Shining Tears came out last Wednesday, and I feel pretty sure I'm the only one who picked it up. Let me know if I'm wrong, though.
I'm a couple hours into it, and here are my first impressions of the latest Shining series game.
First off, the game can be played in either one or two player mode. I haven't found anybody to play a 2-player game with yet, but I imagine the battles are a lot less hectic and easier when you're only controlling one person.
The dual-player action for 1-player games is a really great idea; like Mario & Luigi, you have the ability to control both characters at once. Unfortunately, the battles tend to be huge, and trying to figure out what both characters are supposed to be doing and where they're going is nearly impossible to do well with just two hands and one controller.
The L buttons control the main character, and the R buttons control the secondary character. The L3 knob moves the main, the R3 knob moves the secondary, but you can't move the secondary character and attack with the main character without some really wicked flexibility for your fingers. I find it's difficult and frustrating when you're trying to position the characters for special attacks. The secondary character will move on his or her own, but you usually don't want them to act on their own. Kingdom Hearts syndrome sets in and they do off the wall things that make you want to hurt them.
I like the story so far, and it seems to be well written and translated, though it's pretty average Shining fare. Main character (Xion) has lost his memory and has two special rings. One light, and one dark. He wears one, and the secondary character wears the other, and depending on who you're with and what ring you're wearing, your clothes and looks will shift, giving you a little bit of control over how the main character looks.
You can only save one file for this game per memory card. They won't allow you to copy the file, or create new ones on the same memory card, and you can't copy between memory cards, or so they say. I think it's supposed to cut down on going back to reverse certain decisions you make, because it says the decisions you make have an effect on the overall story. Multiple endings? I dunno, but it's possible the way they talk about it in the manual.
Instead of going with CG graphics for cutscenes, they do similar to Fire Emblem or Disgaea, with anime-esque cardboard cutout figures talking. For some reason, I really like this style now. The expressions and things change as the dialogue moves, so it does invoke interest in the plot to see their reactions. The opening movie also hints at there being real cutscenes with fluid anime-style movies, similar to the way Xenogears did their movies.
The menu system is streamlined, and works out rather well, as it shifts from the old style of Shining menu systems slightly.
Anything else... can't think of anything in particular. The sounds are your average fair, not spectacular, but they do fit well and they don't make me want to tear my ears out, like FFX-2. No voices from what I can tell. Just as well, this game would suffer terribly from bad voice-acting if it tried.
All in all, the game is fun, the story is intriguing, the locales and characters are well-drawn and interesting, as well as unique in a world where characters are always typcast by their classes throughout. The battle-system is designed to work as both 1 and 2 player, but I can't help but feel it would be a lot more fun with a second person helping me out, rather than trying to control both at once.
I, so far, give this game a 7.5 out of 10. I believe it would get closer to a 9 if I could test out the 2-player aspect, but alas, I cannot. No friends who like videogames is a real downer.
Don't know why I'm posting this, most of you probably had or have no intention of checking this one out at all, anyways. If you even knew about it. I'm just a sucker for Shining stuff.
I'm a couple hours into it, and here are my first impressions of the latest Shining series game.
First off, the game can be played in either one or two player mode. I haven't found anybody to play a 2-player game with yet, but I imagine the battles are a lot less hectic and easier when you're only controlling one person.
The dual-player action for 1-player games is a really great idea; like Mario & Luigi, you have the ability to control both characters at once. Unfortunately, the battles tend to be huge, and trying to figure out what both characters are supposed to be doing and where they're going is nearly impossible to do well with just two hands and one controller.
The L buttons control the main character, and the R buttons control the secondary character. The L3 knob moves the main, the R3 knob moves the secondary, but you can't move the secondary character and attack with the main character without some really wicked flexibility for your fingers. I find it's difficult and frustrating when you're trying to position the characters for special attacks. The secondary character will move on his or her own, but you usually don't want them to act on their own. Kingdom Hearts syndrome sets in and they do off the wall things that make you want to hurt them.
I like the story so far, and it seems to be well written and translated, though it's pretty average Shining fare. Main character (Xion) has lost his memory and has two special rings. One light, and one dark. He wears one, and the secondary character wears the other, and depending on who you're with and what ring you're wearing, your clothes and looks will shift, giving you a little bit of control over how the main character looks.
You can only save one file for this game per memory card. They won't allow you to copy the file, or create new ones on the same memory card, and you can't copy between memory cards, or so they say. I think it's supposed to cut down on going back to reverse certain decisions you make, because it says the decisions you make have an effect on the overall story. Multiple endings? I dunno, but it's possible the way they talk about it in the manual.
Instead of going with CG graphics for cutscenes, they do similar to Fire Emblem or Disgaea, with anime-esque cardboard cutout figures talking. For some reason, I really like this style now. The expressions and things change as the dialogue moves, so it does invoke interest in the plot to see their reactions. The opening movie also hints at there being real cutscenes with fluid anime-style movies, similar to the way Xenogears did their movies.
The menu system is streamlined, and works out rather well, as it shifts from the old style of Shining menu systems slightly.
Anything else... can't think of anything in particular. The sounds are your average fair, not spectacular, but they do fit well and they don't make me want to tear my ears out, like FFX-2. No voices from what I can tell. Just as well, this game would suffer terribly from bad voice-acting if it tried.
All in all, the game is fun, the story is intriguing, the locales and characters are well-drawn and interesting, as well as unique in a world where characters are always typcast by their classes throughout. The battle-system is designed to work as both 1 and 2 player, but I can't help but feel it would be a lot more fun with a second person helping me out, rather than trying to control both at once.
I, so far, give this game a 7.5 out of 10. I believe it would get closer to a 9 if I could test out the 2-player aspect, but alas, I cannot. No friends who like videogames is a real downer.
Don't know why I'm posting this, most of you probably had or have no intention of checking this one out at all, anyways. If you even knew about it. I'm just a sucker for Shining stuff.
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