Why Growing Up An RPG Gamer On the Sega Genesis was F@*%ing Awesome!

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Think this video is too slow? Try cranking the speed up to 1.25 - you'll thank me later.

[@mattikuokkanen]

I just want to point out that Warriors of the Eternal Sun is based on Dungeons & Dragons rule set. When I bought & checked (in that order) the game some months ago, my first impression was: like BioWare's Baldur's Gate, but turn-based.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Huh I never realized that. Thank you for the information.

[@allenyates3469]

I grew up playing Sega RPGs and I'm so happy you mentioned warriors of the Eternal sun. My God I've sunk many hours into that game

[@flotenn3351]

Shining Force and Warriors of the Eternal Sun were my childhood companions and I learned english by them. I recently revisited them and they are still fun. Nice vid!

[@paulfogolin4054]

YES! These games are incredibly good. Shining Force is my all time favorite and it's especially refreshing to see cult titles like Warsong get some attention.

[@chaospoet]

Warriors of the Eternal Sun has my all time favorite title screen music of all time. I remember getting it for Christmas and spent the rest of that winter playing nothing else. I was obsessed with that game. I still have it, box/manual and everything. I want to play it again some as I haven't in years and see how it still holds up.

[@jeffreyrichey6039]

It is nice to see that there was an entire world that I never knew as a kid

[@dpepinmarquette]

I have had a copy of Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun for years and never got around to playing more than a couple minutes of it. But because of this video I finally gave it a chance and I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Thanks, I really enjoy the way you review these games. Just the right length for a video and it's always better when you know the reviewer truly knows and loves the games they are talking about like you do. Please do more Genesis videos I can never get enough Genesis.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

That's awesome - glad you gave that game a second chance. And no worries I still have a few Genesis games I'd like to do full videos for.

[@MCastleberry1980]

Oh god, I wanted to weep for you with the story of picking Hydlide over Phantasy Star

[@JoeBlow-24]

I have never understood why this combat system was pretty much abandoned considering how many people loved it, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts, Mysteria, Shining Force. Can you imagine a game of this style today? Even Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore were unique. Parasite Eve had a pretty awesome system also. Games now just seem like more buttons, more action, more complicated, more more more. Dragonforce for Saturn was more or less a very much improved version of Warsong

[@thefrenchspy81]

Shadowrun from out of nowhere and just like that you got my sub. The highs of Shining Force and the lows of no Phantasy Star. Great review and let me say how jealous I am that your fam was playing 2nd edition back in the day regularly.

[@BarokaiRein]

Growing up we had ps1, nes, snes and Sega but the only game we actually had an rpg for was sega and it was Shining force. My mom got all of the consoles and games online for dirt cheap because people were just getting rid of them in order to buy a PS1 and nobody really appreciated old or classic games back then because they weren't classics,they were just games. However it was the dark ages so nobody had any clue what games were actually out for these consoles so none of us knew that something like Final Fantasy even existed so even though we had all of the consoles that the best final fantasy games were made for I didn't play a single one of them.

[@starwarsunfiltered7848]

Great video. It just so happens that my thinking parallels yours here, and between me, my cousin, and my best friend, Shining Force, Phantasy Star II and III, Warriors of the Eternal Sun, and Shadowrun (our favorite) all got a ton of play in the '90s.

[@okie_outlaw]

Shining Force Rules!!!

[@billcox8870]

Such a delightful array of different characters to get. I made the mistake of promoting the dragon and then it became useless

[@digitalphil]

Wow someone who knows about Warriors of the Eternal Sun! I rented this game from Blockbuster when i was a kid... I swore i'd come back one day and beat it... which i did finally a few years back... an awesome game for sure!

[@iwanttocomplain]

Da nah nah nah na na na na nanananana.

[@Guns7469]

I popped my cherry on Shining force and it was and still is my favorite series. Great video.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Eric Baxter I remember that. Sega had just released a trailer for a new Shining Force game and were systematically wiping out all the competition that pulled up ahead of them in the search results. A lot of my friends from ShiningForceCentral.com had their videos removed and latter reinstated with an apology - of sorts. Personally I think the American fanbase for the Shining series sort of burned some bridges at SOJ when we launched the SOS (Save Our Series Campaign). SOJ took it as a terrible insult against their new line of not-so-shiny rebooted Shining series. The KZbin attack felt more than a little vindictive as they targeted many of the SOS video pleas which contained NO game footage whatsoever.

[@craiganderson7085]

Great list! Landstalker is my favorite rpg on the Genesis.

[@Godswole]

I will have to say I like shining force 1 better.

[@donaldxavier2056]

I'm sold. I'm getting these games. Thank you!

[@NickEnlowe]

Great topic! I started on the Atari 5200, then NES, Game Boy, then a Voltron'd Sega Genesis. Can definitely relate to a lot of what you said. Once I got a taste of stuff like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger though, I knew I had to own an SNES, too. By 1996 I had a lot of consoles hooked up to my TV

[@StefanHomberger]

Awesome video. The gen 4 RPG discussion in North America always seems to stick with the SNES, while in Asia it's a tie between the S. Famicom and PC Engine, but the Genesis/Mega Drive is rarely mentioned. Totally subbing.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

+Stefan Homberger Yeah I think Europe is the only market that really appreciated the Mega Drive. Probably because Nintendo was so ill represented over there.

[@M-E_123]

@@DariaPlaysRPGs Nintendo didn't release RPG's in Europe during that era - Sega did. Final Fantasy VII was the first game from that series released in the UK / EU, the NES & SNES Final Fantasy's eventually came to the PS1 after the PS2 had already been released - apart from 3 which never made it until a remake for the PSP/Vita & Chrono Trigger was first released here for the DS. But the Mega Drive had both Shining Force games, all 3 Phantasy Star's, Shining in the Darkness, Warriors of the Eternal Sun and Super Hydlide - even the Master System had a better selection of RPG's than the NES, was crazy. That's why anyone from the UK / EU who actually lived through that generation will always big up the Mega Drive - it simply had a better range of games.

[@milesvaughn7999]

My brother and I both regret missing Chrono Trigger and FFVI, but like you said, we would never trade our Genesis RPG roots for anything. And Shining Force > Fire Emblem all day.

[@thomashampton600]

Just discovered you thru snes drunk. So happy to find you. Loving your videos and will be up all night binge watching.

[@chrisanderson5974]

Surprised this popped up in my feed today. Loved Shining Force 2! Also Shadowrun! :) Nice list, I never played 2 of the games.

[@TheGunmanChannel]

Oh no, you bought Hydlide 😂😂😂

[@theweebchannel4850]

Old comment, but fuck it haha The sad thing is that the PC version of Hydelide is awesome... The console port sucks :(

[@bclikesyou]

I was a Sega household as well and ALSO missed out on the Phantasy Star series. Shining Force 2 was a random game I picked up from FuncoLand (!!) when I really didn't know what RPGs were but I spent hours playing it.

[@macker33]

First rpg i ever played was phantasy star 3. Buck rogers countdown to doomsday was also excellent.

[@thehumbleone1983]

Love Shining Force is one of my favourite

[@LeandroCavalcanteLeandrw]

Shinning Force is so well polished. Animations, dialogs, parallax, everything...

[@michaelanderson8464]

Same here if being 31 at the time a young pup

[@joholmes4340]

I remember the first time I rented shining force, when I was about 11. I stayed up so late playing it, that I still heard the battle song after I finally went to bed. like it was playing in my head... Still one of my favorite games ever. I named my first dog Bleu ; )

[@joholmes4340]

Oh, and Hydlide... C'mon!!!! I can't play that more than 2 minutes and I'm like NO!!!

[@ianschultz948]

Your favorite game is Shining Force and you're a metalhead? We're soulmates!

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Haha. Maybe. :P How do you feel about cats and Dragon Warrior?

[@ianschultz948]

lol Dragon Warrior is one of my favorites ive beaten 1-8. Cats are hilarious

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Yup. Soul mates confirmed.

[@ianschultz948]

XD

[@Myaufroto1]

Growing up in a sega household, i appreciate this video. However, I was fortunate enough to have the Phantasy Star games. If it makes you feel any better, I wasted hours on Hydlide NES, even writing the paragraph passwords down wrong, only to find out later

[@Slionr]

Happy to see some love for the underrated RPG for Mega Drive/ Genesis ! :D

[@samuelgardner1069]

Other than the entire Shining Force series (because those are ALL sick games... 2 was sick, but the first one just does something to me and will always be my favorite), Sega RPG’s weren’t any where CLOSE to SNES RPG’s. I can name 10 classic SNES rpgs off the top of my head (not even including Final Fantasies or ChronoTrigger), but other than the Shining Force series and Phantasy Star series, I’m basically lost for Segas collection

[@THELEGENDARYK2]

Sega will always be my favorite. I remember that crazy Epcot place parents had to pry me out of there. My real memory of the Florida trip was the multiday car ride down and back plugged into my Nomad grinding through Phantasy Star 4. With that setup even my Nintendo friends were envious.

[@SegaDream131]

Free games and not far from there free samples of cokes.... 🤗Who knew?!...

[@captainnintendo]

Unfortunately I didn't really get into RPGs , myself until I was in my early teens. 2 problems. I was European, and I was Danish. That means that all the big SNES RPGs went completely under my radar, as they were only released oversea. So no Earthbound, Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy or Super Mario RPG for us. Things might have been a little different if I had favored my Mega Drive more, but I pretty much used it whenever I wanted to play Sonic. Being Danish also meant that I didn't really start to learn English before I was around 11 and since games back then never got translated, it was just out of the question.. Heck, when I played Pokémon originally, I would just spam the A button whenever there was any text on screen. The first text heavy game I actually played that I remember must have been Ocarina of Time, and when I played that, I had to constanty call my parents to come and translate whenever there was any dialogue on screen. So my mom pretty much remember the entire story of that game xD But it did get me interested in playing games with more focus on the story. Slowly starting out with games like Paper Mario and such before eventually getting back to the old school games to see what I had missed back in the day as I slowly got into retro gaming And it would still seem like I have a lot of gems to play thru ^^

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Yeah I much as Americans like to complain about the lack of localized releases in the states, PAL territories had it way worse! More so if you speak anything other than English (or maybe French). On the other hand you're bilingual and I'm absolutely jealous. :P

[@rapiner]

From Brazil we had more help from sega. TecToy translated some games, but RPG the only one for Master system was phantasy star and Genesis was phantasy star 2. The others we used to had a english dictionary to help US to know WTF was happening in the game

[@yellowdockooo5907]

Thanks for this video, recently got introduced to your channel and loving everything so far! More commentary videos please

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

+Yellowdock Ooo No worries, they're coming. I love making them.

[@nostalgicvideogames6598]

Awesome video! I have a fun memory of the original Shining Force: I knew it was coming out and was dying to play it, but it was being released while my family were vacationing in Florida. So the day it came out I begged to go to the local mall to Babbages, spent $80 bucks on the game, then went to a local video store and rented a Genesis for an entire week. Family was out sunning it up, I was happily enjoying a couch and A/C while losing myself in the most beautiful strategy RPG I'd gotten to play at that point in my life! Happy memories 😊. Bonus for Warsong. I was SO thrilled when Langrisser FINALLY came out on Steam in recent years! I adored Warsong back in the day. Bonus Bonus: SHADOWRUN. God that game was both fun and insanely hard in some areas.

[@Karanthaneos]

Another one would be Master of Monsters. It was amazing. The UI is pretty basic but you generally have all the information you need at hand. You would control a powerful commander confined in your castle that would summon creatures to move through an hexagonal battlefield in order to reach the other player's commander and wail it with wave after wave of creatures. Each commander has its own set of creatures that it can summon and it also has a set of spells it can cast to destroy or aid in the battlefield. With each battle and creature destroyed, your own creatures would evolve into more powerful ones, usually higher attack, and HP but ocassionally also with better movement and number of strikes per attack. It was a total blast. It also comes with two campaign modes and you can play with up to 4 other players, CPU or HUMAN. So it's one of the few games in the Sega with actual Multiplayer.

[@RPGswagman]

I cut my RPG teeth on both the Master System and the Megadrive/Genesis and I wouldn't of had it any other way. The Master System and Megadrive were my first 2 consoles and I was very fortunate to have played most the RPGs Sega localized over here back in the 90s (funny enough Warsong/Langrisser & Shadowrun were the only games I didn't get to play when they were was released). Funny that I missed out on those games but got to play stuff like Traysia and Sorcerer's Kingdom instead ... better deal who knows? :P Shining Force 2 holds a special place in my heart because that was one of the few games my entire family sat down and played non stop for 2 years straight. After we rented it numerous times my dad just made an offer to buy the video copy and they accepted. Sadly through that copy got stolen from some douchbag I lent the game to. Ever since then I have a strict no lend policy haha. Thankfully with the Sega Ultimate Megadrive Collection I can play it on my ps3 without hassle. But I loved mixing and matching the different promotional items to different characters in each playthrough. It mixed things up nicely and was nice to know who fared better with each class choice. It was funny when we learnt that the EXP modifier didn't apply to healing magic and we just spammed Aura until the all the Vicars power leveled to 99 and could just one strike mostly everything. Yep thats how much we played it. Also it's very cool to see someone else mention Warriors of the Eternal Sun. That was my introduction into D&D and thought it was amazing for it's time, well for me I still think it holds up well. Thankfully because of that game I got into the Tabletop/Pen & Paper versions of AD&D and 3rd. Very cool video! It's awesome to see when others talk fondly of Genesis RPGs. You are definitely preaching to the choir here.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Traysia's kind of cool. The combat reminded me a lot of Ultima Exodus on the NES. Sort of tactical now that I think about it. Also kinda looked like Vay. My only complaint is the game's kind of slugglish. I lose patience with that walk speed.

[@GameFreak4Ever]

I've haven't played any of these games. I didn't get deep into rpgs until about 10 years ago. You've definitely peeked my interest.

[@fredericjuliard4261]

The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis), Light Crusader, Rent a Hero, Shining Force CD, Shining in the Darkness and 1 & 2, Crusader of Centy (Soleil), Lunar: Eternal Blue, Lunar: The Silver Star, Langrisser II, Phantasy Star 2, Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, Landstalker, Shadowrun. So many great rpg games on Genesis... ;) But you already knows that. ;) ;) ThX.

[@RPGtourguide]

Good list of Genesis RPG's! I was lucky enough to grow up with both a SNES and Genesis, so I got to dip into the RPG goodness on both sides. ;) I will say that I prefer the SNES library, but I do still love the great games the Genesis had to offer like Shining Force. Like you, I didn't play the Phantasy Star games growing up. I'm sad that I missed out on them back in the day, but it gave me a chance to discover an entire 16-bit RPG series as an adult, which was pretty cool. Great video!

[@theanglerfish9852]

I saw your video... I HAVE TO PLAY SHINING FORCE II NOW!! You just reminded me of how awesome it was.

[@GameFreak4Ever]

This was an AWESOME video. Your collection looks great!

[@David_Alvarez77]

This is an excellent video. I too was a Genesis rpg fan growing up and my siblings and I all loved the Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Sword of Vermilion, Shadowrun, and the like. Although I later played a good number of SNES rpgs, the only one that I really enjoyed as much as Shining Force or Phantasy Star 4 was Chrono Trigger.

[@PositronRobo]

Great video. I'm just now getting into the Genesis' RPG library, starting with Landstalker, and I've got Shining in the Darkness lined up next. I hope to pick up the Phantasy Star series and some of games you've mentioned before the Burning Eye of Collector Price Intensity shines fully on the Gen library...

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

+Luke Jones Luckily there's still a lot of good cheap games. The renovation games are going on - but RPG-wise they're kind of bottom barrel material. I'm not big on dungeon crawlers but I love Shining in the Darkness.

[@zborgerd]

I have a few of these games but have yet to play them. Honestly, I think that Genesis is finally finding its place among retro collectors now. It was a huge success back in the '90s, but I think that it was overlooked as a system for collectors for far too long. Lots of really amazing gems that I'm just now discovering as a relatively new Genesis collector. I grew up with Nintendo and didn't own a SEGA system until I got a used Saturn (at its death) and picked up a Dreamcast when it launched. I had to go back to collect for Genesis and Master System. Gotta get the Genesis games before the prices go up. It was a really economical system to collect for about a year or two ago, and all of that seems to be changing rapidly.

[@Xerpes]

Daria you don't play phantasy star 4? It has the best way to tell a story ever! With that little boxes of comics kinda! They should made a movie with that style! I love it!

[@レッド-h1i]

Shining Force II is so high school '97. Glad I still have my Genesis.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

'97 was all about the PSone for me. (:

[@レッド-h1i]

Me too. Genesis, SNES, and Psone. Shining force II and my personal fav the great Final Fantasy VII

[@arminius1453]

Very interesting video. Can't agree with all choices, but one thing's for sure: the Genesis Shadowrun is the best Shadowrun game of its era. I loved that game, it felt so alive and immersive back then. Even the repetitive OST sounded so dank. It's so underrated, and so unfair how everyone prefers the completely linear SNES game over this gem.

[@nickl6641]

Shining Force & Shining Force 2 were REALLY fun. Definitely some of my favorite games

[@professorpenne9962]

I remember playing phantasy star 4 as a kid and the first mobs to fight weren't cute little slime creatures, they were mutants with pulsating brains. I was hooked instantly.

[@InternetTAB]

tfw. So much time on Shining Force games. I think your Sega Arcade description is heaven

[@Dermetsu]

Shadowrun was amazing, and Shining Force still reigns as kings of strategy RPGs for me.

[@salmonshirtsforeverproduct8679]

Never heard of Warriors of the Eternal Sun and it looks awesome. Thank you!

[@danielsierra5460]

Great list :P I didn't even know about that D&D Genesis game. For me Phantasy Star II was my equivalent to the Shining games and my favorite old school RPG. Give it a try sometime if you haven't already. It hasn't aged as well as other 16-bit games given it was a launch window title for the genny but back in the day there was nothing like it. I still think the atmosphere and setting are unique to this day.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Daniel Sierra I've started it a few times, but it's pretty grindy at the beginning. I have a bad habit of not finishing my games and PS2 just fell prey to a wandering attention span. Someday I'm just going to have to sit my butt down and play through the series.

[@BigJoker]

The Shining Force and Phantasy Star series on the Genesis were and still are top-notch. I'm playing through Shining Force CD right now, which is an excellent follow-up to 1 and 2. The graphics and sound build on top of the previous entries, but it's a good bit easier and there's no downtime between battles to explore towns though, so that's my main drawback. I, too, liked finding hidden characters. Now they're hidden within battles. Makes things a little tougher to find.

[@BioPhoenixReviews]

great video. i grew up with the SNES but i did not play many RPG's when i first got it although i did rent shadow run wish was fun and really hard. but after finding an NES in a yard sale with came with FF1 and dragon warrior that was when i got into them.but the genesis was pretty great for RPG's that i played like shining force, phantasy star, sword of vermillion and beyond oasis wish i loved

[@xavierdoe2452]

I am so happy I grew up on Megadrive/Genesis, I know there are so many great SNES rpgs. I would never swap grewing up on MD/Genesis to SNES.

[@GameCaveJason]

looking good... one of you highest view counts so far...not that its all about that but.. good work!

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Game Cave You're onto my strategy. LPs for funsies and list videos for the view counts (which hopefully turn into subscribers). :P

[@GameCaveJason]

keep posting on the groups like you have...posting a video there about something that makes everybody talk and "bicker" gives you traffic

[@hairy_cornflake]

Warriors Of The Eternal Sun has such a great rockin' soundtrack, it's one of the reasons why I prefer the music on the Megadrive/Genesis than on the SuperNES.

[@pedronicolau9246]

In other hand my young me almost bought eternal champions instead of shining force II. Oh boy i dodged a bullet there ^^

[@ProDaKah]

*daps* Thanks for the awesome recommendations! After watching this and your JRPG video, I now have to bump the Breath of Fire series and Warsong further up on my gaming backlog. Couldn't agree with you more about the Shining Force series...and if you can find the time, try to get around to some of these: Phantasy Star 2 & 4 (skip 3; start with 4; if you like 4, try 2; if you like 2, consider 3); Landstalker, Beyond Oasis & Crusader of Centy aka Soleil (if you like action RPGs, these are among the best), Fatal Labyrinth (more action-oriented Clock Tower). Lots more fun RPGs on the Sega CD, if you can be bothered. (You have to play Popful Mail; trust me on this one) I've heard many good things about Sword of Vermilion, but can't vouch for it personally.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

+ProDaKah ! Last time I tried to play Fatal Labyrinth I was enjoying it until I reached a level that didn't spawn a stair case. Probably a total fluke but I was so frustrated that I gave up on it. Mystery Dungeon/Rogue-likes aren't normally my thing anyway. Land Stalker's a great game, the isometric jumps are ridiculous at times, but I'm in love with its spiritual successor, Alundra. Thanks for the recommendations.

[@ProDaKah]

Wish I could like this video twice. Finally got around to playing Warsong. I can't thank you enough for putting this one on my radar. It's quickly cemented a spot on my top games ever list - legitimately challenging, with one of the most incredible soundtracks I've ever heard. Now I have to look into the Langrisser series as a whole... thanks again!

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

ProDaKah ! Most are in Japanese unfortunately, but Langrisser 2 has a fan translation available for both the Genesis version and the Super Famicom (Der Langrisser). The new 3DS release is also super cheap on Amazon right now.

[@ProDaKah]

Thanks for that. Seems Noriyuki Iwadare, the composer for the Lunar & Grandia series, is behind this IP as well. No wonder the music's so remarkably good for a 1991 release.

[@Kos4Evr]

Sounds like an awesome list. I wish there were more rpgs for the system, but that's where the Sega CD comes in.

[@DennisMarion]

Working through my "Daria Backlog" - this makes me super jealous. Sega Game Gear turned me off to Sega completely as a kid, but these look awesome.

[@Antiprogressivepraxis]

I just hooked up some Shining Force CD to my CRT TV, and it's AWESOME!

[@Sithicus1]

Thanks to Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection I was finally exposed to a lot of Sega RPGs, Shining Force and Shining Force II were very impressive and I've enjoyed the Phantasy Star games (at least the ones I can access, stupid achievement necessities prevent me from playing the first game in the series because I haven't gotten around to picking up Controller 2 for my system so I can play with Tails and unlock Phantasy Star). Beyond Oasis was also a decent game, though I have yet to actually finish several of them. Always a treat to find more awesome game commentators on KZbin. Been branching out into more RPGs thanks to this and getting away from the old NES/SNES staples and series I've been following for so long. Will have to keep these titles in mind for when I get around to it.

[@OGNoNameNobody]

Sega's _Shadowrun_ was so different from the SNES game, even the Console War trench fighters didn't know what to make of it!

[@TenButtonGamer]

Ah great list, I agree 100% with all of it. I was fortunate enough to have both a SNES and a GENS when I grew up. Sadly, I never got to play Shining Force till much later, since it was my older brothers who was fond of sharing :(. But jokes on him, I now have more than just Shining Force 1 & 2 Muhahaha. We can only pray though, that Sega (or another 3rd party team of individuals ;) ) will make a Shining Force style game again.

[@TGApuleius]

That damn Hydlide cover. I'm still tempted to play it after seeing the box, even with the bitter memory of it ruining younger me's single-rental weekend. Most of my console RPGing was limited to Ultima Exodus for the NES, which I never completed because I couldn't bring myself to stop playing paper-rock-scissors. The rest were on PC, beeping and booping all over VGA worlds on a 286.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

TGApuleius lol. Ultima Exodus was my first console RPG. I never beat it either, but just because Ambrosia was super hard and I kept insisting on leveling up my characters too soon (making the monsters harder).

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

Great video! Subbed. You should patch the ROM of Langrisser II and play it in English on an Everdrive. It's so much better than Warsong.

[@aaronamaphone5865]

I grew up with Shining Forces and Phantasy Stars! And the lifelong obsession had begun!

[@ShadowArtist]

You totally NEED to play Phantasy Star II and Ps IV. Also Shining in the Darkness, Landstalker, Beyond Oasis, and Sword of Vermillion...

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

ShadowArtist Heh. Welcome Alan. Next time I jump into one of those titles I'll have to upload a video for you. :P

[@8bpianoplayer]

I grew up with Nintendo consoles, and was embroiled in the 16-bit console war late into my teens, and I absolutely LOVED the two Shining Force games on the Genesis. I actually didn't get into Phantasy Star until later...and never had the chance to play Shadowrun.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

I still haven't really played the Phantasy Stars games. No excuses - just haven't gotten around to them. Shadowrun's excellent though just sad we didn't get a US version of the Sega CD game.

[@m.a.packer5450]

I like how Shining force allows for world exploration mixed with tactical battle, it reminds me of the classic SSI AD&D games for computer. It's still an overlooked format in my opinion

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

I honestly think that's my favorite aspect of the series. There's so many other tactical games I've given up on solely because I got burnt out jumping straight from battle to battle. Games like Disgaea (while fun) feel endless.

[@m.a.packer5450]

Plus it's fun to see your characters' positions in relation to the enemy units on the battlefield: makes combat more memorable

[@natechumley5129]

I am a new fan. But I gotta say this is the video that made me subscribe! how cool.

[@CaptainRufus]

One of my best Christmases had me getting RPGs for the Genesis, NES, and Commodore 64. More platforms meant more RPGs!

[@gilnelson3217]

Nice list. Personally had all of these except warsong. Buck Rogers and rings of power were also pretty good.

[@StoneXCustoms]

Holy shit this is exactly my liste … love it !❤️❤️❤️

[@TheGameGrinder]

Great video! Sadly, I have barely played RPG's of any kind on the Genesis. I played The Shining in the Darkness at the beginning of this year but that's it. I do need to get some Shining Force.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

The Game Grinder Hey at least Shining in the Darkness is a good one. Another one of the few console dungeon crawlers I really got into.

[@TheGameGrinder]

It was pretty brutal, and a major grind fest, but I enjoyed it.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

The Game Grinder The characters are what drew me in. For one, I love that artists style, but also Pyra and Milo were hilarious. Back in my RPG Maker days I was working on a revamp of the game. Remaking it entirely with the chipset from Shining Force 2. I never finished it, but it was a fun experience.

[@TheGameGrinder]

Pretty much the same here. I really enjoyed the art style, and even though story was kinda minimal, what was there was pretty entertaining.

[@peterbard1815]

Great calls on Shining Force and Shadowrun. I was a SNES kid, but I used to love playing SF on my cousin's Genesis. Surprised to not see Landstalker or Beyond Oasis on here, though. If you haven't checked them out, you should - also, the new Shadowrun games on Steam - not the Boston one, though. Also, I got tricked into buying Hydlide for the same reason.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

I actually have a LandStalker review on my channel (although the audio is a bit crap) - this particular video was focusing on just the games I had growing up and sadly as much as I wanted LandStalker at the time I didn't buy it until I was much older. I love the new Shadowrun games! Have all three but have only beaten the first one so far. :P

[@nancyfazenbaker3567]

I grew up playing RPGs on my sega as well. And I can confirm it was certainly fuckin awesome! Most other kids weren't into RPGs, most kids didn't really understand how to play/enjoy them. But I sure did.

[@JasonScalici]

What you said about Shining Force is spot on for me. A lot of SRPGs turn me off with the lack of exploration. Story > Combat > Story > Combat > Story > Story > Combat. Even great ones like FF Tactits series. I can't stay into them because of the "linear walk a path to next battle" element. EDIT: I noticed "tactits" mistype. - I will leave that as my way to pronounce it. I'm happy with it.

[@NickEnlowe]

Jason Scalici Totally agree. It still befuddles me that most tactical jRPGs don't include more NPC interaction, towns, and exploration. It really completes the experience.

[@JasonScalici]

cirellio Yea. It's like being able to only connect with the cast of characters instead of the game world presented. I know this will sound like blasphemy but as much as I love Chrono Trigger (my #1 RPG), the world exploration was a bit lacking. I'm glad the overworld was there but there was no incentive to explore it. It was just a go between for towns. It felt like a missed opportunity. I assume it was a console limitation but I would have loved an expanded overworld.

[@NickEnlowe]

Jason Scalici Yes I see what you mean -- you really can't explore too much in Chrono Trigger until you get the Epoch.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Jason Scalici Come to think of it yeay, the overworld in Chrono Trigger did feel more like a graphical menu. Probably because it was just so zoomed out. You were pretty much just selecting areas to explore with your tiny little sprite-cursor.

[@JasonScalici]

Yea. That bugged me even as a kid. It's funny but it didn't bother me in ff6. Not sure if it was because of random battles or something. Maybe because some of the side quests involved searching for locations on the map. Who knows.

[@theuglykwan]

Have to agree those are great picks and would be mine as well other than D&D which I haven't played.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

I really need to play through the first two Shining Force games

[@TheIndieOcean]

I've dabbled a little bit in SNES Shadowrun (need to go back to it) but I haven't played the Mega Drive one. I'd heard it was different. From this video, it seems like it might actually be the better of the two. Intrigued!

[@CRedd9830]

I still need to play the first two Shining Force games. I've only played Shining Force III, which is my second favorite game of all time.

[@ironzombi]

I like the chess analogy ! I totally agree

[@mikehill9806]

Many thanks, Shining Force is now on the list. :-)

[@Spacefrisian]

Phantasy Star 4 kind off blows FF6 out of the water in every aspect imo. (and i played FF6 more often than Phantasy Star 4)

[@AnriDarkmoor]

Fortunately we were able to get both the Super Nintendo and Genesis but if I had to choose only one I would definitely pick the Genesis. Shining Force, Shadowrun, D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun, Phantasy Star and Sword of Vermillion were my jam. And thanks to video I need to have my shadowrun fix so I think I'm gonna go play it now lol

[@TenchiHawkwing]

I remember playing Shining Force 2 but I hardly remember anything about it. It's been sooooo long. Looking at it now, it reminded me of Beyond the Beyond and Golden Sun... so off to google I went. Bam. Camelot Software Planning. I guess I've always been a fan and didn't even realize it.

[@phantomdragonv2x]

Growing up, I thought Shining Force was the only RPG on the genesis as I watched people tout their Chrono Triggers and Final Fantasies, I felt like maybe choosing the genesis was a poor choice but looking back, I wouldn't have had it any other way either.

[@StevenOyston]

Currently playing shining force 2, its so good!!!

[@bluebogle]

I was just in the market for a new (to me), old-school rpg. This was right on. I think I'll give the Shining Force series a try soon. Edit: Also, I subscribed to your channel. Would love to see more of this sort of thing. Edit 2: Also again, are the stories related? Is it better to start with number 1 or jump right to 2? Open question for anyone who has played these.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

I'm fuzzy on the lore, but there's something about Darksol being one of the greater devils like Creed from Shining Force 2. It just always seemed like a hamfisted way to tie the stories together, and I think it's not even referenced in the english translation. Could be misremembering that. When I was a kid I always thought that Bowie was Max's son. At the end of SF1 when Max and Adam wind up in that little village I thought they had made their way to Granseal. Bowie's mom has a throw away line about his father being a hero or adventurer.

[@DariaPlaysRPGs]

Heh. You'd think if Gransealians were descended from the people of Runefaust they'd have a higher population of centaurs. :P

[@chrisplissken4626]

I became a fan of shining force when I first got my hands on part 3 since then I had to get all of them lol same as when I played PSO I just knew I had to find the original ps games and was not disappointed

[@hezekiahramirez6965]

As a kid I didn't play RPGs on the Genesis, sadly. I did on other consoles but I wasn't even aware of any other than Phantasy Star and for some reason I just didn't ever pick it up. I mostly played handheld RPGs to kill some time whenever I had a few extra minutes but I did play Super Mario RPG, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, and others of course just like any SNES owner. I think I just had enough RPGs for my NES, SNES, Game Boy, and Game Gear that I wasn't interested and that's a shame. I had a Lynx too but there were no RPGs on that so that and Genesis were my two "action" consoles, I think. I've played a lot of the Genesis games now but I'd have loved Landstalker and PSIV as a kid. I played a lot of turn-based stuff back then but now I'm more into action adventure style like Zelda, Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, and stuff like that so I've had fun exploring all those styles in recent years. I haven't played many PS1 RPGs yet so I aim to look more into those soon. Of course when I got my PS1 I had to play FFVII but honestly that's about all. I've not even played Alundra yet. You know, I'm glad I found this channel. We like a lot of the same games and it's fun when someone else appreciates games you and only a few others do. We've talked about Defenders Of Oasis, for example. I like channels like this because I get exposed to games I never gave a chance and some I should give a second look. CannotBeTamed is another good one, I think you've talked about Pam before too, and I think you're both great people to follow. I know your channels are small but we do appreciate the work you do and I especially like the fact that you put out videos and take the time to do them well. I hope more people find you. You deserve a lot more subs.

[@tragicslip]

god i loved shining force. bird people flanking my enemies or drawing the enemy out of position. how did i miss 2?!? also the music of shadowrun was so good.

[@eyehdm]

Great video Daria thanks for making it! I grew up with a Sega as well I was also lucky enough to buy My cousins Sega CD After the PlayStation came out Which had a lot of great RPGs. Have you ever played Feda: The Emblem of Justice for the Super famicom? it is like shining force but it is not as good. PS do you have a 3ds? if so I enjoyed Stella glow and with your love of shining force I think you would like it too.

[@sparrow6190]

Shining force reminds me of like a retro mashup between Valkyrie Chronicles and Golden Sun