July 2017 Playthrough - Shining Force II

[singlebanana]

Well, I made a nice push into the game this weekend, though I spent the majority of my time doing some heavy grinding prior to the chessboard battle.  I'm currently up to the battle with Zalbard.

I have to admit, this experience isn't as enjoyable as my playthrough of the original Shining Force two years ago.  I've always been a proponent of older games and have defended grinding in them, but grinding in tactical RPGs like this is the pits...

First of all, the leveling system is a bit frustrating. Instead of all of the characters sharing experience per fight, it's based on a characters' actions within a battle, and more experience is given to finishing off an enemy. Leveling is easy for more offensive characters, but healers and toons that do less damage suffer. You're always playing the game of, how hard can I hit this enemy without killing it so that my weaker cohorts can possibly finish it off.  Secondly, unlike normal RPGs where you are quickly thrown into battle, in these tactical RPGs, fights take so much time to set up and it takes multiple turns through each toon to actually make contact with enemies. Sometimes you spend more time moving in a battle than fighting.  Don't get me wrong, I love this aspect of the game, it just does not lend itself to grinding.  So why am I hard on SF2 as opposed to the original?  I did not have to grind at all in the latter.

With all this said, I am still really enjoying my time in the game.  There is so much to love about this series in regards to the story, the incredible spritework, and the loads of unique features/gameplay elements.  When I can move from battle to battle, I really enjoy my time playing the game, but when I get bogged down in grinding, I have to walk away much more often.

[Duke.Togo]

The game really does require some grinding, but towards the end I had Bowie and Peter doing almost all the work for me. You can level up Karna like crazy by casting Boost a lot, and that makes her a great healer. The game feels like you should worry about leveling all your characters, but honestly in the end is was much easier not to.

[Addicted]

@Duke.Togo: I had a feeling you didn't need to grind but I wanted to get as much out of this game as possible.... even if the slow pace of the battles can be an annoyance. I'm still enjoying the game a lot and most of my grievances have been minor.

[singlebanana]

@Duke.Togo: I had a feeling you didn't need to grind but I wanted to get as much out of this game as possible.... even if the slow pace of the battles can be an annoyance. I'm still enjoying the game a lot and most of my grievances have been minor.

Yeah, unfortunately you do have to grind. I'm playing on normal (the lowest setting) and had to grind a fair amount just to take on the Kraken. 

I agree, I'm having a lot of fun with the game and I don't want my negative comments about the slow pace of the grinding to be a full reflection about how I feel about SF2 as a whole.  It's brilliant and I am really enjoying my time with it!

Speaking of the Kraken and some of the other boss battles, let's talk about them.

[Duke.Togo]

There battles definitely have some difficulty spikes, and I feel the Kraken is the first big one. The map makes maneuverability nonexistent, and the spammy water attacks mess you up fast. It forces you to really slow down and be methodical about the fight.

[singlebanana]

There battles definitely have some difficulty spikes, and I feel the Kraken is the first big one. The map makes maneuverability nonexistent, and the spammy water attacks mess you up fast. It forces you to really slow down and be methodical about the fight.

Yeah, this battle was especially tight in terms of movement.  I actually enjoyed this restriction and thought it gave the game a nice touch of variety.  Taros had an interesting twist as well, which I thought was kind of cool.  Probably really annoying to early players of this game though.

[Disposed Hero]

We're rapidly approaching the end of the month and I have still not progressed much past the second checkpoint, so it looks like I won't be able to finish the game before the month is over.  I've had a lot going on lately so I haven't had as much time to spend with the game as I would have liked.  I still intend on finishing it when I can.

As far as my impressions up to this point:  It's more Shining Force, so what's not to like?  I'm not sure why, but even though I feel like the second game is technically superior in many ways, I think I still prefer the first game.  I'm not sure if maybe the battles in the second game are larger and thus more exhausting, but I feel like I get more fatigued playing this game than the first.  Overall, it's a great game, and I can see why I kept coming back to it so much as a kid.

[Disposed Hero]

Speaking of the Kraken and some of the other boss battles, let's talk about them.

When I first got the raft, I sailed to the south instead of to the east and ended up fighting the Kraken earlier than I had to.  It took me a few tries, and on the last try I basically ignored as many tentacles as I could and went straight for the head, but I eventually beat him.  Then I found out I had gone the wrong way.  Oops...

[Duke.Togo]

I'd be curious to hear about some of the other battles, but it seems progress on this one has been slow for some. The chess board fight springs to mind in particular.

[Disposed Hero]

I'd be curious to hear about some of the other battles, but it seems progress on this one has been slow for some. The chess board fight springs to mind in particular.

For the chess fight, I played very defensively and tried to draw the enemy units to me.  This worked a little too well however, as the King unit rushed me early in the battle, and I took him out pretty easily to end the fight.  I think I only encountered the King and a couple of Pawns during the entire battle.

[singlebanana]

I'd be curious to hear about some of the other battles, but it seems progress on this one has been slow for some. The chess board fight springs to mind in particular.

For the chess fight, I played very defensively and tried to draw the enemy units to me.  This worked a little too well however, as the King unit rushed me early in the battle, and I took him out pretty easily to end the fight.  I think I only encountered the King and a couple of Pawns during the entire battle.

Yeah, very interesting battle for me as well.  I went up the right side of the board slowly. Probably lost about 4 fighters in that fight and took out around 6 chess pieces before the King overcommitted.

[Duke.Togo]

I went up the center and tried to draw pieces out as well, but the queen and knights came out quick. I had even done some grinding before that, and had to work at it. I can imagine it would be rough if you hadn't and didn't get lucky.

[singlebanana]

I'm still chipping away at this title.  I went on vacation last week and was lucky enough to be able to take my Sega Nomad on the road with me.  Lucky, except for the 2.5-3 hour battery life of 6 batteries........  Anyway, I played on the road on the way down and when I got to our beach house, I was able to plug in.  I made some really awesome progress mostly at night and during my youngest's naps, and ended up only 4 battles from the end by the time my vacation was over.  Over the last two days, I have been bringing the Nomad to work and I managed to take out King Galam at lunch today and egress before my final confrontation with Xeon.

Should be pretty brutal, with Banana (yeah, that's my Hero's name) promoted at 20 and now around level 26. Wish me the lucks!

[singlebanana]

Took me two attempts, but I managed to finish ole Zeon off last night. Also completed the "special" ending. Great play through!

[img width=700 height=465]http://i.imgur.com/X5yCkyW.jpg[/img]

[Disposed Hero]

Took me two attempts, but I managed to finish ole Zeon off last night. Also completed the "special" ending. Great play through!

Good job Rich!  I'm still working on the game myself.  Just finished the battle where you recruit Higins, so I probably still have quite a ways to go.