SSSSS FFFFFF FFFFFF CCC
S S F F C
S FFFF --> FFFF C
S F F C
S F --> F C
SSSSS F F CCC
Game: Shining Force Final Conflict
System: Sega Game Gear
FAQ: Advanced Character FAQ
Written By: NoWorries
Allowed Website: www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseeker.com
*If you have a website you would like to post this at just shoot me an email*
**As always, the most up-to-date guide will always be found at gamefaqs**
Version History: 1.0 Submitted 19 of June of 2018
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A Forward
As I may use symbols one may be unfamiliar with, I hope this short list makes
sense of what I mean to say in the guide.
**...** is used to bold something
-...- is likewise used to bold
<>...<> is used to bold (and all such symbols to grab your attention)
37> means a number less than 37
37>= means a number less than or equal to 37
37< means a number greater than 37
37=< means a number greater than or equal to 37
== means equal to
= also means equal to (the above is a computer programming difference)
That's about it. If something is confusing you, don't hesitate to ask me by
shooting me an email (located at the end of the guide)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Disclaimer-
I am not responsible for any emotional, physical, etc etc damage caused by
the misuse of this guide under any circumstances
Also, when I use the term 'newb' it makes reference to a NEW PLAYer. A newb
is someone who is unfamiliar with the game. A Noob is someone who sucks and
ruins games. Know the difference.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction [1111]
2. Character Stats and Discussion [2222]
3. Extra Character Discussion [3333]
a. Spells
b. Rings
c. Consumables
d. Items
e. Promotion
f. Character Comparisons
4. Frequently Asked Questions [4444]
5. Closing, Copyright, Call-Outs [5555]
----------------
| Introduction |
----------------
[1111]
-Who should be reading this FAQ?- #The NoWorries Contract to Greatness
I put this in every faq I've ever written, and it goes something along the
lines like this. By writing this, I commit to you the reader that I will bring
to you not only my vastness of knowledge but with a sense of humour. I
understand it's easy to get bogged down in detail as well as a mush of opinion
but I strive to bring you something more than just a guide to greatness.
This is the conclusion to the glory of the guides that is my Shining Force
character analysis. I started with SF1 almost six years ago (it's June of 2018
as I write this) and since then have also done SF2, SF SoH, and then SFCD
book 1 which is SF Gaiden 1 (SF SoH is Gaiden 2). That leaves just SF, the
Final Conflict, henceforth called SFFC or SF FC or just FC as the last SF
game on the traditional Sega systems. I'll talk more about the game in a
moment, but this is a guide for anyone interested in FC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like I hinted to earlier, this is the last of the five (5) SF games that
comprise one generalized universe with small story threads. Some say that
Shining in the Darkness fits in somewhere (I'll talk about that towards the
end of the guide) and that SF3 still does take place though far in the future.
Regardless, this is the last game I consider to be part of the glorious
Shining games that feature top down strategy turn-based RPGs. SF needs little
introduction, so let's talk about FC.
FC is a game that was released to a Japanese audience only in 1995 (just
like Gaiden 1 never was released outside of Japan). Considering that the Sega
CD was already out and that SFCD was released in 1994 in Japan, the fact this
game was released to the Game Gear and only in Japan was very curious. This
game gets praised as the best portable SF game; I think SoH is better, but
this game is certainly addicting as it features a familiar remix of SF tunes
and many familiar places and characters.
The game picks up some amount of time following the events of SF1 as well
some amount of time before SF2 as the story picks up with Adam being wounded
and Max continuing to chase after Mishaela (the SF1 Mishaela being a puppet).
We have a new hero, Ian, and a dozen other new heroes with Odd Eye and Max
making very late appearances as playable characters.
The game mechanics are similar to SF2, as you have "true level" which is
every system except SF1, as well the levels are more linear in growth. There
are also many useable items including some familiar ones such as the Evil and
White Ring, as well the Chaos Breaker (which sadly cannot be used).
Regardless, the game is fun and definitely worth it to play if you are a
fan of SF or just a fan of strategy RPGs. Now, as this game was never released
outside of Japan, you'll likely only play this (since you're reading an
English written guide) is on an Emulator or VC with a Fan Translation. The
folks over at Shining Force Central have done a wonderful job with that and
you can head over there to find it if you want (I will not be linking it for
reasons).
Anyway, let's talk about how this character section is going to work. Like
the other Gaiden games, there are not nearly enough characters to warrant the
super deep analysis that SF1 or 2 required. That being said, you do get a
pretty good amount of heroes meaning that choosing your team early is an
option as to avoid wasting experience on heroes you don't want to use.
Speaking of which: you can promote at 10, or level to 20. There are no
alternate promotions. There are four (4) chapters in the game comprising
essentially 21 battles (22 if you count the final which is just a boss). My
stats below reflect a 20-20 team, though I noted stats at 10 and 10P to give
you an idea of growth.
One of the most interesting aspects I found was that some characters grew
by quite a bit from 10 to 20... and not always in the way you want! For
instance, Cynthia is a healer, and from 10 to 20 she gained +2 or +3 attack
almost every level! How weird! Regardless... onto the guide
I'm streaming live on twitch! Give me a follow and catch me playing Shining
Force related games (feel free to ask me questions, I get loads of em already)
twitch.tv/tskisoccer
------------------
| Detailed Stats |
------------------
[2222]
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Ian (Swordsman --> Hero)
Magic?
Egress {starts}
Bolt (4) {15, 18, 22, 27} Bolt 3|4 at 12|17 promoted only
Ian is the hero of FC but in a Shining first, you don't have him for every
battle. Mead is actually the leader for the first battle and then Ian joins
afterwards at level 1. As your hero, Ian is incredibly powerful and arguably
the best hero in any SF title. While Bowie gains more stats thanks to 70+
levels available to him, in their own respected titles, Ian is definitely the
strongest. There's nary a time where Ian isn't hitting for a good amount of
damage nor is there one where he is taking considerable damage.
Which is another good thing to mention, as Ian is a favorite target of the
enemy to attack; so the gaining of lots of defense is very welcome. He won't
get a new weapon upgrade until chapter 2, but like I said, he never feels weak
until around chapter 3 and that's only if you're delaying promotion (the full
promotion discussion is at the end of the guide) but regardless, Ian gains
lots of stats across the board as well as he gains enough magic to take full
advantage of learning the Bolt spell.
His best weapon is the Chaos Breaker (Max can use it also) but it's more
the Force Sword as it can't use magic. He also can use the White Ring, but
there are a lot of people who can wear that and since he probably takes just
a few points of damage in the end battle anyway.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
12 | 08 | 13 | 06 | 05 | Lv 1 Middle Sword
24 | 15 | 32 | 20 | 12 | Lv10 Long Sword
32 | 19 | 45 | 30 | 17 | Lv20 Steel Sword
50 | 26 | 62 | 41 | 26 | Lv10 Broad Sword
66 | 30 | 80 | 50 | 29 | Lv20 Chaos Breaker
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Mead (Knight --> Paladin)
Mead is the first of two knights as well as he is the leader for just a
single battle. You'll probably enjoy Mead in the beginning, and in the
beginning, he is a solid knight. However, you'll likely find that his growth
just isn't that good and he falls off fairly hard.
Normally, you want to keep a ranged weapon on your knights for some
versatile action, except for Mead, you can sell the Spear into Chapter 2
since the damage penalty is hardly worth that option. There is a Power Spear
available at the end of Chapter 2 (and for purchase later) until you can
promote him and give him a Valkyrie which is actually for purchase in this
game. There is no Halberd in the game, and the Paladin's best weapon is the
Valkyrie.
Knights move great at 7 move as they do in most games, but in this game,
there is no shortage of annoying terrain battles that punish the centaurs
movement. Of the 22 battles, there are 7 bad terrain battles (1/3 or 33%)
and 3 of those are "really bad" like desert. One thing consider when deciding
if to use a knight for the long haul and certainly if you want to use Mead.
As most of those annoying battles are later in the game, I suggest you use
Mead up to Chapter 2 and retire him once Sylvia joins
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 7 Move
11 | 00 | 12 | 04 | 04 | Lv 1 Spear
25 | 00 | 31 | 16 | 11 | Lv10 Steel Lance
34 | 00 | 44 | 25 | 16 | Lv20 Power Spear
47 | 00 | 61 | 46 | 24 | Lv10 Valkyrie
55 | 00 | 68 | 51 | 29 | Lv20 Valkyrie
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Paige (Warrior --> Gladiator)
Paige is our first warrior in the game and I'll preface with this: if a
hero has 5 movement in a Shining game, they need to offer something special to
be worth it. As is the case with most warriors outside of SF1, Paige is hardly
worth your time. Like Jaha from SoH and SF2 to some extent, if given time for
EXP and time to keep up with your team, Paige becomes immensely powerful. His
20-20 stats don't lie, Paige obtained over 80 attack and over 60 defense. But
those stats don't reveal the struggle that was very real due to how slow he is
AND just how slow he moves.
Those battles I mentioned with Mead? They hurt just as badly to Paige
since Paige also moves just two spaces and he lacks range!
I'll give Paige one prop though: upon obtaining the Battle Axe at the end
of Chapter 2, his damage was actually considerable while other people were
beginning to struggle due to my delayed promotions. So if you are looking to
crunch and grind out some levels, you may want to give Paige a shot. He's
very powerful and the Ground Axe being in the game does give him +1 movement
at the end which is always welcome. If you aren't looking to grind out though;
then I wouldn't bother with Paige even past the first battle.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
07 | 00 | 13 | 07 | 03 | Lv 1 Short Axe
20 | 00 | 32 | 20 | 11 | Lv10 Middle Axe
27 | 00 | 49 | 31 | 15 | Lv20 Battle Axe
49 | 00 | 64 | 50 | 22 | Lv10 Heat Axe
53 | 00 | 82 | 66 | 26 | Lv20 Ground Axe
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Hawel (Magician --> Wizard)
Magic?
Blaze (4) {starts, 8, 16, 26} Blaze 4 at 16 promoted only
Freeze (4) {4, 13, 22, 29} Freeze 3|4 at 12|19 promoted only
Attack {19}
Is it the same Hawel from SF2? The game wants you to believe that; I'll
talk about it at the end of the guide, but regardless, Hawel is your first
and only caster for two chapters. That might mean you want to use him, and no
doubt Minto is far easier if you're not interested in grinding. While I'll
list several reasons to favor Minto, I'll also list several here to favor
Hawel.
Hawel masters two elements, Blaze and Freeze, but you'll likely never get
to either unless you're maxing out characters since 16 and 19 promoted are
quite late to be learning strong magic. The upside is that Hawel learns the
Attack spell at 19 (9P). This means that once Hawel learns Attack, he doesn't
need another drop of EXP as he can keep boosting your team to mow down the
enemy. Combined with Ruburan, you can easily OHKO about half the enemies
throughout the game.
Hawel is a weak and slow mage though. After you learn Blaze 2, his spell
progression feels like it slows considerably and that's largely due to his
damage output being so low. His stats are fairly unimpressive to say the
least as well. While most casters such as Tao, Kazin, or even Narsha from
three different SF games are generally the fastest characters in the game,
Hawel is pretty slow, which only makes things harder on him for killing since
you don't want to leave up a dangerous enemy that might go before him.
Regardless, there is a single Protect Staff in the game which offers some
extra defense to whomever you want to give it to, Hawel, Minto, or Cynthia.
There's also the Black and Evil Ring which cast Blaze 2 and Bolt 3 when used
as items by the promoted forms.
One small perk, he starts with 8 magic at level 1 which is super helpful
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
08 | 08 | 09 | 05 | 05 | Lv 1 Bronze Rod
20 | 20 | 22 | 13 | 12 | Lv10 Iron Rod
28 | 29 | 27 | 16 | 15 | Lv20 Iron Rod
37 | 43 | 38 | 24 | 22 | Lv10 Power Stick
46 | 53 | 47 | 49 | 28 | Lv20 Protect Staff
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Knuckles (Monk --> Master Monk)
Magic?
Heal (4) {starts, 4, 17, 25} Heal 4 at 15 promoted only
Detox (2) {6, 22} Detox 2 at 12 promoted only
Sleep {10}
Dispel {13}
Knuckles is your first healer for a few battles and like most Monk
characters, he's good at a lot of things, but not great at anything. Knuckles
will compliment Cynthia for a long time until Cynthia learns Aura or you pick
up Morton who's basically superior in almost every way.
Knuckles has a disappointing spell selection to say the least. He learns
four full ranks of Heal, but level 3 which is the most important comes a bit
too late (it heals for 30 which is more than enough for 95% of the game). He
learns Detox, which is always a useless spell and here it would just drain his
already small MP pool even more quickly. Considering how I was grinding out
the battles, I never needed to buy Antidotes as more than enough were dropped
by the enemies for me, making this spell even more useless.
He also has Sleep which is pretty useless in all variations of this game
as well Dispel which likewise is a pretty crappy spell. I'll admit that status
spells (at least Slow) do seem to land fairly often in FC but the question is
to which spells are even worth casting. Sleep and Dispel fall into the "never"
category so yeah, Knuckles is pretty bad overall. He gains lots of +3 attacks,
but thanks to gloves/knuckles being pretty poor weapons, a 20-20 Knuckles
will get to 70 attack which is maybe slighly above average.
There are cursed knuckles, Kaiser Knuckles, but as they give -1 move
when equipped, it's definitely not worth it.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
11 | 06 | 08 | 04 | 03 | Lv 1 Leather Glove
23 | 15 | 32 | 14 | 11 | Lv10 Power Glove
31 | 21 | 37 | 23 | 17 | Lv20 Power Glove
43 | 30 | 63 | 46 | 24 | Lv10 Brass Knuckle
52 | 35 | 72 | 51 | 29 | Lv20 Battle Knuckle
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Sonnette (Archer --> Sniper)
You get just one Archer in this game but Sonnette is easily the best
Archer in all of the Shining titles. She does exactly what you want an Archer
to do: she shoots and blasts things out of the air. She also gets fairly damn
tanky so she can hold her own. She gets a ton of health. She's also fast and
she has 6 movement.
That being said, Sonnette does start a bit weak. After battle 2, you can
give her a new arrow and she does get new arrows fairly often including the
Hyper Cannon in the third to last battle. Trust me, she's super worth it as
her range and damage will be hard to touch throughout the game.
If you want to make the most out of her, I'd 20-20 her. You get the Robin
Arrow towards the end of Chapter 2 which grants her 3 range so keeping her
unpromoted until 20 isn't that unreasonable. Long story short, there's too
many ways to write "Sonnette is awesome" so do yourself a favor and use her.
She also has an awesome promoted sprite.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
10 | 00 | 10 | 05 | 04 | Lv 1 Wooden Arrow
23 | 00 | 31 | 14 | 13 | Lv10 Steel Arrow
33 | 00 | 43 | 18 | 18 | Lv20 Robin Arrow
51 | 00 | 60 | 39 | 26 | Lv10 Assault Shell
64 | 00 | 76 | 47 | 32 | Lv20 Hyper Cannon
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Cynthia (Healer --> Priest)
Magic?
Heal (4) {starts, starts, 12, 22} Heal 4 at 12 promoted only
Blast (4) {6, 14, 24, 28} Blast 3|4 at 14|18 promoted only
Muddle (2) {9, 18}
Aura (4) {16, 20, 26, 30} Aura 3|4 at 16|20 promoted only
Cynthia is the best healer in the game but boy let me tell you what she
is a tough cookie to use. One thinks of Mayfair, who is an incredibly healer
but has substantial MP to help get her there; or maybe Sarah from SoH who
joins and learns Aura after just one level.
Cynthia joins with an incredibly modest pool of just 6 MP and it isn't
getting better soon. Her damage also is pretty sad until 10+, and like I said
earlier, she gains so much attack from 10 to 20. Just look at those numbers!
She almost doubled her attack over 10 levels which is just bonkers! She did
pick up more magic, and even though 20-20 delays when you would get Aura 4,
it's still necessary if you want to get to 36 MP.
Now with that being said, there is a Mystery Staff (Hawel could use it
too) but as it restores 2 MP a turn, Cynthia or Minto should use it as they
actually benefit from the restore the most. With the Mystery Staff, as long
as Cynthia has 34 MP, you can use Aura 4 twice back to back. If you have 30
MP, you can use Aura 4 twice but it might be a few turns.
Anyway, that was out of order, so let's talk more normal stuff. She joins
after battle 3 before entering the Ribble Camp. She learns Blast at 6 which
is basically how you will level her for some time since it's basically Blaze
in this game. She learns a full 4 ranks of it just like Heal, but like Heal,
you can still to the first level. Aura is where it's at. Aura 1 cast on 3
heroes gives 25 EXP regardless of any healing done, making leveling her
pretty easy once you get Aura and the Mystery Staff. She does learn Muddle,
and I did ues it once, but TBH I don't get it and I wouldn't bother with it.
As evident by her growth, she only lacks health in the end so she's a
reasonable candidate to get that Cheerful Bread.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
12 | 06 | 11 | 07 | 08 | Lv 4 Bronze Rod
18 | 12 | 25 | 14 | 13 | Lv10 Iron Rod
19 | 17 | 48 | 24 | 17 | Lv20 Iron Rod
29 | 29 | 59 | 33 | 25 | Lv10 Power Stick
35 | 36 | 76 | 53 | 30 | Lv20 Mystery Staff
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Ruburan (Thief --> Ninja)
Magic?
Katon (4) {2, 5, 11, 17}
Raijin (4) {8, 13, 15, 19}
Ruburan only gains spells and magic when promoted
Every game needs their "Peter" character and Ruburan is FC's. In some ways
you could say he's actually better than Peter and could be argued to be the
best Shining character given to us in 5 games. Let's talk about it.
First, he's a ranged hero. With Throwing Knives, Daggers, and later
Shurikens, you have the highest attack hero attacking from a distance. That's
a dangerous combination as that essentially makes him an Archer.
Second, his attack growth is stupid. From 10 to 20, he dang near doubled
his attack growth, and from 1P to 20P, he about doubled it again ending my
20-20 effort with 93 attack. Holy wow.
Third, his defense is high, like really high. Others might have more, but
receiving one damage is one damage regardless if you have 58 or 60+ defense.
You can move him to the front of the lines with little concern for his safety
especially since he will annihilate most things in one hit.
Fourth, he gets four full ranks of Ninja magic, which for FC are just
strict upgrades on the Blaze and Bolt spells, meaning that he's actually a
better caster than Minto and Hawel though not for supportive spells.
What's his downside? He joins at level 5 after battle 5 and his damage
until you hit those 10+ levels will be modest. Once you hit those 10+, then
he begins to reap the damage but until then, he's pretty weak. He also has
just 5 movement. He's ranged, but 5 move still feels pretty small. I often
Turbo Pepper him once he's a Ninja since I'm always using him and now he
becomes a knight that doesn't get thrashed by bad terrain. It's pretty good.
All in all, Ruburan is the best character in the game by a pretty wide
margin. Like I said, he might be the best Shining character in all 5 games.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
13 | 00 | 20 | 09 | 11 | Lv 5 Throwing Knife
23 | 00 | 28 | 18 | 15 | Lv10 Throwing Knife
28 | 00 | 54 | 40 | 21 | Lv20 Dagger
36 | 23 | 79 | 51 | 27 | Lv10 Shuriken
57 | 29 | 93 | 58 | 30 | Lv20 Dark Shuriken
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Kiddo (Birdman --> Bird Battler)
Kiddo is your first of 3 flying characters in the game and he's the better
of them again by a pretty wide margin. He joins your team at the end of
Chapter 1 as you journey near Mt. Bedoe. His companion, Julia, won't join for
2 battles.
Kiddo uses swords, which means you get one Steel Sword towards the end of
Chapter 2 so you could give it to him or to Ian; I give it to him since Kiddo
is more mobile and I tend to protect Ian. Something to consider, is that the
enemy loves to attack Kiddo, meaning that Kiddo is a pretty high candidate for
those defense potions to raise him up. His defense gets high at 20-20, but it
won't be enough for most of the game without some help.
His best weapon is the Critical Sword which is available for purchase
later on. He's also a good candidate to get the White Ring (he can wear it)
and since it gives +10 Def, I'd give it to Kiddo to make him a flying tank.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
20 | 00 | 24 | 14 | 10 | Lv 8 Middle Sword
22 | 00 | 31 | 18 | 12 | Lv10 Long Sword
29 | 00 | 56 | 26 | 18 | Lv20 Steel Sword
41 | 00 | 72 | 39 | 23 | Lv10 Broad Sword
50 | 00 | 89 | 49 | 29 | Lv20 Critical Sword
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Sylvia (Knight --> Paladin)
Sylvia is a brave knight of Pacalon and much better than Higins you get
in SF2. In fact, Sylvia is the best knight in the game by a pretty wide margin
(I realize now I've used that several times but it's such a good phrase for
describing these heroes...)
While Mead ends up a bit tankier than Sylvia; I find and I'm sure you'll
agree that Sylvia is just more consistent and does what you want a knight to
do through your Shining journey. She joins after 2-1, and she's a welcome
addition as there are a number of dangerous enemies being added and her 7
movement, 17 defense, and 31 attack allow her to jump to the front line
fearlessly as she does what a front liner ought to do.
Later on, you can slap her the Power Spear and later the Valkyrie and let
her damage really start to pile on. The question ultimately becomes when do
you ditch Mead? I'd say somewhere around the end of Chapter 2. The desertish
dirt battle is a rough one for Mead. It's rough for Sylvia, but her
positioning at the start of the battle puts her much closer to the enemy
which helps her punished movement.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 7 Move
22 | 00 | 31 | 17 | 11 | Lv 9 Steel Lance
34 | 00 | 48 | 28 | 17 | Lv20 Power Spear
52 | 00 | 66 | 42 | 25 | Lv10 Valkyrie
66 | 00 | 76 | 49 | 33 | Lv20 Valkyrie
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Julia (Birdwoman --> Bird Battler)
Julia is your second flying unit to join and while Kiddo is better, that
doesn't mean you shouldn't just discount Julia. She's still pretty darn good
at flying and terrorizing the enemy. As the final battle is an unusual tower
shaped battle, having flyers in the end is actually helpful as they can steer
clear of the statues | get around the back of Dark Sol and his arms for extra
hits.
Since Kiddo is lower in defense, I'd say give Julia the Shield Ring while
Kiddo gets the White Ring as it balances things out. Her damage isn't as high
as Kiddos, but 70+ attack is still 70+ attack if you 20-20. If you're playing
casually and not worried too much about grinding, then you could potentially
sit her out since she does die unless you protect her early.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
21 | 00 | 29 | 15 | 10 | Lv 9 Long Sword
32 | 00 | 39 | 23 | 16 | Lv20 Steel Sword
54 | 00 | 57 | 33 | 24 | Lv10 Broad Sword
59 | 00 | 74 | 53 | 31 | Lv20 Critical Sword
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Eric (Dragon Soldier)
Eric is your first promoted character to join and from here on forward
all your characters join promoted. Eric is the son of Elliot from SF1 which
is interesting, but regardless, this is your last flying unit. I said on
stream earlier this week during my SF1 100% run (don't ask) that the thing
that sets Shining games apart is that all their decisions are intentional.
Bad terrain? Intentional. Weak flying units? Intentional. You have to be
smart and use your forces intelligently.
If getting your third flying unit in just a few battles right before some
of the worst terrain maps in the game isn't an example of this, then I don't
know what else to say! Anyway, Eric suffers from the pre-promoted aspect as
do most pre-promoted characters. That being said, Eric does fly and he does
get fairly strong towards level 20.
He's pretty weak early on though and gets shot down by enemy bowmen with
little ease, so you have to protect him. I'd say just consider tossing him
if you don't feel like working him a bit, but he can still hold his own.
As for his lore, we'll talk about it at the end of the guide. Oh, and he
joins after Moun which is one battle from the end of Chapter 2. He does have
only 5 move unlike your bird folk which does suck quite a bit
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
25 | 00 | 35 | 20 | 12 | Lv 2 Steel Sword
42 | 00 | 51 | 27 | 18 | Lv10 Broad Sword
56 | 00 | 68 | 47 | 22 | Lv20 Critical Sword
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Minto (Wizardess)
Magic?
Freeze (3) {starts, starts, starts}
Slow (2) {starts, starts}
Bolt (4) {starts, 7, 12, 15}
Desoul (2) {5, 10}
Minto is your second pre-promoted character and second caster to join
and she's a Kyantol which is a very cool Shining race (think dog-people).
She's like Taya, as she's a representative of Mitula sent to assist you; but
unlike Taya, Minto is a pretty darn good caster and could be used over Hawel.
As I gave several reasons for Hawel, here are several for Minto.
Minto starts with Freeze 3 and Slow 2 which are powerful enough to allow
her to contribute even if she never levels. She also gets her ultimate spell
Bolt 4 several levels before Hawel gets his ultimate Freeze 4. Attack is a
powerful spell, but Slow essentially works like Attack but in an AoE.
She does learn Desoul, but it's pretty crappy, so don't bother. Why
wouldn't you use her? TBH, you could use both Hawel and Minto, no reason not
to, but she wants the Mystery Staff if you're not using Cynthia and she
definitely needs the Protect Staff unless you are just dragging her along as
she is very fragile. Her MP pool is also very small, my 20 Minto only managed
to get 39 MP which doesn't allow for 2 Bolt spells. I leveled her a few times
into her 20s and she did get over that 40 mark though.
Hawel is better for long-term use, as Freeze packs a punch but at half the
cost. If you are grinding out your teams, then Hawel will be better. Otherwise
Minto is better. That being said, you could always just use both. She joins at
the end of chapter 2
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
21 | 21 | 27 | 13 | 14 | Lv 3 Power Stick
31 | 29 | 35 | 20 | 20 | Lv10 Power Stick
41 | 39 | 43 | 47 | 22 | Lv20 Protect Staff
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Morton (Master Monk)
Magic?
Heal (4) {starts, starts, 9, 15}
Quick (2) {starts, 11}
Blast (4) {starts, 5, 13, 17}
Muddle (2) {starts, 7}
Morton joins after the first battle in Chapter 3 and I call him Mr. Miyagi
(or however you spell it) and if you play the game you'll see why he looks
like he's probably taught some Karate Kids. I mentioned earlier under Knuckles
that Morton is a substantially better Monk that Knuckles and now is time to
justify it.
For starters, Morton has better spells to support your team. Quick doesn't
last nearly long enough, but it's still a great way to bolster your team as
well to give Morton tons of EXP to help explode into some levels. He also gets
Blast which isn't great but it can provide Morton some ranged attacks. His
heal magic upgrades quickly too, in fact, Morton learns a new spell ever 2
levels after his first level so he's always getting better.
One of the biggest reasons though, is that Morton requires very little
attention to become a true asset to your team as opposed to Knuckles. Morton
comes with good magic, health, attack, just good balanced stats, and when
leveled he gets pretty darn high attack as well enough magic to support some
Heal 3s or using Quick often.
If you are grinding out the 20-20 team, Morton probably won't stat up to
Knuckles, but Morton is still more useful due to his spell selection.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
29 | 18 | 44 | 22 | 13 | Lv 4 Brass Knuckle
37 | 29 | 53 | 33 | 18 | Lv10 Brass Knuckle
46 | 36 | 78 | 41 | 23 | Lv20 Battle Knuckle
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sasuke (Ninja)
Magic?
Katon (4) {starts, starts, 9, 18}
Raijin (4) {starts, 11, 16, 20}
Sasuke is our first of 2 secret characters joining in the last battle of
Chapter 3 (search the nearby cactus to the left). He's a Ninja like Ruburan,
but he's worse in every aspect, having less health, damage, and armor. That
being said, he's still a Ninja so he's a ranged fighter that gets some
powerful magic.
Unfortunately, he will likely never get to the rank 4 spells and even if
you do, he probably can't cast them but a few times. Still not to much a
reason not to use him. Like Ruburan, his damage is not the best initially
and he won't have those explosive levels, but he's still worth a go
especially if you're not 20-20ing your team.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
23 | 14 | 48 | 23 | 16 | Lv 6 Shuriken
32 | 23 | 56 | 31 | 20 | Lv10 Shuriken
47 | 30 | 68 | 35 | 27 | Lv20 Dark Shuriken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ridion (Gladiator)
Ridion joined up with Max at some point to pursue Mishaela before
getting separated and held captive for you to rescue after beating Lynx in
Chapter 4. Ridion is a Gladiator... and an unimpressive one at that. Most
pre-promoted characters are fairly weak and don't hold up to 20-20, but in
Ridion's case, I can't imagine when you'd want to use him. His defense is
surprisingly low for being a front-liner.
His damage does get decent, but that's nothing to get excited about since
he too has 5 move and is a slow moving hero with a small health pool. If you
20-20 your team, Paige will run circles around Ridion. If you are just banging
out the battles then you still won't want to bother with Ridion.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
36 | 00 | 50 | 35 | 16 | Lv 9 Battle Axe
46 | 00 | 73 | 42 | 20 | Lv20 Ground Axe
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kojirou (Samurai)
Kokirou, or Koji as I call him, is your last secret character, found in
the third battle of Chapter 4 (the one outside Granseal) as there is a pretty
obvious patch of grass in the lower right for you to search. Koji is somewhat
compareable to Rush from SoH with a strong attack, but that's about all he
offers.
He can use the White Ring, or others if you want, and he does gain +2
attack and defense every level, but with 5 movement and a plethora of other
5 move characters to give your attention to, Koji probably isn't the best fit.
He could be a decent character to round out your playthrough though so give
him a try and see what you like. Keep in mind we are offered 18 characters to
use 12 of so most of the characters are going to be in your team.
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 5 Move
39 | 00 | 60 | 33 | 17 | Lv10 Katana
48 | 00 | 80 | 53 | 23 | Lv20 Katana
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max (Hero)
Magic?
Egress {starts}
Bolt (3) {starts, starts, starts}
Max is the ultimate story binder of this game as Adam insists you chase
him all over the game and he is a boss to be defeated before he joins.
Ultimately he sucks and isn't worth any amount of time especially to
level. He can level 8 times but the stats below don't justify spending any
time to level him since you get him just for the last two battles. His health
pool is small and he takes too much damage to be worth it. His damage output
is low and he's slow.
The only real upside is that you can cast Bolt 3 once. That's about it.
Ultimately the SF1 Max was far superior despite not learning magic, but his
stats were at least appropriate. This Max just makes me sad. That being said,
if you've neglected at least 6 heroes up to this point, Max easily slides in
to fill your 12 teammates. Max can use the Chaos Breaker/White Ring but I
wouldn't bother. He does bring the Dark Sword but I dislike using cursed items
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
45 | 25 | 60 | 40 | 20 | Lv12 Critical Sword
53 | 28 | 66 | 47 | 23 | Lv20 Critical Sword
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Odd Eye (Greater Devil)
How cool that Odd Eye is a playable character!? How much does he suck!?
The answer to both questions is a lot. Odd Eye plays an important story role
and then is in your party for the final battles. He claims to be there for
Zeon, but as we know from SF2, this Odd Eye has somehow not reached his full
potential.
That being said, Odd Eye is the 13th member of your party so you don't
have to make a judgement call on if you want to use him or not. Like Max, his
stat growth is pretty much zero only really gaining defense over his eight
levels to get to 20 if you want to. As he joins just 2 battles and about 8
minutes from the end of the game, there doesn't seem to be much reason to
bother leveling him up.
The most curious aspect is that he gains MP but has no use for it. Anyway,
that's Odd Eye
HP | MP | AT | DE | AG | 6 Move
44 | 31 | 58 | 36 | 22 | Lv12 Critical Sword
48 | 36 | 61 | 52 | 26 | Lv20 Critical Sword
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
| Extra Character Discussion |
------------------------------
[3333]
a. Spells
There is nothing new or radical about the spells in FC. Across the board
the spell doees exactly what you'd expect it to do if you play or are familiar
with Shining games. The only major exception as pointed out earlier is that
the Ninja spells are just strict upgrades on the Wizard version, that's it.
i. Defensive Spells
Aura
Aura is your standard upgraded heal spell and here it operates exactly like
every other Aura. It upgrades the same, costs the same, and has the same range
the only difference and this is across the board for all spells; since your
mages don't deal/heal more post promotion, then Aura only ever heals for
15/15/30/full instead of the upgraded 18/18/37/full. It costs 7 at level one
and 18 at level 4 which are the most important curves for Cynthia.
Blast
Blast is technically an offensive spell but as it is learned by healers and
not mages, I'll group it here for simplicity sake. Most variations of Blast
are just weaksauce Blaze and you never actually bother to cast it. Here,
since Blast has range at level 1, it's actually a great tool for Cynthia to
start collecting much needed EXP to get to her Aura point. I never used the
higher levels of Blast and you probably won't either, but it does gain an
area of effect and get decent damage upwards of about 20
Detox
Detox is a pretty pointless spell in most variations and this one is no real
exception as the second level learned by Knuckles comes so late (like well
past the point of anything actually poisoning you) that Detox moreorless
falls into the same category as spells like Muddle or Dispel.
Dispel
Dispel is the silence spell again and again it's pretty pointless. There are a
number of casters in this game, but Knuckles ability to be in a position to
cast Dispel hoping it lands is pretty low. Why expose your healer to the
front lines for the off-chance you can silence the enemy when he's probably
going to hit them for more damage? Beats me too
Egress
The only thing to note about Egress is that Max also knows Egress. As there is
no exploration out of battle, Egress simply takes you out of battle.
Heal
Your standard defensive spell, heal restores 15/15/30/full amounts of health
and for some reason costs 20 mp at rank 4 which has always bugged me about
Aura being so infinitely better than Heal. Like if heal actually healed to
full and Aura 4 was restricted like SF1 to about 40 health, then there's a
reason to it. As it is, heal is strictly outclassed by Aura and that's largely
why any healer (Cynthia for this game) who learns and masters Aura is the
best healer. At least in this game all the healers do master Heal.
Muddle
I did cast this once but didn't bother to see what the enemy would do (hint,
I ended up killing the enemy the next turn) and like most of these attempted
status spells, there's no point. Attack is good and Quick is great, but all
the other status spells like Muddle, Dispel or Sleep are all pretty garbage
in most SF games and here, it's no exception. There are two levels to it but
I wouldn't bother.
Quick
The last defensive spell, Morton is the only master of Quick and is largely
the reason why he is so much better than Knuckles. Like SoH, Quick lasts just
a round or two, but that huge boost to your team for speed and defense can be
oh so helpful as you can push slower units ahead of the enemy or bolster your
defense in the face of impending doom. A very useful status spell
ii. Offensive Spells
Attack
Attack does exactly that, it raises someone's attack. I've not bothered to
measure it out, but I imagine it's in the ballpark of 25% as that's pretty
standard across the board for most games. Here, you do get the Power Ring
but it comes fairly late into chapter 4 so you won't get tons of use off it
whereas Hawel learns Attack at level 19 so it's not unreasonable to have it
mid chapter 3 as long as you allocate some EXP to him
Blaze
The standard bread and butter spell for any mage, Hawel is actually the only
one to learn and master it in this game. Due to the small number of undead
enemies in the game (I don't actually think there are any Zombies and I can't
actually recall Skeletons either) the point is that Blaze is usually the
weakest element and here it's no exception. Hawel does master Blaze but he is
better off using Attack each turn or leveling up to Freeze 4 since it's
significantly better as Blaze 4 now costs 10 instead of 8 making the 12 MP
from Freeze seem much smaller.
Bolt
There's an awful lot of Bolt going around, Minto masters it, Ian masters it,
and Max joins with 3 ranks of it. And it's pretty darn powerful. Bolt is
usually the most expensive and damage spell in the game and here it's truly
an example of the power to behold as Bolt 3 is actually super clutch in the
final battles. Unlike SoH or SF2, the enemies here never gain incredible
amounts of heal, meaning that the 20-25 damage from Bolt 3 is usually half
the enemies health. In the tower battle at the end, there are 5 statues each
with 42 HP that fire dealing about 15 damage to your team. Two well placed
Bolt 3 spells can clear out 4 of them so you can see where this is going. The
only downside is that Bolt 3/4 costs 20 MP so without excessive grinding, you
will likely only cast this once with all of your heroes.
Desoul
There's an extra level that adds AoE but I tried a few times without success
to get this spell to land so I wouldn't bother using it with Minto, instead
sticking to slow or just raw damage
Freeze
For single target damage, Freeze is your go-to, as it costs 8 less MP than
Bolt but does similar damage. Hawel learns this (giving him late-game power
over Minto) and Minto starts with 3 levels of it (never mastering it). Early
on, Freeze 1 grants Hawel a boosted damage which he needs, but you'll not use
it again until Freeze 3 rolls around. Not much else to say
Katon
In SF2, Katon was a 3 rank spell that was Blaze 2/3/4 and was non-elemental
thus never being reduced. Here, Katon is a 4 rank spell that simply does more
damage across the board over Blaze. Your Ninjas learn it, so when would you
want to cast Katon over just killing something with Ruburan's 90+ attack?
Early on before you have that much attack or if an AoE presents itself for you
as well to set up other allies for kills
Raijin
Raijin is exactly the same as Katon except it's for Bolt. There's really
nothing else to say, except you'll probably use this spell more often since it
has increased range so there are times where this is your only option.
Slow
One of the best reasons to use Minto, she joins already knowing both ranks of
Slow which gives her 2 range to the huge area of effect. I used Slow
frequently and found it landed on almost every target I cast it on. The actual
slow combined with the weakened defense makes this spell very powerful and the
biggest reason to use Minto
b. Rings
Black Ring
The Black ring makes a comeback and it functions similarly to SF2 as only some
casters (Hawel, Cynthia, and Minto) can use it for Blaze 2. You can equip it
for damage but I wouldn't bother
Evil Ring
The Evil ring makes a comeback and it functions similarly to SF2 as only
some casters can use it for Bolt 3. You can equip it for damage but I wouldn't
bother
Mobility/Running Ring
Gives +2 movement when equipped as an item. There are no 4 movement heroes
in this game which helps tremendously, but the plethora of 5 movement heroes
means that this ring is highly sought after and its up to you who gets it
Power Ring
Gives +5 attack when equipped and uses Attack as an item. Most games revolve
around the Power Ring and with the exception of SF1 and SF2, the Power Rings
generally come too late to matter and here it is much the same story. Not a
bad item to have though
Quick/Speed Ring
It gives +5 speed when equipped as an item and does not use Egress when used
as an item though it can crack which just blows my mind. A good item to slap
onto your slower allies to let them move when the rest of your team takes its
turns
Shield/Protect Ring
Gives +5 defense when equipped as an item and uses Quick 1 as an item. An
essential item picked up in chapter 2 to give to your bigger targets (Ian or
Kiddo) to give them a better fighting chance as the they get focused
White Ring
Gives +10 defense when equipped and uses Aura 2 as an item. The major change
here is that far more people can equip it (most sword users) so Ian probably
won't get to wear it. Biggest downside is its picked up 2 battles from the
end of the game.
c. Consumables
The consumables function exactly like SF2 giving 2-4 of their respected
stat. The nicest thing regarding consumables is that if you fail to pick it up
in battle, they are available for purchase from the Deals section (actually
most items end up there) which is super handy to avoid missing anything. As
it were, there aren't an abundance of consumables and stats don't reduce with
promotion so it's generally best to use them right away (except the Turbo
Pepper since movement does reset with promotion) on the hero you feel needs it
most.
As I suggested above, there are definite candidates for many of the items.
Ruburan is so strong, but he starts weak so giving him Power Potions is like
gas on the fire: it gets him going sooner. Kiddo is highly focused and not
swimming in defense, so giving him the Defense Pots is a good idea. The Breads
can go to basically anyone, but if you're planning on using Sasuke, his HP
is pretty small so consider him or Ruburan.
The Turbo Pepper is usually the most valuable and here is no exception.
I like to use it on Ruburan because he's the best and him having 7 movement
is huge. But if you feel that 5 move with the range is enough, then give it
to whomever you want to get around. There is a Brave Apple, but there is only
one and leveling isn't overly hard, so who to use it on is up to you. Pushing
someone to 20 or giving a caster that level for a key spell seems to be the
most use you can get out of it.
d. Items
I'm not going to list every item, but instead, I want to focus on the
different categorical weapons and who is the best to use them.
i. Swords
Most swords can be purchased (in fact, most end game items can be purchased)
but there are some things I want to note. First, the Steel Sword is only one
of for a few battles until you can buy them in Chapter 3. As hinted earlier,
I like to give it to Kiddo or Julia since Ian handles himself just fine.
Later, you get the Counter Sword for one battle until you can buy Critical
Swords. This is a good one for Kiddo or Ian whomever you plan on leading with
as it increased their counter rate. Later, the Chaos Breaker can go to Max but
I wouldn't bother since Max is pretty terrible
ii. Spears and Lances
Everything here can be bought, but you do get the Power Spear and Valkyrie
earlier than you can buy them. However, since Sylvia is better than Mead, I'd
give them to her unless you're not planning on using her, in which case, Mead
is fine
iii. Axes
There's only one Heat Axe and Ground Axe, but you may not even use a Warrior
so I wouldn't worry excessively about them. Ridion is bad enough to warrant
never being used, so if you're using Paige, give him the axes
iv. Gloves and Knuckles
These are purely bought and not found so no concerns there. Kaiser Knuckles
are 7 attack stronger but they're cursed and they reduce movement so I
wouldn't bother unless you are in a sticky situation that involves needing
that little extra damage to kill something
v. Sonnette
She's the only archer in the game so she's the only arrow user. Excellent!
vi. Knives and Stars
The four Thief/Ninja weapons are bought, not found, so don't fret regarding
who should get them. The upgrade to Dagger and Dark Shuriken are impressive
so be hyped about that. The only downside is they are generally the most
expensive weapons so buy them first as the Dark Shuriken upgrade is very
important
e. Promotion
I wanted to wait until here to focus on the promotion aspect of the game
since it does vary and this way it is easier to find and determine for
yourself. Now, regarding promotions, the last battle in Chapter 3 is where
I finished getting every to 20 unpromoted as EXP was becoming very dry up to
that point. In most playthroughs, getting to 15 is probably enough and you can
manage that through Chapter 2, maybe extending a bit into 3 if you need. Onto
the heroes though
Ian
Ian continues to grow quite well from 10 to 20, gaining health, attack, and
defense, all very necessary stats. As Ian is always in your party and he's
required to live for you to succeed, then delaying his promotion is pretty
helpful. If you wish, at 18 he gets Bolt 2 so you could delay until 18 and
then promote there if you don't want to drag to 20
Mead
Mead grows but only modestly at best. He doesn't quite gain 1-1-1-1 each
level and as he is a generally weaker character, he's a good one to consider
promoting early or just straight ignoring around chapter 2
Paige
I mentioned that the only reason to use Paige is in a grinding game and he is
a definite candidate to take to 20-20 as he continues to grow and explode with
stats. Using Paige and promoting at 10 is just pointless because he's so slow
anyway you're just giving yourself trouble later on
Hawel
He does get some extra MP which never hurts and he can learn Attack before 20,
but as Attack comes so late at that point, Hawel is a pretty important one to
promote immediately at 10 since he cares more about levels and less about
stats. If you choose to 20-20 Hawel, you will find that from promoted 1 until
about level 16 promoted he is pretty garbage. That's because of the spell sump
that he falls into
Knuckles
Knuckles is likely not going to make the cut and if you decide to use him then
promote him right away at 10 as his 10-20 growth is lackluster at best and
then you delay his essential (sorry, it's really not) but his essential spell
progression. Really, he won't get Heal 3 or 4 if you delay his promotion
Sonnette
Her growth isn't great, but she's the only archer and she easily stays
overleveled, so waiting until 20 is pretty simple. Waiting to promote her
until you get the Assault Shell in chapter 3 isn't that unreasonable either
as she'll get up to 15 hopefully
Cynthia
Cynthia is a double edge sword. If you are unwilling to attend to her needs
and give her the time and space she needs, then I wouldn't even bother using
her at all. But as she's the best healer in the game by a wide margin and the
only to get Aura 4, she's incredibly the worth the time and energy. That all
was prefacing the need to 20-20 her
Ruburan
His attack essentially doubles from 10-20 and as he's the best character in
the game then yes I'd suggest you 20-20 him for the uber pwnage damage!1!!1!
Kiddo
Unlike Julia, Kiddo's growth from 10-20 is pretty solid and every defense he
gains is super useful since the enemy loves to attack him. I'd suggest 20-20
or at least taking him to to 15+ before promoting him
Sylvia
Sylvia is the best knight by a wide margin over Mead and her growth from 10 to
20 is pretty solid. Again, I'd take her to 20 or at least up to 15+
Julia
Julia is a solid one to use, but not to take to 20. Her growth is pretty
lackluster and I had several levels 15+ that were +1 HP and other random
small meaningless levels. Consider taking her to 13-15 range, but I wouldn't
bother taking her to 20
f. Character Comparisons
The section that most are probably worrying about, let's talk about
building a team and who of the 18 characters can take a seat in the caravan.
20-20 Team Grindless Team I Wouldn't Bother
1. Ian 1. Ian 1. Mead
2. Ruburan 2. Ruburan 2. Knuckles
3. Sonnette 3. Sonnette 3. Ridion
4. Kiddo 4. Kiddo
5. Sylvia 5. Sylvia
6. Cynthia 6. Morton
7. Morton 7. Minto
8. Paige 8. Koji
9. Hawel 9. Max
10. Minto 10. Sasuke
11. Koji 11. Eric
12. Julia 12. Hawel
Here's my proposed lineups, let's break them down now.
The 20-20 Grinding
Each person is the best of their respected position and each excels and
gets up there in damage. Your attackers have over 70 attack and the front
liners can tank. Some exceptions are the bottom 2 as Koji and Julia aren't
great, but considering the other options, they're easily the best of the
bunch. Cynthia is the best healer, but Morton compliments her well. Paige is
a 20-20 beast as described, and both casters are useful if leveled.
I wouldn't bother
Before talking about the Grindless Team which I'm sure most people are
interested in, let's first talk about these 3 heroes. Mead is first on the
list because he's a damage dealer who can be 20-20'd, but a quick glance at
his stats show how sad he progresses throughout the game. He won't get over
70 attack and those stats fail to show the struggle that was leveling him up
as he often dies too easily and can't keep up due to his reduced movement. All
in all, he's super handy to have for chapter 1 and that first battle in
chapter 2, but I'd let him go once Sylvia joins and save yourself the trouble
Next up is Knuckles and again he's another 20-20 potential character that
isn't worth the light of day. While he gains +3 attack quite a bit, the weak
power of the gloves means he frequently will not be hitting very hard and
struggling to gain EXP. While a grindless run doesn't want to bother with
Cynthia, I still wouldn't bother dragging Knuckles around. While Mead is
useful through chapter 1, I'd let Knuckles perish asap as he drags down
your team and won't gain enough MP to be remotely useful for the first
few battles. What little healing Knuckles can provide is easily offset by
purchasing some additional herbs and healing seeds to get by until Morton
shows up in chapter 3 and then you get the 2 Shower of Cure for chapter 4
Ridion is last on the list because he's the worst character in the game.
While the 3 on this list are all bad, Ridion is somewhat deserving as he is
too slow, too weak, and dies too easily to even be taken seriously. He's a
gladiator, but his defense is surprisingly low and his damage isn't that
great either. You combine all the worst aspects of a melee character, 5 move,
low defense, low speed, a small health pool, and an unimpressive damage output
and that summarizes Ridion perfectly.
The Grindless
As this game was intended to be portable on the game gear, the Grindless
is the most likely team most people will be considering. Most people cross
over from the 20-20 team, but there are some notable exceptions and what we
see is that the characters who join and are "decent" or "have some growth
potential" are the ones we round things out with.
Hawel makes the list as Attack at 19(9) is the last EXP he needs and it
makes him useful. Minto is still useful with Slow and a Freeze burst. The
main people topping the list are just the best folks in the game. Let's talk
about the other four.
Koji is the "growth potential" as his starting stats aren't all that
impressive, and having 5 move sucks pretty hard. Admittedly, this line-up
does suffer from that, but as Eric can fly and Sasuke doesn't really need the
movement boosting, you could give Koji the Mobility Ring to let him slash
things up. Gaining +2 AT/DE each level means that Koji rewards your fighting
with pretty good levels.
Max is the "decent" as his growth is pointless but he brings several
handy tools to your team. He has 6 move and can cast Bolt 3. As described
above, two Bolt 3's can wipe out 4/5 of the statues that make the final
battles so hard and that's actually the extent of Max. As Minto won't get
to Bolt 3 in your grindless game, Ian probably should so Ian+Max can make
that final battle substantially easier
Sasuke is a filler choice but he does many things decently so he is
deserving of that spot. His range offsets the 5 move and he has magic to
give him that flex. His downside is the rather low HP, DE, and lower AT, but
given our other choices, his flex makes him a solid choice
Eric is the last choice and he wins out over Julia for one huge reason,
he comes pre-promoted and Julia will siphon EXP from people who want it. As
Julia really only excels in a grinded game, Eric is a better option here for
the grindless approach as he can fly around and assist and later can fly up
the tower avoiding the statues. You *could* use Julia, you won't be missing
out; she does have better movement, but for the grindless game, I feel her
EXP consumption is better spared and then just use Eric instead
----------------------------
| Frequently Asked Questions |
----------------------------
[4444]
Here I hope to address the lore questions as well to add any specific Faqs
that get tossed my way.
Q. Ian is Kane's son?
As I've mentioned before in a different guide as well as earlier in this
one, this game came out very late in the Shining cycle and many efforts were
made to tie games together that had very little in common outside of the
gameplay elements (IE no common story) and making Ian Kane's son is just one
example of this. As it were, Ian is in fact Kane's son, making him Max's
nephew, and convolutes the whole thing.
Q. Hawel is the same in SF2?
This is probably the worst wrench they tossed into the game. As Hawel
could have easily been called anything else, the fact it's Hawel which then
suggests it is the same Hawel constricts the time frame that the Shining
universe can exist in. So now is the best time I guess to address this
expanded universe that I hinted at in my SFCD guide
Shining Force picks up and it's pretty straight forward. Dark Dragon
threatens the lands, the Ancients fight it back, and he returns and thus the
game plays out like normal.
What happens next is pretty clear with SFCD (Gaiden 1 and 2) as it's 20
years later and Anri is queen, Ken and Lowe are lame, and the offspring of
some characters exist to go to Cypress and help restore Nick to the throne
all while searching for the legendary sword that definitely isn't the Chaos
Breaker
Now, if you're familiar with Moogie's theory, she states that following
SoH (Gaiden 2) some soldiers go on a quest to find Max and she states the old
man in Hassan as her source. The problem is, that old man makes no mention
of the SoH timeline and as FC exists in its current form, we know that isn't
the case. In SoH's ending, Deanna leaves feeling sad over the death of his
brother and Natasha goes with him and that's about it. There's also a man
in Ribble but I'm getting to that.
SFCD elaborates some more on the story of Cypress but by in large that
side story is completed and in no way ties to SF2.
Regarding FC, since Ian is the son of Kane and Kane dies in SF1, that
restricts pretty heavily the amount of time that has passed and how old Ian
is. While he could certainly be any age through magic mumbo jumbo, Ian is
likely in his early 20s as are most of our heroes and Kane likely fathered
Ian around a similar age. It's possible that Kane only knew Ian as a baby and
never would know if he would make it to adulthood to go and become powerful
like Max.
Considering how lame Max is and the only other force member we see in FC
is Adam, we could potentially extend things so that Max is much older in his
60s to compensate for the timeline issues already. If Kane was a much older
brother, maybe in his 40s, Max in his 20s, when Ian is born, then Max would
be in his 40s by the time Ian is 20s and FC begins.
It's fairly obvious that this Hassan has yet to blossom into what we see
in SF2 (although it's actually suffering, there's nothing right now that
suggests Hassan is a thriving port which suggests again a large amount of
time needs to pass to make Hassan a thriving port only for it to decline to
what it is in SF2).
As for our antagonist Mishaela, she's been defeated and the game decides
nope that was actually a puppet she's still alive. A weird decision for sure,
but regardless, she's searching to restore Dark Sol who gave his life to Dark
Dragon. Mishaela's age doesn't matter since she's now a Devil (something that
was missed completely in SF1) and we don't know how Devils age.
Odd Eye is in the game as well, but again, he sucks, so this suggests
that he has either not matured or due to Zeon's defeat, Odd Eye's strength is
also tied to Zeon which explains why Odd Eye not only can't stand up to
Mishaela, he can't take the basic enemies she's throwing at us.
Before we get back to Hawel, we can look at some other elements that
appear. For instance, the shrine is unguarded by Taros (where did he go?) and
the caravan is left since Ruburan doesn't know how to use it. Ribble is but a
camp and not a fleshed out town, and the Kraken (could be the same one)
actually appears twice in the game. It's unlikely it's the same Kraken
especially since you can defeat 4 arms and 8 legs in total on Parmecia and
later on Grans; it seems more likely that the Kraken is a mythical beast that
simply exists in the Shining world.
Tristan, Pacalon, Nazca, and Roft are all established places as well Moun
(Moun actually shares a similar structure which was at least a nice touch).
Galam is the only established town on Granseal which means Granseal can't
exist yet.
Since there's a book in the castle on Granseal titled GRANSEAL KINGS
that seems to indicate Hawel cannot be the same Hawel, but here goes a nice
list of seeming contradictions.
In Bowie's house on Grans, there's a book called ATTITUDE OF SOLIDERS and
later on Parmecia there's FATHER CARPENTRY which suggests that Bowie's father
was a soldier, maybe Ian, but also a carpenter that helped build Granseal?
Makes sense, except that Granseal has seemingly had enough kings to have a
book titled King(S)
Astral's school has a number of interesting books, besides SCIENCE 101 and
LITTLE DINOSAURS (there's actually a whole working real world library in the
game) there's also THE LEGEND OF MAX and STUDY OF YOGURT. That confirms same
universe right? Well there's also a SEGA GUIDE so this same universe has
electronics apparently. Moreso, this seems to indicate that Max has been dead
for a long time, hence, THE LEGEND OF MAX, and that for Max to have been dead
long enough for literature to exist talking about his legend, then in no way
could the same Hawel still be lurking around unless magic has some wildly
inconsistent properties since we see magic people age in both Astral and Anri.
Obviously the castle Granseal has GRANSEAL KINGS but on Parmecia there
exists DARK SOL, again another suggestion that while the worlds are the same,
they are separated by a great time.
Hawel's house has two interesting books in HISTORY OF GRANS and STUDY OF
THE TOWER. If Granseal in FC is primitive with only established Galam, then
the HISTORY OF GRANS seems quite out of place.
In Ribble, the "mayor" describes how his ancestors came from Rune. Again,
he's an old man talking about his ancestors, which further distances SF2 from
SF1, which really complicates FC. Furthermore, the nearby farmer states that
they "recently came from Hassan" which really makes no sense unless he's
speaking literally for himself since Ribble and Hassan both exist in FC, a
game that is seemingly taking place 20 years after SF1 and at least several
generations before SF2. If we are disregarding that bit, then Hassan somehow
became prosperous and lost that prosperity in the manner of years as Ribble
exploded into a thriving town.
In Polka, they talk about peace, but one wolfman mentions they used to be
a warlike tribe that has forgotton how to fight. Interestingly enough, Polka
doesn't seem to exist in FC, nor are there any wolfmen. For SF2 to exist soon
enough after FC for it to be the same Hawel, then how do you explain a wolfman
describing a time where they were warriors but now have no idea how to fight?
Bedoe is a whole host of contradictions. For instance, Volcanon defeats
a powerful and energized Odd Eye with little trouble. But in FC, he is unable
to defeat rather simple enemies. A birdman in Bedoe mentions that he had
heard of Devils but only in legend. Again, the legend aspect is really making
the time between these games a lot longer.
Remember how I mentioned that FC seems to suggest multiple Kraken? Since
there was a Kraken on Parmecia that destroyed the bridge but another one
showed up on Grans? In Hassan, you are told in amazement "you killed the
Kraken?" that would seemingly indicate just one Kraken. It's possible the
guy knows nothing of the world and doesn't realize that the Kraken can exist
as multiple Kraken as opposed to just one, but regardless, interesting.
There's also a guy saying his ancestors came from Rune (he's on the port)
another person to say so and again, it's ancestors. If FC only existed about
60 years before SF2 has Hawel's age would require, then why would people talk
about "ancestors" as opposed to "my grandparents"? Clearly SF2 was intended to
exist in the same universe but much longer after SF1 and not how FC is
suggesting.
There's also the priest in Hassan who straight up tells you about how you
might be related as soldiers came looking for a soldier named Max who went to
Grans and likely died. This alone while confirming FC does exists, also seems
to confirm that FC took place years before SF2, which further distances SF2
from SF1.
Lastly, in Creeds there's nothing contradicting but there are some
interesting aspects. A book called DEMON KINGS is supported by the Story
Tellers in Tristan which is also supported by FC. Tyrin also studied in Ponpei
which doesn't seemed to exist anywhere but does suggest another magical
village/school similar to Manarina.
There are numerous other such examples, but the point is, Hawel simply
cannot exist in both games, it just isn't supported. It's more likely that
this Hawel is a super great ancestor of the SF2 Hawel.
The point is, that while FC attempted to make many tie-ins, there were
already numerous tie-ins and FC actually causes more contradictions than not.
If we ignore the story pieces that cause contradictions, then the timeline
becomes somewhat more fleshed out.
Q: What about this timeline?
1000 years before SF1, the Ancients fought against Dark Dragon and
defeated him and he swore he'd return.
<> it appears that the fight between Dark Sol, Dark Dragon, and Zeon could
take place at anytime before this event, or perhaps during the event and
that's what lead to the defeat of evil since SF2 hints at evil being so much
more powerful than the light if evil could work together <>
SF1 takes place then and the story places out. At some point, Kane would
have fathered Ian (mother unknown) as well sent Ian away to Parmecia but this
would have had to happen after Kane sees Max battle since his request to Ian
"is to become strong like Max" which suggests this happened sometime after his
defeat in Dragonia.
The only interesting story thread to be unconfirmed is what happened to
Mishaela? Apparently it was a doll at Demon Castle, and since she's on
Parmecia looking to salvage Dark Sol, she went there after his defeat at the
end of SF1... which puts a weird amount of time from her "defeat" at Demon
Castle to Dark Sol's defeat in chapter eight.
It also begs the question with the ending to SF1 suggesting Max is trying
to find peace after such an exciting adventure, but is now looking for
Mishaela as he is alerted by her evil. There are only fan theories, but
regardless, this can take place basically any time after SF1 and at least
100 years before SF2 although SF2 probably takes place 200+ years after FC
due to the numerous mentions I made earlier. Regardless, FC happens probably
around 20 years after SF1 which then takes place at least 150 years before SF2
20 years after SF1, the armies of Cypress come and poison Anri thus
starting the new sidequest of going to Cypress and defeating Woldol and the
evil forces of Iom who have no connection to the other Devil Kings.
At the end of FC, Odd Eye takes a young baby, Mephisto, away to nurture it
We know nothing of this baby, and speculation suggests its the offspring of
Mishaela and Dark Sol, but it's speculation at best and there's nothing to
say what it may or may not become. One theory proposes that baby is Dark Sol
from Shining in the Darkness, but it's a weak theory at best, especially given
that SitD shares very little in common with the other Shining games.
I have my own theory and speculation to make it all fit, but that is for
another day
5. Closing, Copyright, Call-Outs
[5555]
--------------
| Copyrights |
--------------
This is copyright me, Todd Lesinski AKA NoWorries. As such, you cannot use
copy any part of this guide and claim it as your own. I'm not a stickler so
long you make a reference somewhere saying that this guide was so helpful for
whatever purpose you are using this for that would be great. If you are a
cheat bastard then may a ball-eating plague be struck upon you and all
consequent men in your family until you right this wrong.
-----------
| Contact |
-----------
If you feel the need to contact me about ANYTHING pertaining to THIS guide;
you may contact me at (AT) [.]
[email protected]
PLEASE PLEASE in the title of the e-mail put SFI GUIDE; where then in the
body of your email you can put your praises/concerns/blasphemy. If it does not
follow that format it will probably get deleted and your e-mail blocked. Cool?
--------------------
| Acknowledgements |
--------------------
GameFaqs - for hosting this guide so that others may use it
unflinchingly
Myself - for doing writing this as well as doing all the tests myself
You the reader - For reading this guide and making it through this
Camelot Software Planning and Sega - obviously, for making the game
End Guide
