I saw the Shining Force trailer today and I’m not enthusiastic about what I’ve seen as far as being another Shining Force. It’s nothing to do with the production values themselves since it still looks like it could be a good game–just not very Shining Force in nature.
We’ll see how it goes as time moves on. With luck it’ll show up at the next E3 and I’ll get a chance to play it then.
Although I am extremely disappointed with Sega (I never thought that Sega would replace the traditional Shining Force battle system with a more mainstream one), the new Shining Force doesn’t look too bad. I just wish that Sega had called it something else.
If we look on the bright side, it has been a long time since Sega has developed more than one RPG at a time, and this move could bode well for Sega. However, if all Sega can do now is clone popular games, then we can bid it farewell…
I don’t have time for a thorough response, but may I provide just a brief observation on IGN’s surmise of Shining Tears…
…I’m astounded that seems to consider a partially-inert assistant as a deficiency… there wouldn’t be much point in playing if the computer did all the work, would it? I applaud Sega for not compromising the importance of a good challenge in our games. 
It really depends on how the allied AI is being stupid. I played Neverwinter Nights and sometimes the henchmen could be real chumps, but they didn’t cripple my character’s ability to complete a particular area. Worst came to worst, I could tell the henchman to stay put, take out the enemy solo without interference, and then come back to pick up my henchman.
But in some games like Phantasy Star Online, if the allied AI dies then the mission is a failure and the player has to start all over again. That’s when a stupid AI really hurts. If I can keep playing regardless of whether or not my ally dies (or I can tell my ally to hide in a corner and the AI does a good job of following instructions), then I don’t care as much if my ally is dumb as a block.
Reading about the loading times and choppy animations bother me though. I can ignore a dumb AI as long as it doesn’t cripple my own performance, but loading times could get real irritating.
Despite its graphical shortcomings, it looks like Shining Tears is actually selling well in Japan.
Yeah it hit no 2 in the all game charts in japan which is n’t bad. I’m waiting till next week to see if the game holds on to it’s position or drops off quickly. If it’s the latter then People just got this game for Tony’s phonecards to sell on Ebay.
But can you blame them? The message Sega got with the Dreamcast after producing game after game of high standards was people perferred to wait for a more expensive machine which had shit games for it. As much as I hate it they surrendered to the inevitable.
Only Nintendo are standing firm against this era of the multicoporation sony entertainment.
I’m still waiting for a top quality Sega game. But i fear it ain’t gonna happen due to various reasons.
I’m resigned to the fact that this SHINING FORCE series is now tarnished
along with PHANTASY STAR and hope that SAKURA TAISEN won’t go the same way.
I’m not worried about PDS unless they go the dreadful FF8 route and make some glorious love story out of the sequel.
All I wanted was a new, true Shining Force game with next generation graphics. Is that really too much to ask when Strategy/RPGs like the old Shining Force games (as well as Sega’s own Riglord Saga games) are still very popular among gamers today?
Sega has no excuse not to make a proper console Shining Force game. None.
First Sega betrays its fans by refusing to translate the entire Shining Force III trilogy because some idiot came to the conclusion that no one in the western world was capable of appreciating great RPGs for what they are, and then when Sega finally does decide to resurrect the series all these years later, the people there don’t even make a Shining Force game that actually contains the trademark gameplay we all know and love from the older games (i.e. the gameplay the Shining Force series is famous for). Words cannot even begin to describe how frustrating that is.
That’s why I always buy second hand systems after the Saturn era. Sega has
too much history of treating it’s fanbase like dirt whether it’s a certain game that takes too long to follow up or never gets translated or a system that got cancelled WAY before it’s time.(The Saturn and the Megadrive which to date were Sega’s best selling systems) The master system athough i adore it had a longer lifespan then these two systems combined even though it flopped in the two biggest markets at the time!