fantasy

I have played both "Shining Force" and "Shining in the Darkness" for the Sega, and was expecting a similar concept for this game. It was a complete disappointment - I would be hesistant to even consider Shining Soul an RPG. Shining Soul more closely resembles Gauntlet or another arcade-style game.

The dungeons in Shining Soul are repetitive and I found that I had to leave my Gameboy on for hours because the save game feature restarted you back at the beginning of each level. You can also only use one of the four characters (unless you want to start the game over from the beginning to build up a new character), and I wasted many hours because the majority of the weapons and items I found were only applicable for other characters.

I gave this game 2 stars instead of one because I was compelled to play the game until the end. I would guess that it took around 12 hours of playing to finish (not counting the hours my gameboy was on holding my position in a dungeon), and I have very little desire to play the game again. I would not recommend this game to anyone who is looking for an RPG-style game.

Okay, I'm a lover of fantasy RPGs and I bought this game thinking it would be fun--I mean, "Shining Force" was a GREAT game! This game was SUCH a disappointment! I'll admit that I'm a fan of turn-based RPGs, so I had my doubts. The action part turned out to be easy to learn--changing weapons, etc. The problem was, the action was TOO easy. I never died--not once! Now, I like easy, but there was no challenge here and in the end, tapping on the same button over and over and over was just too much.

Also, there is no wandering and exploring in the game. There are a few hidden things here and there within a chapter, but once you finish the chapter, you decide where you're going to go by selecting it on a map from your base camp/town. You don't wander around going from one place to another. You don't meet NPCs. It's just fighting, fighting, fighting.

And then, there's the problem with saving the game. Whenever you save the game, it takes you back to your base camp/town. WHAT?!?! It wouldn't be so bad if the levels weren't so excruciatingly long, but when it takes you half an hour to reach the boss, and then you have to turn off the game, only to find yourself right back where you started when you turn it back on is more than just a little frustrating. This game must be meant for people who have a LOT of free time to just sit there and play--I for one am not.

The graphics are decent as is the music. Gameplay is simple, in fact, TOO simple and there is absolutely no replay value. I don't recommend this game to anyone and it received two stars because it was fun for the first two hours (it just got tedious and boring after that) and the graphics are decent. If you want a good action RPG, go buy Zelda.

The game plays as an action RPG, and while there is some strategy in how you level your character the game basically comes off as a button masher. There is only one town and you don't even have to talk to anybody to advance in the game. There is a bit of replay value with four different types of charactes to choose, but I was really too bored to even bother with it.