r/ShiningForce

Basically what the title says, bc I've been playing this game since 2009 and other than warsong i found none that matches this game.

Edit: thank you everyone for the recommendations, im really excited to check everything tyyy❤️❤️❤️

So im currently replaying SF2 and am at the point where Peter fully joins the force. Ive played this game about once a year for over a decade and have beaten it countless times. Ive done challenge runs played on hardest difficulty done deathless runs. So this go around I just want to see who everyone's favorite characters are and will make my final team out of that. Really the only people I wont drop are Bowie, Peter and Slade since they have been my favorite characters since start.

Discovered this game recently, many hours into the game and love it.
Here is the problem:
I’ve reached the Taros Shrine and need to fight the big green guy with the sword (Taros?). I figured out he can only be damaged with Achillies Sword, which can only be equipped by my main character. My problem is my main character is absolutely worthless and not leveled up. I’ve just left him in the back hanging out the whole time. I have zero chance in this fight. One shot and killed every interaction with Taros. I can’t bring myself to start over….anyone out there have a way to help with this?

Edit: After reading all your great input, I’m just going to restart the game. I clearly have missed a ton by rushing through it. Great, great, game and I love that there is still a community keeping it alive. For fun (and to be mocked), here some of my player levels at Taros:
Main: 5
Sarah: 5
Slade: 7
Chester: 25
Jaha: 23
Kahzin: 23
Gerhalt: 22
Peter: 29

2nd Edit:
No spoilers please….but is there anything else I simply MUST do to proceed later in the game? I don’t want to get stuck again with something similar.

This is something I’ve been trying to figure out for years.

For starters, I’m one of the shockingly younger fans out there. I’m 18 (born in ‘07) and I’ve been playing Shining Force 1 and 2 for a really long time (at least, on the scale of my life)—I’ve been playing probably about 12 years for SF1 and probably at least 10 now for SF2. I’ve basically grown up with these games. And for the last decade, of course, ever since I found out there was a SF3 about 10 years ago now I’ve wanted to get my hands on it, especially considering that I’ve heard it’s probably the best game in the franchise (Shining Force 2 is currently my favorite and better than the first game but I hear 3 is even better). But like most people, inaccessibility is the reason I never have played it. I know that it’s possible, because there are people who are able to play it, but how? Those of you who play it—all 3 scenarios and LEGALLY—how so?

Upon reaching Railhead, the Jason Battalion finds itself stuck between the Imperials and more of the thieves of Dusty Village. Will they be able to board the train and return to Aspinia? Find out now as part 6 of #shiningforceiii is now live!

https://youtu.be/xB0BhCPu2Sg

#LetsPlay #railhead

Damn you!! See this reddit I want to play SF2 again.

Any recommendations for a fun twist or theme on the play thru? Not looking for solo challenges.

I have beat super deathless.

I did another play thru where I only use characters that I normally never use... Like a Luke/Elric/Randolf

And a damnit, kiwi will be strong, where I promoted him at lvl40 and also used every stat boost on him.

Maybe weaponless creatures except for vicars & Bowie?

My favourite is Angium Bulletheart if I remember his name correctly haha. He's my favourite Tony Taka male character tbh. But my favourite character is kaguya

So there is dreadfully little discussion about this game, and a lot of it is from at least a decade ago. A lot of the advice about promotion is to do so in the 14-17 range, but this seems really high and probably assumes Egress grinding, heal stalling, or both. I am right before the final 2 battles of Ch3 and my party is all Level 9-10 with the exception of Noon (since he is a pre-promote) despite my OCD to kill every enemy on the map and try to distribute levels equally among units I expect to use. This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me in a tactical RPG as a result, just feeling so far behind the experience curve despite my need to rout every map.

Can someone else who also beat the game without grinding speak to when they decided to promote their characters? It seems like it would just not be worth it to slug out given at this rate I am looking at a Ch 5 promotion if I wish to follow the common (albeit dated) advice about this topic.

Thank you!

EDIT: Even looking at other posts about this game on the Shining Force forums I just feel like I am on a completely different wavelength...so many about supports and weapon skill that encourage "training" and "power leveling"...we don't have time to do that, we need to get back to the republic! D:

EDIT 2: Given SF3 adopts the "immediate stat gain" style of promotion from Fire Emblem and that it likely follows an inverted difficulty curve (it gets easier as you progress), feel really confident about promoting at 10, thank you all for your replies!

First playthrough & I guess I bought into the hype & kept propping him up (early game you don’t have many choices) expecting this pay off that didn’t look so promising in the moment.

Right now I’d swear he’s just terrible. Meanwhile everyone craps on Rohde for sucking but he has high accuracy & is doing as much damage as Gerhalt every turn. What gives?

I finally got fed up with Kiwi getting nowhere & swapped for an Archer, who, at level 25 is doing 1 damage for 1 exp point. Even worse than before. I don’t know where the hell to level her up now I’m to Ketto & battle past the drought castle. Any advice at this point? All my heavy hitter heroes just keep battling & racking up levels with exp but no matter who I pick I’m protecting someone who isn’t pulling their weight.

I really think the game improves on its predecessor in many ways but just isn’t as balanced.

Thanks for reading.

but how come mages and wizards take far more effort than it's worth to set loose on any battlefield to get stronger in Shining Force CD?