Shining the Holy Ark

Shining the Holy Ark
Series	Shining series
Manufacturer	Sega
Creator	No information
Year	No information
Game System(s)	Sega

Shining the Holy Ark is a turn-based strategy role-playing video game for the Sega console

Gameplay

Gameplay is a turn-based tactical RPG. Battles take place in square grids, and each unit occupies 1 square. Units can belong to one of two sides: allies (controlled by the player) or enemies (controlled by the computer AI). Each unit can move up to a fixed amount of squares along the battlefield, determined by its Move statistic. Depending on its location relative to enemies and to allies, a unit also has the option to attack, cast a spell, use an item, search (if adjacent to a treasure chest), or stay and do nothing, all of which end the unit's turn. Some commands, such as equipping or dropping items, don't count as actions, and the character's turn is able to continue. The order of the turns is determined by the unit's agility score and a random seed. Units can use offensive actions, such as physical attacks or offensive magic, only on units belonging to the other side and can use supportive actions, such as healing magic, stat-enhancing magic, and items, only on units belonging to the same side.

As is most common for the RPG genre, units become stronger by fighting enemies or by performing other actions in battle, such as healing allies. These actions give the units experience points (EXP.), which allow them to gain levels.

In Shining Force III, each allied unit is represented by a character with his or her own background and personality, much like in the Fire Emblem series. Although there are no "generic" units, except on the enemy side, many characters contribute little or nothing to the plot upon joining the player army.

Each allied unit also has a class, which defines a set of abilities for that unit and gives an idea of the spells and equipment they have access to. Once a unit reaches level 10, it can advance to a more capable class via an in-game mechanism called "promotion". A unit can be promoted at any level from 10 on up to the game's maximum unpromoted level, 20. Upon promotion the character's level resets to 1 and statistics are reduced by a fixed amount, although they begin higher if the character had been promoted at a higher level.

Battles

Battle goals for the player are fairly simple: kill all enemies, kill the enemies' leader, or (in some cases) advance to the town or landmark that the player's army is trying to reach. The enemy side wins when they manage to kill the player's leader, Synbios, Julian or Medion, or when the player chooses to escape the battle, either by casting Egress or (in some cases) by retreating to the town or landmark where the battle began. Even if the player army escapes or the Hero is killed, the player can recover allies and re-fight the same battle. Since the Force is allowed to maintain any experience and money that is obtained, regardless of the battle's outcome, the game is considerably easier than most strategy RPGs. Thus, there is no Game Over, and the player's army gets stronger even upon its defeat, although the Hero's death results in the player losing half of their money.

Most games in the Shining Force series (with the exception of the Game Gear and Sega CD games) also possess an exploration mode that occurs outside of battle. This gameplay mode is essentially a Japanese-style traditional RPG game along the lines of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, although there are no labyrinths and few puzzles to solve. In this mode, the player's army is represented by Synbios, Julian or Medion, who is able to walk around, interact with the people and with the scenario, find treasure, buy equipment and items, outfit the army, and choose which of the army's other members will be used in battle.