Shining Force CD: SFCD

[wdj40]

So is the game really good... as good as SF1 and SF2 or worse??

I`ve got SFCD for my mega cd as I went through a faze of buying all the consoles and SF games a couple of months ago...

I`ve played SF1 and SF2 loads of times in the past so i went through them both again not to long ago... But then I got a Saturn and all 3 scenarios of SF3, I hadn`t played them in the past so I just went straight onto that and have not had time to even look at SFCD.

Will be a while till I`ve done all 3 scenarios and then I can move on to SFCD!

Just wondered is is a really good game?

[Cullsoft]

If you're happy about having a game where the focus is pretty much entirely on the battles, without having any wandering or searching within towns or between battles, then it's most definitely worth it. It's got a great story (more of the dark style of SHF1 than the happier style of SHF2), some quality battles and characters (nuff said with Claude, who'll make you completely rethink your view on Birdmen after putting up with those from SHF1+2), and plenty of hours of fun.

Anybody who says it's not worth it is a Philistine and knows it.

[Rusty]

Shining Force CD on the surface might look a little rough - as far as enemies go, they're as a whole less interesting/cool than the ones in SF1 and SF2. Some of the musics are dull, but they're all high quality.

Beyond that, there's not really much to complain about. While I don't like the character designs much, this by far has the best graphics of the series, IMO, the music quality is great, it has a ton of creative battles, some old faces, status effect spells that actually work, and just an overall really nice system.

Most people are usually put off by the fact that there's no town roaming, but honestly you WELCOME that sort of thing when you replay a game a lot. It just cuts right to the good stuff and doesn't bother with the mess. Of course, this also means that any and all item drops (or treasure chests) will be in battle, and sometimes (rarely, at least in the first two books) you'll actually have to search the ground/surroundings for things. Otherwise, though, no.

The game really makes sense and ties together nicely. Book 3 is a joke, really, but it's still fun.

I like SF1 best, but this is definitely my second favorite game in the series.

[Martin III]

Shining the Holy Ark is my favorite game in the Shining series, but Shining Force CD is my favorite of the "Force" games.

Off the top of my head, I'd say it's better than either I or II in every way but one: Shining Force II is more challenging. Even so, Shining Force CD has several battles that will require quite a bit of thought, and it's certainly a much greater challenge than Shining Force I. The final boss of Book 1 and Battle 5 of Book 3 are quite possibly the two hardest battles of the series.

Some of the easier battles, as well, are still rather interesting. I won't give anything away, but many of them show considerable ingenuity.

The characters are excellent. In particular, the two heroes of the game have considerably more background and personality than Max and Bowie. There's also a little bit of interaction between the characters, as compared to SF1 and SF2 where each party member seems to exist in his own little vacuum.

The storyline is also considerably better. It has more of an epic feel to it than the three Mega Drive/Genesis games, which is unsurprising given that Books 1-3 were originally designed as three separate games.

The music is IMO the best in the series prior to Shining the Holy Ark, even based strictly on composition, and the orchestrated sound really adds to it.

Of course, all depends on your being happy with the lack of town-wandering(though I personally love that aspect of the game). Ignoring that issue, though, this is definitely one of the best games in the series.

[Demonic Weasel]

Generally speaking you'll find very few people who dislike SFCD. And, generally speaking, the one's that do dislike it are the ones who favor SF2 to a point of extremity. Furthermore, generally speaking, said individuals usually rationalize their dislike by saying that the lack of town wandering detracts from the game.

Obviously, that's debatable. All the same, I would tend to class it as a minor annoyance at first, and you get used to it pretty fast. Aside from that, Shining Force CD is thoroughly excellent; the music is quite good, the battles are engaging the characters are mostly interesting and at least slightly varied. The storyline is something of a big draw for it; in both SF1 and 2 the stories were... somewhat poor if we wish to put things kindly. SFCD really is a step in the right direction.

Really there's no reason not to like it.

[Rusty]

The final boss of Book 1 and Battle 5 of Book 3 are quite possibly the two hardest battles of the series.

I think you're forgetting the Museum Battle.

[wdj40]

Oh right cool, I read about that it doesn`t have the wandering around towns etc... I do like that aspect of the SF games but I dont think it will be a major issue...

Sounds like a pretty good all round game... will be a month or 2 before I start playing it as I have to go through scen 2 and 3 on the saturn 1st and cant just leave that alone lol

Cheers for the insight folks sounds like quite a long game aswell which is a bonus as SF1 and SF2 only took me a few days each (I was off sick from work for 2 weeks so got plenty of playing time in while the Mrs was at work ha ha)

[Cullsoft]

The storyline is also considerably better. It has more of an epic feel to it than the three Mega Drive/Genesis games, which is unsurprising given that Books 1-3 were originally designed as three separate games.

Correction: Books 1 & 2 were made and released as seperate games (i.e. Shining Force Gaiden and Sword of Hajya). Books 3 & 4 were bonuses made for the Shining Force CD as a continuation.

Be careful with getting Final Conflict confused with the other Gaidens - aside from the name, it's pretty much a completely seperate game.

[Martin III]

Correction: Books 1 & 2 were made and released as seperate games (i.e. Shining Force Gaiden and Sword of Hajya). Books 3 & 4 were bonuses made for the Shining Force CD as a continuation.

This seems like just a different wording to me.

[Rusty]

It's not. You said 3 was designed as a different game, referring to Book 3, which is false. There was a Gaiden 3, but it's not related to Book 3 of SFCD.

[wdj40]

Correction: Books 1 & 2 were made and released as seperate games (i.e. Shining Force Gaiden and Sword of Hajya). Books 3 & 4 were bonuses made for the Shining Force CD as a continuation.

Be careful with getting Final Conflict confused with the other Gaidens - aside from the name, it's pretty much a completely seperate game.

Ok now I`m confused... what format are the Gaiden and Hajya games on???

So on SFCD there are 3 games in 1 kind of??

[alex_man]

gaiden and hajya are the book 1 and 2 of shining force cd with better graphics and sfcd has book 3, 6 more battle and one extra the museum were you fight with all the bosses of the previous books

[Alpha]

Ok now I`m confused... what format are the Gaiden and Hajya games on???

So on SFCD there are 3 games in 1 kind of??

Originally, Shining Force Gaiden and Shining Force Gaiden 2 (aka Sword of Hayja) were released on the Game Gear. SFG: 1 was only released in Japanese however, whereas SFG: 2 was released in Japanese and English.

SFCD was then released, incorperating both games, now referred to as Book 1/Towards the Root of Evil and Book 2/The Evil God Awakes. They gave them better graphics and better music. They also added in a 3rd book (A New Challenge), which was 6 battles and a bonus 4th book (the Museum Battle), arguably the hardest battle in any Shining Force game.

[Cullsoft]

Originally, Shining Force Gaiden and Shining Force Gaiden 2 (aka Sword of Hayja) were released on the Game Gear. SFG: 1 was only released in Japanese however, whereas SFG: 2 was released in Japanese and English.

SFCD was then released, incorperating both games, now referred to as Book 1/Towards the Root of Evil and Book 2/The Evil God Awakes. They gave them better graphics and better music. They also added in a 3rd book (A New Challenge), which was 6 battles and a bonus 4th book (the Museum Battle), arguably the hardest battle in any Shining Force game.

Yep. And then a while after that, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict was released, which had nothing to do with the previous two Gaidens or Shining Force CD (except for being a "what happened after Shining Force 1" story and also made for the Game Gear).

[wdj40]

Ok cool.... a game gear is one format I never owned so possibly why I have never played the gaiden games!!


So good good there seems to be quite a lot involved on SFCD.... I`m tempted to start to play it now instead of scen 2 of SF3... hmmm decisions decisions

[Alpha]

Why not just play both.

[wdj40]

Why not just play both.

Ha ha... I cant... I have to play a game until it is done... I dont like to have 2 going at the same time...

Plus I only get a couple of hours in the evening when my Mrs goes to bed and my son is asleep to play one of the games

[Merdor]

Book 3 is a joke, really, but it's still fun.

It is joke because?

[Alpha]

If you can't see why from playing it, then there'd be no point explaining it to you.

Unless of course you haven't played it.

[Merdor]

I have played and finished it but i can`t remember anything what would make it a joke, of course it was lighter in "atmosphere" than first two books but other than that?