"Rpgs were never this good"

Shining Force was one of the last Saturn games released in Europe. I had a first contact with the game via a demo disc, and liked it instantly. When my neighbor got it, I felt a compelling urge to go buy it too. The fact is the game didnt disappoint me a bit, in fact it was even better than I expected... Shining Force 3 is a serious example of how good role playing games can get... But onto what youre here for (I hope).

STORY - 9/10 - Contrary to most rpgs, the story isnt the most important part of this game, being surpassed by the games incredible strategic battles. But dont misunderstand me, the story is very good. Its just that the battles are so exciting that you almost forget the story. As usual, its a pain to talk about and review a story in an rpg, without spoiling anything for the reader. The plot is based on an evil sect, the Bulzome, that manages to lead two opposing empires to a full scale war. You are a general from one of those empires, Synbios, and you must flee the enemy territory and prove your innocence. Throughout the game, youll meet many allies that will help you fight the Bulzome sect. This is the simpler I can put the story. It is well written and is quite likeable, and is refreshing, not the love story/save the world from bad guy cliches so many rpgs feature these days (coughFinalFantasycoughcough). Sometimes youll be salivating to know what happens next.

GAMEPLAY/CONTROL - 10/10 - This is where this game really shines. SFIII works as any rpg youve played to a certain degree. You go to a town, develop the story, buy things for your characters such as items. weapons, armor and accessories, and fight in the next triggered battle scene. What makes this game so addicting is the battle system. Instead of the old and dull command battles, where you select commands for the characters, Sega opted for far more interesting strategic turn-based battles. Your characters and enemies are placed on a map, and you move the characters in square grids. When you reach an enemy, you can attack, use magic, perform a summon or use items. Sounds simple, right? It really is. But theres actually far more to it than that. You can use different strategies when fighting. For example, you can choose to wait for your opponents to come at you, or you can melee on them. You can attack an enemy with all your characters, or you can divide them in different groups. Theres really no limit to the possibilities this battle system allows, it would be impossible to list all of them here.

The level up system is the usual, you get experience for killing enemies. The killing blow, however, is awarded far more experience points. So if any of your characters is weaker than the rest, you really should let him get the final blow on some baddies. Special attacks are awarded to characters through systematic usage of the same weapon type. So equip Symbios with swords, and he will learn different attacks than if he was equipped with blades. Special attacks then come out randomly, the higher your level, the more frequent they are.

Present is an original concept called the friendship system. For example, if two characters co-op often to kill enemies, theyll most likely develop a friendship of some kind. These vary depending on the characters. Synbios gives his friends more attack power, while others may boost your defensive power or magic damage. Just be careful in the fights, since that if a character dies, he loses all the friendships he had made up to that point. There are also other nifty features in battle, such as the land effect, that raises or lowers your stats while standing on some areas, and a weapon strength feature, that increases the damage certain weapon types do against certain weapon types.

Control-wise, this is an rpg, folks. Youll have no problems with this, as quite everythin is done through simple menus and button presses.

CHARACTER CAST - The characters youll meet through the adventure are quite varied, and each has some reason for joining your party. There are 4 main characters in your party. Synbios, the main character that NEVER speaks throughout the entire game, Dantares, the brave centaur, Masqurin, the little sorceress girl and Grace, the ''people-person'' healer. All of them are quite charismatic, and each has their uses in the battles. As the story develops, many more will join you, and some of them are missable, meaning youre gonna have to do something in order to get them. You can get about 20 or so characters for your party. The enemy cast is also good, especially some bosses and elements of the Bulzome sect, who have nasty surprises in store just for you...

GRAPHICS - 9/10 - This game features some of the most pleasant graphics the Saturn hs to offer. The cities and locations are very detailed and feature vibrant colors (err, except for the ghost town). Characters are well done, whether in 2D or 3D. The special effects of magics and summons are simply spectacular. Never a fire spell looked as good as a Blaze lv4, and never summons looked as good as Thanatos. This is still true by todays standards (2002).

AUDIO - 9/10 - Pure bliss to your ears. BGM is epic and adventurous, and fits the feel of the game like a glove, As usual, some tunes will get stuck in your head. SEs arent aplenty, but can mostly be heard during battles and are decent.

CHALLENGE - 6/10 - There are some battles and bosses that may give you a challenge, but this in an rpg, so you just level up and get through with it. Challenge level is really hard to evaluate in an rpg, it mostly depends on how you play. Go through every battle the 1st time and youll have a challenging game. Repeat some and gain extra experience, and your mission will be much simplified.

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10 - There are quite some reasons for you to want to go through the game again. Youll want to find all the missable characters and secrets. Youll want to try different weapons for your characters. Youll want to repeat the game on Hard or Very Hard (unlocked upon game completion). You wont be able to let go of the addicting battle system ever!

Final Words - This was the game that made me an rpg fan, and rightly so. The story is great and the battle system is just absorbing. You wont want to stop until you complete the game. Buy it if you can find a copy, cause it is rare, as almost all Saturn games. You can be sure you got yourself a gem! Excellent work by Sega (who else?)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/02, Updated 11/16/02