#Balbaroy

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force World Book translation - part 3

Previous part here

Man of hidden fangs

Arthur Class: Knight Species: Centaur Gender: Male Age: 25 years old Height: 228 cm Weight: 192 kg Place of Origin: Asgard Mountain Range Starting Level: 4 Starting Weapon: Bronze Lance

The mysterious foreigner with unfathomable hidden strength

He is originally from another continent. He has shown incredible strength from a young age, and became Knight Captain without real battle experience. When he set out for monster extermination, many of his subordinates died due to his mistakes in command, and he left the country. He meets the protagonist while working on the laundry in Manarina.

While he doesn't show his full power from the start, he hides immeasurable strength.

A slow starter who unleashes his full power in the late game

A unique character who can use magic while being a knight. If you raise him, he learns basic offensive spells. The tradeoff is that his endurance and attack are not reliable. In the beginning he is half baked and might be useless, but if trained he becomes effective for both melee and ranged attacks. His stat growth later on is mindblowing.

_____

A birdman warrior crossing through the skies

Balbaroy Class: Birdmen Species: Birdmen Gender: Male Age: 32 years old Height: 183 cm Weight: 105 kg Place of Origin: The forests of Chronos Mountain Starting Level: 5 Starting Weapon: Middle Sword

A man from the guardian tribe of the skies, attacked by Runefaust!

A birdman with an outstanding sense for battling. Pushing to the limit the skills of his flying race, he fights with superior power.

He is a victim of the Runefaust army, having sustained injuries from their assault. Turned into stone, he was rescued by the force. He's a typical fighter who doesn't talk much and is relentless in combat. Holds a great hatred of Darksol.

A support fighter with great movement!

He excels in defense and agility due to being from a flying race. His stat growth is the kind where everything goes up at once, so he's immediately ready to be used in battle. His endurance and attack are not great, so he can't fight in the front lines.

As a character who can equip most of the swords the protagonist also uses, use him to cover the other attackers.

She casts away her life for the sake of those she loves

Amon Class: Birdwomen Species: Birdwomen Gender: Female Age: 28 years old Height: 186 cm Weight: 83 kg Place of Origin: The forests of Chronos Mountain Starting Level: 5 Starting Weapon: Middle Sword

A strong and kind birdwoman who protects Balbaroy with devotion!

Another birdwoman from the same flying race as Balbaroy, she's his wife. As a woman of few words who speaks just the necessary, she's much like him. She selflessly fights for his sake. She's a nimble expert fighter.

She set out to find Balbaroy when he was missing, and upon learning of the danger he was in, sought the force for help in saving him.

You'll be in trouble if you look down on her for being a woman!

Her agility and defense are as good as her husband's. However she surpasses him, having both nimbleness and attack power. If you're careful with her health, she can create openings in the battle with her movement. When it comes to growth speed, her HP grows steadily as well, so she can become a reliable member to stay on the team for a long time.

_____

A headstrong archer lady!

Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf Gender: Female Age: 115 years old Height: 185 cm Weight: 57 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 6 Starting Weapon: Steel Arrow

She hates losing, and is refreshingly frank!

She is intense and hates crooked things! An energetic woman who grew wild and free in the mountain's forests. Given her fierce temperament, she put all of herself into training her skills with the bow, which are very respectable. In particular, Bustoke has no military force, so she became a valuable fighting power for them.

Feeling indebted after the men of her country were rescued, she joined the Shining Force.

Depending on your strategy, she can be an immediate asset or a waste

An archer whose attack, defense, agility and movement are all average. Wielding only a bow, she's better at long distance attacks than close combat. She should attack from behind a character who's good at melee. Compared to the fellow archer Hans, only her defense is a little better, she doesn't surpass him in anything else.

If you protect her from the enemy's attacks, she can be a main fighting power.

His body is that of a beast, but his heart is bigger than anyone else's!

Zylo Class: Wolf Species: Wolfling Gender: Male Age: 47 years old Height: 212 cm Weight: 107 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 9 Starting Weapon: None

The straightforward type who takes everything seriously

A proud wolfling leader who would protect his people even at the cost of his own life. King of the mountain people, he's respected as a spirit of the forest. An atypical king, he is in the frontlines at the first sign of battle, and fights with all his might. A typical fighter.

He has a charm that draws others to him, and is adored by his people.

You can count on him for power! A battle expert

As a wolfling carrying the blood of experienced beasts, his attack is outstanding. His other stats are not bad either, making him a powerful warrior.

Like Balbaroy, he gets sudden increases on level up. His HP is low, so he'll be done for if rushing recklessly at the enemies. Have him advance alongside his allies.

____

The great old man who conquered the skies

Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human Gender: Male Age: 65 years old Height: 154 cm Weight: 45 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 7 Starting Weapon: Bronze Lance

Currently an inventor, but used to be an exemplar knight!

A hardworking inventor who wished with all his heart to be able to fly, and finally made that wish come true after 50 years. The people nearby regard him as a weird old man, but he's actually nice. Before building his flying machine, he worked as a knight for a kingdom. Because of that, he's skilled with a sword. That skill has been fading with age, but he can compensate on his moves by piloting well his flying machine.

[Note: I assume he was a knight somewhere other than Bustoke since Diane's entry says they don't have much of an army there, but the text is vague enough that it could be.]

Those who continue to chase their dreams don't lose their vitality

He's average all around. Defense is a low point, and might be the deciding factor in sending him to battle or not. He's weak due to being human, and pretty old, so it's hard to use him immediately.

His HP growth is a slow curve. However contrary to what you'd expect of his age, his other stats grow quite fast.

[starswordartblog]

“It feels good to rest!”

“Boooring! I want action!”

Shininginktober Day 3: Amon + a little of Balbaroy because I love the contrast between those lines. Do not separate them etc.

[shiningforcegirlpower]

Battle #12.1, Pao Prarie, Second Attempt

It takes around 3 turns to finally get to the point where my girls can fight. And what do you know, Tao, the mascot starts off every turn!

And she's first to attack too. I could keep her safe, but I'll inch further to get the max amount of use for Blaze Level 3. Keep forgetting I have that.

Good thing I did because we are at a new level!!

Def +1, Spe +2 and NOW Mae can destroy the Pegasus knight to keep Tao safer. These two are the dream duo.

And Khris is in PRIME healing Range.

Let's hope Amon can join in some prime cleanup and tanking. (She will die in 2 hits).

Of course, the two lizardmen try to attack her, one getting her down from 21/21 to 8/21. I salute her in at least getting 16 exp... BUT SHE EVADES IT! SHE COULD PROBABLY GET HEALED AND GET A KILL!!!! AMON!!! I knew I could trust you.

Or... Tao will get the kill before Khris or Amon can move. As long as we get kills and enough gold to revive for what will undoubtably be our next battle... with Elliot...

And Tao found a Heat Axe! That... No girl can use. (Why no female dwarves!?) Oh well, free gold.

I'll let Mae kill the Pegasus Knight so Amon can (hopefully) get her kill with the Lizardman.

Or Anri gets a kill. Sure. Why not. The game HATES the bird people.

Yeah... so Amon never got to move and Khris also never got to move before ANOTHER Lizardman came up and... killed Amon. It SUCKS that Balbaroy and Amon are the same class but Amon is supposed to have worse stats.

Khris will get revenge via use of the Power Staff.

Also the enemy AI is SO dumb. They could have went after Mae, or Khris, or Diane... but they just LINE UP to DIE. MAE HE HAD ONLY 3 HIT POINTS LEFT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT.

ANRI WHAT THE HELL. AND SHE LATER EVADES HIS ATTACK WHAT THE-

Diane gets a kill.

So while I'm moving the ladies forward, I get them attacking a Lizardman. Some PEGASUS KNIGHT comes over to ANRI and Hits her- for 7/14 damage. I sigh out of relief. BUT THEN IT DOES A DOUBLE ATTACK AND- ANRI LIVED. ON ONE HP. THAT'S WHY SHE'S THE GOAT!!! THE GOOOOAAATT- A lizard man killed her.

Damn.

Khris can't get ANY healing in. Until THIS turn. Where she heals Diane for 6 HP. ... WHO THEN IMMEDIATELY GETS ATTACKED BY A PEGASUS KNIGHT FOR 9 HP ARE YOU SHITTING ME-

I only have one left...

... and I'm saving it. TAO KILL THE SILVER KNIGHT WITH THREE HP LEFT WITH YOUR POWER STAFF.

SHE IS SO POWERFUL.

And the Lizardman TRIES to kill Tao, but fails. Tao gets healed by Khris, and the Lizardman gets killed by Diane. Who still needs healing. But then the SILVER KNIGHT COMES OVER and tries KILLING TAO with a Double attack....

This battle is going to kill them all again I feel it. We're not even to ELLIOT YET. Tao and Mae work together to kill the Silver Knight. I think I'll have Diane focus on the Knight attacking Khris, and use level 1 healing the best I can.

Huzzah, let's hope it's a good one! ATK +2, SPD +1

And Tao comes over to clean up Diane's leftovers. Mae, meanwhile, delivers a nice attack to get rid of the Pegasus Knight.

Current Plan - Tao and Khris are the melee in front. Diane between them. And behind these two priests is Mae to tank from Elliot's crew behind him.

Khris can't quite make it but the other ladies are handling themselves fine so she'll just heal herself.

DEF +2!

... Okay WHY DID THE DARK PRIEST EVADE EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ATTACK WE THREW AT HIM THAT ROUND. Well, at least the next attack for Mae was a DEADLY ATTACK.

While I had the other girls kind of huddling to hide from the Artillery... Mae can take it down in one hit.

Let's see how useful Blaze level 3 is against this dragon. 10 points... okay... good to note.

Alright, let's start the futile assault.

... honestly fuck the regeneration mechanic. THIS MAN CAN DO 31 POINTS OF DAMAGE (deadly attack but still). And you're supposed to be a LOWER LEVEL THAN MY CHARACTERS.

Diane is an INFLATED LEVEL 12!!!

"Oh but GirlPower doesn't that balance with the rest of the game?"

Sure, maybe, but at the same time he's got a MASSIVE evasion stat. This battle can be absolutely brutal if you don't know where to pick up Gong, with Khris and Lowe having less MP than Khris has now, and PEGASUS KNIGHTS and SILVER KNIGHTS that are either impossible to hit or impossible to kill for your level. A LIZARD MAN has a HEAT AXE which you COULD farm for the Blaze spell but it will BREAK after a FEW uses!

Even if I had the evasion stat not kick in for Elliot, Mae and Diane only do averages of 13+8 damage. That's 21 damage. Practically 6 when thinking about the regeneration mechanic.

It would take me ten turns of getting consistently lucky to not trigger the evasion to kill him with just Mae and Diane. And that's only IF I can keep Khris up as a meat shield. Or have other meat shields survive like a no MP Tao, Anri, or Amon. But unfortunately one "STUNNING ATTACK" deals 32 hp to my hyperbuffed Khris, killing her.

And with his luck, Diane and Mae are as good as dead. Attempt number 2 is a bust.

[phantasticalforce]

Some choice caps and crops from the new Shining Force mobile game trailer, as seen HERE

[gamerzylo]

Shining Force (Sega Genesis): (Almost) Constant team members during every play though - Zylo | Tao | Amon | Luke | Domingo | Lowe | Bleu | Hanzou | Balbaroy

[tisbore]

This year I'm redoing my 2019 Inktober. I'm drawing characters from the Shining Force franchise. Balbaroy the bird warrior..

[whitedusk2]

shining force balbaroy

[claire-starsword]

Gong [Giant] Class: Monk -> Master Monk

His trained body is his strongest weapon!

*** A traveling monk in training. He travels alone to train his body and spirit.

During his travels, he heard rumors about the protagonist, and joined the Shining Force. Compared to priests, his magic is inferior, but his endurance and strength are higher, so he can fight at the front lines. ***

Gong joins the force right after the first battle at the Gate of the Ancients.

Most notable thing about his appearance is the huge backpack he carries. He keeps the contents secret, but it apparently includes the things listed below. -Sleeping bag (to sleep well anywhere out in the wild); -Preserved food (look like small pills. A single one per day is enough to sustain him); -Spare underwear and hand towel (he likes to stay clean); -Ointment (even though he trained his body so much, fighting bare-fist can always lead to injuries).

And it is said that at the very bottom of the backpack is a treasured letter from his mother.

_______

Balbaroy [Birdmen] Class: Birdmen -> Sky Warrior

The sky hero faster than wind!

*** One of the birdmen, the race that ruled the skies of Rune. Runefaust's army feared this power and thus launched a surprise attack, and the birdmen were annihilated. Balbaroy too was wounded, but the priest of Shade Abbey saved him. He fought alongside the priest when Darksol attacked the abbey and yet...

He's also Amon's husband. ***

While the continent of Rune is home to a bunch of different species, there are few that are able to fly. There are birdmen like Balbaroy here, the pegasi, and the dragon gods at least.

When it comes to flight only, birdmen are the number ones be it speed, distance or maneuverability​. However, they disliked fighting, and weren't too good at offense.

That's why they couldn't do anything against a massive attack of the Pegasus Knights, who were clearly inferior in flight skills but more powerful, and were thus defeated. Will the birdmen counterattack succeed in the end? _______

Notes about Gong:

GBA Gong does not care as much for keeping his belongings secret (or maybe he just trusts Max?), and thus talks about a lot of the things said here, but not the mother's letter, sadly. It would have been more interesting to unlock than all his other things.

Weird that he "heard rumors of the protagonist" when he joins at the very first battle when Max is still a nobody, huh? Perhaps because of this the GBA version added some stuff about it being fate. _______

Notes about Balbaroy:

Again, the GBA version brings up the annihilation of birdmen. It does change the story slightly though, as Balbaroy and Amon are already traveling together.

[byakko05]

Day 7: Balbaroy in a romantic moment

I had a lot of troubles with this day, I thought Amon was a boy, is all I will say

but finally is here. Happy valentines...hahaha =_=

0hh, I forget it. This is a extra part of day two.

Day 2

[shiningforcegirlpower]

Battle #10 - One of the Most Forgettable.

Allies - Tao (Level 14), Mae (Level 11), Khris (Level 12), Anri (Level 9), Amon (Level 7), Diane (Level 7) Enemies - 5 Skeletons, 4 Pegasus Knights, 2 Dark Elves, 2 Lizardmen, 2 Dark Priests

Between the Quarry and Bridge (literally), this fight is one I completely forgot existed. It's more of a fluff battle so that there isn't just two battles in this chapter.

Anyways while investigating the enemies I found this weird batch of ground.

ANYWAYS - Tao can't get too close to the skeletons, but Mae, with her new spear does MASSIVE amounts of damage to them now, getting them down to half health.

And while positioning Amon, she ended up scaring the Pegasus Knights, but encouraging the Dark Elves.

Also this is the fight where enemies start using items on themselves. But Tao got so mad at the skeleton doing that she completely anihilated it with her Blaze level 1.

Amon will be dealing with the separated Dark Elf, and I'll hope her defense isn't still garbage.

Mae and Anri tag-teamed to get rid of a skeleton. And Tao joined in to destroy the third one.

Now, it looks like the Dark Elves are settled, so I'm going to try to get Amon to destroy them. Afterall, destroying one got her to Level 8 and got her a level up that benefitted her attack and speed.

Trying to attack the Lizardman with Diane and Mae, while they missed their first attack, they destroyed it.

Anri targeted a skeleton that Mae helped clean up.

The Dark Elf missed Amon the first time, allowing her to get two solid hits before getting hit harshly, bringing her to 4 HP. Khris came in to assist, with healing and then attacking the Dark Elf.

Diane, Tao, and Mae all had to work together to take down the Dark Priest.

Diane, taking cover in the forest, began to attack one Pegasus Knight, who I hope to lure away from its partner to be beaten up.

But then some other Pegasus Knight attacked Anri, TWICE. So she's dead now. This Pegasus Knight is going to get SO destroyed. Mae was so upset at seeing a royal die again she did the perfect amount of damage after Tao's Blaze. And she leveled up to 12, gaining 2 more HP. Good for spell casters.

Amon went to attack the skeleton, dealing 1 damage. She scared the skeleton so much, it ate its medical herb.

Tao and Mae destroyed another Pegasus Knight in the same way, leaving Amon and Diane to fight the Skeleton. Then Diane got a level up.

Mae had to finish off the skeleton after it gave massive damage to Amon. Man, Amon is SO fragile... I wish they made her and Balbaroy with a bit better stats. Like Amon has better defense but Balbaroy has better attack or something like that. Otherwise it's just... Amon is Balbaroy's cleanup.

Khris healed her and then with two Pegasus Knights retreating, Amon and Diane went after them. Only for Amon to get super hurt even without hitting the thing.

Amon retreated to be healed and then went back to attack. It was left on 1 HP. It was too tempting. You'd think characters made to be flying could attack flying units better... but she couldn't. And she fell.

Diane avenged her, but then... The other Pegasus Knight attacked her.

She tried to retreat back to Khris after getting an extra turn to hit, but... It killed her and went to Khris to attack. Khris, filled with rage at the fact that both Amon and Diane, her poor allies, were destroyed by these creatures raised her Power Staff. And destroyed the creature in a clean swipe. Dealing 16 damage with a deadly attack.

Mae tried to defeat the Lizardman by herself, but the Dark Priest healed her, so Tao had to use Blaze before Mae finished it off with her spear.

After Khris healed herself, Mae and Tao finished off the Dark Priest.

That was... VERY rough. I'll need to stock up, re-assess my weapons, and health items.

[claire-starsword]

Max’s Diary - Chapter 5

(15) Month of the Black Horse, Day 25

Ahh, a ship voyage. How many times did I cry into my pillow because the boat at Rindo got burned... Everyone else is also staring quietly at the sea. Some guys worry about not knowing how to swim, plenty also hate the salty sea breeze as well. Only Domingo keeps talking with his big ego as usual.

As we floated by without a care, Runefaust's army caught up to us. A flying squad of Pegasus Knights and some nasty Conchs dragging themselves toward us. It seems they're here more to destroy the ship than to attack people. If we don't stop them we're gonna become food for the fishes. We didn't even get used to traveling by ship at this point, they could have let us enjoy it a bit more. Kinda petty of them.

___

(16) Month of the Black Horse, Day 32

I decided to follow a Skeleton, and arrived at some mysterious place. There stood a Master Mage facing the wall and screaming something. I leaned forward to try to hear it better. I heard some mysterious words, "Isal, Kasal, Hosal". New magic words? What do they do? Mysteries and mysteries leading to more mysteries. Led on by my endless curiosity I got closer, and Runefaust noticed, thus a battle started. But, no one wanted to get closer out of fear of those magic words. We're gonna lose like this. As I thought that I sent Diane who just got promoted to Bowmaster. Shoot! Diane! The Robin Arrow flew with a thunderous boom. The Master Mage went to heaven in one shot! And the magic words?

___

(17) Month of the Brown Snake, Day 5

The ship was fixed, and we set sail from Waral. Because of what happened in the last voyage, no one is happy. You can see the exhaustion on their faces. All we can see is the horizon all the time, so it's gotten quite boring. It would suck to get attacked at a time like this. But that's exactly the kind of time when we get attacked...

On battles aboard a ship, guys who can fly are a big help. Nova said that, and Balbaroy too. If I don't use that kind of assertive guy, they might resent it later. With Balbaroy and Kokichi and the like, we took control of the skies. That's as good as it gets. Alright, go!

As we fought I got the feeling that the number of Conchs was increasing. It would be great if it had been just my mistake but, reality is harsh. Tch.

[claire-starsword]

[claire-starsword]

The Guardiana Magic School Run - Part 9

We are back. After all the excitement for Narsha and the lack of excitement for our magic school last time, we've arrived at chapter 3 and Bustoke, the only town we'll be seeing the whole chapter btw.

And before we proceed I need to talk about promotion before I forget again. Just like in the classic game, unpromoted classes are up for promotion starting at level 10, and won't go past level 20. They still get a small drop in stats as they promote, which is so weird, I don't get why is this a thing, and their growth rates change as well, which is the part that makes sense. But I'm not here to explain basic Shining Force, I'm here to talk about the GBA changes specifically, and after praising so many of them I now have to talk about what might be my most disliked one.

The level a character learns spells doesn't adapt to promotion.

What do I mean by that? Let's pick Tao as an example. Tao learns Blaze 4 at level 20. In the classic game, this means either mage level 20, or wizard level 10, because wizard is a promoted class so the game correctly assumes you've had at least 10 levels before getting to level 1 wizard.

In the GBA version, she will learn it either as level 20 mage, or level 20 wizard. Which is at least 10 levels later.

It sucks massively. I get what they were trying to do, trying to make the promotion choice a little more interesting by making you pick between better stats and weapons versus quicker spell learning, but 10 levels is a massive difference, and for some, it's not actually a choice??? Let's look at Anri now, she learns Freeze at level 23. That means she can't get it as a mage at all, she has to promote, and wait ten more levels than she would in the mega drive version. By then I might be finishing the game! So yeah, I will be commenting more on how each character is uniquely screwed by this as they reach promotion level.

For now, the only character that can be promoted is Max, and, I'll be honest, I'm not sure Max can learn spells unpromoted?? He apparently should learn it level 12, aka the next one if unpromoted, but it feels weird. You'll understand when we get there. There's no hero-exclusive sword in this part of the game, so I'm tempted to test it, not like Max needs upgrades for now anyway.

Oh wait, I forgot to check the deals section as well.

lmao.

so, forget everything i said, there's a sword! And if you're reading that thinking "hey aren't aquatic enemies from chapter 5?", yeah! This is incredibly busted for this part of the game, and I don't know how the deals section work, but I tend to get this one fairly frequently. Very useful if you're playing with Amon and Balbaroy who need as much help as they can get, but for Max, it's very much overkill. I believe there's better use of our money for now.

We can, for example, get the beautiful Power Spear for 900 gold. Without the Power Ring, this would get him to 22 attack, same as Khris with the Power Staff, aka Really Good. With the Power Ring, though? He's now at the same level as Max and Gong, except from a distance. Perhaps I can stop bullying this man now!

jk the next battle is full of people who can beat him up from a distance i'm very afraid.

And behold, our next money sink! The Silver Ring is the cooler cousin of the Steel Ring, which is kind of an affront to our beautiful Guardiana but, we just gotta import it I guess.

Speaking of cool relatives, we say hi to Diane who won't be joining us this time sadly, but between hers, Amon and Balbaroy's weapons, and some extra loot from the circus and the abbey I had forgot about, we can already buy one ring. I definitely missed a chance to buy Charm Rings last chapter with this money, but it might be for the best, I did say this team needs defense more than magic res after all.

I hand over the new ring to Lowe, who had only 9 defense, and then give the Steel Ring we picked from the Ghoul last time to Tao, who also had 9 defense. Anri and Arthur also have 9 defense, because magic users are not very original with this stat! but they'll have to wait for now.

And that was a lot of rambling to start a post with. Let's save the game and head to battle.

The Elf Slayer is a spear, stronger than the Power Spear. I'm fairly sure it will be the strongest spear for most of the game before we finally get the Valkyrie at chapter 7. So I want this a lot. Unfortunately this is not a battle I'm confident to rush on.

And yes, it does bonus damage on elves which I think are only like, the archer enemies. I will hate on these guys soon enough so I would like some bonus on massacring them as well.

First we have to witness one of my favorite lines of all times.

Then we get to suspect that Arthur's lack of defense might not be a lack of armor, just a lack of care and brains. I can't heal you when you barely have hp, bestie.

Start of the battle is just going down to meet some skeletons, not a big deal given how the last battle went.

It indeed goes completely fine, these guys are super slow so I even get to coordinate things to get a level up for Anri who is still a bit behind the rest of the team along Arthur. She gets… +1 HP. And nothing else.

These two, man.

We're now at Turn 4 and that's when the real battle begins.

We need to break through this mass of enemies, and a pair of Dark Mages can always cause big damage. I guess Max can tank them because he's like that, but there's still only so much he can survive so we gotta deal with these guys fast.

The worst however is these guys i promised to hate on. Dark Elves. What's not to hate? They have Elven Arrows even though we can't buy those until next chapter. And that weapon? Can one-hit kill. That's right baby our "minimize deaths" goal is now on the hands of RNG. Thrilling.

The best case scenario is that Max never gets close to these guys, but I doubt that will be possible, only Gong also has the defense and HP to tank the other enemies. We can try to advance slowly but with how narrow the passage is, it is bound to become a mess at some point anyway.

Sigh. It's not gonna get better from talking about it. Let's attempt this.

We get a very good turn. Max baits a Dark Mage, taking 7 damage, and Arthur gets to show off the Power Spear + Power Ring combo by killing them instantly. Now there's a Skeleton is front of Max, but these are already weak so who cares. The real problem is that, as you can see, one of the dark elves already came down. We should kill them as fast as possible. Did I mention they have high evasion? They have high evasion. There's also two more skeletons in the way. I hate this battle.

Max and Tao team up to deal with the first Skeleton, and now is Gong's turn. You know, the guy who keeps dying in this run. I think he has enough defense and HP to tank everything here, but the elven arrow is a looming possibility, I don't see any way to wipe this elf right now. And if I don't place Gong here, it's likely they'll go for Max instead, and if he dies that's a loss. They could also go for Tao, who is naturally squishier and also a ranged AoE user, something we desperately need here. So alas. Go Gong, I'm so sorry man.

hoo boy now there's two of them. Gong tanked the mage, but the dark elf that was already here hasn't moved yet. I'm gonna heal just in case. Just to feel something.

THE DARK ELF PROCEED TO SAY, "excuse me skeleton brother can i pass through you please, i'm way too jealous of elves hotter than me to attack anyone already on my range" AND SHOOTS TAO ANYWAY.

did i forget to mention the elven arrow has more range than the arrows available to the player at this point? Yeah that's also a thing. i hate these guys so much. Tao still survived though, so get wrecked. I would love to know how to do this battle in a sane and reasonable way though. Assuming it's possible.

Mister overpowered hero you better deliver i want this fuck dead. And yeah this does put Max in range of the other guy but honestly he was in range for this one too. I'm definitely not smart enough for this.

*sob*

"And this is why I prefer magic."

This finishes the skeleton and thankfully Gong hits the elf to finish the job. Very glad I healed him last turn actually because we might be taking a lot of Blazes as long as I keep focusing on the elves over the Dark Mage. I regret not healing Max actually. Now Khris has to focus on Tao who would definitely die to another shot.

hoo boyy this is not great

Arthur somehow manages to sneak in the turn order exactly between the other dark elves and this one. It's risky to send Arthur like this but, it's 20 attack from the elf versus 9 defense, he should survive a normal hit, and again, a killing hit is better on anyone else besides Max.

Hatred festers in my heart as Arthur misses, but, the elf just moved down??? Legit don't know what they're trying to do, sometimes they do weird things trying to get to Max but, Max was in range. Many people were in range. Why this.

Not complaining though! Lowe, slowest member of the team, can now heal Max in peace.

Gong then gets a chonky counter on the Skeleton.

I won't know true peace until the dark elves are all gone though, so I'm going ahead.

And that's a real one-hit kill, asshole!

Tao has seen better days but Khris will get to heal her soon and I think she can survive the occasional hit. Also I really want this mage gone. They have 50% magic resistance and 8 defense, so the Power Staff is definitely the right call.

i hit the tumblr image limit though, so this is a neat cliffhanger for you until the next reblog :3

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force All HQ Quotes - JP & ENG

[translated some of these on the guide book notes anyway so why not gather them all. I avoided it because Lowe’s sexual harassment bums me out but it came up on the guide anyway so whatever at this point. I promise other characters get better stuff.

Since I did not play the JP version quotes are taken from this handy list. English screenshots are from an old playthrough of mine so Max has a different name.

Also, several active team quotes were reused (with occasional tweaks) in the GBA version and translated accurately there. I didn’t have the patience to screenshots them all but used them as reference in my own translations. That’s enough rambling so let’s go]

Luke

Active:

"Nothing to fear while I'm here! Take me to battle always!"

Rest:

"Everyone's talking about how awesome the last battle was, c'mon, take me on the next one! It won't be fun to go back home without anything to brag about."

Ken

Active:

"Getting to fight as a real knight is like a dream come true. I'll do my best!"

Rest:

"I'm sorry, Max, but traveling through all these countries is a lot of fun."

Tao

Active:

"I'll fight to my very end... I want to be of service to you!"

Rest:

"...Hmm, hmm... Mythical magic? ... I don't get it... Where could it be? ...I don't understand... but I want to."

Hans

Active: the english version is perfectly accurate, save for cutting the ellipsis

Rest:

"Max, seems like you were really fierce in the last battle… You’re brave... While I’m so, so afraid. I wonder how the others feel."

Lowe

Active:

"I'm the support so that everyone can fight with no worries... But let me fight too sometimes!"

Rest:

"Ah, I'm bored, so bored. I feel like messing with the girls now. Whoa, what! That's a scary face, man... I got it, I'll behave."

[much better]

Gong

Active: the english version is accurate.

Rest:

"Humpf, huff, huff! Hiyah! What are you staring at so intently? I'm training so that my attacks get stronger."

Gort

Active:

"This great Gort isn't about to lose to any youngsters yet!"

Rest:

"Max! Want some sashimi? I and the other guys who were free caught some fish and cut them up with this sword. Oops, was that not okay?"

Mae

Active:

"I inherited my father's strength! I won't forgive you if you look down at me for being a woman!"

Rest: the english version is accurate save for cutting a "One two! One, two!" at the beginning

Khris

Active:

"Tell me when you get hurt, okay? Even a small wound can make you unable to fight if you don't care for it."

Rest:

“B-Blaaaze! ...Aww, it really doesn’t work... Max... I think it’s impossible for a priest to use Blaze...”

Anri

Active: english version is mostly accurate but missing the end part.

"Max, thank you for your efforts. I'll do my best too, so take care of yourself as well."

Rest:

"Max! Listen here, Lowe just touched my butt! If he does it again I'll blast him with a Blaze spell."

Arthur

Active: english version is accurate

Rest:

"Once this journey is over, there’s something I want to do. I’m thinking of searching for the legendary golden Holy Grail..."

Balbaroy

Active:

"I'll fight until these wings break. With our pride as rulers of the sky..."

Rest:

"*crack* *crack* Oh, my neck is tense. I've been flying all year so this area around the neck gets stiff. It gets harder to move the wings too."

Amon

Active: english version is perfectly accurate

Rest:

"*flapflapflap* *flapflapflap* I just can't stand still on the ground! *flapflapflap* *flapflapflap*"

Diane

Active: english version is accurate although cutting a generic "I'll strike them all down!" at the end

Rest:

"*click* *click* *nyooooom* Ah, this? I'm restringing my bow. Should be okay now. *nyoooom*"

Zylo

Active:

"We werewolves were born to fight. Of course I wish to be at the battlefield..."

Rest:

"*swish* *swish* *swish* *swish* My claws are my weapons. Of course it is crucial to take care of them. Good, they look in excellent shape."

Pelle

Active:

"Don't get it wrong. I'm a real knight. I don't just go whenever the money is."

Rest:

"*clop clop* *stab!* Whoa! That was close... I might end up hurting you if you come to talk while I'm training."

Yogurt his japanese line is the same either in the active team or not:

"...I don't get it..."

Active:

Rest:

Kokichi

Active:

"Yahoo! I'm fired up to fight! I'll make quick work of those Runefaust guys!"

Rest:

"Hey there, Max! Behold the wonders of modern life! Walking is now a thing of the past."

Vankar

Active:

"Putting me in battle means you have great eyes! As expected of a leader!"

Rest:

“(hic) Drinks, more drinks! Keep bringing on the drinks! Oh, if it ain’t Max! Say, my glass’ been empty for a while now, fill it up for me, won’t ya?”

Domingo

Active:

"Ahem. Did yu know? There's thwee times more ocean than land in this wold."

Rest:

“Ahem. Did yu know? No one here believs it but, the wold isn’t flat.”

Guntz

Active: the GBA version fits perfectly

"Hssss hsssssss... My steam engine's fired up and raring to go!"

Rest:

"*Hsssss hssssss* Everything's fine. I'm doing some maintenance right now. Ah, this is the best."

Earnest

Active: The english version is accurate save for dropping the drama ellipsis (the jp version is more like “My wish... is to fight at the front lines!”).

Rest:

"It's also good to take a break from fighting once in a while. Since I've been fighting all my life..."

Lyle

Active: english version is accurate save for cutting out the Assault Cannon's name

Rest:

"...Huh? An, an enemy attack? ...Was it a dream? This is really embarrassing. Since I had nothing to do I ended up dozing off I guess."

Bleu

Active:

"I'll fight! With my pride as a sacred dragon!"

Rest: english version is mostly accurate but i ended up retranslating anyway

"*swoosh* *swoosh* *swoosh* Do I still lack experience? I'm not great at using my tail."

Musashi

Active:

"Any specters that appear shall be cut by my sword. Gahaha!"

[Check the notes on his bio for the specters/mononoke thing. Also, like most samurai characters in media, Musashi uses some outdated language. Unfortunately I don't know enough old english to try to adapt that.]

Rest:

"... ...I'm awake... Perhaps you do not know. This is a form of meditation, Zazen. It is part of my training."

Alef

Active:

"Let's do our best together to defeat Darksol."

Rest:

"What is the deal with that priest, Lowe? He's been loitering around for a while. It's quite unpleasant, could you do something about it?"

Torasu

Active: the english version is accurate, if a bit clumsy

"Please try to not be hurt badly. If your allies are hurt, leave them to me."

Rest:

"Max, you're wide open! *thump* Aah, you didn't feel it at all? Ohh, were I powerful like a monk, maybe I'd stand out more."

Adam

Active: the GBA version fits perfectly.

"I was born to serve you... I will follow wherever you lead."

Rest:

“Darksol… I cannot forgive him. Even Chaos was used by him… I won’t ever forgive him…”

Hanzou

Active: the GBA version fits perfectly.

"...A ninja is a man of few words. We are content to show our strength in battle..."

Rest:

"Everyone is very active. Well, it's fine by me. I am of the shadows. A bright place like this does not suit me. But should you desire, I'll lend you my power."

[shiningforcegirlpower]

New Recruit

And new recruit - AMON!

She's usually meant to pair with her husband, Balbaroy, but I'll say that in this story, when Balbaroy was turned to stone, his wings were damaged. Amon, while having a more aggressive personality than her husband, tends to actually be worse to play than him.

But we're gonna make her into a beast!

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force All Ship HQ Quotes - JP & ENG

Regular HQ quotes here

HQ quotes from SF2 here

HQ quotes from Final Conflict here

Ken:

"It's my first time ever being in a ship this big."

Luke: english version is accurate

Tao:

"So this is a ship... I've always wanted to ride on one at least once."

Hans:

"What if I'm thrown into the sea... When I imagine that I get so, so scared. I wonder how the others feel."

Lowe:

"Unnngh, I feel sick... It'd be great to learn a spell that could heal seasickness..."

"Traveling by ship is great too... If you lend an ear to the sounds of the waves, you can hear the words of the ocean."

Gort: english version is accurate

This might contradict the GBA version, where Gort has a tragic story involving the ocean, and is not thrilled to battle at sea.

Of course, disliking to fight at sea isn't the same as dislike the sea, though. At the same time, Max’s diary also portrays him as seasick, so it does feel like the writers really had different ideas on this.

Mae: english version is accurate save for changing her intonation at the end

Khris:

"The others seem to be sick. Maybe I should’ve given them some medicine."

Anri:

"We're finally going to the eastern continent. I wonder if we'll ever see Guardiana again..."

Arthur:

"I have no experience fighting on a ship. Will I be able to fight well?"

Balbaroy: english version is mostly accurate, though I feel JP Balbaroy is a little pushier/passive aggressive

"Those of use who can fly are great in sea battles. Doesn't hurt to keep that in mind."

Amon:

"Has Balbaroy already talked to you about this? We are very helpful in sea battles since we can fly."

Diane:

"I bet my skills will be useful to intercept enemies from here on the ship."

Zylo:

"I can't relax while on this ship. It's far too different from a forest..."

Pelle:

"We knights might not be that good at a sea battle..."

Yogurt:

“…I don’t get it…”

As usual, Yogurt gets always the same line in japanese, while the localization decides to remove the gag and pretend he's a normal character.

Kokichi:

"Oh, I'm worried. What will I do if I fall to the sea? I can't swim..."

Vankar:

"Uugh, I feel sick... No, no, not from drinking, it's the sea."

Domingo:

“Ahem. Did yu know? No one here believs it but, the ocean and wivers are connected."

Guntz:

"I hate the sea! I mean, my engine and armor are all gonna rust here."

Earnest:

"I'm fine with sea voyages. Since I've traveled through many other countries, I've been in ships before."

Alef:

As I’ve shown yesterday, Alef has a line set up for this HQ in the US version of the game even though she’s not normally available at this point (both screenshots above are using Debug Mode). I have now confirmed the same doesn’t happen in the JP version, where she has an empty “0“ string like the other late game characters (Torasu, Lyle, Bleu, Musashi, Hanzou, and Adam).

Finally, the JP version also has an extra tidbit about Queen Koron having sent the ship’s priest:

"I'm a priest. Queen Koron of Pao asked me to come along you in this ship. Sea voyages can be dangerous, so I hope someone like me can be of help to you."