Shining the Holy Ark: Who IS your favourite character?

[Aldur]

Again and again I wondered about this until I finally decided it was Akane, simply because of the versatility of her character and set.

She gains access to Aura spells earlier than the others, true her mp isn't the best, but it's high enough that with the Fuma Helmet to regen some MP she's doing fine, can get the mithril katana for blaze 4 on randoms if needed, is speedy enough to go before bosses for healing even without a support up, can take a couple of hits, has Desoul for hopefully murdering off pesky high HP randoms and gets access to the insta kill katana.

Her weakest point is probably the lack of offensive spells compared to the other magic using characters but Weasel Slash and free blaze 4 do her fine, access to mp regen undoes some of the issues with her mp and generally her equipment set is pretty nice.

[KBA12812]

Forte, offensive casters are really useful in the last 2 battles at the beginning plus whenever there are more than one enemies (obviously). I love Forte's spell pool and the blue hair is awesome as well.

[MXC]

I always liked Akane myself, mostly for reasons stated.

[zexxar]

I always liked Akane myself, mostly for reasons stated.

Same here.

[Kazgaroth]

Doyle is a lion ninja.

[Lucienne]

Lisa, with Akane a close second. Lisa is just plain more durable than Akane, so I tend to have Akane switch out often so that she doesn't get targeted too much, and she's also less useful for random battles, wheras Lisa's usually 3rd-4th place in physical damage. Using both in boss battles got me through the last parts of the game.

[Musou]

Everyone.

But the more I think about it, the more I have to settle on Rodi. His spell selection is amazing for a non-healer, with attack spells for the early-to-mid game, status spells for mid-to-late game and a few bosses, and Negate and Ferocity for use in the final battle. Plus, Kusanagi, if you're lucky. While going through the last few dungeons, I use Arthur, Basso, Doyle, and Rodi.

Though I do swap out Rodi with Forte or Akane on occasion.

[Pappets]

My favorite is Arthur. Poor Melody. She's one of the choosen but she's weak when compared to others. She becomes almost useless. Restore spell is the only thing i see in her that makes her useful later in the game.
In the last dungeons i think the best team is Arthur, Lisa, Basso, Forte.

[Rick]

Forte, offensive casters are really useful in the last 2 battles at the beginning plus whenever there are more than one enemies (obviously). I love Forte's spell pool and the blue hair is awesome as well.

Really? I find Forte to be the worst and least used tbh.. too reliant on a pool of mp that quickly exhausts... in places such as the tower of illusion, that just isnt good enough. ..

His spell selection is good, but I only really use his attack spell...

I have to agree about Akane, shes fantastic. Her specials look awesome, her speed is off the chart and the kusanagi makes her brutal!

[KBA12812]

Forte, offensive casters are really useful in the last 2 battles at the beginning plus whenever there are more than one enemies (obviously). I love Forte's spell pool and the blue hair is awesome as well.

Really? I find Forte to be the worst and least used tbh.. too reliant on a pool of mp that quickly exhausts... in places such as the tower of illusion, that just isnt good enough.

My play style in most of the Shining games is based a lot on magic users so I usually am good with keeping magic in check and since Forte is in my opinion the only true offensive caster since hitting with him isn't really efficient I rely on him a lot cause I'm a magic based player, of course that runs me into trouble sometimes but I have my brutes to back me up when I need them.

[Moondog]

Doyle, hence the avatar lol

[Martin III]

Everyone.

My thoughts exactly, at least when it comes to gameplay utility. Each character has his own unique role in the lineup, and not one of them could last a minute without his companions. How can I choose when every one is essential?

In terms of likeability, though, I go with Melody. I like her spunky personality and how she grows from being a total jerk to a sympathetic and caring person. She's physically attractive to boot, and I like the way her spells keep the rest of the party cranking, taking hits and coming back just as strong over and over.

[Saturox]

My favorite character...i would say..... Basso , he's awesome not only his design but he's one of the few humanoid dragon character in RPGS that actually talks and has personality

[metateen]

Don't really have one. Most if them only mildly held my interest...~

[Righteous Force]

The redhead chick! The readhead chick! Er, what's her name again? (Have I been gone that long?... Oh wait, I'm pretty bad with names to begin with...). Yeah, she heavily reminds me of... er... red head chick from Shining Force 3... OH YEAH! Spiriel is her name in SF3... k, so spelling seems off, course I suck at that too. But it for sure seems Spiriel is based off this game's redhead chick? So yeah, I'm gonna use my uber fan boy power called "imagination," and pretend they may be related somehow? Yes, that makes my fanboy powers tingle. I like.

But yeah, this redhead chick in StHA really impresses me... don't tell me I have a thing for redheads?

Her game power, skills and tactics? Er, I forget those, but I recall they being very good. But for real, this is about image & personality vibe she gives off more then anything. Her gameplay is just a sweat bonus to back up her sweat bad@$$ness. <3 (And I'm talking about her bum bum too. Cause that be sweet too )

She's a mercenary too!... Wait. this entire game is filled with them... how cool is that!

[Omega Entity]

Lisa. Who is of no relation whatsoever to Spiriel, and who she isn't based off of. They both just happen to have red hair.

[Righteous Force]

What?! You don't see the resemblence outside of the red hair?! ... I actually see a lot of things in SF3 based off StHA,

And Lisa, of course. How could I forget, after all, it rhymes with Spiriel.

[Diggory]

I always liked Forte best because he's cute and arrogant and has a great dress sense. I have a thing for cute mages :P I realise he's a bit weak statistically and his spells don't really make him that much more useful than the other spellcasters (I always found he had better luck with Soul Steal, dunno if it's just me.) - I don't really pick favourite characters by their stats though.

It always amused me how openly mercenary most of the cast of Shining in the Holy Ark were compared to other Shining games. I always imagine they have this internal dialogue:

Arthur: can I charge them money yet?
Spirits: no! go and save the world!
Melody: can *I* charge them money yet?
Spirits: NO!
Melody: can Forte charge them money?
Spirits: what the... NO! Forte's possessed by evil! why would he get paid?

[Irene Guy]

Lisa for me, best design, love the personality, great speall. Forte come as second - I wish he had a weapon to make him do more summons like Thor and Phoenix, that would be awesome.

[Basso]

Mine isn't Basso.

Just kidding, it's Basso.