Shining Force II

Shining Force II is a tactical role-playing game. The player assumes the role of the Shining Force leader, Bowie. When not in combat, the player can explore towns and other locales, talk with people, and set the members and equipment of the army. Some towns have a headquarters where the player can inspect and talk with his allies. While roaming through town or moving throughout the world, one can find both visible and hidden treasures and interact with certain objects.

Each ally unit is represented by a character with a background and personality. Some of these characters are hidden, requiring specific events to occur before they will join the force. Each ally unit also has a class, which defines the abilities for that unit. These abilities range from what type of weapons they can use to what kind of spells they can learn.

In a shrine south of Granseal Castle, a thief named Slade unwittingly breaks the power of a magic seal by stealing the jewels of Light and Darkness; this unseals the demon king Zeon trapped therein. The following day, King Granseal falls sick when he is attacked by an unknown creature. Sir Astral, the court's adviser, along with his apprentices, Bowie the squire, Sarah the healer and Chester the knight, investigate these events at the castle. They find that the door to the Tower of Ancients has been unlocked and stands open.

Greeting their arrival in the tower are devils named "Gizmos" springing forth to attack, though their ultimate intentions are unknown. Upon their defeat, the Gizmo that appears to be the leader flees. It is discovered thereafter to have possessed King Granseal. Sir Astral and the nascent Shining Force visit the king, finding him possessed.

Despite being the fifth game in the successful Shining series, Sega allotted the same budget for Shining Force II as it had for the first game in the series, Shining in the Darkness. Additionally, producer/co-programmer Hiroyuki Takahasi remarked in a 2009 interview that "We were in a really precarious position at that point because we knew that if we couldn't produce another hit we would have no future." As a result, most of the Shining series development team dropped out and had to be replaced with new staff for the production of Shining Force II. Takahashi summarized the game as "an experimental title where we improved the story and enhanced the game's 'RPG-ness'."

Shining Force II's planning and development was intertwined with first two Shining Force Gaiden games. Hiroyuki Takahashi stated that his and certain Sonic staff members' center of attention would, at times, shift between working on Shining Force Gaiden, Shining Force Gaiden II and Shining Force II.

Shining Force II was a best-seller in Japan.

GamePro panned the game, saying that the cheerful and upbeat soundtrack is out of place, the menu system is confusing, the style is too RPG-generic, and the use of turn-based instead of real-time combat makes battles "slow and cumbersome". Electronic Gaming Monthly's Mike Weigand commented that the story "could use a few more twists and turns", but that the music is good, the control configuration is very user-friendly, and the game improves on the first Shining Force with bigger areas to explore. He summarized that "This will definitely appeal to fans of the first one, and to RPG fans in general." Stan Hojnacki of the Santa Cruz Sentinel recommended the game, describing it as "a worthy sequel to a popular first edition."