A Story that Does Not Drag-on
In its broadest sense, the narrative of Shining Resonance Refrain centers around the main protagonist, Yuma, and his journey. His initial rescue from dissection spurs him on to a journey of self-discovery and lights a fire of defiance. His growing affinity for the citizens of Astoria and the Dragoneers fuels this desire and acts as far more than just a narrative tool. The game has a number of side systems, such as the Mind Over Emotion System, that presents players with a range of diverging side quests and character interactions. The express purpose of this is to increase Yuma’s affinity with members of your party. Character interactions here can sometimes be a little bizarre but, hair sniffing aside, it takes what is essentially a romancing system and uses it to deepen your connections with other characters in a way that can influence the outcome of combat. It speaks to the level of thought and detail that has gone into Shining Resonance Refrain that this theme of connection, or radiance, is more than just a throwaway novelty and instead weaves its way through a number of the game’s subsystems.
The characters that accompany Yuma on his quest of self-discovery are, of course, typical of any JRPG. They are exocentric in an almost joyful manner, ticking off a ton of tropes and seemingly loving every minute of it. While I was surprised to see a Sylph battering an Imperial soldier with a trumpet, it somehow seemed totally in character for this world of music and magic. This same feeling of agency in the world is maintained throughout the game. During story segues many JRPGs revert to visual novel style cut scenes, with individuals depicted as stoic portraits. However, it only takes a little touch to bring these characters to life. Character expressions change in reaction to your response during these story scenes. Stances change and hair even blows in the wind. It all adds up and Media.Vision even goes as far as to throw in ambient dialogue between party members. Shining resonance Refrain easily puts just as much emphasis on engaging players with the people of Alfheim, as it expects players to put on building those bonds of resonance with their party.
Much of the rest of Shining Resonance refrain is equally impressive for a game that by all accounts should be massively outdated. The rest of the world of Alfheim is teeming with life, whether it is the forests and plains that are filled with enemies of the great empires or the capital of Astoria. While each of these locations does not compare to the massive sprawling labyrinth of more modern Citadels, they still feel abundantly alive. Unlike the disappointing remaster of .HACK, it is not just the main characters that feel alive. Central cities of this experience are full of locals going about their business, talking, singing, arguing and all of them ready to chat about their own individual issues.
The graphics, equally, are just as impressive and one of the systems that seem to have had extensive work for this version of Shining resonance. Once again, this port manages to put other modern remasters to shame. While my experience of ports like .Hack felt like they barely provide a lick of paint and the performance requirements of Accel World Vs SAO left me a little aghast Shining Resonance Refrain proved to be just as slick as the trailers suggest.
Characters are true to the original design of artist Tony Taka’s work and bring the PlayStation 3 incarnations closer to reality. The same shaded gradients make for a less pronounced design than something like DragonBall FighterZ and instead fits the high fantasy world of the Shining Series. The wider world of Alfheim and the creepy ner doers that surround it also benefit from this graphical fidelity. Everything from the seriously overpowered Dragons, to the unexplored mountainsides, are fantastic, varied and vibrant enough that I really was quite surprised.
While much of Shining Resonance Refrain holds up fantastically, some issues still arise. Combat might be surprisingly fluid but the lack of an obvious animation cancel means that players can easily get stuck in place. It isn’t just the main player character that can end up standing in the fire either. AI seems to be decidedly suicide happy, facing off against the fiery end of enormous dragons rather than take a more optimal approach. Simple tactical behaviours can easily be assigned to members of the game’s party but this has little impact on the outcome when squaring off against a foe of any significance, and these do occur with some regularity.
I do appreciate the challenge that regularity of these challenges, however far too often these either revert to going back and grinding levels or relying on the Dragon inside Yuma. Players can manifest this ancient spirit mid-battle and while it requires a serious sacrifice of Mana Points to engage this overpowered transformation, it is far too regularly the option of first resort in boss battles. Some sluggish responses by player characters and the lack of animation cancelling mean that the nuance of encounters can too regularly be lost, resulting in a desperate dragon appearance in an effort to crush opponents with incredible HP pools.
Despite these niggles, this still puts Shining resonance Refrain head and shoulders above many of the JRPGs that I’ve played. It introduces several unique selling points and manages to hone them into a well-balanced experience without losing itself to just one of these concepts, unlike games such as The Caligula Effect. Shining Resonance refrain weaves a symphony that will captivate you throughout your stay in Alfheim and the fact I haven’t even had an opportunity to touch on staples such as questing, progression, and crafting are an indication of how well the whole package fits together. Shining Resonance Refrain has to be my new favourite RPG and a world I’m going to be lost in for some time. If I don’t come out, come in after me you’ll enjoy the experience just as much as I have. Shining Resonance Refrain is out available on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.
Score 9/10
Pros
- Looks and sounds fantastic
- Great narrative
- really well-developed characters throughout
Cons
- AI is a bit dim during combat
- Too reliant on Yuma’s dragon transform
- navigation could be a little clearer