Post by Zynx on Sept 2, 2003 16:52:08 GMT -5
You can post reviews of oldschool games here. For instance here's one I did for Shining Force:
The game Shining Force, and the whole Shining Force series for that matter, broke new ground in strategy RPGs in the early 1990s. Graphically advanced for the time combined with a fairly solid plot and array of fascinating characters, Shining Force is a game that is still very enjoyable today in the era of powerful visuals and complex gameplay.
Plot:
In the beginning you take the role of an aspiring young fighter under the direction of the Lord Varios in the land of Guardinia. With apparent foul activity on the part of Runefaust, you are appointed head of the Shining Force(the same force that defeated Dark Dragon 1000 years ago). Early into the game it becomes apparent that Runefaust, under the leadership of Darksol, is attempting to resurrect Dark Dragon, a beast who has been sealed for 1,000 years who led the powers of darkness at that time, and return the world to the rule of darkness. After Runefaust nearly destroys Guardinia, you go on a quest to stop Darksol from resurrecting Dark Dragon. This quest takes you on a long journey that goes through mountains, cities, oceans, and castles to the very gates of Runefaust and the final showdown with Darksol.
Gameplay:
Shining Force gameplay is unique for a strategy RPG. Unlike Ogre Battle, where you simply fight battles, in Shining Force you fight turned based battles against the hoards of Runefaust and, like in a normal RPG, can explore towns, talk to townsfolk, search for items, and all normal aspects of traditional RPGs.
Controls are fairly easy to master with the C button(this is a Genesis game incase you didn't know) being able to bring up the all important menu in and out of battle and the B button getting rid of it. Equipping and distributing items is also fairly easy to do with simple one or two button commands.
The Shining Force itself is composed of 12 members including the main character. This force can be altered to your liking with the 30 characters that are possibilities for team members. This is possibly one of the most powerful aspects of the game in that you can go through the game with a wide variety of different characters on your Shining Force. If you wish to tilt it towards hand-to-hand fighters, centaurs, or mages is your choice. Among the 30 characters are many hidden characters including some, such as Domingo , that are somewhat difficult to obtain. The hidden characters and hidden items, combined with the ability to have greatly varying Shining Forces each time through allow for great replay value.
In the battles the focus is more on strategy that brute force. For instance, if in the battle in Chapter 4 against General Elliot you were to charge him full out, you would be crushed like a bug rather than having the relatively easy time facing one portion of his force at a time. It is nice that this is done rather than allowing an easy victory simply because of a powerful force. Each of the thirty battles has their own little trick to them so the same strategy can not be applied to every battle. Terrain also adds a challenge particularly when mountains or desert are in a map because they severely reduce the movement range of your ground characters.
Visuals/Sound
The graphics in this game, while not impressive now, were above average at the time to say the least. In particular when an enemy is attacked it switches to a three-dimensional view of the attack and the attacks themselves could be visually masterful for the time particularly when it came to magic spells.
The music and sound effects, once again not impressive now, were fairly good for when the game was produced in 1993.
Problems: Overall this was a very solid game. Some problems I had though were with the audio quality which could have been greater even for 1993, the somewhat clunky purchasing of items that was fixed in Shining Force II, and the rapid and somewhat unimaginative way in which conversations occurred. However, overall these were minor problems compared with the sheer genius of the game.
Ratings:
Gameplay: 9.8
Sound: 9.2
Visuals: 9.8
Replay: 10
Overall: 9.8(That's almost as good as I ever give. I have yet to give out an official 10 )
The game Shining Force, and the whole Shining Force series for that matter, broke new ground in strategy RPGs in the early 1990s. Graphically advanced for the time combined with a fairly solid plot and array of fascinating characters, Shining Force is a game that is still very enjoyable today in the era of powerful visuals and complex gameplay.
Plot:
In the beginning you take the role of an aspiring young fighter under the direction of the Lord Varios in the land of Guardinia. With apparent foul activity on the part of Runefaust, you are appointed head of the Shining Force(the same force that defeated Dark Dragon 1000 years ago). Early into the game it becomes apparent that Runefaust, under the leadership of Darksol, is attempting to resurrect Dark Dragon, a beast who has been sealed for 1,000 years who led the powers of darkness at that time, and return the world to the rule of darkness. After Runefaust nearly destroys Guardinia, you go on a quest to stop Darksol from resurrecting Dark Dragon. This quest takes you on a long journey that goes through mountains, cities, oceans, and castles to the very gates of Runefaust and the final showdown with Darksol.
Gameplay:
Shining Force gameplay is unique for a strategy RPG. Unlike Ogre Battle, where you simply fight battles, in Shining Force you fight turned based battles against the hoards of Runefaust and, like in a normal RPG, can explore towns, talk to townsfolk, search for items, and all normal aspects of traditional RPGs.
Controls are fairly easy to master with the C button(this is a Genesis game incase you didn't know) being able to bring up the all important menu in and out of battle and the B button getting rid of it. Equipping and distributing items is also fairly easy to do with simple one or two button commands.
The Shining Force itself is composed of 12 members including the main character. This force can be altered to your liking with the 30 characters that are possibilities for team members. This is possibly one of the most powerful aspects of the game in that you can go through the game with a wide variety of different characters on your Shining Force. If you wish to tilt it towards hand-to-hand fighters, centaurs, or mages is your choice. Among the 30 characters are many hidden characters including some, such as Domingo , that are somewhat difficult to obtain. The hidden characters and hidden items, combined with the ability to have greatly varying Shining Forces each time through allow for great replay value.
In the battles the focus is more on strategy that brute force. For instance, if in the battle in Chapter 4 against General Elliot you were to charge him full out, you would be crushed like a bug rather than having the relatively easy time facing one portion of his force at a time. It is nice that this is done rather than allowing an easy victory simply because of a powerful force. Each of the thirty battles has their own little trick to them so the same strategy can not be applied to every battle. Terrain also adds a challenge particularly when mountains or desert are in a map because they severely reduce the movement range of your ground characters.
Visuals/Sound
The graphics in this game, while not impressive now, were above average at the time to say the least. In particular when an enemy is attacked it switches to a three-dimensional view of the attack and the attacks themselves could be visually masterful for the time particularly when it came to magic spells.
The music and sound effects, once again not impressive now, were fairly good for when the game was produced in 1993.
Problems: Overall this was a very solid game. Some problems I had though were with the audio quality which could have been greater even for 1993, the somewhat clunky purchasing of items that was fixed in Shining Force II, and the rapid and somewhat unimaginative way in which conversations occurred. However, overall these were minor problems compared with the sheer genius of the game.
Ratings:
Gameplay: 9.8
Sound: 9.2
Visuals: 9.8
Replay: 10
Overall: 9.8(That's almost as good as I ever give. I have yet to give out an official 10 )