Shining Resonance Refrain Reviews
Shining Resonance Refrain pivots between enjoyable and very dull moments. For every good aspect, there is another that undoes it, while everything else is strictly mediocre.
A horribly generic Japanese role-player that has no glaring flaws but fails to offer a single interesting new idea or character of its own.
If I can summarize the entirety of Shining Resonance Refrain into one word, it would be generic.
Shining Resonance Refrain prefers a plethora of systems that are either inadequately explained or only serve as a reason to include additional grind. It feels the game errs on the side of caution and sticks to what is familiar, creating an exceptionally average action JRPG that neglects polishing core systems into something intriguing.
With so many brilliant action-RPGs on the market, it's difficult to prioritize Shining Resonance Refrain, which is only decent by comparison.
What we have here is the video game equivalent of plain yogurt. There’s nothing really notable about it, but it’s perfectly edible and gets the job done if you’re hungry. If you’re really in the need to get your JRPG fix, there’s much worse you can play than Refrain. If you’re looking for something new and interesting, though, you’re not going to find it here.
Considering SEGA meant for this entry to be a reboot for the franchise, this overall is a pretty mixed bag. The lore and overall storytelling they have in place is good. It’s just that they need more interesting characters.How the soundtrack is implemented into the gameplay is a really nice though. Hopefully by the time we get the next entry, some if not all of the kinks will be ironed out.
As an action JRPG that focuses on music and European themes, Shining Resonance: Refrain hits about half of its marks. The European aspects with gallant warriors fighting off the impending doom of dragons is incredibly fun in this game. It's the perfect amount of challenge, and it almost presents the player with a JRPG-Musou hybrid that's rewarding to play. However, music and story are largely lacking in the game, either being convoluted or unimaginative, if not both. Given the overly complex customization and sexist tones, the whole project drops from above average to lackluster. Shining Resonance: Refrain is a learning opportunity in recognizing when parts of a game are overextended or outdated.
Shining Resonance Refrain is a decidedly adequate game. It has dozens of hours of content, but those hours include passable battles, an average story, tired MMO elements, and a mediocre dating sim to boot. It's not going to twist the arm of someone who's sworn off JRPGs like Persona 5 would, but it could do just enough to satisfy die-hard fans of the genre.
Shining Resonance: Refrain's focus on music and dragons is a great concept, but it comes across as a bit choppy in practice.
Shining Resonance Refrain displays all the qualities one would expect in a JRPG game, albeit in a dated and unimaginative fashion. Fans of the genre will find plenty to sing about but for those not sold on Japan's ideals of an RPG, there's little more here than a solid story and some good dungeon grinding.
It's not an awful game by any means, it's just a fine JRPG, but with a predictable story and repeated backtracking, this is a game that is lacking any spark to be anything other than a local school orchestra rather than being the London symphony.
Shining Resonance Refrain manages to bury its many interesting ideas under repetitive gameplay and a dragged-on story.
Famous series finally came back to the West. Sadly, it will probably be appreciated only by the biggest fans of the genre, although the story focusing on music and dragons is quite engaging.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Shining Resonance Refrain performs well on certain elements, such as its characters, the amount of content available and the simple but competent battle system. Unfortunately the game is not that inviting to explore and the clichés all around its plot mean that it does not have a lot going for it that can set it apart from other RPGs, especially as this is a game of a previous generation being adapted to the Nintendo Switch.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Well, why did Sega decides to port Shining Resonance to our European consoles instead of Valkyria Chronicles or Phantasy Star Online 2, no one will ever know. However, what we do know is that Shining Resonance is your average J-RPG with your average team of anime-looking main protagonists fighting with the power of songs and friendship. An enjoyable but quite forgettable experience.
Review in French | Read full review
Shining Resonance Refrain feels like a filler game. If you've been aching for a 3D action-RPG to sink some time into now that we're entering the summer months that are often a lull in the game industry then this totally fits the bill, but it'll do very little to surprise you.
Shining Resonance Refrain feels very much like a budget RPG. While it does some things really well such as well-written characters with excellent voice acting and awesome music, there are plenty of things that just don't really work. Combat is clunky and dull, the sidequests are mostly repetitive, and the game world feels surprisingly small. Unfortunately, this is a game that's unlikely to stick around in anyone's memory for very long.
Although Shining Resonance Refrain is enjoyable and the battle system provides some fun, its story and presentation don't break any new ground. At the end of the day, it's just another JRPG in a sea of similar games.
Shining Resonance Refrain is a very cliched role-playing game, too boring and predictable for 2018. Biggest fans can spend around 30 hours on romance activities and silly dialogues with gothic lolitas, but for everyone else there are enough great games for deeper immersion out there.
Review in Russian | Read full review