Shining Force 3 thread

[Anonymous No.10377997]

When should I promote my units? I'm at the Guardian Statue battle in Scenario 1 and most of my characters are hovering around 9-10, with Dantares at 11. I'd like the power boost from promoting, but certain characters in previous games really benefited from the extra levels (looking at you, Arthur and Slade) so I'd like to be sure before I pull the trigger on it.

Also a thread for SF3, or the whole Shining series in general

[Anonymous No.10378090]

>>10377997
In theory, as soon as possible. The level up gains after promoting are so much better than before promotion, and you get more xp meaning more level ups. Also, your unpromoted level ups get worse and worse with each level, you're not going to squeeze a ton of stats from that.
I guess Scenario 1 expects you to promote in chapter 4 because the enemies are suddenly very bulkyand hit hard compared to chapter 3, and you should be around lvl 10 at this point. I did beat chapter 4 without promoting anyone, but it made my life harder.
At any rate, you should absolutely promote once you hit lvl 16 or 17, this is the point where unpromoted level ups suddenly suck a lot and you often don't get any stats. Really no point in not promoting there.

[Anonymous No.10378148]

Was thinking of playing the entire shining series. Thinking it be my 2024 goal. What order should I play them in? Release order?

[Anonymous No.10379287]

>>10378148
Release order is definitely the best

[Anonymous No.10379309]

From multiple playthrough I can say around Level 15 is optimal without being a struggle, also Level after 15 are barely worth a couple of stat points

[Anonymous No.10379437]

>>10378148
dont skip holy ark.

[Anonymous No.10379717]

Thought on Golden Sun taking after the "different story perspectives" element SF3 did?

[Anonymous No.10379752]

>>10378148
Most of the releases follow chronologically. Only Shining in the Darkness is set later, before Shining Wisdom, and Final Conflict is set before Shining Force II, you could play that before II if you want to wrap up the Gaiden series straight through. No point in holding off on Shining in the Darkness, it's a very crude work and the fact that it's set later in the series is pretty irrelevant since the story is very simple. Don't even bother with the post Camelot games, especially the Tony Taka ones. I played them all and they get worse and worse

[Anonymous No.10380020]

>>10379287
>>10379437
>>10379752
Thanks for the info, should I also look into any retranslation patches? Is this one of them series where the English names change from game to game from different people translating it?

[Anonymous No.10380220]

>>10377997
Quonos mansion is a good place to grind, the Vandal boss regens hp and has a lousy attack, just trick him into wasting all his magic and keep your tanks topped off, since his crits and specials do hit hard.

[Anonymous No.10380441]

>>10377997
I hear this question asked a lot. Ultimately, it matters not as much as you think.

[Anonymous No.10380445]

[Anonymous No.10380538]

>>10377997
You have to consider the practical application of "power leveling" and how it actually helps you win battles. I see folks sit there and grind every member to level 20/40 pre-promotion (depending on the game), then grind MMNKs or whomever to lvl99... but why?? AT that point a single character can solo the entire game. In the time it took you to grind, you could have beaten the whole game three times over by now.

>tldr:
Don't treat Shining Force like Pokemon. Treat it more like Warsong.

[Anonymous No.10381156]

[Anonymous No.10381224]

I usually wait until level 20.
>>10380020
>should I also look into any retranslation patches?
No.
>>10380538
>but why??
It's fun.

[Anonymous No.10381283]

>>10380538
I always waited because I heard some characters will be shitty if you don't, like they'll get stuck in some limbo or sucking by the end game or something if you don't promote late, I heard that and just always did it

[Anonymous No.10381291]

>>10381283
Shining Force II and onward are very well balanced in a vanilla run where you promote as soon as you can. You should be able to sail through the game without issue.

[Anonymous No.10381296]

>>10378090
Just hit Chapter 4 and I see what you mean about the enemies being hard-hitting and bulky, so I think I'm going to promote now for the much-needed stat buffs. At least a few of my units managed to hit 11-12 beforehand (Synbios, Grace and Cybel hitting 11 and Dantares, Masqurin and Hayward hitting 12). All the new characters I'm getting are pre-promoted, so I think the game's trying to tell me to promote now.

Not to mention that SF3's engine is pretty slow and on top of that I'm on real hardware so grinding would take forever anyways

>>10380220
Unfortunately I'm already well past that battle, probably should have taken advantage of that while I could

[Anonymous No.10381316]

>>10381296
Also I love how everyone has new portraits after promotion, definitely worth it for that alone

[Anonymous No.10381628]

>>10378148
wasn't there something about only 2/3 of the true "Shining Force III" game being released in the west?
Are there modded translations of chapters 2 and 3 for western players?

[Anonymous No.10381646]

>>10381628
only the first part, out of three ("Scenario 1")
there are decent translations for the other two yes.

[Anonymous No.10381654]

>>10381646
I remember absolutely loving Shining Force II, never tried 3.
I think I'll go for it using the translations to get the full experience.

Should I get all 3 scenarios translated? Or western for 1 and translated for 2 and 3.
No idea if in the western version of scenario 1 they handle things differently in terms of story etc due to a lack of sequels, no idea if they knew at the time that scenarios 2 and 3 would not be released

[Anonymous No.10381661]

>>10381654
yeah get the translation for the first one. they knew in advance that they wouldn't localize scenarios 2 and 3, so they reworked the story in order to not have a cliffhanger.
also, you can transfer your data between games and I assume they removed that from the western version.

[Anonymous No.10381664]

>>10381661
great to know, thanks!
I am not sure where to go though, for standard non-modded games I always turn to TOSEC, but I've never actually tried to play a modded console rom/image. Suggestions?

[Anonymous No.10381802]

[Anonymous No.10382584]

[Anonymous No.10384663]

[Anonymous No.10384691]

>>10378148
Entire shining series?
Don’t do that
Just do the force games and darkness+holy ark

[Anonymous No.10384693]

>>10381654
Use the translation for all 3
Not sure the western one can transfer save over, someone correct me on that

[Anonymous No.10384724]

>>10380020
There aren't any retranslation patches that I know of, just for Scenario 1 of Shining Force III to be consistent with the other unofficial translations

[Anonymous No.10384772]

>>10384724
Here are the guys that have painstakingly translated Scenarios 2 and 3. You should be able to find out everything you want on this forum.
https:// forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=a233c53f0f80fbeae64f0f8c73e5889e

[Anonymous No.10386593]

>>10377997
>not just going to GameFAQS

[Anonymous No.10387632]