Just realized I goofed and showed the wrong footage towards the end when I mention how cool the skeleton encounter animation is. My bad! But we'll treat it as an incentive to play and see it for yourself.
Shining in the Darkness was revelatory when I first played it. The presentation just blew away anything I had seen on the NES, or even the SNES. Glad to see another of the more underrated games get some attention!
I played Holy Ark back when it was released on the Saturn. When Golden Sun came out, I recognised the similarities straight away. I love both games, but Holy Ark is easily my favourite. I would absolutely recommend any fans of Golden Sun to check it out. The game has an incredible atmosphere that's both creepy and mysterious. There's something really unnerving and eerie about the dungeons that I find hard to put into words, but I think it has a lot to do with the first-person camera and the seamless transition of combat, along with the music (same composer as Golden Sun). The deeper you head into a dungeon, the more vulnerable you feel as your resources begin to run low and there's the ever-present threat that something might jump out at you with every step that you take. There are other things that I'd like to mention, but I wouldn't want to spoil them for anybody experiencing the game for the first time.
It's amazing for me as I did own a Sega Saturn as a kid and did play Shining The Holy Ark as well, plus owned it. I've always been into RPGs, and Shining The Holy Ark is still a favorite and reviewed good even after all these years. The only problem with it is being released and exclusive for the Sega Saturn, which has an interesting story about it overall and over time. Sega Saturn wasn't really a hit outside of Japan and did poorly, but this game has done so well, plus all the games Camelot, who were known as Sonic Software Planning, made before and after this game, but it's a game that's part of the "Shining" series, games that began with Shining and made by Camelot...or Sonic Software Planning. Honestly there are things to this day that are debated on forums and online groups or chat sites, but nothing is really shown about it besides some play throughs, and even there's more to this game than what's mentioned. This is a game that should be remade or re-released to people to play or try because as simple as it is, it's also complex...it's amazing after years there's plenty of things to discuss, debate, recall, and look at in this game. Honestly, I'd love a remake of this game and others in the "Shining" series, because they're all interesting.
I haven't played Shining Force III yet but have played Shining the Holy Ark recently and really loved it. I have heard the protagonist in Shining Force III is the boy in the town in Shining the Holy Ark who, if I remember correctly, has lost his father who went to the aborigine mansion (weird name) . I watched your video in two sessions so forgive me if I missed it but did you not explain the 'directional' aspect of the pixies which relates to where the enemies appear from? It made the game 'crawling' so thrilling. I played it on a real console so when an enemy was about to appear the saturn would start to whirl and make a noise which upped the anticipation. I love the enemy design. They almost look like clay models. Wild designs in a pre-rendered style. Music is amazing too, listen to it a lot.
I might have learned about this game from Project COE too. I remember watching all their Sega Saturn videos. Quality content, I wish they continued with 'Saturnday'
When I got a Japanese Saturn a little over a year ago, Holy Ark and Christmas NiGHTS were the first two games I got for it! I was mainly interested in it as the successor to Shining in the Darkness, and thought Holy Ark improved on Darkness in every way. My copy was in Japanese, but the icon menus actually go a long way towards making the gameplay more import friendly! You can visually distinguish your items and spells, as in it shows a picture of a sword, an herb, etc. In terms of the story, I watched RUclips playthroughs to see the cutscenes in English. It was a great way to save a few hundred dollars over an English copy.
That's a great way to play it! I've been playing saturn stuff on my Android recently, makes me wish there were official Saturn ports on Steam or Switch.
Shining Force 3 is the best game Camalot ever made. Feels like Golden Sun mixed with Fire Emblem. I think Nintendo RPG fans will love all of Camalot's RPG offerings before Golden Sun. Shining the Holy Ark is a prequel to SF3, and yea the alien concept is weird, but it does work. Great video.
I'm really glad I was able to keep Shining the Holy Ark and Shining Force III from my old Sega Saturn collection. If you liked the Golden Sun games (like I did), you'll be more than happy with these titles too. Unfortunately, they are extremely expensive.
Kind of random, but another interesting comparison I've been thinking about lately: Dungeon crawlers and MMOs are probably my 2 favorite game genres. FFXI is my favorite and most played game of all time, and recently I got sucked back into it for like the millionth time lol (loved both your FFXI and Wizardry videos btw). This got me thinking about why exactly I love it so much, and I realized it shares a lot of similarities to some of my favorite old school dungeon crawlers... * Large selection of classes with complex mechanics (even with job mixing via the subjob system, which is a very old school Wizardry vibe) * Party-based gameplay with intricate interactions/synergies (the Trust system really enhances this aspect of the game imho, since you can easily experiment between your class and the party around you now, and it feels more like you have a party of your own) * Varied dungeon environments which include mazes/puzzles/keys/etc. And even loot chests/coffers :) * Bosses and superbosses and "post game" content galore * Excellent itemization including unique endgame equipment to pursue (I recognize this could be applied to many RPGs, regardless it's something I look for in a good DRPG for sure) * General difficulty and complexity that requires planning, research, and some level of knowledge/dedication to be successful * Solid old-school level and loot grinding!!! * Etc etc etc....
These are great observations! I totally agree--so many of the best DRPG elements show up in MMOs, especially older MMOs like FFXI! I actually once considered making a FFXI DRPG fan game set in Qufim/Delkfutt's tower haha.
Imma say it, more games need collectible spirits that level up abilities. The Djinns were my fav parts for Golden sun. Awesome vid, i now will most certainly not go emulate this game 👀
This looks like a fantastic RPG that I’d like to get around to one day. I had tried out one of the Shining Force games on the Genesis Mini, but it just felt a little too primitive. This one looks like much more of a classic game. Definitely noticed the similarities with Golden Sun’s dialog boxes/menu/combat. It’s too bad that the overworld is just point-to-point, because I love how it looks! Great video 😎 Probably would have never heard of this game otherwise!
@@TheCrawl I just can’t believe many similarities there are between this and Golden Sun - especially the sprites. I think being on the Saturn is probably the only reason this is a fairly unknown game.
Agreed! I was surprised I had never heard of Holy Ark before. It's obviously not going to satisfy the same story/lore as Golden Sun, but the gameplay, music, and art are spot on. But it's also just an fun game in it's own right. I hope it gets a port one day, it really deserves a larger audience.
Wow. This video is well done and I didn't knew Shining and Golden Sun shared the same developers. Now for Shining Holy Ark, I want to play it but the catch is that I need a Sega Saturn. And emulation still has a long way to go for it. So I'll settle with the other games till then.
Saturn emulation is great on PC and Android these days! That's how I played this game and Panzer Dragoon Saga, Gundam Side Story, Dungeon Master Nexus, and several other games over the past few years. I used mednafen and Yabause on PC, and Yaba Sanshiro on Android.
That's a shame. It works perfectly on Mednafen (on Retroarch it's called the Beetle Saturn core). Sega is slowly releasing Saturn games too I think. We had a Panzer Dragoon remake, and they have hinted at wanting to make Saturn minis, etc.
Amazing video! So I played Shining Force 3 back in the day and loved it to the point where I imported scn. 2 and 3. Anyway I also played Golden Sun on the GBA a few years later. Whilst I was aware of StHA I never actually played it. A week ago I finally after 20+ years got my hands on a copy and started the first dungeon and I must say the links and similiarities with both of the aforementioned games (some of my favourites of all time) are striking as you say here. Also, completely agree with your question 'why isn't this replicated in other games!'. I think about this in 2 other games. Why has no other strategy RPG copied SF3s mix of free-roaming in different cities/fields before a battle so it feels like a moving campaign that drives the story forward? Why has no game copied Panzer Dragoon Saga's smooth flying battle system that was a joy to play. I fear the obscurity of these games (and some on the Dreamcast probably, though I am less familiar) buried ideas which could have gone mainstream and improved aspects of many RPGs.
That's awesome you found a boxed copy! I hope you enjoy the game! Also, great examples of other games with lost or obscure mechanics. I especially agree with Panzer Dragoon Saga. I played that for the first time a couple years ago and fell in love with it. Might also be worth a video. I should clarify one thing though: since making this video, I found that the enemy reveal animations were also done in Wizardry before StHA--which I should've expected since so many games took idea from the Wizardry series haha.
As much as i would agree with the no emulation notion, when it comes to games you can't simply purchase without dumping somewhere around 350+ dollars just to play one game, i would suggest emulating it. Suggesting golden sun fans to simply plop down that amount of money to experience one game is not one i would personally suggest.
Shining Force III is even more like Gokden Sun (rather, its the other way around as these came first) and is by far the best game Camelot has ever made, an absolute masterpiece. Also, have to strongly disagree with the notion of emulating the game. I get the rebuttal is going to be "the game is too expensive" but you wouldn't believe how many people try a game out via emulation and write it off as looking/running like $&#^ when it is anything but in original hardware. You can burn a disc for free and you know it's the correct experience.
Fwiw, I used Mednafen for the footage in the video. If you haven't used it before, it's more complicated than other emulators, but it's a very accurate gameplay experience imo.
Just wondering if theres summoning in this game, that's the only reason why i decided not to play this game because unlike Golden Sun this one doesnt show anu summons 😑
No summons. I still think it’s worth playing and that you will have a good time with it, but if no summons are a deal breaker then, yeah, sadly that’s the case :/
The problem is you are talking hundreds if not a thousand dollars for one game. Seriously, on Amazon it it $700 just for the disc. On ebay you can gamble and get it for a hundred or two. Or get robbed. Then you have to find a working Saturn, then an adapter to plug it into a modern tv.
Just checked it would be a thousand dollars on Amazon. $700 for the game and $300 for the saturn. Then $30 for the adapter. This is if you use the original Saturn controllers.
Of course, I know of no such thing. Everything I have tried, hasn't worked. As you can see, you didn't bring it to my attention. I played it when the Saturn first came out and am jonesing for a re-play. I just can't see spending that much for one game.
@@32202masterj all the footage in this video was captured using the Mednafen emulator. It works a lot differently than most emulation software, but once you know how to boot roms it's probably the most accurate Saturn emulator currently available (at least of the ones I have tried). I 100% support emulation, I was just being cheeky in the video. I would prefer there be official and easily available ways to play this and other old games (especially Saturn games), but emulation is really the only option for most folks.
Just realized I goofed and showed the wrong footage towards the end when I mention how cool the skeleton encounter animation is. My bad! But we'll treat it as an incentive to play and see it for yourself.
Much obliged for the shout out :) This remains one of my favourite games of all time. Great video.
Coming very late for this but, Shining in the Darkness was released for Mega Drive/Genesis, not Master System.
Shining in the Darkness was revelatory when I first played it. The presentation just blew away anything I had seen on the NES, or even the SNES.
Glad to see another of the more underrated games get some attention!
It's the dreamy Motoi music and that italic font they use in captions and menus.
I played Holy Ark back when it was released on the Saturn. When Golden Sun came out, I recognised the similarities straight away. I love both games, but Holy Ark is easily my favourite. I would absolutely recommend any fans of Golden Sun to check it out.
The game has an incredible atmosphere that's both creepy and mysterious. There's something really unnerving and eerie about the dungeons that I find hard to put into words, but I think it has a lot to do with the first-person camera and the seamless transition of combat, along with the music (same composer as Golden Sun). The deeper you head into a dungeon, the more vulnerable you feel as your resources begin to run low and there's the ever-present threat that something might jump out at you with every step that you take. There are other things that I'd like to mention, but I wouldn't want to spoil them for anybody experiencing the game for the first time.
It's amazing for me as I did own a Sega Saturn as a kid and did play Shining The Holy Ark as well, plus owned it. I've always been into RPGs, and Shining The Holy Ark is still a favorite and reviewed good even after all these years. The only problem with it is being released and exclusive for the Sega Saturn, which has an interesting story about it overall and over time.
Sega Saturn wasn't really a hit outside of Japan and did poorly, but this game has done so well, plus all the games Camelot, who were known as Sonic Software Planning, made before and after this game, but it's a game that's part of the "Shining" series, games that began with Shining and made by Camelot...or Sonic Software Planning.
Honestly there are things to this day that are debated on forums and online groups or chat sites, but nothing is really shown about it besides some play throughs, and even there's more to this game than what's mentioned.
This is a game that should be remade or re-released to people to play or try because as simple as it is, it's also complex...it's amazing after years there's plenty of things to discuss, debate, recall, and look at in this game.
Honestly, I'd love a remake of this game and others in the "Shining" series, because they're all interesting.
I haven't played Shining Force III yet but have played Shining the Holy Ark recently and really loved it. I have heard the protagonist in Shining Force III is the boy in the town in Shining the Holy Ark who, if I remember correctly, has lost his father who went to the aborigine mansion (weird name) . I watched your video in two sessions so forgive me if I missed it but did you not explain the 'directional' aspect of the pixies which relates to where the enemies appear from? It made the game 'crawling' so thrilling. I played it on a real console so when an enemy was about to appear the saturn would start to whirl and make a noise which upped the anticipation.
I love the enemy design. They almost look like clay models. Wild designs in a pre-rendered style. Music is amazing too, listen to it a lot.
I might have learned about this game from Project COE too. I remember watching all their Sega Saturn videos. Quality content, I wish they continued with 'Saturnday'
When I got a Japanese Saturn a little over a year ago, Holy Ark and Christmas NiGHTS were the first two games I got for it! I was mainly interested in it as the successor to Shining in the Darkness, and thought Holy Ark improved on Darkness in every way.
My copy was in Japanese, but the icon menus actually go a long way towards making the gameplay more import friendly! You can visually distinguish your items and spells, as in it shows a picture of a sword, an herb, etc. In terms of the story, I watched RUclips playthroughs to see the cutscenes in English. It was a great way to save a few hundred dollars over an English copy.
It's probably the only affordable way to play it!!
That is neat the intro to battles not just being flashed in but the different intro per monster =)
6:54 yup, that's mario golf toadstool tour music alright!
Liked for Wizardry subbed for Holy Ark.
I appreciate it :)
Had no idea there was another game like Shining in the Darkness in the Shining series! Might just have to give it a shot some time soon.
Wow. That new age plot line is straight up Golden Sun.
It's my fav RPG of all times. I still have my Saturn and my SHA CD.
Man that blue-haired guy looks suspicious...
Edit: Yuuup totally saw that coming. 😏
lmao
You should check the shining force 3 scenarios
Great game! Replaying it yet again. This time on the steam deck.
That's a great way to play it! I've been playing saturn stuff on my Android recently, makes me wish there were official Saturn ports on Steam or Switch.
Shining Force 3 is the best game Camalot ever made. Feels like Golden Sun mixed with Fire Emblem. I think Nintendo RPG fans will love all of Camalot's RPG offerings before Golden Sun.
Shining the Holy Ark is a prequel to SF3, and yea the alien concept is weird, but it does work. Great video.
I’m a huuuge Golden Sun fan and had never heard of this game before. You’ve convinced me, time to add it to the list.
I'd be happy to help if you need emulator suggestions!
I'm really glad I was able to keep Shining the Holy Ark and Shining Force III from my old Sega Saturn collection. If you liked the Golden Sun games (like I did), you'll be more than happy with these titles too. Unfortunately, they are extremely expensive.
Thx, concise yet detailed enough. As good as they come!
I really think that you must play Shining Force III, you will love it too. And now there are good emulators and a complete translation👌
Kind of random, but another interesting comparison I've been thinking about lately:
Dungeon crawlers and MMOs are probably my 2 favorite game genres. FFXI is my favorite and most played game of all time, and recently I got sucked back into it for like the millionth time lol (loved both your FFXI and Wizardry videos btw). This got me thinking about why exactly I love it so much, and I realized it shares a lot of similarities to some of my favorite old school dungeon crawlers...
* Large selection of classes with complex mechanics (even with job mixing via the subjob system, which is a very old school Wizardry vibe)
* Party-based gameplay with intricate interactions/synergies (the Trust system really enhances this aspect of the game imho, since you can easily experiment between your class and the party around you now, and it feels more like you have a party of your own)
* Varied dungeon environments which include mazes/puzzles/keys/etc. And even loot chests/coffers :)
* Bosses and superbosses and "post game" content galore
* Excellent itemization including unique endgame equipment to pursue (I recognize this could be applied to many RPGs, regardless it's something I look for in a good DRPG for sure)
* General difficulty and complexity that requires planning, research, and some level of knowledge/dedication to be successful
* Solid old-school level and loot grinding!!!
* Etc etc etc....
These are great observations! I totally agree--so many of the best DRPG elements show up in MMOs, especially older MMOs like FFXI! I actually once considered making a FFXI DRPG fan game set in Qufim/Delkfutt's tower haha.
@@TheCrawl I would play the crap out of that game lol
Thanks for making the content!
Own both sega minis and played through all the shining force and shining in the darkness. Fingers crossed we get a Saturn mini and this comes with it.
Imma say it, more games need collectible spirits that level up abilities. The Djinns were my fav parts for Golden sun. Awesome vid, i now will most certainly not go emulate this game 👀
This looks like a fantastic RPG that I’d like to get around to one day. I had tried out one of the Shining Force games on the Genesis Mini, but it just felt a little too primitive. This one looks like much more of a classic game. Definitely noticed the similarities with Golden Sun’s dialog boxes/menu/combat. It’s too bad that the overworld is just point-to-point, because I love how it looks!
Great video 😎 Probably would have never heard of this game otherwise!
Thanks! My goal was to introduce at least one person to the game, looks like I already cleared that objective haha. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@TheCrawl I just can’t believe many similarities there are between this and Golden Sun - especially the sprites. I think being on the Saturn is probably the only reason this is a fairly unknown game.
Agreed! I was surprised I had never heard of Holy Ark before. It's obviously not going to satisfy the same story/lore as Golden Sun, but the gameplay, music, and art are spot on. But it's also just an fun game in it's own right. I hope it gets a port one day, it really deserves a larger audience.
U got to play the shining force 3 trilogy…it’s awesome….one of my favorite games/series of all time.
Wow. This video is well done and I didn't knew Shining and Golden Sun shared the same developers.
Now for Shining Holy Ark, I want to play it but the catch is that I need a Sega Saturn. And emulation still has a long way to go for it. So I'll settle with the other games till then.
Saturn emulation is great on PC and Android these days! That's how I played this game and Panzer Dragoon Saga, Gundam Side Story, Dungeon Master Nexus, and several other games over the past few years. I used mednafen and Yabause on PC, and Yaba Sanshiro on Android.
@@TheCrawl sadly the ones I downloaded shit the bed for some reason. Followed instructions and everything and it still suits the bed.
That's a shame.
It works perfectly on Mednafen (on Retroarch it's called the Beetle Saturn core).
Sega is slowly releasing Saturn games too I think. We had a Panzer Dragoon remake, and they have hinted at wanting to make Saturn minis, etc.
Golden Sun the prequel,lol.I HAVE TO PLAY THIS
On the Sega Genesis, or Sega Master system for my European friends....you mean Sega Mega Drive xD
Woops, my bad!
Mega Drive. Master System was SEGAs 8-bit system.
Yeah, as I mentioned to some other commenters, that was a slip on my part. My bad!
Amazing video! So I played Shining Force 3 back in the day and loved it to the point where I imported scn. 2 and 3. Anyway I also played Golden Sun on the GBA a few years later. Whilst I was aware of StHA I never actually played it. A week ago I finally after 20+ years got my hands on a copy and started the first dungeon and I must say the links and similiarities with both of the aforementioned games (some of my favourites of all time) are striking as you say here.
Also, completely agree with your question 'why isn't this replicated in other games!'. I think about this in 2 other games. Why has no other strategy RPG copied SF3s mix of free-roaming in different cities/fields before a battle so it feels like a moving campaign that drives the story forward? Why has no game copied Panzer Dragoon Saga's smooth flying battle system that was a joy to play. I fear the obscurity of these games (and some on the Dreamcast probably, though I am less familiar) buried ideas which could have gone mainstream and improved aspects of many RPGs.
That's awesome you found a boxed copy! I hope you enjoy the game!
Also, great examples of other games with lost or obscure mechanics. I especially agree with Panzer Dragoon Saga. I played that for the first time a couple years ago and fell in love with it. Might also be worth a video.
I should clarify one thing though: since making this video, I found that the enemy reveal animations were also done in Wizardry before StHA--which I should've expected since so many games took idea from the Wizardry series haha.
As much as i would agree with the no emulation notion, when it comes to games you can't simply purchase without dumping somewhere around 350+ dollars just to play one game, i would suggest emulating it. Suggesting golden sun fans to simply plop down that amount of money to experience one game is not one i would personally suggest.
That was sarcasm. I definitely think people should emulate this.
3:11 OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS JUST A MEGAMI TENSEI GAME I CAN NEVER ESCAPE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Shining Force III is even more like Gokden Sun (rather, its the other way around as these came first) and is by far the best game Camelot has ever made, an absolute masterpiece.
Also, have to strongly disagree with the notion of emulating the game. I get the rebuttal is going to be "the game is too expensive" but you wouldn't believe how many people try a game out via emulation and write it off as looking/running like $&#^ when it is anything but in original hardware. You can burn a disc for free and you know it's the correct experience.
and shining force 2 and 1 and shining in the darkness !
Where can I play this game? Aside from Sega Saturn.
Edit. Nvm, the video got it.
Fwiw, I used Mednafen for the footage in the video. If you haven't used it before, it's more complicated than other emulators, but it's a very accurate gameplay experience imo.
@@TheCrawl Sounds complicated. Since I am still playing Devil Survivor right now, I am not really rushing to get another rpg.
Nice
Just wondering if theres summoning in this game, that's the only reason why i decided not to play this game because unlike Golden Sun this one doesnt show anu summons 😑
No summons. I still think it’s worth playing and that you will have a good time with it, but if no summons are a deal breaker then, yeah, sadly that’s the case :/
The problem is you are talking hundreds if not a thousand dollars for one game. Seriously, on Amazon it it $700 just for the disc. On ebay you can gamble and get it for a hundred or two. Or get robbed. Then you have to find a working Saturn, then an adapter to plug it into a modern tv.
True! If only there was another way to play old games on more accessible hardware...
Just checked it would be a thousand dollars on Amazon. $700 for the game and $300 for the saturn. Then $30 for the adapter. This is if you use the original Saturn controllers.
@@TheCrawl I thought you were against that. Or is that official talk?
Of course, I know of no such thing. Everything I have tried, hasn't worked. As you can see, you didn't bring it to my attention. I played it when the Saturn first came out and am jonesing for a re-play. I just can't see spending that much for one game.
@@32202masterj all the footage in this video was captured using the Mednafen emulator. It works a lot differently than most emulation software, but once you know how to boot roms it's probably the most accurate Saturn emulator currently available (at least of the ones I have tried).
I 100% support emulation, I was just being cheeky in the video. I would prefer there be official and easily available ways to play this and other old games (especially Saturn games), but emulation is really the only option for most folks.
This would be is, rpg games. Super Lego Logan adventures.