Shining Force EXA - Used
7.5
10
2
2
It left me thirsty for more.... LOVE IT!
This is one of my absolute favorite games! LOVED IT! Wasn't at first and was temped to shove it in a corner, but the cut scenes, characters, voice acting!, and creativity won me out! Such shining goodness was poured into it!
The drawbacks are the lack of energy put into the surrounding world (most of the battle fields, monsters, and towns are the same as in Shining force neo, but scrambled, not to mention cantore village....) as well as the lack in side character story development left me with so many good times with friends coming up with story's for these lovable characters that were introduced, short story, then DUMPED....(so much wasted potential) finally the music was mostly the same as neo, but a guitar was added for a more modern appeal verses classical in neo. Unfortunately they again took out the japanese track opening....
The battle style is slightly different than in neo, but I like the change, you control two characters, (unlike in many games) this one is designed to train both at once without one getting two far ahead of the other which is nice, but made it Too easy to beat for my taste.
Overall a lovable game for the beginner shining force fan or RPGer!!!
11/3/12
Gaunlet Style Clone
Story: The story of this game is that you play as a kid that is looking for a sword that possesses god-like power that is known as shining force. After drawing the sword and becoming the heritor you work to power up your castle so you can eventually battle the powerful entity known as Malaxtra that was created through the greed of humans that used shining force for their own ends then those of humanity as a whole.
Characters: You can play as one of two characters which are Toma and Cyrille. You can switch back and forth between the two which will be necessary if you want to beat the game. Since, the game will throw random defensive battles at you where you need to defend your base of operations.
The NPC characters that join your party for the most part are rather useless for combat at the later stages in the game. This is most obvious when dealing with the lower floors of the training area and the post game content.
Sound: For the most part the sound is alright, but it doesn't stand out. None of the tracks are memorable, but none of the songs ever fill out of place either. The in game sound effects are much the same way. I didn't find any of them particularly annoying except for this evil laugh used by a few monsters near the end of the game.
Graphics: The graphics are rather decent for the PS2. They aren't anything spectacular like Final Fantasy X or XII. I wouldn't say they are weak though. The game does use manga graphic style cut scenes for the most part. A few CGI cut scenes also play during the course of the game.
Gameplay: The game is a rather simple hack and slash game like Gaunlet.
Problems: One major issue that plagues the game is the fact that when many enemies are on screen the game will start to lag. This happens a lot throughout the game.
Overall: The game isn't a bad game if you are looking for a rather simple hack and slash game, but if you want something more sophisticated I'd stay away. And, if you want something more graphically pleasing then I'd suggest Genji: Dawn of the Samurai.
2/8/12