The Ancient Seal has been broken! Let's Play Shining Force II!

It's inevitable that the question comes up, "What is the best game for the Sega Genesis?" Many people will say Phantasy Star IV. They're not wrong, necessarily, but being the opinionated jackass that I am, I politely insert my opinion that the best game is actually Shining Force II. Both games are wonderfully fantastic, and both are RPGs, back when Sonic Team was interested in making quality products that would impact an entire generation of video gamers.

Shining Force II gets my vote, because I had played nothing like it at the time, and I was turned off by Phantasy Star at the time for the incomprehensible spell names (RES, FOI, and XPSD or JASY or something). Shining Force II was so uniquely stylish (so was Shining Force I, for that matter). Fire Emblem wasn't exported at the time, and it's obvious looking back how much Shining Force was inspired by Fire Emblem. The difference between the two though is that Fire Emblem emphasizes much more on strategy (with it's perma-death penalty nonsense), whereas Shining Force is all about the story, characters, and plot, and looking good while doing so.

Anyway, Shining Force II has been completely and utterly deciphered by fans much more hardcore than I. There is not a secret left unfound in Shining Force II. There's something about tactical games in which fans will absolutely devour and analyze anything they can about the game. I digress, however.

In terms of a Let's Play, strategy RPGs aren't exactly all that interactive (despite what certain Fire Emblem commercials may lead you to believe), and Shining Force is no exception. Nonetheless, I've decided to make it so that all the participants will be able to determine who is in and who isn't in the force. Though, to make sure I'm not stuck with Kiwis or Rohdes the entire time (I do have to win maps, after all), I will nominate people for elimination. Therefore, a participant will determine if they want to replace someone up for nomination with a yes/no vote; and a yes vote will require a replacement nomination. Most votes wins and I'll go that route - almost a metagame, if you will. I'll explain this into more detail when the time comes.

The first maps will be kind of boring, as I won't have a full fledged force yet, so it'll just be a bunch of reading. However, there are forty-plus someodd maps to conquer, so I'm hoping to go through one-to-three maps per update, with about three-to-four updates a week. A steady pace and hopefully we'll be cleared by May/June or so. This is all subject to change, of course. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I have no intention of retyping an entire transcript of the game. Why? Because someone has already performed such insanity. So, I will show screenshots of the game as I go, and will be filling in the blanks by copy-pasting from Apathetic Aardvark's transcript, with my own (surely!) witty comments in italics.

I think that covers everything. So, without further ado, Let's Play Shining Force II!

01 - It was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Slade, a thief, brings two henchmen with him into an ancient shrine.



Slade walks to the right side, trying to find a hidden door.

Slade: Oops, a dead end!

Slade walks to the left side of the shrine.



Slade: Hey, guys! Follow me!

Men: Alright!

They all enter the lower room.









Man 1: Where on earth are those jewels?

Slade: I'm not sure.

Slade moves over to the right some.

MEANWHILE!



Minister: Excuse me?

King Granseal: It's a stormy night.

Minister: It's unusual for this time of year.

Guard: Excuse me, your majesty.

A guard from off the screen runs in



Guard: Yes, sire.

Minister: It's stormy outside, be careful.

Guard exits.

King Granseal: Hmmm...

Minister: Excuse me, sire?



A large gust of wind with lightning.

Minister: Oh, a gust of wind!

MEANWHILE!



Man 1: Ugh... Ugghhh... Phew, I can't.

Man 2: You wimp! let me do it.

Man 1: Yeah, right.

Man 2: Blast! It won't budge!

Slade: You idiots! Let me do it.

Slade fails to get pull the jewels out.

Slade: Well, that didn't work. This time, I'll pull both of the jewels at the same time. One, two, THREE!

Slade pulls both jewels out of the wall, sending him crashing into another wall.

Man 1: Are you ok?

Slade: Yeah, I feel just great.

Man 1: You did it! You have the legendary Jewels.



Slade: Oh, I got them. I have the legendary jewels. Bravo!

The ground shakes.

Man 2: What's happening?!



They all exit the shrine safely.

MEANWHILE!



King Granseal: Oh....the wind blew out all the candles. it's so dark. I can't see a thing.



King Granseal: What was that?!

Minister: Sire, the Ancient Tower...

King Granseal: What's wrong?



Guard runs back in.

Guard: Minster!

Minster: What is it?

Guard: The...sealed door... Ancient Tower...



Guard: It's open!

Minister: That's impossible! It can't be opened!

Guard: I'm sure it was closed before the lightning, but...

King Granseal: Strange.

Minister: Sire, I'm going to go and see what happened. We must know the truth.

King Granseal: Be careful.

Minister: Take me to the sealed door.

Guard and Minister exit. The storm continues.

King Granseal: Strange, strange indeed! Lightning at the Ancient Tower.

King Granseal: Huh? Did I hear something?

King Granseal:A sealed door that is open. An unusual storm. Everything is so strange.

King Granseal:What? I feel as if someone is watching me, it must be my nerves.



King Granseal: I guess it was nothing, I have to get a hold of myself.

King Granseal: What was that? Who's there!?



King Granseal: It's not my imagination! Somebody's in this room!



King Granseal: Hey! Stay away from me! Somebody... HELP!

The being shoots out a magical cyclone, causing the king to spin around uncontrollably.




02 - Opening Title

03 - You're Finally Here!


Hag: Ah, you look so confused. You don't know why you're here?

Hag: Yes, yes... I used a spell on you.

Hag: Ha, ha. Where are you going? You can't escape from this mystery forest unless you help me.



Hag: What should I call you?



Well here we go, tyrants! It's time to name the protagonist. Yeah, that's him, but don't let his skimpy demeanor fool you. His default name is BOWIE, but you can name him anything you wish! Most popular suggestion wins!

Ziggy?

Jareth?

Pontius?

"Bowie" is the kind of thing I'd want to name him anyway.


Awesome. This reminds me of Metal Gear 2's soundtrack, which is...unexpected, but a very good thing!

BOWIE? Seriously?

Will we get to name other characters? 'Cause, if so, a musician theme might work. Otherwise....

Yeah, there's no real arguing with Bowie here. Put me down for it as well.

Best Genesis RPG ever, and I personally find it more fun (though obviously less intricate/intense) than FFT. I probably replay this sucker once every year.

This and it's predecessor where my second and third RPGs. Those "stand in a row and swing at each other" RPGs seemed kinda lame afterwards. But attempting to replay it is a struggle for me these days.

Anyway, BOWIE is fine.

This is such an awesome freaking game. I do think you get a few too many characters who are half a step above "completely worthless" but it's just too much fun!

I'm a sucker for default names, but I may be fun to input the rename every character code and create a musician themed force.

Also, this rat guy has the best character design.

This is certainly do-able if everyone wants it, since I haven't gotten past the naming screen yet.

For all ye who have not previously played SF2: As it stands, you only get to input the name of the protagonist. You have to input a code if you wish to rename everyone on the entire force (about 30 some-odd characters), and once that happens, all decisions are final. If there's overwhelming support, we can do this (though I'm not sure how we'd go about naming 30 characters), otherwise, just BOWIE.

Oh, and for those curious, the default name for him in the Japanese version is ボウイ or bou-i, pronounced the same way, so this isn't a case of translators spicing up a name to please western audiences. Yeah, I know. I thought that was crazy too.

Bowie is plainly the best choice.

It's clear from the onset that Sega was making this game right.

I like the idea of a completely musician-named force, but the prospect of naming all 670 characters at the outset causes me to go cold. It also introduces the entire cast before the game even begins.

Clearly the only way to do this would be to have everyone submit a couple of musician names, have McD secretly assign them at his discretion, and go forward like that.

How many letters do we get anyway?

You know, I'm gonna fight you on Kiwi. If you stick with him long enough (and give him the Power Ring) his promo class is pretty strong for one that can't equip weapons, especially with his fire breath. It's also sort of hilarious that the group you get at the start of the game and within the first few missions are some of the best characters in the game (although Sarah is better as a Master Monk than as a Vicar).

I think we have seven characters.

Bowie for me, too. One of the other characters should be called Iggy.

If we get seven letters per name, then we've got plenty.

You can take obvious ones like

JOHN
PAUL
GEORGE
RINGO

nerdy in-jokes like

NOBUO

classical composers like

MOZART
BACH
VIVALDI
ROSSINI
DVORAK

jazzmen and their aliases like

BRUBECK
BIRD
HANCOCK
SATCHMO

or even ancient historical and mythological figures like

ORPHEUS
DAMON

Really, there's a lot to choose from.

HUEY
LEWIS
THENEWS

You know you want to!

Or rather, you know I want you to. And that should count as well.

Shining Force II is so great. I'm glad someone's taking the time to LP it. Make sure you never use Kiwi, because I hate him to death. I would love to see Slade get some love though since he's one of my favorites. I also demand that you either make Sarah or Karna into a Monk since they're hot in Monk form. I always thought Monks were better than Vicars anyway, but maybe I'm wrong? I assume that you know more about it than I do.

By the way, if you're curious to see what all the characters look like, you can go here.

Hey, Game Players magazine told me that Kiwi ended up being good! And so I always took him along, thinking that he got better if I just leveled him up just a bit more.

And he never did.

But I STILL have faith in him!

Go McDohl! Prove my 14-year-old self right!

So is he better or worse than our lord and saviour Jogurt?

He turns into Gamera, as I recall.

Ugh. Kiwi. In my first ever playing of the game, I stuck with him through and through, all the way to 20, complete with a promotion. I haven't done it since.

Anyway, you have 8 characters for a name. It seems like the idea for a musically-named Force is picking up steam!

According to the page Alixsar linked, there are 24 males and 6 females. Here are my suggestions:

Dudes:
BOWIE
OZZIE
YANKOVIC
RINGO
SNOOP

Ladies:
ALANIS
JEWEL
MADONNA
JANIS
LATIFA

eta: I was going to suggest NEILPERT but I don't think there's a character who gets 150 attacks per second.

Three master monks.

Okay, I'm gonna need more suggestions for musician names, since it looks like those who wish for a musician named force outweighs the (perhaps silent?) nay-sayers.

I'll assign them quietly and behind the scenes, so no worries about getting spoiled. :P

RINGO
LENNON
MCARTNY
HARRISON

GEORGIA (female)
IRA (male)
JAMES (male)

THURSTON (male)
KIM (female)
LEE (male)
STEVE (male)
MARK (male)

GAHAN (male)
GORE (male)
FLETCHER (male)
CLARKE (male)

and, of course, BELL (male).

Don't ask why I think Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth should be first names and Depeche Mode/Erasure last. It's just the way it should be.