Shining Force is Up Close and Deadly

[@GreatGrandSoap]

Bleu became my strongest fighter in the force after I leveled him up. He had 73 attack. A whopping 86 Def. 90 hp and 53 agility. If you invest in that dragon he'll carry your entire force. He's an absolute S tier with proper investment. I love that boy

[@billcox8870]

When did you promote him? I found that as soon as I promoted the dragon, it was lousy in combat and only able to inflict one point of damage

[@ithikussssukihti406]

Whaaaat!? A Shining Force video, no way! Loved this game as a kid back in 95 and only having a Genesis for a long time, didn't get to play 2 till I found a copy a at retro game convention back in 2011. Now, I recommend this to anyone who has a Switch, via 'Sega Genesis Classics' on the eShop.

[@laggingdragons]

That look back at the camera seems to me like he's acknowledging the fourth wall, attributing his entire identity to the player.

[@michaeloffgrid]

My first RPG ever! It will always hold a special place in my heart. 😊

[@MRDRK1]

Jogurt is an extra inventory bag. And I always found Bleu to be a BEAST if you can level him up enough. Adam was a hit-or-miss depending on RNG and my own mood when playing.

[@DisasterSquad]

Literally every character in existence is a Beast if you level the crap out of them. That's the point he sucks unless you do that. Thus making Him worthless

[@JEFFALITY]

Archers were meant for anti flyers, forest walkers, and long as hell range when you got the really long range arrows. Add in the power ring and they can hold a line if you watch enemy movement. The fact you can check their movement and what tile they are are you can easily tell how far they can move. Hans and Diane were always staples in my army.

[@thewingedavenger1007]

Great review! The story continues in "Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict" and then in "Shining Force II" (in that order. "Shining Force CD" takes place 30 years later.

[@RagnarokAvatar]

Actually, Shining in the Darkness takes place between Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict and Shining Force II

[@bortzanator3018]

Man, RIP Harvester of Eyes. I had just found his channel a week or two before he scrubbed his videos from youtube. Anyways, its odd to think that my first experience with this game was from that weird era where SEGA was actually releasing licensed CD-ROMs with Genesis games for Windows.

[@sinisterdesign]

I used to love his channel; a rare gem with a real sense of what constitutes good design in SRPGs

[@fantome3799]

"Playing all Sega Genesis RPGs" when?

[@306parksn]

Definitely down for this!

[@JasonGravesPoser]

2055

[@fantome3799]

@@JasonGravesPoser guess I'll be alive by then

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

@@JasonGravesPoser GTV is not doing their shining force 4 retrospective video until 2024, so they might scoop you.

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

I never have a problem keeping my healers leveled, because I heal anyone who has so much as 1 damage done to them, just for the exp. If a healer has MP left at the end of a battle, I literally let some people take some damage, just so I can heal them. Some of the healers get extremely OP Aura spells, including Aura 4 (which is the same as a Shower of Cure), and can cast it multiple times per battle.

[@opaljk4835]

In shining force 3 the healers have special attacks as your weapon levels up (which it can from casting) and can actually do big damage, albeit randomly.

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

i missed out on Shining Force as a kid. Gonna have to "buy a copy" and give it a shot. I like the gameplay style of Fire Emblem but it's brutal, so i'll probably like it alot based on your description.

[@hughjazz44]

Shining Force 2 is one of my all time favorite games. I hope you cover that one as well.

[@EduFirenze]

Replaying shining force, which I still love, made me realize how many maps rely on choke points, you have 12 guys to cross a bridge or pass a single square mountain.

[@analogmoz]

Harvester of Eyes is legit as all heck, thanks for calling him out!

[@Esirre]

I'd like to see a return of the Shining Force IP on modern consoles but I want them to retain their art style fully realized in 3d models. Wouldn't that just be too good? It would give the Fire Emblem dev team some much welcome competition as well

[@LITTLE1994]

That game is one of the most challenging RPGs I ever played. But, I do love its story.

[@EmceeProphIt]

Another great review. Keep it up bud!

[@CassiusZedaker-pr7kc]

This review convinced me to play Shining Force. It sounds like an easy, entry-level tactics RPG, which is really what I need to ease me into the genre

[@mrwess1927]

Its a good game bront

[@ChazTheYouthful]

The dragon is indeed good once you get him up and running, and flying characters have immense utility in this game.

[@marywallace3620]

I discovered your channel a few days ago and I gotta say I'm enjoying your channel. Also SHining Force is one of my favorite games ever. Though I like Shining Force 2 a lot more :)

[@MRDRK1]

Also, to avoid the EXP death spiral for 'weak' characters, just do a Minimum-Force run, where you deliberately skip EVERY optional character (the characters that aren't plot-inserted into your party by default). It's interesting to say the least.

[@williambourque6963]

You love Shining Force -- time to try FEDA: Emblem of Justice for the Super Nintendo then. It's kind of a poor-mans version of Shining Force, and there's been a translation out there for years. Worth checking out. (As is Energy Breaker for the Super Nintendo if you're into isometric RPGS).

[@GameFrank]

Shining Force is one I totally missed growing up. While tactical RPGs aren't typically my thing, I would like to give this a try some day. I guess I could play it on the Sega Smash Pack. 🤣 Great review Jason!

[@QueenViolet8]

I also learned about Shining Force from Harvester of Eyes as well I really enjoyed his videos I hate he disappeared from KZbin but I wouldn’t know about this series without him 😢 I hope he’s doing good!

[@420haxx]

Hey man great video, when i was a kid i played the shit out of this game, so many great memories! I'd add that with many of the under powered characters like Bleu, Adam and Arthur they really only ever become viable if you don't promote them till level 15-17 or so, since for some reason they tend to get a massive spike in stats after level 11. It's a big grind and not for everyone but that's the only way to get them to shine.

[@oofley8346]

If you want a bit more characterization out of the force, this game has a remake on gba where max is no longer silent and everyone else has a bunch of extra dialogue in the HQ if you use them during battles

[@noaht2005]

I’ve heard fans don’t like that version. I haven’t played it so I don’t know why

[@teamdoghouse7920]

I used to play Shining Force on the Genesis when I was like 12-13. My mom would always call it Shining Farts. She hates the music from it. 🤣😂🤣

[@HorseTeethModano]

Anyone know how Harvester of Eyes is doing? He up and vanished from the internet. He had the BEST library of sRPG videos.

[@dynastygirl2912]

Calling Bleu bad, bruh. I grew up on Shining Force, I've played it more times than I count and there's two characters that ALWAYS make my end game party: Zylo and Bleu. Bleu is easily an S tier character, who sucks? Arthur, Arthur is terrible. No matter what you do he is NEVER able to keep up with the rest of your party in terms of stats

[@ion_force]

I think the reveal at the end was sort of like the ending of Super Metroid where you see samus for the first time when you 100% the game. Every battle takes place from behind max. But in the end he is acknowledging the player and saying, "Hey you, you got us here. Good job." Also, gong is with you from chapter one. You can have him clapping cheeks by the endgame if he is used as a fighter with healing rather than a healer who can fight.

[@WhiskeyPieSometimes]

Along with EarthBound, the first two Shining Force games were replayed by me so many times growing up. Only Chrono Trigger got more hours.

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

@4:04: One of the biggest reasons that Shining Force is the best SRPG series of all time. It's just an RPG, with everything that comes along with that, whose battles just so happen to be SRPG battles.

[@glorypaxson]

Bleu is amazing. Cmon man. Did you use Arthur enough to see him gain magic?

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Harvester Of Eyes unfortunately removed all his videos. A rant video is up there until end of July.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Just saw that.... He'll be missed

[@HorseTeethModano]

Do you remember what the rant was? I missed it and have no frame of reference for why he up and left.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

@@HorseTeethModano from what I remember, he mentions no growth on YT, blamed harassment in comments and frustrations with YT as a platform. He opened his videos on alternative channels like utreon and odysee (but their are closed now).

[@HorseTeethModano]

I remember him being frustrated with YT, but slow growth shouldn't mean taking everything down everywhere. Something is odd about that. @@hemangchauhan2864

[@WandererFromYs]

8:10 The little girl in the intro introduces herself as Simone, and the girl that you meet later is Krin. So not the same person, although that would’ve been interesting

[@Geraki0n]

Oh hey, SU and Crunch stuff? :D That was a pleasant surprise, I grew up in Syracuse.

[@dentstowel4230]

I think I’m going to make “Greetings, Poser” part of my vernacular. 😂

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Hell yeah

[@lilliput_steps]

your issue with archers proves your previous point about the random level growth. from my experience my archers were constantly op and i needed to back them up to level up the other people

[@k1m198]

If you use the power ring, bleu and Adam become easy to grind up quickly and are the 2 strongest. With flying, bleu is SF1's Peter, super OP

[@rockmanfan5104]

Ive been playing shining force. I came from games like fire emblem. I have been stressing myself out thinking im going to be punished at some point for how im playing. This video took a weight off my shoulders. I will play freely now

[@tsuki_4366]

i miss harvester of eyes

[@earthboundretro]

Great video, never played this game but you inspired me to check it out. Who doesn't need some gaming comfort food about now.

[@philipberick2874]

When I played through the game, I truly hoped (chose to believe) that Bleu would be a kind of hidden surprise character. That it would be worth it to keep leveling it up and it would suddenly become this amazing dragon beast. And/or that if properly evolved, it would make an actual difference in the final battle or the Ending. I used up a slot in my party throughout the whole campaign and in the end.. it was just useless.

[@k.j.hulander2204]

Umm Bleu is amazing. After a boost (magic or power ring) he sweeps everything in the end game 🐲💕

[@commocore]

I thought there's some extra phone in my room at 9:00 that started to vibrate :D.

[@Alianger]

I guess they rebalanced archers for SF CD which I beat recently, used them a lot there. There I found most spellcasters kinda limited instead, as they would run out of MP too quickly. Leveling healers is a bit smoother in emulation with FF, which is how I play these games. Still the scaling of exp gained could be better.

[@leadbones]

Bleu, Adam, and Arthur are all there solely for grinding up if you want the three strongest party members. Most will find this a waste of time, granted. But, once you get past a certain point, grinding them up becomes very easy and make no mistake, they are the three strongest characters. Only the main slaps as hard. If you aren't going to do serious grinding, Zylo, Hanzou, and Musashi are the guys. The archers, birds, and healers are all trash. The gladiators don't hit hard or often enough, and the knights that aren't Arthur don't do enough damage either, compared to the real heavy hitters. Kokichi and Guntz are well worth the little bit of struggle it takes to get them up to speed. But Bleu, Arthur, and Adam only exist to provide a lengthy grind for those who want it.

[@Shadi092986]

I love this game, but the RNG of the stat values during level-ups is so frustratin it's best played in an emulator to optimize stat boosts and if your character's attack misses. As with healers, it's insanely easy for them to gain level-ups once Khris, Gong and Torasu have learned AURA, enabling them to heal 5 characters for an easy 48exp every time, putting them on top in terms of levels.

[@MrRandall171]

11:08 uses freeze on a zombie... There is elemental weakness in SF1. Blaze would have done more than freeze here for less mp. I guess you wanted a shot with Anri casting freeze? Anyways, i felt the need to complain since it irk'd me. Liked the review overall though. Bleu is better than expected but due to the random stat growths he doesn't always provide a good return on your investment.

[@Marc_Araujo]

Should've started with Shining in the Darkness...really good game.

[@zachgilchrist669]

Bleu is great. Spend a bit of time grinding and you'll be rewarded with a top-tier fighter. With flight range no less.

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

I've found that the best characters depend on how you play the game. If you just want to blow through each battle, keeping the best characters at the time, then Arthur sucks. If you play like I have been lately, and try to keep everyone on the same level, and promote at level 20 (can be tedious, yes), Arthur is the best character in the game.

[@Grind24hours]

Great review about a great game by a great youtuber! I personally prefer Shining Force 2.

[@cam9144]

One of my favorite games of all times

[@waderoberts3701]

I've permanently ruined games of Shining Force by keeping Max at level one by my brother's example and getting slaughtered at the Shade Abbey battle.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Shining Force CD loses the towns. It’s the 3 Game Gear games, glued together, which I guess don’t have towns. It’s a real slog just going from fight to the town (presented like on Shining in the Darkness) some brief dialogue, then straight into another battle.

[@nonanimeprofilepic]

damn i must be bad at tactical rpgs cuz i found this game ridiculously hard

[@SwordsmanOrion]

I'm sorry.... Is that a centuar carrying a bazooka?

[@bewill5121]

yeah this game is pretty awesome

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

I've wasted my time on Adam a couple of times, and he's STILL not worthwhile. He can OCCASIONALLY be good enough, to be the worst member of my final team.

[@KurtHectic97]

This game lacks a new game+ with all characters and dynamic lv based on your characters, but it was the first one, can't complain much. Sadly even with GBA version the new game+ mode it's not good enough but it's a great game. Try the GBA version one day. They fixed some issues (exp), story with more details, itens and other stuff.

[@DoubleDragonGaming]

Best RPG on the genesis. I put many hours into Shining Force I and II. Always wanted to play III but never had a Saturn. May have to try that one someday for shits n gigs. I just loved this game because it was so different from the FF games. Would always get so excited when I found a new companion to use. Never wanted it to end either and watching this makes we wanna play them all over again. Might be time for a new Shining Force game. Would love to see it on switch

[@fugitiveunknown7806]

I only disagree with you because of Fantasy Star IV, which was an absolute classic. And maybe the Genesis version of Starflight if it counts as an RPG. It's still one hell of a game though. Nothing like grinding Yogurt rings :>

[@exidy-yt]

Hahah, the way you talk about being a kid (or poor) and having limited choices, you pour all your energy into your choice and get back everything the game can give you: that was Shining Force III for the Saturn for me. It was 1999 and My local Electronics Botique was closing out it's Saturn section: I had $60 to spend: I could buy Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining Force III or the Japanese version of CastleVania: SOTN. I chose Shining Force III scenario I and never regretted it. I could gush about it now and how I dug into every tiny corner of this amazing tactical RPG and then went back and emulated the original Genesis games, but I'd rather watch your video.

[@megamike15]

i can't really get into srpgs. and i have tried. but every time i play one i lose interest after like 5 battles.

[@aznluvr7]

It's not THAT bad. I agree that the platforming is a bit goofy and there is too much slowdown as well. But the graphics, for super early SNES game are colorful and fun, the music is bouncy and the plot is goofy and ok. I enjoyed it, but then again I enjoyed the first one of the NES. But to not know the sword zeros out your exp is kinda silly if you are reviewing the game. Like with Ogre Battle, if you don't understand how the game works, you shouldn't shit on it. Figure out how it works, then poop on it.

[@BaronMorte]

Bro, Musashi and Hazou so low on the tier? Is he drunk??

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

Have my babies. Shining force is like chrono trigger popcorn of strategy rpgs. One day, cover vandal hearts. Unrelated, but how good would illusion of Gaia be with a new game+ that left enemies dead and 50 gems boss gave the true ending? I want this guy to tear open the horrible yet to be understood punishment of exploration that phantasy star 2 dungeons were.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

I'd love to do the classic Phantasy Stars at some point. And everything is cooler with NG+

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

@@JasonGravesPoser Spending an afternoon taking the time SLOWLY advancing levels in phantasy star one on a screen far larger than intended and taking in the creature animation and background battle art is an Irish spring commercial for my gamer soul. Something about feeling each increment of improvement. That art style too. I don't know what to call that particular flavor of sci-fi fantasy, but like the art work during either season's end credits of Outlaw Star. Anyone know the name? Also, I don't care what anyone says. PS2 team just had no idea how reward exploration or properly size top down view dungeons because nobody had really done it yet with their view in mind. They made every last damn mistake because noone knew better yet.

[@planexshifter]

I loved Shining force !

[@CharlieWhitesWig]

Love it!

[@RachelleLove81]

I want a new onnnneeeee!!!! 😭😭😭

[@dickmcguffin7304]

Shining Force was better than Fire Emblem

[@donkeyparadise9276]

Really?

[@PatternShift]

What is with all these reviews talking over gameplay where characters cast freeze on resistant enemies?? Use blaze on undead come on!!!

[@trevor_mounts_music]

If you are playing games for youtube instead of leisure...what the fuck are you even doing? 😂

[@grochek1]

I would like to throw my 2 cents in and provide some additional information above and beyond what others have stated. First, there is a very good reason it seems that a character will have 2 turns. At the start of a round of combat, the game will take the agility/speed stat of every character on the field (both Shining Force and Runefaust army), add a random number to that stat, and finally count down from highest number to lowest number for turn order in that round. What can sometimes happen is that a character will receive a very low RNG number on one turn, then a very high RNG number the next turn, thus giving the appearance of 2 turns. Vice versa is also true (i.e. a character gets a very high RNG number followed by a low RNG number, making it a very long time between moves). Regarding the Archers, they have some of the worst set-up in this game. The first archer (Hans) is a "late-bloomer" He gets 80% of his potential stat gain AFTER lvl 10 (unpromoted). Thus he appears to never get anywhere. Secondly Lyle (the horse archer) joins at the WORST time. Since he has mounted movement, he suffers an extreme movement penalty in forests and hills and he joins when almost all the battles are filled with forests and hills, making it nearly impossible for him to keep up with the party. However, your video about the archers shows selective editing. Every enemy you showed an archer attacking was a flying unit. Flying units have a 25% chance to dodge all attacks. Additionally, you did not equip Lyle with his strongest weapon so you were selectively lowering his attack to make him appear weaker than he could be. Let's talk about Healers for a second. You mentioned that healers do not have the MP pool to gain the 10 heals needed to level-up in a single battle. This is true. However, the game devs put in a mechanic to help off-set this problem. You see, when healers USE a healing item, they also gain 10 exp. Thus each healer can carry in their inventory an extra 30 exp. This is what I like to call the "exp for gold" scheme, as you can spend 10 gold for a medical herb and when a healer USEs the herb, they gain 10 exp. You can increase a healer's exp gain even more by having the rest of your party also carry healing items and GIVE said items to the healer to USE in battle. I have been able to get a healer to gain 2 levels in a single battle just from healing items in the inventory because of this mechanic. As for Bleu. Bleu does join at a rather low level, given when you pick him up. However, if you work with him (promote at lvl 20 and get him to lvl 20 promoted), he will have the highest HP pool, the 2nd highest attack level, and 3rd highest defense level of any character in the game. The easiest way to get him up to speed is to abuse the Power RIng. First you EQUIP the Power RIng on Bleu to give him a +4 attack. Then, at the start of battle, Bleu USEs the Power Ring on himself. This will give him an additional +15 attack for a total of +19 attack. With that boost, he can do significant damage as soon as you get him. Additionally, Bleu's stat growth can be rather fast. I have seen Bleu gain +9 attack in a single level-up so he can grow rather quickly. I hope this long-winded comment helps the reader to enjoy Shining Force even more.

[@RiffRock51]

This game is flawed, for sure.....didn't stop me from beating it 10 times over the years.

[@brianmarshall3921]

You can just do whatever you want and still come out on top? You never know who is going to go next? Guess you didn't try the hardest levels and don't understand how the stats work lol.

[@2bescenecom]

It was a translation issue and there is a direct sequel in the game gear