What version of Shining Force should I play? Original or Gba?
>>10924389GBA had soulless art style avoid it
>>10924389GBA version has washed out colors so play the original.Using this shining thread to talk about my SF2 playthrough that I'm shamelessly using savestates in.
Did you know there is a shining force for the sega cd console?
Oh I got lucky the Master Mage is the boss here and I just killed him instead of dying to archers and zombie poison.>>10924809I did know that, it's on this sega mini 2 I'm playing with.
There's a giant squid.
>>10924975It turns out I'm getting slapped around by tentacles because, unlike Ultros, this invertebrate boss battle on a raft can come earlier than intended.
>>10924809It's a (good) remake of Shining Force Gaiden 1&2 for Game Gear with a tacked-on third scenario. The actual third game is Game Gear only and released after Shining Force CD.
>>10925110Wait what third game for game gear? I though it just went to 3 on the Saturn.
>>10925120Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict. It's a sequel to Gaiden 1&2 for Game Gear (or the first 2 scenarios of the Sega CD game Shining Force CD)These games have nothing to do with Shining Force 1&2 (Gen/MD) or Shining Force 3 for Saturn.
>>10924389Original. GBA is babby mode.
>>10925125WHY ISN'T IT ON MY SEGA MINI!?
>>10925165Never got an official translation.
>>10925224neither did scenarios 2/3 on saturn, is there a fan translation?
>>10924389I did not care for the GBA version. It adds a few missions but they were more annoying than engaging. Also why was the GBA era so gay for cards? I swear they did the same shit in the crappy Lunar port. Gotta cram cards into everything.
>>10925385I don't know, I ignore card games to this day.
>>10925385Because Yu-Gi-Oh! was at the peak of its popularity and all the kids at my school was obsessed with it and the Pokémon tcgThat’s my guess anyway.
>>10925274There's a fan translation for Final Conflict, yes. Not for Gaiden 1 Game Gear originl version though.Only the official translation in Sega CD's Shining Force CD exists for that.
>>10924807>savestatesWhy?It's not FE, it doesn't have permadeath.
>>10924864Is he OK?
GBA had some good things. The sound was notably worse. If you like it play both.
>>10926290There's no save before that fight and I'd have to do another one over. Good for grinding I guess but I didn't feel like dealing with it..>>10926293Yes, he joined the force shortly after.
>>10926587Sound quality is questionable but I like the new & extended songs.Definitely a try both but play the original first case.
>>10926691In the genesis version you keep all your xp gains/level ups when you die. Penalty is very low. No idea about the GBA release though.
>>10924975>>10925071you're supposed to grab the old man from the ruins north of that intersection (south of Ribble, the town where you got may), and then go to the east of the kraken fight to a desert fight AND a ruins/shrine fight. so basically if you run into the kraken, you're two whole battles behind, and its a pain in the ass. i made that mistake as a kid, but i got through it by cheesing with peter and luke. nobody else was strong enough to do anything, so i put the power ring on peter and had him safely fly out to the kraken head with luke following. everyone else just hunkered down in safety. peter did all of the damage, and luke was loaded up with healing seeds to healbot him (and/or be a distraction).it can also help that if you do things properly, you can get the achilles sword for the MC before that fight too.
>>10926958Ah okay, this is my first playthrough.
>>10924807Use colour correction in your GBA emu of choice.
>>10925125>Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict. It's a sequel to Gaiden 1&2 for Game GearIt's actually a prequel to Shining Force 2, featuring Adam, Max, Mishaela, Hawel and Oddeye.
I liked the gba version because you can actually see the secret outfits in battle, tao's bikini is a pain in the ass to get though, so I just cheated it in on emulator, the code is 320000c0 xx for anyone wondering, where xx is how many of the item you want
>>10928350GBA version did some major fuck ups with the mages.For one they forgot to calculate the total level of a mage when learning new spells.In the Genesis version, if a mage would learn a spell at level 12, you can promote them at level 10 and they will learn that spell 2 levels later, at level 3.In the GBA version the mage will only learn that spell at level 12 no matter what, so if you promote your mage at level 10, they won't learn any new spells until you reach level 12 with the promoted class.There's also the whole rebalancing spells that made them generally worse.
>>10926954>In the genesis version you keep all your xp gains/level ups when you die. Penalty is very low.Doesn't mean I want to sit there all afternoon and replay a map.
>>10924864The nigbird Peter died so much on me that one fight I still hate him to this day and would suicide him into enemies every battle out of spite. I don't care how busted he could be, fuck that stupid piece of shit.
>>10928562I had him squawk at the zombie and evil cloud south of the start and that's it. He's fragile but at least you can park him on mostly inaccessible tiles.
Hey, remember the shining force gatcha, what happened with that?
It sucks that the original Genesis release got a very iffy but charming translation. The incredible music and the art got massacred in the GBA release
>>10930767GBA has lousy sound for some reason. I think it's just a shitty chip.
>>10928562how much rng is a factor in leveling?in my game he was decent from the beginning and became my second dps after the mc, basically my second best unit all the way to the end of the game
>>10930965In SF2 there's nowhere near as much RNG as there's in SF1.Peter will always have stats on par with the MC, his survivability is just a bit lower because flying units don't get defense bonuses from the terrain, but this is still a pretty minor factor.
>>10930701Cancelled when the company filed for bankruptcy iirc. A shame too since it was the most shining force thing we've had in years, even if it was a mobile game. It could have been so much worse.
>>10931058How do gatcha companies even fail?
>>10932068Like every other business.You only ever hear about the top most successful entrepreneurs and don't realize the majority of people/companies venturing into the business model do not succeed.
>>10928350Just give up on level 20+ spells and hold off promoting them.
>>10930965The rng is shaped by a function. Some get great values at the start and level off, others the opposite, and some do great at the beginning and later but shit in the middle.There's some Japanese guides for Shining Force that describe it.
>>10933892GROWTH RATE成長曲線 (Growth curve)全味方キャラクターの転職前と転職後の成長タイプの一覧表だ。成長のさせ方や転職の時期決定の参考にしよう。どれも、上段が転職前、下段が転職後だ。(This is a list of growth types before and after changing jobs for all ally characters. Let's use it as a reference for how to grow and when to change jobs. In each case, the upper row is before changing jobs and the lower row is after changing jobs.)直線型 (Linear type)経験値に比例して、直線的に素直に成長していく。(It grows linearly and obediently in proportion to the experience value.)減速型 (Deceleration type)はじめは急激に成長するが、後半はのび方がにぶくなる。(It grows rapidly at first, but slows down in the second half.)加速型 (Accelerated type)はじめはなかなか成長しないが、後半急激に成長する。(It does not grow easily at first, but it grows rapidly in the second half.)S字型 (S-shaped type)一旦成長が止まるように思えるが、後半再びのびる。(It seems that growth will stop once, but it will grow again in the second half.)
>>10934085Neat, do you have one for SF2?
>>10934138It's in the strategy guide for Shining Force 2The previous image was from the Shining Force EncyclopediaYou can probably find them at archive.org.
Shining Force II was one of the first games I emulated, but I never finished it. The Shining house style from that time was kino
>>10934159How the fuck do you level sarah it takes forever and unlike Slade she can't rush in from safety for a 1hp kill. She's very mana starved in my game and I have to keep healing herbs on everyone.
>>10934261Use bait characters like the hero which enemies will tend to focus on, so weaker characters can come in and get the kill blow. Also you get the same amount of exp when you heal damage no matter how high your level is.
>>10934261she should be healing every turnincluding items like herbs give her a kill here and there when you canif she's a couple levels behind it's not a big deal, she's a healer
>>10934261She's not supposed to be in safety. Priests aren't that fragile, so they can take hits (and heal themselves afterwards).
>>10934185I prefer Climax style (SitD, SF1, Landstalker)
>>10934261Sarah start with a better strength compared to the enemies than Slade. You can return to the xp curve by using all the MP with heals, egress, and again. You don't need to hit anything at all.
>>10934631Egress isn't even necessary once you hit larger maps.
>>10934639He's comparing Sarah to Slade and Slade needs safety, he has yet to step on the first boat.He needs egress because he has no levels to have MP.
>>10934656I'm just on the raft but went the wrong way, I'll work on sarah and buy the $3000 power ring for peter like anon said.
>>10926290it hurts my very fucking soul to know that this nigga is deceased but i am thankful for the art he left us. on the other hand i hate SEGA so much it's unreal, all of this gone to waste...
>>10934261every other healer in the game outclasses her, both in what they bring to the table, and their experience gain rate. sadly, the earliest you can get another healer (if you're at the kraken, like i think a later post stated) is not for 7 more battles, and thats IF you choose the healer (honestly, she's the best choice out of the 4, but the mage is pretty cool too). if you do take the healer, kick sarah to the curb and you will never have to worry about that dumpy bitch again. >>10934679you should absolutely buy the power ring. probably put it on slade so he can function properly. also, you should pick up the old man from the cave/ruins south of ribble (which is north of the spot where you fight the kraken), and travel to the east along the river. go until you reach purple mountains, and disembark (south) just before them, and go east to a desert battle. then reach a shrine for another battle. this should help you level up some and be able to handle the kraken a little better.also you can use the item you get from shrine on the old tree in ribble and get a sword for the hero (you need to eventually anyway).
>>10934756Oh. That's a bummer.
>>10924389Original.
>>10924389Probably the original, but the GBA version has two big advantages that may prompt you to play it at some point. It has a much more faithful translation, restoring several cut plot elements, and also has the SF version of support conversations which gives some of the characters more depth. (Some are just used for cringe-gags, like Lowe listing off food. Fun fact, in the OG Japanese, Lowe's your typical perv-priest and it's not FOOD he's talking about.)
>>10935743Gracias.
The part in 2 where your kingdom is forced to flee as it's swallowed up by an earth quake and sale away to a new home always really stuck out and with me.
>>10937181It's pretty early on.
>>10937181And then everyone just packed up and went back at the end, lol.
>>10937292that was always the weirdest shit. like, they just filled in the bottomless hole and rebuilt everything 1:1 the way it used to be? fucking retarded.it always struck me as a cheap way to do the princess scene, since they didnt bother to make a room for it in the new town.
>>10937290Yeah, and it just really kind of hit me hard as a kid. It's not weird for games to get you out into the world but your whole world basically kicked you out. I liked it. And also when you rent games you don't always get to beat them in one sitting so it took me a while to actually get to the end of the game.
>>10937361Did your save survive?
>>10937373Tragically it did not. Which I understand is part of the rental struggle. But I swear every time I'd go and see my save GONE and replaced by one who never got passed like the third battle....
>>10937326In fairness, Mitula says she's going to seal the valley again, which means filling everything back in. I assume they built everything after that was done. Gransealians are a bit strange anyway. Just look at the "zoo" they have, full of beastfolk going "WTF dude, I'm not an animal!"
>>10937404I can understand lots of kids having a tough time.
Finally making progress, slade got 3 kills after I put the power ring on him. I had to egress from a squid save state because I loaded into an old battle and it wiped out the "cartridge" save even after a reset.
>>10937751Luke missed this and Peter ended up with the kill lol.
>>10937751Remember to save your SRAM too. Your in-game save function won't exist until you do.
>>10937767The mini console seems to handle it funny.
>>10937751Sarah and Kiwi are kill in the shrine, but I don't think I should egress? Because they're getting dumped and don't get much xp anyway? Right?
Not even close!
>>10937882Made it back to Ribble (the tree one) and will use my wooden plank after dinner.
>>10924389Why did Max let everyone think he died instead of going home and enjoying his hard-earned horse pussy?
>>10937838yeah, kiwi is tough to keep competent, and not even really worth it. his major flaw is magic, and eventually it gets pretty common, so he's extremely likely to just fucking die. like, his defense is great and his attack EVENTUALLY gets there, but his hp is just always a fatal flaw. >>10937949also, i am enjoying following along with somebody's progress, and i earnestly look forward to updates and ways to help in the days to come.
>>10938147Thanks anon. Yeah kiwi got his HP (8) halved by a gargoyle attack, which makes him completely useless to me because if he can't tank what's the point?Is it worth it to grind with egress?
>>10938224Is it worth it to grind with egress?it depends on what you want out of the game. do you want a challenge? then no, try not to as much as possible.do you want everyone to be leveled evenly, and/or as strong as possible? then yes, every few battles its worth it to repeat a couple of times until kill experience stops being 48.if you do choose to grind, try to pick a battle where enemies are pretty close and it doesnt take a lot of turns of movement to REACH them. at least 1 in every 5 battles should fit the bill for this, more or less. if you want SPECIFIC battles, i can tell you the ones i tend to use. (i usually get everyone up to 18-20ish with the battle right after the kraken. to the west of hassan, in the desert. i forget the exact level number, but its when the gargoyles and golems stop mattering.)additionally, you should choose when you want to promote people. you can promote at level 20, or keep pushing up until 40 (theres only like 25% of the game left if you push to 40). the rate of stat gain is pretty consistent pre-promotion, with mostly 1s across the board. however, there is no stat loss on promotion, so its sort of like "bonus stats" to push higher. keep in mind that eventually the weapons that shops sell can ONLY be equipped if you have promoted, so you will miss out on intended power increases and it will seem a lot tougher to kill enemies. so its kind of your choice how you want to face the game. also, when you promote and level goes to 1, the game considers you at the same "experience level" as level 20. so if you are level 25, and a monster is giving 48 experience for a kill, but then at level 28 killing it only grants 1exp, if you promote, you are now considered "level 20" again, so that monster will give you the full 48 experience for a few levels, until you would be level 8ish and then its only giving you 1exp again. so if you do decide to push past 20 and promote, take some time after the promotion to "catch up" a bit (cont.)
>>10938146Because originally he was going to be in one or two direct sequels with more adventures before things fell apart. There's a manga where he does exactly that, though. I guess he returned... eventually? If it's canon?
>>10938367I need items to promote right? What should I be looking out for? I'll probably grind to 20 after the squid like you said.
>>10938224>>10938367(cont.) to catch up a bit and power level for some big gains. after promotion, stat growth can see 3s and 4s in key stats. if you do push to 40, DEFINITELY get at least like 5 levels after promoting, as it definitely helps. like i said, promoting at 40 only has like 25% of the game left, so grinding for 20ish levels right then and there is kind of drag (and also you end up kind of overpowered, lol, but personally i love that feeling, and i love one-shotting things).
>you can't just click on the tree you have to use A button to pull up the item menuThere are some parts of old jrpgs that I'm glad are dead and gone forever.
>>10938395no. there are a few items in the game that allow certain classes to promote to a special class. warrior pride (only 1): found in new grans headquarters. search the shield on the wall behind where your troops are. this is for jaha or randolf to promote to a baron. the difference is that they can equip swords OR axes, and they have +1 movement (i think they have 5 normally, so having 6 is kinda nice).pegasus wing (only 1): found in pacalon (WAYYYY later). turn a knight into a pegasus knight. no real stat difference, but they can fly. this is both a blessing and a curse, as they are no longer affected by rough terrain and get to fly their full 7 movement at all times, but they also lose out on the defense bonus of land effect. i think flying is powerful and worth it, but it takes forever to GET there, so if you're struggling and want to promote already, you'll feel gimped on a knight for a while. vigor ball (2 can be found): one in the elven village (like 2 more battles after the kraken), and one on the return to grans (way near the end of the game). turns priest into master monk. makes them sexy and not a dumpy pope, they gain more attack per level, and their weapons are really powerful too so they can actually be used as fighters (if you want to and the turn allows it i guess). might as well use it on them.secret book (1): mage into sorc. gives them a completely new set of spells. all of them are the 5 target cross, and if i remember right, damage goes down the more targets are in the area (so if the spell hits for 30 but there are 3 enemies in it, i think they all get hit for 10-12 or something. its been a while, sorry for inaccuracy). completely up to you if that sounds cool or not.silver tank (1): you probably already have it. it was in the cave to the volcano. used on archers (not may) to turn them into tanks. the have higher defense than snipers, but maybe take an agility penalty or move penalty or something. i think they're cool and worth.
>>10938442What's this mythril for?
>What's this mythril for?Oh weapons.
>>10938442Pretty good description, but>completely up to you if that sounds cool or not.It's definitely worth the investment, especially if you think silver tank is a good investment too.Without the secret book Kazin will peak with blaze 4 (30 damage) halfway through the game and will never get any better.As a sorcerer he will continue learning new and more powerful spells, potentially learning Neptune 2 (60 damage) or even Atlas 2 (70 damage) by the end of the game.
>>10938447on the return to grans, there is a secret dwarven village, and you can use it to have the dwarven blacksmith craft the best weapons in the game for you. there are 15 total mithril in the game, and you have a party of 12 (and the hero gets a cool sword at the end anyway, so he doesnt need to use one. also some party members dont even use weapons, like peter, so you should probably have more than enough for everyone in your group). however, it is a massive fucking headache. it is complete rng. there is a pool of possible weapons for each class (you select the character you want to make the weapon for, and the game notes the class), and then you can leave the village, walk back in, talk to the guy, find out what the rng rolled, realize its fucking dogshit, load your save (or save state), and do it again. if i remember right, the game ACTUALLY locks it in when you first confirm the smithing (so before you leave the village), so you can just save state right before you talk to him. it is a massive pain to save scum for the best shit for everyone. while the stats are great, i think the only one that TRULY matters to roll for is slade's, because it has a hidden passive of a small chance to just fucking insta-kill any non-boss enemy, which is cool as fuck. others have abilities like "use the item to cast blaze 3" and stuff. theres a mage one that regains 2mp every turn, and a healer one that heals 2hp every turn. late game, some enemies will have these items. if you use the "control enemy" cheat, you can make them drop their weapon, and it will show up in the "deals" section of shops and you can just buy it. the only ones really worth doing that for is the mage one for the mp gain. the BEST mithril weapons arent carried by any monsters.i suppose getting the knight weapon is worth it too, because its a spear and not a lance. spears are obviously better due to the range, and also has the best attack? whats not to love. so dont worry about it for a while.
>>10938465Thank you Shining Expert, you're taking all the frustration and gamefaq'in out of the experience for me and I appreciate it.
>>10938458>Kazin will peak with blaze 4 (30 damage)i thought it was like 40-50, (and freeze was 50-60) which is pretty solid. granted, yes kazin is the one to use it on, NOT tyrin. and yes, i should also mention that if you do choose to go the sorc route, its not really worth it to push for levels past 20. the "bonus stats" you earn by pushing dont mean much, and they learn new spells based on their level AFTER promotion, so you should get them learning it asap.
>>10938482So if I want spells should I wait to promote or no?
>>10938480i've played through this game way too many times, lol. glad i can be of help. i think the game is the most enjoyable when its smooth and not an exercise in frustration. i mean, some challenge can be cool and all, but it can really suck if you screw yourself over by trying to overcommit to something that isnt working and you dont like it (like trying to force kiwi to work).also:>>10938465>so you can just save state right before you talk to himso you CANT just save state right before you talk to him. missed the "T". makes it all the more frustrating that you HAVE TO loop out and back in.
>>10938482Shining Force Central says 40, RPG Classics says 30.I guess 40 is more believable though, since it fits the progression ofBlast - 30Blaze - 40Freeze - 50Bolt - 60
>>10938485if you want SORC spells, promote WITH THE BOOK as soon as you can. if you think blaze is just dandy, do what you want. honestly, give me a second to type a post about a coming critical character decision, and you can decide from there:
>tentacles still one shotting mages Fuck.>>10938501I'm going to be redoing this kraken fight a lot so take your time. How many egresses before I just cheese with peter and power ring?
>>10938514Oh so the head does move. Maybe I can kill him now.
>>10938485after a few battles, you will reach a place called "creed's mansion". once you complete this area, you are faced with a choice of taking 1 of 4 characters to join you. a knight, a mage, a priest, and a warrior. while the knight might be a decent knight, and honestly i've never bothered to try the warrior to see how he compares to jaha, the choice really boils down to whether or not you want to priest or the mage.karna the priest: she is often considered the best choice. not only is sarah a dumpy lump, karna joins at level 24 ready and raring to go. she will learn boost (increases agi/def for a few turns), and aura (aoe heal). not only are boost and aura EXTREMELY useful, but they allow her to earn a full 48exp in a turn for casting it, unlike sarah's dumpy 10 for a heal. (casting boost on a character that already has the boost buff does not refresh it, and does not grant exp though. once it wears off, you can cast it on them again)tyrin the mage: he has blaze, but he will be stuck at level 2 of it until the end of the game. HOWEVER, he has freeze, which is just plain better than blaze, and he will learn that up to freeze 4 by level 38 (or 18 after promotion), and freeze 3 and 4 have longer range. he also gets bolt, which gets a huge area for level 2+. he gets bolt 2 at 35 (or 15 after promo). he also gets bolt 3 and 4 eventually if you grind far enough after promotion (level 34 and 40 respectively). you can come back later (i forget EXACTLY how soon you can come back, but i think its pretty far) and pick up the others, and use old repeatable battles to grind them up if you wish. so if you plan to pick tyrin, promote kazin with the sorc book asap (assuming you're keeping 2 mages in the party). freeze is plenty strong, so its not really worth using it on tyrin. if you plan to take karna, you wont have the duality of mages for quite some time, so just choose whether or not you want kazin to be a sorc now, (cont)
>>10938514>>10938532Okay it wasn't so bad, I'm gonna revive Slade and call it a night.>>10938537I'll probably go with the healer but we'll see.
>>10938537(cont) whether or not you want kazin to be a sorc now, or if you dont want to think about aoe diminishing damage and just want to use blaze 4 for reliable single target damage (again, i think its 40-50ish) in the future.i just looked it up and confirmed that the spells DO deal reduced damage if they hit more targets, but i dont know the specifics of how much. i do remember that hitting a bunch of them was sometimes wimpy shit and literally worse than blaze 2. but hitting single targets can be pretty strong. also they look cool, because you summon elemental gods.
>>10938551Blaze 4 also hits only one enemy.You may as well go for 60 damage instead of 40.
>>10938545have a good night anon, im here for you in the long run.small note: the battle to the IMMEDIATE left of the town is triggered by flashing screen and lighting. even after you beat this battle, you can walk around the squares just to the northwest of town and retrigger that battle, so be careful if you're ever walking around that area again (like when you come back to the town later).
>>10938570Thanks!>>10938551>>10938561AOE has only been useful for me a few times, and I feel like a single target nuke would be better way more often. Unless the AOE gets bigger from blaze 2?
>>10938580>Unless the AOE gets bigger from blaze 2?Only Bolt gets larger area.But the MP cost goes through the roof.
>>10938580no, the sorc spells are ALL that same aoe. sounds like you should just promote him with the book when you can. desoul is dogshit rng, and muddle is OBJECTIVELY useless, so keeping kazin as a mage/wiz is kinda ass. like, you could always replace him with tyrin or chaz late game, but chaz looks like a french fag, and tyrin would require significant grinding to catch up (and both opportunities are really really late).
>>10938537something else to consider about creed's mansion is that you cant leave it once you start it. so honestly, you ought to think about whether you want to keep pushing past 20, or just start promoting everyone. keep in mind, this is like 5 battles from now, so you have time to think about it, but make a decision BEFORE you go in. 2 battles from now, you will START to see weapons that can only be equipped after promotion, so you will soon start to MAYBE feel a little bit behind. there is no shop in creed's, so if you want to promote before going in, go shopping, and then grind up a couple of levels (either repeating the desert or the place west of the elven village), and THEN go in to creed's. within creed's is one of the most memorable fights in the game for many: the chess battle. it is not a particularly easy battle, and the enemies are pretty strong. some of why the battle is memorable to many (other than being cool) is BECAUSE they found it so difficult. if you happen to start it, struggle with it, and then go "fuck, i should have promoted" its not exactly easy to grind for experience (the battle right after it is though), and you wont be able to go shopping for those fancy new weapons either. also, if you happen to have stored any of those promotion items (like the warrior pride) in the caravan (you'll find out what that even is soon) you cant even pull it out to use it in there. so just get a feel for the difficulty and decide if you're ok with it being a little tough and struggling through, or if you want to just promote now (before going in, and then grind just a few levels) and keep an even keel.
also after creed's, the game pretty much stops throwing new gimmicks at you, and other than exploring for treasure chests, theres no real major decision making like that anymore. everything is pretty straightforward in what to do.
>>10938604I haven't ever used his other two spells, I don't know what they do and I'd rather just set someone on fire. Kaz is actually useful, I'll give him the book.>>10938628I can save state but who can I even promote by then?
>>10938639>who can I even promote by then?its 5 battles from now, so probably everybody. im not certain of the specifics, but i think you can be about 24ish(?) before you enter if you choose to grind a bit. you'll certainly be 20.
>>10938661Oh wait do only certain promotions require an item?
>>10938663yes. as i detailed here: >>10938442theres only 6 special promotion items to be found in the game, and it only affects 5 classes. later on, new force members will join you already promoted, and some will join AS those special classes. all that matters is being level 20 or not. and like i said, whether or not you want to squeeze some extra stats by pushing past 20 or not.
>>10938673Alright now I get the distinction. In that case I'm likely to try to go as long as possible without promoting. I don't think grinding is going to be super tedious in SF2.
>>10938680over all, the game is relatively easy. its designed and balanced around promoting at 20 (and buying the new weapons and stuff). pushing past 20 does make it more challenging, but also makes it easier after promoting, due to those extra levels basically counting as bonus stats. by the time you catch up. because you can push past 20, the characters that join you not promoted already are generally considered better/stronger/more-worthwhile than the ones that join you already promoted.as long as you pick the convenient battles to grind (actually engaging the enemy within a turn or so, instead of spending 3 whole turns just crossing a field to meet them, and having the enemies pretty grouped up), its not TOO tedious, but depending on HOW MANY times you repeat the SAME battle... it can get a little dull. like, technically, you could grind karna to level 40, promote her, and then grind to level 99, just by repeating the desert battle and having her cast spells. you COULD do that, or you might go insane first. sure, you would have an unstoppable death machine that can one-shot most of the bosses, but was it ACTUALLY fun to get there? im just trying to be real and lay out the options/expectations so you can choose the best way to enjoy the game for yourself.
>>10938442>all of them are the 5 target cross>completely up to you if that sounds cool or notIt's harder to hit more than two enemies as a wizard without lightning than to hit one enemy as a sorcerer.>>10938680Your capacity to get decent exp starts to die the closer you get to 30, it's a decent buff still, but you don't really want to advance many shop upgrades without promotion weapons once you're done with Creed unless it's for just your pegasus knight because it gets very annoying.
This is the fight to repeat, and look, a triple hit.
>>10940378make it to the next fight yet? i hope your hero is leveled up as much as he can be.
>>10941393I stopped for dinner but he's 21 and I'm trying just get everyone useful to 20.
>>10925110Is Shining Force CD worth playing? I think someone told me it's extremely hard
>>10941412S'pretty good yeah.
Genesis soundfont sounds like literal farts so go with the GBA version
>>10941412SFCD is not hard at all.
>>10941447The yamaha fartchip is a highly respected soundfont.
>>10941412Sure. Book 1 goes a bit too hard to force the connection with SF1, but Book 2 is honestly pretty interesting on its own.Too bad Final Conflict never got a CD treatment, considering it's the most interesting and the most important one of the bunch. Unless you'd count a Japanese-only mobile port, that also got an Android version.
>>10941447Your face is literal farts.
>>10941625Do not engage in a conversation with a retard that thinks that FM chip got a soundfont.
HORSE
>>10943473May does nice damage but shes squishy
>>10941447>soundfont
>>10943693Nice for an archer. It's still below average.I wish there was a bigger motivation to use archers other than a slightly longer range in SF.Meanwhile in Langrisser and Fire Emblem archers can safely attack without being countered, and they destroy flying units.
>>10943807Eh, I like that I have to keep them nearby, and May in particular is good for cleaning up if there are two separate groups of heros. Unless you're in sand, holy shit the horses can't move.
>>10943693Enemies aren't supposed to get to her. I know, it's tempting to bring her forward with her movement, but try to not overextend your troops. She'll get even more useful after getting her first promotion weapon.>>10943807Slightly longer range is all you need in SF, since it makes positioning WAY easier and allows earlier engagement, as well as invalidates certain terrain obstacles. That's why I always keep a spear-type weapon in the inventory of Knights that I use, even after buying a more powerful lance.As someone who usually goes for runs with delayed promotions I always use every Archer available, at least in SF1, SFCD and SFGFC. I must admit, I experimented with SF2 way less, due to the length of the ordeal and an alt promotion path available.That said, I always bring May at least, but even Rohde gets some usage, despite coming pre-promoted and needing a mobility boost.
>>10943986I just used my mobility tomato on the protag, but it's pretty funny on him.
>>10924389The answer is always ORIGINAL.
>>10943986Isn't Rohde the hands down worst long ranged unit in the game?I wouldn't go that far to say he's useful.His movement however should be ok as it is, since archers don't take movement penalties from forest, and I'm pretty sure both promotions keep this aspect.
>>10944258at the point in the game that you get him, you can use him for a few battles to greater effect than the character you kicked out. rick makes the 12th party member. upon getting elric, you can kick out kiwi or luke. assuming one takes karna, you would kick out sarah. next you would get janet, and then rohde. regardless of which of those two you take, you could kick out the other useless lump of kiwi/luke. you COULD theoretically use him for a few battles until you get taya/frayja/sheela/zynk or go back for tyrin, but i suppose that you could also just use janet instead. kind of depends on if you like brass gunners or not. personally, i've never used him. he always struck me as dumpy.
>>10944258>Isn't Rohde the hands down worst long ranged unit in the game?Mainly by the virtue of being pre-promoted, yes, but he can be used still. Like, he's easily better than any non-caster that joins after Janet and he doesn't need to play catch-up with the levels, and if you promote early, he should be better than whoever is left as a Sniper. If you give him some mobility aid that is.>His movement however should be ok as it is, since archers don't take movement penalties from forest, and I'm pretty sure both promotions keep this aspect.Brass Gunners get -1 to movement IIRC, so it's shit despite that. The attack boost makes it worth it though.
>>10944372>he's easily better than any non-caster that joins after Janetnot that i've ever used rohde, but lemon certainly does fine, and i've used zynk to solid success. i think i even did claude once, and he did fine. higins, skreech, and jaro are pretty dumb though. never used gyan, but i assume he's just as mediocre.
>>10944000ha ha, this makes me cringe a bit. like, theres nothing wrong with that, but good mobility is SO important, and some characters are just genuinely lacking in it, so it would have been better to use it on them. however, that does kind of depend on whether you would have even USED one of them or not. interesting thing to note though, im pretty sure that the bonus movement ignores land effect, so you could have used it to help somebody like may ensure that she can always get into a proper position. also there is 1 more to be found later in the game, and also a ring can be equipped for the same effect.also i just looked up the item to remember if it gave 1 or 2 mov (its 2), and it says that if you use it before promotion, the effect gets lost on promotion. so... yikes...
>>10944463That stinks. Oh well.
>>10944448>but lemon certainly does fineAh, yeah. He's alright, if you want to change party members that late, there's just 0 reason to pick him.>and i've used zynk to solid success. i think i even did claude once, and he did fine.Both of them got reduced movement and require a bit of catering, especially Claude.All of them suffer from joining too late.
>>10944551>Both of them got reduced movementrunning pimento and/or ring>require a bit of cateringif you're pushing to 40, the main team will be getting promoted and playing catch up at the same time though. at least they require less catering and catch up than the later characters in sf1.
>>10944551My rule of thumb is that close ranged characters should have 6 mov, while long ranged (including mages) are ok with 5.So the running ring seems like a perfect fit to fix either Zynk or Claude, if their stats are relevant.As for the two running pimentos, I always give one to Gerhalt. Not sure who makes the best use of the other one.
>>10943986I'll be damned, I ain't got that one. Saved.
>>10944924One of big reasons I'm against the remake is devs randomly making Tao an orphan.Not that I don't enjoy it as a standalone thing.
>>10944930I just figured she was orphaned while Diane had already moved to Bustoke or something. She's much older, so all this shit could've happened while she was doing her Robin Hood impression.Complete ass that there's no fucking interaction between the two in either the OG or ROTDD. Just a few lines in artbooks going, "Yeah they're sisters lol"
>>10944943Diane lives with her mom, doesn't she?
>>10944950That... huh.I can't remember if that's a translation thing or not. I'm gonna have to do some research.
>>10944953Age difference makes it funny, Diane being a NEET living at parents house, while a sister half her age is a self-taught mage that works as a maid for royal family.
>>10945073In fairness, she's explicitly Zylo's lieutenant in the books. The two of them were running a guerilla war against the Runefaust Pegasus Corps before you show up and managed to rack up 103 kills IIRC.I mean you'd think that would mean they'd be a bit higher level, but lore/game disconnect, ya know?
>>10945073
>>10945145>What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Elf Village, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Runefaust Pegasus Corps, and I have over 100 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top archer in the entire Zylo's resistance. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before in Rune, mark my fucking words.
Okay I've got everyone to 20 but slade, kiwi, and sarah and have completed the desert now I'm about to fight this megatron guy guarding the caravan.
>>10946442good luck! only the hero (wielding the achilles sword) can hurt him.no stress at the moment, but dont let slade fall behind. he becomes absolutely S-tier after promotion, so be sure that he's keeping up with the rest.
>>10946473It wasn't too bad. Taros killed kiwi but no one else and hero gained level 23. Slade is 16 but gaining fast.
>>10946507oh shit, i figured you had him like 18 or 19. CATCH HIM UP! try to let him get more finishing blows.in the elven forest village you can find the secret book and promote kazin. there is also a vigor ball in a chest along one of the secret paths (along with other chests and goodies).
>>10946507oh!, dont forget to stop back at hassan and pick up rick, another centaur.
>>10925274>is there a fan translation?You could learn Japanese in the time it's taken and will take them to finish the translation patch for 3. It's still not done.
>>10946560>>10946550I grabbed Rick but kiwi died again and now he's unavailable for this fight at the pond. Slade is 17 and I try to give him every last hit I can.>>10946567I downloaded them all from cdromance last year though?
>>10946473>he becomes absolutely S-tier after promotionHonestly Slade stands out better before promoting than after.Before promoting he will every so often gain 2 ATT when leveling up, whereas everyone else is only gaining 1 ATT, allowing Slade to catch up and even surpass the rest of the force.After promotion he starts consistently gaining 2 ATT at every level up, but so does everyone else, so Slade will only maintain his advantage rather than expand it.He's still top 5, I just think it's an odd change of pace.
>>10946859Yeah his +2atk every level plus the power ring have him doing really good damage for his level even though he's behind.
>>10946442I'm going to jump in and add don't neglect Kiwi. He's kind of a pain to level because he's so slow, but after upgrade is so awesome and a real tank.
>>10947516He's level 12 and does 1 dmg so it's really difficult to give him kills since he has 8hp and low move speed.
>>10946614I find a lot of the success in Shining Force relies on managing who attacks who and keeping everyone at close to the same level.
>>10947529He won't get any stronger after promotion.When promoted he does get a chance of triggering a special attack that does a lot of damage, but it's like once every 5~8 attacks or so.At the end of the day Kiwi is just a damage sponge that only serves the purpose of baiting the opponent if you're turtling.
>>10947617Yeah, he's worth it if you can level him. It's tough to turn around if they're too under leveled but possible. Spend a battle using him to fight as much as possible even if most of your team just sits around and use it as a way to level yoir healers. Or alternatively just ignore him, the game is easy anyway and gives you plenty of character options. I just think the giant war turtle tank is cool.
>>10946859he gets a movement of 7 that isnt impeded by forests (or mountains too? i forget), and he gets spells (if necessary), and he can get the gisarme. i dont know about the "2atk" thing, but he's always been an absolute MONSTER, that ends up obliterating things, second only to peter (or a farmed healer) in my games.
>>10947516when i was a kid, i thought that kiwi was the fucking coolest, but i also autistically grinded a LOT and kind of memoryholed just how much time i spent catering to him. in future playthroughs, i found it incredibly difficult for kiwi to keep up, even WITH the power ring. and then, like i stated way earlier above, kiwi never really gets enough health to not be utterly destroyed by magic. he's really not that good. and even if you farm him up, eventually there is a point where his regular attack does more than the fire breath, so its actually a detriment for it to proc. he's just not worth it, even though his character/concept is so fucking cool.
>>10946385I am fucking ashamed I never thought to do this myself. Excellent job, sir.
>>10947860It's just the first thing I thought about seeing "guerilla", "Corps" and "103 kills" together.
>>10947618Honestly he was doing just fine in that role before he fell out of what I'll call the XP cascade. I'd love to get him back into shape but obviously opportunities for 1hp snipes that I can't give to Slade are limited.>>10947625He and sarah will probably get dumped. Maybe my second playthrough in 2034 when I'm 44 I will do better, please remind me then.>>10947792I can see that but also I almost never get hit by magic, at least so far.>>10947896>>10947860>>10946385cute, but not gay, well done
>>10947919>I almost never get hit by magic, at least so far.it gets to be way more common, on top of some enemies (like hell hounds) having magical breath attacks on occasion.
>itching to play SF1 again>suddenly realise that I already beaten it just one and a half years ago>it was a required characters only run at that, so Adam was in and was 20/20'dI'll probably stick to CD or 2 this time...I never give the former enough love or stick to to the end with the latter.
elric may be cool, but how can you resist somebody this cute?
>>10947792Modder/Hacker here. It's generally accepted by the ROMhacking community nowadays, that Kiwi's abilities are bugged in how they are coded. His resistances in vanilla resist status ailments, when they should have heavy resistances to elemental magic instead. Also, his Breath Weapon has 4 levels that you "gain" though nothing in-game tells you this. You just have to notice that your Breath Weapon is suddenly doing more damage. However, it was coded mist kingly as well. He should learn his Breath Weapon levels 20 levels earlier than her does. Kiwi learns lvl2 @ 32, lvl3 @ 40, and lvl4 @ 50 in vanilla. If you're lucky, you might see lvl2 Flame breath in a vanilla run. It's a shame because Kiwi's Flame Breath at lvl4 does ~60ish damage. Having a usable spell progression combined with proper magic resistances makes Kiwi, almost, viable. He probably still should have far higher DEF to make up for his lack of HP. These bugs in Kiwi's code are "corrected" in most modern ROMhacks.
>>10949879Unfortunately nobody has bothered hacking the sega mini so I'm stuck with what's on there. Kiwi sucks, very sad.
>>10949879>mist kingly"mistakenly" wtf?
>>10949879SF2 is a bugfest in general. With only one working higher difficulty mode and inability to open chests in battle.
>>10949879yeah, even reaching 32 is kinda wild. if everything was 20ish levels earlier, that would actually be amazing. >His resistances in vanilla resist status ailmentsi never knew anything like that. status ailments are extremely rare (and largely useless) anyway. >when they should have heavy resistances to elemental magic insteadehhhhh, i mean, he would probably be able to actually survive, but then he might fall a little too close to "too good", wouldnt he? although i will admit, i dont know how well his physical defense stacks up in late game, and if he can still properly tank hits in vanilla. i suppose it also depends on just how much he reduces the magic damage. i dunno. i've always just had a distaste for mods and romhacks too.
>>10950147>inability to open chests in battle.this one doesnt really matter for sf2 though. i can only think of 1 chest that you cant otherwise get (prism flower fight, and i think it just has some normal sword in it). it mattered more in sf1 with anri's secret outfit (and to a lesser extent, the other secret items that dont do anything), and a few battles where the chapter ends and you dont get a chance to walk around afterwards. difficulty modes being bugged irks me too though.
>>10950167Search in battle irks me because it works just fine in the Japanese version.At least we got an extra Vigor Ball out of it.
Was there an explanation I missed for why Mayfair gets her sight back between books 1 and 2 of CD?
>>10950147>>10950167>>10950327>opening chests during battlei thought they removed this from the USA release because they couldn't fit it on the cartridge
her rosy cheeks make it for me.
>>10951858She's a lush, constantly drinking and firing off her bow.
Holy crap these Harpies hit like a truck and poison. Jeeze. Well after a couple of tries I beat them and saved the drowning elf with only May and Jaha dying. Kiwi dead from last fight. Slade and Sarah leveled so that's nice.
>>10952087Oh kaz got sniped at the end too lol.
>>10952087well go rez them. you have to step on the harpy spring spot again in order to open the cave through the mountains. there is a secret tunnel within the cave passage that has a couple of items too. i would recommend swapping out kiwi and putting elric in (you use the caravan to do this).
>>10952328How do I use the caravan?
>>10952517Oh it's just next to the priest. Well it's nice to deposit mythril and vigor balls. I put kiwi in storage too. Slade is 21 and Sarah 14 but doing a bit better for now. I forgot to find the secret cave passage so I need to go back through there.
What a pain in the ass. I ended up baiting the king into a group and then whiddled him down, but holy shit those evil bishops healing him back to full every round was obnoxious.
>>10952559>and Sarah 14Wtf, how?Usually, that's the level she gets around battle in Polka.
>>10952968Dead or out of mana.
>>10952992Man, those early battles on Grans must've been a disaster for you. She usually outpaces everyone with half the kills by that time.
>>10953035She has not very many
>>10953051That's the point, she doesn't need that much. It's all about effectiveness of milking the EXP, while not dying.Letting someone tank damage to heal for more EXP is very good early game as long as you're not letting them to kill a character in one turn.You're way past that though.
>>10953087Yeah there was a learning curve. I'll use the fight I can redo after the chess match to get her up to snuff.
>>10952517you just walk into it on the overworld.>>10952692yeah the chess battle is pretty tough.>>10953035while you can stifle the gimped experience gain she has by feeding her some of the early kills, it just seems dumb to put your fighters behind at all for her sake, because she's just such a bad healer. she's just not WORTH catering to, because every other healer does what she can do AND MORE, while using that "and more" to have a higher experience gain rate so that they DONT fall behind like she does. they dont NEED to take kills form fighters in order to keep up.
>>10953095>I'll use the fight I can redo after the chess match to get her up to snuff.the fight with the rats is pretty ideal to repeat since the enemies are so close to you.
>>10953175>put your fighters behind at all for her sakeThis is Shining Force 2. If you kill an enemy at 99 exp you are at the next level with 47 exp, and at the beginning the fighters will be overworked enough that she should had been hitting things. Add herbs for her to use and she should have got proper level ups with the fights.Even on a no egress run you can have her properly leveled.>>10953095It's very clear that it's your first run and you have made the same mistake with Sarah that many people does with her in their first run. The next healer is really close and will come with higher level, so I wouldn't dedicate her any more of your time, specially when you are about to get the best healer of the game because she has aura and boost.
>>10953175>while you can stifle the gimped experience gain she has by feeding her some of the early kills, Define feeding. All of the 10 kills that happened weren't exactly fed to her and in best case scenario would give her a bit less than five levels. If anything, I was feeding Slade in that run. And Jaha raked a ton of kills too.I never Egress'ed or let Bowie die either. So there's unaccounted 805 exp she got by Polka just by healing and bonking monsters. Just get better at managing your experience gain.>it just seems dumb to put your fighters behind at all for her sake, I mean, you can go extreme route of killing off everyone and doing the Bowie solo run, if that's your problem.Though soon enough the benifit would die out from overleveling (which makes being underleveled more lucrative if anything). Well, the game is easy enough either way.>because she's just such a bad healer. she's just not WORTH catering to, The thing is, you don't have to cater to her. Just use her as any fighter unit unless someone needs to be healed and don't leave her with unused MP.>because every other healer does what she can do AND MORE, while using that "and more" to have a higher experience gain rate so that they DONT fall behind like she does. they dont NEED to take kills form fighters in order to keep up.Only if you're not picking up Karna later on, which heavily limits your choice.Either way, everyone but Frayja would be a fighter too after you'd promote them to be a MMNK, so there goes that dillema.
>>10953661>everyone but Frayja would be a fighter toofrayja has a higher experience gain rate than her, so he can easily out level her. also having aura is objectively better than heal (and he learns attack). i think attack can even be cast on the self, unlike the power ring, but my memory might be a bit fuzzy on that. sheela also gets boost, which allows her experience rate to be far greater than sarah's while providing more for the team. karna obviously gets both and is the best choice.sarah has... heal. whoopdy doo. her ability to do damage falls off dramatically right around or after polca. blast is a cheap bandaid. even if you skip karna, its generally better to just have everyone carry a healing seed/drop to use as needed, because basic heal starts to not top people off or heal enough, on top of being single target and not leaving others craving heals. you can drop her from the party for rohde/janet/higins (until you find and get a better or more permanent member) and get more combat effectiveness out of the deal. at the end of the day, if your healer is getting kills, you're doing something wrong. a fighter is getting passed over for exp, and probably a damaged fighter is staying damaged. fundamentally, its just retarded. OBJECTIVELY she's the worst healer, and just not worth catering to. even if you wanted to treat her as a fighter, theres no fucking point, because there are plenty of other, better fighters that DONT take such difficult catering.
>>10953737I think you are too focused in healing with Sarah, her best (and exclusive) spell is slow so the fighters can one shot enemies.And with how exp works in this game, the only way to waste exp is to give too much kills to someone, not to give a few to the healer.If you have Sarah at level 20 by the time you can pick Karna the only reason to drop her is what you want the party to be.
>>10953737>frayjaDoesn't need levels after getting all the basic spells anyway.>sheelaComes gimped by pre-promotion as a fighter and requires powerleveling (even if that comes easy enough to her as a caster).>karnaObjectively the best, but also the best candidate to leave until the return to Grans. Doesn't matter at all in the Western version, as there are two Vigor Balls.>sarah has... heal. whoopdy doo. her ability to do damage falls off dramatically right around or after polca. blast is a cheap bandaid.The real cheap band-aid is Power Ring, but ideally, you wouldn't use it at all, as the less damage you make, the more exp you get out of one enemy.Either way, Heal is more than enough to stay relevant until promotion as long as you Heal units that are severely damaged. >its generally better to just have everyone carry a healing seed/dropThat's too much micro management and only needed in challenge runs.
>>10953770>frayja>Doesn't need levelsnot an argument. he is objectively a better asset to the team>sheela>Comes gimped by pre-promotionnot an argument unless you're pushing for 40 and then autistically grinding to 30+ post promotion>requires powerlevelingno she doesnt, and its also laughable that you would say that after trying to argue that frayja doesnt need levels after learning his spells. sheela is basically a boost bot with the occasional heal, and you can use her to attack IF you like.>Heal is more than enough to stay relevant10 exp per turn is not enough. i forget exactly when it happens, but you stop getting extra experience for actually healing damage. also, she has a puny mana pool to begin with, so even at the point where you can cast it EVERY turn, most fighters are getting more than that per battle. >That's too much micro managementits some simple item management to just make sure that everyone is carrying at least 1 healing item, if not 2. and its not "micromanagement" in a fight to use somebody to heal another, or to pull a unit back and heal itself. it is significantly more micromanagement to save kills for sarah and have her NOT heal somebody that turn and withholding from your fighters. >her best (and exclusive) spell is slow so the fighters can one shot enemies.i will admit i havent even tried to use it in so long, that i am unsure of its actual properties. however, i was under the impression that it either had a chance to miss, or didnt affect certain enemies, so i stopped ever trying to use it (on top of melee range for level 1. lol what a joke). im not even sure how much exp she might get for successfully landing it. and while tactically that might be cool (especially if it can work on bosses), the healer's turn should be spent HEALING or supporting the team (like with boost, which lasts for multiple turns), not setting up a single monster to die. if i was setting up a single monster to die, i would use a fighter to deal (cont)
>>10953770>>10953889(cont) i would use a fighter to deal part/most of it's health in damage. and it sure is interesting that you praise the notion of one-shotting, while immediately after saying "ideally, you wouldn't use it at all, as the less damage you make, the more exp you get out of one enemy.". you're all over the place, because you're too busy just sucking off sarah for waifu's sake, instead of actually looking at her objectively and critically. you're so oblivious and disingenuous with how much work and catering you give her to make her work, while also willfully ignoring how much more efficient all of the other healers are.
>>10952692When I replay this game I always try and do a run where I defeat all the pieces/enemies in this battle but the King ends up attacking the party members and I have to kill him.anyone here managed to do this? I think If I keep my distance I might be able to not trigger his AI or something like that.
>>10953896i dont know about the left side, but i know that you can send fliers (peter, luke, and promoted kiwi) off board to the right and attack some of the back corner units without too many enemies engaging or anyone charging down field. i know that enemy engagement is mostly position based (like, "if you step on/past this square, you trigger the enemy ai to engage you"), so you can trial and error to figure out how things engage. some of the engagement for this fight might be what pieces are left, but im not sure. i dont think i've ever killed the king last, because i think there was still some of the left side of the board alive (knight/rook/pawns) every time. if you're super patient, enough enemies might come to you, but im pretty sure that you will need healing items to endure the necessary hits to pull back and not press forward too much.
>>10953909that seems to be the only way, just progress very slowly.
>>10953894>and it sure is interesting that you praise the notion of one-shotting,I don't. Guy who wrote about Slow is someone else.SF2 is too UNGA BUNGA to use any auxiliary spells at all, which is why I never use stuff like Attack and Boost as well.Hell, I'd call Aura an unwieldy addition outside of Aura 4, which is a winmore spell by the time you get it.Only reason I bother with Sarah (and even Karna) in normal playthroughs is because leveling them is easy enough and Master Monks are strong.
>>10953921>I'd call Aura an unwieldy addition outside of Aura 4it has longer range at level 2+, and is aoe. by being aoe, not only do you hit more targets (and get more exp per target, healed or not), but you can target an ally adjacent (or generally near, if using level 2 or 3) to the character in need and be able to heal them if they would otherwise be out of range. it is far easier to use and you get significantly more benefit out of it.you out yourself as being retarded. and also the fact that you're babying your waifus (which everyone ignores that master monks are just stealing/recoloring sheela's battle sprite).
>>10953931>you're babying your waifusI'm not into elv*s, thank you very much.If I was, I'd be out there suffering trying to make Taya work.Thankfully, I only have to deal with movement hit in the forests.
>>10953931But speaking about Aura being aoe, it almost always feels like an overkill to use it, so I usually opt for higher levels of Heal.
>>10950153>i dont know how well his physical defense stacks up in late game, and if he can still properly tank hits in vanilla. i suppose it also depends on just how much he reduces the magic damage. Kiwi should have 50% reduction to all elemental damage, which is huge. His DEF doesn't keep up by the late game, so you would still have to give him all your Cheerful Breads and Protect Milks, and maybe a good ring to equip to, but still, It's great to see Kiwi thrive.>i've always just had a distaste for mods and romhacks too.As a member of the SF2 Rom hacking community, I can tell you that many mods are unbalanced gobbledygook, but some are fantastic. I'm in a group working on a "New Vanilla Standard" where the only purpose of the Romhack is to JUST fix all the bugs, typos, and errors.
>>10950429True. Both English and Japanese scripts appear in the SF2 USA code.
>>10953758>her best (and exclusive) spell is slow so the fighters can one shot enemies.This. Slow is OP.
>>10953896>>10953909>>10953914I actually only egressed once from the chess board but I replayed the 1st attempt several times with save states, eventually just pushing the force all the way to the left, getting the rook to come out, then the King and a half dozen pawns and a bishop and knight joined the fray. Anyway, I don't think it's possible to divide and conquer unless you want to cheese with peter and luke.SPEAKING OF LUKE why is his damage so shitty? He's level 23 same as everyone else but Bowie and he's only hitting stuff on the chessboard for 5 damage.
>>10954036I need to look up what quick ring and the stirrups do. A fixed vanilla sounds pretty cool, I'm always impressed by how active the shining community is whenever I'm playing one.
>>10954180Birdmen are usually useless in a crude attemt to balance them.Which doesn't matter, because there are usually some flying units without this bullshit attached.
>>10954235but the harpies are allowed to hit for a million damage and poison my dudes
>>10954180The Chess Battle as unique hard-coded routines unique to all other battles. If you sit and do not move past halfway up the chessboard, after a long while, the Chess Army will send down small groups of 2 or 3. You pick off each group until you left with the King and the Queens and Bishops.
>>10954260I actually assumed something like that but my patience ran out lol so I just threw Rick out front.
>>10954180>>10954235>SPEAKING OF LUKE why is his damage so shitty?i dont know. i've never bothered trying to force him, because he just cannot hang with the crew. skreech is ok later on, but only ok. in sf1, i think the biggest thing holding the birds back was an unfortunate pacing with sword weapons, and that if you just muscle through and feed them the 1hp kills to get through the rough part, that they actually become a decent unit. its been far too long since i've tried it though. it just never really seems worth it to me.
>>10924389shining force 2 is better
>>10954180>SPEAKING OF LUKE why is his damage so shitty?Luke can become decent, but you got to baby him a bit. Try equipping him with your best sword, instead of giving your best sword to Bowie. Also, you should have both the Power RIng, which casts Attack, and the Shield Ring, Which casts Boost. Those will help Luke in battles.
>>10955738I have power ring on Slade. Where do I get protect ring? Also what does boost do I just got the sarah replacement.
>>10955761Boost buffs agility and defence and is great for powerleveling Karna super fast, hitting multiple allies with it gives a ton of experience
>>10955761You can keep the Power Ring on Slade, but keep him within proximity to Luke. Have Slade use the Power Ring to cast Attack on Luke. That will give a bigger boost to ATT than equipping it.>Where do I get protect ring? The Protect Ring drops from a Dark Madam, in the desert battle outside of Creed's Mansion, the battle before you enter and fight the Chess Battle. Some enemies will have items they drop that you can receive. If the player who kills an enemy with a potential item-drop has an open inventory slot, then that character will receive the item. If that character's inventory is full, then the droppable item will go to the 'Deals' section at any merchant in any town, which you can purchase. Indeed, the Deals section will often times have lots of interesting stuff to buy if you missed them. You can even get the rare Goddess Staff early, due to a bug in programming through the Deals section.>what does boost doBoost temporarily increases DEF and AGI by about 40% with deprecating returns over the course of 4 turns. It may be the best, certainly the most abusable spell in the game. Karna is one of the most broken characters because of this because you can cast Boost every turn 2 MP and gain a lot of EXP by doing so. She can climb ahead in levels faster than almost everyone. Not suggesting you should exploit that, but feel free if you like.
>>10955952>use the Power Ring to cast AttackI was not aware I could do that.>DealsOh okay>Boost every turn 2 MP and gain a lot of EXP Also good advice thanks.
I missed a few things.
>>10956149Goddess Staff is from a bug and can't be used before promotion.It gives a hefty attack boost right away though, so there's a strategy around that. I wouldn't recommend it for you though.
>>10956149>>10956174I used to use the Goddess Staff bug all the time. It casts Aura 2 which is spectacular by that point in the game. Promoting Sarah to VICR and giving here the Goddess Staff early puts her in contention for the best healer in the game. Indeed, you can get the Goddess Staff as early as the Bedoe battle with the Zombies. All you have to do is have the Quick Ring in your inventory during the battle, discard it, Egress, then go to the Deals section, and you will find the Quick Ring alongside a copy of the Goddess Staff. It's a bit of a challenge to get Sarah to VICR by that battle, but if anyone can do it, Sarah can. VICR Sarah with Goddess Staff and Protect Ring is my ideal setup.
>>10955738thats a lot of babying and micro-managing for him though. there are other characters that stand out better than him with far less effort.
>>10956212Also, the next chance you get to use the Goddess Staff would be Frayja, who is outstanding on his own. You do have to coddle him a bit at first, but giving him the Goddess staff is perfect since he doesn't join the party with Aura already learned, and Aura is the spell he uses the most.That's only, of course, if you choose to exploit the Goddess-Staff-Early bug. Normally, you couldn't get it until the Dwarven Blacksmith as a Mithril Weapon.
>>10956226Oh, totally. Some people really like the Birdmen, though.
>>10956232he joins you as level 13 and learns aura1 at 14, so you only need to grant him 1 level before he just does what he does. you can either feed him some monster exp, sit through 10 heals, or use a brave apple off the bat.
>>10956226>>10956237One thing I really like about late-game Birdmen is that they can equip the Dark Sword, which can cast Desoul. Being able to eliminate a monster every round is huge, especially on a flier with, say, the Mobility Ring. You can do cheeky strats like fly around and flank the enemy leader with a Desoul to end the battle.
>>10956212She's 15 and has just been replaced, no big loss though. I'm getting close to 30 doing the battle with the lesser demons and demon snipers, and thinking about promoting when I do.
>>10956248cheap and gay. also cucks the rest of your team out of exp.
>>10956249if you want a pegasus knight (flying centaur), just wait a little longer until you reach a centaur town called "pacalon". the pegasus wing is in the castle there. and if you want jaha to be a bit better, make sure you have the warrior pride from new-grans.
>>10956247You are absolutely correct, sir. You also get him at the Moun battle, where there is a big difficulty spike. Some first time players will see that he forces himself into your party after he joins, potentially auto-dismissing one of your best members, Egressing, and noticing he only comes with Heal 2 and Detox2, and benching him indefinitely because Karna already has Heal3, Aura2, and Boost 2 by that point. Brave Apple is the best option if you want to stick with him, as he will have a tougher time gaining the 1 level with just Heal2, and Healing Drops, in such a hard battle. Not impossible, of course, but could be frustrating for 1st time players.
>>10956249Oh, you're delaying promotion? Interesting. Not completely necessary, but cool.
>>10956254>Muh expYou're one of those folks that grinds Karna to lvl 99 aren't you?
>>10956269Nothing has been too difficult but I've definitely noticed damage fall off from a lot of characters. Peter and Slade are still tearing shit up though, and Karna's level 3 heal is working out at least in this first battle with her.>>10956265I'm in new grans right now where do I get warrior pride?
>>10956249how the FUCK are you pushing 30 that early?if you just got karna, she joins at 24. and the battle i think you're describing is just before the next cave fight. that would be 9-12 fights before the spot that i remember hitting 40 at (i think 9 was too soon. i vaguely remember some hitting 40 at 10th, the battle with cameela, the 11th battle is a long walk so its stupid, and i remember everyone finishing up 40 by the 12th, the prism flowers). i dont think the monsters only allow for 1 level increase per fight. something sounds off to me.
>>10956286in the headquarters where the troops are lines up. search the shield emblem on the wall.
>>10956286>I'm in new grans right now where do I get warrior pride?Right here. Sear the Shield at the north part of the map at Shining Force HQ in New Granseal Castle.
>>10956290I did a little egress grinding to 20 before the chess fight and nothing since.>>10956291>>10956293Oh okay. Very classic jrpg item placement.
>>10956296Right around the fight you're at is usually when I choose to promote if I delay. You get diminishing exp returns, thereafter.
>>10956305Does bowie have a special promo like jaha?
>>10956309Nope! That would be super cool, though.
>>10956305>You get diminishing exp returns, thereafter.the fuck are you talking about?
>>10956320Once you promote, you get 48-50 exp per kill around that battle since you are level "1" and all the monsters in that battle are at a much higher level, which is the determining variable for how exp is calculated. If you delay very much past the New Parmecia battles, you won't get nearly that much exp per kill.>tldrYou have to work much harder with worse weapons to get less exp.
>>10956323>NewNorth*
>>10956323I said near 30, I meant 27 on bowie and jaha who now are getting less than full xp in this fight (which I'm using to grind)
>>10956323>If you delay very much past the New Parmecia battles, you won't get nearly that much exp per kill.are... are you retarded?every monster grants full experience up to a certain player level, and then it starts not granting as much. if these monsters are hypothetically "level 26" then you can each 26 just fine, and then they start granting less for a kill (like 20), so when you're 27, they only grant like 1-5 for a kill. then you need to progress until you find new monsters that count as a higher "level". there is nothing about north parmecia that is "diminishing returns". the problem is that the next 5 battles generally use a lot of the same monsters, so you dont GET to encounter the stronger monsters for the most part.also, if you promote now and the monsters count as "26" (again, hypothetically), then you can only grind up to level 6-7ish. you just drop the 20 from the calculation. theres no real difference whether you're promoted or not. you are absolutely talking out of your ass.
>>10956335Grinding is cool if you like to do it! I don't like grinding so much, so I usually promote around where you are.
>>10956323>>10956336see?
>>10956336A level 30 Bowie killing a Hunter goblin will give you very little exp. A freshly promoted HERO Bowie killing the same Hunter Goblin will give you 49. If you want to grind unpromoted all the way to Cameela, that's fine. I've done unpromoted runs all the way to Red Barron. It's just a personal preference.
>>10956348by your logic, the entire GAME has diminishing returns you fucking clod. north parmecia isnt particularly special, its just that the first few fights dont get many new monsters to really OFFER progression, but then once you get into tristan things progress just fine.
>>10956335considering what you'll be facing, its probably better to stop grinding and just progress forward. as long as you spread the kills around to the ones that arent 27ish yet, you'll be fine and everyone should catch up.
Finally played through SFCD. Enjoyed it all until I got to book 4 and found out it's just a boss rush where I'm forced to use jobbers I haven't had in my party since book 1. Not even gonna attempt that shit. Would've been a cool fight if I got to use characters I actually liked.
>>10956353Your're kinda making my point for me. You have to fight 5 hard battles after Willard before Tristan. Rats are level 22 and Bubbling Oozes are level 21. By the time you get to Tristan the highest level monster you fight is the Dark Knight who is level 27. So you could get there through all those hard battles, with weapons you bought from Hassan, and get 49 exp from fighting those as level 27 unpromoted, or you promote and get all the good weapons from Granseal, Ruto, Parmecia, and Tristan, and get even more levels, that give better stats per level. I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying it's more trouble than what it's worth. Most people just promote at level 20 at Hassan, or after Taros.
>>10956378Still gotta play though this one day.
>>10956347nta but that fight on the left WAS what I was grinding until I cast Bolt and was left with 7mp and Bowie couldn't cast egress>>10956339Nothing has been too tough so far so I'll just keep going!>>10956386>>10956353I'll promote soon, I think, probably at 30ish.>>10956372Yeah that's becoming apparent.
>>10956386>5 hard battlesnone of them are hard at all. the worms on the bridge can be a bit tough maybe, and the fights IN tristan are kinda tough, but so what? deciding on whether or not to promote has nothing to do with "diminishing returns" on experience, and everything to do with the game expecting you to have promoted and equipped the best weapons so far, so enemy stats are bloated to reflect that, so whether or not you want to struggle to push or not.
>>10956386>When Anri became a slamming heavy metal bondage queen
>>10956378>promoting before 20 in SFCD everLiterally everyone is a death machine in this game.
>>10956436It's not bondage, just traditional sorceress garb. There's a way sorceress-queens were expected to dress back in the day, and by God, Anri is upholding the old ways.
Kablooey!>>10956460Modest. Tasteful. Stylish.
>>10956453No. Wendy is trash. Get her off of my team and give me back May.
>>10956424nta but to what end tho? so you make it to zalbard un-promoted. you could have a stronger force by that point promoted.
>>10956497you could have a stronger force by ANY point past 20 if you promote right away. thats not an argument. to what end? 2 potential reasons. 1 being enjoying the challenge. 2 being knowing that the farther you push, the more stats you've gained, and the harder you'll slingshot after promotion.
>>10956509>>10956497This is why I'm waiting to 30, I like the stat slingshot and I'm getting a good enough challenge so far it doesn't feel like I'll just cheese everything after I do promote.I'm thinking about doing a SF3 playthrough on the steamdeck after this. I used to own it for Saturn but had to part with it for financial reasons last year.
>>10956424>so whether or not you want to struggle to push or not.I'm pretty sure I said that several times. You can beat the whole game without promoting if it suits you. I just posted my opinion about when I like to promote, if I chose to delay promotion because you get less net exp per battle in North Parmecia. It's all about personal preference and what's fun to you or not. Shining Force is open-ended on how you want to play.It's fun to grind to level 40 because after level 30 the rubber-band effect stops. Kiwi, for example, has a chance to gain 1-2 HP per level from levels 30-40 unpromoted. It's a great way to boost low character stats without being subjected to the rubber-banding effect.
>>1095652430 is a good number, for sure!
>>10953889>but you stop getting extra experience for actually healing damageIt works based on HP percentage. Healing near death characters is what is giving more EXP, not the actual HP number it heals from.So having Kiwi in the party is actually profitable, since it is very easy to get him in the red.
What the fuck... does Boost/Protect Ring give global enemy agility because I've had 3 different skellingtons dodge my attacks in this cave after buffing the force.
>>10956553Agility actually has no impact on if an enemy dodges an attack or not. IIRC, I think skeletons do have a higher dodge rate.
>>10956550>So having Kiwi in the party is actually profitable, since it is very easy to get him in the red.Hell yeah. I love the early-game Sarah/Kiwi combo. You can have Sarah gain a quick 20 exp by healing Kiwi for 5 damage.
>>10956563It's a lot of extra damage taken when they dodge and get another round to attack.
>>10956550i dont believe that to be the case at all. im fairly certain you can heal 5 damage for 25% of the character's max hp and get more experience in the early game than healing 15 damage for 50% later.
>>10958506dhalsim arms
For me, it's KhrisFor whoever threw together the shitty GBA cover art too, apparently
I always appreciate that no matter how thoroughly I think I scraped everything, everytime a /vr/ Shining thread pops up it has stuff I've not seen before.
>protect ring can breakAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHoh wait can I repair it I'll bet that's what the repair option is for
>>10959150I CAN'T REPAIR IT AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH
>>10959150>>10959154Oh, no! That's too bad. I thought you might be able to get another one from the same Dark Madam if you fight the battle again, but once any item is dropped by an enemy, a flag is set in the code to prevent it from dropping once more. If any of your magic items "crack" don't use them again, or they will be destroyed. Sucks you had to learn that the hard way. At least it was the Protect Ring and not some Uber weapon or accessory.
Bowie and Karna have reached 30 and been promoted. Slade killed a lizardman and is now 30 and will be promoted. Higgins has been rescued!>>10959461Karna just got boost 2 so I don't need it, but the passive was nice.
>>10959491Hell yeah, dude. Slade, once promoted, will begin to learn powerful magic spells. Save your Bright Honeys for him.
>>10959495Oh shit.
>>10959528It drives me crazy that 1 had name capitalization figured out but 2 and CD fucked it up
>>10959547Don't mind me, just dropping this here.https://youtu.be/4dDuP7ikxsM
>>10959528Time to buy him a sword!>>10959547Yeah, that bugs me too. There is a name-every-character code that I put in when starting a new game to change that.
>>10959557Shining Force 2 soundtrack is underrated.
>>10945145any link to download the books?
>>10959495Was Higgins supposed to be immortal, like Peter and Lemon?
>>10959615There's a difference between the Japanese text and the English text. In the USA version, when you talk to Higgins at HQ, he says," I can't kill myself. Why? I'm not a vampire, am I?" but in the Japanese version when you talk to hie he says something more like, "I heard when you get possessed you become an immortal vampire. I wish that happened to me!" when you translate it.The USA version implies that he is immortal like Lemon and should auto-revive. The Japanese texts suggest that he's not immortal, despite being possessed temporarily.That pic I posted is from an earlier version of my romhack with the Japanese dialog translated to English, though I do have other versions where Higins does auto-revive and without the dialog change.
>>10959150>>10959154if its cracked, yes, you can repair it. if it gets completely destroyed, then theres no getting it back. also, not that money matters, but apparently putting a cracked item into caravan storage and taking it out again will fix it.
>>10959563He's hitting like a truck with the greatsword.
>>10959642so if his damage is acceptable, consider passing the power ring to somebody that is still struggling a bit so they can pull their own weight better.
>>10959653I'm at the bridge fight and I think I'll put it on May or Elric because of all the fliers.
>>10959657>the bridge fightthe animation for worms attacking, and how hard they hit, man it was just perfect and really left me with some good memories.
skreech question:when is the latest point in the game to trigger the scene in bedoe? is it any time before creed's (aka, before new grans changes)? before going through the tunnel to the north? any time before tristan?
>>10959608You mean the raws? I'm running off of what was translated on a forum a long-ass time ago. The translation wiki was getting updated with new stuff for a bit, but it seems to have paused and doesn't have all of the things I remember. I recall that particular tidbit was from the character book, though.
>>10959667Great question. My guess is that it would have to be either, after Creed's Mansion, or after you blow up the North Passage to North Paramecia. I don't know for sure, but I'll find out and confirm later.
>>10961231Wow, I've never seen a Force this random before
>>10961231>characters in HQ march to the music>open spot with them for the main character to join>open menu and your character marches in time with themIt's the little things
>>10961231>>10961314I think it might have been from one of my "Cycle-Method" runs. The Cycle-method is when you swap out high-level members for low-level members every battle. It creates some unusual teams, and guarantees that every member in the force is more or less equal to each other.
>>10961382Now this makes sense. Too bad you can't swap Max.
>>10959659The animation was really good and they killed 3 members of the force. Slade one shot the wizard and cleared the map though.
What a lovely background and nice song. And look, a brief reminder Bowie isn't a silent protagonist.
>>10924389I really wanted to like the GBA version but original is just more fun. However, it's still worth playing as a replay if you liked the original enough.
>>10961382I do this every pay through due to pure autism. It does make for an interesting challenge though.
>>10962092>What a lovely background and nice song. And look, a brief reminder Bowie isn't a silent protagonist.Probably the longest sentence he has in the game. Also, might be my favorite battle.>>10961880>Now this makes sense. Too bad you can't swap Max.>>10962116>I do this every pay through due to pure autism. It does make for an interesting challenge though.I accidentally stumbled across this method when I did my first Shining Force 3 play through. I didn't know which characters were exceptional or not, and I wanted to try everyone, so I decided to sub out the high level characters. Now it's almost how I play every time I play any Shining Force game. It does provide a unique challenge since your mean level is lower than normal. It also takes the pressure off of feeding kills and grinding, since everyone gets their due eventually. Characters like Peter won't steal the show, but makes a welcome cameo every now and again. Shining Force 1 is difficult using this method, however, because of how it's balanced.
Should Kaz be a Sorcerer or Wizard? I haven't got the book so I'll have to walk back to the elven village.
>>10962161arguably sorcerer. search a bookcase (i forget which one) in the elven village. you would have been better off just promoting him as soon as you reached the elven village, because he gains new spells based off his post-promotion level, and you could have had a few by now. he might feel somewhat weaker and behind as a sorcerer until he catches up. also on your way back, stop in the dwarf cave and search the campfire for a "dry stone".
>>10962175I have that, what does it do?
>>10962175>search a bookcase (i forget which one) in the elven village.It's a book case on the second floor of the Elven Village.
>>10962179Dry Stone you use on a weak part of a river after the Red Baron battle. It dries up a section of the river so you can access the Dwarven Village.
>>10962183Oh okay. Man I do not miss jrpgs hiding story necessary items on random tiles (though I instantly checked that fire the first time I passed by)
>>10962161>Should Kaz be a Sorcerer or Wizard?What's Kazin's current level? If it's over 20, I'd say SORC. Delaying promotion screws up your Learned Magic Level progression. You would end up not learning any new spells as a WIZ for a long time.
>>10962151>Probably the longest sentence he has in the game.pretty sure its "I have a bad feeling about this...", which i think happens when galam opens the door to darkness and kidnaps the princess.
>>10962190>necessary itemsIt's actually optional, but you do get the best equipment in the game in there.
>>10962195Oh, yeah! lol I forgot about that.
>>10962190its not story necessary. its completely optional and easy to miss. but you'll be glad you have it later when the time comes.
>>10962194>>10962161and here is what levels he learns spells at as a sorcerer.
>>10962207Dihn worked pretty good actually. Everyone is 30 and promoted now EXCEPT Elric who is working on the last level and Rick who I'm heading back to Centaur Castle to get the Pegasus wing for and will then promote.
>>10962247>Rick who I'm heading back to Centaur Castle to get the Pegasus wing for and will then promote.Rick, as a PGNT, gets one of the highest DEF stats in the game. Certainly the highest among the centaurs.
>>10962258Wonderful! I need an asshole to head to the front and draw in the enemy.
Tough fight, Zalbard was able to one shot May and Jaha, while the Dark Knights one shot Peter. Thought about an egress but Slade just don't quit!
Is Jaha weaker after promotion? He seems like he's dying really easily even when boosted.
man this thread made me replay SF2 for the 1000th time right now. It's just a magic memory, I rented it from German Blockbuster when I was 7 and its my favorite ever since, I understood shit back then. Even now when I play it I feel like a toddler again, as if my mind regresses and I often do the same mistakes in battle kek.One question though : I'm confused about the promotion for 30 years now: Shouldnt you promote Slade at 20 so he gets mp and spells earlier than, lets say, you promote him at 30? I'm thinking Kazin as SORC here, I always promote him ASAP to get a chance to unlock his 2nd tier summons in a playthrough. Does someone understand what I'm implying? please enlighten me fellow SF connoisseurs.
>>10962417Sorry, I'm on my first playthrough and can't help :^)
>>10962392I'm giving him protect milk, fuck this.
>>10962417>Shouldnt you promote Slade at 20 so he gets mp and spells earlier than, lets say, you promote him at 30?He would get them at the same rate.Slade and Sorcerer work differently than other magic casters, since they get new spells after promotion. If you were to promote Slade at level 20 he would learn Katon 1 at level 4 promoted. If you were to promote Slade at level 30, he would still learn Katon 1 at level 4 promoted. You would lose some time to spend learning spells by delaying promotion, for however long you delayed it by, but you would at least have a normal spell progression.In contrast, take a look at Kazin. The last spell he learns is Blaze 4 at level 35. Let's say Kazin is level 34 unpromoted. He only needs 1 (one) more level before learning Blaze 4. Now, let's promote him instead of learning that last level. Kazin is now a Wizard, and instead of needing to gain one level, he would have to learn 15 more levels! 35-20=15Slade and Sorcerers are more forgiving for delayed promotion runs, since they learn new spells, but you are mostly right. If you would like to learn all your spells as fast as possible without grinding after promotion, it's best to promote spell casters ASAP. If you don't mind slow spell progress or grinding, but want higher character stats, delaying promotion is fine too.
>>10962392>Is Jaha weaker after promotion?Nope, that was a Shining Force 1 gimmick. Stats stay the same after promotion in Shining Force 2.
>>10962487In that case I need to treat him different until he has levels because he keeps dying at the start of battles. The enemy units have increased in power by a lot. Most of the force is doing well but even promoted they take a lot of damage.
>>10962518North Paramecia has a damage spike that takes a while to catch, your party is a glass canon for a bunch of battles.Jaha and everybody else has by the end of the game more defense relative to damage you can receive than in the area you are now.The main benefit of quick promotion is getting the post promotion defense gains before the spike so it hurts less.
God I love SF1 2 and 3 brosI need to play through CD sometime, looks good
>>10962194Assuming anon is promoting at level 30, Blaze 4 is the only spell that he'll miss, so the real question is whether Kazin's kit is worth keeping at all, or if he should push him to level 35 to round it up.In my opinion, Kazin is the only useable as a sorceror and the only sorceror that makes sense to use, as Taya sucks and making Tyrin one is such a waste.
>>10962417>Shouldnt you promote Slade at 20 so he gets mp and spells earlierPersonally, I'd rather have other stats on Slade higher rather than giving him spells earlier.But that's just me looking at him being one of the hardest hitters in the game that barely gets to use magic most of the time as it's arguably less effective.
>>10962548I was doing pretty good but it's impressive anyone can finish the game without promoting.
>>10924389Can I get a QRD on why a Shining Force thread is near 350 posts? Really don't want to read this whole thing.
>>10962959I'm playing shining force 2 and anons are offering helpful advice, plus some series discussion about the other games.
>>10962247>>10962258i always make rick my pgnt too, but i didnt know he had particularly good defense. i always gave him the protect ring to try and offset the lack of land effect as a flier, but i felt like he still took massive hits, lol. he was always a rockstar for me though, right up there with slade and peter.
>>10962959some random discussion here and there, but mostly anons cheering on another's first time playing sf2. it feels pretty wholesome to help.
>>10962518i think the next battle is actually your return to pacalon, where you fight within the town before you can leave again. maybe utilize that for a level or two for jaha at least?also, (and this might sound a little scummy, but bear with me), i think some of those enemies are carrying a protect ring. i dont think they will drop it for you like that first monster did. HOWEVER, if you save at the start of the battle (for convenience of course), restart the game, put in the configuration code at the title screen, select "control enemy" when you pick your save file, you can manually make the monster drop the ring, and then it will show up under "deals" in the shop. technically you can do this multiple times and be able to equip it to multiple characters, but that would be a kind of cheating/scummy part. doing it JUST THE ONCE would at least undo the mistake that you broke the first one. then, egress, save, and restart, and the game will be back to normal with you not controlling the enemies. just a suggestion.
>>10963212He got oneshot by a harpy queen, I need to baby him some.
>>10962623>Kazin is the only useable as a sorceror and the only sorceror that makes sense to useI mostly agree, but WIZ Kazin has a great many things going for him. He learns all his spells the fastest of any spell caster, meaning you can easily get him to level 40 before promotion and not have to work about spell lag. WIZ Kazin gets freakishly high agility and will almost always get the first round attack. This is important because he has access to Dispel, Desoul2, and Muddle2. While the affect rate is pretty low (~33% on the most vulnerable enemies) you could save and quit on his turn, to make sure you get the most optimal outcome. I don't recommend save scumming, but it's possible in-game, without save states. Muddle2 is OP as fuck and if you cast it on a group of 4 or more monsters, even if you miss some, a few of them are bound to be affected. It's possibly the best spell in the game. The only other character to get Muddle2 is Sheela of all people, who is also underrated. Desoul2 is a Kazin exclusive and can be clutch, especially with its expanded area of affect. Blaze 4 is so cheap (10 mp) and many monsters have fire weakness. Dispel is underrated as well. It has a huge range and area of affect, and it affects magic uses exclusively, which are oftentimes the same kind of monsters that have heavy resistance to status spells like Desoul and Muddle.>>10963212>select "control enemy" when you pick your save file, you can manually make the monster drop the ringI was tempted to suggest this, but didn't. You can use the 'control enemy monsters' code to force enemies to drop their rare equipment, that you can later purchase in the 'deals' section.
>>10963301Harpy Queen's are nasty.
>>10962963>>10963187Oh nice! Was afraid it was shitposting. Thanks for the reply I will start from the top.
>>10963423No no, I'm on my best behavior on /vr/ and /vst/(If it's a small enough world potentially someone remembers my Iron Storm threads from a couple years ago)
>>10963302>Muddle2 is OP as fuckmuddle is dogshit. for one, it can miss. for two, it only MIGHT have an effect even if it does hit. and if they attack another monster, you're missing out on experience. desoul is ok, but its feast or famine. >Dispel is underrated as wellif you can reach somebody with dispel, you can reach them with offensive magic. they cant cast if they're fucking dead. dispel is generally a wasted turn.
>>10963916Muddle2 and Dispel are great spells that are very useful. I'm sorry you can't appreciate them.
>>10964535garbage wastes of turns. laughably inefficient.
>>10962963thread seems to be currently autosaging. dont be afraid to make/find a new one!
>>10964625I actually agree with mostly everything you posted, you're right. Efficiency isn't everything, though. It's fun to watch enemies attack each other. It many battles, it becomes extremely useful to do so. Milking exp isn't everything, either. You can always just egress or replay battles for that.>>10964628>thread seems to be currently autosaging. dont be afraid to make/find a new one!Yeah, I'm kinda curious to see this guy's playthrough.
>>10964628>>10964679/vr/ threads do that after like a week or something to keep zombie threads from staying around too long, if there isn't another shining thread around when I make some progress I'll post one.
>>10964815Yup, it's been 2 weeks already.Don't remember a Shining thread living that long in a while. Used to happen often at some point though.
