Shining Force - Tier List - Force Members (Spoilers)

Shining Force Force Member Tier List
Video Clips used from:
Most battle clips from @WorldOfLongplays • Mega Drive Longplay [4...
Yogurt Battle Clips from @luthe25 • Let's Play Shining For...

[@devildogkogg8353]

Also about Diane, something you likely didn't know: she is Tao's sister. This was never revealed in the English version of the game, but it's true

[@AngelEmfrbl]

The English version never said Max and Kane are brothers either, there was skipped storyline. Wendy, who appears in a couple of other games is Tao's sister too. Ken also becomes a dad in another game as does "Luke" (Lug, it was corrected in other games). The other thing is, knights were intended to work in pairs of 2-4, while they can solo thats the intention.

[@Leishtek]

Domingo at B is criminal. Dude is so ridiculously overpowered for 4/5 of the game. The other characters FINALLY start to catch up to him towards the very end, but he has so much utility for so long that anything below A isn't fair, imo.

[@TheOneEd83]

I agree. To me, Domingo, Musashi, Zylo and Bleu felt overpowered at time, specially the first two. Surely, Domingo gets freeze 4 when it reaches level 27 as opposed to Anri at level 23, but Domingo gets experience points like an unpromoted character and stays several levels ahead of the rest of the party. It is easier to reach level 27 unpromoted than level 23. Also he floats lol

[@Mtgproxycanadamtgproxycanada]

You literally took the words out of my mouth, his mobility + defence + spells. He is the PETER of SF1 and anri above him is laughable. Trash tier list

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Domingo has an auto slot in the force for sure but his magic is too weak late game to be top tier.

[@gerythdrayfore5759]

The author here puts Anri in S tier but Domingo only in B? Domingo is just a straight upgrade over Anri no matter how you cut it. Casts the same freeze spells with flight *and* the boost spell? He easily eclipses Anri in usefulness.

[@gerythdrayfore5759]

@@CosmicCosmo1 Boost and Freeze 4 are too weak late game? You're smoking some good shit.

[@chrisvalen]

The hell you put domingo at a B.... and put yogurt at a D...... yogurt? Whom cant level up and is just the mascot

[@poke_wounds9175]

Zylo is S-Tier easily.

[@MindSorcery]

He his!

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Some runs other runs he turns out weak af. I find zylo to be the least consistent growth wise. When you do get good level ups he certainly is S tier.

[@AKAGhostChan]

Never promote zylo

[@CosmicCosmo1]

@@AKAGhostChan I'm sure he is unusable late game if you never promote though right?

[@MooreThanaPodcast]

The game curves once he's included 😂

[@blackdragoncyrus]

Zylo, Domingo, and Bleu are in all my playthroughs of this game.

[@wallsofjerich0]

Bleu is the best!!

[@notsure1350]

I usually egress that Kane fight so many times to get bleu nice and beefy.

[@PatternShift]

@@notsure1350same. It makes it so easy to grind Bleu a little! And then he’s incredible. Tanky in both HP and defense! Almost like a Peter you get late in the game… not quite that good, but closest unit in SF1 to that.

[@devildogkogg8353]

Domingo should be higher, he is a tanky flying mage with high hp, high def, and high mp. He's practically Anri and Kokichi fused

[@CosmicCosmo1]

So you replay the Kain fight 15 times everytime you go through the game right? Seems inefficient

[@themidcentrist]

Back in the day I remember having Pelle leveled up really high, hitting like a freight train, and kicking butt. Then if I remember correctly, the final boss (or one of the later bosses at least) uses a spell against me I had never seen before. A grim reaper starts flying around Pelle and takes his soul, and my highest level character is dead before he had a chance to do anything in that fight. Me and my best friend were like...'WTF just happened???' To this day, I think of Pelle as being strong in body but with a weak mind and having very little willpower. Mae was the opposite. She wasn't the hardest hitting character, but was tough and could take a beating.

[@CaptainColdyron222]

That’s the spell Desoul. And it sucks because it will kill the character immediately.

[@MooreThanaPodcast]

I had Pelle leveled as well as Arthur. I used to level Arthur until he could use magic. I think he's the only half beast that can do it.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@CaptainColdyron222 It also has something like a 25% chance to kill, so its unreliable at lvl 1 or as a item use bonus. But lvl2? If you get 3 characters in its slots it almost always takes one of them down. Always. Like. Every time. The only reason a item has it is so that characters who are left behind can try to make use of it to get XP, same with the axe with blaze and all the rest.

[@devildogkogg8353]

Gort was always my favorite. For one, he's green and that's my favorite color, two, he is a friggin truck both in terms of offense and defense, three, because of the circumstances of his recruitment: Runefaust attacked while he was drinking in the bar. The whole rest of the village is destroyed, but the bar is in perfect condition unscathed. The bartender explains that Gort singlehandedly fought off the attackers and saved both him and the bar. Gort, nostalgic from the thrill of battle from the fight he just won, gladly volunteers to join

[@CosmicCosmo1]

He's certainly way cooler as a dwarf character than luke

[@Lupo32]

@@CosmicCosmo1 I like to use both gort and luke in tandem... Even better if they have the heat axe

[@feliciavale4279]

Yeah Gort is a real nigga

[@MooreThanaPodcast]

Gort and Luke both leveled up are my tanks.

[@bobbyrabii6119]

Played this game as a kid when it came out, Gort is the man. Always used to say “Gort there it is!” After every attack

[@slobiden.2593]

The issue with this game is level ups are so random in how they dish out stats. One time Zylo got nothing from a level up. So I loaded a save state. Next time it grave him a damage increase of SEVEN.

[@ztrinx1]

Yeah, it really depends on which version of the game you play. The different emulations, e.g. SEGA collection for PS3, Steam etc. took away that randomness and made it move evenly spread out. Regardless, once you get to a certain level, it all evens out at some point where you don't get “significant stats” any more. In the end, you get the same results.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@ztrinx1 the randomness was supposedly done on purpose so no playthrough produces the same results. Like most games make Mae good, but once every so often, Ken will outshine her and she sucks. My current playthrough Domingo has a lot of HP, and sort of a lot of MP but its lagging behind a LOT. So for the first time, the two stats aren't almost identical. A lot of players also don't notice with things like knights, the knights themselves aren't meant to be solo characters, they are meant to work in groups of 2-4, so when judging the knights not many players consider this. The result is they base their playthroughs and opinions on how each are good, without considering that maybe "Mae is good but would work best with Earnest". Thats why you get so many of them in the game. The game tries to tell the player that more then once, it gives you Mae and Ken at the start and Chapter 4 has the big Knight battle, hence why it gives you Earnest, Kokichi, Guntz and Vankar, though it is frustrating Earnest misses out on that battle. A frontline of Mae, Earnest, Arthur, Ken and Pelle moves quickly to intercept, bringing the fight to the enemy, flanking and surrounding them. The two birdmen are in the same situation, they and Kokichi are interceptors. Only Domingo and Bleu are solo flyers, both being tanks, they serve the same interceptor purpose but are meant to be able to handle themselves whereas the other 3 aren't. So the flying units, save Bleu and Domingo, and the knights are always supposed to have a companion unit with them because they serve similar roles. The only spear user who doesn't need a partner is Guntz, but he *is* a solo-ist. Its like how Mages are meant to be support "area of effect" units. Tao, Anri and Alef are essentially progressives and the idea was you'd abandon Toa eventually for Anri, Anri for Alef. Save thing happened with the healers, though Bolt 4 and Aura 4 is a pointless waste of MP. All of the bonus hidden members are there just for nice bonuses. Most of them offer alternative gameplay ideas to the ones you are forced to use. They typically have a gimmick behind them. The core game is built around the ones you can't skip. I once had a chat with someone who knew a bit about the behind the scenes, but this was in the 00s. I can't tell you much more about the game other then that.

[@killerb255]

Barbaroy and Amon can equip the Chaos Breaker!!

[@MindSorcery]

Domingo is the best tank in the game, he's evade stats are great also. Fly, spell, Def, evade. I always though of him my best unit and awesome character. Guntz and Zelo have a special place in my heart as well. Tao and Anri combo is OP. Gong had a lot of promising feature at first but drop that severely after promotion, which is a shame he looked really cool and fighting bare hands...awesome.

[@carloscatarino7890]

I agree. I took the time to level Domingo up to a point he was able to take down clusters of 4-5 enemies on his own and survive. Gong is so cool, but he just can't keep up.

[@NovaSaber]

Yeah, the fact that Domingo won't get Freeze level 4 during a normal-level run doesn't make him bad, it's just what keeps him from being definitively better than Anri. Even without strong single-target damage he's highly useful because he can tank everything (and draw enemy attacks away from the other highly mobile characters, because the enemy AI tends to prioritize attacking him over most other characters) and has more MP than Anri.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

In SF 3 they give you Amigo, a healer whose the same species as him. I wish they'd remake and re-release SF3 on modern consoles.

[@MindandSorcery]

​@@AngelEmfrblI don't know if we'll ever see SF3 on day... Sure hope so!

[@kaptainKrill]

Another Shining Force content creator! 😮 Gonna have to clear my schedule to work through the backlog.

[@medleysa]

Good tier list. I would rank Kokichi a little higher, maybe high B, around Blue. He’s a flying knight and it pretty in line with the other knights, but his flight gets him around the maps better than the knights. If you’re gonna have a Lance character… well, pick Guntz, but Kokichi is a solid second option. Domingo should be higher. His defense is incredible for any character, let alone a mage, and the AI loves to target him. He struggles to deal damage in the late game, but he’s a good target to draw heavier damage dealers off.

[@wallsofjerich0]

I'm really annoyed I didn't get Kokochi is my last playthrough, I was playing through pretty fast and loose and just forgot all about him. Remembered I had used him in the past as soon as I saw his promoted helicopter fight.... I also feel I may have bee too hard on domingo....also thanks for the comment.

[@medleysa]

@@wallsofjerich0 Domingo is awesome for the mid-game when you get him, but he falls off in the end game. I will say for a casual playthrough (i.e., no egressing to level), Domingo stays relevant throughout. He's a flying mage with relatively high defense, and the enemy AI seems to prioritize him. So he can get into the battle, he can dish out damage, and he can take a hit (that will assuredly distract enemies). In a hardcore playthrough, he pales compared to the other mages at higher levels as his damage output and MP growth falter.

[@rowanmorris2187]

I love this game. I grabbed the mega drive classics for this and SF2.

[@mrtencza]

Amon CAN use the Dark Sword!

[@AKAGhostChan]

WHAT?!?!? 🤯

[@mrtencza]

@@AKAGhostChan yeah. It even shows in the ending, although by the time you get the dark sword you're no longer fighting Pegasus knight's.

[@joelkasik8409]

In my opinion, In terms of gameplay, Pelle is an S tier unit. He has good survivability, fantastic attack stat allowing him to nearly one-shot enemies at base, has high movement, requires no investment so you don’t have to go through any grinding, and he makes great use of the movement ring. He kind of reminds me of Marcus or Seth from Fire Emblem.

[@ebrietas-biscuit]

Amon has always gotten to be the better bird in my multiple play throughs. But to each their own. Thanks for the video!

[@briangaron7609]

My khris always ends up being strong enough to be right behind my front lines. Maybe it is luck but she is tough enough to fight melee

[@wallsofjerich0]

I'm probably too hard on all the SF1 Healers.

[@MindSorcery]

And with that Power Staff it get's insane !

[@blancfan1]

Its not luck. Khris is just built different.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

Honestly? You don't really need Aura above level 2 in SF1 and SF2. It makes characters in both games with Aura level 4 pointless.

[@UncleSporky]

Lyle is awesome, but he comes at a deceptive time...I think the battle where you are first given him is all outdoor forest, which cripples his movement. But if you make him a regular part of your team, his horse movement is great, and the late game archer weapons have great range too. I know that almost any character becomes great if you baby them and focus on leveling them, but in his case I have always felt it was worth it. It's awesome to have a character with that amount of range for no MP cost, a niche you want filled by somebody. Great for those times when you're surrounding a boss and need to get in as many hits as possible. For me, Zylo, Domingo, and every mage are S-tier. I typically hate Guntz because I already have plenty of spear users and his movement speed is just awful. It feels like a waste of the Mobility Ring just to make someone equal to others, when instead you can give it to someone like Zylo and sweep death across the field. Domingo's slow spell growth isn't that big of a problem, his flight outweighs it, and being stuck in lower tiers of Freeze just means you get to make more casts before running out. He's always an MVP for me.

[@notsure1350]

I like giving Guntz the mobility ring and the turbo pepper, but I don't like to use many knights

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

i agree, guntz is a defensive powerhouse but his hp doesn't get very high making him a liability late game when monsters have magic damage typing hits that go through defense. feels like a waste of mobility considering other characters don't have his weaknesses.

[@fakeigniz13]

Some of the stat gains can be very wild. It makes for some very inconsistent games.

[@jonmichaelgalindo]

I chose my force on how cool the characters looked. Nothing else.

[@chesthomas7681]

Recently I tried a "no optional characters" run, and it getting the endgame without having Domingo, Anri, Guntz, Zylo or Musashi kinda sucks. And it made me realize how few of the mandatory characters are worthwhile. Flip side, it finally forced me to actually take the time to try levelling Adam, which I've never done before, and he's actually much better than I've ever given him credit for.

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

The characters that can't use weapons are easily the strongest in the game.

[@jasonallen5318]

I recently did the same playthrough, but did you evade the starting characters of Lowe, Luke & Ken? You can sneak out of town without them joining your force in the starting town. Makes the game a little more difficult starting out.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@GloriouslyIncadescent only if you let them. The main problem is without the ability to equip items, they all suck without spells to boad them if they fall behind. The first time my brother and I played the game we both did the same thing and left characters behind, so we didn't know Arthur grew to be a strong character, etc.

[@rayplaysgames_RPG]

Why does nobody understand archers cannot be as strong because they have huge range. They also carry you through early game.

[@PAINNN666]

This guy is insane. Don't know about others

[@Naniac96]

​@@PAINNN666true

[@MindSorcery]

That's true, Range unit weaken ennemies before they get to you,. Lke you said, are highly usefull before your mages get high mp, i never leave home without one!

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

Because knights with spears accomplish the same goals without the negatives.

[@rayplaysgames_RPG]

@@GloriouslyIncadescent spears do not have the range of archers especially not late game

[@spectrelead]

Personally, since Guntz and Musashi have the same real flaw (movement), I use both, and I find Guntz to be the damage sponge. If it doesn't bypass defense, the armadillo in armor just laughs

[@CaptainColdyron222]

Just give Guntz the Mobility Ring and he’s a beast.

[@UncleSporky]

I would love to watch you play a challenge run of the game where you use as low of tier characters as possible as they are added to your party (with the exception of Jogurt, and only needing to have 1 or 2 healers). In other words you'd have Hans the whole game, wouldn't be able to use Anri long before she'd have to get kicked out for Amon or something, end the game with Alef as your only mage, etc. Might be interesting, and surely would still be possible with enough grinding. You might even find certain characters better than you expected!

[@zanon3362]

Max is quite the powerhouse throughout, so he could carry quite a bit of it. The knights are probably decent enough to help out along the way to finish the deal. I've done a Max-only (even though it took a bit of grinding). Most of these lower tier characters would likely end up as meat-shields to take some hits as their stat growth does end up just so awful they are not getting close to higher tier character damage.

[@zachgilchrist669]

Zylo is a bit meh around promotion time. But he's a force once you get him through that slump. Especially if you're doing the 20/20 method

[@raxfox2394]

I think its kind of difficult to make a good overall Tier list for game where the charas can get very different Lv.up stats. Back in the days of Genesis/Mega Drive Ive probably wasted 3 Reset buttons on this game because of trying to get perfect Lv. ups on all the charas. And I can tell that some charas who are rated A or S tier, sometimes never really get one of their main states powered up much for like 5-8 lvs, making them falling back really worse. In one run Zylo for example never really got his ATT up after Promo Lv3 or 4, making him almost useless. Best example is Adam. Together with Bleu he is - statewise - S tier. Its not that hard to make both of them having HP, ATT and DEF reaching 99 (and they even dont use weapons), but if the game decides to give you a bad day, then he ends up with HP and DEF near 99 and ATT like 40.

[@MindSorcery]

I don't know how the inner working of the systems work, but one time i was playing with a buddy and Tao at The great forteress of Balbasak got something like 20 evade! I played the game many times, that's the only time i saw an increase like that!

[@jasonallen5318]

Nice Vid. As a long time SF fan, I would make some slight adjustments to your list. But the biggest issue I have is with Domingo. Domingo is criminally underrated and easily an S tier for me for multiple reasons. He flies, has high defense, hits from multiple spaces away with freeze and has plenty of MP, plus he attracts all the enemies attention. I actually think he is the absolute best character from a strategic tactician viewpoint. Sure Musashi hits harder, but he's not as useful from a utility standpoint. Domingo is the best IMO.

[@Lupo32]

He's better than bleu the dragon

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Domingo is very useful and maybe S. But he's just a support character in the last chapter. He can't use the evil ring or anything that would help his damage output. I might try a perma death run without taking the special characters just to see how much I would miss Domingo, musahsi, and hanzo. I imagine it would be much more challenging

[@MarkMalpezzi]

Sad about your Vankar rating. He is an absolute tank, and strong too. An essential member of my playthroughs.

[@Lupo32]

Definitely better than arthur who Is like a hybrid mage and knight but has Low health

[@mosheahvows5071]

If I were to rank these characters, the important things are what unit are they, what can they do, what point of the game do you get them, and most importantly how "easy" are they to use, ie how much grinding does it take to make them useful. This matters bc at the end of the day if you max out every character, pretty much all are useable. But i think for the reasons I mentioned above, people tend to think Adam and Bleu are bad units whereas Domingo and Pelle are S tier.

[@jastermereel4946]

knights are so strong in this game. attack, defense, mobility, like an armored division. i go with with all the knights, including lyle guntz and kokichi, and throw in balbaroy and domingo to round out my air support

[@az2252]

Domingo B tier ? WTF !?

[@wallsofjerich0]

You know, I probably over corrected myself there...while it's true he sort of drops off in the end game due to his lack of single target damage, his early game dominance and....floatyness? probably more then make up for it.

[@az2252]

@@wallsofjerich0 I should of added a "lol" in there. I def agree though that he gets his lv4 freeze spell pretty late in the game for most people. I've always grinded RPGs so I usually got his more powerful spells early

[@patrickellison4234]

@@az2252 same here but I don't really like Domingo

[@saniashtyrin6514]

Возмутительно!

[@wellinspired4657]

The fact that environment doesn't affect him, giving him the possibility to be in more battles, allows him to get to those high levels. Comparing to anri, which is always stuck behind trying to keep up with high movement characters in movement restricting environments definitely makes Domingo better than Anri.

[@mrcatchingup]

1-It is easy to justify both gladiators Luke & Fort because you can find 2 Atlas Axes slowing them to do area effects. 2-It is more difficult to take a bunch of knights because there are only 3, maybe 4 top tier weapons for them, 2 halbreds, 1 valvcary, and maybe one other special lance. 3-There are only so many great swords making it hard to justify taking too many of those wielders, sometimes it is better to hand off the samurai and/or ninja sword to other characters like the birdman or his wife.

[@IttarraOda]

I'm kinda shocked that Earnest is in C tier. After being promoted he becomes every knight's growth minus Arthur, he scales defense, HP, and Offense faster then every other knight. I remember distinctly he gained a +4 in every stat minus agility being level 2 and it continued that was for 2 more levels.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

He has the potential to be the best on the force but it's very inefficient to have to baby him through the gane.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@CosmicCosmo1 Earnest also misses out on the key chapter 4 Centaur battle, he joined after it.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

@@AngelEmfrbl I screwed up. I must have thought we were talking about Arthur. Earnest is trash

[@AirSupp0rtMusic]

Rip Vankar 😅 Hey, you forgot to mention Earnest's black shield. That at least puts him on Pelle's level.

[@wallsofjerich0]

I find Earnest to be extremely cool looking and it pains me that I have to fight to find him a spot in my force on normal playthroughs.

[@calbingham280]

Ken’s stat growth is weird, Ken gets an absolutely ridiculous amount of hp but takes SO much damage

[@PatternShift]

It's by design. Low hp, high defense characters for getting whacked by stuff. High hp low defense to absorb spell damage and fixed damage range (laser, breath weapon) attacks.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Yeah he's absolute trash

[@calbingham280]

@@CosmicCosmo1 I don’t think he’s inherently bad, definitely a good option but there’s much better

[@CosmicCosmo1]

@@calbingham280 I've had him get some good stat growth once or twice but late game the enemies tear him apart and he never really hits that hard. It's very seldom Ken is in the force at the end of the game. I think I did a perma death run and he was still around late game. He certainly is alot more useful than May I've found

[@ion_force]

We need to talk about Gong. If you keep him around the whole game he will never let you down. His role isn't healing, its fighting. Gong kicks ass if you promote him at 20.

[@DoYouLoveTheSilverHairedGod]

Is Yogurt the original Boo from Balder’s Gate? “Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!”

[@richardsonelite1744]

One thing about Lyle is that he has the widest range of all the characters because he has 7 mov and he is an archer ao he has like 10 range of attack. What he lacks is agility and he suffers from terrain like another knights. But he has the largest attack and that i can take from an archer. Imagine if there is an end game cannon weapon for archers that give 4 range attack.

[@themidcentrist]

Plus there is something just awesome about a Centaur that carries a freaking Bazooka.

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

have you met domingo?

[@nimaiiikun]

I remember keeping all the Centaurs on my team because they could attack one extra tile away.

[@MindSorcery]

But those damn forest!

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Just did a permadeath playthrough and my Max was dominating end game. I don't think I'm seen a stronger character in all my runs. When he gets the light sword then the chaos breaker he is strong and can end up being the best character on the force by some margin. My Anri that playthrough was a beast as well. Her defense spiked through the roof somehow.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

Pelle's Gimmick is that he starts off strong and gains little compared to Arthur, who starts off weak and gains a lot. Pelle is the strongest knight and weakest paladin, Arthur is the weakest knight and strongest paladin. When promoted Pelle will gain a lot but dies off quickly, very quickly. When other knights are still getting 5s and 3s, his getting 3s and 1s.

[@AKAGhostChan]

btw this is my favorite game of all time

[@CosmicCosmo1]

You are a smart man. I approve

[@chadparris8892]

Cool tier list!

[@wallsofjerich0]

Thank you.

[@HitmonleeDeluxe]

I absolutely love Gong, I always go out of my way to baby Gong throughout the game, feeding him power wines, giving power ring, ect. I always thought his promoted look and attack was one of the coolest in the game.

[@MindSorcery]

I liked him better without. He looked like a grizzled old woodsman monk.

[@esuepinkham]

Jogurt not S tier???? Blasphemy

[@edenconeby8227]

Great list! Personally I think the birds are both D/F. No matter what I do, they never seem helpful. Definitely agree with Vankar. He’s not worth it. At the point you get him, you should just be using Mae or one of the other three that have been with you long enough to actually level them

[@Lupo32]

They come in hand during the laser eye battle

[@CosmicCosmo1]

​@@Lupo32 Or you can actually play that battle since it's fun and challenging instead of cheesing it with balbs.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

The birdmen are just another interceptor/flanker method, you need them in a pair and they cross terrain easily to get where ever they need to be. The issue is Amon is the worst flyer and most of the time you need at least 2 of them to be useful. And SF games don't tend to really play with the flyers usefulness enough. The knights are meant to be played the same in general, in groups of 2-4. Its why ranking lists to me don't pan out well, individually, knights and the birdmen suck compared to other members, but in pairs their a bit better. Judging Ken on his own isn't as good for that reason as judging him alongside another knight. So its not "Ken" but "Ken and Mae", etc. Their the first ones into the fight and the first to drop for that reason. Others like Luke (Lug as he is meant to be called) are more for finishing or bosses. I actually got to speak to someone with insider information on this sort of thing back in the 00s, who pretty much noted thats the intention of knights and why you always got so many in SF games, including the Gaiden series. Theres not much to really talk about, the SF is divided between main attackers and support characters. Archers, healers and mages are the support and everyone else is a main attacker.

[@WildArmACF]

I'e built up Adam. he's quite fun.

[@greek1237]

There is Tao tier, than everyone else.

[@ravidaking100]

Hans as D….. that’s criminal

[@MooreThanaPodcast]

Agreed. Hans and Diane are pivotal to my end game.

[@MAGACOPP]

@@MooreThanaPodcastDiane yes. Hans No.

[@MAGACOPP]

Diane and Lylo>>>>

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@MAGACOPP Hans was meant to be the "speed" version of the archers, meaning that out of Lyle, Diana and himself he attacks, in theory, first. Thats all speed characters are meant to do after all, move first to get in and do the damage first.

[@citizenmeh]

Never had much luck with Bleu. Domingo and Kokichi on the other hand always end up as utter beasts in my playthroughs, along with Guntz and Musashi.

[@clintbarton]

thank you for taking the time to post this tier list. It lets me know that your analytical opinion is subpar and the rest of your vids should be ignored.

[@Maerowitz]

Lowe never learns aura. Still thanks for posting a tier list obviously there’s no way to create a tier list that everyone is going to agree on.

[@Rem694u2]

I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of Domingo. He is by far my strongest character by the end of the game he is usually like level 38 and is invincible. AoE magic makes him level so fast. Massive HP and MP pool, large movement and can float over terrain, Freeze 3 is great and has huge range. But it is a shame he doesn't get 4. But his defense growth is INSANE. Everything but bosses, and magic damage hit him for 1. I'd put him at high A tier.

[@davidnguyen1848]

Gort and Musashi were goat frontline attackers in my first playthrough

[@billcox8870]

I always try to have my healers heal at least one hit point whenever they can. It is a slow and tedious way to grind their levels but it still works. You have to heal at least one hp. Casting heal on a perfectly healthy individual has no effect and therefore, no XP

[@AngelEmfrbl]

This is what I do too. The issue is Aura lvl2 makes the easiest way for them to heal and you never need to use it at lvl 3 or 4 most of the time.

[@billcox8870]

@AngelEmfrbl I found the variety of characters you could get to be an absolute delight.

[@woofwoofdoggo]

Great list!

[@enemybird]

Domingo is the only legit S tier. His ability to fly with insane range and magic gives him versatility.

[@vsriotact]

Domingo in B??? He's arguably broken. Flight, good movement range, levels up ridiculously easily because he gets 49xp pretty much anytime he does anything. He's a higher priority target than max so max is free to become a monster. Has enough defence so he only takes 1 damage from physical attacks, a monstrous amount of hp and mp so he can spam freeze 4( best spell for damage dealt to spell cost) he can actually help other characters grind. Stick him next to balbazak or romladu and he'll absorb hits while other characters are free to deal damage and gain xp while they regen hp.

[@wallsofjerich0]

I overrated the fact that he falls apart in the end game...I never level him, or anyone high enough to get freeze 4... For pretty much the whole game until chapter 8 he's wonderful.

[@vsriotact]

But you'll but tao above him??? Fire is one of the worst of the 3 spell types. Is doesn't get the extended range of or damage freeze or bolt of the extended aoe of bolt it's damage falls off very quickly. She doesn't have the movement benefits , speed Hp mp or defence that Domingo gets.

[@cam9144]

I keep Zylo unprompted and he feels like he's stronger that way. Looks better too

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

promoted

[@FurryEskimo]

Alec struggles with MP, but you can give her cursed equipment and she becomes Unstoppable. I’d repeatedly cast lightening and she was utterly insane.

[@wallsofjerich0]

Is that the Evil Ring? I think that casts Bolt 2.

[@FurryEskimo]

@@wallsofjerich0 I’ll double check, but I think I gave her a cursed ring and a cursed weapon. One of them would siphon MP.

[@patrickellison4234]

@@FurryEskimo same I always use alef and she is actually my favorite character

[@ramonsanchez2694]

In my opinion Vankar is better than Ken

[@romanuz5978]

Kokichi - A rank, he can use spear. Zylo - S rank because of walking speed in problem grounds, and great stats. Anry, Tao and Alef are in A tier, not S ar B, they are weak in armor and HP. Hanzo - S, he has great stats and good magic. Musashi - A-S, he weak in speed. Domingo - A-S, he have great magic, armor and can fly. Dwarfs are A rank, attack and defence stats are great all the time. Birdmen - C rank, Adam - C-D. All centaurs are random, in one game Ken has great stats, in another - not. Pelle is strong. Archers (Diane especially) great in late game. Waiting for GBA version.

[@wallsofjerich0]

So I've only played the GBA version on launch, and I wanted to revisit it....many times. I know it add the 3 new characters, and Mawlocke and Narsha probably do impact how your force is constructed, but do the other force members get stat changes or are they pretty much the same? It's been a long time.

[@romanuz5978]

@@wallsofjerich0 Hour ago completed SF GBA again, great game. Yes, many changed, but not at all. Max, main hero, now have supermagic from CnC Generals (laser from sky), grind is easier, you can be reach promotion on shade abbey and earlier. Mages are strong but not so useful as before - many enemies (and heroes) now have magic resist, so Domingo now outmatces mages (but still I have them in party). Hanzo better then before. Bleu and some centaurs are totally random - one game are great, another (like last of me game) - not. Birdmen - mid, Kokichi better.

[@ivangasparevic1727]

This is a great list

[@Fanofou82]

LOLOL OMG speed is so important. Diane is dogshit. Even Diane knows it.

[@robertoquintero5200]

Give Narsha a chicken and she becomes the protagonist 😂

[@EduFirenze]

Always gound curious how many characters join the shining force wanting vengeance.

[@imthethriller]

I like to add that Ken and Mae got "very Busy" at the end of the first Shining force game resulting in a very Overpowered Child in one of the Game Gear games

[@FernasRPG]

Well. I think is odd to have healers in C tier. This means an optimal squad wouldnt have any healers. That just dont make sense. Healers should be B tier, just for the sake of being healers. Or have their own space, like you did with Archers.

[@wallsofjerich0]

I honestly suspect that my force would be stronger for 90% of the game if I ditched healers and just used items....maybe Tarosau is worth it since we have the white ring at that point....

[@CosmicCosmo1]

​@wallsofjerich0 your right there. If you don't grind you will only have Tarosau in the final battle. There is no way any of the healers are keeping up with the force if you don't grind.

[@Cha0s808]

20:35 - 21:00 ish 😂😂 well played sir. And well deserved

[@Ubernewb111]

I disagree with your assessment of healers. it's hard to level them up, but if you really abuse heal and the power staff when you first get you can get them up to reasonable levels. that being said Kris is the only healer that I feel is worth using. she can get aura 2 for group healing but more importantly she gets heal 3 and 4, which can heal 40-full and quick is kind of useful as well. koikochi is high a teir or low s their.

[@AngelEmfrbl]

Kris is definately the best, Aura 2 is about all you need for healing, 3 in a pinch. You NEVER use Aura level 4. Meanwhile, Lowe's let down by not having Aura and Lvl 4 basic Heal isn't up to snuff later on.

[@Ubernewb111]

@@AngelEmfrbl yeah I can count on one hand the number of times I actually needed heal 4, and aura 4 is a waste of mp. If I ever needed to heal everyone for some reason I'd use shower cure

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@Ubernewb111 After testing heal 4 once, I could count thereafter without hands how often I used it.

[@Ubernewb111]

@@AngelEmfrbl lol fair. one time my 60 hp Mc got knocked down to 4hp. That was the only time I actually really needed it

[@AngelEmfrbl]

@@Ubernewb111 I know Aura lvl 4 is designed so basically healers don't need to move at all to be effective. Thats Aura 4s only purpose. Lvl. 4 heal is just because... They expected Lowe to have to go up to the front line to be effective, unlike other healers.

[@zrayburton]

Khris is the best healer in SF worth using… unless you’re speed running then bench her and use torasu

[@robertoquintero5200]

If You give a chicken to Khris, she becomes a front attacker healer...

[@derekzicari2181]

Problem is you get khris early and torasu so much later in the game

[@derekminna]

Damn, I wish audio was better. I cant listen to this...

[@dynastygirl2912]

As a shining force Veteran you better move Zylo to S where he belongs, ive done countless playthtoughs and Zylo ALWAYS outclasses EVERYONE even Max and the difference between Balbaroy and Amon is: Balbaroy is higher Attack while Amon is more defensive basically your choice is flying glass canon or flying tank with medicore damage. You put Anri in S and Alef is B and Tao in A. Wtf bro? You do realize that mages level faster than anyone else right? Alef gets BOLT FOUR, Anri gets bolt but it stops at 2. Tao falls off at the end of the game, Anri is solid but definitely not S. Domingo however is S. Hans is the best of the archer units, Ernest end game easily outclasses all the knights with the exception of Mae and Bleu is a flying Nuke end game also should be S tier with Zylo

[@wallsofjerich0]

I feel like Zylo gets overrated because of how awesome he initially is, he always hits a mid game malaise for me. Alef gets bolt 4 at level 30. 30! How are you even getting a level that high without grinding to the point where everything you fight is a joke? Tao vs Anri is pretty much just personal preference but I find freeze to be a better spell then blaze do to the range. Domingo being S is a fine opinion, and he's there for most of the game, but falls off a cliff later game since he doesn't get Freeze until 26, and again, why would I be leveled that high?

[@dynastygirl2912]

@@wallsofjerich0 you're arguing with a Shinning Force Veteran who's played Shining Force too many times to count and has had Shining Force in their favorite games list since age 9?

[@wallsofjerich0]

@@dynastygirl2912 Trust me, I'm quite good at putting my foot in my mouth.

[@killerb255]

@@wallsofjerich0Because Domingo can’t be promoted, and his base class counts as “unpromoted” (unlike, say, Musashi and Hanzou). So Level 26 Domingo is the equivalent of Level 16 Promoted (if promoted at Level 10).

[@Meshric]

I find it funny how everyone shits on Diane, but she hard carried my playthrough

[@mooglemage6456]

Khris is A-Tier easily. Besides her insane healing she can actually do some great damage if you keep her leveled up with the rest of the Force.

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

thats what gong was made for bro

[@mooglemage6456]

@@GloriouslyIncadescent gong isn’t nearly as good at healing as Khris

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Only if you really go out of your way to level her up. She comes into the force very weak and useless. She is worth babying though

[@rayplaysgames_RPG]

Vankar has such a huge health pool. How is he so low? That's my top horse

[@wallsofjerich0]

Irrational hate, that's why!

[@AngelEmfrbl]

To be fair, Vankar can end up as tough as Earnest... But you have Earnest.

[@MAGACOPP]

If you’re doing this list with grinding then the Healers should be ranked highest.

[@queenmonika-plays119]

Hi im working on a rom hack of Shinning Force 1. When its done would you be interested in reviewing it?

[@wallsofjerich0]

I can promise to turn it on and play it :) No promises how far I'll get with it.

[@AkaiAzul]

How goes the hack?

[@AkaiAzul]

Zylo is actually both amazing and good. You see, stat gains are very random. When he joins, hes very useful. Depending on your luck, he can outgrow everyone, or fall behind. A tier overall is fair. Kokochi is the best flier, I hear. I hate the sprite, but he's quite useful. Domingo is an inverse growth character. His unpromoted growths are broken, but once by end game, the rest of the force catches up. He's still useable, but is no longer amazing, just good / great. Bleu suffers from the same problem as Zylo: he relies on his random stat gains. If he grows well, congrats, enjoy the mofo dragon! If not, that was a lot of time and effort to be disappointed. Still, as a dragon, I will always roll the dice.

[@anfromanx1981]

Doesn’t damingo get bolt

[@anthonywhite7566]

naa domingo only got freeze, muddle, desoul and boost.

[@AKAGhostChan]

zylo is amazing when u first get him but beware DO NOT PROMOTE HIM

[@bigboiblue8180]

Aint no frickin way Anri hits S tier and Domingo, a flying Anri, gets disrespected with B tier tf Pit some respek on my boi

[@CosmicCosmo1]

No freeze 4. No s tier. Dom can't even solo a single late game enemy

[@MAGACOPP]

Doing your list with Grinding in mind ruins everything. Arthur has to be babysat.

[@joelkasik8409]

I don’t think it ruins everything necessarily but I do agree that a tier list should usually not involve grinding since that can make every character overpowered regardless. This tier list though did not always make this assumption though and base stats are somewhat taken into consideration. It would likely be better to make a tier list off of a faster playthrough with no grinding. In all honesty if I were to make a SF tier list I would probably use similar criteria to most Fire Emblem character tier lists.

[@GloriouslyIncadescent]

arthur is fine once he gets a power spear, you're being dramatic. play him like an archur and ur fine.

[@joelkasik8409]

@@GloriouslyIncadescent honestly lance and spear weapons are really good in general for SF1 due to availability. This alone is probably enough to help catch Arthur up with the rest of the units if trained quickly. Sucks he’s a few levels behind but he’s totally workable.

[@MAGACOPP]

@@GloriouslyIncadescentHis defense is weaker than an Archer. And why would I use him instead of an actual Archer? They get much better weapons. Arthur continues to suck until the last battle

[@AirSupp0rtMusic]

So what happens if you promote at like lvl 15?

[@wallsofjerich0]

...I don't really know...I always find the allure of promotion to be too tempting. How do the mage levels work? Would Tao still get Blaze 3 at level 12(?) or would she have to get to level 15, then promote and then get it a level 2(?). Either way I would suspect it would lower the mages down, since they are less stat dependent? Would probably bump Arthur up slightly, since if you are taking everyone to 15, it's less of a chore to take him to 20.

[@AkaiAzul]

​@@wallsofjerich0The latter example. Mages have an internal level counter to keep track of when they learn spells.

[@stephenballard3549]

Mic is terrible btw

[@keithk9937]

Bro...no love for Vankar Grind him up once. Defensive like May, Attack like Guntz

[@wallsofjerich0]

No love for Vankar, Never!

[@bearlotk7608]

Anyone ranking below Hans is a tragedy. He doesn't even belong in the Archer tier.

[@THEMETALISBETTER]

We have very different opinions😅, but I still dig the Shining Force content.

[@shinjiikari624]

I don't agree with tthis list. Pelle is the best knight. I don't know how the RNG is made up, but he is the only knight that almost never have trouble with Devil Lance, making him a killer with his good stats. Anri is powerfull, but so low HP that make me put Tao higher (but Anri's always in my team). Funny thing, since the game is saddly too easy, I made a game with only low tier characters (from my tier list). So Amon & Balbaroy, every healer, Vankar, Hans, Diane and Blue. When the other character are here, they look good, and even final battle was easy :)

[@wallsofjerich0]

So Pelle is really good, I think stats wise, he's the best knight, unless you grind Arther? The problem is he's like the 4th knight we come across, and Vankar even shows up before we can even get Pelle in a battle....so it's like, it's hard to put him in.... If I thought about this more, rather then just speaking off the top of my head, Pelle probably gets higher.

[@shinjiikari624]

I tried to compare similar characters in multiple playthrough (no farm and no speedrun), and Vankar was never an option to me since he always was the weakest after Arthur. Pelle was always the best one, followed by Mae and Ken. @@wallsofjerich0

[@killerb255]

Pelle has a high attack to start with, but doesn’t get much better. In a Level 10 promotion game, he’s probably your best Paladin. In a Level 20 promotion game, Arthur smokes every other centaur.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

Pelle is the best knight but just look at him. He's lame af and kind of breaks the game.

[@PlaylistNumero1]

Completely sleeping on Earnest. Absolutely the best knight

[@RachelleLove81]

Domingo to me is always S class. Agreed on most tho.

[@MopeyToapy]

4:24 is Hilarious and I Love it

[@bowiemaxplayer28]

I'm going to slap you because Arthur is in B tier and Domingo is in B tier.

[@wallsofjerich0]

I found Arthur very hard to rank properly. in some settings he's a God and in others he's trash. I feel like I'm alone on an island with my Domingo is just fine opinions.

[@MindSorcery]

@@wallsofjerich0 To be honest your list was fine but you lost me on Domingo egg ranking. I played the game more time then i could count. High evade, Def, constant freeze attacks, unrestricted movements, can play as the best healer with healing items since he can reach anyone anywhere. He does fall a little later on, but not by much, he stays relevent and cohesive till the end. High attack, movement combo is best stats in this game so Zelo is S for sure, Guntz can probably make it to S. But hey, i did enjoy your reviews though.

[@rayplaysgames_RPG]

Pel? You mean pay-lay

[@HOLYSOURCE]

Kris is easily the best character in the game, hidden gem.

[@CosmicCosmo1]

She can be the best on the force if you baby her and give her all the stat potions. Certainly the character that makes the most sense to baby in the game. You can also easily beat this game without a healer on the force, so maybe there is no need to baby anyone.

[@billcox8870]

I learned the hard way that you should not promote blue the Dragon

[@MAGACOPP]

Bro did you record this on a Potato?

[@themarauding]

Hot take, Adam is worse than Jogurt. Jogurt needs no grinding and has 7 move. Adam is obtained FAR too late, has 4 move and SUCKS. Even if you grind and grind, you get a mediocre tank for your efforts

[@shiftyidog-]

Vankar is the most balanced knight Arthur is A tier tough as balls Domingo is S tier op

[@samueldeschenes607]

Vankar below Jogurt is harsh.... but well deserved

[@Lupo32]

For me .... Max if i I level him up ( of course he's the main character. Ken ,gort,luke ,zylo ,tao ,anri , Musahshi, gong,pelle,ernest,guntz. Alef , torashu Eveyone else is just tagging along imo

[@MAGACOPP]

Ken? He’s weak. And Gong is shit. Is that your final team?

[@patrickellison4234]

My force is similar except for I take khris instead of torasu and gong and I do good with the birdman and I don't have a problem with leveling healers even without grinding and khris was the first one promoted in my latest playthrough without grinding or babying since I tend to have her attacking when not healing mate anyway

[@patrickellison4234]

It's 50/50 between guntz and mae though

[@Lupo32]

@@patrickellison4234 As a child I didn't understand how to Use hans & diane , even though hans directly tells you don't put him up front In battle ! .... the bird people come in handy for the laser eye battle.

[@patrickellison4234]

@@Lupo32 I had a similar problem at the start about 12 years ago as well

[@NobodyNothing-f5c]

They are all the same. Given something every level up, Luke is no different than Gort, etc. The differences are very minor. Surprising of all is the fact were it not for nothing rng's the birdmen would be as strong as your MC.

[@gaz9411]

Dude literally said he put Gort higher because he had a beard

[@stephenballard3549]

Uh the hero is always s tier unless you are a sped lmao they get the best weapons