After a short trip up a mountain you come across a cave, and in that cave is (surprise) the fabled sword. Amitaliri is a feisty girl who uses attack magic and bosses around her friend Faulklin, a boy who specializes in healing magic.Įventually you and your group of adventurers set out from town to search the surrounding area for the Shining Force. Later in our time with the game two young magic users joined our party. There were no birdmen or beast men as in previous Shining Force games, but we did only see a small handful of characters. We didn't see any familiar characters in the first few chapters of the game. It's a setup that you've seen a dozen times before, but the dialogue is entertaining and the characters seem likeable enough to at least partially excuse the seemingly generic plot. According to the legend, whoever is able to draw the sword from its resting place will become king of the world. After some brief introductions you learn that the four characters have banded together to search for a legendary sword known as the Shining Force. After heading back to a small village for dinner you are joined by another adventurer, a young magic-using girl named Cyrille and her little dragon-like pet named Zhirra. There's a noble centaur knight named Gadfort, and a gluttonous elf ranger named Maebelle. After a quick introduction to the combat you kill the boar and are joined by two other characters who are looking to get a share of the meat. Shining Force Exa opens with the hero of the story, a young boy named Toma, hunting a large boar. The bright, colorful visual style is easy on the eyes and it fits the lighthearted fantasy theme well. We played through the first four chapters, and based on our time with the game it looks like Exa is shaping up to be a charming, challenging adventure that fans of Neo should definitely keep an eye on. But before you get all up in arms about how Sega is ruining a classic franchise, you should finish reading this preview. The next game in the series, Shining Force Exa, is an action role-playing game just like 2005's Shining Force Neo. Having successfully become the master of both the holy sword and the "Geo-Fortress," he now fights alongside Cyrille to bring peace.Shining Force fans waiting for a return to the series' strategy role-playing roots will just have to keep waiting. He set out in search of the holy sword said to have the power to rule the world. Barely surviving himself, Toma vowed to become the new king and bring an end to all wars. While traveling with others from his tribe, they got caught up in the conflict between humans and demons, and most of them were killed. He has a very direct personality, and generally acts before thinking. Toma is a cheerful, tough and wild youth from a tribe in the mountains, who is also one of the masters of the holy sword Shining Force. He is a playable character who is partnered up with Cyrille. Toma makes an appearance in Project X Zone. Also, it is imperative to gain resistances to the elements as magic will make short work of Toma if you are not careful.īe sure to assemble weapons that have Anti- prefixes to help make short work of enemies. It is recommended when carving arts for Toma to stick to Weapon Attack, Master Guard, Stunning, Stun Resistance, Knock back, Knock back resistance, Critical Strikes, and resistances to Critical Strikes. However, he is not as adept at weilding magic (though this can be adjusted to some degree by carving power arts). As such, his strengths lie in taking and dishing out large damage quickly. Toma is mostly, if not purely, a close-combat fighter. As a character, he is the diametric opposite to Cyrille. He has no difficulty speaking his mind and leaps into battle without hesitation. Toma is fiery, impulsive, cocky, and a bit of a simpleton however, he is kind, honest, and cares for the well-being of others. This led the young Toma to set out on finding power that could defeat Fyrland and Noswald and prevent a future war from ever breaking out again. Unfortunately, five years from the present, a war broke out between Fyrland and Noswald that devastated much andclaimed the lives of many innocent people- including Toma's father. Orphaned by his biological parents, Toma was taken by one of the highlanders and raised as a part of the nomadic tribe. When Toma was little, he was found by the Highlanders who roamed around the area.