Shining Force 2 - War of the Gods… what an ambitious name to go with an ambitious hack. Does it live up to its sense of ambition? Let’s take a look
What can be said about Shining Force 2 that hasn't already been said?
For anyone who enjoys tactical games in the present there is a large chance that your enjoyment of the genre is owed in large part to the masterpieces that came before. Shining force 1 and 2 for example, paved the way for other glorious strategy games to follow. The success and enjoyment of later tactical games can often be attributed to large scale changes to the strategy formula that proved successful and long lasting to the genre. These kinds of changes are often incremental but Shining Force 2 has a formula that still largely remains relevant and that made some pretty big changes at the time of its release. It’s the closest I’ve come to playing a tactical arcade game. The pacing may be the strongest aspect of the game. Gameplay is fast but meaningful. Great progression. Infinitely re-playable. A colorful assortment of characters to constantly be adding to your roster. A soundtrack that absolutely bumps. Gameplay is fast and furious and moving your characters around the battlefield feels easy yet weighty.
Shining Force 2 is not only one of the greatest tactical masterpieces ever made but it is one of the greatest games of all time that improved upon its predecessor in myriad ways... but did you ever get to the end of Shining Force 2 and find yourself wanting more? Well then boy howdy do I have a deal for you today!
Shining Force II, War of the Gods hack, is a noble attempt to blend storyline aspects of Shining Force 1 into Shining Force 2 with varying degrees of success. I feel like the attempt definitely does address some of the main complaints that Shining Force 1 veterans have about Shining Force 2 in that it doesn't do enough to connect the lore of Runefaust with that of Grans. Does it work? It does work for the most part as the hack adds a more cohesive explanation as to how Shining Force 1 and 2 are linked in terms of narrative. One of the main gripes that is often shared about Shining Force 2 is that the story and lore is not as intensive as Shining Force 1. In addressing this, War of the Gods can be looked upon as an expansion upon both worlds.
However, that’s not really what I’ll be focusing on for the purposes of this review. The story to Shining Force 2 has always been a bit blindsided by the excellently fast-paced game design. Where this hack really shines are the new additions made to the shining force roster and the new gameplay additions which take an already stellar game in Shining Force 2 and re-imagine it, taking it into bold new territory. I mean, how do you improve upon perfection? Let’s find out.
War of the Gods hack spins Shining Force 2 on its head and adds a slew of new features and content for all Shining Force veterans to feast upon. Once you start the game you’ll notice that your characters appearances have changed. They now have access to spells that can be cast from a square away from the outset.
Awww yisss, Sarah. Git it!
Now you can use Sarah to use heal 1 from a square away and not get beaten to a bloody pulp on Super… or so you’d think.
It's a tarp!
Okay so basically you have your own upgrades and abilities to counter the AI. That's a good thing b/c the AI seems more capable of exploiting weaknesses in your army than in the vanilla Shining Force 2 but you also have new tools and classes to adorn your characters with that even the odds. Enemies have much deadlier weapons to use against you as a result. Your hero will be public enemy number 1 in the eyes of the AI and they will often target weak and squishy characters first. Also keep an eye on agility chickens if you wish to succeed as agility in this hack not only decides a characters turn order, but also their ability to evade attacks and improve the success chance of landing them so I'd advise using quick chickens on a character exclusively if you wish to break the game a bit. hehe.
Make sure you don't get broken yourself though. If you are not careful, your hero will be one shot by a level one magic spell in the opening sequences of the game... not that this has ever happened to me personally. That would be embarrassing.
Oh shart.
Hehe have fun losing half your gold there, chump."
Upon starting War of the Gods you start learning pretty quickly that this is not simply a reskin for Shining Force 2. Game mechanics have changed. Character and enemy abilities have been reworked so you have to learn how to manage and navigate these changes, or… you can just continue to die over and over again until your self-worth disintegrates. There’s always a choice eh?
I see some of you Shining Force 1 veterans in the audience right now. "So Sarah can heal from one square away with heal 1... so what?", I hear some of your naysayers saying. Well I'm glad you asked! One of the first things you may notice about War of the Gods is that you’re going to need this extra spell-casting space for tactical maneuvering b.c this game doesn’t pull any punches. Magic is king here and the AI knows how to use it. Actually the AI seems vastly improved in this hack. Magic has been devastatingly upgraded and given to many enemies to use against you and the AI will smite you with it should you let down your guard. Now would be a good time to explain that there are magic affinities and weaknesses at work in WotG. Priests are strong against light magic light lightning but weak against other sorcery. Archers are weak against cold spells. Hell a lot of things are weak against freeze so use it judiciously if you get your hands on it. Some trial and error in necessary to determine your strategy. So in short, certain character classes are weak to certain spells. Not anything to genre-bending here though it may feel overwhelming if you are not expecting it. Not to worry.
Your old pal, Gerhalt, has got your back... if he doesn't eat you first.
Anyway, if you have an inkling into the series outside of Shining Force 2 you will be pleasantly surprised by the addition of some familiar faces to the roster. I will not be going over all of those here b.c I don’t wish to rob you, good man or woman, of that wondrous sense of discovery but it's pretty varied. Lots of representation going on here across multiple Shining Force titles. There are also new promotions for characters that expand classes with new abilities and spells that weren't possible in aggregation in the original game.
Overall and IMO the magic has been overpowered a bit too much here with this hack. Some of you will be delighted, others will be confounded. Which camp do you fall under, soldier?
You’ll routinely have your hero one-shot with magic if you are throwing caution to the wind. (Which has totally never happened to me multiple times before.) Physical classes are still relevant but not compared to magic…
... Guess who wants a belly rub right now... best boi!
That being said physical AND magic classes will have access to new equipment that wasn’t available in Shining Force 2. One of the weaker parts of the equipment system in Shining Force 2 OG was the fact that items often broke after you used them and then would potentially disappear forever and this happened too often. With War of the Gods, that is no longer a concern. Items or equipment that casts spells can be used as much as you care to use them and there is no penalty for doing so. For instance a sword that casts a level 1 blaze spell around an area of 4 squares.. or an ice javelin that can cast freeze 2 can be used over and over. Both of these items must be found within the world as your exploring but you can get access to them relatively early which can give some of your physical attackers the ability to fight fire with freeze… or fire. Or whatever. This is a much needed boost to some of those physical classes we are talking about earlier and end-game, if you acquire the best equipment, there will be little the enemy will be able to do to press their advantages b.c you will have physical attackers who are fully capable of utilizing magic and keeping the opposition honest.
...Okay. We get it Gerhalt you really want to be petted but did you really need to chew on my slippers?
My favorite weapons and items to use in the hack? How about a ring that casts level 4 bolt LOL. Hope you’ve been hoarding your mithril, your dark matter and gold dust (yes these are new additions to the item list) up until you meet the dwarven blacksmith b.c it will change everything. Literally, leave no stone (magic or otherwise) unturned on the world map and in every town and village you visit. You won’t regret it!
Another welcome addition the Shining Force 2 formula is a leveling and progression system that has been reworked. You will typically gain 2 to 3 points to most attributes upon leveling, up to a hard cap of level 20 before promotion. The way this works is that you cannot promote a character past level 20. You can’t level up either past level 20 pre-promotion. This takes a lot of the needless grinding away. For needless and hopeless perfectionists like myself, this is a welcome addition as this saves a lot of irl time when it comes to building your army up and making each character useful, so the overhaul is greatly appreciated. It's harder for characters to fall behind as well. When you get to level 20 it will be basically pan out so that your stats are virtually identical to what your Level 40 shining force 2 stats would be, pre-promotion.
No more elven village forest leveling is needed for units to remain relevant! WOOHOO!
War of the Gods features new areas, new enemies and new ways the world connects from one edge to the other.
"May your aeries receive you at your journeys end..."
Big Bad is BIG MAD.
This hack is not going to be what you expect which is a quality that I admire most about it. I always felt like it was constantly finding new ways to keep me on my toes and defying my expectations in subtle and direct ways all the while. There are lots of new things to see and do in the world of Grans that will potentially make your time with War of the Gods worthwhile, even if you've spent a lot of time with Shining Force 2 in the past. Shining Force 1 fans should not sleep on this either!
Sir Gandalf... erm, Astral...how could you? ... and do you have more?
Protip: Check everything in this game; every bookshelf, crate... everything. You will be surprised both with what you find and with the changes made to what was already a winning formula in Shining Force 2. There are lots of funny easter eggs, commentary, pop-culture references found in this hack and improvements have been made to the text. What does this mean? The meaning behind the character text has often been improved to clarify the emotions and statements of the corresponding characters to be more relevant and consistent both to the motivations of the characters and to the story.
My man!
Characters will now say things that make more sense, in context, with the spirit of the character and the world that they live in. Bowie talks quite a bit more as well and it's usually pretty amusing.
Verdict? - All of this is fine and dandy, you ask … but is the hack good? Is it worth playing? This is not a hard question for me to answer. If you like Shining Force, as a series, and especially Shining Force 2, then you should absolutely give this hack a shot and see it through to 100 percent completion. A few battles in the hack can be incredibly frustrating but if you are a fan of tactical games that are fast-moving and fun, give this one a try. Don't sleep on this one, Shining Force 1 veterans! I noticed you in the back looking rather sullen but you have nothing to fear! You may find a lot more to like here than you did with the vanilla Shining Force 2. I'd recommend this game particularly to Shining Force enthusiasts and those looking for a legitimate challenge. Give it a try!
Theme: New characters, new weapons, new locations… oh my. What are you waiting for? Go play this already!
... Or Gerhalt will EAT YOU.
I give this a hack 9 Chernobyly thumbs up out of 10.
What can be said about Shining Force 2 that hasn't already been said?
For anyone who enjoys tactical games in the present there is a large chance that your enjoyment of the genre is owed in large part to the masterpieces that came before. Shining force 1 and 2 for example, paved the way for other glorious strategy games to follow. The success and enjoyment of later tactical games can often be attributed to large scale changes to the strategy formula that proved successful and long lasting to the genre. These kinds of changes are often incremental but Shining Force 2 has a formula that still largely remains relevant and that made some pretty big changes at the time of its release. It’s the closest I’ve come to playing a tactical arcade game. The pacing may be the strongest aspect of the game. Gameplay is fast but meaningful. Great progression. Infinitely re-playable. A colorful assortment of characters to constantly be adding to your roster. A soundtrack that absolutely bumps. Gameplay is fast and furious and moving your characters around the battlefield feels easy yet weighty.
Shining Force 2 is not only one of the greatest tactical masterpieces ever made but it is one of the greatest games of all time that improved upon its predecessor in myriad ways... but did you ever get to the end of Shining Force 2 and find yourself wanting more? Well then boy howdy do I have a deal for you today!
Shining Force II, War of the Gods hack, is a noble attempt to blend storyline aspects of Shining Force 1 into Shining Force 2 with varying degrees of success. I feel like the attempt definitely does address some of the main complaints that Shining Force 1 veterans have about Shining Force 2 in that it doesn't do enough to connect the lore of Runefaust with that of Grans. Does it work? It does work for the most part as the hack adds a more cohesive explanation as to how Shining Force 1 and 2 are linked in terms of narrative. One of the main gripes that is often shared about Shining Force 2 is that the story and lore is not as intensive as Shining Force 1. In addressing this, War of the Gods can be looked upon as an expansion upon both worlds.
However, that’s not really what I’ll be focusing on for the purposes of this review. The story to Shining Force 2 has always been a bit blindsided by the excellently fast-paced game design. Where this hack really shines are the new additions made to the shining force roster and the new gameplay additions which take an already stellar game in Shining Force 2 and re-imagine it, taking it into bold new territory. I mean, how do you improve upon perfection? Let’s find out.
War of the Gods hack spins Shining Force 2 on its head and adds a slew of new features and content for all Shining Force veterans to feast upon. Once you start the game you’ll notice that your characters appearances have changed. They now have access to spells that can be cast from a square away from the outset.
Now you can use Sarah to use heal 1 from a square away and not get beaten to a bloody pulp on Super… or so you’d think.
Okay so basically you have your own upgrades and abilities to counter the AI. That's a good thing b/c the AI seems more capable of exploiting weaknesses in your army than in the vanilla Shining Force 2 but you also have new tools and classes to adorn your characters with that even the odds. Enemies have much deadlier weapons to use against you as a result. Your hero will be public enemy number 1 in the eyes of the AI and they will often target weak and squishy characters first. Also keep an eye on agility chickens if you wish to succeed as agility in this hack not only decides a characters turn order, but also their ability to evade attacks and improve the success chance of landing them so I'd advise using quick chickens on a character exclusively if you wish to break the game a bit. hehe.
Make sure you don't get broken yourself though. If you are not careful, your hero will be one shot by a level one magic spell in the opening sequences of the game... not that this has ever happened to me personally. That would be embarrassing.
Upon starting War of the Gods you start learning pretty quickly that this is not simply a reskin for Shining Force 2. Game mechanics have changed. Character and enemy abilities have been reworked so you have to learn how to manage and navigate these changes, or… you can just continue to die over and over again until your self-worth disintegrates. There’s always a choice eh?
I see some of you Shining Force 1 veterans in the audience right now. "So Sarah can heal from one square away with heal 1... so what?", I hear some of your naysayers saying. Well I'm glad you asked! One of the first things you may notice about War of the Gods is that you’re going to need this extra spell-casting space for tactical maneuvering b.c this game doesn’t pull any punches. Magic is king here and the AI knows how to use it. Actually the AI seems vastly improved in this hack. Magic has been devastatingly upgraded and given to many enemies to use against you and the AI will smite you with it should you let down your guard. Now would be a good time to explain that there are magic affinities and weaknesses at work in WotG. Priests are strong against light magic light lightning but weak against other sorcery. Archers are weak against cold spells. Hell a lot of things are weak against freeze so use it judiciously if you get your hands on it. Some trial and error in necessary to determine your strategy. So in short, certain character classes are weak to certain spells. Not anything to genre-bending here though it may feel overwhelming if you are not expecting it. Not to worry.
Anyway, if you have an inkling into the series outside of Shining Force 2 you will be pleasantly surprised by the addition of some familiar faces to the roster. I will not be going over all of those here b.c I don’t wish to rob you, good man or woman, of that wondrous sense of discovery but it's pretty varied. Lots of representation going on here across multiple Shining Force titles. There are also new promotions for characters that expand classes with new abilities and spells that weren't possible in aggregation in the original game.
Overall and IMO the magic has been overpowered a bit too much here with this hack. Some of you will be delighted, others will be confounded. Which camp do you fall under, soldier?
You’ll routinely have your hero one-shot with magic if you are throwing caution to the wind. (Which has totally never happened to me multiple times before.) Physical classes are still relevant but not compared to magic…
That being said physical AND magic classes will have access to new equipment that wasn’t available in Shining Force 2. One of the weaker parts of the equipment system in Shining Force 2 OG was the fact that items often broke after you used them and then would potentially disappear forever and this happened too often. With War of the Gods, that is no longer a concern. Items or equipment that casts spells can be used as much as you care to use them and there is no penalty for doing so. For instance a sword that casts a level 1 blaze spell around an area of 4 squares.. or an ice javelin that can cast freeze 2 can be used over and over. Both of these items must be found within the world as your exploring but you can get access to them relatively early which can give some of your physical attackers the ability to fight fire with freeze… or fire. Or whatever. This is a much needed boost to some of those physical classes we are talking about earlier and end-game, if you acquire the best equipment, there will be little the enemy will be able to do to press their advantages b.c you will have physical attackers who are fully capable of utilizing magic and keeping the opposition honest.
My favorite weapons and items to use in the hack? How about a ring that casts level 4 bolt LOL. Hope you’ve been hoarding your mithril, your dark matter and gold dust (yes these are new additions to the item list) up until you meet the dwarven blacksmith b.c it will change everything. Literally, leave no stone (magic or otherwise) unturned on the world map and in every town and village you visit. You won’t regret it!
Another welcome addition the Shining Force 2 formula is a leveling and progression system that has been reworked. You will typically gain 2 to 3 points to most attributes upon leveling, up to a hard cap of level 20 before promotion. The way this works is that you cannot promote a character past level 20. You can’t level up either past level 20 pre-promotion. This takes a lot of the needless grinding away. For needless and hopeless perfectionists like myself, this is a welcome addition as this saves a lot of irl time when it comes to building your army up and making each character useful, so the overhaul is greatly appreciated. It's harder for characters to fall behind as well. When you get to level 20 it will be basically pan out so that your stats are virtually identical to what your Level 40 shining force 2 stats would be, pre-promotion.
No more elven village forest leveling is needed for units to remain relevant! WOOHOO!
War of the Gods features new areas, new enemies and new ways the world connects from one edge to the other.
This hack is not going to be what you expect which is a quality that I admire most about it. I always felt like it was constantly finding new ways to keep me on my toes and defying my expectations in subtle and direct ways all the while. There are lots of new things to see and do in the world of Grans that will potentially make your time with War of the Gods worthwhile, even if you've spent a lot of time with Shining Force 2 in the past. Shining Force 1 fans should not sleep on this either!
Protip: Check everything in this game; every bookshelf, crate... everything. You will be surprised both with what you find and with the changes made to what was already a winning formula in Shining Force 2. There are lots of funny easter eggs, commentary, pop-culture references found in this hack and improvements have been made to the text. What does this mean? The meaning behind the character text has often been improved to clarify the emotions and statements of the corresponding characters to be more relevant and consistent both to the motivations of the characters and to the story.
Characters will now say things that make more sense, in context, with the spirit of the character and the world that they live in. Bowie talks quite a bit more as well and it's usually pretty amusing.
Verdict? - All of this is fine and dandy, you ask … but is the hack good? Is it worth playing? This is not a hard question for me to answer. If you like Shining Force, as a series, and especially Shining Force 2, then you should absolutely give this hack a shot and see it through to 100 percent completion. A few battles in the hack can be incredibly frustrating but if you are a fan of tactical games that are fast-moving and fun, give this one a try. Don't sleep on this one, Shining Force 1 veterans! I noticed you in the back looking rather sullen but you have nothing to fear! You may find a lot more to like here than you did with the vanilla Shining Force 2. I'd recommend this game particularly to Shining Force enthusiasts and those looking for a legitimate challenge. Give it a try!
Theme: New characters, new weapons, new locations… oh my. What are you waiting for? Go play this already!
I give this a hack 9 Chernobyly thumbs up out of 10.
Pros
- + New friends, new adversaries, new weapons, new promotions, new spells…
Cons
- - Very challenging. Some minor animation artifacts but nothing game-breaking.
9
Gameplay
Fast and frenetic as ever while also being more measured. Integrates some Shining Force 1 mechanics as well while keeping the better parts of Shining Force 2 intact.
8
Graphics
Huge sprawling colorful overworld with quite a few terrain changes. Character sprites and portraits have been reworked in many cases and there are new enemy sprites as well. Looks fantastic!
9
Story
A bold attempt to link Shining Force 1 and 2 in the lore of the game. Well done.
9
Sound
One of the great Genesis soundtracks of its era by the great Motoaki Takenouchi. Time has done nothing to diminish its impact. Sound fx are still a bit grating on the ear but not too bad overall.
8
Replayability
Due to its leveling progression and army maintenance, this game is highly replayable.
9
out of 10
Overall
If you like Shining Force, as a series, and especially Shining Force 2, then you should absolutely give this hack a shot and see it through to 100 percent completion. Beginners may struggle but that's part of the fun! So much to see and do in Grans.
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