Prologue
So I’m totally digging on Shining Force Feather and can’t wait for it to come out in the US. For those who don’t know me well personally, Shining Force is while probably no longer my Favorite Game of All Time, it is probably the most influential game for me – Turn-based Strategy RPGs are my soft spot, and Shining Force really turned me onto that genre and solidified it in my heart.
And while I’ve liked that Sega kept the ‘Shining’ world and brand alive and developing with the Souls, Wisdom, Tears, Force EXA, and Force Neo franchises – they always felt a little bit like a betrayal of the roots. It would be like making a Sonic game that…. … oh I’ll stop there. I did love Shining Tears X Wind though – or at least the quasi-furry fanboy in me did – because it felt like a cheesy romance novel for male Genesis gamers.
So here comes Shining Force Feather. The first turn-based return with the name since the Sega Saturn.
Preview-review
First off – it’s not trying to be retro. Stylistically it’s more like the modern Shining series: super anime-centric. The character designs were done by Pako (who did Shining Force EXA and the lovely Rental Magica) and Noiji Ito who’s responsible for that Haruhi Mania out there that I wouldn’t know anything about. Together they compound further upon the emerging Shining style: Saturated colours – with a unique color assigned as the primary palette for many of the lead characters. Story wise it’s also very modern, unlike the original Shining Force which had an almost laughably rpg ‘genre’ plot (complete with a nagging mom). I guess it’s now a different genre stereotype: The brash, rude treasure hunter main character with spikey hair who speaks with a heavy dose of slang (I’m looking at you Bleach, Naruto, etc). It’s also SUPER text-heavy at least in the beginning bits, but the art is nice and quite often there is recorded voice to go along with the words. Unfortunately because it’s the DS, I can’t really beseech Sega to keep a Japanese Audio version (due to file size), nor would it make sense in the presentation…. but please don’t get shitty voice actors.
Mechanics
So on to the action. It isn’t grid based. BAM. It’s more like Phantom Brave, with a purely vector/circle form to everything. Which works out just fine. Though ironically the levels seem to still be squares. It also has more of a ‘store up time’ concept and a turn order listing (see also FF Tactics, Kartia, most SRPGs these days) which works fairly well. And the combat isn’t complacent, it has a Golf-swing timing bit and a 4-button hotkey map to ability concept. Each ability costs a given amount of “Force” which is like MP but it’s also like the time you stored up (every turn regenerates 30 of it or 40 if you pass that turn). So if you have 45 of it going into battle you can use a 15 cost ability three times or a 20 ability twice. You can also dole it out however with as many attacks as you want. Spend 15 on attacking this guy and then 30 attacking someone else. Finishing off an enemy no longer uses up a character’s whole turn.
Easy Button
I’m not terribly far into it yet (nor do I want to be as I’ll have to retrace it in the English version once it comes out), but I did notice a couple problems. The numbers are really stretched out. By that I mean it might take like 10+ turns for you to kill an enemy or them to kill you. You have like hundreds of hitpoints even in the early levels and attacks are usually doing damages like 10 and 15. You seem to get a bonus (of more gold at least) for stringing together big combos, and you can press a button at the right time to gain some force every time an enemy attacks you. So I’ve found the ‘best’ strategy is to just pass your turn (for 40 Force), as long as you’re in no danger of dying until you max out or nearly max out (there are max abilities you can only use when at max), and then just do massive combos. But this seems a little weird… waiting an entire turn or two consequtively just being human piñatas and then ripping havoc, but it’s mathematically more effecient (as you get 40 instead of 30 and you’re burning the same amount of force now or later). Also combat is rather ‘small’ (a few enemies over a tiny space – 1 turn to close in) but drawn out – it never seems to get ‘harder’ as the level raises, just more drawn out. But I haven’t found a lot of the cool magic and such yet – right now I only have 2 meatheads and a healer / useless archer.
Light and Shadow
It’s making a great contrast to the other game I’ve started playing on the DS – Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, which kills most characters irrevocably in a hit or two and requires you to choose someone to permenantly sacrifice on like the third prologue level or something just to prove to the game that you’re hardcore enough to play it – or you just instantly lose. It’s not a pretty anime world who speak lots of Osakan dialect and say lots of things like they’re a comedy troupe. Instead, in every level just about – someone is left behind to die and the party mourns them and continues on – not being so kind as even to leave their fate up to imagination.
I see both as labors of love in a way, but the cute anime character way of the Shining series is far less laborious – for certain.
Conclusion
So in ending, bravo to Sega for bringing one of my favorite gaming memories into the present day. Judging from the Japanese site, Sega is becoming an amazing RPG powerhouse (7 Dragon, Phantasy Star Zero, Blazer Drive, for DS alone – let’s not forget the recent Valkyria Chronicles and the salivating Phantasy Star Portable).