Shining in the Darkness (1991) by Climax for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis was one of the first RPGs for the console and the first in Sega's long-running Shining series. Turn-based combat and first-person dungeon crawling put you on a quest to save the Kingdom of Thornwood! (a legend begins thread) - ThreadSky

dungeonbuster.bsky.social • 319 days ago

Shining in the Darkness (1991) by Climax for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis was one of the first RPGs for the console and the first in Sega's long-running Shining series. Turn-based combat and first-person dungeon crawling put you on a quest to save the Kingdom of Thornwood! (a legend begins thread)

1 / 4

Comments

jogurt.x68000fan.com•8 days ago

It took me years to get past the crab in the beginning but once i got the hang of it this quickly became a favorite. Holy Ark perfects the formula. Wish we could get another.

binbowie.bsky.social•8 days ago

This here is one of the grindiest games I've ever played. The spawn rate for enemies is absolutely insane, sometimes you turn once after finishing a battle only to engage in another one immediately.

The game is still fun and worth playing though.

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

In this RPG, you didn't roll up your own party -- friends will join up to help battle your way to rescue a princess, find your father, and confront the wicked Darksol. In many ways, the game felt crafted for players new to RPGs while retaining just enough challenge for veterans.

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

In a 2009 interview, one of the designers, Hiroyuki Takahashi, cited Sir-Tech's Wizardry as inspiration for the game's 'realism' in an effort to evoke the same kind of excitement experienced by exploring its extensive, first-person dungeons and fighting its battles.

spacetalk.bsky.social•319 days ago

It doesn't really get enough credit as an Wizardry-style game, but it got me into the genre, and was a worthy successor to the original Phantasy Star's first person mazes

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

Shining in the Darkness took place in three main locales -- the town, the castle (where you could visit the king and his court), and finally, the first-person dungeon. It was a classic setup that hearkened back to the earliest RPGs such as roguelikes when they supplied only a town and a dungeon.

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

The game also had a number of neat features. One of those was its icon driven interface for interactions in town as well as combat. These icons, like much of the art design in the game, displayed plenty of creativity with small animations that gave the interface plenty of character.

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

Another neat feature was with its spellcasting. As your spells grew in power, you could allocate more magic points into them to increase their strength, similar to what a few other RPGs such as 1990's Wizardry VI had also allowed players to do.

dungeonbuster.bsky.social•319 days ago

The NA ad for Shining in the Darkness boasted its first-person perspective in dungeons that fans of Sega's Phantasy Star may find more than a passing familiarity with. A solid RPG with both critics and fans packed with charm, a deep dungeon, and plenty of monsters for newcomers and veterans alike!

tevor-the-third.bsky.social•8 days ago

I played this for the first time last year. I randomly threw it on one day just to kill twenty minutes, had it in a collection, and wound up going back to it later that day to clear past the first boss.

It's great. It holds up surprisingly well.

It's definitely of it's time but worth a spin 👍

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply