Part 11: Character analysis 3

The Shining Force: Part 3


"Bowie, do you think I'm a snob? I heard a rumor about me!"
Pros: Extremely high attack, flies, revives for free
Cons: Boring as piss, probably intentionally designed as a game-breaker
Standing in for: Bleu
Stat growths
Thoughts: Everyone who's ever played this game knows that Peter is far and away the best character. On top of having the highest attack growth in the game, he also is an unarmed fighter, which means the Attack spell works even better on him. He's also durable enough to taking a beating and is one of the few characters to gain an elemental resistance. Should you somehow get him killed, he automatically comes back to life for free. He's insanely good and in a boring way. Also, look at his butt feathers. They're stupid.


"What is Grans like? I'm from the country, so I really like cities!"
Pros: Highest archer attack, archers gain good range, extremely effective against fliers
Cons: Archers lag behind everyone else in attack, also made out glass
Standing in for: Lyle
Stat growths
Thoughts: I don't know why Shining Force 2 decides to give you the centaur archer first, but I'm not going to argue. Traditionally, the centaur archers have higher attack but weaker defense to make up for it. May outstrips the other archers in endgame stats and has consistent growth so she doesn't feel like she has weak stretches of the game (I'm staring at you, Hans and Elric). Though you can safely drop her in the original version, the abundance of flying enemies that get taken down in a snap by May in this hack make her a serious asset.


"Grrr... Grrrrrrr... is that enough? I try to be brutal."
Pros: Extremely high attack, few terrain penalties
Cons: Low base movement, low defense for a front line fighter
Standing in for: Zylo
Stat growths
Thoughts: The wolfman in Shining Force 2 is not nearly as broken as his ancestor. He does have the highest attack after Peter and can move through forest squares with ease. On the other hand, his defense is fairly weak and he only has a base movement of 5. Gerhalt requires some kind of movement boost to hang with the top tier characters. Without it, he's still good, but not spectacular. Well, until you learn Attack.


"I prefer the battle area to the Caravan."
Pros: Flies
Cons: Weak stats all around, fliers have particularly low defense
Spells: Blast
Standing in for: Amon
Stat growths
Thoughts: The tankier of the two birdmen in Shining Force 2, Luke is still sub-par. His defense isn't great and he never gets terrain bonus, so he's prone to getting hurt a lot. Flying is a nice advantage to have, but Camelot seems to have a lot of trouble balancing flying units. Either they're horridly overpowered (Peter in this game, Kiddo in Final Conflict is also a good example), or they mostly ineffective (both birdmen in this game and in Shining Force 1). Birdmen have received small buffs, both direct and indirect, but it's just not enough. Also Obob gave them Blast, for no reason I can identify.