It's time for the climax. Where we last left off, Max & Co. just arrived in the city of Runefaust (). We recruited the Ninja Hanzo but left him sitting ever valiant on the stools of HQ. Also, despite this user's () insistence that Torasu is better than Lowe, I chose not to switch since I've gotten too attached to Lowe. He may be a low-level shitter, but he's my shitter.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
The current imcumbent ruler of Runefaust (previously Protectora) has some relevant reading materials.
As a refresher, my currently active Shining Force:
>Max
>Domingo
>Tao
>Khris
>Balbaroy
>Ken
>Diane
>Mae
>Gort
>Luke
>Gong
>Lowe
Gong and Balbaroy has felt to be the lowest impact in this group, probably due to me not doing my due diligence and grinding their levels.
Did you promote everyone?
Note that some off-thread progress has been made, so none of this is liveblogging. Yet.
Onwards to Runefaust Castle, which looms ever so menacingly on the world map.
Yes! All of them promoted.
We arrive at Runefaust Castle.
Aw shit here we go! The wild ride begins from here. I hear some of the endgame units are really useful, so it's up to you to decide who to use and who to ditch.
>using Ken and not based Arthur
Granted, Ken does have HP for days which can be useful.
>using Balbaroy still
LMAO I went with based Kokichi in my run. His design looks cooler than either of the birdperson couple.
>Gong has lowest impact
Getting him to MMNK has been one of the best things I did back in my run. He pulled his weight and beyond.
Am I allowed to tell you something special you can do in the game for something little but cool? You still have a ways to go before then.
We finally meet the King of Runfefaust, Ramladu. His mind has been twisted and bent to follow Darksol's will.
Chimaera are very annoying late game enemies. They can breathe fire which ignores DEF and have relatively high evasion. So my low level physical attackers keep missing & missing & missing.
>Am I allowed to tell you something special you can do in the game for something little but cool?
Thanks very much, but no. I intend to keep the blind, no-guides style of my virginal SF1 playthrough. Predictably, some of the unit choices may not seem optimal.
>Getting him to MMNK has been one of the best things I did back in my run
I guess I just didn't level him up enough. Dude only has like 20+ HP and deals 1 damage per attack. A SHITTER!
I'll post it in the spoiler tag for your sake, and somebody else posting can judge if it really does merit me not telling you: Deal the final blow to the final boss with Max using the Sword of Light for a special cool animation that ONLY plays then and for nothing else.
Forgot to mention, during the Ramladu fight my Gong was still unpromoted so I grinded him a bit to later promote him, as pic related shows.
Blue Dragons are not too menacing tbqh. Tons of HP, yes, but their being weak to Fire makes them easy pickings for Best Girl™ Tao.
Thanks, I'll read that after I finish. I have been made aware years ago that there's a secret battle of sorts in this game.
Killing the first wave of foes prompts pic related, and King Ramladu appropriately fashions a machine army out of nowhere. Thankfully, the fight isn't any more difficult than the previous and we kill the robots with little issue.
It's not regarding a secret battle, more like something extremely unexpected but kino. It's an "it's the little things!" sort of moment.
>Best Girl™ Tao
Bitch that's not fucking Anri of Manarina. Mae is THE canon waifu for Max though, or at least that's how fanart depicts her.
Ramladu goes down without too much issue, though he did manage to kill some of my guys beforehand. I don't think any boss are ever going to be as big a casual filter as Mishaela, that bint.
This battle message interrupts Ramladu's dying moments. How fucking inappropriate.
>Mae is THE canon waifu for Max
>how fanart depicts her
>fanart
come_on_now_nigga.png
Have you played Shining in the Darkness, OP? If not, then you might wanna avoid this spoiler Mishaela is the mom of Mephisto from Shining in the Darkness. Darksol from SF1 is his dad too.
>I don't think any boss are ever going to be as big a casual filter as Mishaela, that bint.
The REAL casual filter of Shining Force 1 is Marionette from the Circus fight. Many MANY people will attest to that.
Nova urges us to not faff about. Now is the time for action!
I have played & finished SitD, but I'll still only read that spoiler bit after I finish. Still, thanks very much.
Marionette was indeed tough but I still managed to kill it in one battle. Mishaela took me like 5 or 6 tries.
>Mishaela took me like 5 or 6 tries.
The thing with Mishaela is to launch a coordinated assault on her with EVERYBODY all at once right after her turn ends so she cannot retaliate, managing attack ranges perfectly the whole time. You make the offensive uneven, she Bolt 2s your whole Force into oblivion and regens 15 HP just like that.
>I have played & finished SitD
Great!
>I'll still only read that spoiler bit after I finish. Still, thanks very much.
No problem, it's a very little known fact. Seems like a lot of the lore surrounding the Shining series is like this outside of Japan. Is there a site or something that compiles it all in one easy-to-read place plus a timeline or something? Hope so!
It has the best battle theme, tho
We reach the westmost point of the coast to access the Ancient Castle.
Yes it sure does.
Good luck. I hope you have plenty Shower of Cure and healing items.
Which necessitates the use of the Chaos Breaker. The Castle rises out of the ocean between Runefaust and Guardiana but I somehow forgot to take a screenshot ;_;
>Is there a site or something that compiles it all in one easy-to-read place plus a timeline or something?
Not so sure about that in particular, but www.shiningforcecentral.com is *THE* oldest Shining series fansite to have ever existed so it probably has the necessary resources.
It's funny how in the plot of Shining Force 1 you have to go ALL the way from Guardiana where the Gate of the Ancients is to Runefaust CONVENIENTLY ACROSS THE OCEAN FROM GUARDIANA. In the end, it all comes full fucking circle.
>Not so sure about that in particular, but www.shiningforcecentral.com is *THE* oldest Shining series fansite to have ever existed so it probably has the necessary resources.
Sweet, thanks!
Holy fuck you're at the endgame already. Not bad
Inside we fight against this weird semi-robotic head called the Collosus. Dude's strange but powerful-looking.
It has been a very fun game.
Welcome to the finale of Shining Force 1. Please PLEASE refer to my spoiler in before you fight Dark Dragon PLEAAAAAAAAASEEEEEEEEE!!!! YOU HAVE TO END WITH MAXIMUM KINO MAAAAAAAAN!!!!
This nigga disgustan'-looking.
Like pottery indeed.
Okay, I read the spoiler. I'll try, I make no promises should Tao act out of line and BAKURETSU MAHOU Dark Dragon out of existence.
Oh lmao somebody in last thread told you the Darksol + Mishaela = Mephisto SitD shit. Ah well, glad you were caught off guard by that.
なぁぁぁんだ。弱くない?
BEST GIRL! BEST GIRL! BEST GIRL! BEST GIRL!
For such a menacing looking enemy this late into the game, these Colossus heads really aren't all that threatening eh?
Ah, so that's what it was? Still, I appreciate you for being careful with spoilers.
WE DID IT, Yas Forums!
Well I overlooked all these threads. I played this as a kid. I remember getting mad when I unlocked Yogurt and realized I got fucking scammed.
Thanks. Also yeah I said Sword of Light when it should be Chaos Breaker by that point. Sorry!
Yeah no problem. Being unspoiled is a treasure. Savor it while you can.
One of the best girls indeed. Also how did you get that Japanese to be accurate?
>inb4 Google Translated it one piece at a time.
Not over yet! Here comes the big bad motherfucker himself: Darksol. I hope you're not tired of Jets and Torch Eyes, because those two are literally the last endgame enemy units. Also am I the only person to look at the sprite of the Jets on the map and think they look like ayys with tentacle arms like fucking Etemon from Digimon? But they're actually literal jet-propulsion robot jellyfish things that just bodyslam into enemies for lots of damage.
He's the meme character lmao.
We hurry on to Darksol's location.
I never did unlock Jogurt ;_;
>Also how did you get that Japanese to be accurate?
dekinai_chan_smug.png
>I hope you're not tired of Jets and Torch Eyes
Fucking hate Torch Eyes, at least they don't have that much HP and Max can consistently one-shot them down.
>Dark Dragon
>Darksol
>Dark Falz
>Darker
>Profound Darkness
WTF BROS
Why is SEGA so racist?
How absolutely grotesque. I love this design.
How outlandishly repulsive.
Immediately I notice a problem. This chokepoint will be a major hazard, I'd wager.
I fucking hate those little robot things
LO AND BEHOLD
My intuition was indeed correct, my poor baby Domingo ;_;
Fucking Torch Eyes.
After a while, we make our way through with minimal losses. If those Laser Terror Drones are content to just guard the hallway, so be it. I'll just ignore them.
The big man himself: Darksol.
As is the case with any boss, we start by BOOSTing our physical attackers.
Max stands valiantly before Darksol.
Darksol crumbles before the might of the Chaos Breaker!
CUTE! and saved.
The wimpy Darksol can only lightly tickle Max with his feeble attacks.
WE DID IT, Yas Forums!
AGAIN!
OH NO
WHO COULDA SEEN THIS COMING?
And there he is. The revived Dark Dragon in all his monstrous splendour.
Now, Yas Forums, there's a problem here. Do you see it? I give 20 internet points to whomever guesses it correctly.
The problem being that more than half of my Force was wiped out in the Darksol fight. So here I stand, against the mighty Dark Dragon at less than half strength. Something tells me I won't win.
Whatever, let Max take a whack at it and see how strong this dragon really is.
Oh shit I loved this game and the second to a lesser degree. Shame the franchise is pretty much dead now with it's newer entries being nothing but shovelware
Despite an impressive critical hit, Dark Dragon's HP didn't move an inch. Impressive, you overgrown lizard.
It has no wings, so it's not a dragon.
Oh noes.
A shame, yeah. At least Tony Taka's girls are nice to look at.
BRUH
I'm gonna tuck Ken in this neat little pocket between your heads, Dark Dragon. Hope you don't mind.