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Shining Force EXA
Platform: PS2
Shining Force EXA is a somewhat memorable experience with a love story that is a little different from what is typically presented in RPGs.
Review by Sirus
Shining Force EXA, like Shining Force NEO before it is a real-time dungeon crawler with cell-shaded graphics and an anime style storyline. In Shining Force EXA the game begins with a group of four adventurers who are searching for the legendary sword Shining Force. Legend says that whoever draws the holy sword from its pedestal will be given the god-like power it holds and be able to become king. The person who draws the holy sword becomes known as the heritor and the group has agreed that if one among them draws the sword, they will support that person until the end. After some searching, the group finally comes upon the resting place of the holy sword and each of them takes their turn to try and pull the sword out.
Toma, the main character, gets his chance to pull the holy sword last and, before his companion Cyrille can stop him, he attempts and easily succeeds pulling out the sword. Doing so activates the geo fortress where the sword was held, making Toma the master of the mysterious castle. Throughout the course of the game, Toma and Cyrille develop their relationship and it is an absolute treat to watch as they become close and realize how much they care about each other. Toma eventually learns the truth behind the fate of the heritor and why Cyrille tried to stop him from pulling out the holy sword that day. The rest of the cast isn’t really developed very well, which is sad because I would have liked to see more development for all of the supporting characters.
Gameplay in Shining Force EXA takes you through various areas filled with hordes of monsters. Shining Force EXA is much more balanced than Shining Force NEO was. In Shining Force NEO you were pretty much forced at a certain point in the game to use magic because melee weapons weren’t made strong enough. Rather than having just one main character to build up, Shining Force EXA allows you to build up both Cyrille and Toma who are naturally focused on magic and melee respectively. Building them both up equally is easy because every bit of Mythril found by either character is given to both characters to strengthen them. When Toma spends the amount of Mythril gathered, Cyrille still has the same amount Toma just spent available for her own use.
As follows with most typical dungeon crawlers, you are given a device that allows you to warp back to your base from any area early on. This is very important because you will fill up your limited inventory with pieces of equipment dropped by enemies that you will want to either sell or extract Mythril from. Many of the pieces of equipment you pick up on your travels are unidentified and you will have to pay the shop keeper a small amount to show you what types of mods the piece of equipment has on it. Properly identified equipment sells for much higher amounts of gold and can be extracted for much more Mythril. While you are back at your fortress selling off your equipment you will also want to refill your healing items. Unlike most J-RPGs where you have to buy healing items that are only able to be used once, your healing waters function sort of like refillable jugs that can be filled at any goddess fountain. With a small number of these healing waters, you will find yourself warping back to base to refill them more than anything.
As mentioned above, the Mythril you are gathering on your travels is used to make your characters better in combat. There is a machine in your base where you are able to carve combat arts on your shining force that increase many different attributes. For both characters you will find yourself increasing their defensive capabilities. For Toma you will be strengthening his attack with various types of weapons, while Cyrille will want to boost her power with certain types of magic. While out exploring, you will find many monster generators that you will have to destroy to keep enemies from swarming you forever. There are also many monster arenas and prisons of rock found around that can be challenging but worth completing. Monster arenas give you special arts that increase your weapon damage against certain types of enemies and a secret art. Defeating strong monsters hidden within prisons of rock also gives you a secret art. Secret arts are like power arts you can carve on your weapons to give them boosts in certain areas. They can be used as many times as you want so there is no reason to worry about wasting them.
Slaughtering hordes of enemies can get a little tiresome after a while but being able to switch between Toma and Cyrille whenever you want at your base keeps the game fresh a lot longer. While you are out adventuring away from your base, you could find yourself with a warning that your base is under attack. When this happens, the game switches control to the character who is left at the base and they are tasked with defeating the enemies who are trying to destroy your energy generator, the core of your geo fortress. If it is destroyed you will be given a choice to restart from the beginning of the attack. It is important to upgrade the core parts of your geo fortress before anything else lest you get stuck in a position where you can’t beat a defensive battle. The biggest problem with defensive battles is they are either really easy or really hard and very rarely anything in between. Still, they do a good job of breaking up the adventuring.
Gameplay is overall fun and rewarding with occasional slowdown that rarely gets in the way of gameplay. The graphics in the game are detailed and the characters are unique. The major story sequences are presented through detailed 2D portraits that show various emotions well. There are also a few animated cutscenes that show a unique visual style and are well done. The voice acting in the game is a huge improvement over what was used in Shining Force NEO although there are still a few overused voices like the annoying shop keeper who insists on saying the same stuff every time you talk to him. The music in the game is nothing memorable but it works great to accent each scene and set the mood.
Shining Force EXA is a somewhat memorable experience with a love story that is a little different from what is typically presented in RPGs. The gameplay can get a little repetitive but usually stays fresh after a short break if it begins to wear on you. If you liked Shining Force NEO then you should definitely check this one out and, if you are a fan of real-time dungeon-crawling JRPGs and anime storylines, you should check this one out as well. It’s no masterpiece but it could have been a lot worse. My final playtime was 50 hours and there is a bonus dungeon available once you beat the game.
Platform: PS2
Shining Force EXA is a somewhat memorable experience with a love story that is a little different from what is typically presented in RPGs.
Review by Sirus
Shining Force EXA, like Shining Force NEO before it is a real-time dungeon crawler with cell-shaded graphics and an anime style storyline. In Shining Force EXA the game begins with a group of four adventurers who are searching for the legendary sword Shining Force. Legend says that whoever draws the holy sword from its pedestal will be given the god-like power it holds and be able to become king. The person who draws the holy sword becomes known as the heritor and the group has agreed that if one among them draws the sword, they will support that person until the end. After some searching, the group finally comes upon the resting place of the holy sword and each of them takes their turn to try and pull the sword out.
Toma, the main character, gets his chance to pull the holy sword last and, before his companion Cyrille can stop him, he attempts and easily succeeds pulling out the sword. Doing so activates the geo fortress where the sword was held, making Toma the master of the mysterious castle. Throughout the course of the game, Toma and Cyrille develop their relationship and it is an absolute treat to watch as they become close and realize how much they care about each other. Toma eventually learns the truth behind the fate of the heritor and why Cyrille tried to stop him from pulling out the holy sword that day. The rest of the cast isn’t really developed very well, which is sad because I would have liked to see more development for all of the supporting characters.
Gameplay in Shining Force EXA takes you through various areas filled with hordes of monsters. Shining Force EXA is much more balanced than Shining Force NEO was. In Shining Force NEO you were pretty much forced at a certain point in the game to use magic because melee weapons weren’t made strong enough. Rather than having just one main character to build up, Shining Force EXA allows you to build up both Cyrille and Toma who are naturally focused on magic and melee respectively. Building them both up equally is easy because every bit of Mythril found by either character is given to both characters to strengthen them. When Toma spends the amount of Mythril gathered, Cyrille still has the same amount Toma just spent available for her own use.
As follows with most typical dungeon crawlers, you are given a device that allows you to warp back to your base from any area early on. This is very important because you will fill up your limited inventory with pieces of equipment dropped by enemies that you will want to either sell or extract Mythril from. Many of the pieces of equipment you pick up on your travels are unidentified and you will have to pay the shop keeper a small amount to show you what types of mods the piece of equipment has on it. Properly identified equipment sells for much higher amounts of gold and can be extracted for much more Mythril. While you are back at your fortress selling off your equipment you will also want to refill your healing items. Unlike most J-RPGs where you have to buy healing items that are only able to be used once, your healing waters function sort of like refillable jugs that can be filled at any goddess fountain. With a small number of these healing waters, you will find yourself warping back to base to refill them more than anything.
As mentioned above, the Mythril you are gathering on your travels is used to make your characters better in combat. There is a machine in your base where you are able to carve combat arts on your shining force that increase many different attributes. For both characters you will find yourself increasing their defensive capabilities. For Toma you will be strengthening his attack with various types of weapons, while Cyrille will want to boost her power with certain types of magic. While out exploring, you will find many monster generators that you will have to destroy to keep enemies from swarming you forever. There are also many monster arenas and prisons of rock found around that can be challenging but worth completing. Monster arenas give you special arts that increase your weapon damage against certain types of enemies and a secret art. Defeating strong monsters hidden within prisons of rock also gives you a secret art. Secret arts are like power arts you can carve on your weapons to give them boosts in certain areas. They can be used as many times as you want so there is no reason to worry about wasting them.
Slaughtering hordes of enemies can get a little tiresome after a while but being able to switch between Toma and Cyrille whenever you want at your base keeps the game fresh a lot longer. While you are out adventuring away from your base, you could find yourself with a warning that your base is under attack. When this happens, the game switches control to the character who is left at the base and they are tasked with defeating the enemies who are trying to destroy your energy generator, the core of your geo fortress. If it is destroyed you will be given a choice to restart from the beginning of the attack. It is important to upgrade the core parts of your geo fortress before anything else lest you get stuck in a position where you can’t beat a defensive battle. The biggest problem with defensive battles is they are either really easy or really hard and very rarely anything in between. Still, they do a good job of breaking up the adventuring.
Gameplay is overall fun and rewarding with occasional slowdown that rarely gets in the way of gameplay. The graphics in the game are detailed and the characters are unique. The major story sequences are presented through detailed 2D portraits that show various emotions well. There are also a few animated cutscenes that show a unique visual style and are well done. The voice acting in the game is a huge improvement over what was used in Shining Force NEO although there are still a few overused voices like the annoying shop keeper who insists on saying the same stuff every time you talk to him. The music in the game is nothing memorable but it works great to accent each scene and set the mood.
Shining Force EXA is a somewhat memorable experience with a love story that is a little different from what is typically presented in RPGs. The gameplay can get a little repetitive but usually stays fresh after a short break if it begins to wear on you. If you liked Shining Force NEO then you should definitely check this one out and, if you are a fan of real-time dungeon-crawling JRPGs and anime storylines, you should check this one out as well. It’s no masterpiece but it could have been a lot worse. My final playtime was 50 hours and there is a bonus dungeon available once you beat the game.
| 7/10 - Addicting hack and slash gameplay that can wear thin. | ||||||
| 8/10 - Stylized unique graphics and characters that look great. | ||||||
| 7/10 - Solid voice cast and good soundtrack. | ||||||
| 7/10 - Love story is a treat to watch--problematic other parts. | ||||||
| 8/10 -50 hour main quest counting all the leveling up required. | ||||||
| 7.5/10 (Good) | ||||||
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