Continuing the theme of anime RPG’s for the month of August, let’s take a look at the RPG that basically got me interested in the Shining Series of games, Shining Resonance: Refrain. This particular entry into the franchise was Published by Sega and released for Japan only in 2014 on the Playstation 3, but was released worldwide July 10th, 2018 on all three major consoles and Steam simultaneously.
Before I dive into the review, I wish to state this is merely my opinion of this and no one else’s, because this game has some major flaws to it for a Shining series game.
Story: In the land of Astoria, a war rages between the Astorian Knights and the ever-threatening Empire lead by the Princess of the Empire, Excella Noa Aura, who happens to be in command of the legendary Dracomachina. The story follows one Yuma Illvern who was imprisoned in the empire’s research facility, Gaelritz Prison and the fact he holds a legendary dragon of his own within him, the Shining Dragon whose body was split into 8 different weapons of legend. Each one is given to what is known as a Dragoneer who commands and wields the weapons with exceptional skill except for Yuma who wields his own unique blade, the Vanderhorn.
Together with the other Dragoneers, Yuma sets out to save the land of Astoria and along the way learn the hidden mystery of the Shining Dragon and his legendary power, which he cannot control.
Gameplay: Being the latest in the Shining series, the gameplay is different than one might expect. Combat in the game is more combo-oriented and requires precise timings to be known as it teaches in the in-game tutorial chapter. The combat system is easy to learn but difficult to master since there are precise timings with each character that has to be known to keep the flow of combos going. Before even starting the game, you get a choice of the new mode, Refrain mode which adds Excella and Jinas as playable characters, but in the normal game they are locked to post-game rewards, this adds two different styles of gameplay to an already diverse game.
With the combo system and the B.A.N.D system, combat is fun, fast and frenetic but sometimes boring. The issue is that you are able to overwhelm your opponents in combat with a few quick button presses which become kind of boring after a while. Overall the gameplay is a middle-of-the-road experience, not enjoyable, but not boring enough to drive one away.
Audio: The most notable department in-game is the audio, as it has some prominent upsides to it, one being Excella’s English VA, Brina Palencia. Other in-game characters are done well enough to give a passing grade to them but the ones I don’t think are quite right are the main character Yuma and a certain other side character who is revealed via gameplay later down the line, Agnum. Otherwise, I think they selected a half-decent cast for the game’s English translation.
Again this game’s strongest department is probably its audio with a good solid VA cast to it and the fact the English translation of the story is very well done with the material they were given.
Overall: Shining Resonance: Refrain is by no means a perfect game, however, it’s not a bad game either. A half-decent story, good graphics and a strong audio department lend themselves well to its positive rating, would I recommend this game to long-time fans of the series, probably only if you are looking for an RPG that is simple and fast-paced. An entry that is middle of the road and rightfully so, for most die-hard fans of RPGs and the series as a whole.