Looking for an RPG similar to shining force 2

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Jared701

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 9, 2002
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I'm wondering what my options are for an rpg with a similar style as shining force 2. I really like being able to arrange my characters to affect the battle, not just where a battle starts and the guys are lined up and hit each other until one side wins. I bought a saturn to try shining force 3 and never really got into that one. I have thought about trying shining force 1 but the graphics look so bad I find it hard to motivate myself to try it and I didn't really like the chapter method of shinging force 3 which I heard was also in 1. Obviously I've considered looking into the other shining force games and if any of them are similar to 2 I would appreciate that suggestion but also wondered if there may be other games similar to this style which aren't from the same design team.
 
Ahh yes... I remember these games.

I played the original Shining Force and some of SF 2. I also played its predecessor, Shining in the Darkness (completely different game). I believe Final Fantasy: tactics had a similar turn-based approach, but I never played it.

In addition, the North-American Dragon Warrior series 1-3. However that series is quite old, and doesn't match the gamestyle of SF at all.

Let's see... shortly after that time I played:

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
and
Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager.

Those were good, but they clearly are not the same type of game.

I thought the "Betrayal" series was decent, starting with Betrayal at Krondor. But that also does not fit your description.

The Wizardry series, or at least Wizardry 7 allowed control of a party of characters, however you could never really see where you were. I never played Wizardry 8...

As for modern games? I'd like to know too.
 
Any modern SRPG would fit the bill. As would the old Ogre Battle games. Final Fantasy: Tactics. Fire Emblem. Disgaea. Phantom Brave. Soul Nomad. Valkyria Chronicles. Those should hold you over for a while.
 
in addition to the list above if you have no problems with playing games that are not translated into english you can try out Langrisser series and the Growlanser series......
 
the GBA/NDS has some SRPGs that are good for killing some time.

Disgaea, Luminous Arc/2, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, FFT:A2, Rondo of Swords.

There are a few good ones out there
 
Okay, my opinion:

Shining Force II has one of the best RPG battle engines ever. I liked the game. I played Shining Force before I played SF2, and both were excellent games. I have yet to find a tactical RPG that equals the early SF games, though not through lack of trying.

My experience with Shining Force "clones."

Der Langrisser: this game is hard, and you feel like you're losing every battle. It's got a completely different feel from SF, and the commander bonus system is tough to master. What pissed me off was there was no way to grind if you felt your party needed more levels.

Fire Emblem: wow, guess what happens when you rip-off Shining Force's battle engine and style completely, but take-away the overworld entirely? Oh, and introduce perma-death too! This is made worse than it sounds because, as-above, you can't grind, so a perma-dead party member actually means you've wasted whatever experience sunk into them from your limited supply!

Hey, if you like a game that is basically a battle, followed by a few cutscenes, and a spreadsheet, definitely play this gem!

And I thought I'd mention this, because SF2 is certainly NOT a perfect game:

SF2 has one fatal flaw that seriously hurts it: the classes are standardized, so ALL the characters develop exactly the same, within a few points. This means that, unlike the original Shining Force, almost NONE of the late-game characters in SF2 are worth keeping, not even the Bloody Baron. Further: characters you get who are already promoted will have worse stats than characters you can promote yourself, because you can wait until level 25-30 to promote them, and get a stat boost that no later character will have.

When I beat the baron and Lemon joined my party, and I found that his stats were LESS than Jaha's stats (also a Baron, promoted at lv 25). I was so let-down, I almost stopped playing. I beat the game with the same party I had at level fifteen, so boring.

In Shining Force, you don't have this problem: Guntz is a badass, Mushashi destroys anything in his path, and Bleu is a freaking dragon. You are forced to make the decision of whether to toss-aside older party members, and this makes the end-game infinitely more interesting.
 
defaultluser said:
Okay, my opinion:

Shining Force II has one of the best RPG battle engines ever. I liked the game. I played Shining Force before I played SF2, and both were excellent games. I have yet to find a tactical RPG that equals the early SF games, though not through lack of trying.

My experience with Shining Force "clones."

Der Langrisser: this game is hard, and you feel like you're losing every battle. It's got a completely different feel from SF, and the commander bonus system is tough to master. What pissed me off was there was no way to grind if you felt your party needed more levels.

Fire Emblem: wow, guess what happens when you rip-off Shining Force's battle engine and style completely, but take-away the overworld entirely? Oh, and introduce perma-death too! This is made worse than it sounds because, as-above, you can't grind, so a perma-dead party member actually means you've wasted whatever experience sunk into them from your limited supply!

Hey, if you like a game that is basically a battle, followed by a few cutscenes, and a spreadsheet, definitely play this gem!

And I thought I'd mention this, because SF2 is certainly NOT a perfect game:

SF2 has one fatal flaw that seriously hurts it: the classes are standardized, so ALL the characters develop exactly the same, within a few points. This means that, unlike the original Shining Force, almost NONE of the late-game characters in SF2 are worth keeping, not even the Bloody Baron. Further: characters you get who are already promoted will have worse stats than characters you can promote yourself, because you can wait until level 25-30 to promote them, and get a stat boost that no later character will have.

When I beat the baron and Lemon joined my party, and I found that his stats were LESS than Jaha's stats (also a Baron, promoted at lv 25). I was so let-down, I almost stopped playing. I beat the game with the same party I had at level fifteen, so boring.

In Shining Force, you don't have this problem: Guntz is a badass, Mushashi destroys anything in his path, and Bleu is a freaking dragon. You are forced to make the decision of whether to toss-aside older party members, and this makes the end-game infinitely more interesting.
Click to expand...

Fire Emblem predates Shining Force. So no, its not a SF clone.
 
I don't understand how you could like Shining Force 2 and not Shining Force 3. That game was so good compared to 2. I miss that... sucks that I couldn't play the other 2 scenarios because they didn't come out in the U.S.
 
i remember these games... i always wanted to hang out at my buddy's house cause he had a Sega and i had the Nintendo :) good stuff
 
Shining force 1 and 2 where the best Sega Genesis games I ever played. I went through them a few times, and I really miss games like that. As simplistic as the story would seem by todays standard it actually was memorable, and grabbed my attention.

Never got to play shining force 3, but I would really love too! anyway I can do that today lol without a saturn?

Shining in the darkness was kool too, but ya it was like a FPS lol.

but ya

Disaega was pretty kool. Its got a kiddy vibe to it tho.
Final Fantasy tactics is tight, i loved the PS1 version.
Not a fan of fireemblem.
 
Xenozx said:
Shining force 1 and 2 where the best Sega Genesis games I ever played. I went through them a few times, and I really miss games like that. As simplistic as the story would seem by todays standard it actually was memorable, and grabbed my attention.

Never got to play shining force 3, but I would really love too! anyway I can do that today lol without a saturn?

Shining in the darkness was kool too, but ya it was like a FPS lol.

but ya

Disaega was pretty kool. Its got a kiddy vibe to it tho.
Final Fantasy tactics is tight, i loved the PS1 version.
Not a fan of fireemblem.
Click to expand...

Disgaea's "kiddy vibe" is due to it being down right hilarious. Its a punishingly hard game with a joke filled story sprinkled over the top. Its not really kiddy anyway, its just meant to be laughed at while playing. The game doesn't take itself seriously.
 
oh yea...I forget these two imports for PS1 and 2.....
TearRing Saga for PS1 (with one of the most awesome Engrish intros ever...)
and
TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga for PS2

Made by Shouzou Kaga the creator of Fire Emblem, who actually got sued by Nintendo for this....
If you guys think FE series is hard this just takes some of those concept even further.

and if you are into japanese gal game/h-game that plays like a tactical rpg/slg.....there's always Princess Knights
 
I am honestly considering purchasing a Genesis and SF 1 and 2 just so i can pay them again. I loved those games
 
Sakura Taisen series has been known to be very popular in Japan if you can pick up a translation guide for it.
 
I never got to play the home console version of shinning force, but the game gear sf was really good, not super long though, around ten hours, but great combat with the different classes and such as well as a decent story
 
Cutter said:
I am honestly considering purchasing a Genesis and SF 1 and 2 just so i can pay them again. I loved those games
Click to expand...

You can purchase the Sega Smash Pack for the PC which includes Shining Force 1. Too bad there is no Shining Force 2 in it but you could always look toward emulation if you really wanted it.
 
TheCommander said:
You can purchase the Sega Smash Pack for the PC which includes Shining Force 1. Too bad there is no Shining Force 2 in it but you could always look toward emulation if you really wanted it.
Click to expand...

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection has 1, 2, and Darkness.
 
I laugh at people saying Disgaea has a kiddie vibe. Perhaps you should have someone else censor your small children's media? NIS games are famous for their amount of sexual content, with Disgaea a comparable slouch in this category! The artwork is very uh...I can't think of an appropriate word for it, but suffice to say the female characters looking young isn't meant to make the game appeal to young kids ;) Great SRPG, so is the sequel, and Phantom Brave.

Don't believe me? Go play Ar Tonelico.
"Dive Into Me!" hah :p
 
NeoGohan said:
I don't understand how you could like Shining Force 2 and not Shining Force 3. That game was so good compared to 2. I miss that... sucks that I couldn't play the other 2 scenarios because they didn't come out in the U.S.
Click to expand...

I think at the time I was hoping that it would be an addition to the same story and finding out it was a completely different story killed the game for me some. Also, I didn't really enjoy the chapter system in the game since I felt it really limited where I could go. The game simply felt too confined with nowhere to explore. I don't still have the game so I can't fire it up again to see how I'd like it now. At least at that time the discs were going for like 70+ on ebay so not sure I'll pick it up again.
 
stevedave said:
I'll point out some that have been missed.

Shining force 3 is the best in the series I have all 3 episodes and seriously the greatest Srpg of all time and I have played most all.

Growlancer generation is another 2 great games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growlanser_Generations

yggdra union
http://www.atlus.com/yggdraunion/

Soul nomad
http://www.nisamerica.com/games/soulnomad/

Wild Arms XF
http://www.wildarmsxf.com/
Click to expand...

Good luck finding Growlancer Generation. Like all Working Designs games its rare. It was also the last game they ever released.
 
It shouldn't be too hard to find you just wont find it for under 30 bucks.

Buy it, rent it, or steal it because it is worth playing
 
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