Part 25: Character analysis 5

The Shining Force: Part 5


"I'm just happy to be with Elric."
Pros: High base stats, comes with extra pre-promotion levels
Cons: Low end stats, still an archer
Standing in for: Diane
Stat growths
Thoughts: Not much to say about Janet here. Normally she works as a good complement to May, as she's very effective during the mid-game where her stats universally outshine Elric's. By the end you might want to dump her, but analyzing her stat growths in-depth, she might be better than Elric overall. Her attack growth is actually not too shabby compared to Rhode's. Obob also speculates that she might be better simply due to coming in at level 24 unpromoted, compared to Elric's 21 and Rohde's pre-promote. Who knows!


"The Ancients were so smart! Moving about in a vehicle is wonderful!"
Pros: Kind of like Janet
Cons: Except slightly worse, I can never remember how to spell his name
Standing in for: N/A (Shining Force 1 only had three archers)
Stat growths
Thoughts: I'm not entirely sure what the point of Rohde is. The other three special promotion items are easy to miss, so I get why the game “compensates” you with Taya, Jaro, and Lemon. The silver tank is almost impossible to miss, and Rohde is completely redundant anyway – he gets universally outstriped by both Janet and Elric as gunners. He also looks goofy as hell and was the source of much childhood torment (due to not being able to place the wooden panel). Toss Rhode aside, there's nothing useful about him.


"I can't kill myself. Why? I'm not a vampire, am I?"
Pros: Slightly better overall growth than Chester
Cons: Crappy starting stats, do we really need this many centaurs?
Standing in for: Vankar (solely because of the mustache)
Stat growths
Thoughts: Higins is very easy to pass over, because by the time you get him, both Chester and Rick are probably outdoing him in stats. But there's a reason for that, and that's because both of his important growths are late. No wonder he's been doing so poorly in my game, huh? Either way, he's still better than Chester, but he's still a knight in the end. Too bad.


"Mitula looks young, but she is actually quite old."
Pros: Learns Atlas faster than any other sorcerer
Cons: Single most fragile character in the game
Spells: Dao/Apollo/Atlas/Neptune
Standing in for: N/A (Shining Force 1 only had three mages; Taya does not fit Domingo's style)
Stat growths
Thoughts: Taya was probably the worst character in the original game, after Chester and Kiwi. She was the single most fragile character, and the rates at which she learned sorcerer spells were pathetic compared to Kazin and Tyrin. She's been tuned up now. Her defense is a little bit better, but more importantly, she learns Atlas faster than anyone else. Atlas is hands down the best spell in the game, dealing the most damage and ignoring all resistances. Taya will have a special place in my heart, because nobody will be matching her for single target damage.


"Are you surprised to see how fast I grew? So am I!"
Pros: Flies, higher attack of the birdmen
Cons: Somehow even more fragile than Luke, has a late attack growth
Spells: Blast
Standing in for: Balbaroy
Stat growths
Thoughts: Skreech borders on the lower end of useful in the original game. I don't think using him in Challenge Mode is a good idea, since his attack is still low compared to good characters, and he's easier to kill than Luke, who's already getting smashed by critical hits. Well, I guess that's why I'm using him. Let's hear it for bad ideas! It also just dawned on me that Luke and Skreech might have the most hypermasculinized designs in the game. That's a little unsettling.