>>7286388Shining Force III consists of 3 games on the Saturn. They take place at the same time and are seen from the prospective of 3 different main characters. They are awesome games. Only the first scenario was ever released outside of Japan, and the voice acting isn't just bad, it's LEGENDARILY bad. However, the games are still tremendously awesome.
There is no Shining Force IV in the literal sense. There are the Shining Tears/Wind/etc games that started in the PS2 era and continue to this day, but they are Shining games in name only - the gameplay is 100% different, and they have no plot connection to the older games. These games are notable for having amazing artwork (mostly done by Tony Taka, although Noizi Itoh did one of them), and many have awesome music (Kikuta Hiroki of Secret of Mana fame did several of them), but the actual gameplay is almost universally horrible. Buy the artbooks and the OST's, but skip the games.
There is, however, Shining Force CD for the Sega CD, although this predates Shining Force III. It is a direct sequel to the original, and helps bridge the gap between the first and second games. It consists of 2 main scenarios, plus some bonus material. The second scenario was also released as a stand-alone on the Game Gear as Shining Force: The Sword of Haja.