A young lad takes up arms with his trusty companions to stop an evil kingdom from reviving a dark dragon… stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Strategy RPGs aren’t my cup of tea, but Shining Force managed to be fun, if frustrating. The lack of permadeath means all your hard work isn’t wasted, unlike a certain SRPG series. Battles are tough if you don’t grind, but that’s why Egress exists: you can leave and restart the battle while retaining valuable experience. Shining Force enemy AI is pretty dumb and you’re at the mercy of the RNG (darn flying units!) Still, mowing down foes with a centaur gunner, a dragon, a wolfman, bird people, mages, gladiators, and the like is pretty awesome. To conclude, remember these words: he who grinds and Egresses away, may live to grind another day.
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Bluesky as @gameswithcoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
