Shining in the Darkness for Sega Genesis - A Review | hungrygoriya

[@Hasekbowstome]

Another fun one from my childhood. In my family, we had a folder that stayed in the entertainment center, where we kept the maps that we would make whenever we were playing a game like this. We had a graph paper pad and made seriously detailed maps of Legend of Zelda, SITD, Star Tropics, and many other games. To this day, when I play a game and have to bust out some paper to start making a map, it gives me a smile.

[@hungrygoriya]

That's awesome! It's cool that you had a place to consolidate all those things. I had a childhood map I made of King's Quest V's desert on NES tucked away in an old PC box, and I found it again a few years ago. I'm glad you haven't lost your love of map-making!

[@Bancheis]

Fun Fact: The dwarf shopkeeper in the weapon shop is the is the dwarf from Golden Axe. He even has a sign in his shop with the little elf that drops mana potions on it from the game Golden Axe.

[@hungrygoriya]

Yeah I noticed that! Those little jerks that steal from you in the night while you sleep, right?

[@Bancheis]

@@hungrygoriya Yep that's them.

[@trevor_mounts_music]

@@hungrygoriya So that's where they get their stock from? Devious!!!

[@Dinobolt1]

I remember playing Shining in the Darkness when I went to see my cousins in Florida once and loved it. It was only a sample, but it really showed me that this was a great game. The day after I got my Sega Genesis Mini Console 2, the first I game I played on it was this and it's one of the best Genesis games I have ever played. I didn't stop my first time playing it in my home until I took my character to level 7, then continued to grind some more the next day until I almost curb-stomped the Kaisercrab. I did some more grinding today and thanks to the save state feature I left off at the entrance the the Cavern of Strength with Hiro at level 12 and the others a couple levels behind him. I'm going to have one more grinding session just wandering around, then when I have to use my angel feather to warp out I'll thoroughly explore everything when I return.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh right on! I'm glad it lit your interest so early on and that you're enjoying the opportunity to revisit it now. It's honestly so much fun and it's great to hear you're enjoying it so much. The save state feature sounds divine. I think I got overlevelled from all the times I'd warp out and need to walk back to where I was. I'm curious to know how the rest of your game goes without so many walk of shames to speak of, haha

[@Dinobolt1]

@@hungrygoriya Yeah, it's definitely a great game to go back to. It helps that I had and loved the first Shining Force as a kid, so it's great to see the origins of the series. I love Shining Force more, but this is a close second. if Shining Force 2 is even better than the first game like almost everybody says it si, then I may have to rank the Shining Trilogy as #1 on my list of favorite Genesis games. Well this morning I managed to conquer the Trial of Strength with relative ease and I still have enough HP left that I not only managed to go into the new area and get both of the treasure chests past the slime I just left off there and next time I will grind some more until one of my party gets down to less than 20 HP just to be safe. Or until I max out my items, which is honestly the biggest flaw of this game for me but honestly it helps keep things challenging. Yes, the save state feature is a godsend and enhances any game. As much as I loved wandering around aimlessly like I did when I first played it, I was glad to have a save state so that if I ran into an enemy too tough for me I could just reset to an earlier point. I feel spoiled for when I play Chrono Trigger on the Playstation, I really wish that had made it onto the SNES Classic Mini. Well maybe I'm over-levelled now but I've heard about a difficulty spike to come so I hope that when it hits it won't be as bad thanks to me getting my grinding in early. I'll leave a comment when I finish it. BTW I just discovered your Channel recently and I love it! I am going to do what I always do for KZbinrs I love, make a playlist with all your videos and watch them in order.

[@jasongarrett768]

God I miss that old Camelot art style. The Shining series just had so much more charm back then.

[@hungrygoriya]

I agree with you... the setting and the characters were incredibly charming.

[@kaleidoscopicvoid]

100%

[@TimKennedy1]

I love how 30 years on there are still videos coming out about this awesome series

[@hungrygoriya]

I am just extremely late to the party here... but yeah! I hope you enjoyed the video. I still have yet to play any other Shining games so I still have a ton to look forward to.

[@jedite7503]

It’s a shame that Camelot Software Planning is no longer developing for this series. Haven’t been since Shining Force III over 24 years ago. They were best developers since they had the heart and soul of the Shining series.

[@THEGREATMAX]

It's not really still going on though lol All the games now are completely different and bad

[@HereticHydra]

@@jedite7503 It's crazy to me that Camelot have been exclusively making games for Nintendo for far longer than when they were Sega devs. Sega really screwed them over with Shining Force 3 so bad that ran off to Nintendo & never looked back. Shining Force is so much better than Fire Emblem though.

[@drewcarson9114]

😂 you dawgie

[@TheDumontShow]

i just adore your channel right now. your voice is so soft soothing. and a lot of your reviews are spot on

[@hungrygoriya]

Hey thank you! Glad you're enjoying the channel :)

[@RedSpade37]

When I was younger, games like this and Arcana used to make me too nervous to play, but revisting them as an adult, I actually enjoy them much more than I thought I would. Between Ladder Slasher and Legend of Grimrock, I revisited a lot of games like this, and I'm surprised I enjoyed them as much as I did. It also kickstarted my love for the original Shin Megami Tensei games, which is always a plus, haha. Thanks for the video!

[@hungrygoriya]

I always felt the same: how could I enjoy wandering around aimlessly? It's surprisingly engaging and there's a real sense of progression in these kinds of games. I like them a lot more than I thought I would as well.

[@ShadowArtist]

In Japan the game was titled Shining AND the Darkness (as in "The Shining And The Darkness") and there were a couple of important Sega sponsored guide books were published that were excellent and explained the crafting, and laid out what could be made with the different materials. I bought both from Kinokunia Bookstore here in California that one could order books from (the ISBN # for them was listed in an ad in the Japanese Megadrive magazine "MegaDrive FAN", the two guide books had maps of every floor and were filled tips and hints, equipment info, and pages with lots of original art by Yoshitaka Tamaki (as seen on the game case of the original Japanese release) The localization like many of Sega of America's back then was wonky and many names altered. Like the main heroes name are originally Max, Bilbo, and Marlynn (a variant of the name "Merlin"); the kingdom was the kingdom of Stormsong (changed to Thornwood), the lead villain was originally named Mephisto aka "Dark Sol" (Dark Sol/Dark Soul is also a main villain in Shining Force 1) There were several secret Mega-powerful magic items like Doom Box, Ogre Horn, Forbidden Box, these wre able to wipe out whole groups of enemies with either a Black Hole, or summoning a giant ogre's foot that stomps on the enemies, these special items could only be obtained near the point one gets to the final dungeon floor from either locked chests one needs a special key for , one of them only obtainable from either the Alkemist or the Item shop under "specials" after three or four uses they'd "become damaged" and you'd have to go to a shop to repair them, if used passed their damaged state they become unusable I think?

[@hungrygoriya]

I'm pretty sure I had one of the box items you mentioned but its effect was random? And I believe sometimes it could hurt your party as well so I rarely used it. Either way, those differences are always interesting to read about. Thanks for sharing!

[@daviddobarganes9115]

Those guides with maps were life and death for this game

[@lordofallusion5862]

I was absolutely obsessed with this game as a kid. Love seeing it today in 2023

[@hungrygoriya]

It's a wonderful game. It was my first dungeon crawler experience if you don't count the dungeons in Phantasy Star 1, and it hooked me!

[@rushifellpainting4631]

I love this game so much. So many memories

[@vaidenkelsier7757]

This was one of my favorite games growing up. I'm surprised how well it holds up replaying it. It's got a real sweet spot of grueling difficulty with the encounter rate with giving you the tools to feel like a real badass. Getting the Mystic Rope really was a cool game changer, being able to backtrack and find all these cool secrets right there. And the writing ain't half bad either! Really fun characters all around.

[@hungrygoriya]

I really enjoyed this one as well for all the reasons you mentioned!

[@dementeddaniel666]

I still have and a long time ago beat Shining In The Darkness. I even have my progress still saved on the very same Sega Genesis I bought back in the day. I recently started playing it all over again on my PS3 via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. It's still a fun game.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh yeah? That must be cool to revisit after so long! Right on!

[@lord.of.tamarindo]

i love the Shining series, i grew up playing these games and to this day i still play em ! I'm glad to see Shining in the Darkness still get love! I'm also happy you mentioned grid paper being a life saver cause it helped so many times haha

[@hungrygoriya]

I grew up playing other stuff, but this was my introduction to the Shining series. I'm really excited to try out Shining Force one of these days. Graph paper is essential for a lot of these old games. I keep a book of it handy at all times while I'm playing through this sort of stuff. I love making my own maps!

[@NOLNV1]

Very excited to see you looking at the Shining series!

[@hungrygoriya]

Yes! I'd like to try the Shining Force games soon, and I also have Shining the Holy Ark to try as well.

[@NOLNV1]

@@hungrygoriya I don't remember terribly much about Shining The Holy Ark, apart from it being a tile based dungeon gang game, akin to Wizardry (which I love despite it being ugly) but the Shining Force games on Saturn are super cool! They made that one as several chapters, released as separate games as I understand it, with a recent translation having come out of the last, japan only one, I think

[@altalksgaminglive6870]

Sega Genesis games like this made you into a cartographer. I think growing up when I had one game to play between birthdays this would have been great to just replay and redo over and over. It has a real D&D 2E feel I took from your playthru. I can't wait to see you play Shining Force II, my favorite. Nice review and it was fun to watch you stream/VOD to the end. The many enemies especially with the pan hats were fun to see. Great graphics for the era

[@hungrygoriya]

Yeah totally! I love maps for some reason, probably more than most people should/would, but hey. It's fun to sit down and create something, you know? I can't wait to try out the Shining Force games. I haven't played any strategy RPGs before so that will be another "first time experience" for me.

[@altalksgaminglive6870]

@@hungrygoriya I got Shining Force II for my 18th birthday, it's so much fun. I look forward to knowing your thoughts on it eventually.

[@richardgale8726]

Thanks to this game (I think), I’m GREAT at directions. I always seem to know which way I’m facing… of course three lefts = one right! It wasn’t my favourite game but it had a massive effect on me.

[@SpookyBeatsMemphis]

This was a great game with a lot of memories for me. It was my first Dungeon Crawler on a 16-bit system and I loved the graphics and art style. I played through this game back before you could just pull up a map on the internet, so I ended up getting some graph paper and making my own maps. It made me feel like I was really exploring a dungeon at the time. If you are up for an old-school challenge, I would highly recommend playing this game for yourself without any guides. Quite challenging but a lot of fun.

[@hungrygoriya]

This is definitely worth playing without guides the first time, though there's lots of replay value once you know the ropes. I've read lots of comments here over the years about special weapons and other mechanics that really make replaying worthwhile. I'm a big fan of no guides/spoilers for a first-time playthrough though!

[@carterfest]

So many fond memories. This game was very challenging, until I discovered the joy of grinding!

[@hungrygoriya]

I love grinding! It's very relaxing sometimes, especially on streams when I have company.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

This game for me has aged well as newcomer to this series from few years ago. I had alot of fun exploring the tile based first person style maps. I had alot of trial and error but the few maps in this game made it tolerable for me to explore, backtrack and get the good stuff, including the optional guest characters. I did find out that some of these guests (gila especially) would leave when you rest at the inn. So I went back to an old save and decided to keep on grinding n playing n waste all of milo's support spells and healing items. This way I can keep most of my guest characters (mostly Gila) as my own extra party members and it made alot of tough encounters doable even helping me during the final boss battle. Only two things that annoyed me was lack of item description (thank you online guide) and that the ultimate weapon for Milo/Pyra (can't remember who) requires you to cast Muddle 3 or Muddle 4 (demon rod) to confuse late game golems to drop a special Flail that is the best weapon in the game, better than the main protagonists's best weapon. I feel the presentation in visuals and music are a step up from Shining Force 1 and is done better in Shining Force 2 n 3.

[@hungrygoriya]

Whyyyy would they hide the most powerful weapon behind something that obscure? I don't think I ever used muddle once the entire game! I wonder how folks even found that to begin with...

[@xRocketzFighterx]

@@hungrygoriya Most likely trial and error also alot of gamers when they beat a game so many times they tend to do troll tactics to see various results so for a 30 year old game it's no surprise that even a niche game like this will have cryptic secrets like this shown off in guides.

[@HybridAngelZero]

As someone who's also super into story and character in RPGs, it took me a while to try first-person dungeon games, too. For me, it was the PSP release of Persona 1 (which I didn't know had first person dungeons at the time) but I ended up enjoying it a good bit. And as for Shining in the Darkness, I played in for the first time in a Genesis collection on Xbox 360, and the production values really impressed me. The screens and sprites are so vivid and give you such a since of place. Also, one thing that always stuck with me is that, in the starting town area with the tavern, that the noise of the tavern not only gets louder when you look at it, but actually changes which side of the speaker it comes out of in relation to where you're standing. Such a cool attention to detail!

[@hungrygoriya]

Persona 1 eh? I've heard of the Persona series but haven't touched it myself. I'm very curious to give it a whirl, and it's even more enticing because of the dungeons. Thanks for letting me know! And yeah, I completely agree about the tavern and the music getting louder... I thought that was a super nice touch too! I didn't have the luxury of listening to it with headphones, but I'd be curious to try that too!

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@hungrygoriya On original Genesis hardware, it only outputs mono audio (all games do, it outputs the same mono through both speakers) but you can get stereo with the Model 1 Genesis' headphone jack. It seems they have stereo audio enabled on modern compilations. As for Persona, the first two games (technically three, Persona 2 is in two parts) are wildly different in both tone and style to 3, 4 and 5. I like both styles, all five games have a lot to offer. I actually played Persona 3 and 4 first, and was surprised how different Persona 1 was xD

[@RedAuxPDX]

When the title screen opened, I could immediately hear the dungeon crawling music from this game. It was so catchy and so imbedded in my brain after watching your excellent streams of this game. I agree with you about the repetition in how things look and the first-person perspectives. I would have also enjoyed more of a Phantasy Star style in the overall wanderings of the first person dungeon. The slow start makes this one a little daunting, but I was delighted to see your advancement through this one, so thank you for both playing this for us and for developing this indepth and detailed review! (PS Hand drawn maps 4lyfe)

[@hungrygoriya]

It was a really slow start... I find so many RPGs are like that, where you're just barely clinging to how things work and trying not to die in the first 10 hours or so. I think streaming this one really helped me to see it through... like so many other long-winded titles I've played, they're so much better with company versus playing them on my own. Hand-drawn maps 4lyfe indeed! I can't see myself ever hating map-making, unless the dimensions don't fit the graph paper I have... :(

[@musicryandave]

Holy crap! We are totally in sync lately! I recently beat Ghosts and Goblins (two cycles through) and the las game I beat was Shining in the Darkness!

[@hungrygoriya]

Very nice! That's too funny :D If we're three for three, then it'll be extra spooky!

[@littlemixer7522]

Oh man, what a dungeon crawler this was! This was one of my first Genesis games, and it's awesome to see you played through it! Even as an 11 year old, your issues you had here were VERY similar to my own playing through this for the first time. The limited inventory, the very high encounter rate, the status ailments ALWAYS hitting Milo and putting him in bad shape, and having to use Pyra's MP to see the map were frustrating for sure. Once again, you illustrate very fair critiques and use examples to back them up. In the end like you, I came away with a positive experience! It would have been cool to have the automap system as a regular option, perhaps maybe 4 more inventory slots per character and quest items having their own inventory, which would have been improvements but still kept the challenge. The best part to me was with each time delving into the dungeon, trying to make it a bit further, grab a key item, or gain the characters some more much needed experience. When real progress happened, it was quite exciting considering the onslaught of monsters the game could throw at you. The little story elements provided also added just enough interest as you also mentioned, along with the very charming graphics and great music! I think you'll enjoy the Shining Force games a good bit when you get to them. Despite being tactical RPGs, they do have the same graphical style, whimsical characters, more story and the same type of music. I remember you saying you don't have much experience with tactical RPGs but I know you'll do great! I'm sorry I didn't find your channel much earlier(Thanks to Ren or I may have never found it) as it's really fun seeing how many similarities we have in enjoying similar games, and your style of play is absolutely perfect for these types of adventures. Glad I get to see playthroughs live now on Twitch!

[@hungrygoriya]

Thanks for sharing your childhood experiences with this one. I'm glad you managed to overcome all of its challenges and also had the same bad luck with Milo. I genuinely thought that I just had the worst luck ever in my playthrough, but it turns out that the bad luck belongs to him entirely, haha! I can't wait to get into Shining Force eventually. There are still a few games I'd like to track down someday. I almost bought a copy of Shining the Holy Ark the other day, but it had a rip in the game foil and I didn't want to pay the asking price if it was going to potentially not even work past a certain part. And I guess I owe a big thank you to our dear friend Renesance! Better late than never! I appreciate seeing you in the streams and in my comments here. Thank you for taking the time to be everywhere all at once :)

[@arcturionblade1077]

One of my favorite RPGs back in the day of the original 16-bit console games. I bought this game online a few years ago and did a bunch of grinding to max every character with the best equipment, and having a blast with the super crazy random effects items late in the game. The visual art style is very charming too, as is the whimsical music and immersive game play to make it a very challenging but engaging dungeon crawler. It's sequel Shining Force takes a dramatic turn to the strategy RPG genre but I still very much enjoyed that one too.

[@hungrygoriya]

It's definitely packed with lots of details that I really enjoyed like the music and visuals. The end game ramped up the weirdness a lot, especially with the statuses and powerful enemies. I enjoyed that risk factor very much! Congratulations on going through it again and really seeing how far you could take it.

[@jaycenteno8385]

This was a great nostalgia trip, cant describe how much i love this game!

[@hungrygoriya]

It's pretty special! I appreciated it being my first experience with a dungeon crawler just because of how much flair it had, and how approachable it felt. I wish I'd had a chance to play this sooner.

[@jaycenteno8385]

@@hungrygoriya As they say, better late than never right? ;) At least you got the chance to try it and even better, you actually enjoyed it! Even years later the classics still have a way of catching us off guard. Happened to me with Phantasy Star 1&4! BTW I adore your intro. That little jingle at the start of all your reviews is always so cute! :)

[@hungrygoriya]

@@jaycenteno8385 It's good to come out of a game I've put almost 60 hours into with a positive feeling... it's rare that I don't. And thanks about the jingle. It's the beginning of one of my favourite NES tunes from Faxanadu: the password theme!

[@omgninjabot]

I loved this game so much as a kid. That music really takes me back. I also love that this video's length is 13:37. Hack the planet! ;)

[@hungrygoriya]

What a convenient coincidence about the video length, haha

[@JasonZnack]

Fond memories of playing this with my older brother. Saturday mornings with a cereal bowl in front of the tv watching. Good times. There's a few rom patches that make it a bit less punishing in case the hardcore slow pacing of the original is too much.

[@hungrygoriya]

This is good to know! I'm always curious to see what kinds of things people patch so I'll have to check them out.

[@JasonZnack]

@@hungrygoriya The spiritual sequel Shining the Holy Ark for the Saturn takes the formula to the next level. Overall a better experience, but definitely holds true to the roots of Darkness.

[@ROMBomb001]

I love your reviews! And you've convinced me to give this game a second try. Keep up the great job!

[@hungrygoriya]

I appreciate your kindness! I hope you enjoy the game, and good luck to you.

[@VGAPixel]

You should give the first Lands of Lore a spin. The style is called "blobber" as in your party moves as a blob from square to square.

[@Mamiya645]

Even now, this game is an incredible adventure, somehow quite immersive? Requires a great lot of patience if not using map guides, and it helps to have a GPS in the brain. Preferable on the Sega Gen/MD Collection because you can engage a turbo mode. Great review.

[@hhdev]

Ever since I was playing this game when I was little in 1991, I marveled at how Camelot/Climax succeeded in implementing a "correct view" during a 90 degree turn. At that time I tried to figure out the number of combinations, but it just did not work, it was far too varied. In Phantasy Star, for example, it was very simplified, you could count the different combinations with the help of the fingers of one hand.

[@TheReNesance]

Always nice to see the HG maps in action. Great work on your foray into dungeon crawling reviews!

[@hungrygoriya]

That was only one of them! I had pages and pages but tried not to spoil too much. Thank you very much by the way... I can't wait for more dungeon crawler adventures in the future.

[@zen_arcade_live]

Very Informative review Hungry, one of the many reasons why I enjoy your reviews.

[@hungrygoriya]

Thanks for the continued support!

[@TimBitten]

This game was my childhood obsession. I got pretty far, but couldn’t beat it. Recently went back and beat it on an emulator and everything you say is right! I tell people “Look, just use a damn map, it’ll be a huge pain if not.” And tbh, I wouldn’t even fault someone for using save states to take away some of the super unfair deaths and time sink to get back to where you were.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh yeah, nothing wrong with save states if that's the way you want to play. I loved making my own maps but it was quite tedious too!

[@kaleidoscopicvoid]

That's why i have gone my whole life avoiding dungeon crawlers lol.. But now i guess I could always just look up a map. That's how I got through Quest For Glory 2.

[@vermilion7777]

My favorite dungeon crawler. I still have the complete map layout in my head.

[@hungrygoriya]

You must've played it a lot if you can still remember where to go. That place is huge!

[@vermilion7777]

@@hungrygoriya Yeah, I played the whole Shining series + Landstalker excessivly, back in the 90s. Probably lost quite a bit of my brain capacity mapping those games. Just in this moment I replay shining force 1 on my smartphone.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

This was my first real dungeon crawler too a few years back. I had played through Phantasy Star before and had dabbled in Eye of the Beholder on computers way back when. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. That first time you come to a preset enemy, the crab, I was blown away.

[@hungrygoriya]

I got completely wrecked by the Kaiserkrab... I was also pretty shocked! I had no idea what to expect for boss fights and I also didn't expect to immediately get destroyed with no chance!

[@Dinobolt1]

@@hungrygoriya I always grind past recommended levels in RPGs so when I played this recently I managed to get my character to level 10 and bought the best equipment available minus a helmet, but I was strong enough to beat the Kaiserkrab in 4 rounds and I didn't even need to heal! After Pyra and Milo joined, I found that by walking back and forth through this one corridor around the entrance to the Cave of Strength I can trigger a battle with another one but after catching up my new party members it's a great way to get 40 experience points and 50 gold for minimal damage as long as it doesn't attack Pyra but even then she's still strong enough to only lose 10 or less hit points.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@Dinobolt1 It sounds like a very sound strategy for sure! Congrats on the kaisercrab win. I got wrecked my first time!

[@Dinobolt1]

@@hungrygoriya I got wrecked too when I played it as a child. It really startled me when it first showed up, and I went down easily. Never got past it back then, so it was very satisfying to finally beat it now that I had time to properly prepare for it.

[@SaadAzim]

Great review. This game always makes me think this is how the dungeons *should have been* in Phantasy Star II. :D

[@hungrygoriya]

I might've actually enjoyed it had this been the case.

[@TSDT]

It was a shame that they never went through with the first person dungeons planned for PSIV.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@TSDT I really liked the dungeons in PSIV for what it's worth. They weren't too long or too confusing like I felt the ones in Phantasy Star II were. I could've gone with some more first person perspective stuff all the same though!

[@kidkytes6233]

Phantasy Star IV had a nice balance of dungeons not being too long but still a somewhat higher encounter rate. The only huge dungeon I can think of in PSIV is the Air Castle but because the game is a lot more forgiving than other PS games in that you have a lot of resources for healing (thank god they gave characters good TP) so I even enjoy going through that. Plus that PS1 dungeon arrangement is a bop! But it would've been cool to see what the first person dungeons could've been like in PSIV because there is potential. Though I really have to agree, I would've much preferred the dungeons in PSII if they had been first person rather than the gargantuan dungeons in that game.

[@EatingCtrlV]

I love this game, but mostly for it's "Camalot Charm" then anything else. The original Phantasy Star is a much better representation of this kind of gameplay imo, and on a lower speced system.

[@hungrygoriya]

I did like how the dungeons were done in Phantasy Star... not too much backtracking, not too much meanness, etc. I thought the size of those dungeons were a lot more approachable too. I was really intimidated by how huge the ones in Shining in the Darkness were.

[@hyakugame]

Camalot? say what

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@hyakugame Camelot Software Planning (formerly Sonic! Software Planning) was one of the teams involved in the development of this game, the other being Climax Entertainment (the makers of Landstalker).

[@depht]

Oh what a fun video! Lol this was one of the first few games I remember renting from Blockbuster as a kid and learning to really love rpgs. Thank you for reminding me of my childhood. I'm surprised you didn't mention those hidden items though, like the Ogre Flute. I had no idea the game had secret items until like a couple of years ago.

[@hungrygoriya]

I had no idea it did until you mentioned it just now! I usually play games through without guides or hints and then delve into spoiler territory, and I didn't come close to the levels needed for some of these special items. That's really cool though!

[@ryogo666]

Great review as always! I started playing this game on the Sega Genesis Collection back on the PS3 and thought it was fantastic until the inventory management issue you mentioned showed up. I think there's nothing worse for me than having a full inventory in an RPG and not knowing what to discard, it literally gives me anxiety! I guess that's why I always loved the Final Fantasy series since you always have plenty of room or infinite room for items (except FF1 and FF2). If you're looking for more great Genesis games, I recommend you check out Crusader of Centy, Landstaker (the prequel to the awesome PS1's Alundra), and Beyond Oasis. Light Crusader was pretty nice too.

[@hungrygoriya]

Inventory restrictions also give me anxiety... it was so frustrating that items don't stack either, so you could fill your inventory with 8 herbs and there goes all that space. It's just terrible! I've played Crusader of Centy before and it was a lot of fun! Beyond Oasis and Landstalker are still games I'm hoping to track down someday. I've heard great things about them both. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@NeutralAtJSP]

Sad to say Camelot never learned anything from this as even Golden Sun has a terrible inventory system. I've played the games for so long that I don't struggle but it's very limited... The best shining game inventory was probably the gba remake, seperate inventory for equips and a stash.

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

Has anybody else here even unlocked smaller secret content within the game? I tinkered with it and found ways to give your characters just a little more boost and also uncover hidden dialogue. What you do is.... DON'T rescue the elf, the Ogre, OR the princess on your playthroughs....at least....not at first. Instead..do it later..if at all. If you have the medallion for the shining knight fountain with the patron (to refill all life and magic towards the very end).. you have the magic to do this. Physically run to each location using magic to clear out the monsters. You can save all three WITHOUT going back to town/castle where theyd then leave your party. Those characters will randomly attack with you. So with 3 of them.. you will have them attack more often. The Ogre does the most damage. So its like a party of SIX and not 3. Plus.. you never have to worry about healing them. This gives you additional dialogue in the throne room at the very end as the princess mentions wanting to go out with you and fight more....lol. OR....you don't rescue the princess at all. She will still be in the throne room prior but is still officially in her cell right before the last level. But if you win the game with her technically still imprisoned... she says that your father's soul/ghost came to rescue her when the labyrinth was collapsing... she notes how he was always loyal/honorable. So... hope that tidbit for a game that's nearly 35 years old is something new for all of you. : )

[@hungrygoriya]

Very interesting! I can definitely see that being fun for a future playthrough.

[@whatareyoulookingat908]

@@hungrygoriya Great content, btw!!!! Looking forward to viewing more of your videos. : )

[@hungrygoriya]

@@whatareyoulookingat908 Thank you! I have a little surprise video coming out tomorrow that's not anything I've ever done before, but regular content should resume in a week or two. Whenever I get something together here.

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

The only dungeon crawler-style RPGs I ever liked were Etrian Odyssey IV and Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl. I know they're considered retro throwbacks, but even they couldn't get me into legit retro ones for whatever reason. And even though I love me some Camelot/Sonic Software Planning style (I really, REALLY wish a newer Shining game would bring Yoshitaka Tamaki's art to life in 3D. Man, it would be so _timeless;_ like seeing the excellent models of Akira Toriyama's characters in modern Dragon Quest games), even that can't get me that far into this game when last I gave it a shot. Just makes it one of those games I love to hear about in reviews like this, but will never go through myself. That's fine - there's plenty of RPGs out there :) I hope you find some more retro first person dungeon crawlers that click for you in the future!

[@hungrygoriya]

Lots of folks reminded me that Etrian Odyssey is a fantastic game just like this one, as well as Shining in the Holy Ark. It would be cool to play either of those someday! I can also understand why these games would not be for everyone. I apparently enjoy the tedium of mapping way more than someone probably should, so that's a big draw for me. Pun intended! And thank you... I've got my sights set on Arcana for someday down the line. I've heard that's a great game in the same vein for SNES!

[@neosildrake]

My 2nd RPG on Genesis/MD. I love it! Made my own maps, as usual, because absolutely neccessary. Miss games like these.

[@hungrygoriya]

I had so many maps for this game and I loved making them too.

[@interghost]

I used to love these kind of games on the Atari ST computer back in teh day. Such as Bards Tale and Dungeon Master. But I never got into them as much on console. This one does look kind of cool. I feel these games are fun, but do get very samey after a few hours. Great review as always. You put in a lot of effort and it shows. Keep up the great work, love it. Thanks :) x

[@hungrygoriya]

Samey is a great way to describe them actually... there are are only a handful of songs too, so it can start to feel repetitive quickly. That's why I was so surprised by how much I came out liking it! I expected to get bored or feel annoyed with a lack of diversity here, but nope! I haven't tried any on PC but I wonder if they would've been as forgiving... I kept hearing from a lot of people during my streams of this game that they were surprised Shining in the Darkness had a map view. I don't think I could play a game that didn't have some form of map access.

[@dozilla77]

This was one of my favs as a kid with my Brother. I believe this was featured Sega Visions magazine if anyone remembers :)

[@hungrygoriya]

It's cool that you got to play this one when you were little. I think I would've really enjoyed it back then too!

[@dominiquejean5830]

There are too many comments to read them all, but have you ever reached level 99 with any character? The message is quite funny. It will say that the character is physically fit. I also like how the boost spells work. You can cast Quick 2 to buff defense of the party or Quick on one character to give a better buff. That adds a fun risk/reward way to play.

[@hungrygoriya]

I didn't get to level 99 with anyone in my playthrough, but that's a funny prompt! And good to know about Boost! There are so many things that I'm sure I missed/didn't understand completely on a first playthrough. Thanks for sharing!

[@dominiquejean5830]

@@hungrygoriya You can farm levels against the Crystal Oozes on the same floor as Darksol. They give tons of experience but are the Metal Slime equivalent of that game : high defense and run away a lot. However, once you get high levels, the item store will start to sell special items. One of them is the Ogre Flute and it's an instant kill item. If it cracks, go get it repaired at the trader, rinse and repeat. You can also bombard spells (Blast seems to somewhat work). To make things better, they roam around the area where the Spirit of Light can heal you so you don't have to think about conserving MPs.

[@cdavis7529]

I played this game as a kid and didnt even know you could bring up a map. I ended up just having to memorize the entire map.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh wow! That's some real dedication!

[@cdavis7529]

@hungrygoriya lmao I didn't have a choice as kid. Either play what you have or don't play anything at all.

[@Bobson_Dugnutt_Esq]

I tried this game after playing some of the Etrian Odyssey series on the 3DS and figured I might just be too spoiled by the latter's modernism to appreciate it, but even today Shining in the Darkness holds up incredibly well overall.

[@hungrygoriya]

I thought it was pretty well-designed. I wasn't a huge fan of how much backtracking you eventually need to do, but other than that, I really had a blast! I have so many pages of maps!

[@Marc_Araujo]

Persevering through and finishing this game is highly satisfying...it makes you hurt so good.

[@hungrygoriya]

I was very excited to see the ending of this one. I'm also excited to play Shining the Holy Ark!

[@aramschwartz4502]

I think the Shining in the Darkness series was very underrated. It's nice to see this both available on the Sega Mini and the Nintendo Switch.

[@hungrygoriya]

I'm glad so many people are getting the opportunity to try it out. It's definitely got some addictive qualities to its gameplay.

[@blakejohnson4713]

This game and I had such a love/hate relationship when I first borrowed from a friend in 1992. I loved the graphics (maybe the best I'd ever seen on a console at that time) and enjoyed the combat and exploration immensely but I was extremely ignorant of how RPGs worked in general and could never figure out where to go. I'd wander endlessly, so frustrated that I couldnt progress (and all I had to do was give the king the tiara that Id equipped) until eventually having to return the game to my friend without ever getting either of the team members. The game burned in my memory as a brutally tough game that I was unlikely to ever beat. But I wouldn't forget SitD and after a lifetime of RPGs beaten since, I finally sat down with my jailbroken sega mini during covid lockdown and beat SitD, a life long gaming goal set by my 12 year old self so many years ago. It's easily a favorite Genesis title of mine and refuse to delete it from the mini hard drive. It needs to be catalogued as a top game in its library.

[@hungrygoriya]

I'm happy to hear that you eventually came back around and finished it. This was my first true dungeon crawling experience and between the mapping and all of the little surprises and twists in this story, I adored the game quite a bit. I've knocked a few childhood games off my list over the past few years, and I can certainly appreciate how wonderful it feels to finally put something like that to rest. Congratulations!

[@trickyricky2920]

This game was one of my favorite when i was a kid i could not wait to get home from school to play

[@hungrygoriya]

I would love to play Shining the Holy Ark one of these days. I hear it's a great follow-up to this one.

[@harrysboy]

I actually got this game as a birthday present when I was a kid, and because of that I've got a strong affinity to it. To be honest it was too difficult and dungeon crawlers aren't really my thing, but I spent hours on it and managed to enjoy the game. The graphics and music really are wonderful for the era, and I still enjoy returning to the game to this very day. Think Sword of Vermillion did this type of game better, but there is a playfulness to Shining that makes it stand out.

[@hungrygoriya]

The music was something that never got old! I was glad there were a couple of tracks at least, but it wasn't until I went to go and put this review together that I realized how little there actually is for exploration. Two songs! They're both very good at least! I wonder if I would've liked something like this as a kid. I definitely enjoyed it now because I like making maps and things, but I wonder if I would've had the patience for that when I was younger. I'd like to play Sword of Vermillion sometime too. It looks like a cool experience as well.

[@harrysboy]

@@hungrygoriya back then games were quite expensive and there weren't many budget options, so as a kid you really had to make the most of what you bought! That really did force me into grinding this game, and it was the same scenario for Lord of the Sword! As I said it wasn't quite my type of game but the draw of getting to meet new characters in the village after every dungeon excursion kept me going. Actually it's the village music that I enjoyed the most!

[@thewingedavenger1007]

Awesome review! I thought this was fun enough, but I played it with save states. I usually need those in order to be able to tolerate the BS that dungeon-crawlers tend to put the player through.

[@hungrygoriya]

I could definitely see save states being a great way to play this one, especially with some of the crafting conundrums if you wanted to try again to get something better. And all the dying... and getting paralyzed and poisoned at the worst times... yep. Save states

[@--i-am-root]

I remember playing SF 2 with my friend in middle school. I meant to play this one when I found out about it because after Etrian Odyssey, I realized that dungeon crawlers were really chill. They force you to slow down and pay attention. When I play strategy games, I seem to wing it by intuition and get levelled by opponents before I know it. But dungeon crawlers really don't let me fall into that trap.

[@hungrygoriya]

Yeah, they're pretty great games! I'm still very new to the genre but I'm looking forward to more for sure.

[@--i-am-root]

@@hungrygoriya Well I definitely suggest the Etrian Odyssey series. You get to make your own team, but the "Untold" remakes give you a narrative driven team if you prefer. And my fav part was how you can use the lower screen to draw your own map that is stored in the save file.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@--i-am-root This all sounds like something I'd enjoy. People did suggest Etrian Odyssey but I haven't looked into it much yet. This is all very promising, especially the mapping parts!

[@cam9144]

There was something REALLY special about Camelot games and especially Shining Force. The sprites, the color palette, the music. They killed it with Shining series, Golden Sun, Beyond the Beyond (I dont care what anyone says about BtB, it's a real guilty pleasure game to me. I love it :D) I would absolutely love a new tactical game mix of Shining Force using Valkyria Chronicles battle system. Still tactical, but 3D environments to navigate. This would be really awesome in taking advantage with your centaurs and monsters all around the field.

[@hungrygoriya]

I really need to get into Golden Sun and their other stuff, as well as eventually play Shining Force. I'm very late to the Camelot games! I'm not familiar with Valkyria Chronicles first hand, but I'll take your word on this. It sounds like it'd be really neat!

[@josefkrenshaw179]

I just got used to saving before crafting the mithril weapons and armor...and resetting. The soundtrack was one of my favorites as well. If you haven't tried its half-sister "Landstaler" you will be in for another one of those love/hare things along the same lines.

[@hungrygoriya]

Ah yes, the resetting would've worked well too... I could've done that, but it would've been better for the game to just explain it a little more in my opinion! And I haven't tried Landstalker yet... I'm waiting for a copy to come my way at a good price!

[@josefkrenshaw179]

@@hungrygoriya I don't have the discipline for original hardware. I played through those two (and the shining forces) on the collection sega put out on the PS4/Xbox1/Switch a few years back. The isometric controls took me several sessions to get used to. After a couple of towns and dungeons, it did become second nature. However, that first dungeon was a hair-puller and I probably would have given up entirely if it wasn't for the charm of the characters and the writing.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@josefkrenshaw179 Good to know. I'll keep that in mind when I play through it eventually. I'm glad you stuck it out in the end!

[@CalaveraSancho]

Best art and music direction on the Genesis, no contest! It always reminded me of playing a video game adaptation of a Terry Pratchett novel...

[@hungrygoriya]

Right on! It's a pretty lovely game and I also loved the art and music.

[@Owazrim]

SitD is why I wanted to get the original Phantasy Star when I learned about the Master System. I had a lot of fun with this game as a kid. I hope to get back to it for another playthrough soon.

[@hungrygoriya]

I hope you do too... it was so much more fun than I was expecting!

[@bearshaman]

Great review and subbed! This was my first Japanese RPG as a kid, but I didn't end up beating it until a few years ago. I also ended up drawing a map, which also ended up messed up but I really enjoyed the process of making it. One thing that really helped me with mapping was to cut off a zip tie head (with just a small amount of the rest of the zip tie attached) and use it as a party marker on my graph paper, with the small amount of non-head part of the tie pointing in the direction the party is facing on the paper.

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

This game has stuck with me, having played it for the first time about a year ago. Part of it I think is the game's charming art style, and your crew of the angriest party members in an RPG! But part of it is also that this is the only old school first person RPG that I've beaten without a guide, and I feel like I did so because the game was designed such that a player could actually learn how to navigate these labyrinths and manage (most of) the enemy encounters in a clear way. The design, even with these simple tunnels, feels deliberate, and for the most part play tested. For all the traps the dungeon layout throws at you, there are just enough in game tools, landmarks, hints, and shortcuts to keep things clear without getting disorienting, as long as you're not going in random directions or whatever on each floor (I tended to do the follow the wall method when doing early exploration, then later using magic to call up the map when needed). I know that Hiroyuki Takahashi, when commenting on Shining Force vs Fire Emblem, noted on how off putting he found the original Fire Emblem in terms of its tempo, and I do think the early Shining Force games have a better sense of pacing and clarity compared to the early Fire Emblem games. And I feel like Shining in the Darkness, for all its flaws, also has a similar level of care in keeping the player moving and engaged. Not as well as Shining Force, but its thoughtful design and lived-in world (with the way events play in the village especially) still, well, shine through I think. I do wish there was more clarity with the crafting, and like many old RPGs you really can get screwed with a bad encounter, which are the weakest points of the game. Still, since you don't need to min max the weapons and armor, I just accepted my errors with what I crafted, and since this game did take the best lessons from Dragon Quest when it comes to death, worst case scenario I'm still going to be stronger and likely still richer next time. Obviously a very flawed game, but there's plenty here worthy of praise.

[@hungrygoriya]

Agreed about this being a great game that was approachable. I think it had all of the things I like about RPGs minus a few of the quality of life things I mentioned I felt were missing, but for a dungeon crawler, I'm very glad I started with this one. It did feel like I could manage without a guide and I mostly did except to clarify with people about what some of the items did. I was too scared to waste limited use items by accident.

[@OnlineVideoSurfer]

@@hungrygoriya Yeah, I can understand that. That's probably also one advantage I had playing some of the Shining Forces (and Golden Suns) before this. Since I had some knowledge of the naming conventions, the UI, how curses work, and the rules of how items can break, I was comfortable taking risks and having a rough idea of what to expect. If I had never played any of those games beforehand, I may have been more cautious with certain late game items.

[@i3oosted]

My first intro to the shining force series, my favorite rpg. Lots of memories growing up playing this with my brothers as one plays, one maps, one gives directions…. good times. Still play it to this day.

[@hungrygoriya]

It's a really great game. I was surprised at how in depth it was, especially later in the game with some of the backtracking you could do.

[@JOEmega64]

You might enjoy “The Dark Spire” for DS. It’s exponentially more brutal than “Shining,” but it’s so rapidly paced that it’s hard to not be in a constant state of thrill!

[@hungrygoriya]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have a ton of DS games so I'll check into this one for sure!

[@francescosmith7859]

Very interesting. I'm a pretty big fan of the Shining games but this one slipped by my radar and I only started looking into it after it was announced on the Genesis Mini 2 lineup and I was surprised to see it's not like the others. I'm playing Shining CD now but after I finish I think I'm going to have to give this one a shot. I know you made the Drakhen video the other day but I think In the Darkness will likely grab me more quickly and easily than that. Too many rpgs and not enough time 🙂

[@hungrygoriya]

There are definitely way too many RPGs to play. Shining in the Darkness is a fantastic adventure. I hope it's enjoyable for you! Don't forget the graph paper!

[@pretzelthedude]

The nostalgia goggles for me with this game were pretty strong through the years... until I decided to give it another go through the sega genesis collection and realized how brutal it was. It was still lovely to see the wonderful pixel art and hear the banger music again tho! What I wouldn't give to be young and have all that free time again. Adulting suuuuuuuucks! 🤣😁.

[@hungrygoriya]

Adulting is pretty time consuming eh? I make time each week to sit down and game, and I'm grateful for that bit of fun in my schedule. The music in this game is especially good, and I also really liked the visuals.

[@tailspowell1113]

The origin of all games, Shining In The Darkness was a tale about a simple yet a brave boy who took a journey down the path of evil. Only guided by the hope of God.... Thus a legend was born, Hiro.

[@Lastjustice]

My best friend used play thru this when we went over to his house for lunch in the early 90s. I watched him defeat the last boss. He has a terrible memory on most things, but he would walk around the dungeon without looking at the map most of the time. I played thru for the first time myself in earnest a few years ago. I poked at playing it, but gave up shortly. I had my phone in front of me and used the map on that instead of drawing them. I got to where I walk around without getting lost too much after a bit. I used a guide to just see what gear did what, as I care buy stuff and hope it was better. One thing that tripped me up was one of the maps I was using had a mistake on it for the 3rd trial. I was trying so hard to find the fire sword, till I eventually was like this deadend has it to be where you get it. Looking at the maps overlay I figured it out, but you'd think whomever put the maps on gamefaqs would edited their mistake. It was annoying to have bad info like that. I find at the end of the game, the shops basically end up being a show room for all gear you have found over the course of the game since you can't afford hold anything extra. There's alot of secret gear to collect, which makes the fact your inventory so small even more annoying. Without a guide you probably wouldn't realize that you can sell off keys as you get new ones. The newest key opens all the doors the previous ones opened. You still need a fair number of items to move around the dungeon. If you muddle certain enemies, you can trick them into giving you special items. Some of the best gear collected this way. Milo gets the super flail which hits enemies 3 times, which does more damage than the mitril axe. His other flails hit more than once, so they tend be better options for him. There's rings that raise your defense just by sitting in your inventory, magic and heal rings. If you wear multiple of them the effect stacks. On a high lvl with 2 of them equipped even the final boss hit you for 1s with physical attacks. The game doesn't tell you the rings do this, but they do. Given how limited your inventory is, you probably wouldn't want to fill it with these at first, but later when you've done plenty of exploring these are good way protect yourself. I have fun replaying this game from time to time as it's something you can breeze thru in a reaosnable time once you know the process. there's games with deeper expereinces, but this game makes it's simplicity one of it's strengths. It has a bunch of charm and is worth a play thru. Though I wouldn't be above using a tablet or phone to show you the map instead of wasting tons of mps or making one.

[@hungrygoriya]

This was a really interesting read for me. There's so much more to this game than what meets the eye in a first playthrough, and I think all of the things you've mentioned here lend themselves really well to increasing the replay value and making this into something worth experimenting with. I will admit that I was worried about selling anything and needing it half an hour deep into a dungeon, so I tended to hoard all my items and keys until very late in the game. It's good to know that later keys you find do actually replace the older ones. I wish the game would've mentioned something about that! My favourite thing about games like this is just how unknown all of these mechanics are, but if you're not willing to experiment, it's sad knowing that it's a wasted effort on the parts of the developers. I think if I ever did replay this down the line, I'd definitely look some of these things up and try to take advantage of some of it just to see how far I could push my party. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@Lastjustice]

@@hungrygoriya Believe me I double checked if the keys really did replace the next one before I was sure I'd sell it. Though I knew deals always keeps important items, as the same holds true in the shining force games too. Long as you don't destroy the item from overuse, it will end up on deals. Even if an enemy drops an important item, it ends up on deals. (In shining force 2, you can control the AI and make them drop stuff with a cheat. It saves you some chunks of mithril at the end game.) In shining force , periodically there's bad guys that had special weapons, they will drop it when defeated. If your character has full items, it goes to deals instead. In the first game, bad guys will repeatedly drop stuff(If same all other lizard men have hand axes, and one has a heat axe..he probably drops it. So it's good check who holds what.), so you can replay the battle and score them again. This even worked in Shining force CD/Gaiden, the first chapter your team loses all their gear when the shipgets wrecked. If you drop the protect ring before the battle ends, you can buy them back later off deals. Otherwise they're just got forever. Inventory always been an issue in the shining games. In the force games, each character only holds 4 slots, which one of them is your weapon.(two in case of knights, it's handy keep a spear for ranged attacks.) They don't need buy or upgrade armor making it very steamlined. Only thing character equip otherwise is rings. So you want to recruit everyone you can, just for more inventory slots (Jogurt is worth 4 slots even if he's a joke character otherwise.) In 2 you run into chinks of mithril, so you will be struggling hold them. I just end up selling them to the shops since I could use the extra cash early on. Thankfully there's a caravan that let's you stash items and swap party members about half way through the game. Anyways thanks for the reply and reading my rant. It's good know atleast one person read it. Keep up the good work. Later.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@Lastjustice It's a pity something like item storage only comes halfway through SF2! Goodness... how frustrating! Good to know I have more inventory woes ahead on most fronts for the series. And you're welcome! I try to keep up with comments here the best I can. Thank you for taking the time to write something here :)

[@Lastjustice]

@@hungrygoriya Well Shining force 1 isn't terrible in that regard. You get a fairly large number of characters pretty quickly. Some of them like Gong, who is a barehanded monk don't use any equipment, so you basically get 4 free slots when he joins. There's only 1 key item you need haul around for bulk of the game(Orb of light).The only items you might want to save are stat raising items like attack potions. In Shining force 1, when you promote a character, they actually drop stats are first. So you don't want to use the stat raising items till after you promote them. So don't be in rush to promote all your characters as fast as possible, this just makes the game harder. (Something I did when I first played it. You can promote characters early as chapter 2 with alittle grinding, but you will struggle gain a single lvl till chapter 4 when enemies are worth fair amounts of exp to promoted characters.) The normal lvl you promote at is lvl 10, but you can actually go all the way to lvl 20 before promoting for extra stats. I'd recommend waiting till you start seeing weapons you need promote characters in order to equipment, which like chapter 4. Characters when you promote them will get explosive lvl ups, as you might see a character get 30 stats in a single lvl but you need be fighting enemies worth enough exp to earn lvls.(Your character will be viewed lvl 20 exp wise whether you promoted at lvl 10 or anywhere after.) Which is the issue with promoting super early. You take a massive stat drop, but you can't earn lvls fast enough to regain your footing. So it's good to spread them out so your entire team isn't weakened all at once. Lvl ups are really random and characters tend favor certain stats so each playthru can be very different. They eventually even out later one way or another. (Mages and healers spells trigger after X number of lvls, so if you promote them later they get their spells sooner.) I think the inventory situation in shining force 2 worse despite eventually getting unlimited space, since you get fewer characters early on.(The first game you will have multiple healers and mages by chapter 2, while you won't get a second mage or healer till much later.) You start finding chunks of mithril early on, and just don't have room to store it. So selling it probably the best option to keep your space open since you won't need till very late in the game. There's also secret promotion items so you'll need hang on to those too. (Which if they are in the caravan you will not get the option to use them. It has be in your inventory somewhere to trigger. I missed the chance to use one of them first time I played since I didn't realize that was the item's purpose.) The secret promotions generally are better choice, but not always, depends what you like in some cases and who you use them on. It adds replay value check out characters on different paths, so you can find what you like. You don't need hold on to the majority of the stat raising items atleast. You can use them right away in most cases. (MP and movement are ones you might want to save till post promotion. Some characters like Slade need the mp, but don't start gaining the stat till he's promoted. Some classes reset their movement upon promotion.) Characters don't drop stats when Promoted, so it's all gains the whole way. Promotions are at lvl 20, and you can raise your character to 40 before promoting, but tends make the game really easy if you do that. (Healers can lvl up super fast since they get exp whether they actually heal hps or not. Aura 1 gives 25 exp just for 7 mp, and hitting 3 allies. You actually have heal damage to gain exp in the first game. Always burn all your mp every fight either way.) I like both games, just the inventory system was something could stood be overhauled.(The gaiden games or shining CD are very stripped down, so not alot of items to worry about. There's no towns to explore, just goes from battle to battle.) I feel like they could have atleast made a key inventory bag. I guess that's something for them to do if they ever do a HD remaster of the shining games. I'd love for the 3rd game get released in the west, as there was 3 chapters to it, but only the first chapter got released in the US. It was on saturn so most of us didn't get to play it. We can hope Sega will do that some day.

[@dusthastricks]

I have this on the SEGA Genesis collection and was a bit hesitant to start it but your review provided great insight.

[@hungrygoriya]

If you like long walks, you'll enjoy this one. Good luck!

[@janglur]

This game still feels special today. Something about it that just doesn't feel like other games.

[@zacharykaminski6981]

My intro to dungeon crawlers as well. Still have the hand drawn maps from my youth! Felt great pride when I completed the game!

[@hungrygoriya]

I also felt proud when I got to the end. I loved how the last area just blasts your party full of experience as well... I was worried about needing to grind up leading up to the end, but the game did that for me. It's very nice that you still have your maps! I have one from my youth that I drew of the desert in King's Quest V for NES. I busted it out when I played it a while back and it was a really sweet experience.

[@TheWhiteGoblin_TeamMachineGun]

Great video HG! This was one of my favorite games as a kid and I've still never beat it. You make me want to go back and play through it as an adult. Thanks for the upload! /cheers

[@hungrygoriya]

No time like the present! And thanks for watching :)

[@cybernoid001]

I need to get around to beating this. I've started it so many times, just never finished it. But I always loved the charm of the characters in the game. I think a premastered version where they could expand on that would be amazing.

[@hungrygoriya]

I hope you do get back to it sometime. It's worth it!

[@TheIndieOcean]

"You have all of your typical jerks here" 😂 Good video, as always. You really put across exactly what didn't and didn't work here. For me personally, I think the opacity of the crafting (which is a mechanic I don't like anyway) would be too much for me, so I'm glad I was able to experience the game vicariously through your streams instead!

[@hungrygoriya]

Hahaha thanks :) I try to keep it real, you know? I'm glad folks tend to mostly agree as well. That crafting was such bologna! It felt like a total waste of time and money, but at that point in the game where I started fiddling I had so much cash that it was okay to gamble. I wish the one whip I'd made for Pyra had been better than what I got... that was the biggest burn. The Hex Whip just tangles her up every few turns and leaves her incapacitated but deals slightly more damage than the normal whip that behaves... booooo!

[@jeanbob1481]

The song that plays at 6 minute from this game blew my mind the first time I heard it, I think it is called upper labyrinth song, it is REALLY good, same with the Dark Sol and Boss theme, very good music. As for the game it was definitely something, I am not a fan of dungeon crawler and this one was very good to me altough there is almost no replay value. Cool secrets and weapons to be found too, forging mithril etc. The Hex whip, Milo Triple hit mace, Sword that can use infinite magic as an item etc.

[@hungrygoriya]

Yeah, I think it's got some replay value if you give yourself enough time to forget it. Most of my intrigue with a second playthrough lies with the crafting aspects, since I didn't really understand those mechanics based on what was told in the manual. It's cool that you can get some really powerful weapons and items that way.

[@youremakingprogress144]

I haven't played this, but I've played Shining the Holy Ark (originally for Sega Saturn) maybe a dozen times. The style and graphics make if very clear their from the same series, even if Holy Ark is superior in every way; several of the complaints you made about Darkness are fully addressed in Holy Ark. It's great to see the forebear of one my favorite games of all time.

[@hungrygoriya]

I actually have a copy of Holy Ark to try out sometime and I'm really excited about it. I've heard as much about Holy Ark being the better big brother of this game so you can imagine how much fun I'll have discovering that one when the time comes.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

Shining in the Darkness is available via the Shining Force Classics through the Sega Forever mobile series. I would not recommend the mobile pack, though, because the conversion is terrible. There are many sections with glitches, freezing, and random crashes that just happen for no reason.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

Add to that the terrible button input delays, overheating after prolonged gameplay, and constant ads (in the free version), and you have the makings of really bad gaming emulation on mobile devices. It's not just with the Shining Force pack, either. All of the re-releases in Sega Forever are like that. I tried Revenge of Shinobi on there, and it crashed. Avoid the whole Sega Forever series! Sega really fell asleep on these.

[@hungrygoriya]

Were the Sega Forever games the free mobile ones that they started releasing over the past few years? I had no idea this was one of the games made available. I wonder how the experience would be on a phone despite what you've mentioned here. I'd be curious to see how a turn-based game translates to that mode.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

@@hungrygoriya You can do a review video of that experience, but just be prepared for problems. Lots and lots of problems. I remember that, when I first played Shining Force 2 on there in 2018, some of the magic spells didn't even work. Looking at the customer reviews from March and April 2021 on Google Play, though, it is possible that Sega may have listened to previous complaints and fixed the errors.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC Oh I won't be reviewing the game again in that form, but I was just curious to see what it's like. RPGs for me have always meant a controller so I just thought it'd be neat to see a different medium.

[@jedite7503]

This game has always intrigued me. Never got a chance to play to completion. Love its sequel Shining the Holy Ark on Saturn as well as Shining Force I and II. Now with being the 31st anniversary of this games release, I’m doing a playthru.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh wonderful! Good luck with your playthrough! I'd love to play Shining the Holy Ark one of these days.

[@theking21083]

I rented this game a bunch as a kid and never made it far. I recently played through Shining the Holy Ark on the Saturn and couldn't put it down. It is a major improvement over Shining in the Darkness. If you enjoyed your time with Shining in the Dark then you will love Shining the Holy Ark.

[@hungrygoriya]

Very nice to hear... I hope I can track down a copy someday.

[@1618dude]

I'm also not a huge fan of first person dungeon crawlers, but for a different reason. I think it's a bit weird that you control 4 or more characters as they are like a single entity. It seems like a small thing to niptick, but I can't immerse myself because of this small detail haha. But there are some pretty good dungeon crawlers that have interesting stories, but I'm not sure you are going to find them on consoles, especially older ones like the NES or Master System. One dungeon crawler that I played that I quite liked, for DOS, was Anvil of Dawn. I guess you would enjoy it considering the games you have featured in your channel. Cool story, nice art, interesting gameplay (if not a bit confusing though haha).

[@hungrygoriya]

That's not the first time I've heard that complaint about controlling a single entity for multiple characters... I can see that being annoying if it pulls you out of the immersion, totally! I'm sorry that affects you so much. So do you appreciate games more like the later Dragon Warriors or Phantasy Star where you see your entire party walking around behind the person at the front of the line? And Anvil of Dawn eh? I can't say I've heard of it, but I will check into it! Thanks for the recommendation!

[@1618dude]

@@hungrygoriya Oh not necessarily. In this game you reviewed (which sounds pretty neat despite it's shortcomings), I think it's ok since the game is turn-based, but the dungeon crawlers I started with were actually in real time. Eye of Beholder, Dungeon Hack, Menzoberranzan (I hope I wrote that right haha), so it was a bit weird in my opinion the way you controlled the party. I quite liked Ultima Underworld and the first Elder Scrolls games (Arena and Daggerfall) since you only controlled one character, but I'm not sure it's fair to call them only dungeon crawlers since they are quite ambitious games. There's also The Legacy: Realm of Terror, which you also only control your main character, but I think it falls a bit on the "wander a lot without narrative", but the game gains points for me since it's not a fantasy game, just a somewhat normal person trapped in a haunted house. Anyway, I'll stop here since I could talk about this for days haha.

[@JeffreyOsb]

Consider Wizardry 5. There's an SNES version of it you'd probably really enjoy.

[@hungrygoriya]

I will keep an eye out for it. I keep thinking I have it already but it's really Might & Magic III or something, haha

[@JeffreyOsb]

@@hungrygoriya Hah! I get the mixup. You can create your own party and classes much like a Dungeons and Dragons game so it's really customizable. There are puzzles that might take you a little bit to figure out but you'll get them, if not, there are guides. Definitely post if you try it! I look forward to seeing more of your content.

[@PragmatikReviews]

I'm always impressed by your devotion to mapping! I agree that expending mp to check your location could of been worked on? Possibly making a mini map appear with you. The detail looks awesome here. Kind of love how the wall you reach lights up as if you're holding a lantern. Great review!

[@PragmatikReviews]

That inventory management though :(

[@hungrygoriya]

@@PragmatikReviews There are some really great things about this game and some not-so-great ones... I did love the visuals though. They made the game for me. And the maps... I have a mapping addiction I guess.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

Great job on this video. I appreciate the effort and quality of your videos.

[@NoAverageMitch]

Getting into the Phantasy Star series got me interested in checking out dungeon crawlers such as this one. Even though your review mentions some annoyances, especially ones that were normal for their time, I think overall I am interested in checking this one out for myself!

[@hungrygoriya]

I hope you enjoy your time with it. It's a fantastic game, even with its rougher aspects.

[@BackPalSA]

13:37 video, nice! And on one of the best Genesis games out there! Love it, HG~.

[@hungrygoriya]

I noticed the time after I rendered it... so funny! And thanks :) I was surprised at how much this game kept my attention and how positive I felt coming out of it!

[@donsnover2585]

Glad you enjoyed this 3d dungeon crawler I always liked 3d dungeon crawlers with NY first one being go-go 13 the professional. I also enjoyed the wizardry series of crawlers and I remember loving a snes game called Arcana where everyone was represented as cards try it out if you haven't before

[@hungrygoriya]

I really enjoyed this one and am glad I discovered a new kind of game I like. I'll have to try Wizardry one of these days. I've played Arcana and have a review up somewhere in the channel. Other than a funny translation, it's pretty good too!

[@MarcVitamin]

The game felt so huge as a kid, now as an adult you can see that it's actually rather basic, though still compelling, simpler times :)

[@hungrygoriya]

It's still got a pretty big adventure to experience! I enjoyed it quite a bit even these days, especially as a first-time experience with dungeon crawling (other than the dungeons in Phantasy Star 1).

[@ivgentis]

One of my favorite games on the Mega Drive. Great review!

[@hungrygoriya]

Thanks so much! I can definitely understand how this could be a favourite!

[@jordanazerad123]

I've picked up and dropped this game a million times but after watching this video I think im really gonna sit down and give it a try. I love Camelot and feel horrible that I never got around to playing their first game

[@hungrygoriya]

All the best with it! I think it's worth a full playthrough and it lines up well with many of my RPG preferences. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

[@nustde00]

Once again, Fantastic work! I just love your channel. Question: Is your name a take on Hyper Boria? The Conan thing?

[@hungrygoriya]

Nope, it's a reference to the first Legend of Zelda game for NES. You meet up with a hungry goriya along the way!

[@LordSephleon]

I managed to get into Shining Force before I discovered Shining in the Darkness, but I still loved the game when I managed to borrow it from a close friend (who, ironically enough, borrowed my copy of Shining Force in exchange). I think I appreciated the game more knowing it's the same art and world setting as the Shining Force series, so I don't regret not having played it first. Oddly, I still sorta prefer Arcana (on the SNES) just a tiny bit more than Shining in the Darkness (mostly due to the elemental spirits), but I consider both to be at around the same tier in terms of dungeon crawler games of the era. Thanks for covering this classic gem!

[@hungrygoriya]

I still have yet to play the Shining Force games, so this was my first Shining game as well. I hear Shining in the Darkness is supposed to fall between Shining Force 1 and 2, but I have no idea about those stories or characters. Prior to playing this, I had heard a bit of the music from the other games from watching friends stream them and sure enough, this game's soundtrack felt right at home to me. I have Arcana hanging around and it's something I really want to move up my list to play. I might wait a bit because I don't want to burn out on dungeon crawlers so soon but I loved this so much more than I thought I would.

[@LordSephleon]

​@@hungrygoriya Oh no, definitely take your time with dungeon crawlers; they can get tedious since their main focus is the combat and exploration of these grid-like corridors. Arcana is a solid game, with a decent-enough (for the time) story and characters and tried-and-true gameplay. But I'd say definitely put it on hold for a bit until you're ready. Personally, I've always favored JRPGs (pretty much most of old Final Fantasy, Lunar, Dragon Quest, etc.) and Tactical RPGs (like Shining Force) since the NES/Sega Genesis myself, but I do enjoy the occasional dungeon crawler just because I've always loved mazes ever since I was maybe 3, so your mileage may vary. ;) The Shining games are, for the most part, self-contained stories, but the connections between them do help expand the setting and explain things here and there. The one thing I'd suggest is that after you finish the games and decide to figure out the connections, look at sites detailing translations of the story/characters, as the older Shining games didn't have the best translations.

[@hungrygoriya]

@@LordSephleon This is good advice! Thank you! And I find myself reading up on games from that generation a lot just because of the translation troubles so many of them have. Games like Breath of Fire and Illusion of Gaia left me scratching my head so much... I have no idea what happened in either of them! I hope the Shining Force games have better translations overall and based on how much people love them, I imagine they must!

[@LordSephleon]

@@hungrygoriya For the most part, yes, but there are still some translation issues to be aware of. I'd like to think that people love them for the gameplay (especially the old Shining Force games) and overall collection of ragtag party members, but then again, they might have had better translators as well, so who knows? :)

[@ayahuascamaharaja]

Congratulations on playing, finishing and making a video review of this freaking game. I particularly hated Shinning in The Darkness but I am glad that you found some enjoyment out of it. If I am not mistaken, there is a sequel on Saturn. Do you have any plan to play/review that one?

[@hungrygoriya]

Thank you very much! I'm curious about what you didn't like about it. I found a lot of enjoyment out of playing it on a livestream versus alone so that's always a big plus for me. And I have heard of Shining in the Holy Ark, but I don't currently have a copy. If I ever come across one that's not at an astronomical price, I'd love to try it someday. I heard it took what this game established and improved virtually every aspect.

[@StiffAftermath]

Shining The Holy Ark was pretty awesome! Glad it started with this game.

[@hungrygoriya]

I have a copy of that now and I'm looking forward to playing it.

[@StiffAftermath]

@@hungrygoriya awesome! Looking forward to some content of that game if it is a future possibility! (BTW, I love the town graphics personally!)

[@balaam_7087]

I love your reviews. I hope we have many more reviews to look forward to in the years to come. Also, I find it hilarious that they allot 4 characters for your player name, so you *had* to go with Hun...as opposed to the alternative 😆

[@hungrygoriya]

I don't plan to quit any time soon, so stay tuned! And yes, I always go with Hun, hahaha... the first time I was able to put four letters in, I did, said, "nope" and Hun became my staple name for my playthroughs.

[@lordjlo817]

Another awesome review of a game I've never heard of! Looks like your map-making skills were put to the test here. I'm not sure I would enjoy a dungeon crawler like this, but I enjoyed learning about this one. I'm assuming the music played in the BG is from the game? It sounded really festive and reminded me of old DOS games for some reason. Looking forward to the next review!

[@hungrygoriya]

Hooray! And yes, I don't want to spoil how many maps I made because that would spoil how many floors there are, but there were a lot! I used up the end of my graph paper book on this game and had to buy a new pad! And yes, most of the BG music is from this game. Truth be told there aren't too many tracks so I did borrow a few tunes from Shining Force, but they have lots of the same motifs. I thought they blended in just fine!

[@lordjlo817]

@@hungrygoriya Dang. I haven't had a map pad since I was a kid. Modern games make it so easy to navigate (too easy, imo) I thought I recognized some of the tunes, but I couldn't make sense why since I haven't played this game. This makes way more sense haha

[@maesejesus]

I always liked how the old Shining Force designs were, so charming... If you're looking for more of these types of games, there are many fun ones, but I kinda want to recommend you a PS2 game named Wizardry: The Tale of the Forsaken Land, if anything because what a good job it does making each floor of the dungeon feel different, interesting to explore even after you find the entry to the next. Great atmosphere, the battle system is straightforward but you have special commands where your team members can act together to do special things, and you can either tag with characters that the world already had, or create your own, and they can chime in during story parts and give replay value. I played two years ago for the first time and it still lives strongly in my mind. Great video, it's refreshing to hear someone that has patience and can deal with some annoyances and leave with satisfaction in the end. I am loving your channel!

[@hungrygoriya]

Oooo I haven't played any Wizardry yet, but I'm always looking for an excuse to start! That sounds like something I'd really enjoy. Thank you for the suggestion! I have endless patience when it comes to games... most of the time. There are only a few of them that really pushed my buttons! I appreciate you looking around the channel too. Thanks for that!

[@l0stndamned]

Cool video. I very much enjoyed this game and agree with most of the stuff you've said here. Apparently the reason this game had a limited environment and loads of pallet-swaps was due to having a tiny budget compared to a lot of other rpgs

[@hungrygoriya]

Hey thanks so much for watching! I didn't look into the development much, so that's good to know about the environment/same-y enemies. It's still a great game regardless!

[@MakopoweredGaming]

I've always wondered about this game, so thank you for this. I'm not entirely sure if the outdated mechanics are for me, so it's good to know how the game is structured. Also, now I kind of want a mashup between this and the Shining Force games, where you navigate a dungeon Shining in the Darkness style, but the random battles take place in a Shining Force style!

[@hungrygoriya]

I still have yet to play Shining Force, but I can't wait to give it a go! And you're very welcome. I've been enjoying talking about games that are not necessarily everyone's very favourite or super popular.

[@MakopoweredGaming]

@@hungrygoriya I enjoy doing that, too (which is what I do with my videos)! I really appreciate you taking the time and patience to do it with RPGs - that is a definite commitment! Thank you!

[@MrPaladino]

I'm playing this as we speak on RPG Thursdays on my Twitch channel. I'm thinking about continuing to the Sega Saturn spiritual successor, Shining the Holy Ark next.

[@hungrygoriya]

Oh nice! That's fantastic to hear! I keep hoping to find a copy of Shining the Holy Ark one of these days, but at the price it's going for, I don't know that I'll ever own it. Enjoy!

[@JustinLeeper]

I rented Shining in the Darkness as a kid. It was okay. But Shining Force helped me fall in love with tactical RPGs. So did King’s Bounty, another Genesis game that I would suggest you check out if you haven’t. Still an all-time favorite of mine.

[@hungrygoriya]

I really need to play the Shining Force games, as well as King's Bounty. I've really only played one tactical RPG, and that's Final Fantasy Tactics. I just finished it earlier on this year.

[@JustinLeeper]

@@hungrygoriya Disgaea, Fire Emblem (any, but especially Awakening), even Baldur’s Gate 3 are amazing tactical games. One of my favorite genres. You liked Lunar; that’s a small step in tactical’s direction.

[@SonofSethoitae]

I'd love to see someone figure out how they did the mazes in this game and hack them into Phantasy Star 2 to make it more like the first game. And while we're at it, maybe hack in some of the backstory stuff from the Game Can Text Adventures, possibly some more party interactions to fill out the character dynamics.

[@hungrygoriya]

That would be really cool! I think I would've liked Phantasy Star 2 way more if it'd had these kinds of dungeons.

[@aaronlyttle775]

I couldn't get the hang of the mapping, so I appreciated watching your stream -guilty

[@hungrygoriya]

I counted out loud with all of you for almost 60 hours and I still messed my maps up! Thanks for hanging out with me. I swear these games wouldn't be half as fun without having all of you to talk to.