Game

So, Shining Force Gaiden 1 came out, though only in Japan. It was its own concise little story, but before Shining Force II could come out, half a year after the first Gaiden game and only a year after the first Shining Force game, Shining Force Gaiden II came out. It’s a continuation of Gaiden 1, which was technically a sequel and continuation to Shining Force, though the two games are now VERY seperated.

See, Gaiden 1 is about a kingdom, Cypress, that was taken over by an evil demon worshipper. The true king was killed, and the prince fled. Prince Nick is your player character, who seeks help from the forces of Guardiana, the setting of the first game. So you get help from them while also building your own forces from rebels and other people in your shattered kingdom.

Game

At the end, you win, and are reinstated. Like, duh. Spoilers, I guess. In this game, you are playing as soldiers of THAT restored kingdom. Guardiana IS mentioned, as they’re allies. But you only see a single character from Guardiana, and that’s late game, who shows up triumphantly to help you. Most of the time you’re using either new characters, or returning units that Nick found along the way in Gaiden 1.

Game

You are NOT play as Nick though. Nick’s gone off to war with the evil Iom and gotten captured! Instead, you’re playing as… well, that’s difficult. This is the only Shining game with duo protagonists. Your main character, Deanna, is NOT the leader of the Shining Force in this game. Instead, that’s Natasha. Both of you have Egress, and neither get a lot of dialogue or characterization, but Natasha is technically the actual leader, NOT Deanna. Deanna is just a soldier. One who has plot relevence to what’s going on, but just a soldier. This means Natasha is the ONLY female lead in the entire series…. and of course, she’s relegated to co-lead. A shame.

Anyways you may remember that Gaiden 1 did not come out in the US. This one did! So this story was probably VERY confusing to those who played Shining Force and then wanted to play this!

Game

Other than the story, it’s really just more Shining Force Gaiden. Same exact engine and everything. The only gameplay difference is that this one is way, way harder for some god forsaken reason. The reason is very clear, though: There’s a bug. The numbers for damage for level 3 spells are accidentally too high. So late game, when there’s two to three units who can use Frost 3, you BETTER chase them down and blow them up before they can move, because Frost 3 has a very wide space, and it WILL do 50 damage per attack, wiping out entire armies who are max health.

Other than THAT, which was very annoying, it’s an enjoyable game. If you liked Gaiden 1, it’s still worth your time. Though MAYBE just play Shining Force CD.