Shining Force III Scenario II System: Sega Saturn Players: Single Developer: Camelot Publisher: Sega of Japan Released: 1998 Reviewer: Synbiosis   Graphics: 95% Audio: 94% Control: 95% Storyline: 95% Replay: 93% Overall: 94%

Shining Force III is one of the greatest RPGs to grace any Sega console. Released in the US in 1998, Shining Force III sold relatively well and quickly became a classic. However, the Shining Force III sold in the US was only Scenario 1, one third of the entire Shining Force III story. Because of this, the only way to obtain Scenarios 2 and 3 was to import the Japanese editions. While this might seem like a problem, the outstanding features of the game quickly make up for the language barrier.

To some, this may seem like a moneymaking scheme. In a sense, it is. The first scenario was excellent but left so many questions unanswered that one had to go out and buy the second and third scenarios to find out what happened next. What's more, instead of slacking off on the second and third scenarios, Camelot Soft made them better than the first.

And Now, The Game

In Scenario 2, you play as Medion, the youngest prince of the Empire of Destonia. There have been recent troubles with the Republic of Aspinia over the land of Barrand, the holy place of Elbesem – god of the Shining World. Leaders from the two countries have come to try to make a peace treaty at a conference in Saraband, a city that floats on water.

The game begins with a battle – no time for friendly fraternization with the locals here! The battle system itself is easy to learn, but remains complex enough not to get boring. There are three basic types of weapons: Sword is strong against Axe, Axe is strong against Lance, and Lance is strong against Sword. There are some other types of weaknesses, but these have to do with type/class; Certain weapons do extra damage to dragons or undead, while arrows do extra damage to flying creatures. If this seems complex, it is. But Camelot came up with a simple system to find out weakenesses- when you select a person for your characters to attack, an exclamation point appears above their head if they're weak against your weapon. Elevation also plays a role in damage, as does terrain. If you're in a forest, you cannot move as far, but you take less damage, while on a road, it is the opposite.

For a Saturn game, the graphics are excellent, improved over those of Scenario 1. The first thing that you notice is that the battle scenes are in widescreen. The second thing that you notice is the increased detail in the character models and the extra work put into the creation of the textures. For example, Campell's shield has the symbol of the Empire emblazoned on it prominently, and it can be seen on his armor on several different area. During regular play, Scenario II takes the opposite approach of the PS Final Fantasies; Instead of having 3D characters on 2D backgrounds, the lion's share of the graphics are rendered 2D sprites on 3D backdrops. Battle scenes that show character attacks are 3D scenes on 3D backgrounds, and most last no more than ten or twenty seconds.

Friendships? Synchronization? What The Hell?

Shining Force III has a nice share of unique things influencing gameplay and story. One of the most interesting devices in the story is the Synchronization system, where actions in Scenario 1 influence how the story goes in Scenario 2. For example, if you saved an archer in a village in Scenario 1, he joins you in Scenario 2. I can't say much else about this system without giving away major spoilers.

As lovey-dovey as friendships in a serious SRPG may seem, they're very important in Shining Force III. When two friends stand next to each other, they gain a bonus to their stats. Depending on the character classes, different stats are increased. Swordsmen increase their friend's attacks, while Lancers reduce the enemy's critical. As your characters work together more and more, they build different levels of friendships. As the levels increase, the stat bonuses become increasingly pronounced.

The Gameplay.

Shining Force's SRPG combat system was unique in the sense that there was no 'enemy phase' or 'ally phase'. Rather, the order of actions depends on the agility of your characters, which in my opinion, makes more sense than the method used in, say, Tactics Ogre. However, you can end up in some pretty sticky situations. It's all too easy to make fast characters charge into battle, and get hammered by the enemies while you wait for your slower character's turns to come around. This forces you to distribute the main power of your force between several characters, instead of having one über-character.

Controls are appropriate, but nothing revolutionary. Up is up, down is down, left is left, ecetera. You can rotate the camera around, which is a great benefit and prevents viewing problems. The only beef I have with this is that after attacking an enemy, the camera reverts to the default position. Controls are generally responsive, and your character goes exactly where you want him to go.

Arr. Those Twists and Turns.

The story while in Japanese, is extremly complex. While I didn't understand it the first time, or the second time through, (Due to the fact that there were no translations at that point in time) I managed to glean enough to become hopelessly addicted.

When you get the translation, the story gets better. The story starts out pretty straightforward: Your father is kidnapped, find him and return him. As your progress through the game, you find out more about the Empire and the Masked Monks who have kidnapped the King. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, but I won't spoil any of them.

As Usual, There Is a Catch.

There are several problems that crop up when importing. There is a translation guide available, but it is only partially done, and shows little sign of ever being completed. However, there are detalied synopsi available on some websites. If you do some poking around on Shining Force Central, you can find nearly anything about the story.

Conclusion

Scenario 2, although increasingly rare (It sells for upwards of $60 on eBay), is one game worth your money. While the language barrier may seem like, well, a barrier, there are more than enough features to overcome this obstacle. The soundtrack is addicting and the battle system is near perfect. Even though its only one part of a 3-part series, it has a good forty plus hours of gameplay, and the game is so much fun that it just begs to be played again and again.

Anyone owning a Sega Saturn should buy this game.