Shining Blade

Some mysterious images have popped up that appear to be from marketing materials related to a possible new Shining series game. I'm not sure if they're legit or not (I'm leaning toward fake) but I'll pass them along anyway because I like the idea of a heavily music themed RPG and a hot heroine who transforms into your sword.

The new game is supposedly codenamed Gensou no Lorelei -- this is just a code name and not the final name, though. This new style RPG features song in all areas, including story, world and battle.


The background story begins with the empire of Dragonia stealing the spirit power from the land and sending the world into chaos. People were faced with dragon attacks and natural disasters.

The main characters grouped together as a rebellion against the empire. To return the spirit power that was required to return the world to normal, they made use of Lorelei, songstresses who can sing the "mana song." Just as they were about to emerge victorious, a young girl from the enemy armies sang a sorrowful song. Yes, the enemies also had songstresses!

The songstresses, with such names as Sakuya, Mistrel, Altina and Elmina, are voiced by famous voice actresses like Nana Mizuki and Yukari Tamura. You'll hear dozens of songs from the heroines during event scenes and battle.


The game's main character is a guy named Reiji. He has a special friend named Yukihime. She transforms into a sword which serves as Reiji's weapon during battle. Depending on her emotional state, the form she takes as a sword will change.


The game's battle system is called "Concerto." This "strategy active real time battle system" is said to be evolved from Sakura Wars' ARMS system and Valkyria Chronicle's BLiTZ system. You make use of swords, bows and magic in a battle system that places importance on character cooperation -- hence the name "concerto."


You form a party of of up to five for battle, taking on small and large enemies alike. The game has "the latest trends," including positional damage and collection of materials from fallen foes.

The songstresses are special members of your battle party. By performing their magic song, they can achieve various effects on battle -- blocking enemies from moving, increasing your move count, making your party faster. Some songs can even be used for attack. Using the songs requires that you've stocked up on Mana Energy, so there's a strategic element about the songs.

The game also has inter-character relationships. Depending on your selections during event scenes, and your movements and use of group skills during battle, your character relationships will change.


Tony is the game's illustrator. Past characters from the Tony side of the Shining world will be appearing in the game as party members. You'll be able to team up with over 20 characters.


This certainly does sound like what one would expect of a Tony Shining game. Sega recently hinted that a new Shining game announcement was coming up , so we hopefully won't have to long to know for sure if these images are real or fake.