Customer Reviews

Shining Force Neo

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This game is NOT a strategy RPG like the other beloved Shining Force games. It is more like the GBA Shining Soul games, and plays in the style of old games like Diablo and Gauntlet.
You take your character and two NPCs on a jaunt from goal to goal bashing giant hordes of enemies and taking their loot.
Part of the fun of the game is collecting all the dropped goodies and taking them to town to identify and sell. Some of the random items are average, and randomly some will have awesome additional powers.
There is a TON of customization in this game with a real large amount of weapon types in four major catagories each potentially coming with a combination of Force powers that add needed effects to weapons. Expect to be swapping weapons a lot in battle!
The character customization also comes of Force powers, in the form of a shop that will use enemy dropped Force money to raise stats in a really large variety of catagories and levels.
Strategy is key in these areas, depending on your personal style of gameplay.

The story is only average, not bad but sometime very sparce. The voice acting is TERRIBLE, but fortunately skippable, with the exception of severely repetitive battle voices that will just phase into background noise after a while.

The game gets HARD. Don't expect an easy run through. It is designed to have you return to town to save, heal, and go through your powers and inventory FREQUENTLY. Within the first few hours of the game if you do not raise up your defence Force, you will not make it.

I am having a GREAT time with this game. When my boyfriend isn't stealing it from me to play it ;-)
But, it is NOT for anyone looking for a strategy RPG, or who isn't into those old hack and bash games... or will be bothered by the inventory and Force management. For me, those were the high points for the game, and I find this a great break from some of the menu heavy, lower action RPGs I've played recently.

Of course you all know that this Shining Force is not like any of the other Shining Force games. I think Sega did a good job though.
The positives are the storyline, cut scenes, action, and development. The storyline is interesting and detailed. I do not want to ruin anything but it kept my interest. There are several types of cutscenes during the game. One is just a basic conversation with two windows, then there is more like an ingame cutscene where they simply show something happening without changing the environment and finally for the very important parts of the story there are beautiful anime style cutscenes.
As far as the action and character development goes I was very impressed. If you have ever played Record of Lodoss War for the Dreamcast then you will recognize the enhancement system. The fighting follows somewhat of a Gauntlet style system where the monsters emerge from a gate and you keep killing them until you can kill the gate. However, there is a predetermined number of monsters you have to kill before the gate loses its shield and you can defeat the gate. Enemies may still come out but at a much slower rate. Finally I was impressed by the weapons system. As the main character, you can choose which weapon you want to fight with and you can change anytime without penalties. So if you are using a sword and want to try magic, simply switch to a wand and fire away. The only downside to this is deciding which abilities to enhance (i.e. more attack damage or more fire/ice etc. damage).
As far as negatives go I was only really disappointed by the voice acting. The actors seem like they try but they had a bad director. For example, there are a few parts where you think a character is going to have a big, hearty laugh but you get this little chuckle.
So anyways, if you are a fan of hack 'n' slash and you enjoyed Gauntlet, Record of Lodoss War, and the like then this is a decent game to kill some time. I would suggest you rent or borrow it though because after you beat it there is not much incentive to go back and play it again.

First I just wanted to point out that any negative reviews for this game are from old Shinning force fans that can not accept change. Old shinning force games were tactical RPGS think Final Fantasy Tactics. So they cry and cry and don't like the game because its different. I beg of you to say negative reviews for this game were not useful to you

This is a wonderful ACTION RPG with great customization for your main charter. You can lead him down the path of a invincible warrior or a mage. This game plays a lot like DIABLO 2 it has that same hack slash feel with a good story to boot.

This games landscape is beautiful reminds me of secret of mana with a overhaul also has that cute feel at time.. The also has some sadistic moments when you go to the prison and all of the prisoners have been turned into undead bio mechs

I highly suggest this game for any Action RPG Anime Diablo Lover

I bought this game based on the review from the 1up website witch gave it 9/10. (Sega also mentioned the review of this game on their website) The game has a Diablo style slash'm theme going for it where you fight hordes of monsters. However, the game goes backwards not forwards from Diablo. For instance, if you fight as a Warrior/Fighter (basically you equip a sword not a wand) you generally do not cast spells. Therefore, you just slash your way though monsters. Forget about blocking, that's automatic. Therefore, the game play can get rather boring of just slash and go back to town. So far I have completed about 15 hours, but there is only one city which you can buy keys. Weapons also? Not so, you find all the weapons on the ground, which makes you spend large amounts of time going through and pawning items.

Finally, with all these fighting you think you would get some good cutscences. Not so. Most of the game story is told by two characters faces and words being shown on the screen. Voice acting is present although the actor's voices don't seem to match the characters personality. Don't worry sound effects occasionally occur, attempting you to get into a scene that is displayed with words. For a game, which makes a significant deal about the Japanese animation, the lack of animated cutscenes is pathetic. Shining Force Neo not a terrible game but I really can't think of any reason to buy this game and not another. In the end, this game offers nothing new and seems like something that was just run through. I really don't know what 1up was thinking with this review but they must have at least made a few bucks out of it.

This game is great if you enjoy hack and slash adventure games. It has some RPG elements in it as well, but the main point is just to kill tons of enemies over and over. It may get a little repetitious for some people, but I really enjoyed it. The story is OK, but the voice acting is not. You can skip/turn those off though.

For anyone with a background in roguelikes (Nethack, ADOM, Angband), this game is an entertaining dungeon hack. The voice acting and plot are terrible. However, character advancement, swarms of enemies, and a large selection of weapons make up for the characters' inane babbling.

Difficulty increases in parts of the game, requiring a change in strategy. You are encouraged to change your tactics and equipment to match the enemies that you are facing. After finishing the bonus dungeon twice (level 198, doing millions of points of damage), there are still very dangerous enemies around.

If you're looking for 20--80 hours (depending on your commitment) of dungeon-hack/Gauntlet-style gameplay with pleasant RPG elements, this is for you.

First and foremost - I'd like to state I've played the entire game from beginning to end. Having said that, it's unfair for reviewers to label Shining Force Neo garbage without giving it a chance. Just like you (the angry fan) I had the same preliminary reaction after my discovery of a "hack-n-slash" button smasher. I didn't do my homework, and for once it was rewarding! In the end, I came to love many aspects of the game, despite the fact it's not your typical Shining Force adventure.

About the game: the weapon system is grand. The bosses are difficult and challenging. The game is no cakewalk. You'll spend a good 40+ hours getting through the entire journey if you play through everything (no shortcuts). The cut-scenes are amazing and worthy of your purchase if nothing else. There's major dialogue, but this plays into the superb storyline. This is different from your run-of-the-mill SF turn-based RPG, but in some ways it's a welcomed change. Classic? No. A damn good game? Yes.

I'd purchase a sequel if the Neo franchise expanded, no question.

Shining Force Neo, as everyone else has said, is a large departure from preceding Shining Force titles. I've noticed that a lot of older fans of the 'Shining' franchise were rather disenchanted because of this, so first and foremost, if you're looking for a throwback to the tactical RPG's you cherished in the past, this game is already probably not for you.

Although, as a longtime Shining Force fan myself, I did feel like the style and atmosphere of the game matched up well enough with what I've come to associate with 'Shining' titles. But still, playing the game with nostalgia on the brain isn't highly recommended.

However, if you're a fan of JRPG's and games like Diablo and Titan Quest, Shining Force Neo is a very fun, straightforward action RPG. It can be legitimately difficult, but it is also rewarding; the battle system is simplistic, but smoothly designed; and to top it off, it's got decent graphics, nicely designed character/monster models, and the animated cut-scenes and in-game music are all nicely done.

And ultimately, the combat and dungeon crawling really are the meat and marrow of this game. The story and characterization are extremely vapid, but I found it to be mostly enjoyably cliched, and a fun little framework to move the game along.

Some downsides:

* As I said, combat and dungeon crawling are the mainstay of this game; however, the later dungeons can become immensely tedious. It just feels like poor pacing, and perhaps a little laziness--in my opinion, it just helps to kill replayability.
* The cutscenes seem to have no subtitle options, and the voice acting is pretty bad for the most part. For me, it was an amusing "bad dub" moment, but it can grate. You can, however, turn the voices off from the main dialogue.
* Character Power Ups/Class Promotion for the party members are optional and completely missable, and there is no in-game cue to let you know they exist for anyone other than Max, unless you stumble across them. They aren't vital to finish the game, but they make things much, much easier and makes the later dungeons infinitely more pleasant.

So, all in all, not an amazing game, but an average game that can be quite a lot of fun! It especially clicked with me because I grew up both on Shining Force I & II, and have been in love with the Diablo franchise since forever. So, I found it to be a perfect mix of elements.

However, a word of warning: If you've played Shining Force EXA but not Neo, this EXA's predecessor. Virtually all of the maps, monsters, and everything else were "borrowed" from SF:Neo, retooled, spruced up a bit, and switched around a little--EXA even has quite a bit of music from Neo. I actually think the two games provide fairly different gaming experiences, but if you have one, I wouldn't recommend paying retail price for the other.

it's a good action rpg. it starts out with alot of talking in the first hour or two, then the action part picks up. and you only have to upgrade Max's wapones and abilies, which i think is great.

It should be noted that Shining Force Neo is not an RPG, but a real time action adventure game. There is a lot of timing and button mashing to defeat hordes of monsters over and over again. There are countless long, boring cutscene style dialogs between the characters, and a less than interesting storyline. On the plus side, the music is not bad and the graphics are acceptable. There are also special abilities thrown into the combat which make it a little more fun than if it were a pure beat 'em up such as Dynasty Warriors. However, the item system is very convoluted and frustrating to understand; it is not intuitive. If you prefer real time action adventure type games to RPG and turn based strategy games, you might want to give this game a go, otherwise I would have to recommend avoiding this one unless someone is letting you borrow it for free.