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Game
Game2018
Shining Resonance Refrain
Developer SEGA
Shining Resonance Refrain is an action role-playing video game developed by O-Two Inc. and published by Sega. Originally developed by Media.Vision, it is an entry in Sega's Shining series of video games, and an expanded and remastered version of the Japan-only Shining Resonance released for the PlayStation 3 in 2014. While the original release was not translated into English, Refrain was released worldwide in July… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
216 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 27, 2026 · last updated Oct 28, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
63
Fresh
112 positive · 66 negative
95% range 56–70%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 112 | 66 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 6 | 2 | 24 |
| Mastodon * | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
390 of 605 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
61% recommend · 111 yes, 70 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 181 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (955 of 1,376 positive).
Technical issues, especially with AMD graphics cards and Denuvo DRM, frustrate several players. [1][2][3][4]
Liked
Representative posts
- [11]
I generally enjoy playing JRPGs, and I gave Shining Resonance Refrain a try to scratch that itch. However, I was disappointed with what I got. The story was all over the place and highly unmemorable and the characters felt very shallow. It really seemed like the game was put together for the sake of putting together a generic JRPG. Questing was generally uninteresting (tons of repeatable fetch quests). The combat …
- [12]
Shining Resonance Refrain is a mediocre game with a generic story, tropey characters, clunky combat, insane difficulty spikes that will force you to grind and unexplained systems that even veteran players have a hard time figuring out. For its sale price of £25, it is not worth playing. Story - 4/10 The story is a completely generic back and forth between two kingdoms sending armies each chapter to bash heads until …
- [15]
Originally released in 2014, Shining Resonance is a unique JRPG with greatly enjoyable lore, an innovative combat system, and interesting mechanics. Refrain adds bonus content and additional playable characters. Had a great time through multiple playthroughs. Worth a look, especially for JRPG fans.
- [8]
This game is not AS BAD as some people wanna make you think, I 100% the whole thing and had no issues or crashes, and the keyboard/mouse controls were perfect. Here is a few pros it has: -Top tier waifus/artstyle by a known hentai artist -Addicting battle system -Tons of build customisation (you can make some extremly OP builds by end game) -Main character can turn into a big dragon and pwns everything That being …
- [6]
Nice JRPG My first game played from Shining series, you don't need to play other Shining games to play this one because this game has its own world, so you don't need to worry about that. I love the characters (Designs are awesome, made by Tony Taka like other Shining games), the OST is marvelous, gameplay feels great (Feels nice to use high level skills), and the story is overall good (Not very complex, also is …
Summarised from 34 of the 220 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Shining Resonance Refrain sits at 63% positive across 178 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Shining Resonance Refrain received mixed reception, according to review aggregator platform Metacritic. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was the fifth best-selling game in its release week in Japan, selling approximately 67,000 copies.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 216 · most liked firstIt's times like this I wish Steam let you give a neutral score. Shining Resonance Refrain is certainly a product of its time (and even then it felt dated), it's a reasonably enjoyable JRPG so long as you keep in mind a few key points. ◆ Choose Refrain mode, it changes nothing story-wise and gives you two extra characters to play with. ◆ Side quests are almost all repeatable, don't get caught up trying to keep them all completed. ◆ Don't accept Rapple's quest unless it specifically says it will…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Originally released in 2014, Shining Resonance is a unique JRPG with greatly enjoyable lore, an innovative combat system, and interesting mechanics. Refrain adds bonus content and additional playable characters. Had a great time through multiple playthroughs. Worth a look, especially for JRPG fans.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is not AS BAD as some people wanna make you think, I 100% the whole thing and had no issues or crashes, and the keyboard/mouse controls were perfect. Here is a few pros it has: -Top tier waifus/artstyle by a known hentai artist -Addicting battle system -Tons of build customisation (you can make some extremly OP builds by end game) -Main character can turn into a big dragon and pwns everything That being said, the plot is very cookie cutter and I barely paid any attention to plot or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just remake the Shining Force games, and Holy Ark. They're way better than this thing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoy the game very much for what little I have played so far, however, I am rating it negative because I play on steamdeck and do not have the ability to pay for internet at home so the game is unplayable when Denuvo get a stick up its arse and makes the game unplayable until I reverify with internet. Would be willing to change my review if I could actually access what I bought. Just one person's opinion but no single player game should be unplayable due to internet...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a woman myself and i love the boobs ngl
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very decent and solid JRPG with a bit of a cliche story with a great soundtrack and graphics for a port and has jiggly anime boobs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is apart of the reboot version of the Shining Force universe, now just called the "shining" series, which began with Shining Tears. Shining Force NEO is the equivalent to the first game, that one was developed by Neverland, best known for Rune Factory and all of the Lufia games outside of the GBA one, but also the Record of Lodoss War SRPG that was the only localized game from that franchise before Team Ladybug's recent metroidvania. The art designer for the reboot games after…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately it's unplayable with AMD Radeon RX 6800 driver version 23.3.2. It flashes and crashes after few seconds in the settings menu. I cannot recommended for AMD users.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game expects you to do so much narrationless grinding in order to raise your level and acquire power ups that it is insane. The game doesn't teach you this, but the difficulty curve makes it evident once you see the infinitely respawning enemies and how they jump many levels above you after pretty much every story beat. The combat is a game of stats more than anything, and the devs expect you to slog through the same fights over and over for hours on end just to "unlock" the next story…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I generally enjoy playing JRPGs, and I gave Shining Resonance Refrain a try to scratch that itch. However, I was disappointed with what I got. The story was all over the place and highly unmemorable and the characters felt very shallow. It really seemed like the game was put together for the sake of putting together a generic JRPG. Questing was generally uninteresting (tons of repeatable fetch quests). The combat was actually somewhat fun at first, but it started to get highly repetitive.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to play this game twice now, first played it about a half year ago. I played about 4 hours, then somehow I migrated to another game. Now I tried it again, thinking that I should give it another chance, but unfortunately this time didn't go better either. The game itself is your usual J-RPG, it probably has a complicated story, but the part I saw from it didn't really grab me. If I would have gotten invested in the story, that would have countered a lot of other problems and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has become unironically, a guilty pleasure, sure, nothing makes sense. sure, the combat at points feels choppy, however. the game seems to own up to it and keeps me coming back to it. Why? because I keep feeling compelled to wonder how it could get weirder and funnier.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A nice looking game that suffers from really corny and poor writing, and really REALLY bad pacing. the enemies scale in level so fast, and you don't get XP from side quests so you can ONLY grind through monsters which do not give enough to keep you interested for long. If you check the achievements you lose half the players as you go through each chapter and I can see why. Debating dropping it but i just want to beat it so i never have to play it again.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd only recommend this if you are a huge jrpg fan and have exhausted the list of studio jrpgs on Steam; even then, only buy it at a steep discount. Combat becomes repeating one combo over and over again. Boss battles become buff yourself with music, turn into a dragon, and spam attack. If you don't kill the boss during the dragon phase you go back to spamming the same original combo. The story and the characters are cliché in the worst ways and in no way make up for the lackluster gameplay.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesnt work with AMD GPUs.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn't run with newer AMD drivers. I got horrible visual glitches that resulted in a CTD in just the opening. I can't even reach a save point.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boss battles are absurdly CHEAP and easily one shot my characters from FULL health and leveling is pointless because the foes scale with you as well. I'm currently on chapter 3. Great story. Shame that difficulty of cheapness is again absurdly HIGH. This game plays similar to STAR OCEAN so you have to rely that the AI won't be dumb. Sadly, they are,in fact, very dumb as they will waltz into a ultra attack a boss does and take it full frontal attack usually one shoting them!! WTF. I've…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shining Resonance Refrain is a mediocre game with a generic story, tropey characters, clunky combat, insane difficulty spikes that will force you to grind and unexplained systems that even veteran players have a hard time figuring out. For its sale price of £25, it is not worth playing. Story - 4/10 The story is a completely generic back and forth between two kingdoms sending armies each chapter to bash heads until one of them wins. You play as Yuma, who is rescued from a prison and he houses…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Remove the nudity. dating sim and all that bs from the tags it has none of it. yes you can pick the ending partner but thats no dating sim still and 0 nudity. as for a jrpg its fine.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deciding what game to play next 🤔 Options: - Fnishing FFVII Remake (I was on chapter 10 before I took a break) - Harvestella (loved my time with it but got distracted nearly the end) - Shining Resonance Refrain - Final Fantasy XII - play Lost In Random before Halloween!
neutral · AI labelView post →Someone stapled an incredibly robust JRPG combat system onto this dating sim. Not untrue, but not terribly kind either. I can do better: I'm a sucker for games whose primary mechanics or world building invoke heavy musical themes. I've an appreciation for the "Armonics", even if conceptually they're a little silly. It's magic. Don't think about it too hard. Do you, as the player, play any music through the course of the game? No, you invoke it as needed. "Conduct", if you will.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice JRPG My first game played from Shining series, you don't need to play other Shining games to play this one because this game has its own world, so you don't need to worry about that. I love the characters (Designs are awesome, made by Tony Taka like other Shining games), the OST is marvelous, gameplay feels great (Feels nice to use high level skills), and the story is overall good (Not very complex, also is explained as a visual novel). If you like niche JRPGs I recommend it!! 11/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't buy this game It does not work on Windows 11 with the newest AMD drivers. It crashes and frozen on me most of the time. Funny thing is the theme song plays like normal but when you go to select save file or new game the game glitches out.. Email Sega told me they don't care to help me with it. Not going to buy anything From Sega on PC again Update Game works with new AMD drivers update for some reason now. For how long I do not know.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →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. 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. However, the goodwill soon dissolves, and the majority of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Combat not really engaging, spam normal attacks that are quite choppy like anything else combat related, Lots of different skills however most of them are totally useless since normal attacks are enough for this game. Dragon faces looks goofy. On good side - rich jp voice acting cast but that's not enough to save this game. Not really worth either full price or half price, lots of different better positions in this bracket. Wouldn't recommend it even for free to be honest.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a slog to play through, the dialogue is as cliche as it gets, the combat has no depth, the characters are generic, the world looks decent enough. Honestly it's just mediocre through and through. It's not worth your time, just get one of the Tales of games instead if you haven't already. Oh and it just straight up doesn't work with AMD graphics cards, Nvidia has no issues whatsoever.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would hope that's the case, but as I mentioned in another comment, I've actually seen a case where a Denuvo-addled game was cracked, then the cracked version *stopped working* at some point (seemingly after a certain calendar date or a certain time after installation, because it definitely wasn't based on in-game progress), necessitating an updated crack. The game is Shining Resonance Refrain, if you're curious. Maybe the new crack actually succeeds at really defeating the DRM? Who knows.…
neutral · AI labelView post →This game desperately needs fast travel.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's... an anime game for better or worse. Pros: -Beautiful artwork/design -Good soundtrack -Surprisingly good combat, fluid, fast, with weaving and cancels -Interesting mechanic with the super dragon you can summon that is liable to rampage, adds an interesting risk vs safety mechanic to boss fights -Semi-openish world where you can explore almost all of the map as long as you're able to overcome some VERY beefy enemies blocking your way (think Elden Ring style) Cons: -Tropey as all hell,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shining Resonance Refrain is an interesting game that I really enjoyed. The game itself may not be super complex or have any advanced mechanics, but I found it to have an interesting atmosphere, characters, and a well-designed combat system that I really enjoyed. While the story may not be its strongest point, it's still manageable because it's not the worst, or at least I've seen worse. The game runs well and has no issues. As for its length, I think it's perfect—not too long or too short. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →By no means a great game, but far from bad either. I really enjoyed my time with it. Plus the soundtrack is great.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing this game in 2024. still a good game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have a good 60+hours in game from console and bought again for pc. 10/10 JRPG If you are a fan of the 'Tales of' series, you'll love it. This has some TOP tier English voice actors-I mean literally some of the BEST in the business, it's insane; phenomenal music and gameplay. A charming romance/bromance system and story. Hard to believe it's made by sega tbh but they pulled this off- this is an absolute GEM of a game more people should know about. Even with the different endings, I suppose…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Kinda rough, kinda janky, kinda buggy. But honestly it's more fun than most ARPGs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an old school JRPG so has some flaws and can get frustrating at times. However I like the game and personally like the Shining series and art style as a whole. Great OST. Some of the more specific annoying aspects are your teammates actions and lack of general awareness in fights, especially boss fights the AI will get themselves downed often. Speaking of boss battles, some of these can be frustrating as they deal high damage and you might have to cheese some of them by running behind and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shining Resonance Refrain, developed and published by SEGA, is a vibrant JRPG that revives and enhances the cult classic Shining Resonance with refined mechanics, expanded content, and a polished presentation. Set in a high fantasy world where dragons, knights, and magic intermingle, the game follows the journey of Yuma Ilvern, a young man who harbors the powerful Dragon Shining Resonance within him. The narrative explores themes of friendship, destiny, and self-acceptance, wrapped in a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL:DR: Game is at best a 3/10 do not play it, or buy it unless you have a morbid curiosity or are masochistic. Interesting music, but game play, story, and characters are mediocre to bad at best. Do yourself a favor and play Tales of/Trails of if you want a better experience. I streamed this entire play through, and I will say it just doesn't feel good in the slightest, it's always one bit away from being good 7-8/10. The idea of music being powerful, is cool, but what they don't explain is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst JRPG i have ever played. My A.I companions will always die and then I'm left alone with 1 character slowly chipping the boss health until the boss dies... After the fight I can't even heal the "dead" characters because I need to revive them lol.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wonderful game. Reminiscent of a Tales game in combat. Very deep, involved story, Lots of romance/friendship building, and it is done quite well. Side quests are plentiful and worthwhile. Characters are top notch and their interactions with each other are very organic and heartfelt. The musical aspect is an especially intriguing note. And the graphics are charming and still hold up today IMHO. Highly recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i was up to my ears in waifus!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game, I really did. In the end, I can't stand the main character. The world building is interesting, but every time the protagonist opens his mouth, he's whining worse than Anikin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones. The combat is too clunky for me, and I'm normally rather forgiving with clunky combat, so that's saying something.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would have prefered a neutral option on this one. I personnally enjoyed the story and the farm I was doing but I would totally understand that this kind of J-RPG would not be great for everyone. Gameplay is slow and miss something to makes it really great but it didn't bother me that much. Instead I enjoyed most of the story and wanted to see it till the end (at least each endings). I would recommend to get it on sales or from bundles if you still wanna try the experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just don't think it holds up to modern RPG and JRPG standards. It really doesn't feel smooth to play, and I feel this makes the game feel needlessly difficult, unless it's just meant that way and supposed to be compensated with grind, can't really tell. (You also sometimes get forced out of playing your standard cast which is a massive nerf unless you planned for it.) Voicing is fine, music is fine, characters so far are..... I guess they're okay. Can consider playing this if your backlog…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried. I really tried, but I couldn’t get into this game. The combat wasn’t engaging and the story / characters weren’t enough to compensate. I have 100 games installed on my computer, about 80 of which I haven’t even started. Maybe when I clear out that list, I will get back to this game and try again.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Opening theme song video stutters in both audio and image when running with AMD RX 6800 XT via EGPU. Integrated intel graphics plays the game opening flawlessly. The game seems to have stutter and slow down regardless of graphics card or settings, especially noticeable in the first city after the intro tutorial battle levels. Switch version is honestly much better and without denuvo.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good morning everyone. Happy Monday. I hope that you all had a nice and relaxing weekend. I decided to look around at what was on sale for PSN, and picked up this game called Shining Resonance Refrain. I'm only a couple hours in, but it's an interesting game so far. Hope you have a great day today
positive · AI labelView post →Would I recommend is kind of a hard question... Story: 2/5 - a really weak story with a basic premise. Save the world nonsense with characters having anime trope paper thin objectives with flimsy motivation and ultimately you aren't here for the ride but more just trying to figure out if it's bad enough to abandon or good enough to slog forward. I finished it, so it was good enough to slog forward, but I can't say I have feeling of accomplishment having endured it. Gameplay: 3/5 -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beatrice Irma Video Game: Shining Resonance Refrain Year: 2018 Erika Ishii was part of the voice cast for the English version of Sega's Shining Resonance Refrain which is the remastered version of the Japan-only Shining Resonance released in 2014. #ShiningResonanceRefrain
neutral · AI labelView post →7/10 Good brainless RPG, specially if you get it on sale with some/all the DLC. Pros: Enjoyable, near mindless if you set your characters up even remotely well Story doesn't pull you into hour+ long cutscenes or text Decent character customization, though a bit uninforming on details of what certain things do/affect Cons: Maybe too easy for trash mobs and some bosses Some boss fights are pretty hard unless you do repeat dragon forms (limited strategy to beat them) And you can't change your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game should have an option to convert Original mode save file to Refrain mode! to someone who haven't started the game and happen to be reading, I'd recommend you to start the game in Refrain mode I finished the game in Original mode with some ending, but later learned that DLC characters can be only played in Refrain mode, and I have to start over again with almost no difference in story and gameplay beside 2 playable characters added. and I'm tired of grinding so I quitted before…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The AI just dies constantly during boss fights.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring grinding required to get over the fat boss fights. It's a shame that a good interface, system and story are failed by the disgusting leveling and gameplay progression.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game with nice characters and some interesting features. But it can be annoying for those who don't like to run through the maps. And the game runs well on linux.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fantastic JRPG especially if you enjoy a good grind, sexy girls, and levelling many weapons and characters to level 200. Game has some difficulty spikes but in the end it's a very easy game and there is no hard mode.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →10/10 for sure. 🌟(⌬̀⌄⌬́)🌟 I will say it again no matter how many time I review it. Shining Resonance Refrain is no doubt my all time Shining favourite! o(^▽^)o The story and theme for the serie is all about dragon, elves, knights and they are my favourite ever since. 🐉 I have got it on the PS4 version a long time ago and I've decided to get it again on Steam because the game-play is beautiful with 120p FPS. Tony Taka is the reason I love Shining series because he puts his heart and soul on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Legitimately one of the worst JRPGs I have ever played. Even on sale, avoid at all cost. You have been warned.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mega Man 1, Sonic 3D Blast, Minish Cap, Shining Resonance Refrain, Mega Man X8, Zelda Oracle games, Sonic Superstars, Yooka-Laylee, to name a few. While they're not great or anything, I did enjoyed playing these games. If the game is good & fun, then that's all I need.
positive · AI labelView post →youtu.be/cCuwEZEfE0o Today in #ShiningResonanceRefrain we begin the end game events of Chapter 4, it seems the Empire has been spotted in the Clavalle Crags of all places but why?
neutral · AI labelView post →Produced by the same studio that gave us the Wild ARMs franchise, this JRPG may not be revolutionary, but it is still fun, light-hearted and has a great battle system. The OST is well done and (perhaps aside from the protagonist), the cast is well-written, engaging and interesting enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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