Looking back at my glowing review for Shining Force EXA, the thought occurred to me that perhaps I wasn't appreciative enough. Granted, it heavily reuses assets that were introduced in Neverland's previous foray into the world of Shining Force, but a good game is more than just that. It's the arrangement of those assets, the tricky balance of juggling multiple character-building currencies, and creating scenarios that keep players not just engaged but having fun. Let's be real here, engagement and entertainment are very different from each other. Engagement is the sunk cost fallacy. Continuing to invest all of one's time and resources into something that brings them no joy, simply because they've invested so much already. That's how Shining Force Neo functions. It starts off generously, giving you the special feelings that can only come from watching numbers rise into the thousands and beyond. However, the more time you give it, what once felt like a refreshing waterfall has become a leaky rusted faucet.
Much like Neverland's other Action-RPGs, this relies on a handful of subsystems to determine the protagonist's level of power. Max is the typical heroic type who has family problems, a childhood friend that he's all but guaranteed to marry, a strong sense of justice, etc. He's also unique in the sense that he isn't just some guy who swings swords really well. I mean, he can be if you build him that way, but maybe you have a preferred job for him, such as mage or archer. This is, of course a departure from EXA, which split the fighter and mage into two different characters. Here, you can master specific abilities to become the greatest warrior, wizard, or whatever you feel is necessary for the next battle. There is a sense of fluidity to your build, often dictated by whatever you're facing. Enemies tend to focus on either physical attacks or magical spells, and there are strategies for dealing with both.
The hero's level is only a small part of their strength, so again you'll have to rely on mythril to purchase all of the boosts to attack power, maximum HP, spell resistance, and those all-important -killers. In this game however, the chunks of ore you come across are referred to as energy. They're what remains of the gates that Legions (bug-like creatures) use to send monsters from their dimension to practically anywhere in the Shining Force multiverse. These monster gates are placed throughout each map. You destroy the nearby foes to weaken the gate's shield, then eliminate the gate itself to receive energy, equipment, and force arts. Force Arts are basically the monoliths from the other Neverland games I've already covered, except they're carried in your inventory. Bring them to a strange individual at your base to learn new abilities and strengthen existing ones.
I'm not sure why the game went with energy instead of mythril. Maybe it's a half-assed justification for not having deposits of the stuff everywhere that you look. This energy is so scarce that pretty much the only way to acquire any is from interdimensional portals or stuffed in the nether regions of some fiend that traveled through them. Mainly what I'm saying here is that the energy economy is horseshit. It's not uncommon for Max and his compatriots to slay 30+ monsters, close a gate, and get rewarded with pebbles. If you're trying to build up a specific ability, then you have to farm gates.
Each area that you'll be exploring tends to offer little in the way of unique circumstances or worthwhile treasures. To put it another way, if you've ever played a dungeon crawler that's a deluge of mazes, hallways, random encounters, and naught else, then Shining Force Neo is the button-bashing equivalent. Instead of finding anything unique or inventive, you'll be treated to monster gates, and more monster gates. When Shining Force Neo actually tries something different, it's like getting snapped out of a stupor, but it never lasts for more than a moment or two. If it's not a gate, then it's a boss monster. Several bosses tend to be invulnerable until all nearby mobs are defeated. EXA does something similar but isn't foolish enough to spawn dozens of fiends to waste the player's time.
With all the gear that you're selling, you'd think something could be done with the hefty wad of cash in your bank account. Well, if you're willing to part with a couple million, then you can upgrade your equipment... once. With as much Max is paying him, the blacksmith could put the entire world's population through Shining University and build a continent out of gold. I don't want to turn this review into just "look how much better EXA is!" but some points must be continually hammered. It shouldn't cost three million to bring a sword from +4 to +5. That doesn't make any sense no matter how fucked the economy is.
Eventually, you're going to start hitting points where the enemies are hitting a little too hard, and it's not because you took a wrong turn and arrived in an optional endgame area. This is where the game becomes an ugly grind. Whether or not we're willing to admit it, all Action RPGs are a grind. What makes the grind ugly is when you have to leave a floor, re-enter it, and kill all of the monsters that respawned. I did a lot of ugly grinding back when I was deep into Diablo 2 and Phantasy Star Online, but at least those games had rare drops or other niceties to flick my "hell yeah!" switch. What does Shining Force Neo have? Mostly useless equipment, completely useless cash, and miniscule crumbs of not-mythril. Oh, but first I have to slay three respawning armies.
As for Max, he's lost somewhere in the desert with his girlfriend and some guy named Rhinos. In one direction there are eight schools of fire-spitting seagulls. In the other? An endless fountain of sandworms. It costs half a bar of MP just to erase some of these mobs, and the 100k that was sunk into MP generation hasn't made a difference. I feel bad leaving them there, but I'm at my limit. Real shame too, since clearly a lot of effort was put into the character work. The script is decently schlocky and voiced by all-star voice actors putting in great work. Unfortunately, everybody is trapped in a bad game. Perhaps the first couple hours are fine, but it dips to mediocre, then in-offensive, then intolerable. I imagine that if I actually managed to finish Shining Force Neo, I'd be reduced to an inescapable void of misery, and I'd at least like to pretend that I'm not already there.
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