Shining Force 3 Begins

When Time Grows Short…

1998 would be remembered as one of the most fertile years for revolutionary gaming experiences… but not, at first glance, for western Saturn fans. With SEGA’s release schedule diminishing to a terminal drip-drip of games compared to the healthy, vibrant lines of its competitors, most gamers had good reason to move on from the firm’s 32-bit warhorse. The once-proud gaming giant’s western divisions quietly wound the Saturn market down in the first half of the year, forcing their fans to turn elsewhere for their gaming fix. And yet, for the Saturn’s grand send-off, a group of determined staff at both SEGA of America and SEGA Europe fought for, slaved over, and pushed out a Very Special final batch of localized Saturn games. The situation was grim. The marketing budget had nearly run dry – just enough money for a few print ads and nothing more. Was anyone going to cover these great games? Was anyone going to talk about them; were gamers going to play them? With so much attention on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, expectations were very low as the Saturn faded into the twilight.

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Alexander Pope

Shining Force 3 is one of the last SEGA-published Saturn games to hit Europe and the very last first-party release in North America. A technical tour-de-force, it showed those who played it that the Saturn could still pack a punch to proudly rival Sony and Nintendo’s machines. Those fortunate enough to grab copies at release experienced a storytelling magnum opus, taking them on an adventure unequaled in size and scope. It was a gameplay showpiece that absolutely dripped classic SEGA. Unfortunately, when vying for industry mindshare, Shining Force 3 was out-competed (crushed, really) by rival 1998 productions the likes of Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Spyro the Dragon and indeed, the 128-bit import Sonic Adventure. With a low print run and locked to a system that had just passed into the pages of history, it is not surprising it got lost in the shuffle.

Yet despite this cruel fate, it remains one of the Saturn’s all-around greatest, most complete experiences. Paradoxically, this strategy RPG is also frustratingly incomplete with an ending twisted just enough in translation to avoid the intended cliff-hanger conclusion, if barely so.

In the Darkness, Something Shining

A bit of history is in order. The game was developed by Sonic! Software Planning, today known as Camelot Software Planning, at a time when the small company’s SEGA exclusivity was coming to an end. Originally christened as SEGA CD4 before re-branding as Sonic! Software Planning, the group was a ‘second party’ software house that was autonomous but funded by – and locked to developing exclusively for – the Japanese gaming giant, akin to Nintendo and Rare’s 1990s relationship.

Shining Force 3 was the studio’s tenth title in the Shining franchise. As a result of Camelot and SEGA’s initial business relationship, SEGA owned the rights to the Shining series despite Camelot having created and produced absolutely every aspect of the games.

On the Saturn, the studio first optimized their in-progress MegaDrive project Shining Wisdom for exclusive Saturn release in the summer of 1995 (summer 1996 in the West), followed by a ground-up Saturn project in the form of Shining the Holy Ark in late 1996 (mid-1997 in the West). As the software house gained more familiarity with Saturn development, they felt sufficiently ready to attempt the next installment of the Force series, and ultimately released the first scenario of Shining Force 3 in December 1997 (mid-1998 in English).

As SEGA’s 32-bit machine picked up steam in Japan, the company became more difficult for Sonic! Software Planning to work with… sensing greener pastures elsewhere, the small studio dropped ‘Sonic!’ from their name, and, newly-minted as ‘Camelot Software Planning’ began to develop for Nintendo platforms.

The company’s Shining produce had always taken on several form-factors. In one corner were the first-person dungeon crawlers Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark, somewhere in the middle lay the action RPG Shining Wisdom, and bearing the series flag were the multi-character strategy RPG Shining Force games. The original Shining Force, a 1992 MegaDrive / Genesis game, was met with critical acclaim for its’ engrossing gameplay. The 1993 sequel Shining Force 2 remains one of the most highly rated and sought-after MegaDrive / Genesis titles, not seeing nearly the amount of modern platform retro re-release availability as the first game. It is somewhat surprising, then, that Sonic! Software Planning waited as long as they did to produce the third installment in the series.

When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.

Vietnamese Proverb

Despite the delay, the game eventually materialized, and what a game it was. The player takes the role of Synbios, the son of a well-respected general and one of the founders of the Republic of Aspinia – a breakaway state that gained independence from the aristocratic Destonian Empire some 20 years prior. The relative poverty of Aspinia and the recent poor harvest has famished the populace, and the Empire has taken advantage of the situation by entering the disputed land of Barrand. The heads of state from both Aspinia and Destonia have been summoned to a peace conference being held in the neutral floating city of Saraband. Their aim is to resolve the situation in Barrand– an important strategic territory and sole path towards the Holy Land of Elbesem. Representatives from both nations and their military detachments are stationed in the tiny city and tensions run high… until quite suddenly, Aspinia’s King Benetram (Synbios’ monarch!) takes Destonia’s Emperor Domaric hostage and flees the city. Synbios swiftly learns that the kidnapping was staged and that the true King Benetram wasn’t involved, but the impostor’s gambit was the spark on the tinder supporting a fragile peace, and tensions explode. Now, Republic and Empire mobilize for war.

If this opening seems complex, it is because the game’s story arc is surprisingly well developed. What was just described occurs in the opening hour of the adventure and sets up the game’s first battles. Many storyline threads run through the game; some optional, some only briefly coming into focus before fading away again, and some, dependent on the player’s choices at key moments in the narrative. Undercurrents run in this Scenario that simply beg to be explored further. It is abundantly clear that the story took an immense amount of care to put together. Long time Shining fans will even recognize several ties to previous games, mainly revolving around the continuing story of Julian of Enrich and the terrifying Vandal Galm.

Gameplay is relatively standard turn-based strategy warfare set in a medieval fantasy world, interspersed with narrative-advancing overworld-style town and field sections. Although Synbios is the lead character of this scenario of Shining Force 3 and is the character that players control in the overworld sections, a total of 19 characters can be found and up to 12 can be controlled at a time in battle situations.

The game starts out in exploration mode with Synbios free to move about and explore a good deal of Saraband whilst his King Benetram attends to the peace talks in the floating city. In towns, Synbios will find churches (resurrecting allies, saving games), pubs and NPC homes (find items & gold, and take note of gossip), armories (buy better weapons), apothecaries (herbs and restorative items), and occasionally, smithies (forge powerful equipment). Conversations with NPC characters are really well done here – yes, townsfolk occasionally hint and nudge at what needs to be done next, but oftentimes they comment on how the events of the game are affecting their own lives, thus giving perspectives of the everyday (wo)man as (s)he struggles living through war. This is done very subtly and lends a sense of realism to the story. The gamer can’t help but get immersed in the narrative and tie the commoner’s views to the larger story ark unfolding as the game progresses.

Virtually each town contains a church where Synbios and crew can avail themselves of the priest’s services to cure poisoned characters, lift curses from afflicted warriors, resurrect any fallen Force members, or more practically, save their game. Each town also contains a Headquarters where the non-playable advisor of the game, King Benetram (later, Duke Palsis) deposits or withdraws items from inventory, swaps up active characters (the Force has a maximum of 12 fighters per battle) or dispenses strategy for the upcoming battle. In Headquarters, Synbios can also speak with each Force member and hear their perspectives on the company’s fortunes.

Each character can equip a single weapon and accessory and is limited to carrying only four items. This means inventory management can become a factor during gameplay. Overall it isn’t too bad, as characters can use restorative items on both themselves and on their arms mates, but it does play a role in how each character’s turn is used in battle. Accessories typically provide some kind of stat boost with some even conferring a magic spell on the bearer. The same is true for weapons, and near the end of the game, the strongest weapons have some magic abilities as well.

Now bear my Arctic blast!

Speaking of characters… as the adventure begins, the Force consists of Synbios, his centaur knight Danrates, the magician Masqurin, and the healer Grace. More characters join automatically as the story unfolds, though some require the player to take some specific action at the right time else they are lost forever (Irene, Ratchet) and others still are completely secret and can be missed altogether (Hagane). The player must be diligent if all 19 characters are to be found, but the game is perfectly playable with a minimal Force. Aside from the additional manpower, these extra characters add yet more layers to the storyline.

Story exposition occurs primarily during the overworld and other non-battle sections. All sections of Shining Force 3 are rotatable 3D terrain and buildings overlain with Force, NPC, and enemy sprites. Three camera zoom settings are available, although the default zoom is certainly best. The view angle can be freely rotated with the L and R triggers. When playing with the 3D Control Pad, the pressure-sensitive analogue thumb stick and L+R triggers will appropriately vary walking / camera rotation speed. Rounding out the sound control scheme is the ability to use the digital d-pad even in analogue mode, as the analogue thumbstick is better for character movement whilst the d-pad makes more sense in navigating menus. Excellent.

Once more unto the breach…

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

Plato

As characters take to the battlefield, the order of movement is determined by each combatant’s Agility stat. The battlefield is sectioned off into a grid, with characters advancing as many squares as their Move stat allows to position themselves for combat. When executing virtually any action – such as attacking an enemy – the perspective switches to a close-up, detailed 3D polygonal view of the fighters. A logical progression of the battle sequences from the Genesis Shining Force games, these sequences are implemented exceptionally well. Not only are the character models themselves colorful and detailed, but load times have been cleverly masked by utilizing the Saturn’s Yamaha sound chip as a pre-loading processor (wow!) to hide actual loading. As a character moves towards their target in battle sequences, the Saturn is busy loading 3D model data into the sound processor whilst VDP 1 and 2 continue to render the sprite characters and 3D battlefield. When the gamer selects their target and takes action (attack, cast spell, etc.), the 3D character models are instantly rendered, and the sequence plays out. Consequently, the game gives the Saturn’s laser track a heck of a workout, but the trade-off is necessary to keep the game moving at a brisk pace whilst rendering any of a dozen characters in quick succession without any perceptible breaks in the action.

Battles themselves are incredibly varied. Starting with the simple task of defeating all foes and taking down the boss, they develop into missions involving protecting escaping refugees, sealing away evil spirits that possess innocent villagers, raiding tombs to prevent thieves from stealing treasures, and even taking on entire armies with but two characters. The battlefields themselves tend to present challenging restrictions to keep the action lively and interesting. For instance, when battling on the train, only a short, narrow path exists to reach the boss – enough for one character to squeeze through at a time. At the switching point, the force must outpace a train to protect refugees from slaughter by border guards. And at the end of the game, Synbios and his Force must engage Prince Arrawnt’s forces with the Colossus wreaking damage from the moat. The battles are truly excellent and make for engrossing gameplay and are deliciously in theme with whatever is going on in the story. Extremely engaging!

The 3D action sequences are swift and even the game’s strongest and most majestic summons don’t take overly long to play out. Those frustrated by contemporary strategy and RPG games’ loooong magic and summon animations can rejoice – Shining Force 3 does an excellent job of presenting splendid and grandiose attacks without descending into exceedingly cinematic, overwhelming animations. The gameplay, therefore, remains fresh and quick and maintains an arcade flavor despite being a strategy RPG. This, in 1998, was a breath of fresh air when compared to the long and drawn-out sequences in big productions such as Final Fantasy 7.

Taking action on the battlefield almost always results in experience points gained. To maintain the game’s arcade-like nature, gaining experience is kept relatively simple. Each 100 points of experience earned results in the character gaining a level and realizing small increases in their stats which compound over time and produce a much more powerful fighter. Synbios, for instance, starts out with 12 HP, but managed correctly, can reach 100 HP by game’s end.

As the Force becomes more capable, the amount of experience gained from striking and defeating enemies decreases, thus balancing the game out and preventing the player from over-powering their Force and breezing through the game. If a Force member defeats a strong enemy, up to 49 experience points are awarded. This means that three turns against a strong opponent will result in a character leveling up. As the character levels up, those experience points drop off until they eventually diminish to 1 point per action taken – effectively preventing over-leveling. For the most part, this balance is exceedingly well maintained – perhaps the only exception are the healers in the game, who gain an even 10 (sometimes more) experience points with every successful heal spell cast – even if that spell only heals 1 HP to a single character.

As members of the Force reach Level 10, a priest can promote them to the next character class. Synbios the Soldier can promote to Synbios the Swordsman, for instance. This promotion confers a huge stat boost on the party member, as well as unlocks their ability to equip the game’s most powerful weapons and learn their third Special Attack – not to mention gaining a new avatar. Promotion is optional and can even be delayed – at the cost of a marked increase in in-game difficulty due to using underpowered, un-promoted characters in later chapters of the adventure. Eventually however, un-promoted characters cease gaining stats when leveling-up past Level 17, and promoting is recommended no later than this point. Thus, there are immediate benefits to promoting each Force member once they reach Level 10, but the payoff for delaying this process is that any stats gained between Levels 10 and 17 become permanent once each character is promoted, ultimately resulting in a much stronger Force.

Aside from their personal experience points, each character also gains weapon experience points. These are not displayed for players to see; the game keeps track of them in the background. Each character can wield weapons from three or four different classes of arms – for instance, Synbios can handle Swords (his default), as well as Blades, Knives, and Rapiers. The weapon each Force member starts out with is typically their best, although there are sometimes advantages to switching. The ninjas Murasame and Hagane both use Katanas as their default weapon class; it can make sense to swap one of them out for Shurikens, yielding one ninja capable of long-range attacks. As Force members use each weapon type, their experience with that weapon class increases and that leads to higher attack bonuses (attacks do more damage) and learning Special Attacks. Each Force member learns two Specials per weapon class, with a third one unlocking with Promotion. The later weapons in the game are sometimes infused with elemental magic and can add an additional, fourth Special to each character, so swapping out weapons frequently can lead to a wide variety of special attacks to be seen.

Special attacks are rather spectacular. Also seen in Shining the Holy Ark, they occur at random and deal more damage than standard attacks – plus they look far better. Our hero’s Sword-class specials Sonic Wave, Twin Wave and Mirage Dance are spectacular, but every character benefits from these awesome attacks. Dantares’ Mega Charge, Eldar’s Bloody Spin, Hagane’s Dark Raven and Julian’s Dimension are utterly spectacular to witness. Enemies, too, can have Critical or Special attacks, so it is best not to pit a character with a weakness against a foe with an advantage.

As with many other strategy games, mismatches can occur when some characters are pitted against others. In Shining Force 3, this balance is governed by the weapon class each fighter equips. For instance, Arrows are strong against Wings, Lances strong against Swords, and so on. If a character – player or enemy – is in position to deal a blow against a particularly vulnerable opponent, an exclamation point appears over the character. Learning this system is critical to success, as ill placement of your Force can result in multiple fighters being wiped out in succession. The arrangement should be used to the player’s advantage. Swordsmen or centaurs should be used to draw in winged fighters, for example, and then marksmen should move in and decimate them with arrows and bolts.

One new aspect of the Shining Force formula involves the friendship system. As characters fight in proximity, heal each other, or work together to take down foes, the game keeps track of budding relationships and soon allies become friends, who in turn become trusted, and finally, soulmates. Each level of friendship grants a stat boost to the other character when they are standing adjacent to each other, and each character offers a different stat boost. Grace, for instance, increases protection against magic spells. If a friend of Grace’s is attacked with a magic spell, they will absorb slightly less damage than they would without this protection. Similarly, there are also terrain effects. Some terrain is favorable for some types of fighters and attacking from such positions can provide a land effect boost. The reverse is also true – a centaur will not perform especially well in a sand dune, so the land effect will be negative. In very evenly matched conflicts, these friendship stat boosts and land effects can make the difference between victory and defeat.

It is important to note that these aspects of the game – the weapon levels, the balance of power between weapon classes, friendships and land effects – are all nuances to the gameplay rather than being core elements. Shining Force 3 absolutely maintains a pick-up-and-play, arcade-style immediacy to it, so a gamer can completely ignore these aspects and still have fun progressing through the adventure. The depth the game offers is remarkable, but it is entirely optional.

Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.

Irving Stone

The Sonic! team certainly was a talented, dedicated bunch, with the visuals in Shining Force 3 being their testament to this fact. Only once the team had two successful Saturn projects completed did they feel they had mastered the console’s hardware sufficiently to be able to bring their vision of Shining Force 3 to life. Typically, the nature of SRPGs is such that graphics tend to be serviceable – elegant, even – but rarely rise to the cream of the crop of a console’s visual panache. In this sense, Shining Force 3 exists somewhere between nice and utterly spectacular.

Overworld graphics fall into the nice category. The Saturn’s VDP2 is employed to render an infinite plane bitmap to provide a smooth and warp-free surface upon which polygonal houses, fences, churches and the like stand. The polygon constructs are geometrically simple but are well-dressed in sensible textures which sometimes even animate. As all characters are sprites, the processing load on the Saturn isn’t especially great, which results in a swift and steady framerate. For the sake of comparison, Grandia employs a similar engine, yet Shining Force 3’s environments are simpler and less ‘busy’, consequently scrolling and refreshing much smoother than Game Arts’ effort.

In the 3D battle sequences, the visuals really shine. Each character model is a high-polygon affair that animates fluidly. The standout here is all the effects that Camelot managed to get working simultaneously, especially when spells are cast. Warping and distortion in the backgrounds? Check! Light sourcing during magic spells and specials? Yes! Pulsating, animated magic circles that look smooth as a baby’s bottom? Ohhhh yes. The Saturn’s innards are given a thorough workout as many of these effects are employed in tandem to produce truly jaw-dropping sequences. Perhaps the most notable is the Tiamat summon: as the spellcaster calls the sea dragon Tiamat, the ground underneath them begins to radiate a blue energy. A powerful rumble is heard as the shimmering, transparent dragon rises, faces the target, and with a wail that can only be described as a mixture of rage and despair, releases its unholy blast. A fierce cone of blues and purples pulse and strobe as Tiamat annihilates its hapless victim. Utterly spectacular.

The graphics have one more important feature to point out: series consistency. Those who have played Shining the Holy Ark, Shining Wisdom, or even any of the MegaDrive / Genesis Shining games will feel right at home with the game’s fonts, dialogue windows, animated character avatars, menu system, and even the items and spells used in the game. This sort of consistency oozes polish and care. If the Shining games are played in release order, then these elements keep Shining Force 3 feeling warm and familiar even as it carves out new ground with its innovations. The team must be applauded for the care taken in this aspect of the game.

Where words fail, music speaks.

Hans Christian Andersen

This consistency spills over to the game’s score as well. Arranged by the same artist who scored Shining the Holy Ark, Motoi Sakuraba, Shining Force 3 uses the Saturn’s Yamaha sound processor to excellent effect. Although chiptune music will never compare to true Red Book audio, Sakuraba’s arrangements are great. His ability to create themes that range from soft and gentle to bold and fierce truly elevate the game’s mood. From the calm melody that plays when morning comes to the village of Quonus to Medion’s theme ‘Flying Dragon of the Battlefield’, the arrangements are very strong. This is surely amongst the Saturn’s best chip tune soundtracks, and in Japan, an OST was duly released.

Synchronicity and the Greater Story

In Japan, Shining Force 3 is subtitled Scenario 1: Holy Warrior of Aspia (yes, I took a bit of a translative liberty there). Why ‘Scenario 1’? The truth is that the game is the first of a trilogy of Shining Force games on the Saturn, all connected by a save system Camelot dubbed ‘synchronicity’. Synchronicity is essentially the concept of future games reading previous games’ save files to account for actions taken in those previous titles. This was very uncommon at the time, and the few other games that did this only used this method superficially.

Scenario 1 focuses on the journey of Synbios, son of Lord Conrad and first generation Aspinian, as he fights to maintain the Republic’s sovereignty in the face of the advance of Emperor Domaric. As the story unfolds, Synbios’ force is constantly opposed not only by the Imperials but by the mysterious Bulzome Sect and their powerful High Priests. The Force even encounters an ancient Vandal in the mansion of Quonus! The game produces a rather large, 284 block save file which, in part, keeps track of certain choices and outcomes the player makes and experiences. The first Scenario has a rather abrupt ending, and attentive gamers will surely be left with a host of questions and loose ends that are never resolved satisfactorily. This is because in Japan, Scenario 1 was followed a few months later by Scenario 2, subtitled Target: The Holy Child.

The second Scenario considers the choices made in the first by reading the Scenario 1 save file and aligns certain aspects of the second adventure accordingly. In this chapter of the Shining Force 3 trilogy, the player takes on the role of Medion, son of Emperor Domaric and third Prince of the Destonian Empire, and occurs concurrently as Scenario 1. Suddenly, many of Synbios’ adventures are viewed from the opposite side of the conflict, and many aspects of the story which were a clear struggle of right versus wrong in Scenario 1 are no longer as black and white. The adventure ultimately veers off into a completely separate direction with Medion and Julian coming across Gracia – the Holy Child and future Innovator of Elbesem who will stand against the Vandal Bulzome. Ultimately, Julian and Gracia leave Medion’s Force and Medion is put into the unfortunate position of leading Domaric’s invasion force into Aspinia… leading to a second cliffhanger ending as Medion and Synbios face off at the gates of Aspia Castle. The story concludes with Scenario 3: Bulzome Rising, which tells the tale of Julian and Gracia as they quest to unite Synbios’ and Medion’s Forces and embark on the Legendary Expedition to take down both Galm and Bulzome with the true Shining Force.

Ah yes… Julian. Eagle-eyed gamers will remember a young boy waiting in Shining the Holy Ark’s Town of Enrich for his father, who disappeared whilst exploring the Aborigine Mansion. The boy’s appearance was fleeting and ultimately inconsequential to the events of the game, but this is far from the case in Shining Force 3, which takes place some 20 years later. Here, Synbios finds Julian as a young man in a bar in Railhead, questing for the Vandal responsible for his father’s murder. When his path briefly aligns with Synbios’ cause, he joins the Force and is a formidable addition to the group. Without divulging too much of the game’s incredible story, Synbios’ army briefly encounters the Vandal, who makes short work of Julian by tossing him off a cliff and into the deadly rapids below. Julian is lost and the Force must carry on, but the character makes a playable appearance in the second Scenario of Shining Force 3, aligning with Medion’s army, before finally breaking away to protect the Holy Child Gracia and leading the final Scenario of the trilogy. His is a tragic story ark that takes a full four games (!) to bring to a resolution – something not seen anywhere else in 5th generation gaming. Sadly, so few Western gamers got to appreciate this story. Truly, being a Saturn gamer was a terribly lonely – yet utterly mesmerizing – gaming experience in 1998, especially compared to what was being offered on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

The game’s tragic tale takes on a heartbreaking twist as, sadly, the games were developed so late in the Saturn’s lifecycle that subsequent Scenarios weren’t localized for the West. Shining Force 3 Scenario 2, subtitled Target: The Holy Child, released in Japan in late April 1998, just a few months ahead of Scenario 1’s Western release. Finally, late September 1998 saw the release of Shining Force 3 Scenario 3, subtitled Bulzome Rising. The game became one of the very last SEGA-published Saturn games, and arrived a mere two months before the Dreamcast debuted. By then, however, the Saturn market had collapsed outside of Japan, and the titles remained exclusive to their domestic territory. The games had simply come too late.

And that’s when I realize that, at the end, we’d all wish for the same thing. Just a little more time.

Marie Lu

Overall, Shining Force 3 is a standout Saturn game. One of the Saturn’s best, in fact. The gameplay is as straightforward as the player needs and runs as deep as the player wants. The music is at times soft, at times homely, and at times grandiose. The game looks really good to weary 32-bit eyes, and the 3D battle animations are a wonder to witness. And the story? It pulls one in and doesn’t let go, harkening back to a scrappy, underdog SEGA that was at its creative best.

Shining Force 3 is indeed a standout Saturn game.

SHIRO Challenges:

• Complete the game with all secret characters discovered!
• Delay promotion of all characters until level 17… then watch as your Force annihilates all comers once they do finally promote
• Try equipping other classes of weapons on characters. For example, Dantares does well with spears. Synbios is strong with knives.
• The Colossus at the game’s end cannot be defeated, but both of his arms can be disabled. Aim for this difficult goal.
• Complete the Hero’s Challenge and take down the Skull Mage!
• How close can you come to wrecking Fiale at the battle of Flagard castle before he slithers off?
• Increase Synbios’ HP to 100. Hard!

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A Hard Journey

Camelot Software Planning did not have an easy time creating the game for SEGA. On the coattails of the Saturn’s success, SEGA of Japan had ascended to its peak, being at the forefront of gaming in Japan. The company grew, and as pride comes before the inevitable fall, the company acquired… arrogance. It was no longer easy to deal with, and smaller studios felt the squeeze. Head of Camelot, Hiroyuki Takahashi explains: “… at the time of Shining Force III, SEGA’s management was […] in a state of complete chaos. It’s probably hard […] to fathom, but what was once a major part of SEGA’s market – namely the Shining series – was ejected from SEGA’s ‘main line’ of games, and the money we received from SEGA to produce Shining Force III was less than half what they would spend on the development of ‘main’ games.” Tragic, that the series which was once so revered by SEGA would be so unceremoniously cast down from its lofty status, yet these were the new sentiments of a prideful SEGA.

We put everything we had into Shining Force III – it took so much time and so much of our money that no matter how many copies we sold, we would never have been able to make much money out (of) it.

Hiroyuki Tahakashi, President, Camelot Software Planning

With such meager international sales, Camelot only had the domestic releases to count on, but recouping development costs proved to be a tall order. There is a frighteningly common theme of smaller software houses (think Lobotomy Software) producing excellent Saturn content and never making back their investment. The SEGA that 90s fans loved was, unfortunately, changing.

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Fun Fact: The Nintendo character Waluigi was created by Camelot Software Planning, initially appearing in 2000’s Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64.

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The Awesome Japanese Names

Almost like a play, many of the Japanese names are words or characteristics. They were subtly altered for the West, but remain very cool.

English Character Name	Japanese Original
Arrawnt	Arrogant
Domaric	Dominate
Mageron	Majesty
Fiale	Fear
Fiderit	Fidelity
Hayward	Wayward
Justin	Justice
Crewart	Cruel
Cybel	Chivalry
Ratchet	Manupil

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Manual Bonus! Shining Force 3 was the last North American first-party Saturn game that SEGA published (Magic Knight Rayearth came some months later), and as an acknowledgment of this fact, SEGA included a brief thanks to its fans at the back of the game’s manual.

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SPOILER ALERT Changes to the Ending

Changes made to Western ending, to account for the reality that no Scenario 2 would ever be forthcoming. In the original Japanese game, King Benetram sends Lord Tybalt and his detachment to guard Aspia’s impenetrable outer wall against the Empire’s advancing invasion force. Tybalt’s force isn’t overly strong, but there is little cause for concern as Aspia’s wall had never been breached. However, the Empire’s secret tank arrives and blasts a hole in the wall, and Medion’s army engages and defeats Tybalt and his garrison. Finally, at the gates of Aspia Castle itself, Domaric and Medion confront Benetram and Synbios. Medion appears unlike himself, and a few lines of dialogue suggest his hand is being forced by the ever-manipulative Emperor. Using the pretext of avenging his fallen son Arrawnt, Emperor Domaric orders Medion to put Conrad’s son to death and deliver Aspia to him. Medion advances on Synbios, and the adventure fades to black in a complete cliff-hanger.

Realizing this would absolutely not do for the Western release because no further Saturn games would ever be forthcoming, the localization team made changes. In the Western version, the wall remains intact and Tybalt’s army continues to guard it, but Emperor Domaric and a detachment of his army sneak into Aspia via the ‘secret door’. At the gates of Aspia Castle, Domaric and Medion confront Benetram and Synbios. Benetram implores Domaric to avoid war and refocus their joint efforts at stopping the rise of the Bulzome sect. Dismissing him, Domaric leaves Synbios’ fate in Medion’s hands. Medion surprises his father and decides to spare Synbios’ life as gratitude for Synbios eliminating the treacherous Arrawnt. Begrudgingly, Domaric warns Benetram that whilst he will respect Medion’s wishes and retreat, the next time they meet, he shall not be so accommodating. The game ends with Synbios having won a hard-earned peace for the Republic.

The ending, whilst altered to eliminate any references to future scenarios and jettisoning the cliff-hanger, nevertheless comes across as somewhat abrupt. It seems unlikely that an entire invasion force would be called off by a young prince’s compassionate choice when the Emperor had desired to reconquer Aspia for so many years. Still, a gamer unaware of other scenarios would find this ending easier to digest than the Japanese original, even though many storyline threads would go unresolved with the first scenario as a standalone game. The localization team ended the game as cleanly as could be done under the circumstances and must be applauded for being able to push Shining Force 3 out at all.

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In the Darkest Hour…

Today, the remaining two scenarios and the bonus Premium Disc have been fan-translated to a playable state. Work continues to polish them to a professional level, but all scenarios are now fully playable with all text having been translated and verified. What’s more, the first scenario has been re-translated to include the original Japanese ending, for the complete experience.

Shining Force 3 holds a very special place in my heart. Originally, I picked it up at retail, but never gave it much of a chance, save for a few brief minutes to try it out. There is sat on my shelf for a few months, until an acquaintance mentioned how much of a fan of Shining Force 2 they were, and that they would love to find a copy of Shining Force 3. I promptly sold him the game.

Some weeks later, he had finished the game and didn’t find it as satisfying as Shining Force 2, and I ended up buying the game back from him. Thus, Shining Force 3 remains the only Saturn game I own where I am both the original and a subsequent owner.

Not long afterwards, I finished the incredible Shining the Holy Ark, and resolved to give Shining Force 3 a shake again. As I got more and more into the game, its brilliance pulled me in and I began to understand that this game would end up very high indeed on my ‘all time’ games list. It took a while, but I eventually finished the game. And… I needed to know more. I NEEDED to know what happened to Bulzome and how the conflict with the Vandals was ultimately resolved. With no way to go and just a nascent internet at my disposal, I took the plunge… and in 2001, I dipped my toes into the import scene. My first ever import purchase was the Japanese Shining Force 3 trilogy, followed by the sacred Premium Disc.

Acquiring a cheap ‘Saturn Satellite’ cartridge which defeated the region protection, I dove into Scenario 2, continuing my save file from Scenario 1. I didn’t understand any of the written script but was able to comprehend enough of what was going on contextually based on events that occurred in Scenario 1. Playing as Medion, Campbell, Syntesis and Uryudo’s first battle on the Saraband docks was heavenly. Intervening in the Imperial District when Imperial soldiers were accosting Synbios, it was initially somewhat shocking to see Synbios speak, even if I could only imagine what was being said (yes, Medion is mute in Scenario 2). Finally making it to an all-new locale, Dusty Village, and encountering Shiraf as him and Bassanda plotted to hijack the train where Synbios would eventually defeat him was unbelievably satisfying.

Ultimately, the Scenario 2 and 3 experience proved somewhat shallow – especially Scenario 3 – as the language barrier prevented enjoyment of the story. Back to the internet, and to my delight, a group of dedicated Shining lovers who called themselves the Aspinia Team had begun to translate the script. Eventually, I ended up printing hundreds of pages of translated script (each Scenario’s translation took a full three-inch binder) and played through the games again. This was MUCH better – now, I could follow along with the story!

Some time later, a talented and massively dedicated group of fans cracked the game sufficiently to be able to reinsert English into the game files. Now hosted over on shiningforcecentral.com, work progressed to a point where Scenarios 2 and 3 were fully playable in English!

Naturally, these were the very first Saturn games I have ever burnt. Getting my hands on a mod chip from the old RacketBoy store, I put my burned discs to the test, and to my joy, English text filled my screen. I once again played through the trilogy, this time several times over, savoring each moment like the delicious slice of gaming that it was.

My most recent playthrough of this adventure was re-playing Scenario 1, re-translated by the SFC Team and also hacked by Paul Met to include several screen resolution improvements. The game is as glorious in 2020 as it was in 1998, and the correctly translated ending makes much more sense now. It even ends with the cliff-hanger it was always meant to! And whilst the first scenario was the subject of this piece, rest assured that I will eventually write articles covering the remaining scenarios.

Shining Force 3 will always be a very special game for me. It was ‘home’ for me at a time when EVERYONE else was playing PlayStation and Nintendo 64, completely unaware of what they were missing. It was a broken heart as for a long time, I did not know how the story concluded. Finally, long after Dreamcast had come and gone, it was my ‘coming home’ when I could finally play the games fully in English – it somehow breathed new life into my old friend, the Saturn. Yes, Shining Force 3 is very special.

At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before.

Warsan Shire

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Today, the greatest resource on all things Shining can be found on Moogie’s shiningforcecentral.com. Also, for those interested in watching a very personal, well-produced (and deliciously LONG) YouTube review, I cannot recommend Harvester of Eyes’ review enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqF9P6UqlPo