Shining Force Neo -- Initial Opinion.

Next up for me is the PlayStation 2 game Shining Force Neo. The game marks another entry into SEGA's long-running and ever-changing Shining series. This time around it appears to be an action hack and slash adventure. The Shining look appears to be there in the world and character design. I haven't seen any classic enemies as of yet, but hopefully a few of those will show up.  The game employs anime styled FMV sequences and seems to be rather story intensive. The combat comes off as fun and the NPC characters who make up the force appear to be able to survive on their own in the realtime action combat. The game looks pretty. The sound quality seems high. The voices are really cheesy at first. The writing also seems to be a good-natured corny. The kind of writing that could suck you in when you're not looking. The characters seem to be a little more alive than the standard Japanese RPG and they're taking surprising turns initially. The virginal childhood sweetheart female Meryl turns out to be a bratty troublemaker with more attitude than her role normally sees. The story is very much following the standards of the genre right now, but it too shows signs of being capable of taking a few twists. They started out with a badguy hidden behind a mask and here I was expecting to get through eighty percent of the game before the revelation of who he obviously was but instead the game reveals him within the first hour. The game is showing a lot of potential. The combat seems fun. The characters and story might be going off the beaten path. The graphics and music seem well done. Everything seems good initially except the voice work. We'll have to see how this all pans out...