Shine On

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Sega is really doing itself a disservice through not re-releasing some of the Saturn games. We can get Playstation1 games off the PSN and N64 games off the Virtual Console so why not the Saturn games? I hear stuff like the Saturn’s complex circuitry makes for a difficult emulation and the difficulty of obtaining rights to certain games as many developers who worked for Saturn have scattered into different avenues but I don’t know: All I know is that within the Saturn library there were more than a few diamonds in the rough and it would be a travesty to have them claimed by the march of time and not preserved for future generations. What’s so wrong about making Saturn games readily available? Surely doing so may recoup some financial losses for Sega? Indeed, I like to imagine that Nintendo/Square being initially reluctant to finally release Chrono Trigger for Australian gamers via the Virtual Console – only to be surprised when it turned out to be a big seller.

But I digress. Whilst there are a number of Saturn games I myself would like to play, there are two in particular: Panzer Dragoon Saga (which now looks set to forever be the Holy Grail of gaming) and Shining Force 3. I’ve played, and enjoyed, the Shining Force games on the Megadrive so I really want to play SF3. I've seen footage on youtube and I've seen how it works in 3d, the improved mechanics and the new features added to the formula. Plus the opening cinematic shows a lot of promise and indeed makes me even more keen to play it:

But what intrigues me the most about Shining Force 3 is it's sense of ambition. For those not in the know, Shining Force 3 was split into three separate scenarios that were available separately. Getting all three of them will ultimately tell a story all the way through. Scenario 1 introduced a guy named Synbios as he leads an army into a war as his home, the nation of Aspinia, is threatened by the neighboring nation of Destonia. Scenario 2 then introduces a second army, lead by a guy named Medion and tells the conflict through the eyes of the Destonians. And in the third scenario, another army is introduced, led by a guy named Julian, and eventually accumulates with all three armies recognizing the real threat and joining forces to stop it. It was an ambitious game and, in a way, years ahead of it's time: Throughout certain points in the scenarios, the player had to make decisions that could effect outcomes in the future.

So yes I would really like to play Shining Force 3 - I like the series, I like RPGs and Strategy games so a combination of the two sounds sweet as and the ambitious nature of the game is certainly worth a look. But with no interest from Sega to resurrect their Saturn games (despite strong interest from the fans) it looks set to remain lost to the ravages of time. Which is shame because, from a narrative perspective, I personalty feel that the idea of playing through three separate casts of characters only to have them converge is an idea that has potential. But does anyone think so?

Apparently so.
You see in recent weeks, I've heard that Bioware is busy with working on Dragon Age 3. In this early stage they have stated that this is a new story featuring a completely new player character. But whilst Hawke and the Warden from Origins may not be playable characters there does exists the possibility that they may turn up.
It may be a bit of a stretch but hearing this news reminded me of the the three separate scenarios of Shining Force 3 and how putting them all together told a story of three forces fighting many battles before uniting together. I mean who wouldn't want to make decisions one game that will effect another party in the next game? Who wouldn't want to see familiar faces appear across a number of games in different roles? Who wouldn't want to see party characters from three games interact with each other? (Aveline clashing with Morrigan? Hell yes).

So I guess whilst the Saturn games may never be dusted off and reissued to the public, that's not to say that the ideas behind them can be dusted off and given a new coat of paint.
It may not be much but it'll do.