However, Yuma snaps out of this soon enough, and happily lends his aid to Astoria and the cadre of allies he picks up - of all whom use the Armonic weapons-slash-musical-instruments bestowed upon the world by the Shining Dragon in his struggle against Deus. Yuma starts off as the standard reluctant protagonist, attempting to stay out of the conflict and not use the Shining Dragon’s power because he fears he lacks the ability to control its incredible destructive power. This background comes into play with current events through Yuma, a young man who houses the soul of the Shining Dragon and who is likely the key to breaking the stalemate between Astoria and the empire, as the latter begins a fresh push in the conflict. Far in the past, a war broke out between those forces allied with the dragons and those of a deity called Deus, with the Shining Dragon eventually managing to seal away Deus but at the cost of the lives of its brethren. Astoria’s world is home to both humans and elves - though any differences between the races play no significant part in this story - and more importantly was previously home to dragons. Shining Resonance is set in the nation of Astoria, a relatively small kingdom that has been fighting off the advances of its neighbouring empire for nearly a decade. Those for whom this is the first taste of the series aren’t going to be encouraged to seek out more. However, the goodwill soon dissolves, and the majority of the game becomes a slog. The first release in the series to hit North America in over a decade, Shining Resonance Refrain - an enhanced version of a Japan-only PlayStation 3 title released on PC and all the following-gen consoles - starts off well enough. The Shining series is renowned for providing many flavours of RPGs, but that diversity may have counted against it as the series all but disappeared from the west, though it did keep a presence in Japan.

Shining resonance refrain