Apparently people like this one even more so than the first, and again, that's fine if they do, but not me. This one is even worse in my eyes.
After giving the first game a rest after it ticked me off to no end, I thought I'd try the second one just to see if it was any better. But as I wrote above, it's even worse! Oh sure, it improved SOME of the broken RPG mechanics, but wouldn't you know it? The ones they didn't fix are even more infuriating.
Need an example? The fact it handicaps you even more so AT THE START OF THE FREAKIN GAME! In the first game, you got up to six characters at the start and even a seventh if you take a small detour when dealing with your first battle. This one?! Pfft... let's only give you three and make the very first battle tense by making it so you could die easily.
Wow... these programmers didn't learn anything, did they? Nope. In the second, you deal with some enemies that can get two turns in a row and rape your ass before you even get a chance to heal or retreat.
I have no words. Just when I thought they MIGHT cut the player a break and MAYBE make it a little easier on you at the start, they decide to have this terrible RPG rear its ugly head and have enemies squash you like a bug from the get go.
I'll never understand how anyone can like Shining Force. As I mentioned in my review of the first one, this game is massively unbalanced and ridiculously frustrating. And while some of those problems were fixed, they still didn't fix the worst offender all: GIVING YOUR MAIN CHARACTER A FREAKIN CHANCE TO SURVIVE WHEN GANGED UPON!
Seriously, did no one complain about how brutally difficult it can be when the A.I decides to rape you from all sides? Maybe they did and the programmers didn't care.
Whatever... I'm not going there again. I know this game was back in 1994 when games were alot harder than today, but like I said, it's not a fair challenge. It's a challenge than would mostly appeal to masochists.
Which is why I rated this game a 1 out of 10, because it's the same crap all over again. They didn't improve on this game like they should have. It's just a "more polished" sequel. Emphasis heavy on POLISHED.
You're all free to like this game all you want, but as I said, I hate Shining Force and everything it stands for. It's not a good RPG game and it never will be in my eyes. I'd sooner play the worst of the Final Fantasy games than any of these. That's how much I despise this RPG series.
Shining Force, burn in hell.