I like the game a lot, from what I've been able to play of it. :) However, in my case, it's not entirely a problem on Square Enix's end. My area is not exactly awash in broadband access, sadly, and no means of getting anything better than what I have.
Kid Icarus' opening was quite epic. I got that game back in 1992, having been a fan of the NES original, and I loved it. I wish that Nintendo would dust it off for download on the 3DS e-Shop, because that game was leaps and bounds above the original game.
I really like this game. My wife and I have been playing it together a lot on PS3, which is one strong advantage the PS3 version has over the Vita version (simultaneous two-player action without having to own another console). She has an Amazon, I have a Sorceress.
As far as the people griping over the character designs, they need to get over themselves and stop sending Kamitani so much hate mail. This game has an unabashedly over-the-top art design that I rather like.
The game really does play like an update of Capcom's D&D arcade games, and that's no accident. Kamitani worked on those games when he was working for Capcom.
Not surprised. The XCOM shooter had a lot of baggage attached to it, and the XCOM people really wanted, Enemy Unknown, probably killed what little hope there was for it.
The Spectral Force series is not related to Shining Force. It was made by Idea Factory, a company whose other games include Hyperdimension Neptunia, Record of Agarest War, and Trinity Universe.
I was rather floored that PvZ2 got Game of the Month this month from them over so many other more deserving games like SMT IV, Tales of Xillia, or Dragon's Crown. I thought that at least SMT IV would carry it off, even though my personal favorites this month were Xillia and DC.
That said, I think it's a shame the industry revolves around Metacritic aggregates like it does, especially when games journalism is so spurious to begin with. I've seen games with 90 MC averages that I thought were ass, and I've seen plenty of great 75-80 games that were largely brought down by one or two obscure websites whose 50s and 60s trashed all the great reviews the game got from more respected outlets (relatively speaking, of course).
Lunar is still one of my favorite games of all time. My PS1 version is still proudly on display, I have Silver Star Harmony, and I even downloaded Lunar for my iPhone (it's one of the very few games I find remotely playable on a mobile platform, I otherwise hate phone/tablet gaming with a passion). Likewise with Lunar 2. However, I have never had the opportunity to play the Sega CD versions.
The first game I ever "beat" was probably Necromancer, a game by Synapse Software from the early 1980s that appeared on the Atari XL and XE computers. The first video game I ever played was Donkey Kong in the arcades back in 1981.
EXA is good, but don't go into it with the expectation of playing Shining Force IV, the SRPG. It's more of a Zelda-style game. That said, it is the best of the three Shining Force games available for the PS2.
What I liked about the Genesis/Saturn Shining Force series was the fact that, unlike other SRPGs, you could explore the world when not in battle, just like in a regular RPG. In other SRPGs, everything outside of battle is navigated by point-and-click menus and such.
What I'd love to see, although it'll never happen, is a Shining Force for PS3 or PS4 done using Valkyria Chronicles' Canvas engine.
