| Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sonic! Software Planning |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Composer(s) | Motoaki Takenouchi |
| Platform(s) | Sega Genesis/Mega Drive |
| Release date(s) | Sega Mega Drive
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| Genre(s) | Tactical role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | 24 megabit cartridge |
Shining Force II (シャイニング・フォースII 古えの封印 Shainingu Fōsu Tsū: Inishie no Fūin, lit. "Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal")[3], is a tactical role-playing game for the Mega Drive/Genesis console developed by Sonic! Software Planning in 1994. The storyline is not directly connected to the original Shining Force, although a Game Gear title Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict links the two games' plots.
The game is much longer than the first, and more free-roaming. There is no chapter system, so the player can return to previously visited parts of the world. There are also two different ways of promoting many characters.
This game was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Europe on October 3, 2008 and in North America on October 6, 2008.[4] The game also appears in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.[5]
Contents |
Shining Force II is a tactical role-playing game. The player assumes the role of the Shining Force leader, Bowie. When not in combat, the player can explore towns and other locales, talk with people, and set the members and equipment of the army. Some towns have a headquarters where the player can inspect and talk with his allies. While roaming through town or moving throughout the world, one can find both visible and hidden treasures and interact with certain objects.
Each ally unit is represented by a character with a background and personality. Some of these characters are hidden, requiring specific events to occur before they will join the force. Each ally unit also has a class, which defines the abilities for that unit. These abilities range from what type of weapons they can use to what kind of spells they can learn. Units can become stronger by fighting enemies and performing various actions which gives them experience points (EXP), which allow them to gain levels. Once a unit reaches level 20, that character has the ability to advance to more powerful class through promotion. Some characters have two different classes they may be promoted to, one of which is only accessible using a special hidden item.
Battles take place on a square grid, and each unit occupies a single square. Battle is turn-based. Each turn, a character can move and perform one action: either attack, cast a spell, or use an item. Some commands, such as equipping or dropping an item during the turn, do not count as actions.
The battle is won if all enemies are defeated, or if the enemy commander is defeated. If Bowie is defeated in combat or withdraws, the battle is lost and the player is returned to the nearest town, where he can recover his allies and fight the same battle again.
Shining Force II opens with a dark and stormy night. King Granseal and his minister attend to the Tower of the Ancients, under which is magically sealed a sleeping evil known as Zeon the Devil King. They observe the storm's coming at an unusual time of year, insinuating ominousness. Meanwhile in a shrine south of Granseal Castle, a thief named Slade unwittingly breaks the magic seal's power by stealing two jewels (of Light and Darkness), which eventually looses Zeon. At the Castle, with what appears and sounds like a tremendous bolt of lightning, a sealed door in the Tower of the Ancients is opened. The Minister of the King becomes alarmed.
Strange and ominous events ensue: first, King Granseal is attacked by the Greater Devil Geshp (a recurrent antagonist throughout the game). The town of Granseal awakes the next morning to a sick King and an open Tower door. Sir Astral and the game's leader, Bowie, along with classmates Sarah (a priest/healer) and Chester (a centaur knight), investigate these events in the castle, starting with the opened tower door.
Greeting their arrival in the tower are devils named "Gizmos" springing forth to attack; their intentions yet-unknown. Upon defeat, the Gizmo that appears to be the leader flees to possess King Granseal. Sir Astral and Bowie and the developing Shining Force fly to the king, finding him possessed. Sir Astral exorcises the demon, which promptly flees.
The Minister, in place of King Granseal whom is looking over a fainted Astral, then orders the slaying of the Gizmo by a platoon of Granseal-soldiers.
When the true danger of the opened door is realized, Bowie and friends have to fight against the invading armies of Zeon to find the Holy Sword and the stolen jewels so they may once again reseal the Devil King in Arc Valley.
Shining Force II takes place somewhere in the area of 40–70 years after Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, and is set in the same lands of Parmecia and Grans. The story focuses on the bid for freedom of Zeon, the devil who helped defeat Darksol in Final Conflict, and it is explained how Zeon's rivalry with Darksol began.[6] Zeon's chief follower Oddeye also plays a major role, and meets his final fate.[7]
The nation of Granseal, founded at the conclusion of Final Conflict, is flourishing. Hawel is still living in the town he pledged to establish in Final Conflict, and has sired several children, one of whom joins the Shining Force II party. He also passes on information concerning the Devil Kings that he learned in Final Conflict, and a student of his joins the party. The gods Volcanon and Mitula again play a hand in matters. Artifacts from Final Conflict such as the Caravan and Nazca Ship make return appearances, and several monsters, most notably the Kraken, still terrorize the lands.[7]
Additionally, the game Shining Wisdom is a sequel of sorts to Shining Force II. Shining Force II tells how Sarah and Kazin ("Salah" and "Parn" in the Working Designs translation) became traveling companions, and recounts the full story of the Parmecia War referred to several times in Shining Wisdom.[7]
The most notable translation error is that the three Devil Kings are named as "Dark Sol, Dark Dragon, and Zeon". Fan translators have since uncovered (and Shining Force II co-director/programmer Yasuhiro Taguchi has confirmed) that the Devil Kings are in fact Darksol, Lucifer, and Zeon.[6] The official translation's assigning Dark Sol and Dark Dragon the relatively detailed history of the Devil Kings not only alters Shining Force II, but effectively rewrites the entire premises of Shining in the Darkness and Shining Force I, the games in which they are the foremost villains. For similar reasons, the entire plot of Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict is rendered nonsensical, since it is based around Darksol's role as a Devil King and shows "Dark Sol" (actually "Mephisto" in the original script, and an entirely different character from Darksol) being born less than a century before Shining Force II.[8]
This mistranslation also creates at least two major contradictions between the English versions of Shining Force I and II:
Despite being the sixth game in the successful Shining series, Sega allotted the same budget for Shining Force II as it had for the first game in the series, Shining in the Darkness. Additionally, producer/co-programmer Hiroyuki Takahasi remarked in a 2009 interview that "We were in a really precarious position at that point, because we knew that if we couldn't produce another hit we would have no future." As a result, most of the Shining series development team dropped out and had to be replaced with new staff for the production of Shining Force II.[10]
Hiroyuki Takahashi summarized the development of the game with "Shining Force II was an experimental title where we improved the story and enhanced the game's 'RPG-ness'."[10]
Shining Force II has continued to remain a popular title through emulation and frequent discussions on gaming sites such as GameFAQs and ShiningForceCentral.Com. IGN named it one of the top 100 video games of all time.[11]
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