I had reserved and purchased Final Fantasy 7, but it sat ...and waited while I finished Shining the Holy Ark. This isn't the game where you can explore freely, it's actually pretty linear. It contains a fair amount of puzzles. Graphics are overall above average for Saturn titles with some of the magic spells making FF7 and FF8 both look bad. The effects are slick and fast. Sometimes the menus can be a little tricky but there's no real time constraint on them. My favorite part is the music. The battle music moves along at a decent clip punctuated by breathtaking power attacks and magic. The boss music effectively conveys a sense of danger and urgency. Shining the Holy Ark doesn't let you item spam your way through. As with Makai Toushi SaGa, each character can only hold so many items including their weapons and armor. I can see being able to carry six or eight vials of medicine or Goddess Tears, but how on earth would one character carry 50 gallons of turbo ether?? The battle system shares one thing in common with FFX: you can switch characters in and out during battle. It's too bad this was a sleeper hit instead of a big name release. The fact it came out in the US about a month before FF7 did certainly didn't help sales. Saturn games are often sold for a lot of money. This is one of the few that justifies the price. If you have the chance, buy Shining the Holy Ark. You'll enjoy it!
Verified purchase: No
Simply amazing, role-playing games at its finest a experien...ce. The graphics are early Saturn but well done, the music us phenomenal and the characters lovable it's a all around great game worth every penny.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Final Fantasy VII: 2d backgrounds, 3d characters Shining the Holy Ark: 3d backgrounds, 2d/3d sprite characters 2d drawn but 3d perspectives Was always told this was just a dungeon crawler like the first game when this is so much more (even the first one has possibly the best cutscenes of any RPG in the 16 bit era; Shining in the Darkness) than a dungeon crawler with big towns and multiple areas to go to. Looks like as good as some later PS2 action rpgs even but with turn based Quite truly one of the best RPGs that I can’t believe I skipped in the 90s off of a friends terrible advice
Verified purchase: No
I know people like panzer saga more but I really took to ...this game. The really large sprites and compelling story really stood out as very unique at the time. It still holds up to this day.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Excellent communication when I made a mistake with my address! T...he packaging couldn’t have been better. It even survived a drop by my two-year-old. The item description was accurate. Thank you for everything!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned