Shining Tears

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Shining Tears
Developer(s) Nextech / Amusement Vision
Publisher(s) Sega
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date JP November 3, 2004
NA March 22, 2005
Genre(s) Action role-playing game
Mode(s) Single player/two player
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
Media 1 DVD-ROM
Input methods DualShock controller

Shining Tears (シャイニング・ティアーズ Shainingu Tiāzu?) is an action role-playing game co-developed by Nextech and Amusement Vision and published by Sega in 2004 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console as a part of the Shining Force video game series. It tells the story of a mysterious boy named Xion. An anime adaptation for the game was announced by Sega, entitled Shining Tears X Wind. It is produced by Studio Deen and began airing in early April 2007.

Contents

[edit] Characters

The game's characters were designed by the Japanese hentai artist Tony Taka.

[edit] Xion

Xion is an amnesiac boy who carries the Twin Dragon Rings. Legend say that the rings were once wielded by two invincible knights, granting them immense power. However, one of the knights became greedy and killed his friend to claim the other ring, and upon wearing it the absolute power turned him into dust. It is unknown how Xion got the ring, but it's presumed that he received it from his parents, Maxima and Zenovia. In the beginning of the game, Xion was washed up on a shore near the inn Heroes Hearth. He was found by the elven girl Elwyn and was introduced to Doctor Pios, who nursed him back to health. Xion would later get involved into a series of battles that may just start as a war to defend the nation Shildia from an aggressor into fighting a threat against humanity: the Beast God Behemoth.

It should be noted that Xion has three personalities within him: A somewhat insecure, good hearted young boy (when his friends are not wearing the other Twin Dragon Ring), a serene, noble hero (when the other bearer of the Ring has a dark soul), and a battle-crazy, somewhat berserk, insult-flinging fighter (when the other bearer of the Ring has a light soul). However, sometimes Xion managed to show some of his kind side when in the third form.

In the Japanese version his voice actor is Sōichirō Hoshi, who also performed the theme song for the game.

[edit] Lazarus

Lazarus is the Dragonian guardian of the priestess Ryuna. As is the rule, Dragonians are raised from the day they hatch to protect the current priestess of the Etwarl Temple, the house of worship for the Dragon God. His sole mission in life is to protect her at all costs. The temple where Ryuna currently serves the Dragon God was attacked and she had brought Xion to help. Together with Xion, Lazarus recovered what had been stolen during the attack, a necklace that belonged to Ryuna (Lazarus claimed its value was priceless). Afterward, he and Ryuna joined Weisritter, lending their power to the cause to fight Runegeist. Lazarus' enormous strength and defense are his most noteworthy traits, as well as his protective nature that extends to all his allies. Lazarus is slightly jealous of Xion, thinking Ryuna is showing affection for him when she is really expressing her gratitude.

At one point in the game, Lazarus sacrifices his life to protect the party from a devastating magic attack. The player has the option to journey with Ryuna to the Tower of Heaven to revive him, though only if the player has developed enough of a friendship with her. This pertains to the daring rescue Lazarus makes later on, though Ryuna explains this following that event. Upon his revival, Lazarus' soul changes from Light to Dark and this alters the qualities of some of his moves.

Lazarus' seiyuu is Daisuke Gori.

[edit] Neige

Often referred to as the Ice Witch due to her specialization in ice magic, Neige was first identified as a member of Volg's Weissritter group. She's cold, sarcastic and antisocial (and a bit stuck up, as Elwyn referred for the first time), but at the same time intelligent. She first doubted Xion's potential, but changed her mind once she's forced fought alongside Xion and accepted to work with him. As time passed, her cold personality faded and she's revealed to be an actually nice and honorable girl. It is later revealed that her full name was Ira Blanc Neige Gardenias, crown princess of Runevale Kingdom (one of the opposing force of the game). She was targeted for a murder by her younger brother Galahad, but was rescued by Cupido and taken to Shildia where she joined Weissritter, where the overconfident old members of the team made her develop her cold, untrusting personality. The subsequent battle against Runegeist (the new name of Runevale) led her to kill Galahad, much to her dismay.

Her Japanese voice actress is Megumi Hayashibara.

[edit] Story

In the beginning of the story, an elven girl named Elwyn finds Xion washed up on the shore of a river. She checks if he's still alive and as she looks, a ring fell by the water. As Elwyn tried to take it, Xion was on the verge of death so she took him quickly to the village doctor, Pios. When Xion wakes up, he finds himself in The Heroes' Hearth, the tavern of the town Heroes' Way.

He is then confronted by Pios and Elwyn, questioning him on what happened. He says he cannot remember and only vaguely remembers his name. The two introduce themselves to him and he finds both his hands have two strange rings. They would not come off his hands as Pios tries to investigate the rings. The two then explain that the rings could possibly be the Twin Dragon Rings, the legendary rings of power. Discarding the thought, Pios investigates more on the rings as Xion falls asleep.

[edit] Ending

A feature of this game is that there is a unique ending involving each of the eight characters that Xion can team up with, making up a total of eight endings. The ending is determined by the character that Xion has developed the highest relationship with.

[edit] Advanced Mode

After beating the game the first time and saving the completion data, the player has the option to switch difficulty modes between Normal and Advanced when loading a file from the save screen (either from their first playthrough or subsequent playthroughs); thusly a player can level up greatly during Advanced Mode at one location and then switch back to Normal Mode to handle the next area they had trouble with. Advanced Mode offers more of a challenge as enemies have increased their original stats by roughly 30 levels. Additionally, the skill levels of the characters can now reach 20 instead of 10, adding more incentive to train.

[edit] Tower of Heaven

The Tower of Heaven is an optional 60-floor dungeon that can be attempted after a certain point in the main story. The incentive to climbing all 60 floors and defeating the tower's boss earns the player the Medal of the Heavens, an accessory that can be worn by any party member. When the character kills an enemy while equipping it, the likelihood of getting an opponent's Enemy Card is greatly increased.

[edit] Music

Opening Theme
  • "Shining Tears"
    Lyrics by: Natsuko Kondo
    Composition and arrangement by: Gou Takahashi
    Song by: Souichiro Hoshi
Ending Theme
  • "The Light's Silhouette" (光のシルエット Hikari no Shiruetto?)
    Lyrics by: Yurie Kokubu
    Composition and arrangement by: Masaki Iwamoto
    Song by: Souichiro Hoshi

These theme songs were also used in the anime version, Shining Tears X Wind.

[edit] External links

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Shining series
Dungeon crawlers
Strategy games
Action RPGs
Anime