Fans of the Shining series have been discussing the latest screenshots of Shining Tears to find their way onto the game’s official website, and I was wondering what you thought of them:
In almost every Shining game a character has greeted the player at the beginning, which is something that wasn’t lost on the creators of Shining Tears.
However, judging from this older screenshot also found on the official Shining Tears website, I believe the game’s artistry is too generic for its own good. It resembles the artwork of too many other Japanese RPGs almost as if Sega is pandering to mainstream tastes. Sega has chosen to take the art of the series in a new direction, but is this in Sega’s best interests?
Also, by not including the character portraits in the top corners of the screen that fans of the series have become familiar with over the years, Sega is breaking away from tradition.
As far as I and some others are concerned, Sega’s handling of the Shining series so far could’ve been a hell of a lot better. When Sega remade Shining Force, Sega also rewrote its story, which didn’t exactly please me. One of the artists working for Sega/Amusement Vision who worked on the original Shining Force and Shining In The Darkness drew the artwork seen in the Shining Soul games, and as a result, it’s very much in tune with the aesthetics of the older games. If Sega combined his talents with the Panzer team also working for Amusement Vision and put them to work on the new Shining Force, then I’d feel that the game was in capable hands.
So far, Shining Tears seems like an altogether new Sega-made Action/RPG branded with a familiar name. What are your thoughts on the game? I personally hope that the artwork of the new Shining Force game does a better job of distinguishing itself from every other RPG currently on the market.
I really dunno much about the Shining world (i don’t even know if all games are suposed to take place in the same “reality”) but it seems too clich? to me…
I want the new games to remain true to their roots in terms of both artistry and gameplay. I suspect that the new Shining Force will bear a closer resemblence to the older Shining games.
That SSaturn shining action rpg (forget the name atm) looked nothin like the Shining Force games as well…
And I don’t know if the artwork has been changed from the original but Shining Force 1 on GBA looks like standard RPG stuff as well to me…
Shining Wisdom shared many traits with Shining Force 2 including its colourful graphics and cutesy character sprites. The character portraits that appear in the top corners of the screen whenever someone engaged in dialogue remained as well.
Shining Tears has undergone a noticeable change in style… perhaps for the better or perhaps for the worse. Only time will tell.
The two intro pictures look nice–very Shining. I don’t know about the older one at the bottom though. I wouldn’t guess it’s a Shining game from the outset and even knowing it’s for a Shining game, it still doesn’t look right to me.
But sometimes it’s good to break away from tradition. If it’s just a stylistic change with the artwork I’m not going to worry over it. The artists have been many over the various installments of the Shining series, so one more change isn’t going to make or break the game. If the gameplay and story isn’t there though then I’ll be disappointed.
The bottom screenshot reminds me of something you would see in Fire Emblem, although that would not be surprising at they are both stragedy games.
I have not played enough of the Shining Series to really keep track of it over the years, but I guess I can try and play this one. Perhaps.
This is NOT a Shining FORCE game, just a SHINING game. As such it’s NOT a STRATEGY RPG, instead it most likely is an ACTION RPG.
However, there is also a proper Shining Force in the making. The sad fact is that they are both PS2 exclusive so far.
I’m led to believe that the main characters will be voice acted – I hope that doesn’t discourage Sega from localising the game anywhere outside Japan. I can live with the new artwork if the game itself isn’t lacking in the gameplay department.
However, if the change in style (of art) is the product of Sega’s desire to appease the masses as opposed to at least maintaining some semblance of uniqueness, then I will continue to view this game with some skepticism.
I can’t see how Sega could screw up the new Shining Force game even if the game shares the same style of art, unless the game is also 2D, which would be a step backwards IMO. Needless to say, I’m eagerly awaiting more news on its progress.
I am not to familiar with the Shining Force series myself. But I might give it a try when it is released. And I am a PS2 owner, so that is good for me…it doesn’t make me a Sony Fan boy either.
I would buy an Xbox…but I would hate to know I helped make Bill Gates any richer.
Considering that most games contain some voice acting these days I doubt that the voice acting itself would prevent localization. If the voice acting is extensive and several hours’ worth of material then that might be a problem, but its presence alone probably won’t make much of a difference if it comes down to localizing that or localizing another game (because the other game will probably have voice acting too).
Even if Sega itself passes on localizing the game, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else picks it up. Working Designs might have mangled Shining Wisdom a bit, but Atlus’s American localization of Shining Soul showed me that some localization companies are willing to do research into a series they previously had nothing to do with so that when it comes to translation time they get all the names consistent with prior versions.
Won’t the fact that Shining Tears is 2D hurt its chances of being localised? I’m not worried since the Phantasy Star remakes are going to see the light of day outside of Japan.
All things considered, Shining Tears hasn’t piqued my interest as much as the new Shining Force game has. Strategy/RPGs in the same vein as Riglord Saga and Shining Force easily rank among my favourite RPGs. It’s a shame that they are only just starting to become popular in the west.
[quote=“Geoffrey Duke”]Won’t the fact that Shining Tears is 2D hurt its chances of being localised? I’m not worried since the Phantasy Star remakes are going to see the light of day outside of Japan.
All things considered, Shining Tears hasn’t piqued my interest as much as the new Shining Force game has.[/quote]
A) I don’t see why, they made the decision to use 2D cos they feel it can still be a great, fun, good looking game, they could have “easily” used 3D instead, they don’t lack the artists or anything…
B) Ofcourse SF would pique your interest more it’s a real RPG with loads of depth in battles unlike a fun time killing action rpg with possibly a nice story
It might take a bit of hit for it (or go through the Ys VI-style improvement phase where the 2D sprites were changed to 3D), but I don’t think that alone is enough to presuade someone against picking it up. If it turns out to suck on top of being 2D then we might have a problem. But if it’s a good game I don’t think 2D will hurt that much. Even if Sega passes on it, it already has some name recognition due to being part of the Shining series and a smaller publisher might want to capitalize on translating a game with a built-in audience.
I’m actually more surprised that someone picked up the Phantasy Star remakes given that they don’t have voice acting, no animated cuts scenes, or much of anything else. They’re a budget series and someone actually translating a budget series for a non-native audience is boggling to me. Not that I’m ungrateful, but I am surprised.
I believe SEGA will definitely localize the Shining Tears game, 2D or not. Look at the recent success of Disgea and La Pucelle, both being 2D. And with the release of the Shining games on GBA a larger fan base was created so SEGA would be making a mistake not bringing it over to other countries.
[quote=“Rune Lai”]It might take a bit of hit for it (or go through the Ys VI-style improvement phase where the 2D sprites were changed to 3D), but I don’t think that alone is enough to presuade someone against picking it up. If it turns out to suck on top of being 2D then we might have a problem. But if it’s a good game I don’t think 2D will hurt that much. Even if Sega passes on it, it already has some name recognition due to being part of the Shining series and a smaller publisher might want to capitalize on translating a game with a built-in audience.
I’m actually more surprised that someone picked up the Phantasy Star remakes given that they don’t have voice acting, no animated cuts scenes, or much of anything else. They’re a budget series and someone actually translating a budget series for a non-native audience is boggling to me. Not that I’m ungrateful, but I am surprised.[/quote]
The main problem I have with Shining Tears is the fact that it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the previous Shining games and has no story ties to its forebears whatsoever. The game also plays nothing like the previous games in the Shining series, so why call it Shining Tears? To me it seems as if Sega itself wants to capitalize on the recognized brand name to push its own RPG towards a presumed path to success. However, I expect the new Shining Force game to play like nothing other than a traditional “Force” style Shining game; if the game works on different mechanics I will probably kill someone. >:)
The Phantasy Star remakes are supposed to contain extra/improved narrative and other extra content. I wonder why Sega didn’t remake Phantasy Star III though? It would’ve benefited greatly from the same battle system as Phantast Star II and IV (where we actually see the main characters attacking etc).
I’m not so sure. After the Shining Force III debacle I’m hoping for the best yet expecting the worst. By not localising more Saturn RPGs during the console’s lifetime Sega made a fatal mistake IMO.
I believe Sega will at least localise the new Shining Force game based on the popularity on Strategy/RPGs outside Japan now.
I concure with Mr. Duke that Sega is folly incarnate for not releasing 2/3 of SF3 here–that was the biggest mistake they ever made; burning the fans like that.
Why Sega doesn’t make Shining Force their ‘Final Fantasy’ is beyond me. If done consistantly and with quality it might even rival it. There really is a dearth for THE strategy RPG series in the industry and SF could fill those shoes in spades.
If Sega/Climax/Sonic continues to make these grave mistakes (total disregard for common sense really) they deserve their rightful place on the ash heap of demised developers.
it’s a real RPG with loads of depth in battles unlike a fun time killing action rpg with possibly a nice story 