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