And Vandal Hearts is very fun, I just wish it moved faster in battle

1st Strategy RPG in America?

I believe you overlooked Warsong, also known as Langrisser overseas, which was released nearly a year before Shining Force.

You should check it out. It's a fine game.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/data/6890.html

I keep hoping that Sega will surprise everyone by releasing the complete Shinning Force III (all 3 parts) on one dvd for one of the current consoles. I wouldn't even care if they didn't update the graphics or anything. I just want to play the complete 3 part game.

What you, of course, mean is a Shining Force Collection of the complete Shining Force I, II, and III for the consoles.

Then they could release a Shining Force Gaiden Collection for Game Boy Advance.

Thank you for correcting me. Of course, that's exactly what I meant.

What's more, just reading at Gameforms

This will come out June/July

Just in time for Sarah's birthday

meaning me

and her

and Shining Force..

of course, I will have it as soon as it comes out in Europe = D

Ah, Shining Force...such an awesome series...

Generally speaking, there is no relation between Shining Force games other than taking place in the same world and containing the same character classes/monsters. However, if you look carefully enough there are a couple of similarities, some obvious, others quite hidden...

In Shining Force II, there is an old man who tells the story of the adventures of Max from the first Shining Force game. He only tells this story once and it's one of those annoying "yes/no" situations so if you opt not to hear his story he doesn't offer to tell it ever again.

Shining Force III and Shining in the Holy Ark had the most brazen commonality - the enemies from SitHA make an appearance in SFIII and appear at the end of the third scenario. If anyone here has played SFIII you'll know the ending is incredible but at the same time massively disappointing because you want to find out what happens next! Also, they shortened it for the US version.

Personally, i didn't like Shining Wisdom. The gameplay reeked and the graphics were subpar. It was a wannabe Zelda that didn't pull it off nearly as well as it could have. Also, the translation job was horrendous, strange for a Working Designs Ultra Series game....

Oh yes, the ending to Shining Force 3, in fact, the entire story, it was incredible.

FFT has a story of political strife

So does Shining Force 3

I honestly think, SF3, though less wordy and more simplified, is a million times more captivating than anything FFT has

And there are some small overtones of a love story in SF3 that are quite cute

The games absolutely connect. The Gaiden series connects Shining Force, Shining Force II, and Shining in the Darkness (and leaves off basically as a direct lead-in to Shining Force II, despite the time gap). Shining Wisdom didn't have a large connection to anything else except for the appearance of Kazin and Sarah (bizarrely named Parn and Salah in the US version, to echo what you said about the translation).

I agree about Shining Wisdom. I couldn't finish it.

And though I haven't played it, I heard Shining Soul reveals that Shining Force III takes place at the same time as Shining Force (there were some weird connections between the two games before that didn't make much sense except in that context).

Maybe it's just that I do like everything "Shining"...

I remember being 13..and getting to the "Nazca lines" battle/story dialog in Shining Force 2

Then reading like five books about Nazca, hoping it was true, and that maybe SF was real

[sighs] memories.

Warsong is a friggin awesome game. Great music too

That Lance makes me soooo mad!!! He keeps coming back!