of you who have never played a Shining Force game, or have no idea what a Strategy RPG is, here is what the gameplay consists of:

It’s like any other RPG. You explore towns, talk to townspeople, encounter battles, meet evil fiends, gain gold, ect. The game is very linear. You pretty much have to do what the game says. Your just there to hear the story, and fight the battles. And that’s what sets it apart from the rest: the battles. The battles are not random encounter battles with menu driven combat. They take place on terrain that is kinda like a Chess board. You have your own small group of soldiers, and so does the enemy. The enemy is placed in several different places on the map, and your job is to attack – almost like in Chess. Each time one of your characters gets a turn, they can move a certain amount of spaces on the battle grid. When they have moved they have several options to choose from, such as to attack an enemy if close enough, use an item, or end the turn if you cannot make anymore moves. Attacking is very strategic, and once again, very similar to Chess. Some warriors can attack one space to the front, back, and sides, (Soldiers, and other generic characters) and some warriors can only attack diagonal and two spaces away (Archers, Mages). All of the battle decisions are made on the battlefield. If you are a Mage, choose to attack or use magic, or if a plain ol’ warrior, just choose to attack. Then a circle will automatically lock on to the closest enemy, then you can press “C” and begin the attack. The screen then changes to a beautiful 3-D animated battle scene, illustrating the attack on the enemy. It shows how much damage done to you, any counter attacks, and if you used any special attacks.

Of course, you do gain experience. The amount of experience need to reach the next level is always 100. That may sound stupid, but once a character gets strong enough, they gain less experience from weaker enemies, which balances it out. But once stronger enemies are encountered.

Overall, the battles are VERY fun, and if you lose, that’s alright. I should be very enjoyable to play it over again. You only encounter about 40 battles (estimate) but the game is also about 40 hours in length. The battles take about an hour each to complete successfully.

Also new to the battles is the “buddy system”. For example, if you protect a weak ally you become a friend. If you do the same often, your friendship will become stronger, but if your friend dies, their trust decreases. But what is this good for you ask? Well, when you stand next to your ally, certain stats increase, such as defense, and attack power. It’s not very useful, but unique.

Moving on to the story of the game…

This time, the story revolves around a bunch of unruly monks, and their religious sect. You are Prince Synbios, and your job is to stop the monks from doing whatever they are trying to do. I know that wasn’t very descriptive on my part, but I don’t wanna give anything away. On your journey you’ll encounter ghosts, thieves, and priestesses. You’ll meet a wide variety of people.

Control? This is where I have to start a gripe session. While it is easy to maneuver your 3-D environment, walking around in it is another thing. Examining things and talking to people is slightly irritating. Facing the right direction to examine or talk is a pain. Other than that the control is fine.

The overall challenge is good. As I noted above, the average time to complete is 40 hours, with an average battle time of an hour each. You also gotta add on the exploration factor, and talking to people. The battles will give you a whirl. Easy in the beginning, hard later on. But you’ll wanna play them over, and over again...

OVERALL SCORE
Gameplay=8
Music=6
Graphics=9 (about the nicest on the Saturn...)
Addictiveness=10
Difficulty=easy to hard
Overall=9.5