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Shining in the Darkness

Honestly, as a kid I was largely clueless as to why people were still wishing one another a Happy Chinese New Year even after two days. Yeah, I had lived with that mistake for a considerable part of my life. In any case, the red packets would stop rolling in as well. Now that I'm certain (?) that the festive season runs for 15 days, I have more reasons to indulge in every little inch of convenience. Nope, weight gain has ceased to become an issue. Nope, I didn't join a fitness club or something. Anyway, I just realised that the sheep article is actually in sync with my pseudonym! Many folks will be returning to school or work as this week commences. I completely understand the withdrawal symptoms that most might be suffering from. Let's hope that this article would kind of take away some of the blues.


A friend and I were talking about some of the games that we had played, and he lamented his ineptness at racing games as well. The arcade sure brings back a lot of memories, though not necessarily the good ones. Naturally, I sucked at more games than anything else. The odd game or two which I could fair quite decently had long been stashed away with a bunch of rarities in my life. However, that isn't my attempt for today. I was reminded of a game which had crossed my path as a kid playing at a cousin's house. The cousin owned a bunch of games and a big console which easily became the envy of everybody else (meaning just me). The said game had some really cool stuff, although for the bigger part of my memory it was actually the soundtrack that first won me over. The game was Shining in the Darkness.



Interestingly, the title had only surfaced much later in my teenage years. All the cousin's games had been direct imports from Japan, which meant that he had pretty much 'guessed' his way through his adventures and such. For Shining in the Darkness, the opening sequence remains vivid in my mind - an old man was resting on a rocking chair. Upon seeing what would be the Hero of this exciting adventure, the old man got up with some difficulty and welcomed the player to the Kingdom of Thornwood. Moments later, the Hero found himself in the castle where the game proper began. The Hero's mission was to rescue the King's beloved daughter Princess Jessa from the evil Dark Sol. After securing some basic equipment and stuff, he officially embarked on a solo adventure for the first few levels.



The monsters mostly assumed the form of cute, little figures though not on the same degree with those in MapleStory. Well, these two games are more than two decades apart so nothing can be compared be it graphics or anything else. However, an impression does feel the same. Cute monsters make excellent bait for luring potential gamers especially during the early stages where anything could be finished off in a couple of kills. Well, almost anything. Depending on how the Hero was trained, he would be more or less equipped to face off the first boss known as Kaiserkrab at around level 7 or so (a YouTube clip showed some player managing to finish off Kaiserkrab at level 5...should be doable I guess?). After the Hero's battle with the stupid side-walking crab, he would be advised by the Minister to form a party of three to continue the mission. The fun (?) would really escalate from then on! 



By the way, like a lot of other Hero characters the player had no magic abilities whatsoever. He would later depend on two friends Pyra and Milo to assist him in various aspects of battle. Although Pyra identified herself as a descendant of fine magic-users, frankly she was just another hot-tempered witch who would waste no time in exacting revenge. As for Milo, he joined the party at the request of the priest when the Hero and Pyra stopped over at the shrine. Hmm, Milo should be a cleric if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, the three would become a powerful team as they progressed through the increasingly daunting stages. The final boss was none other than Dark Sol, however he wasn't the one who had held Princess Jessa captive...so who was it?!

Eccentrically Yours.

Written by J.Fluffysheep ♪    

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