>>55402999Fair warning, Jap reviewers say Shiren 6 has one of the hardest main stories and it doesn't have ANY meta-progression in the main story dungeon, not even revival grass (Shiren's Reviver Seed equivalent).
There is a lot more focus on item use in Shiren, but the main thing that I think makes Shiren stand out is the enemy design,. Pretty much every enemy has their own gimmick you have to learn how to play around, and sometimes it's better to just try and completely avoid certain enemies if possible.
>>55405384Yes, but usually most Shiren games have a synthesis mechanic where you fuse weapons/shields together to slap on new properties, like attacking in a 3 tile radius, getting critical hit chances, healing on hit, etc to make yourself more powerful.
Personally I think Shiren 2 on N64 is the best starting point for a new player, it's one of the easier Shiren games, it's a prequel so it's the first one story-wise, and it's also just the best one imo. It also has a story that clearly inspired future PMD stories, one of the characters is pretty much just the Explorer's partner.
There's usually a Shiren thread up on /vrpg/ if you ever want to ask for help or advice.
