Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension
I’ve already written about the amazing impact Shining in the Darkness had on me as a young gamer; a Japanese fusion of Dungeon Master and Dragon Quest, it really opened up my eyes to the allure of the first-person turn-based JRPG – so I was actually somewhat dismayed when the follow-up, Shining Force, adopted a different approach.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore Shining Force, but when I saw reports in the mid-’90s that the franchise was returning to its first-person roots with Shining The Holy Ark, I could barely contain my excitement.
I picked up a second-hand copy of the game from CeX’s Rathbone Place store in London shortly after its release, and it promptly took over my life. I devoted hours to exploring its lavish 3D dungeons but never actually managed to complete it – something that, shamefully, hasn’t changed in the decades since.
Images: Damien McFerran / Time Extension
Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension
I’ve owned the game multiple times since the ’90s, and I’m determined to hold onto my existing copy. I’ve got within touching distance of the end in recent times via the Polymega, but I’m actually tempted to start all over again now that I’ve discovered RetroAchievements – I know, I’m a complete sadist.
Sure, the pre-rendered characters haven’t aged all that well, and there are times when the game engine struggles with the sheer scale of the 3D environments (mainly in the town segments), but Shining the Holy Ark remains one of my favourite JRPGs and arguably one of the highlights of the Saturn’s brilliant game library.
Oh, and Motoi Sakuraba’s utterly gorgeous soundtrack still sounds great.
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media’s sites from an editorial perspective. He’s also the editor of Time Extension, the network’s newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming’s past glories.