Shining Tears: A newfound appreciation for indie games.

Shining in the Darkness was a beautiful, terrible game.

Shining Force 1 was an ugly, fun game.

Shining Force 2 was not memorable.

That was the last of my journey with the 'Shining' Series of games. A friend enjoyed Shining Force EXA with what he referred to as 'killer pigs' but I couldn't bring myself to play them for whatever reason.

I can safely say it's not a game I will ever touch again. Ever.

What I Liked

Well...what few anime cutscenes there were, they were nice.

I also enjoyed the music quite a bit.

What I Didn't Like

While I enjoyed the music, I never like games where certain songs repeat too much.

Seriously rushed plot. You're already in the mix of things with multiple playable characters before an hour has passed, yet there's zero character development to be had.

The sprites were well done for what they were, but everyone moves around like clay figures.

Battle fields clunky and not smooth.

NPCs in shops have voice acting but your characters do not. <-- This REALLY annoys me.

As a friend (Mr. "Killer Pigs") used to say, "this game is SCREAMING for anime cutscenes" because it really is. Even if you use it to just introduce each character for 10 seconds like Suikoden V and Lunar did.

'Shining' games have a bit of a cult following and it is true that I really enjoyed Shining Force 1 (even though I didn't like the linear progression and lack of exploration). But this one...I don't know. Like it's trying to be an offshoot of Ys: Ark of Napishtim crossed up with Mercenaries Saga.