Studying to make Sonic games, deciding to pivot to dungeon crawlers as your first game, three or four more flavors of RPG, and finally living the rest of your existence making Mario Sports games. But hey, does your job have anything to do with your college degree?

I've been recommending this to GS fans for a while. That said yeah worth mentioning that this game's plot is partially to set up Shining Force III where pretty much all of these ideas are way more fleshed out story-wise. You get added context on the creator, thousand-year kingdom, Vandals, Innovators, and the Holy Ark itself. It doesn't do that perfectly but they really created a well fleshed out world in this Saturn saga. Definitely recommend it.

Strangely enough, this video is probably the perfect companion piece to your old Golden Sun videos. This time with the added context of Camelot's creation, you went above and beyond on this one. B)

I wanna see another rpg like Ultima 4. No bad guy, just you going around being a wholesome, honorable person and setting a good example for the world.

What a day to see my favourite reviewer Kbash talkin about a game connected to Golden Sun!

I can't say exactly why, maybe it's the sum of it's parts rather than anything individually, but I feel like this is a great improvement to your format. Great work Kbash.

KBash: "We don't need an inquiry into JRPG towns" Hazel: "Hold my beer"

The first Shining Force is a game I'll always recommend to people looking for srpgs on the genesis, its a wonderful lil time and I don't think enough people have given it the chance

Let me just state that Shining the Holy Ark has THE most badass combat theme of it's generation. It's absolutely kickass and takes a LONG time of grinding before you get tired of it. (Xenogears gets the best boss battle theme of this generation.)

I feel like "People in society becoming lazy and greedy being the source of all troubles" is a very japanese perspective on "evil" and whatnot. In Japan, society *IS* God, and the worst thing a single person can do is deviate from its plans/harmonious, "natural" flow. If society assigns you a role, you should stick to it instead of rebelling or giving in to personal ambitions. And we see that reflected on japanese media all the time. Some Ultraman episodes always come to mind... the ones in which a person becomes "too self centered" for some reason and that ends up creating a monster that in its turn creates problems for everyone. It's kinda interesting. But anyway, I do believe that such neo-confucionist leanings are even more prevalent in gaming. After all, games need to give you an objective, a goal to achieve... and what better goal than to defeat someone who supposedly became "too greedy and corrupted" because of their own failings instead of the failings of a bigger, more broken system? It's easier to hate the villain this way. Great video as always, K-Dude. Keep up the good work.

Oh my God, this is so good. My gf and I beat holy ark a year or two back, and both commented on the similarities to Golden Sun

You know I was just reading a book, and, at risk of giving away too much of my favourite fantasy book series... The death gate cycle (by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) handles the whole "heroes bettering society instead of fighting evil" angle really well, at least for a short time. Spoilers ahead for one of the later books. So basically, the heroes of the story end up having to fight beings that represent pure chaos and evil, and instead of directly fighting them to defeat them, what actually drives the evil away is the betterment of society and establishment of peace. It's simple, it's cheesy at times, but it's so fucking compelling.

Shining in the Darkness is great. Shining Force is one the first video games I ever played, and SF2 is one of my favourite games of all time. It's a shame that Shining Force is just generic JRPGs now, instead of turn based strategy. Same with Phantasy Star, people just think of PSO now, while gems like PSIV gets overlooked.

just because the parasite ruling class is automatically corrupt doesn't mean that people themselves are not the ones being corrupt as well. Though massive movements to undermine the working class (movements i think you'd disagree with) are also demonstrable and have an effect. An extremely nuanced discussion to be sure but i think only throwing blame on the obviously evil ruling class is short sighted, at least a little bit.

Refuses to do Shining Force, does the First Person RPGs instead... what a mad man.

Your best video to date, in my eyes. Super-fascinating! Also, good take on corruption, you have these clever digressions sprinkled throughout your videos here and there, and they always warm my heart.

You're a smart guy, KBash Great video, really like the quick class analysis

Fantastic video as always! Btw I agree with everything you said in your past Golden Sun videos.

It's a shame that the Camelot that once loved creating all sorts of amazing RPGs is now reduced to making Mario Sports sequels year after year. I'm sure it's more of a stable source of income for them and it keeps them afloat but man, I wish they'd make at least a new Golden Sun or just a new RPG in general.

I still remember your Golden Sun videos. Among the ocean of 10/10 reviews, you're the only one who actually critiqued GS. I've beaten the games a few times and never noticed those flaws and you made it hilarious 😂 so keep KBash'ing!

It's on switch as well via the Genesis classics game. If you're a fan of shining or phantasy star, that collection is worth it just for Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force 1+2 and three of the phantasy star games.

The joke about the high pitched music really got me! XD

This game makes me want a new Shining Force game.

Shining the Holy Ark was awesome. Be committed to grinding every so often and you'll feel comfortable against almost any enemies. This game has a great balance of keeping up the pace with needing strategies to take down most opponents, and also keeping you engaged just enough to not mash your way through enemies.

I love first person grid based dungeon crawlers. Shining in the Darkness and D&D warriors of the eternal sun on Mega drive, Holy Ark on Saturn, Shin Megami Tensei Soul Hackers and Strange Journey Redux and also The Keep on 3DS, Dungeon Master on SNES (yes I actually got sucked into this version a few months ago, not bad!!), Grimrock 1 and 2 and The Quest on PC, it just doesn’t get better than this! Best RPG genre, other than grid based strategy.

"grab the rose, take five piercing damage" I love you, you absolute madman.

Shining Force was the first game i ever played, so it's always a treat to hear people talk about the series, I'd love to see a retrospective on the SRPG Shining games at some point, lord knows you'd be, like the only person ever to do it.

I love the content creators in the game critique genre that fall into the camp of "HNGGG EMULATOR BAD". They're too busy reciting "idyllicism" and "ludonarrative dissonance" in the mirror and huffing their own farts to realize that emulation is the future and the only realistic solution to game preservation. Emulation only gets better with time. I remember when the SNES mini and Genesis mini were released and everyone was buying them up like crazy, only to later realize that the emulation accuracy is fucking atrocious. Meanwhile SNES9x for example has had 99.99% emulation accuracy across just about the entire SNES library for an extremely long amount of time now. The "M-MUH OFFICIAL HARDWARE ONLY" crowd turbo-malding and losing their goddamn minds over it still holds a very special place in my heart to this very day. 😌🙏💯

Finally someone accurately covered Ark

What I love about the decision to switch to Vandals instead of "demons" (in SF1 through 2) is that it change nothing to the narrative. It feels like an edgy writer that think using demons as bad guys is childish and so make up a new version that is totally not the same thing guys. Don't know if you ever plan on doing the shining force series itself but it's also worth noting that an another clue as to who wrote StHA is that there are direct references to it in SF3 with one of the heroes being a kid in this game, Galm the vampire looking dude being a boss fight while giving major Alex vibes (using both side to shady but never explained ends) and one of the playable character supposed to be one of the fairies you collected. Shoutout to Wolfgangarchive for the maps !

I was 11 when Shining in the Darkness launched, 13 when I played and beat it. I still look back that experience and ask, "How the hell did I have the patience to do that"?

I like that the shot in the dark video on a GBA masher turned into a launch pad for a timely look back at ties to the studio's future works, and how a couple flaws in writing style never really got ironed out in the drawing board along the way The consistency of the series DNA at least in connection by Holy Ark and GS is surprising, but I think the thread of how the videos tie back together is even more interesting. Life truly is a winding road of twists and turns.

I seriously cannot believe how great your writing is

Glad to see other folks covering these games and pointing out the Golden Sun connection! Great video, I'm surprised I never found your channel until today. Now to dog into all your other content!

The thing that always got me about Shining The Holy Ark (and Camelot RPG's as a whole) is how stuff never really got explained, Especially the stuff that didn't get xplained in Shining Force 3. I also realise that this game's story is way more disjointed than i remember. Also i never really realised the balancing issues up the wazoo, Like Doyle being OP for like 2-3 dungeons, Only for Basso to outshine the moment he get's the Dragon Axe. As a whole party members have varying degrees of usefulness throughout the game, Like the ninja's not getting any good weapons for a good stretch of the game until the final dungeon or how Forte is obsolete the moment he joins and of course Buffs and AoE healing ae locked behind characters and promotions.

The editing in this video is great!

A+ video, loved every second!

Great video! I just recently played through the first Phantasy Star so it's cool to hear about Sega's other JRPGs released around the time!

I just wanted to say I love your voice work for the Muppets.

Shining the Holy Ark was the first shining game I ever beat. Nice video.

This is the video I needed

Damn Kbash that hair looking SILKY SMOOTH

Oh man that " Simp GOD!" never fails to crack me up

Galm looks like that one vampire from Blood Omen.

My favorite part of every kbash video is "CAN I CUSS ON HERE?"

PRE-EMPTED! Very interesting that Camelot has a demonstrated pattern of abuse, maybe one day Mr. Camelot will face justice for his crime

Ouuuu that ending line was pretty fire there Kbash. Keep up the good work and making banger video after banger video!

Thank you for this video, now I don't have to force myself to finish this game. Also appreciate your class analysis of the plot and Mog doll. Love the character designs and graphics in general in this game, I really hope camelot makes another RPG someday.

“…a more compelling story where the heroes try to help society instead of beating up ‘the evils’…” Ah, yes, Ultima IV was an awesome game, wasn’t it?

I always watch the credits for "simp god" even though it's not even me :)

I never noticed as a younger version of me, that the roof and floor didn't actually move. Now I cant unsee it. lol

Great video as always Kbash!

Damn kbash, I wish i couldve seen you play through shining the holy ark. That game was so intriguing and this is probably one of my favorite of your videos.

In random wall, a prophecy foretold I'd like this video and post this very comment.

The Saturn had built-in memory and came with a game. With the PlayStation by the time you bought a game and a memory card you were paying the same price or within 10 or $20

15:25 the way you pronounce mythril is really interesting. thanks for another banger vid kbash!

Funny you say that about rpgs making you better with money, I’ve definitely felt the same way

Videos like this make me feel like I don't understand kbash's content. I'll Watch it all the way through to see. Edit: it got good after the first quarter and makes a ton of sense

I’m a simple man, I see “Golden Sun” and I click.

no question mark needed, I know that camelot made golden sun

Great vid Kbash!

You putting a warning makes you a great guy and chad. I hate it when people don't give warnings for obviously hardcore flashing.

Golden is a small but nice series, I would love to see it comeback. As for shining force I’ve only played the third game, it’s long but very fun since it’s strategic kind of like fire emblem

15:58 Sounds more like a... *puts on glasses* skill issue 😎👌 Jk, also great video!

Your videos really are a fantastic thing

The 2 minute monologue at the end over story and writing flaws that Golden Sun has is by far my favorite KBash moment in any of these videos. It isn't there to knock against Golden Sun, it's genuine criticism from someone with the perception, and now, the ability to name the flaws.

Im always up for some Shining love! :)

Funny how some of the dungeon crawling tropes that makes RPGs in general a pain to play goes back all the way to the paper and pen days of Dungeons and Dragons.

Thx Kbash

The dungeon layout looks pretty interesting. More variety than many "box rooms with puzzles" from Etrian Odissey.

The first Shining game is unplayable for me so thanks for this great video

Please make more Golden Sun content xx

Would love to see an Odin sphere review

I love when you talk rpgs lol

I love shining in darkness, shining force and shining force . Never played holy arch.

Awesome, I've been hoping you'd talk about Shining for a while, the original Shining Force games were super formative for me

Your mario censorship still makes me smile. "TF was that edit...? Oh right is KBASH's utter bullsh[waaaaaahhhh]" keep at it.

Great new video, never back down on your golden sun vids tho. Kraden knows what he did.

4:40 I audible chuckled

A vid on Shining Force. This'll be intetesting. ... Oh, Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark? Oh, God. Why?

Congrats on being apparently sponsored by Brianna Wu!

Landstalker was also intended to be part of the Shining universe, maybe before Climax Entertainment split from Sonic Software Planning? Kayla's henchmen, Wally and Ink are monsters from Shining in the Darkness, a Chestbeak and a Kromeball respectively.

I think your Golden Sun videos kinda made me a bit defensive towards them, and unwilling to consider your point, but with this video, I can see a lot more of your issues in the writing. It definitely feels like there's a potentially more interesting story that could've been told with what we were given Maybe Saturos and Menardi didn't have to act almost comically evil even though they were ostensibly fighting for good. Characters don't really go through meaningful development Still, you did hit on why love for the games persists. I still also think it has some of the most fun puzzle dungeons in RPGs. Honestly, they're what keeps me coming back. Golden Sun is some fine ass RPG food when you're trekking through them

I'll comment for the numbers. Very cool.

This is depressing, there never was a Good Start for Camelot... Still the Dungeon Crawling seemed interesting.

Please play the Trails series.

accidentally decided to rewatch your entire golden sun series at the perfect time to follow up with this video??

Here's me wishing for you to do a review on some atlus series games like ar tonelico, atelier iris or mana khemia. Alright that's it have a good one

Honestly I love their work with the Mario sports games

The notification squad: Whomst'd've?

When I was in 7th grade I had the biggest move of my life which was pretty hard for me cause I left behind my school and all my friends. During that time I just happened to be playing golden sun for the first time (which was in 2014 so yea I was based). That game fuckin carried me thru that hard part in my life and it’s now easily tied for my favorite game of all time with dmc3

..........Man I hate that Tony Taka took over Shining. How lazy he has been with it. The society becoming corrupt and thus being destroyed seems less like a theological view, and more a very Japanese mindset on society. K-Bash, I REALLY hope you finish up the Shining Series for these videos.

I’ve never played any of these. I need to.

Oh man, you got pretty far without collecting very many pixies in holy ark. Those really cut the length of random encounters down once you learn how to use them I really didn’t do any grinding outside of what happens you would normally encounter in the dungeons. It’s really tough, but idk. Eventually that mithril claw fucking kills

Damn I'm in really early, Thanks Kbash!

I don't care about Golden Sun or Shining much, yet I feel this strong urge to tell you that your opinions on them are stinky.

I think you will get a kick out of playing Dragon Quest 9. I love that games class system and ability to gain constraint buffs to your characters, through the skill tree system. If you ever play it, you pretty much have to change classes and do some metal slime grinding to gain class levels and easy to get skill points. If you don't, the game becomes very frustrating.

Based materialistic class analysis review

i see golden sun, i click

You would, Melvyl...