And now, Shining Resonance Refrain is here, an expanded remaster of the game that is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A far cry from the PlayStation and Japan exclusive nature of the original game, Sega has now gone ahead and spread the love. Which is great, right? Now we all get to see what the deal with this game is.

And the deal is… well, you see, it’s a good game. Really. It’s not a bad game. There’s some parts where it really shines. But that’s it. On the whole, it’s a really standard fare, regular Japanese role playing game, with not much to make it stand out for good or for bad.

"What isn’t an area where the game shines is the story and setup, which is obnoxiously cliche and derivative. "

What isn’t an area where the game shines is the story and setup, which is obnoxiously cliche and derivative. The story is one of an evil emperor threatening to plunge the world into ruin, a chosen one with the soul of an ancient Shining Dragon within him, and the resistance effort mounted around him against the oncoming darkness. It is literally as by the numbers as you can get.

I’m usually not against cliched stories. They are what they are, and if they are pulled off well, they can at least be enjoyable on their own merits. However, Shining Resonance Refrain is not an example of a cliched story or tropes being executed well. The story totally panders to its own cliche, treating obvious signposting and plot twists as entirely unforeseen and unimaginable story developments, and never growing beyond its tropes. Worse still is the pacing- the game has a halting, jerky, start-stop pacing of the worst kind, throwing mountains of exposition at you, before receding into the background for a while, and then coming back and interrupting the flow of your gameplay for a good while again. Long scenes frequently intersperse stretches of gameplay, which can be enough to make you want to stop playing- again, this would probably not have been an issue if the story was actually done well, but it is not, so here we are.

The one and only praise I can give to the story side of things is the character interactions. Not even the characters- they’re pretty rote and stale, and never become anything beyond their defined archetypes- but the actual interactions between them. Thanks to some sharp writing and some witty localization, character interactions are great to behold, and remain breezy, while also simultaneously letting the characters bounce off of each other effortlessly, and giving us a better sense of each of them as people than the story otherwise ever does.

"The real reason why battling monsters never gets old is because of just how well the battle system works."

For all of my problems with the game’s story, however, I do really enjoy how it plays. In terms of its setup, the game is based in one hub city, with you venturing into the world, which in turn is comprised of multiple, wide open areas, all interconnected. This is not unlike the structure of something like Final Fantasy 12, or even just the Atelier games- and it works greatly to the game’s merit. It is at its strongest when you are just out in the world, doing your own thing. It can be almost therapeutic to just get out into the world and engage with some monsters at your own pace- something that never gets old in part because, as you progress through the story, newer monsters are introduced into the world, too.

But the real reason why battling monsters never gets old is because of just how well the battle system works. It’s simple enough, and just a look at the controls during a battle will tell you how things work. It’s a real time action battle system, with a pre-determined combo mapped to one button, a standard offensive attack to another, there are support abilities, and of course, you get special “Force” abilities, as well as charms known as aspects, which you can slot into your gear for bonuses and buffs.

There’s a rhythm to how battles go- they’re never too demanding, and the system itself won’t win any prizes for depth or anything- but it works well, and is always satisfying. It’s kept lively thanks to the whole musical motif the game has in general and especially the battle system employs, with weapons actually bing musical instruments that you have to tune, attacks and abilities are basically musical numbers that Yuma and his band of compatriots perform on screen, and it all just feels really relaxing to pull off. Later on in the game, things can get a bit hairier, because the AI generally can’t seem to keep up with you. That said, as I mentioned, the enemies themselves never seem to demand total mastery of the system from you, so while that may get grating to players who want to put all the pieces in place and watch the melody play out in perfect symphony, you’re never going to run into a frustrating roadblock because the AI was too incompetent, or anything like that.

"Shining Resonance Refrain is a fun, if a bit rote, JRPG adventure that fans of the genre could stand to play and enjoy."

That apart, the rest of the game is pretty standard- the art is pretty, but nothing special, and the game, which could have been called mid-budget, distinctly looks… well, it doesn’t look great. The remastering has polished out the rough edges, if nothing else, however, so there is definitely that. It also sounds pretty good- again, the soundtrack is not going to win any awards, especially given how great music in JRPGs usually can be, but what is here is pleasing, accentuated in turn by strong voice acting (what will please a lot of fans is the ability to switch between English and Japanese voices at will).

For fans who may have played the original game, there’s an extra scenario here, which lets you follow the story from the antagonists’ point of view- I have to admit I think it seems to be a bit more intriguing than the main story, and if nothing else, it gives you a reason to play through the game again after you are done with it. Overall, the value of the package is really hard to deny.

Is Shining Resonance Refrain going to win any awards? It’s not even the best JRPG that has come out this year on any of the systems it has appeared on, and it’s a far cry from the classic Shining games that fans love so dearly. That said, it’s still a fun, if a bit rote, JRPG adventure that fans of the genre could stand to play and enjoy.

This game was reviewed on PS4.

Sega’s titles made a surprising appearance at the PC Gaming Show as Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were confirmed for PC release in 2018. This will mark the first time that the series has come to PC, joining the likes of recent Sega ports like Bayonetta, Vanquish, Okami. Yakuza 0 can be pre-ordered today on Steam.

However, that’s not all. Valkyria Chronicles 4 will also be coming to PC. Shining Resonance: Refrain will perhaps beat all these titles to market when it releases for PC on July 10th. Furthermore, we were reminded of Shenmue 1 and 2 HD heading being PC-bound later this year.

With the Yakuza series having been so embedded on PlayStation hardware, what graphical options could the PC ports open up? Will titles like Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life also be ported? Will we see the remasters of Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 somewhere down the line? It’s currently unknown but PC players will finally get a chance to try out the award winning franchise.

Sega might not be terribly well known these days for their RPG catalog, at least directly. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have some great titles in the genre under their belt. The Shining series might not mean very much to you since it’s been more than 10 years since the series last came across the pond, but the return of the series to the western market is exciting all the same.

Sega released a new trailer today to confirm that Shining Resonance Refrain, which is an HD remaster of a title from the PlayStation 3, Shining Resonance, will launch in the west this summer on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

The remaster becoming available in the west for the first time frames it as an almost completely new game. The port will include better visuals and all DLC for the original game, plus additional content with a new “Refrain” mode, which is intended for an experienced player. You can see the trailer for yourself just below.

Liberate the dragon’s soul that resides within you! #ShiningResonanceRefrain is coming to the West! Coming to #PS4 #XboxOne #NintendoSwitch and #PC. Visit the official site at https://t.co/yuyBImyVP9 pic.twitter.com/vjBnBWDxxs

— SEGA (@SEGA) February 21, 2018