Shining Force III - Scenario 1 - Outo no Kyoshin (Japan)
Sega Saturn
🇯🇵
Reviewed in 1997
87
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✪ Reviewed on August 17, 2023
82
First Shining Force III scenario, the only one released in the West. Introduces game mechanics and political context. Excellent standalone but incomplete without the other scenarios. Magnificent first act of an exceptional SRPG trilogy.
Your verdict
Category
Tactics1 player12+
Description
First scenario of Shining Force III in which Senator Synbios fights for peace between two empires. Published by Sega, released in Japan in 1997. Turn-based tactical strategy on hexagonal grid, evolving characters with varied classes, first third of an epic three-part narrative, dynamic animated battles. The first chapter of Sega's Saturn-exclusive trilogy.
Shining Force III - Scenario 1 - Outo no Kyoshin review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
A tactical RPG of endearing chibi characters, colourful settings and polished cutscenes: the game unfurls a warm, readable heroic fantasy. The roundness of the design and the vividness of the hues overflow with charm. This art direction, polished and welcoming, illustrates the peak of the series on the console.
Broad and moving, Sega's music unfurls heroic, melancholy orchestral themes that carry this great tactical fresco. The music underlines the strategic tension and magnifies the weight of the choices across the three scenarios. This symphonic richness, noble and polished, remains one of the musical peaks of the Saturn.
Told across three complementary scenarios with opposing viewpoints, this tactical fresco reveals a war in which no side holds the whole truth. The tale combines politics, religious conspiracy and crossed fates with rare ambition. This bold choral structure makes it one of the peaks of the tactical RPG.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Pleasant"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Deploying your army on the battlefield, exploiting the terrain and watching each unit earn classes and skills weaves a turn-based tactical game where one victory immediately calls for the next. Recruiting fighters and advancing the story drives you to chain the chapters. The battles drag on, but the depth of the system and the bond with the characters hold you for the long haul.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Following senator Synbios on his quest for peace between two empires opens the first scenario of a tactical trilogy of rare scope. Recruiting your allies, levelling them up and overcoming long turn-based battles calls for patience and strategy. That density, a jewel of Shining Force III, offers a lifespan tactical-RPG fans savour.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
Original Japanese Saturn edition of Shining Force III Scenario 1 Outo no Kyoshin, distributed by Sega in December 1997 as a Rev A revision, the first volume of the Japanese Camelot trilogy whose canonical reading of the Synbios, Medion and Julian arc only emerges when Scenarios 1, 2 and 3 are gathered. Sega Japan run was short, jewel case with intact obi, and the founding position of Scenario 1 makes for Camelot completists a complete with obi marked Outo no Kyoshin copy a structural archive piece. Sought after.
An underrated gem
A vast tactical-RPG told across three interwoven scenarios, this epic unfolds a mature story where viewpoints echo and complete one another. Only the first chapter was translated in the West, leaving the work unfinished for many. Deep and richly written, it remains a high point of the genre that patient strategists deserve to rediscover.
Is Shining Force III - Scenario 1 - Outo no Kyoshin still worth playing in 2026?
An absolute peak of the Sega saga, Shining Force III offers an ambitious tactical RPG trilogy divided in three scenarios that tell the same story from three different perspectives. The sumptuous fantasy art direction, deep tactical combat system and epic scenario make it the absolute tactical RPG peak on Saturn. Only scenario 1 was released in the west. For anyone fond of Japanese tactical RPGs, an absolutely essential recommendation today still without the slightest hesitation on the machine truly here indeed.
