SSSSS FFFFFF CCCC DDD
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Game: Shining Force CD (Gaiden 1)
System: Sega CD and Sega Gamegear
FAQ: Character FAQ
Written By: NoWorries
Allowed Website: www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseeker.com
www.supercheats.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 10 of June of 2018
Version Updates:
1.0
-Initial submission
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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.
I. Introduction | Table of Contents [1000]
II. Character Review [2000]
A. Characters
B. Spells
C. Suggested Teams and Deeper Analysis
III. Some Moogles [3000]
A. Leveling Suggestions
B. Items Items Items
C. FAQS (specific to SFCD and Gaiden Games)
IV. Contact and Closing [4000]
----------------
| Introduction |
----------------
[1000]
-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.
So who should be reading this? Let me be frank: I'm not doing an extensive
stat collection anymore; I don't have the time. However, to level up folks and
play through a game is entirely different and I still enjoy that so anyways...
Below is an extensive review of the characters from SFCD game 1 | SF Gaiden 1.
The original SF Gaiden 1 never saw an english release, still, (even Final
Conflict saw an english translation later with a fan translation). That being
said, SF Gaiden 1 and 2 (2 being Sword of Hayja), were re-released onto the
Sega CD in a game called SFCD which featured both Gaiden games remastered with
better sound and graphics as well as their engines being ported to the SF2
game engine (something I'll discuss in a moment) as well as a chapter 3 being
added to complete Nick's story and then an additional chapter 4 final boss
battle was added for fun. So that was long, but the point is, anyone should
read this if they are interested in SF Gaiden 1, be it on the game gear or
the Sega CD
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I should elaborate quickly on the title differences of game gear verse the
Sega CD. Allow me to use SF SoH as an example. The reason that character guide
is exclusive to the game gear is because the changing of the engine. Game gear
version had busted Freeze 3, a different Blaze 3, and single turn bosses.
Because of that, the characters used are weighed very differently. Natasha and
May for instance are 2 of the best characters but when the magic gets changed,
they are bottom-trash tier since the enemies STILL get their incredible HP
boost but now (especially Natasha) the mages are crippled beyond belief for
far too long.
This game is not so much the case. I'll admit, I've not played through the
Japanese game gear game (I promise I will someday but TBH I may forget to
update this guide so you may never know) but I can assure you the game is not
that different in the sense of no character is going to be 180 in a different
direction for a review sake. For instance, the Mages aren't great regardless;
their magic takes too long to learn. So yeah. While the SF SoH guide is for
game gear only, this guide can be used for either one.
Now that being said, a quick review of the game itself. SF Gaiden 1, SFCD
calling it "the root of evil" is the first of the Gaiden games (Gaiden meaning
side-quest) and is tangent to the SF series. It takes place in a somewhat
distant land of Cypress. The story starts some 20 years after SF 1 where Anri
is the ruler of Guardiana (Gardiana now) and Ken and Lowe are still around.
Woldol, messenger from Cypress, arrives and puts Anri in a deathly sleeping
spell, promising to cure her if Guardiana obeys their command. Lowe sends an
army under Luke (Lug now) and they never hear back from them. With Anri's fate
tied to Woldol, you have no choice but to send another group of far more
inexperienced soldiers to save the day. Thus Ruce (son of Lug) arrives and
says they have a new leader to take them, them being Shade (son of Hans),
Wendy (Tao's sister), Sig (nephew of Gong), Apis (son of Ken), and Nick, the
mysterious lad who reminds Ken so much of Max (who is of course on Parmecia
with Adam, but whichever).
The game features a similar number of heroes to SoH with 4 chapters and
the same delightful gameplay and music. There isn't a whole lot to go over if
you are familiar with SF games so let's go ahead and dive right in!
--------------------
| Character Review |
--------------------
[2000]
-Characters can be promoted anytime after 10 and stop gaining stats
essentially at level 20 promoted. My final stats below were promoted
around 17-20 and leveled to 20. Healers were taken to 20, everybody else
essentially at 17 or so since Healers have free EXP to work with-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick (Swordman into Prince)
Spells: Egress, Bolt 1, 2, 3, 4
The hero from SoH is here as the main hero. As with most heroes, Nick
uses swords, he won't do much damage, and if he dies, the battle is over. Like
the others except Max, Nick does learn Bolt. Unfortunately, he doesn't gain
nearly enough MP to make use of this magic nor does he learn the spell nearly
soon enough to be relevant. Bolt 4 is learned at 20 promoted (a trend we see
with every caster) and Bolt 2 and 3 are learned deep into the 10+ promoted
levels, something we won't see until deep into chapter 4 most likely if at all
That being said, Nick is easily the worst hero in all the SF games. There
is a MAJOR lacking of sword upgrades in this game meaning that Nick is only
getting damage upgrades if he gets +2 attack on levels, which he tends to do
about 30% of the time. Luckily, Nick DOES gain a TON of defense which is very
helpful since you can only defeat the final boss once Nick whacks him with the
legendary SoH that you get for that battle.
Final Stats:
HP 63
MP 27
AT 44 +26
DE 53
AG 33
MV 06
There is a White Ring, which is +10 DE if you want Nick to have it. +26 AT
reflects the only Critical Sword in the game. The SoH is literally for the
final battle only and if you Egress out you refight the previous battle and
lose the sword temporarily. Your other sword option is +21 AT Broadsword
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruce (Warrior into Gladiator)
Ruce is the son of Lug, but unlike his father, he lost a movement for his
game which sucks because while warriors in SF1 were some of the best
characters in the game, the warriors in this one are some of the worst
characters in the game. Even Lug, who later makes an appearance for the final
battle, lost a movement coming in. Having just 5 movement is crippling to a
melee fighter. Add that to Ruce's somewhat disappointing attack throughout
most of the game and very small life total (there is a lot of enemy magic
throughout most of the game) and Ruce is certainly not fit to be on your team.
Leveled up and given time to shine, his final stats aren't bad, but there
are way better options. I suggest you let Ruce kinda "disappear" and not
bother with letting him keep up.
Final Stats:
HP 52
AT 46
DE 56
AG 31
MV 05
Ruce's final weapon is a Great Axe, which grants an outstanding 28 damage.
There is also an Evil Axe (cursed, don't use it) that gives 34 attack. There
is one Atlas Axe (sorry, Axe of Atlas) that gives +30 attack. Sadly, it is
found 3 battles from the end of the game and is but a minor upgrade. Add it to
Ruce's general underperformance and move on
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shade (Archer into Sniper)
Shade redeems his father very much so. I still say Hans is worthwhile, but
regardless, there are 2 archers in this game and like SoH, both are wonderful
additions to your team. Shade may struggle through some of the early game. He
can get +2 attack, but it sometimes is a struggle. When I speedrun the game,
it seems that 50% of the time, Shade gets about 4-5 +2 attacks by level 10,
but the other 50% of the time, Shade gets 0-1 +2 attacks. Those attacks
matter for the early game until the end of chapter 1 when you get another
arrow upgrade for Shade.
From chapter 2 onward, Shade will be a solid ranged attacker for your
team. He may not blow things apart like Graham from SoH, but he's sturdy. And
one thing that sets this game apart, is that the boss battles are quite grindy
since few people have an overwhelming attack power and the Power Ring comes
at the end of chapter 3. So having someone with ranged attacks is very handy
to have.
Final Stats
HP 54
AT 56
DE 48
AG 25
MV 06
The best arrow is a one of Buster Shot, collected in the second-to-last
battle in chapter 3. That's a bad thing, since the Great Shot, is purchased at
the beginning of chapter 3, meaning your archers really don't get much of an
attack upgrade outside of levels for half the game. Still should use them
though. Great Shot is +23 attack and Buster Shot is +26.
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Sig (Monk into Master Monk)
Spells: Heal 1, 2, 3, 4
Detox 1, 2
Dispel 1
Blast (Hell) 1, 2, 3
Sig redeems his uncle heavily. While Gong was an overall waste of space in
a game, constantly being overshadowed by every other character in the game,
Sig does find himself a niche bit of a home. That is until Mayfair joins and
you trash Sig and probably Cray because Mayfair is the boss and you don't need
that much healing. That being said, Sig does get decent attack and could round
out your team for you. He's a Monk, but he does get better MP than Cray. His
attack suffers heavily though, so it's a bit of a toss up. He also doesn't
learn Blast 4 apparently, as my Sig is now level 24 and he still hasn't gotten
it.
That being said, Detox is a waste of a spell, still, and Dispel doesn't
do much work either. He learns the offensive spell, but it's both so weak and
comes so late AND he doesn't master it, so Sig really only does exist to brawl
the front lines but he can sustain himself for healing. Really, why are the
warriors bad in this game? The Monks do their job, except they can heal too!
Heal 4 comes at 20 promoted though so you probably won't see it in a regular
game. That's fine, since Heal 3 gets you through pretty much everything since
the 30ish heal is full health until the end of chapter 4.
Final Stats
HP 64
MP 42
AT 54
DE 53
AG 32
MV 05
Sig's best weapon is the Iron Claw. A terrible weapon that gives +20
attack. The only perk is knuckles are available in upgrades a lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wendy (Mage into Wizard)
Spells: Blaze 1, 2, 3, 4
Freeze 1, 2, 3
Sleep 1
Attack 1
So Tao must've gotten the magical talent in the family. Wendy is terrible
and the worst of the 3 mages in the game. In the beginning, she knows Blaze 1,
and she learns Freeze 1 at 4. Blaze 2 comes at 8. And likely, that's as far as
you'll make it before you ditch her for anybody (and/or just leaving her dead)
because her spell selection skreeches to a grinding halt after that. You're
better off promoting her right away if you wanna keep her, because taking her
up towards 20 you only learn Sleep and Freeze 2... OUCH
That's really her biggest problem. She's adorable, but her magic just
sucks and takes too long to come online. Blaze 4 and Attack are both great,
too bad that's level 16 and 20 promoted that we're talking about! Blaze 3
and Freeze 3 also come way too late to be relevant. At the end of the day,
there are two other mages, no mage is superb in this game, but Wendy probably
isn't going to make the cut. I also doubt she learns Freeze 4, since a trend
here it seems with mages is they only master 1 spell.
Final Stats
HP 38
MP 59
AT 29
DE 45
AG 27
MV 05
There's a Protect Staff available in the final battle of chapter 2, it's
the best weapon for Wizards since it gives defense. They later are for
purchase in chapter 4. The Staff gives +16 AT and +2 DE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apis (Knight into Paladin)
Apis is solid. There are 3 knights in this game, and he's probably the
worst of them, but the Knights are good enough that you still will probably
use all of them despite only having 1 best weapon and 1 second best weapon.
Early on, Apis is a monster. His great range and frequent weapon upgrades will
keep him at a high level. He can switch to a Spear for an attack penalty but
attack from a range, which gives him great threat on the battlefield. Later
on, his attack tends to fall off pretty hard, but I find him very tanky with
lots of health, so I like to give him the Power Ring to boost my other better
fighters since Apis isn't going to die anytime soon.
His final stats look much better compared to say Randolf, but that is due
largely to the double dipped levels since Randolf is prepromoted. Leveled
equally, Apis falls off. Given the double dipping, Apis is likely your best
due to 7-10 extra levels.
Final Stats
HP 64
AT 51
DE 52
AG 26
MV 07
Knights get a ton of upgrades, and their best weapon is the Valkyrie,
dropped in the second battle in chapter 4. The Halberd is the second best
weapon and you find it in the cave in chapter 3 (also where the Critical Sword
is at). Sadly, Power Spears are your best ranged alternative, but that's fair.
If you're using all the Knights, Apis probably will get the Power Ring, with
Chrome Lance and Power Spear alternative while the others get the better
weapons (though it is up to you). The Power Spear is +18, Chrome Lance is +22,
Halberd is +24, and the Valkyrie is +28. As you can see, only one Knight gets
a "really good weapon" and the others do alright.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cray (Monk into Master Monk)
Spells: Heal 1, 2, 3, 4
Muddle 1, 2
Boost 1, 2
Hell 1, 2, 3
I've already talked a lot about Cray in Sig's section so let me try to
focus in on just Cray here. He joins after battle 2, which is nice, as you are
granted some extra healing since Sig takes a long time to get that more MP.
Cray however, can't be your only healer. His MP is very small and it stays
that way for a long time. That being said, his attack is "Cray-zee" and he
will often be one of your best attackers, getting +3 attack a lot. If the
Knuckles were better weapons, he'd be a top candidate.
His spells suck, but he does better than Sig thanks to learning Boost.
Sadly, Boost doesn't give EXP the way it does in SF2. I mean, it does give EXP
but it doesn't seem to give more than about 15 or so which is worse than just
healing yourself. To get Cray and Sig more EXP, load them up with cheap Herbs
to spam heal more often since that is 10 EXP each time. Cray starts off weak,
but give him a few levels and he'll impress you.
Final Stats
HP 56
MP 33
AT 58
DE 51
AG 27
MV 05
Cray also gets to use the Iron Claw like Sig. As far as I can remember,
you don't find any glove before the other so they both just get upgrades as
the game progresses. The Iron Claw is +20 remember
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claude (Bird Man to Bird Battler)
Claude is back! Errr, here!? Well, it's the same Claude from SoH. Sadly,
he's not as good as the SoH form (makes sense somewhat since that's the better
promoted version) but Claude is still one of your best characters and going to
be used constantly. He flies, gets good attack and defense, and doesn't end
your battle if he dies.
Claude has 6 move, but like SoH, I often pepper him for increased movement
so that he can be a true threat flying about the battlefield. I also give him
the better sword upgrades over Nick for that reason (Steel Sword if found
early and the Critical Sword later). Claude makes life easier when he joins at
the end of chapter 1, that's for sure. Like other games, remember that
movement bonuses are lost upon promotion so don't use that Turbo Pepper until
after promotion
Final Stats
HP 51
AT 49
DE 54
AG 29
MV 06
Claude uses the Broad or Critical Sword as his final weapons, +21 and +26
attack for those. The other birdman is solid to use also, but I would stick
him with a Broadsword and Claude the Critical Sword personally. There is the
Dark Sword, but like the Evil Axe, it's cursed, so don't make a habit of using
it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stock (Ranger into Bowknight)
Stock joins at a meager level 4 in chapter 2, battle 3, when most of your
party is level 8 or 9. You probably don't want to use him. That's fair, but
despite that disadvantage, Stock probably hits for the same amount of damage
AND this is when you get the Elven Arrow for +3 range. Stock takes some time
to level up, dare I say, you must *stock* up on his EXP before using him?
Alright, so that's terrible, but like SoH, the Archers are wonderful
additions due to decent attack, good move, and their range being their biggest
asset. As I said before, the bosses tend to be very grinding, so having the
Archers blast them from a distance helps a bunch. There are also a decent
number of battles where the range can shoot enemies over walls and whatnot.
They really just simplify the game for you.
Final Stats
HP 49
AT 43
DE 48
AG 29
MV 06
Like Shade, he gets +23 or +26 attack from the Great or Buster Shot. Give
the better weapon to the weaker one to spread out your damage in case one
falls during the battle.
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Mayfair (Priest into Vicar)
Spells: Heal 1, 2, 3, 4
Muddle 1
Hell 1, 2, 3, 4
Aura 1, 2, 3, 4
The advisor from SoH is your best healer in this game! How cool is that!?
Seriously though, Mayfair is essentially Sarah from SoH, learning a full range
of spells you'd expect a healer to learn. She learns them rather quickly too,
getting those level 4 spells later into promoted levels, but Aura comes online
earlier than you'd expect and that's +25 EXP a turn as long as you hit 3
heroes even if you don't need to heal them.
She joins with Stock at the same time. You probably think that you're fine
on healers and you don't need another, but she's the best in the game so take
some time and put her to work. You'll find her amazingly tanky, with a ton of
MP, and a weapon that self-heals her at the end of the game. Seriously, she
makes the game easier by a long way so the only reason not to use her is to
challenge yourself.
Final Stats
HP 45
MP 53
AT 41
DE 58
AG 30
MV 05
Mayfair uses the Holy Staff for her final weapon. It's +2 HP a turn if
she's wounded. Admittedly, you can buy Healing Rains in this game for 20K, so
for a speedrun, you're not gonna bother with Mayfair, since she takes some
time to level up, but for anything outside of a speedrun, Mayfair is your
dame of choice. The Staff is +20 attack
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeesha (Mage into Wizard)
Spells: Blaze 1, 2, 3
Slow 1, 2
Bolt 1, 2, 3, 4
Desoul 1, 2
Yeesha is contender for best caster in the game and is definitely one of
your most valuable assets for a long time. That's because of a little spell
called Slow, which she learns a second level of very quickly, and it lands on
most regular enemies, and it turns your regular chumps into damage dealing
machines. She never learns Blaze 4, she starts with just Blaze 2, but as you
can see, she is the master of Bolt, which is kinda cool. Desoul is a joke,
don't bother casting it.
With Yeesha, she joins at the end of chapter 2. Since she's level 10
already, I'd Egress out of the battle in chapter 3, promote her, and give her
the Guardian Staff you won from the previous battle. She doesn't really
benefit from those extra levels and you'd rather get to her better magic
sooner. Not only are the 11+ levels quite poor, but this game works off "true
level" meaning that promoting resets your magic level back to 11
Final Stats
HP 33
MP 56
AT 29
DE 46
AG 34
MV 05
Her best weapon is the Protect Staff which is +16 AT and +2 DE. Her major
weakness is low health and defense (obviously) so the Protect Staff and a +5
Protect Ring can go a long way to keeping her healthy for you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gyan (Something into Berserker)
Well I'll be darned if Gyan from this game is actually decent. Granted,
he's not really better than the Warriors, but he at least is better than his
SoH version. Why is he better than the Warriors? He has Beast movement, so
all of those annoying battles where nobody can move, he moves well! Sadly it's
only 5 movement, but this Gyan, unlike SoH Gyan, can equip Rings, so you can
see where I'm going here.
At the end of the day, he's not going to overwhelm you with stats or power
but I'll admit that he was useful and I'd stick him in my party over the
warriors any day. Granted the final battles are all throne rooms so the
movement advantage is a wash, but there are many battles with Gyan where that
isn't the case. He joins at 10 unpromoted in chapter 3 after battle 1; with
decent stats might I add. Another small perk. His damage will likely be
lacking so giving him extra unpromoted EXP helps, but his promoted growth
here is actually quite nice.
Final Stats
HP 66
AT 72
DE 51
AG 30
MV 05
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Domingo (Magic Creature)
Spells: Blaze 1, 2, 3
Freeze 1, 2, 3, 4
Bolt 1, 2, 3
Desoul 1, 2
Our first of 2 secret characters, Domingo makes another appearance from
SF1 but for all practical purposes, he's a different character. He doesn't
really have anything in common with his former self except learning Freeze 4
way too late. So maybe he does have something in common I guess...
He's another contender for best caster, and that's because he joins with
Blaze 3 and Freeze 3 already available, and yeesha probably hasn't gained that
much EXP yet. That being said, he'll likely never get anything useful in most
games unless you grind excessively because he learns Bolt 1, then both ranks
of Desoul, then Bolt 2 and 3, then Freeze 4 at 20. So yeah, he comes in strong
and finishes with a MASSIVE wet fart. Either way, he's still powerful and a
great addition to your team
Final Stats
HP 47
MP 47
AT 56
DE 50
AG 27
MV 06
Domingo is a secret character found in the field battle (chapter 3, battle
2) near the lake on the right side. There's a row of trees, search the most
left side and you'll find him. His DE is rather low, so a Protect Ring helps
a bunch. His MP is also low through most of the game, so try and figure your
best ways to use his MP effectively.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kashing (Knight into Paladin)
If I told you that 2 battles after Domingo you get a level 10 Knight
would you believe me? Um, surprise! Kashing is part of the original force that
got torn apart. Maybe it's not a surprise as to why they failed...
That being said, Kashing holds his own and is a great character to fit
onto your team. Apis tends to have better AT than him, but by switching the
weapons around, you can balance out your attacks reasonably well to avoid
losing too much damage it people fall in battle. That being said, since
Kashing comes so late unpromoted, if you want to avoid using him, I can
certainly see why as he does take a fair amount of time to level up.
Final Stats
HP 67
AT 44
DE 55
AG 29
MV 07
His final weapons are the same as Apis. Power Spear, Chrome Lance, Halberd
and the Valkyrie. Their damages are +18, +22, +24, and +28.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gates (Gladiator)
Another member of the original force, Gates is a prepromoted Gladiator
who joins at level 3 one battle after Kashing joins you. He is, unimpressive
to say the least, with small health and a small movement to boot. Gates can
be useful though, since you get useful weapons like the Atlas and Heat Axe
and he's already promoted, meaning you can take advantage of those without
putting energy into Ruce. Now, is that enough to keep him on your team?
Probably not, but it's something to mention at least. The battle he joins
does have an interesting gimmick unique to SF where no magic can be casted
until the Fizzle Ball is destroyed. That doesn't stop items from being used
though...
Final Stats
HP 37
AT 40
DE 50
AG 23
MV 05
His best weapon is the Atlas Axe, +30. And since you're probably not
using Ruce, don't worry about the others
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shriek (Bird Battler)
Another member of the original force (jeez, how original) Shriek is your
second flying tank to enter the force. Actually he's worse than Claude in
every way, being prepromoted and weaker and whatnot, but the fact he flies
makes all the difference. Claude flies around, whacks things to low health,
and Shriek cleans em up. Since he joins for the first battle in chapter 4
which is the dreadful Edmond battle (seriously don't ask) Shriek becomes an
extremely welcome member and mainstay to our team.
Final Stats
HP 54
AT 47
DE 43
AG 23
MV 06
You can see his stats are just subpar over Claude. But a flying death
bomb is still a flying death bomb. That being said, he can use the Critical
Sword but I tend to give that to Claude and stick him with a Broad Sword
+26 and +21 BTW
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Randolf (Paladin)
Randolf is NOT a member of the original force. He, like Claude, exists
in SoH, but he, unlike Claude, was a member of the Cypress Army. When Edmond
came to power through Woldol, Randolf was pushed aside and he remained loyal
to Nick, who was the true prince of Cypress. Claude was a member "of the
resistance" which is likely tied to Cypress but in a different way.
Randolf joins after Edmond is defeated, and he's extremely welcome. His
stats are, really not that much better than Apis or Kashing. However, I tend
to give him the Valkyrie and let him rock and roll. This is mostly due to his
"power leveling" since he joins at a lower level, and Apis is usually capped
out. Plus, if Apis is promoted at 10 and not the 17ish he was for these stats,
Randolf would have higher attack so keep that in mind. Unless you're powering
your team, Randolf is going to be your main attacking knight.
Final Stats
HP 65
AT 47
DE 53
AG 28
MV 07
He uses the same knight weapons, but as I said before, he joins with a
Chrome Lance, and the Valkyrie is dropped in the next battle, the first one
you get with him, so I give it on over to him and let him roll out
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amigo (Magic Creature)
Spells: Aura 1, 2, 3, 4
Hell 1, 2, 3, 4
Boost 1, 2
Dispel 1
The second hidden character, she's found 1 battle after Randolf, in the
"gate battle". She's hiding in the far right bush. Some might describe her as
the best healer, but not really. I find Mayfair to have a better selection and
she suffers from "late-syndrome" in that you get her for 4 battles. She joins
with only Aura 1. Admittedly she gets her magic very quickly, but you have to
ask yourself is it worth it? Because she really isn't, unless you didn't
bother with Mayfair, and are getting very frustrated with the lack of Aura
on your team. That's about the only reason to use Amigo
Final Stats
HP 45
MP 49
AT 57
DE 51
AG 27
MV 06
Amigo joins at level 5 and is super fragile because of that. Try to use
Aura to level and keep her safely tucked away due to her squishiness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lug (Luke) (Gladiator)
Like the Nick from SoH, Lug doesn't really count as a hero. He forces
himself onto your team (luckily he doesn't boot anyone, meaning that you can
actually have 13 members for the final battle). However, while Nick from SoH
is a respected fighter, Lug is trash. As mentioned before, he forgot a
movement, so he's stuck at 5, and he joins at level 12. You can level him to
20 (it's quite easy since all those enemies give max EXP and are stupidly easy
to defeat) but it's really not worth it. He joins with a Battle Axe, which is
cool, but like the other games, it's the final battle, so why are we bothering
trying to level him up? His only purpose is to give Nick the SoH! And I do
mean that, for if you Egress out, you have to re-fight the previous battle and
Nick I guess drops the sword and Lug finds it again.
Also, I'll mention that Lug was supposed to be his name. Due to a
translation error of SF1, Luke was the wrong name. Lug (pronounced like Loog)
was closer to his original Japanese name. You can see where Loog became Luke
and the rest, is history.
Final Stats
HP 51
AT 69
DE 53
AG 22
MV 05
Any EXP given to Lug stays when you Egress. However, any items you give
him DO NOT STAY so don't try giving him new weapons. But you should just go
and win so I don't know why you're bothering with experimenting!
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Spells
The spells in this game follow SF2 almost exactly. So I'll try to point
out areas where the spells differ somehow. The first and most generic obvious
thing is that spells don't deal more damage after promotion the same way they
deal more in SF2. That being said...
Defensive | Healing-based Spells
Aura
Aura is your classic heal spell but attached to the AoE principle. It's the
defining spell for any healer to know, and two of them do know learn it. As
long as you hit 3 allies (regardless of actual heal) you gain 25 EXP which
allows for superb amounts of leveling.
Heals for 15/15/30/full
Costs 7/11/15/20
Affects 5/5/13/Team
Range 3/3/3/All
Boost
Boost is the defensive status spell that gives defense and agility based on
your natural numbers meaning that naturally faster or tankier heroes benefit
the most here whereas the weaker heroes are less to benefit.
Boosts DE/AG by about 25%
Costs 5/9
Affects 5/13
Range 1/2
Detox
Most versions of this spell are pretty pointless. Losing 1/4 of your available
spells to simply cure poison at your convenience is pretty wasteful.
Especially since poison is not hugely present throughout the game, anyone who
learns this spell just practically has 3 spells instead. It gains range with
level 2 and that's it
DSPL (Dispel)
For some reasons, healers are given the MUTE spell. Not much changes here,
even if you could mute enemy caster, generally healing or killing it works a
bunch better. Compared to Slow which actually lands and makes enemies easier
to defeat, there is just no reason to ever use this spell.
Egress
Egress is a spell that needs no introduction. Here, since there is no
exploration, Egress only resets and takes you out of battles.
Heal
Your bread and butter "heal" spell, surprisingly, Amigo does not learn it.
There is not much else to say about this spell
Heals for 15/15/30/full
Costs 3/5/10/20
Affects 1
Range 1/2/3/1
Hell | Blast
The renamed spell isn't any better here. It's a nice spell to have since your
healers generally don't attack for that much... oh wait, your Monks actually
hit really hard! Yeah, not much else to say about this spell
Deals 6/8/10/20
Costs 2/5/8/8
Affects 1/5/5/1
Range 1/2/2/2
Muddle
Don't know what this spell does because it's terrible and has been terrible
in every SF game ever
Offensive | Wizard-based Spells
Attack
The only reason to use Wendy, she learns Attack, the same bonus you from the
Power Ring, she eventually gives you access to. It costs 7, but hey, it's a
powerful spell that can get decent work done. Raises attack by about 25%
Blaze
Blaze is weakest offensive spell for mages and with a lacking of undead
minions throughout the game, it is just a simple and straightforward spell for
damage. Wendy is the only one who masters it and it takes her to 20 to master
it so you'll likely just use Blaze 3 from time to time instead.
Deals roughly 6/8/14/30
Costs 2/6/10/10
Affects 1/5/5/1
Ranges 2/2/2/2
Bolt
Bolt is the strongest and most expensive offensive spell in the game. Bolt 1
is normally an appropriate response for some heroes, in this game, people who
learn Bolt will never cast it as Bolt 1 is simply inefficient. Later, Bolt 2
adds a much needed AoE but Bolt 3 is where the spell begins to shine. Bolt 4
is the best single target spell in the game but at 20 MP and requiring 20 to
learn it for Yeesha, you'll likely never see it or use it. Nick also learns it
at 20 but like Yeesha, you'll never make it to Bolt 3 most likely.
Deals roughly 12/15/25/50
Costs 8/15/20/20
Affects 5/13/13/1
Range 2/3/3/3
Desoul
Desoul is a trash spell that works decently in other games but here I've had
no success with it. There is a second rank of the spell that gives it an AoE
but I would never both casting this spell. Costs 8/13
Freeze
In most cases, Freeze is the ideal spell here since it have better range than
Blaze but doesn't cost an obscene amount like Bolt. Not much else to say.
Deals roughly 8/10/15/40
Costs 3/7/12/12
Affects 1/5/5/1
Range 1/2/3/3
Sleep
Sleep is a pretty pointless spell, but I'll give props to Wendy since Sleep
does hit enemies and can make some middle battles easier since Sleep doesn't
cost that much and has AoE at level 1. It's not much of a reason to keep
Wendy around, but unlike other status spells, Sleep here actually works out.
Costs 4 MP, has 2 range, and tries to sleep the enemy
Slow
Yeesha is the only one who learns Slow and just like SF2, Slow is incredibly
strong and brutally effective. It removes base defense and speed from enemies
which greatly helps a number of your weaker heroes do a lot better.
Slows by approx 25%
Costs 3/6
Affects 5/13
Range 1/2
Suggested Teams and Deeper Analysis
Much the same to SoH, there isn't "much" to discuss in terms of suggested
teams since we are limited so heavily by just raw numbers of available
characters. That being said, unlike SoH, we can escape with letting loose
certain heroes in this case since we are unlikely to cap on EXP with our team.
Basically, using Ruce as an example, there's no loss to our team in cutting
him immediately since plowing through each battle, it's still hard to cap on
EXP so having Ruce just wastes time and steals EXP. So that being said, let's
try to really examine this is a shell before expanding out.
Through Chapter 1
You can Egress and redo battle 1 as much as you want. So for an easier
time, you can do that until your team is level 7 or 8. That however is both
pointless and defeats the purpose. Ideally, you were intended to beat that
battle in one go, but regardless, here's our character progression to the end.
Nick | Ruce | Shade | Sig | Wendy | Apis | Cray
We have to use Nick and Apis is one of our better characters. Even if his
attack falls off, he remains tanky and a better option to Kashing largely due
to Kashing joining so late and if you don't want to bother leveling him. Shade
is an interesting choice as he is useful in spurts, but on the whole, I think
he and later Stock are worth it to stay in our team. Cray is certainly useful
as he's simply a better warrior. Let's talk about the others.
Ruce is a weak warrior and one of the worst characters in the game. In any
style of game (speedrun or casual) you can do much better than Ruce so it's in
your favor to let him die early. Sig is inferior to Cray, and while he is a
better warrior, you're better off letting Sig go as well and just replacing
with Cray. Wendy is the interesting choice, as her early magic is super useful
through about halfway in Chapter 2. The downside of Wendy is that she falls
off super hard due to a lack of magic progression so when to cut Wendy is a
difficult one I cannot say for sure. The only certainity is that you WILL
want to cut her at some point during Chapter 2.
Through Chapter 2
Nick | Shade | Apis | Cray | Claude | Stock | Mayfair
Excluding those we've already eliminated, we pick up a few people here
that are weak to seemingly useless, but they are actually the best characters
in the game. For speedruns, we exclude Mayfair from that list since we don't
need healing, but in a casual format, Claude is a flyer and very powerful, and
Stock grows quite readily. His low level is intimidating but the Elven Arrow
for purchase helps to keep him out of range as he explodes into EXP. Mayfair
is the best healer in the game so for casual purposes, there really is no
contest.
Through Chapter 3
Nick | Shade | Apis | Cray | Claude | Stock | Mayfair
Yeesha | Gyan | (Domingo) | Kashing | Gates
Unlike Chapter 2, we add some low level characters and this is where you
as the player must decide as to what you're looking for moving into the last
chapter. If we are promoting early at level 10, then people like Gates and
Kashing are pointless, whereas Domingo and Gyan are better. If we are
promoting later, then Kashing is a lot better, and Domingo is a lot worse. In
any case, Yeesha is our best mage thanks to Slow and Gyan is still playable
but ultimately could be pushed out. Similarly, Gates is pretty useless, but
in my speedrun I do stick him around due to numbers and he can use the Heat
and Atlas Axe which is kinda neat. So when I say "promote at 10" I'm not
strictly referring to a speedrun.
The difference with Kashing and Domingo comes largely from how we're
playing the game. Kashing if given time is quite reasonable and tanky, Domingo
on the other hand falls off harder and harder the more you let other people
catch up.
Through Chapter 4
Nick | Shade | Apis | Cray | Claude | Stock
Mayfair | Yeesha | Shriek | Randolf | +2
Options: Gyan, Domingo, Kashing, Gates, Amigo
Shriek is a weaker version of Claude, which still makes him pretty darn
useful through a number of battles. The last 2 battles he's a lot less useful
since they're indoors, but he's still quite useable compared to other people.
Randolf is just rock solid and an easy inclusion regardless of how you level
your team. The only real difference is how strong he is and that's if you
promote your team at 10 or 15.
Amigo is a pretty easy one to skip I think. You never need two healers
(Cray really isn't a healer) and Mayfair at this point will be leveled and
strong enough. Amigo joins with a pathetic spell selection and has no offense.
Admittedly Amigo levels quickly with Aura, but she joins just 4 battles from
the end of the game so in reality, you can do much better.
That leaves Gyan, Domingo, Kashing, or Gates, which strangely enough
breaks down the discussion from the previous section. If promoting at 10, then
Domingo and Gyan/Gates can round out your team. If promoting at 15+, then
Kashing+Gyan is your bet. There is something to be said about an abundance of
Knights, but I tend to stick the Power Ring on one of them, the weaker one,
as they're tanky and unlikely to die. This gives the Valkyrie and Halberd to
be spread out.
So there you go. Lug joins in the final battle to give us 13 and that's
our team. Feel free to experiment.
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Some Moogles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3000]
Leveling Suggestions
I've already mentioned that you can redo the first battle, and that's fine
and all, but since some of your best characters join in chapter 2, I'd rather
just wait to redo battles until later when Stock and Mayfair join. If you
follow my above suggestions, then you can get most of your team to 8/9 by the
time Marfair and Stock join up. This allows you to leave many kills for Stock,
especially the lower enemies that don't give experience to your other members.
Now in terms of promotions, if you're promoting early, then promote after
Stock and Mayfair join. Promoting before that is pointless, no EXP available
in that previous battle. Promoting after is fine, but leveling to 11 or 12
before promoting is pretty insignificant. The extra levels for "double dip"
only really matter to noncasters and only if you get to 15+. For these stats,
I went to 17 for most people which was about as high as I could get in 3-1
where I promoted. Which brings me to my next point, for casual play promoting
in 3-1 is a good option since you can get to 17 if you really want, 15 pretty
easily. To get to 20 is pretty hard and again, a few levels just don't matter.
Those extra levels are only worth it if you get like 5 or 6 of them.
Later on, you can moreorless just plow through the game. Into Chapter 4
after Randolf joins, you have some pretty good battles for EXP purposes if
you must. I always say, "you're so close to the end, just finish it" but the
end battles can get tedious and if you want those final levels for some people
it's not bad. Also, if you're a completionist and want everyone to be 20, then
you can happily redo the last battle by Egressing and those enemies give loads
of EXP so there you go.
Items Items Items
There is no exploring in this game outside of battles, so everything drops
but I'm not going to list every single drop. Instead, this is more to focus on
where big things are and who I'd use them on.
Turbo Pepper, dropped from a nearby enemy in the last battle in chapter 1
I use it on Claude after promotion. My only 5 move hero that matters is
Cray, but I don't need him going faster. I enjoy having 8 movement on
Claude, it let's him be a flying threat
Power Ring, dropped from the Minotaur in the last battle in chapter 3
We do get the ring but so late in the game. Since Wendy is unlikely to
ever get to Attack, don't slap the Power Ring on someone for damage, but
give it to a tanky hero who can boost people to take down bosses
Shield Ring, dropped by the healer at the end of the Mushroom Cave
Also on your entire team at the start of the game (drop them, rebuy them)
You can have many Shield Rings. Money pending on how much grinding you do,
you can easily support your weaker characters
Mobility Ring, found in the Fizzle Ball battle chest
Movement is always useful, give it to a slower person
Quick Ring, found in Bazoo Tower in the lower left chest
Gives speed when equipped, like SF1 it does allow for some turn exploiting
as well uses Egress as an item. Generally I give it to a fast person to
use Egress at the beginning of the turn since Nick is fairly slow
Critical Sword, found in the lower chest in Mushroom Cave
The best sword in the game for Claude, pick it up dude
Halberd, found in the right chest in Mushroom Cave
The second best Knight weapon, give it to Apis or Randolf
Valkyrie, dropped by the middle dullahan in 4-2
The best knight weapon, give it to Apis or Randolf
Atlas Axe, dropped by the boss in 4-3 (the castle wall battle)
Give it to Gates if he's around
Buster Shot, dropped by one of the bowriders after the mushroom cave
Give it to the weaker of Shade or Stock, or just the one if you only have
the one since the other died
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What's with the names?
Gardiana versus Guardiana is a pretty straight-forward misunderstanding of
a non-english speaker as both are pronounced the same but "Guard" is an
existing english word and "Gard" isn't really. For Lug and Luke, that one is a
bit more of a stretch, but as I hinted at early, the original name of Luke was
pronounced more similarly to *loog* and spelled accordingly except with a U.
However, when an English speaker looks at Lug, we are more likely to think of
a Lug-nut, something that makes since, and wouldn't think to pronounce it more
like Loog. Because of that, we think of Lug like a Lugnut but in reality, it's
Loog and that's how you get Luke
Q: What happened to the other characters from SF1?
It's hard to say. We see some or at least get reference to: Anri, Lowe,
Ken, Luke, Tao, Hans, Gong, Domingo, and Max. Let's break this down into some
groups
Max is only made reference to in the beginning by Ken. We know from Final
Conflict (FC) that Max is on Parmecia with Adam (so we can include Adam now).
The others, Tao, Hans, and Gong are never seen but are also made reference
to as the initial party is related to them. Wendy is Tao's sister, Shade is
Han's son, and Sig is Gong's uncle. This only gives us clues to who Shade's
mother is, his appearance and there being only one female archer in SF1 leads
us to believe that Diane is the mother, but at best it's speculation.
Ken is physically seen in the game, but outside of his appearance and the
fact that Apis is his son, that's all we get from him. Mae was the only female
knight in SF1 so that gives some hope that Mae is the mother, but that's even
more speculative outside of Diane since Shade does look like Diane. Lowe is in
the game as the Mentor and that's it, Anri is in the beginning of the game and
that's it (though she does at least reappear in the other Gaiden games which
maintains the consistency.
Domingo is in the game, but as I've said early, he seems to be a
completely dfferent character with completely different spells and stats and
from a story standpoint, why would Domingo even be there? It makes very little
sense. In terms of Domingo connecting to Amigo, there's nothing to suggest any
relationship there.
Luke actually joins the party later on and we know Ruce is his son. As the
only possible connection between that is the two granddaughters of Gort that
live in Guardiana, it's impossible to say if one of those women would meet
Luke and later give spawn to Ruce. We don't even know if those women are human
or dwarf which matters since it seems that a human and dwarf would... well
that gets into subject matter beyond the scope of this guide.
That's a good portion of the characters. Those not mentioned have no
connection in any real sense outside of extreme speculation.
Q: How does this story fit into the greater story arc?
There's no clear story, and when SF1 came out in Japan in 92 and 93 for
others and SF2 came out in 93|94, there was at the time little to no
connections between the games other than the titles. The first Gaiden was
released later in 92 for Japan and never saw a US release, and SoH the second
Gaiden was released in 93|94, and FC the final Gaiden which has nothing to do
with the first two Gaidens was released in 95 and only saw an English fan
translation much later.
The point being, that an overarcing story was probably never intended,
especially if we include other "Shining" titles such as Holy Ark, Darkness,
or even Tears. If we focus on just those first 5 (and maybe toss Darkness in
there) we can at least get something cohesive but that's largely due to FC
which also seems deliberately created to just force tie-ins from the others.
SF1 comes out and leaves an opening with Max and Adam on an unclear land
looking for a new life. So the next title is Gaiden 1, which adds to the
overall story but chooses new characters and a new land to focus on, only
paying homage to the original SF1. SoH came out next which extended the story
of Gaiden 1, but pays even less attention to the original SF1 story. SF2 then
comes out and again, outside of title, there is no connection of characters
outside of the Storytellers in Mitula's Temple.
Now keep in mind, the story from those guys is from the English game; but
so far I've been looking chronologically at the Japanese release. Some things,
such as Max's backstory, were dropped in the English release which only
further distances titles from one another whereas in the Japanese release it
makes clear that Max and Kane are brothers, an important detail later in FC.
Regardless, the Storytellers tell a story about Arc Valley. In no
particular order:
Arc Valley is a dark place where evil gathers.
He who rules Arc Valley is the King of the Devils
Dark Sol, Dark Dragon and Zeon fought desperately to obtain
Arc Valley. The fight of the devil kings created a mighty storm
Zeon won. And every devil named him the King of the Devils. The other two
kings envied Zeon. They sealed his powers inside the Jewel of Evil.
When Zeon lost his powers, he fell to Earth, and created a giant crater
when he hit. His moan destroyed the mountains and the crater was buried
by the debris
Grieving over the fight, the God of Wisdom created the Jewel of Light.
The Jewel of Light chose a brave man and gave him a Holy Sword.
With the Holy Sword in hand, the brave man fought against the two devil
kings. The Holy Sword contained holy power. Thus, the two devil kinds were
defeated
Evil Arc Valley was sealed beneath the Ancient Tower. Never open the door
to the tower. A great evil sleeps inside
In the event of Zeon awakening, the power of light will choose another.
Believe us. We lie not. Attack the devil at his mouth with the Holy Sword.
So the story then confirms Dark Sol and Dark Dragon existing right? Kinda.
Dark Sol has existed in 3 games (Darkness, SF1, and FC) which is confusing and
Dark Dragon's story seems somewhat unclear from that description to the story
provided in SF1. Really, the story is more confusing initially then you would
think. Remember that FC isn't out yet and for the US, we only have SF1 and now
this, maybe some people have SoH. Here's 3 initial questions
Chaos Breaker is or isn't the Holy Sword?
Volcanon created the Jewel of Light, and is also the God of Wisdom?
When exactly does this take place? That fight, I mean. Before the
backstory of SF1 or sometime there after?
The point of this being that the last released was FC and it attempted to
connect stories that seemed to never intend to connect. Ian is the new hero
and he's is Kane's son. That's fine, a nice tie in, but that means that the
timeframe now from SF1 to SF2 at best is 60 years. If Max is a young soldier
in SF1, then he could still realistically be in fighting shape by 80 since
he is human. Kane dies in SF1 though, which means that Ian despite not being
that old, is actually around 60 in that case. What does that matter?
In FC, they have the Chaos Breaker, another direct tie to SF1. Galam
exists too, Granseal doesn't exist, and Hawel is in the game (we assume him
to be the same Hawel). In SF2 though, that Granseal city isn't in the vein of
just a few decades old. Sir Astral is an old man and has seemingly lived in
Granseal most of his life; there are also books talking about "Kings of
Granseal" so unless Granseal rotates Kings every year, that seems out of
place.
If we make that Hawel different from the SF2 Hawel, then we can have some
time between SF2 and FC to potentially build itself up. That also gives more
to the idea of Ian being young, and Max not being that old come FC. Not to
mention that Gaiden 1 and 2 are still not in the picture.
So that was a long tangent, but the answer to the question is this. We
have a few stories that don't necessarily all connect to one another. SF1,
Gaiden 1, and Gaiden 2 are one story arc; although SF1 isn't really a part of
that story outside of names, they all exist in the same universe at least.
Max and FC then wrap up Max's story line (so SF1 has the broad story, but
Max's story continues into FC). While the story takes place on Parmecia, the
timelines simply don't connect enough to pretend that SF2 is taking place
within that same time outside of simply landmass.
Which leaves SF2, and like I said, allowing for Hawel to be a simple name
coincidence that actually forces FC and SF2 to be but distant cousins, SF2
then is its own story about Zeon with a rather lose tie in back to SF1 in a
story that may or may not make the whole thing more confusing.
UGH, moving on!
Q: Any suggestions for new runners regarding speedrunning?
There are more suggestions than I can begin to describe and since this
guide is dedicated pretty exclusively to the characters and I'll probably
never bother writing a speedrunning guide since the game doesn't really need
one. As a general rule of thumb, using more characters can make the game
easier to beat without repeating battles and then you can exclude more
characters as you get more familiar with it.
IV. Contact and Closing [4000]
--------------
| 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 SFCD 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?
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