Sega Role Playing celebrates Shining Force III’s 10th anniversary
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Retro. Tagged with Saturn, Shining Force III.
A relatively new, (but quite cool) Sega fansite, which focuses on some of the great Sega RPG games (cunningly named) SegaRolePlaying, is in the process of celebrating the 10th anniversary of Shining Force III.
Shining Force III is known by many Sega Nerds as being one of the greatest SRPGs of all time. It is also well known because Sega/Camelot made the game into three parts, but only Scenario 1 ever made it to western shores, meaning that only the lucky Japanese gamers got the full game.Its not impossible to get hold of Scenario 2 and 3 - but the games are certainly less fun to play, unless you know how to read Japanese. Plus they are pretty expensive to buy most of the time. Therefore it is also one game which many western Sega gamers have been dying to see Sega re-release in the English language, above many.
Anyway SegaRolePlaying (or SRP), has been doing (almost) daily updates on the game. Bringing you videos, images, impressions, and a new review, soon to come.
I’m sure some of you probably know enough about the game as it is, but it’s always great to see a site putting the effort in just for other fans. I’d say to definitely check out the site over the weekend, and see what other Shining Force III coverage they have. They have been doing some fine work so far.
On a personal Shining Force-related note; Sometimes I don’t know what is more annoying - that Sega is practically refusing to finish off the Shenmue story, or that I own all the scenarios for Shining Force III, but don’t have a clue what is going on in two of them, making them almost unplayable (for me). So near… yet so very far.
So check out SRP, for the rest of their Shining Force III anniversary coverage.
[Source: SegaRolePlaying]
[Image from SegaRolePlaying]
[Special Thanks: Ema, via Email]
Comments on this article
There have been 13 responses to this article.
Crafty Japanese and their written language.
Gamerschoice
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm.
Here is another potential for petition worthy material.
Screw making a new shining game,its not the same with out Camelot . What made Shining was not a turnbase system that predates Shining Force, Furthermore, for those of you who say it was the story, it wasn’t. The story was generic and had nothing new to bring to the table. It was the world that Camelot’s designers created for this old turnbase template. What made Shining was the music and art direction dressed over a simple formula that made it all read well.
I think we can muster a compilation SF from Sega and the translation would not be hard to do, plus, they can clean up the graphics, like they did with Nights on the PS2.
Imagine a revameped Shining in the Darkness or Shining the Holy ARK. both look amazing for there respective time and platform. Imagine that Camelot world brought back with high-end models and resolution and the SPIRIT of the art and the music that set this series apart from the rest.
BitMaster
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm.
I wish Sega would release a Shining Force 3 Collection on all next gen consoles. Personally, I hate the new/post Shining Force (NEO)games. Come on, Sega port Nights to the PS2.
Paul A. Vincent
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm.
funny that you written about shining force 3
because i recently just imported it. its awesome
even though i dont have a clue about the story.
i think sega should give us the three in english
too because i still feel vey left out on the story.
i feel sega has a moneypit here in the US. I
also feel terrible back when i played so many
saturn games over ps1 and i couldnt get my
hands on a US panzer dragoon saga up until
now for $250. i had to work overtime just to get it lol!!!!
i didnt know a game that could have so much of an affect on a player !!!! now imagine a remake using an enhanced orta engine on ps3 , wii and 360 i think that
could easily compete with anything that square enix could offer
dredragoon
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm.
OMG! Sakura Taisen IS NOT RPG!!!
IT IS NOT!! #_ _)
T+
Storm!
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm.
Sakura Taisen is a lot of things and it might not necessarily be a full RPG, but it totally belongs with the other games on SRP.
Yusaku
Posted August 23rd, 2008 at 5:13 am.
Oh… I got tears in my eyes… Bookmarked anyway, it’s always good to see a SEGA site.
About the other two scenarios in japanese… You people know there’s a really (and I mean REALLY) good translation of the full script of the net (even including the bonus disc), right?
ReD_Menace
Posted August 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 am.
I’ve played Shenmue II, Sakura Taisen 3, and others with my conversational-level Japanese, so maybe I will have to import the other scenarios. It’s not like the story is THAT exciting anyway.
I do agree with many fans that the third game needs a complete release in English. I don’t care for what platform (PSP seems like a great fit to me, or even the DS), but it needs to be done. Even if they only release it in limited quantity and it being a direct port.
Yusaku
Posted August 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 am.
OMG! I love this game so much.If they released the other senerios in the US i would lock my self in my house.
Keenan
Posted August 23rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm.
Thanks for letting me know about that website! Always nice to see some love to this not-well known series, unfortunately :/ However, you should add that there is indeed a full english translation, regarding Scenario 2 and the Premium Disk ;)
If I recall correctly, Scenario 2 only has some bugs and lines to be fixed ;)
EagleEye
Posted August 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pm.
Hey all. Just to let you know, there has been a small team over at shiningforcecentral.com that have been translating scenario 2 and 3 as well as the premium disc for a couple of years now. Sc 2 is very very near completion. Its totally playable in english! The premium disc is finished completely. Sc 3 is in the works. If you download their patching software and have the japanese game disk you can patch into .iso files and play on an emulator. Or burn a cd to play on a modded saturn. Or use the “swap trick” to get your saturn to play the burned game. The translations are so well done you would swear they were legitimate western releases. Check out the forums at shiningforcecentral for progress reports and the necessary software. Be sure to thank them for their hard work too!
thelken
Posted August 26th, 2008 at 10:41 am.
Cheers thelkin, I’ll definitely check it out. :)
Graham
Posted August 27th, 2008 at 2:34 am.
Indeed, very well worth checking out. We had an interview with Jason Kuo as well and he said it’s been brought up that a full Shining Force III release was being considered, but it hadn’t gone into planning stages.
Yusaku
Posted August 29th, 2008 at 6:10 am.