Regardless of my own delusional fight against time, it has indeed been 11 years since we last saw SEGA’s Shining series properly in the West, with the PlayStation 2’s Shining Force EXA being the then-apparent swan song. Since its departure from Western stores, SEGA’s classic RPG series has been prosperous in its homeland of Japan, not just as an RPG, but even dipping its toes into arcade games and fighting games. Those without the ability to import, and/or read Japanese were deprived of 12 games, despite an outcry from fans for each one of them to make the journey overseas.

However, with the current boom in Japanese games coming over that SEGA has played a huge role in, it seemed like only a matter of time before Shining, like Yakuza before it, made another attempt to break into the West, and finally that time has come.

Was Shining Resonance Refrain worth the decade-long wait?

First things first

Shining Resonance Refrain is a remaster of 2014’s Shining Resonance, coming to the West complete with a full English localization, to include voice acting, two new playable characters, a new side story, and practically all of the original game’s DLC available right from the start.

The game’s story centers around a mystical kingdom with princesses, witches, dragons and outfits and weapons that make no sense within the time period the rest of the setting draws inspiration from. Par for the course, and if you’ve ever played an RPG, you already know what to expect. The most interesting thing the setting does is tie everything to a musical theme.

The characters’ weapons double as musical instruments called “armonics” and range from a bow as a harp, all the way to the Gene Simmons’ special, an electric guitar that doubles as a battle axe. The full-party power up attack is called a B.A.N.D. Session – a buff-granting musical performance powered by a BPM gauge. The theme even factors into one of my favorite small details in the game, as the victory fanfare changes depending on who you have in your party, almost as if the characters are playing the fanfare themselves.

It can come off as hokey at first, especially if you’re like me and not exactly a fan of medieval things, but I generally enjoyed the game’s setting. Having music play such a role in the game’s theming helps a ton, as it’s not something I’m personally used to seeing outside of the rhythm genre. It also doesn’t hurt that the game has a fairly lovely cast of characters.

Let’s start a B.A.N.D.

While no one made me freak out and claim them to be the best character ever, there’s not a bad one in the bunch. They’re all mostly well written and acted, with Max Mittelman’s Agnum (pictured above) and Patrick Seitz’s King Arnold topping the list. Tony Taka’s character designs are also on point, and even mostly practical to boot! Shocking, given his … erm … typical works. Don’t search his name at work, is all I’m sayin’.

Aesthetically, Shining Resonance Refrain translates pretty well to the current generation. While screenshots don’t exactly do it much justice, due to heavy motion blur, it does look rather nice in action. There are some beautiful visuals to be seen, but it’s not exactly perfect. Most models, especially the main characters, have been bumped up quite a bit for the PS4 and look fantastic, but some of the monsters and environments have not, including some of the worst foliage I’ve ever seen in a game. Which, come to think of it, might the nitpickiest thing I’ve ever said. In any case, it can lead to some uncanny valley moments at times, but it’s not a deal breaker.

There are some performance issues as well. For the most part, the game runs at a fairly smooth framerate. However, further into the game, I experienced very noticeable framerate drops during battle, especially when using Agnum’s magic attacks. Considering this is the character I ran the most through the campaign, this got quite annoying over time. Once again, not exactly a deal breaker, and I learned to live with it, but definitely confusing considering the power of today’s hardware.

If there’s anything truly disappointing about the game’s aesthetics, it’s the music. It’s strange, given the game’s use of music as a main storytelling theme, but none of the music really stands out as memorable. It’s not particularly bad in any way, far from it actually, but it does end up becoming white noise after in even the most tense of encounters. About the only things that really stand out are the J-pop image songs for the dragons themselves, if only because of the hilarious idea that this happy, poppy music causes the most hardened of knights to lose all their composure.

But how does it play?

And that brings us to the meat of the game, how does it play? Honestly, it’s games like this that are the hardest to write about. Shining Resonance Refrain is simply a solid action RPG that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it botch and turn the wheel into a triangle. It feels rather similar to Valkyria Revolution in that regard. My time with that game was mostly enjoyable, but it wasn’t something I was clamoring to go back to after all was said and done. It’s the same deal here. The game is solid, inoffensive and succeeds in making each character play uniquely, but it’s ultimately forgettable when you’re done.

For those who want to jump in due to the social link aspects of the game, you won’t find a ton to work with here. It’s cool that the game allows you to pick specific character traits for each party member, turning their relationship values into several different buffs on the battlefield, but aside from that, night events, dates, and romances are as basic as you can get, and don’t really mean much once you’ve done one or two of them.

The most positive thing I can really say about the gameplay as a whole is that it’s easy to get lost in. I would sit down to play a few minutes, maybe walk around and grind some levels while waiting on a snack to cook or something, and later find myself wondering why it’s 3 a.m. and my noodles are cold. It never felt annoying to grind in like many JRPGs, and the ease of combat mixed with serene environments, interesting setting and likable characters made it a very relaxing game to play at the end of a long day.

Summary

At the end of the day, I’m not sure if Shining Resonance Refrain is the game fans of the series waited 11 years for. Its by the book gameplay mixed with a few little issues don’t particularly make it a must buy for everyone. But if you’re looking for a story with an interesting setting and theme, or you’re just into JRPGs in general, it’s worth a shot. Especially given its wallet-friendly $50 price tag.

It’s a great base to build off of. I just hope it’s not another decade before we see a Shining game in the West again.

PROS

• An interesting theme with some wonderfully written and designed characters to go with it
• Full English dub with generally quality voice acting
• Very easy to pick up and play, and easy to relax with as well
• Extra bonuses like new characters and story arcs make it worth picking up for new fans and those who imported the original alike

CONS

• Inconsistent levels of visual polish, with great character models paired with at times iffy environments and creatures
• Music is mostly forgettable, which is disappointing in a game themed around music
• Gameplay is solid, but not something that encourages much replay value after beating the game
• Relationships have no real lasting effect, for those into the dating sim aspect

Coming hot off the heels of Najd’s reveal a couple weeks ago, SNK and Atlus finally took the veil off of the final silhouette for this year’s King of Fighters XIV character DLC, and it’s someone fans have been clamoring for for awhile.

In a blog post from SNK’s Yasuyuki Oda on the official PlayStation blog, it was revealed that Blue Mary is set to make her long-awaited return next week, alongside Heidern, Oswald, and the aforementioned Najd, when KOFXIV‘s 3.00 patch goes live on April 12th. Initially debuting in Fatal Fury 3, Blue Mary’s popularity in that series led to her making her King of Fighters debut in KOF ’97, where she’d been a mainstay up until the series’ leap to the PS3. While she made cameo appearances in XIII and XIV‘s story modes, this is her first playable appearance since The King of Fighters XI on PlayStation 2.

While I’m a little sad the final character wasn’t someone like Ash or Elisabeth, Mary looks as fun as ever in the trailer above, and definitely the most interesting of the returning characters in this pack. Anyone else excited to pick her back up? Let us know in the comments below!

This morning, Atlus broadcasted a “Persona Series Latest Work Special Stream” where several announcements regarding Persona 3 Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5 Dancing Star Night were made. Firstly, the trailer above, narrated by Persona music legend Lotus Juice, shows off more of the games, such as the differences in layouts, some new songs and costumes, and some footage of Elizabeth in P3D and the twins Caroline and Justine in P5D.

But the most interesting announcements came later, as we got our first DLC character reveals for both games.

To the surprise of mostly no one, Shinjiro “Shinji” Aragaki and Goro “Pancake Fiend” Akechi will be joining the rosters of P3D and P5D, respectively. While some, including myself, believe they should be base game content, being main characters and all, it’s still nice to see them finally included in the mix. Also adding to the “no big surprise” pile are Velvet Room Attendant Theodore from Persona 3, and a massive spoiler character from Persona 5 joining their respective titles.

The big surprises however are the returns of Labrys and Sho Minazuki from Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Ultimax. Labrys will join her sister Aigis on the Persona 3 side, while Sho will join the Persona 5 side of the equation. The latter is intriguing, as Persona 4 Ultimax dataminers found files that referred to Sho as “P5Hero”. While this ultimately never came to fruition, could Sho still have a link to the P5 story after all?

In any case, no further announcements were made as far as release dates or what songs would be coming with these characters, nor gameplay footage shown, but we’re getting closer to the release of both games in Japan, with a western release date still to be determined, so we’ll likely hear something soon.

The King of Fighters XIV has been one of the most underrated fighters of the last couple years. Despite some at-times suspect netcode, it boasts some of the best fighting, most variety, and one of the largest rosters of the generation. And that roster just got a little bit bigger.

Today, SNK and Atlus revealed the first trailer for Saudi Arabian fighter, Najd. Najd is the result of a contest held in 2017 to design a new KOF character, which was won by a Saudi artist named BMashael. Najd’s flashy fighting style is assisted by a djinn named Halek, and her flames have a striking resemblance to Ash Crimson’s green flames from the previous story arc, not to mention an unintentional similarity to Terumi’s Ouroboros snakes from the BlazBlue series.

Najd is set to release in April 2018, alongside Heidern, Oswald, and a still silhouetted fourth DLC character, as well as a new stage set in the character and creator’s homeland of Saudi Arabia.

I gotta say, I’m pretty excited to try her out. The newcomers to KOFXIV so far have been wonderful, and if she plays as well as she looks, she’s going to be well worth the money when she drops. Check her out in the video above, and let us know what you think in the comments.

If you’d asked a fair amount of people which Atlus titles would be decent candidates for current-gen remakes, chances are, Radiant Historia probably wouldn’t have made their top five. Originally released in 2011 towards the end of the Nintendo DS’ life cycle, the time-hopping, desertification-preventing adventure of Stocke and Co. won favor with critics and hardcore fans but generally flew under most folks’ radars. My own included, sad to say.

But, in a rare second chance to make a first impression, Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology has arrived on the Nintendo 3DS. Armed with new modes and story content, and coming off one of Atlus’ most successful years, Perfect Chronology looks to keep their momentum going and break out the way its past self never could.

Style Over Substance

Now, as mentioned above, I never played the original DS release, so I can’t fully compare the two versions on any other merit aside from aesthetics. That being said, there’s not a huge amount of difference between the 2011 and 2018 releases in that department. Naturally, the 3DS version does take advantage of that system’s higher processing power, and the game does look crisper as a result, but if you’re expecting a bigger leap like some of Atlus’ other “enhanced re-releases” boasted, you may be a little disappointed. In fact, the only real difference visually is the gorgeous new artwork used for story scenes and lifebar portraits.

The audio mostly follows the same “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality, as the legendary Yoko Shimomura’s score from the original is completely untouched. In this case, it’s completely understandable, as her work here is some of her best. However, one huge and welcome change is the addition of full English voice acting for most of the cast, alongside an improved translation. Considering that some of Atlus’ smaller scale releases have had iffy localizations over the last couple years, it’s pretty refreshing to see them get back on track and go above and beyond on this one.

“Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology is at least worth dusting off your 3DS one more time for.”

When the Frustration Sets In

However, the gameplay is where things start to fall off a little bit. The time travel mechanics are interesting and provide a ton of replay value, but it does get frustrating often watching the same scenes over and over just for tiny differences. And while I’ve seen many praise the combat system, being far more strategic than most turn-based Japanese RPGs usually are, it does lose its luster after about 15-20 hours in, and eventually turns into an outright bore.

That being said, one of the big additions to this Perfect Chronology release is “Friendly” difficulty, which gets rid of combat altogether and effectively turns the game into a visual novel. So, if you’re like me, not particularly feeling the gameplay, but still interested in the story and characters, that’s the mode for you.

Summary

Add in new dungeons, a completely new scenario for old-school fans, and a host of other little creature comforts that the DS version couldn’t provide, and you’ve got yourself a quality re-release.

It may not exactly be perfect like it’s name suggests, and it might be a good idea to wait on a price drop, but Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology is at least worth dusting off your 3DS one more time for.

PROS

• Longtime fans of the original are rewarded with brand new story content
• Friendly difficulty setting makes it easier for those just wanting to experience the unique story
• Having a full English dub goes above and beyond what was expected for the localization
• One of Yoko Shimomura’s finest soundtracks

CONS

• Not as touched up as some of Atlus’ previous 3DS re-releases
• Combat system can get very repetitive, very quickly
• So can watching multiple cutscenes over and over just for slight changes

Remember when we used to have to beg for Sega to release Yakuza titles in the west? Seems farfetched nowadays, with Zero and Kiwami released in the past year, and Yakuza 6 just around the bend. It’s been a banner year for the series, and tonight, it was revealed that the Year of the Dragon’s been extended a little longer.

At tonight’s Yakuza 6: Essence of Art grand opening in Los Angeles, Sega formally announced the localization of Yakuza Kiwami 2, with a release date of August 28th, 2018. For those just getting up to speed, Kiwami 2 is a remake of Yakuza 2, which is considered by many to be the best story in the series, using Yakuza 6‘s Dragon Engine. Kiwami 2 also adds a brand new side-story starring Goro Majima to the mix, as well as bringing back Yakuza 6‘s Clan Creator minigame, this time featuring New Japan Pro Wrestling legends such as Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro “How Has He Not Been In RGG Sooner” Chono as the rival squad.

The game will be releasing in both regular and Steelbook variants, with preorders opening at a soon to be determined date. No price point was announced, but if it follows Kiwami‘s $30 USD price point, Kiwami 2 will be an absolute steal when it releases.

More information and screenshots can be found on Sega’s official Yakuza Kiwami 2 website.