Shining Blade

[laserSquad]

...aka Valkyrie Chronicles: Magic & Swords Edition? http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/20/shining-blades-battle-system-has-us-most-intrigued/

Ok, that`s pretty easy/lame, but it`s hard to avoid comparisons when combat systems look so similar. Which is fantastic if you ask me. Relationships play a big role as well - another superb feature from VC.
Of course Shining series have been around for much longer than VC, but I`m glad that they go in BLiTZ direction...bodes well for the future of strategy games.

(there`s a small matter of this probably not getting localized but these days I`m sort of immune to this)

[Hathen]

Shining

nope

[Aeolus]

(there`s a small matter of this probably not getting localized but these days I`m sort of immune to this)

And now you know why I didn't make a thread on this when I first spotted news of this. Sega's just going to pretend that this series doesn't exist outside of Japan; then if anybody asks, they'll blame us for not wanting the game. Just look at how many Shining games were released since the last one made it outside of Japan.

Besides given how creepy/misogynistic the series has become lately I really couldn't care less about new releases.

[Hathen]

Sega's just going to pretend that this series doesn't exist outside of Japan; then if anybody asks, they'll blame us for not wanting the game.

That's only because we actually don't want them.

[laserSquad]

And now you know why I didn't make a thread on this when I first spotted news of this. Sega's just going to pretend that this series doesn't exist outside of Japan; then if anybody asks, they'll blame us for not wanting the game.

That is very likely, but I don`t think pretending it doesn`t exist is a solution here. I mean, sure, it`s not front page news material but I figured a lil` thread would not hurt anyone. It`s not exactly as we`re snowed in with localised  releases anyway, especially in more strategy oriented genre. Double especially for something as exciting as this battle system.
So the times are hard and Sega does act like bunch of *&^%( But times do change and who knows - in few years there might be a new Sega president with new policy, digi distribution, PSP on PS3 - dunno, but not all hope is lost. Also, fan patches.

Besides given how creepy/misogynistic the series has become lately I really couldn't care less about new releases.

Did they? Wouldn`t know, only played 1/2. Sounds sad, but then it`s rather vague territory...opinions vary (personally I find women-as-collectibles in Witcher pretty lame too, same for Miranda`s butt "romance" of ME2).

@Hathen
"We"?  You some sort of royalty?

[Hathen]

yes

i decree people stop wasting their money on crappy shining-series games

[Dice]

yes

i decree people stop wasting their money on crappy shining-series games

I actually think people like Tony Taka's art more than the games themselves.  I'm sure the artbooks have turned a bigger profit. :P

[Eusis]

Sega's just going to pretend that this series doesn't exist outside of Japan; then if anybody asks, they'll blame us for not wanting the game.

That's only because we actually don't want them.

I think Shining Force Feather would've been nice to get, but it seems beyond that it's simply not worth it. It stands more as a lamentable example of how even a once reliably localized series has faded away than treasures we're missing out on.

[laserSquad]

Seems like you guys are bit biased against this series. I can understand the frustration - over the years I had more than fair share of disappointments with fate of most my favourite series.

Still, it`s not all gloom and doom (apart from localization issue) as you paint it. Feather got 8s all round in Famitsu and looks rather solid. Even EXA & NEO got 70 percent from yourselves - for me that still counts as "good" and reading teh reviews actually encouraged me to track `em down now (love that GeoFortress concept). The new one looks very interesting thanks to battle system and relationships that actually affect gameplay. (Yes, TT`s art too - but some how I doubt it`s the main reason strategists buy these :P)

Anyway, what`s this on the front page today? ;)

[Hathen]

I think Shining Force Feather would've been nice to get

Really, just look at the game yourself. A lack of strategy-based combat is not the only problem with the series. Shining in the Darkness and Holy Ark were both still great games in my book, they just wern't as good as the Force games.

[Alisha]

slightly off topic here but when i bought dragon force for saturn many years ago i thought it was part of the shining series because of the word force :P

[Aeolus]

I think Shining Force Feather would've been nice to get

Really, just look at the game yourself. A lack of strategy-based combat is not the only problem with the series. Shining in the Darkness and Holy Ark were both still great games in my book, they just wern't as good as the Force games.

Oh wow. Actions require a gauge to fill to even act and it takes three turns to do anything substantial. Fortunately the enemy AI looks retarded as fuck since they made the mistake of bumrushing the party while they sit back and prepare the nuke that completely obliterates the lot of them in one shot. The other 90% of the video was spent waiting for the action gauge to slowly recharge while they cherry-tap the boss to death. God, it looks like it wants to be Super Robot Wars so goddamn badly and yet has no goddamn clue as to what makes SRW so appealing in the first place.

At least if Shining Blade is just outright stealing Valkyria Chronicles' gameplay then there's a half decent chance that they won't screw it up that badly.

[Eusis]

I think Shining Force Feather would've been nice to get

Really, just look at the game yourself. A lack of strategy-based combat is not the only problem with the series. Shining in the Darkness and Holy Ark were both still great games in my book, they just wern't as good as the Force games.

That DOES look kind of boring. Hard to tell without actually going hands on, but I guess at this point Shining is more a brand Sega has laying around than an actual series that's still being continued to this day.

[Leo]

The visuals look OK, and from what I've read about the battle system, it seems to mirror Valkyria Chronicles in some shape or form, hopefully that means that it'll have somewhat strategy RPG elements. Really, about the most exciting part about this game is that Hiroki Kikuta (Seiken Densetsu) is composing.

[Themadcow]

FYI laserSquad - I only just found out that Jullian Gollop (pretty much the god of turn based strategy, for those thinking '????') created the Nintendo 3DS game Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. From what I can see, it's the classic Rebelstar Raiders/Xcom/Valkyria Chronicles mechanics with a special ops twist. I just assumed it was like the other Ghost Recon games.