lol yeah Kiwi is useless pretty much the moment magic users start showing up. But until then he's a great meatshield/bait. He also has a really awesome move he randomly does so if you can RNG manipulate he'd still be worth bringing along. You made good points though. I have to play through Shining Force 1 still and you are inspiring me to take another crack at it.

Jogurt > Kiwi

Jogurt for life! I made a Perler Bead of him a few weeks ago. My goal is to get everyone on the Force Jogurt rings one day.

Also @cirellio, definitely give it a full playthrough. I can't quite put my finger on it but I just enjoy it more.

Shining Force II is definitely more challenging, there are some notable flaws in I with AI (Balbazak battle for example).

But something about I just tickles my fancy a little bit more.

I'm pretty excited to play SFI and II, yeah. The Phantasy Star games sound like kind of a mixed bag but I've heard nothing but good about Shining Force.

This Jogurt guy sounds pretty cool. I definitely will.

I used to love Exile when I was a kid, but it's very short (can be beaten in like an hour or 2 if I remember right)

The MSX version of it has a few more levels, taking place in president day new york and in the UK.

My experience with the series was Wicked Phenomenon on the Duo (2nd game in the us, 3rd total in the series), a game well known for being too damn hard due to a bug.   But I discovered the pause -> change chars menu lets you rejump in mid air, so I jumped over many of the unbeatable monsters.  I always thought it was cheap, and I just wasn't playing it right.  I was very happy to learn it was bugged and the way to beat it legitly was to turn around, let the monsters hit you in the back, and run through them.  Between that, and finding some good potion combos, I did pretty good in the game.

I also think the game reminds me a bit of SotN on PSX, and no one else ever seems to think that.

 

I usually played more RPGs on the SNES than Genesis (Lufia, FF, Breath of Fire, Paladin's Quest, Arcana, etc). That being said, I'd play anything with the word Shining in it for any Genesis related system. In fact, watching a friend of mine play Shining in the Darkness is what made me buy a Genesis. The Shining Force games are the best and I loved the first one. LandStalker was tricky but great fun as well. I haven't played my Genny in a while so I can't comment too much on the RPGs but I own Sorcerer's Kingdom which I thought was good and I recently found my D&D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun guidebook but couldn't find the game so I picked it up again and would like to really dig into it soon. I remember it being a little tricky with some traps in the floors so I never completed it. I have Technoclash which I thought was an action RPG but haven't played much of it and that was years ago so I can't comment too much either. For some reason the Phantasy Star games never grabbed me but I've been told I'm missing out on 4. I'd like to try Beyond Oasis and Crusader of Centy too.

I remember being blown away by the Shining Force CD and the Lunar games. Good times.

I did it when I was a kid. You only need one right and just equip/unequip and pass it around. A little tedious for the single battle payoff - but the Jogurt army was pretty funny. 
 

After reading through the manuals for PHII and PHIII, I couldn't wait to play the series, so I started alternating between Phantasy Star and Shining in the Darkness. 



I LOVE that this game has a spell called "BYE." I am glad that we're out of the era where translators were limited by space and every game was seasoned with a bit of Engrish (I particularly like the "First Food" shops in this one), but I have found that broken English has always increased my love of a game rather than the reverse. 

Anyway I'm very much enjoying Phantasy Star. I've gotten through the initial grinding and have advanced the plot a bit. So far the only things I haven't liked much are some of the music tracks - particularly the overworld theme - and the sound effects, especially the annoying tone that sounds when some enemies are about to attack you. 

Oh and being able to save anywhere is wonderful.

Haha, two games where you have to hand-draw your maps. I thought Phantasy Star 1 was a wonderful experience, and I played through it around 2006-2007, so my opinion is (mostly) not colored by nostalgia.
I briefly saw the game on a TV in the late 80's and the dungeon and monster animations blew my mind.

I love me some Shining series and Landstalker. The main reason I modded my Saturn was to play the Shining Force games included the translated second and third parts of Shining Force 3.

Its funny that the first Phantasy Star hasn't aged as bad as the II and III as the dungeons on II and III are pretty bland and confusing. I highly recommending using maps on those games as I waited to pick up my copies with the hint books with maps(thanks Bubbapauls for selling the hint book for III).
Number IV is a great game and on par with greatest SNES RPGs so you got something to look forward when playing the series from start to finish.

If anyone likes strategy RPGs, check out Warsong (Langrisser) and the translated sequel Langrisser 2. Langrisser 2 is one of my favorite Genesis games and the only problem with it is there are expanded versions of it on the SNES, PS1, and Saturn that you can pick sides and have more replay value.

Before I forget, I should order my copy of Pier Solar if they still have copies for sale. Too bad I still have to play Buck Rodgers, Trayasia, Rings of Power, and Sorcerers Kingdom to clear my backlog.

Nice, love me some Genny RPG's. This has inspired me to play Phantasy Star IV again, especially since I just found my childhood copy at my parents house a few weeks ago.

Yeah I had heard about the confusing dungeons, so I went ahead and got the hint book/ground map for II and it sounds like I should probably go for III as well.

I have the translated Langrisser II on my Everdrive. Should I even bother with Warsong?

While Warsong is fun and the first game, the sequel is much more deeper, refined and user friendly especially for new people as the game tells you what to do early on unlike the first. Unless you have acess to a manual, it would be better to play the sequel. Also there is a secret Cho Aniki level in that game as well if you are familiar with the series.

Oh, check out YS III and Wonderboy 3 and IV as well if you want side scrolling rpgs and I heard King Colossus is pretty good but I haven't played it. 

Cho Aniki level? SOLD!

I have Wonderboy III and played it a few years back, loved it, then I learned about MWIV and couldn't believe it was even a Genesis game (so colorful). By that point it had been released on XBLA so I got it there. I now have it on my Everdrive too. (I also have King Colossus but I don't know much about it, other than "possibly good RPG with no western release")

EDIT: Also something in Phantasy Star that I've been thinking about. I expect every JRPG to have some sort of bizarre, non-logical fetch quest, but the "cake quest" in this one really had me scratching my head. In order to visit the governor of Motavia, you have to bring him a cake. There are no bakeries on Motavia, and evidently Palma only has one, and it's located four levels deep in a locked, monster-infested dungeon. 

The shopkeeper even apologizes for his shop being in such a ludicrous location, then charges you 1,000 mesetas for your trouble.

This is so absurd that I got to wondering if the "shortcake" was something else in the original version that got censored. Like how all of the "dirty joke" items in Landstalker got neutered (ex., the bunny suit causes Friday to either restore all your health or reduce you to 1HP, and it was changed in the U.S. to shortcake). 

UPDATE:

So I'm getting pretty close to finishing Phantasy Star. I've been spending more time on it than SotD, but I'll focus on the latter once I've finished PS. 

I have all of the end-game equipment (Laconian stuff, Mirror shield, etc.) and most of the necessary MacGuffins. All that's left is to get through Baya Malay Tower. Up to this point, I've used printed maps of the game's three overworlds and I've drawn my own maps for the dungeons and caves. But I've learned that Baya Malay is a ridiculous 25 levels high, and combined with the three distinct goals in that dungeon, I've decided that I'll be using a printed map for this one. If this was the only game I was playing right now, I might map it myself...but, no. 

UPDATE:

Since I last posted, I've beaten PS and I'm about a third of the way through PS2.

Phantasy star was a great game, especially for the time, but I did get a little bit tired of the same batch of enemies over and over for the last three dungeons or so, and the palette-swap dungeons were not really helping in that area. Also not helping was how your characters reach their maximum potential around the time you go to Baya Malay, and even then they seem to take random amounts of damage from enemy attacks.

I've taken a break from Shining in the Darkness, simply because I realized that I was hurrying through that game to get to PS2, and I'd rather slow down and enjoy it more. I'll probably return to it once I've finished PS2.

So far, I love PS2. I'm playing it with the official Hint Book and Ground Map, as well as occasionally glancing through online FAQs to get a sense of what characters are best for certain situations. The Hint Book is essential for this game, I think, if only for the dungeon maps - the layouts are BUGNUTS. I can't imagine mapping out some of these areas, especially with the powerful enemies the game throws at you and the somewhat limited healing options (you can never recover this game's equivalent of MP while traveling, for example).

The level of difficulty and grinding is fine for this era of JRPG, in my opinion. It's the kind of thing where I feel like a player used to late fourth-early fifth console generation JRPGs would probably find it tedious. But I dig the game's presentation and combat engine enough that it doesn't slay me with tedium. I just have to make sure I take a break to play some shooters or walk around outside from time to time

Late to the topic, but Genesis RPGs are underrated from where I stand. Of the games mentioned here, Shining Force 1, Shining Force 2, and Landstalker are my 3 favorites. A couple that have not been mentioned that I enjoy are Light Crusader, which is kind of like a European Landstalker (hard to explain, but you'll get it) and D+D:Warriors of the Eternal Sun. I think the latter is one of the more underrated RPGs of the classic systems, it has maybe the best music on the entire system and is a fun combination of a top down overworld and first person dungeon crawling. It also has a really pure D+D feel to it, which is great. Crusader of Centy is fairly enjoyable for a run through, as well, though the hit detection can be maddening.

I've been playing through Shining Force 1 and it starts out feeling fun, but I'm losing steam because it's so easy to win (compared to other tactical RPGs like FF Tactics).

I'll probably get around to finishing it.  Then I'll give Shining in the Darkness a try (I love Arcana and other RPGs in that style... Wizardry, Might and Magic, etc)

 

I'm enjoying the upgraded Wolf Baron, but I'm extremely disappointed with how much of a pussy the first dragon you get turns out to be.  

What a wimp.

My main strategy has been to keep (1) all of my healers in the part, (2) all of my fliers and move-advantaged people in the party, (3) my two original magic users

I've gradually bumped my archers, knights (except for arthur), and warriors out of the party as it's back-filled with other characters.


Haven't bothered with Domingo, yet.  Don't know who I'd drop to bring him in, though.

 

Oh yeah, Zylo is a total boss!

Bleu is actually really good, but he requires a lot of work and sometimes I don't feel like putting the work in, haha.

Adam is another character who is weak as shit, but if you work at him he gets pretty good. My last playthrough I grinded like crazy towards the end of the game to get him good. Kind of a waste of time, but whatever.

Domingo ends up being sweet and doesn't take much to get him leveled up. His defense becomes beastly, has good movement, and learns the Freeze spells.

 

Yeah, I guess for having a magic user with good movement and defense, I'll figure out how to fit Domingo into the party.

I always use the centaurs, plus Anri and Tao.

That's when I'm not swapping characters to keep my force at equal levels anyway.

Don't forget Musashi! He's one of the hidden characters, and you don't get him until towards the end of the game, but he is a complete stud. Same with Hanzou, though he's actually quite difficult to find. The ninjas are amazin'!