Shining Ark Follows The RPG Trend Of Having “Normal” And “Casual” Difficulty

There’s a growing trend of adding a "casual mode" to role playing games to make them more accessible. Games like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Shin Megami Tensei IV, and even Final Fantasy XIII (well, at least for the Xbox 360 version in Japan) have an optional easy difficulty and a standard mode for fans of the genre. Casual mode or easy mode as it’s called in other games has always been optional and this feature makes RPGs appeal to a wider audience. Sega also added a casual mode difficulty level to Shining Ark, the latest game in the long running Shining series.

You can pick either casual or standard mode when you start a new game. Going with one mode or another will not affect the game’s story or item drops. Shining Ark’s difficult can also be changed through the system menu at any given time in the game.

What does toggling the difficulty do?

In casual mode, your allies will have their turns show up more frequently than the opponent’s. Notice the character order in the above images. The left shows more ally turns in casual mode, while the right portrays a more balanced order in standard mode. You also take less damage in casual mode. Playing in standard will require more strategy since the game is designed for players to think several moves ahead.

Shining Ark was released in Japan today for PSP.