Shining Force is a great RPG-Strategy with some forgivable flaws.
-While some may find the story simple, i can say(not spoiling anything) its pretty engaging and has charming characters.
-Shining Force its basically a RPG-Strategy or Turn Based Strategy game. You have plenty of characters to recruit and 12 to use in large battlefields against all kind of enemies you find. Your characters have classes(healer, mage, knight, etc.) and when they reach level 10 they can be promoted to a stronger class. Be careful, if Max(the protagonist) is defeated in battle its game over for you. The game also offers some exploration, because you can visit towns, talk to people, and buy equipment. As you can see, gameplay gives some choices, and battles are always so fun.
-Graphics are great, they are very colorful and character animations are very nice when they are fighting with enemies;The music and sound never get annoying and its very good to hear, i always remember some great tunes.
The Bad:
-The AI leaves a bit to be desire, there are some battles where you will find that the enemy forces are predictable and defeating them is not a challenge.
-The game needs more balance, some characters are overpowered while others are extremely weak no matter how you train them.
I MUST SAY THAT SHINING FORCE WAS ONE OF MY FIRST RPGs, AND I STILL ENJOY IT SO MUCH, BECAUSE IT HAS ENGAGING GAMEPLAY, STORY AND CHARACTERS.