Inspiration Spotlight #22: Shining Force

For some reason, I've had Shining Force on my mind a lot lately. When I was a little kid playing on the Sega Genesis when it first came out, it was one of my favorite games and I still hold a lot of fond memories of the game. Shining Force is a series but I've only ever played the first 2 and I've only ever owned the 1st game (Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention) so that's the one I remember the most so that's the one I'm going to focus on in this post.

Shining Force is a tactical RPG that takes place in a fantasy realm where there is some bad stuff happening in the world. There's some ancient evil or something and someone tries to do something with it or something like that. Basic fantasy stuff, nothing super special in that department. But overall it's a really fun and interesting game. It's one of those games I could pick up whenever and play start to finish without any hesitation.

 There's a deeper reason why I've always enjoyed Shining Force and I've just recently figured it out (or maybe this is the first time I'm caring enough to think about it) and that's because the game is full of some really awesome looking characters and monsters and also some pretty sweet environments. While the game does have it's fair share of cookie cutter fantasy creatures (goblins, centaurs, dwarfs) it also has a lot of really unique species and characters. There's this knight that flies around in a airplane/helicopter contraption, an armored rhino-looking dude, this adorable squid-like creature who flies around looking like the scrubbing bubbles mascot, an awesome looking samurai dude, robot dude, and a wolf-man dude along with lots of others. Also, I have to say it's got some of the most memorable boss fights and villains that made a real lasting impression on me.

Not the most complicated game, there are definitely a lot more tactical RPGs to come out since Shining Force and I'm sure lots of them are better, but this game is a true classic in my book and I'm sure I'll be remembering this game for a long time still. I've actually been playing through again recently and I've done some sketches of some of the characters in the game. Expect to see them on Monday!