Shining Force: Legacy of Great Intention
Platform: Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, Year: 1992, Publisher: SEGA, Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Many people laud the Fire Emblem series as the best Turn-Based Strategy Genre. I would have to respectfully disagree with that. While I enjoyed Fire Emblem (although the fact that there is no revive always scared me half to death in battle) for me it was Shining Force, 1 and 2, that really epitomize what I love about turn-based strategy games. This review is about the first one which is ultimately my favorite of the two I have played (although Shining Force II is stellar, by all means). For those that are inexperienced with how turn-based strategy games go I will explain it in the Gameplay section of this review. This game is astounding! It is challenging each time I play it but never completely unfair. There are so many different tactics you can employ to combat the forces of Runefaust that are invading the land of Rune and as such each playthrough (which have been more than I can count on my two hands) is unique. If there is a game series and in particular a game that I will probably still be playing when I am 80 it is this one. It is very addicting and intellectually stimulating. I will have to go into more detail here:
Gameplay: 10/10
It is amazing how addictive this game can be. "Just one more battle" is a common thought that leads to sleepless nights. The premise of this game is leading your army of warriors, knights, archers, mages, priests, and a good variety of creatures (including a dragon) into battle against the enemies army of warriors, knights, mages, creatures, etc. in a way that the smaller army (usually you) can overtake the larger army (usually the computer). Your units have a set number of spaces they can move a turn and must maneuver the landscape which will alter their movement (e.g. forest is 1 less space of movement, and mountains are 2 less) in order to attack the enemy. Unlike Fire Emblem, Advance Tactics, and Civilization V, your characters do not take damage while they attack, rather the computer moves their units almost in a random order on a different turn. Perhaps it is the somewhat predictable but still unpredictable pattern in which both enemy units and your units are selected that enhances the experience. It forces you to be on the defensive mindset before you send out your squishy mage to devastate with an Area of Effect (AoE) spell when quite possible they could be pummeled to bits by the same golem they were barbecuing. Anyways, it works quite well as to keep you attentive.
Deciding when to promote your troops is an important decision you have to make. The user menu is universally friendly with pictures of what each choice will do and it is pretty easy to get in the hang of it. The game is quite challenging at the higher levels and has a significant learning curve but it never is impossible as long as you level up your army equally and strategically. Also, watch out for your main character (default named Max) because if he dies you have to start the battle over with less money. The only qualm I have with the gameplay is how tedious it is to move items around to different team members but, it is bearable, especially considering it came out in 1992.
Graphics: 8/10
For 1992, the graphics are wonderful, especially the battle scenes. For today's standards I would say that they aren't anything to brag about. Everything about the battle scenes is amazing for it's time, from the character animations (your picture actually changes based on the weapon) to the backgrounds. The actual fighting map looks like, well, a map. There are a very limited amount of tiles on the outdoorsy type maps and that is where the game suffers the most, graphically. In the towns, castles, caves, ships, whatever, the game looks fairly good, but on your average outdoors map, it isn't that great. The characters on the map, do their function and are pleasing to look at (except for some promotional characters, i.e. Kokichi, Lowe, etc) but the graphics overall on the map simply serve a function to the awesome gameplay. Like I said, for 1992 it is good and the battle screens are nice so 8/10.
Sound: 5/10
I'll be completely honest, I don't love the sound. It is a MegaDrive game so with that in consideration they aren't abysmal. The music is great however the same tune is played for most of all the outdoor battles. I think there are only around 10 or so tracks so it does get repetitive. None of it bothers me now but then again I have grown accustomed to it. At least I'm not getting squeaked at by my PC like on DOS.
Story: 9/10
Yes it's so cookie cutter, not too many surprises to be found here, but that's okay. Stories such as the Hobbit have become so cliche by now but it still warrants enough excitement to get 3 Peter Jackson movies. While the dialog gets cheesy at times, I really like this story. It makes more sense to me than the one in Shining Force II and seems like the battles fit it well instead of it being concocted just to have X amount of battles (like Shining Force II). While there is not a whole lot of party interaction you begin to feel for them and hate it when one of them is killed. The bosses are pretty epic and you get enough story to want to defeat them, for the most part.
Variety, Pacing and Everything Else: 10/10
Here is where this game really shines above it's sequel. The pacing of this game is just so wonderful. It is always challenging and very rarely is it not exciting. The variety of enemies is great and the list gets pretty long by the end of the game. The variety of environments is strong at some points and not at others. The best variety however is how many recruitable crew members you can choose to form your army with (I think there is around 20 or so NPC's). This factor included with the decision of how to level each of those NPCs up is oine of the key reasons this game is so replayable. It is also fairly lengthy but it never feels like it is too long or overwhelming.
Overall: 42/50 84% Very Good
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Bonus Stuff:
Favorite Party Members: Domingo, Bleu, Guntz (with Turbo Pepper), Lyle
Worst Party Members (EndGame): Jogurt (duh), Hans, Pelle (better if its earlier)
Favorite Boss Fight: Marionette (Rindo Circus)
Most Overrated Characters: Adam (Why Bother?), Arthur (I leveled him up and thought it wasn't quite worth the time), Zylo (I just don't find him that great End Game, esp. indoors).
Most Underrated Characters: Gong (He's awesome after level 6 or so and with the power ring, who doesn't want a healer who can fight and not die), Vankar (He seems like he sucks but he was better than Mae at the end), Jogurt (haha, jk)
Favorite Battles: Rindo Circus, Pao Bridge, Mishaela Battle
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