Shining Resonance Refrain Standard Edition - PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4

Great steelbook and artwork. Game is fun and story is intriguing.

This marks a super rare moment in time where the Shining series is actually released in the West. Originally, the Shining series was turned based and gained the following because of that. Resonance Refrain is a hack and slash spinoff which many fans are split as it is far different from its roots. The game is super linear so expect to run through the same areas over and over again. Cities are available but are spaced out. So the city you're in will be your hub city for a while until you move forward in the story. The story is decent with voice acting being a little above average for RPG's--except for a few who definitely makes it feel cheesy. You'll have a mix of full CG cutscenes and visual novel-esque segments to tell the story. Combat itself is pretty forward. Use your light or heavy attacks to defeat enemies while also watching your stamina bar. Failing to do so could leave you in trouble. In addition, you can build up a meter that'll allow you to basically use a limit break. Party member AI is it's own story. Sometimes they'll be perfectly in sync with you. Other times they'll waste everything they have on weak monsters just before a boss. TL;DR: Overall I'd say it's decent. It reminds me of the Tales series but lacking in some much desired polish. There is a demo available to try which gives you a taste of combat. While not a meal to keep you full, it should be enough to tell you if this game is for you or not. As someone who's never played the strategy based Shining titles, this hack and slash spinoff is enough to tide me over.

If you're into basic JRPGs with a fun, predictable story, with some crazy anime artwork, and some fun, entertaining battle systems, try this game. Since there's not been a new Tales Of game in awhile, this one might tide you over. Fun!

Just finished this game a couple days ago in original mode. The game was very fun, took me about 25-30 hours to do mostly focusing on the main quests and finishing side quests at times. The story is good and gets interesting as you get further into it. I do recommend like most RPGs that after every chapter you should level up a few times to make things easier, the humanoid enemies can get tough at times.

This game is probably why I started enjoying games like Nier Automata and Dark Rose Valkyrie. It's a great JRPG, but also it's a very long game (100+ hours with the user generated dungeons) with a good story and character development. It is a bit like the Nier Automata in regards to real time battles, but not as fast or bullet hellish. Dark Rose Valkyrie seemed inspire some the cutscenes and relationship/dating aspects of the game although Shining Resonance came first as I believe. It's a mixed bag that is very fun to play in my opinion. However, you are forced to play the story main character most of the time, especially if you want to use the Shining Dragon. You can't switch characters on the fly like most real time RPGs, but instead have to go to the menu mid battle and select, but still this is a great RPG you just can't pass up. Iv'e spent 60+ hours in the bonus dungeons alone farming the best orbs to boost my stats. In conclusion Shining Resonance Refrain is a good game that has inspired many of my favorite JRPGs in the past five years.