6th & 7th gen Shining games

[BoneSnapDeez]

I've always enjoyed the Shining Force games, as well as many of the other related titles like Shining in the Darkness and Shining Wisdom.

Many Sega IPs were dropped after the death of the Dreamcast (where is Skies of Arcadia II? Shenmue III?) but Shining games have been cranked out at a rapid pace. There are tons of them!

I picked up Shining Force Neo the other day and was surprised to see it's an action-RPG rather than a strategy RPG. Historically, the "Force" games had always been strategy RPGs.

So who has played these 6th and 7th gen entries? Which are worth playing? Worth avoiding? Share your knowledge!!!

Here's a quick list for reference:

Game Boy Advance
Shining Soul
Shining Soul II
Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (remake of the first game)

PlayStation 2
Shining Tears
Shining Force Neo
Shining Force EXA
Shining Wind (Japan-only)

DS
Shining Force Feather (Japan-only)

PSP
Shining Hearts (Japan-only)
Shining Blade (Japan-only)
Shining Ark (Japan-only)

PlayStation 3
Shining Resonance (not released yet, will likely stay in Japan)

[Jmustang1968]

I hear Shining Soul is meh but the sequel much better.

RoDD is good, has some new wrinkles not everyone likes.

Ps2 games suck.

I hear Feather and I think Arc are good. Not sure about the others.

[Fragems]

Played a little bit of EXA on the PS2 didn't get very far into it. However I totally agree with the common consensus that the voice acting int that game sucks balls.

[Exhuminator]

Out of the games BoneSnapDeez listed, I've only heard good things about Shining Soul II. Not saying the rest are bad, but I've not heard much about them... which kind of says something.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Just read some RPGamer reviews of the games I mentioned...

OUCH.

I'm shocked that Sega or whoever managed to pump out all of these. The recent output of the Shining games seems to be on par with Final Fantasy or the Tales series. Yet it seems like no one is talking about Shining games these days... Perhaps because so many stayed in Japan and the ones that were released in the US aren't that good?

Then again, not too many folks seem to care about Phantasy Star anymore either. I mean, who actually played Phantasy Star Portable 2?

[Exhuminator]

I think the common denominator is SEGA being asshats and not localizing enough of their games. People lose interest when they only get every other game in a series.

[TEKTORO]

Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, one of the best games I ever played and has some good replay value too!

Sonic Ultimate Game Collection contains 1, 2 and in the darkness which can get you going there.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Sonic Ultimate Game Collection contains 1, 2 and in the darkness which can get you going there.

Word.

I like playing Shining games on that collection. Being able to save anywhere is nice.

[ninjainspandex]

I put an unnatural amount of time into the Shining Soul games on the GBA as a kid, you get a game+ mode when you beat the game so there is alot of replay value.

[BoneSnapDeez]

You were "a kid" when those games came out? wtf