Title: Shining Force II
Developer: Sonic Co. (a.k.a Team Sonic a.k.a. Sonic Software Planning, becoming Camelot Software Planning in 1994)
Publisher: Sega
Release Dates: 09/30/93 (North America), 10/01/93 (Japan), 07/02/94 (Europe)
Platform: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
ESRB Rating: N/A
Shining Force II
The citizens of Granseal are hard at work. Inside the castle grounds, the centaurs
concentrate on jousting and target practice while the spellcasters compare teleportation
and healing spells. Granseal isn't at war, but there has been trouble with monsters on
the outskirts of the kingdom, and the king has ordered troops to sweep the area and
drive the creatures away.
All notice the thunderclouds that gather above the castle. Not only is rain
unusual for the season, but the storm does not look to be an ordinary one.
The storm is a harbinger of coming events - events which will change Granseal and
its neighboring kingdoms forever. An ancient evil has broken free, and is spreading over
the land of Rune, devastating all that it touches. Is there anyone, or anything, that
can stop it? Start the adventure and find out!
Can I Get a Story Here?
And so begins the excellent follow-up (the stories are not related) to 1992's Shining Force (itself a follow-up
to 1991's Shining in the Darkness.) The only truly noteworthy RPG series to appear on
the Sega Genesis besides Phantasy Star, Shining Force II is a tactical RPG in a
medieval setting. You control Bowie, the hero of Shining Force II, and his friends as
they discover what terrible fate will befall their home nation and what to do about it.
Along the way, they befriend powerful allies, enhance their own abilities, and tap
ancient technologies to accomplish their goal. In other words, there isn't too much in
the story that's never been seen in a RPG before, but it does a good enough job of
getting the player from battle to battle and giving new characters excuses to join the
Force (not surprisingly, the gameplay is extremely linear, with few chances for
excursions off the beaten path.)
Come On, Let's Fight!
The heart of the game is, of course, the battles. The Force grows in ranks gradually
throughout the game, though there can never be more than twelve characters in battle at
once. This forces the player to make some choices, but it becomes pretty obvious which
characters are keepers and which characters are best relegated to the Caravan, the
vehicle which players eventually acquire and which holds excess characters and items.
The motley crew consists of fairly stereotypical character classes-wizards, monks,
knights, healers, archers, etc., with enough variety to enable players to field a
balanced fighting force relatively easily. Characters can also be promoted to new
classes during the game, though a promoted character is, with a few notable exceptions,
mostly just a stronger version of his previous self, rather than a whole new type of
character.
The various types of battlegrounds in Shining Force II force players to alter their
strategy significantly-players will do battle in castles, caves, shrines, towns,
deserts, and fields. Some of the more exotic locales include a chessboard, a suspension
bridge, the outside of a tower, and even a raft under attack by a large octopus. Each
type of arena provides its own unique challenges to players (fields are open but offer
little cover, castles and towns have lots of obstacles, caves are cramped, etc.), and
will give different types of characters the chance to show off their strengths.
The game offers four difficulty levels, with each successive level inflating the
monsters' statistics. The highest difficulty level will give the Shining Force quite a
workout, and some battles may require many tries. Even poor and overmatched players
will succeed eventually, however, since characters retain all the experience they earn
in battle when they die, and will eventually become strong enough to plow through any
enemy (given enough time and revives.)
The level grind is manageable in Shining Force II. Experience is given to individual
characters whenever they successfully attack an enemy (whether directly or with magic),
cast a spell successfully (either on enemies or allies), or use certain magical items.
The game uses an unusual experience point system similar to Final Fantasy VIII's, in
which each characters levels up after gaining 100 points, but a given monster will give
a character fewer and fewer experience points as that character grows stronger.
Characters who can cast support magic (healing, buffing, etc.) can grow stronger
regardless of the strength of the enemy, though, as the experience gained for those
spells is based largely upon how many characters were affected. By and large, however,
the strongest characters will absorb the brunt of the enemy attack and dish out most of
the damage, forcing the player to press on to build their strength.
Where Can I Find This Wonderful Game?
Shining Force II is somewhat rare, though a few copies of it can usually be found
floating around on eBay. The ROM is not too difficult to find, though, and most
emulators should play it without difficulty.
Final Thoughts
Shining Force II did not actually tinker with the formula established in the original
Shining Force very much. This, however, is a good thing, because there was really
very little wrong with that game. Shining Force II will take many hours to complete,
and the constant appearance of new characters and monsters will ensure that players will
remain interested all the way to the end.