Hi Peter! Two titles I already recommended in my previous post spring to mind: Suikoden Tactics is a direct homage to/rip-off of (delete as applicable) Final Fantasy Tactics combat system, with a dash of Fire Emblem perma-death (for selected characters). The biggest difference is that each character has a fixed class, but the introduction of combination attacks is quite nice! It's a real underrated gem! The other title I'd re-recommend is Vandal Hearts. Seriously, a great story and solid combat really help a game stand the test of time. If you fancy insane amounts of customisation and giant robots beating the living hell outta each other, look no further than the Front Mission series. 3 is available to download on PSN and 4 should be relatively easy to track down for a reasonable price on PS2. Eternal Poison (PS2) apparently has a very FFT feel to it, although it's still in my 'to-do' pile. Apparently, Hoshigami also manages to capture the FFT vibe as well, although I found the PSX version ridiculously punishing and gave up very early in. I've heard that the DS remake eases back a little! Oh, one last recommendation for the OP: Arc the Lad. All three, in order. They're all out now on PSN, so you don't have to pay over the odds for the (admittedly very nice) PSX collector's edition! Hope that all helps! Tom
As a massive Shining Force fan myself, I'd love to throw a couple of suggestions out there! I'd hazard a guess at you not playing everything the Shining series has to offer, so going back to the source may be a good starting point. Shining Force Central hosts a fan translations for the Game Gear title, Final Conflict, along with the Premium Disc and scenarios 2 and 3 of Shining Force III. These are all extremely high quality, and all the patches are really easy to apply. The SFIII translations come with a self-patching ISO creator that will create a burnable/mountable ISO that you can either run on a chipped Saturn or a Saturn emulator. The original discs can be a bit pricey nowadays, and Shining Force Central (and especially the translation team) are keen to stress that the project does not condone piracy in any way, shape or form. PM me for more info, if you like! Playing the Shining series in chronological order (not release order) reveals quite a complex story! Shining Force Central's owner Moogie has come up with a pretty definitive timeline: Shining Force I (originally released on Megadrive/Genesis) -> Shining Force CD (upgraded version of the first two Game Gear SF titles, Gaiden & Sword of Hajya released on Mega CD) -> Shining Force: Final Conflict (Japanese GG title, the translation patch can be downloaded directly from SFC) -> Shining in the Darkness (First-Person Perspective dungeon crawler, MD/Gen) -> Shining Force II (Gen/MD) -> Shining Wisdom (Zelda-style action RPG, Saturn) -> Shining The Holy Ark (FPP dungeon crawler, Sat) -> Shining Force III (disc 1 is available in English, discs 2, 3 and the bonus Premium Disc are JP only, but there is a translation patch available at SFC). To be honest, there's not really that much else that has that 'Shining' feel. FEDA on SNES/Saturn was made by a lot fo the team who worked on the original SF titles, so is probably the closest thing I've encountered to another Shining force title. Possibly the original Vandal Hearts on PSX (avoid VHII, the combat system was horrible, and the recent PSN/XBLA VH: Flames of Judgement prequel simply wasn't that good!). Personally speaking, I've not ever really been able to get into the Fire Emblem series, although a lot of my SFC buddies enjoy them. The perma-death thing puts me off. It sounds like you dislike the micro-management that is a massive part of both Disgaea and FF Tactics, so I'd be hesitant to recommend the Front Mission series to you, but I enjoyed the ones I've played. If you've played through Suikoden IV, you may enjoy Suikoden Tactics. Suiko IV is a bit of a slog to get through, but the bonuses you get from transferring a save file into Tactics is well worth it!
Log in to comment