Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon: Solo

[Kcid]

Of course, the only real solo you can do is Max. I just started through one, myself, and so far it's so easy to gain exp it hasn't been difficult at all (though I'm only at the beginning of Chapter 2). I figured maybe I could see how many solo Max stars I can get...if I can make it through one.

The worst part is, though, I'm doing this on the actual cartridge...so no frameskip

[Salibu]

You can do a solo with anyone you got right at the beg.
Just leave Max sitting by himself.

[Balbazak]

Of course, the only real solo you can do is Max.  I just started through one, myself, and so far it's so easy to gain exp it hasn't been difficult at all (though I'm only at the beginning of Chapter 2).  I figured maybe I could see how many solo Max stars I can get...if I can make it through one.

The worst part is, though, I'm doing this on the actual cartridge...so no frameskip 

There was a topic a while back about something like this, a solo run with any character to see how many stars that character could get solo before he/she couldn't proceed.
I don't think it ever got off the ground though, go for it.
And you could do a solo with any force member, it's easier now that the remake has adopted SF2's have a many or as few as you want on the team. (1-12 of course)

Good luck man.

[Kcid]

Thanks So far the only battle that's given me any real problems is the circus tent...and that's just because I took of the rousing ring for better items and then the bats kept putting me to sleep...plus I forgot the puppets at the beginning poison you. So it's basically been of user error...throughout the entire game so far no enemy has attacked me for more than 1 damage. And I started with some really good levels. The magic users may give me some trouble later on, but hopefully I'll come across some good accessories to help.

Edit: Just to update on my solo, everything is going well. I'm at Waral and I haven't had many problems at all. I promoted at 20, which was a little tough to get to because of the crappy exp toward the end, and I got that just before Balbazak. Elliot was kinda tough because of this, but not bad. Then after I promoted, I got 9 levels in Balbazak's battle. I plan on picking up Hanzou and Musashi for their weapons.

Stats at Waral:

CODE Max level 15: HP: 45 MP 41 AT: 46 DF:39 AG: 31 Mag res: 22%
Equipped: Steel sword, power ring, silver ring, healing ring
Spells: Egress, Supernova lvl. 3

I have a few other rings in the item box which come in handy...especially the Repel ring during boss fights.

Edit again: just made it to chapter 8 with no problems. It seems like this last chapter is really going to be the tough part, but I would even argue that the rest of the game has been as easy (if not easier) than a normal playthrough. I think I might try another solo next before getting more stars with Max. Maybe Gong...not sure, yet though.

[Magnus]

I've never really tried this. I remember doing an Ike solo on Fire Emblem PoR, but that was easy, since you always counter an enemy when they attack you. Shining Force on the other hand, counters are random.

Anyway, I have to try this out some time. Solos are more fun anyways...to me that is.

[Martin III]

I've never really tried this. I remember doing an Ike solo on Fire Emblem PoR, but that was easy, since you always counter an enemy when they attack you. Shining Force on the other hand, counters are random.

I wouldn't have thought a Path of Radiance solo was possible. Don't some of the "Defend" battles require that you have more than one body blocking the enemies' advance?

But yeah, the rarity of counters in Shining Force definitely makes teamwork a lot more important.

[Magnus]

I wouldn't have thought a Path of Radiance solo was possible. Don't some of the "Defend" battles require that you have more than one body blocking the enemies' advance?

In a normal gameplay, yes. But on an Ike solo, all you have to do is stand on the defend panel the entire chapter and just let the enemies hit at you until the required amount of turns have passed, with hope of having extra vulneraries to heal if your health drops low. In the survival chapters, it's pretty much the same, just get in a corner so only 2 enemies can hit you up close and about maximum of two long ranged users may get you if two other close range fighters doesn't take up the space. (All this is excluding the chapters you are forced to have party members)

Other than those, it's pretty easy. (Sorry for getting off topic...)

[Kcid]

QUOTE (Martin III @ Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:57 pm) But yeah, the rarity of counters in Shining Force definitely makes teamwork a lot more important.
I'm not sure if it's just Max, but he actually counter attacked a LOT during the game.

I completed the solo, and pretty easily for that matter. The final battle was close, due to the middle DD head casting demon breath, but once I found a pattern the other two were easy, but time consuming. I forgot to record my stats before I saved for the first star, but I'm pretty sure Max was level 45 (after a 20 promotion) and dealing a little over 40 damage to DD after buffs.

What makes it easier in this game than the original (or it would seem, I actually haven't done a solo in the original):

Exp gain is easier. All kills give a minimum of 2 exp, and all items used give 10 exp. Even if you use a power wine, quick chicken, etc. in battle, you get 10 exp from it. It got hard to get from level 15 to 20, but once I promoted I got up to 15 promoted within a few battles.

You can equip multiple rings. The repel ring was expensive, but came in handy for Elliot and Balbazak. After those guys, though, my defense was so high that other bosses did minimal damage (Kane dealt 1 damage to Max). The magic resist rings were nice, and of course the power ring, white ring, holy ring, and evil ring were all used a some point.

AI. Even though it's better than in LoGI, it's still manipulable. The first two DD heads (sides) were easy (spoiler for strategy):

Spoiler

Use chaos breaker (stays out of reach of anything DD can do), go kill skeleton, and repeat until dead. Same for other side. The dumb AI doesn't send the skeleton from the other side after you until you get closer to it. And it doesn't send either one after you if you're directly below the middle head. So they skeletons are pretty much time consuming and a bit of free exp.

Of course, the overall smoothness of the game helps a lot, too. The battles go more quickly because the cursor moves faster between enemies, and the fact that you can run during the game makes it go really quickly between battles.

I've just started a Gong solo, but I'm only on the third battle. I hope his goes as well as Max's did...but I have a feeling I'll have more trouble with it.

Update on Gong: I made it to Balbazak without many problems. There was a slight bump at Elliot, but that's because I promoted and he lost some stats. Now the problem is that everyone chases Max and he gets OHKO'd at the beginning of the battle...so I think this is going to be technically impossible. I might throw about 5 or 6 force members in the battle just to protect Max and not attack with them at all. It'll still feel like I'm cheating a bit, but I think it's the only way.

> Deleted Gong solo because of problem stated above, and I'm now working on a Max solo with one star. I'm sure it won't be much different at all than the last time around.

[DevilKnightHawk]

-fail, please remove-

[Kcid]

Hey, at least I got a bump. Max solo with one star is still easy...I'm at chapter 7 and still have had minimal problems. I'm pretty sure this is going to be cake until at least star 3 or so...

>>Done with Star one. I had to RNGA a bit in chapter 8 for a few crits and to keep the white ring from breaking...other than that it was still pretty easy. Star two coming soon...


*attack has been cast, power, white, sniper rings and chaos breaker equipped

[Trent]

Requested bump by kcid

[Kcid]

Thanks yo...I'm already on top of this, too...a few battles in and so far it's a cakewalk like the rest. The real challenge will be chapter 7, probably.

Edit: Done...this one was significantly tougher...I had to do some RNGAing, mostly to keep the white ring from breaking at the end. There's no way I could do it without that ring. The Dark Dragon battle was not as much cake, because I was no longer one-hitting the Armed Skeletons. Next time I'll take more time to grind (with RNGA for stats)...this will be my last solo without any sort of grinding. I'll post the pic later.

[Chaosgirl998]

I have never tried to beat the game with only max

[Kcid]

It's easy as pie the first time

Update, beginning star 3 Max solo run. I'm thinking that pretty soon I'm going to have to try to get all (or at least some) of the cards during a normal run and start doing a Mawlock/Max duo. I'm sure then I could make it past quite a few more stars.

[Sin Jackal]

I soloed the game with Gong (running Max into a corner to start every battle).

Got as far as the castle right at the end, and I couldn't handle all the Chimeras and whatnots. Their breath attacks just did way too much damage too fast. I had to "duo" the rest of the way using Max in order to complete the game. The laser eye dudes were kinda brutal too for the same reasons. I couldn't figure out any good way to get past them when they team up like 9 dudes on you at once and can do 20+ damage when you have to attack them one at a time or hope for a counterattack. Really, it's purely based on luck whether or not you don't die as soon as they start to attack. Sucks.

But Gong really did handle himself nicely for the rest of the game though. . .had almost no issues soloing most of the game with him. Also, it's a lot easier when you realize that certain items like Narsha's unbreakable staves with castable spells on Item use, can be used by ANY character, not just her! And they don't have to be equipped. Really makes it a lot easier to solo with people.

[Kcid]

I had trouble with Gong during the Balbazak battle...the enemies rushed Max, even with running him into a corner he got rushed and killed every time. I need to get back on this...my DS is dead right now and I can't find my charger lol

[Sin Jackal]

I think I got just past that with Gong before it became impossible. I really don't see how it is possible to get much further than that in this game. The battle where you get swarmed with like 12 laser eye things doesn't seem possible solo even if you're one hitting with every attack. They just do too much damage too fast to be able to deal with it. I was able to duo it though.

[Kcid]

Well I dusted off the old cartridge and picked up where I left off years ago...which was Chapter 7 on star 3. I suppose it's time to remember some things - I did get through and am just down to one Dark Dragon head but it's taking longer than it should, mostly because I'm just RNGA-ing the white ring. But it will be over soon, in the next few days, maybe. And star 4 solo will commence!

Now star 3 is complete, and star 4 is getting difficult, to say the least. It's time to grind, now that I'm at the circus battle. I haven't had to do much actual grinding before now. But now, I will spend too much time using the power ring and herbs for 10 measly exp at a time until I'm probably around level 10 promoted, if not further along. I think that's the point to where it may actually do good to use some stat boosters. Wish me luck.

Also, I'm considering building a GBA with an accelerator, which boosts the speed up to 1.75x on a legit console. Also backed up my save in case the battery dies...which at this point I might end up doing at the end of each battle since the game is, what, 19 years old? Jesus, that means I'm old.

I called it on level 10 promo for circus, that's exactly where I was at the end of it. Luckily it seems like it will be a bit easier for a while, especially with the evil ring. On to the next chapter...

Star 4 is done! The run was cake until the end of Chapter 7, then I really had to RNGA my way through. Chaos was interesting, as I just had to try to rush past the enemies and Doom Blade him. Now I can't remember if save-kill starts now or on star 6...