Shining Resonance Refrain

[Dragon Lord]

Developer: SEGA

Publisher: SEGA of America

Platform: PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Release Date: July 10th, 2018

Genre: Action RPG

Official Website

Sega announced this morning that Shining Resonance Refrain, the remaster of the PS3 RPG that released only in Japan, will come to the West this summer on PlayStation 4.

Shining Resonance originally released in Japan in 2014 as a PS3 title. It’s a traditional RPG with a real-time action battle system and a focus on music with instrument-style weapons an melodic attacks.

As for the remaster, it comes with over 150 DLCs from the original game with new songs and new costumes. There’s a new “Refrain Mode” that throws in a “what if story” featuring featuring Excela Noa Aura and Jenius Aeon who normally don’t join your party.

Find more information about the game at Siliconera.

[Dragon Lord]

Ahhhh! So hyped for this game! Can't wait to play it, though unfortunately it's going to have to wait until I get back from my New York trip. :'( I don't want to play it for a day and then have to wait five days to play it again.

At least I'll get to enjoy looking at my copy when it arrives later today.

[queenzelda]

I actually have plans to get this. I uh, downloaded the Switch demo just to see how the game feels & plays. If I like the Switch demo, I might consider the Nintendo port. BUT, I'm sure Sony will win in the end, I do enjoy my PS4. ^^

[Monocle]

Ahhhh! So hyped for this game! Can't wait to play it, though unfortunately it's going to have to wait until I get back from my New York trip. :'( I don't want to play it for a day and then have to wait five days to play it again.

At least I'll get to enjoy looking at my copy when it arrives later today.

Play at my place!

[Grungie]

I might pick this up, I haven't played a Shining game since Shining Force 2

[Dragon Lord]

Ahhhh! So hyped for this game! Can't wait to play it, though unfortunately it's going to have to wait until I get back from my New York trip. :'( I don't want to play it for a day and then have to wait five days to play it again.

At least I'll get to enjoy looking at my copy when it arrives later today.

Play at my place!

Hell no. First of all, you've already started it, so spoilers for me. Second of all, none of the progress I'd make playing at your place would matter, since I'd have to do it all over again once I got home.

Plus I'll be too busy making you play Dark Souls so I can laugh at how much of a scrub you are every time you die.

[Monocle]

Ahhhh! So hyped for this game! Can't wait to play it, though unfortunately it's going to have to wait until I get back from my New York trip. :'( I don't want to play it for a day and then have to wait five days to play it again.

At least I'll get to enjoy looking at my copy when it arrives later today.

Play at my place!

Hell no. First of all, you've already started it, so spoilers for me. Second of all, none of the progress I'd make playing at your place would matter, since I'd have to do it all over again once I got home.

Plus I'll be too busy making you play Dark Souls so I can laugh at how much of a scrub you are every time you die.

You could just play on your own account on my PS4 and upload your save. 

You'll never go back home then because you'll die from all the laughter.

[Dragon Lord]

That sounds like way too much work. Plus I have to finish Atelier Lydie and Suelle before I even think of starting Shining Resonance. Can't have too many games going on at once, or else it'll slow down completion times for them. Unlike you, I'd rather finish a game before starting another, rather than have 50 unfinished games that will never actually get completed.

[Monocle]

That sounds like way too much work. Plus I have to finish Atelier Lydie and Suelle before I even think of starting Shining Resonance. Can't have too many games going on at once, or else it'll slow down completion times for them. Unlike you, I'd rather finish a game before starting another, rather than have 50 unfinished games that will never actually get completed.

You're just mad that I have more experience under my belt. 

But I literally only did the prologue so I have no idea what's going on

[Monocle]

So this ended up being super mediocre. It definitely feels like a budget game and this is after being ported. Battles are repetitive and side quests are grindy for no reason. I mean I'm not disappointed because I want too excited, didn't even play the demo, but I can imagine those who wanted it more than I being let down.

[queenzelda]

I got this game used, so I'm glad I saved some bucks by going that route if ShiningRR is mehish.

[Dragon Lord]

So this ended up being super mediocre. It definitely feels like a budget game and this is after being ported. Battles are repetitive and side quests are grindy for no reason. I mean I'm not disappointed because I want too excited, didn't even play the demo, but I can imagine those who wanted it more than I being let down.

Yeah, it's unfortunate how shallow the game turned out to be. The combat lacks any real depth and doesn't gain any at any point in the story, and the lack of any difficulty renders any real thought into how you play worthless. Then dating elements are pretty shallow as well. Getting a wrong choice during a date scene hardly matters, as you can just get that date scene again another time and pick the right answer. The fact that all of the dating/bonding scenes are repeatable also takes away from that element of the game as well.

Quests are one of the bigger disappointments. The fact that they are repeatable and rarely offer a reward of any value just makes them feel like a complete waste of time. Especially the item requests that require a rare item found in the field, but offer basic items that are definitely not worth the time taken to gather five of a material that could take you 30+ minutes to get.

The story doesn't offer much either. Most scenes are extremely short and the progression of the game is, "Let's go to this place. Alright, now let's go to that place." just makes progressing through the game feel like an absolute slog. It doesn't help that aside from a consumable item to teleport you back to town, there is no fast travel, and the game will require you to go quite a ways out of town, then have you return to town only to tell you to go back to the place you just were immediately after returning to town.

I was very hyped for the game, it looked like it had what it would need to be a great experience. Unfortunately this is a case of looks can be deceiving, and the game has ended up being one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me. A huge shame, because I wanted to love it.