Shining Force III: Scenario 1 Smithy?

[DomingoRules!]

Aside from some memories of when I played once back in the day, I've been mostly been playing through SF3-1 blind, but there is one thing I am curious about. After reaching Lookover, the game has seemed rather against returning to Flagard/Flaggard (can't remember how many G's), to craft more Mythril gear. Now that Lookover's weapon shop is open, and there's new weapons, I'm just curious if there's a way back to Flagard at some point soon, or if there's another smithy in an upcoming town. I ask because with how expensive Mithril gear is, and the fact that I feel rather comfortable with the weapons I currently have, I think I'd rather just save my money for the time being, and press onward. Assuming of course there'll be another chance to use my Mithril soon down the road.

[ZethaPonderer]

If my memory serves me well if you completed the first Battle at Chapter 5 (Battle #21) according to the Jumesyn SF3 guide, then you can't return to Flagard village when reaching the Lookover village where you have to fight Fiale. Soo, unless you don't mind waiting till Chapter 6 begins then hopefully you should be fine though you have to traverse through Battle 21-24 to finally reach the last Smithy at Malorie to make those awesome Mithril weapons and rings for your force.

[MCRT]

There will be a smithy in Malorie (the town in the last chapter). But in this town you will also start to find weapons that are better than the forged ones (for example the macho maul and the gaia axe).

If you need money, you forge cursed weapons and sell them. The cursed axes have the best forging price to selling profit ratio IIRC.

[DomingoRules!]

And I do have plenty of Mithril to spare. The game seems excessively generous with how much you can find.

I would assume those better weapons are things you find in chests, and such. It would be rather dumb to have superior weapons available in ordinary shops.

[MCRT]

The game throws more large mithril at you as you actually require to get a good weapon for everyone. In chests, on the battle map and of course for beating the Hero's Test (Bonus Dungeon) you will get weapons that are better than most (at least for most classes). Also the shops will regularly offer Mithril Weapons as deals or haggles. Hence there is no reason to not directly use all mithril you have (except maybe the small mithril).

In the end I always have some mithrils left to make some additional "utility weapons" which enable you to cast some spells. The 2 best accessories are actually haggles in the ordninary shops.

[DomingoRules!]

Yeah. I basically got to a point where I just started splurging my mithril on some of my characters with lower ATK, like Eldar and Frank, just to see if I could get better mithril weapons than I already had. This is, of course, without looking up what the best mithril weapons are, so I just let it happen. If it was something I didn't want, I'd just sell it, and try again with another piece. May not get the best gear that way, but I'll concern myself with that when playing on Insane.

As for leftovers, I purposely still have three pieces stored away at headquarters, kept there just in case I need a slight upgrade.

[MCRT]

yeah, that is a valid approach, as for the most weapon types the 3 mithril options are often comparable in efficiency (at least in scenario 1, in Scenario 2 some start to become more dominant due to the additional class propertys).

If you play Eldar with the regular swords, the best weapon will be Shiva Sword you always get at the beginning of chapter 6.
If you play her with Wings, the Zero Wings will be the best if you find them in Chapter 5.

But I would actually recommend the following before tackling the insane difficulty:

First playthrough: just enjoy the game and the plot.

Second playthrough: maybe on the next difficulty setting, but nothing to hard. Try to find everything, try different weapon classes (or the usage of more that 1 if you played mono-type before), do something different on synchronity spots, play the characters you could not play before (it is not possible to get every character in Sc. 2 & 3, there will always be 2 that exclude each other), enjoy the changed dialogues with villagers or force members based on your decisions and so on.

Third playthrough: If you feel confident enough, try insane. If not, work your way up difficulty setting per difficulty setting.

Sounds like a lot of time (it is)... but the game actually offers so many possibilities and is nothing that need to be rushed.

[DomingoRules!]

I stuck with Wings for Eldar because of the defense boost, which is nice to have on a flying character to compensate for the lack of land effect. I also gave her the White Ring, allowing her to more effectively utilize her mobility without putting herself in too great of risk in the event that she needs to fly off on her own someplace other characters can't reach (like the treasure chest in the volcano). As for what I'm using, the one I have her equipped with is the Cosmic Wing. I got the Sylph Wing at first, but since I haven't looked up the special attacks, and auto HP restoration hadn't been particularly useful on Normal, I decided to go with the Cosmic Wing simply on the grounds that it sold for more, so I took that as the game's way of saying it's the better weapon.

As for Insane, if all the difficulties unlock after just one play through, then I'm likely to just jump right into that. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, and it's annoying enough to me that I'm forced to play the game even once on a lower setting before I can jump right into the harshest of challenges the game has to offer.

[MCRT]

I stuck with Wings for Eldar because of the defense boost, which is nice to have on a flying character to compensate for the lack of land effect. I also gave her the White Ring, allowing her to more effectively utilize her mobility without putting herself in too great of risk in the event that she needs to fly off on her own someplace other characters can't reach (like the treasure chest in the volcano). As for what I'm using, the one I have her equipped with is the Cosmic Wing. I got the Sylph Wing at first, but since I haven't looked up the special attacks, and auto HP restoration hadn't been particularly useful on Normal, I decided to go with the Cosmic Wing simply on the grounds that it sold for more, so I took that as the game's way of saying it's the better weapon.

I stick with Wings the most time too. Actually all other special Wings besides the Sylph Wings are fine to use and have comparable strength. The main difference is the effect of the specials (sonic wings = slow / cosmic wings = confuse / zero wings = instant kill)

As for Insane, if all the difficulties unlock after just one play through, then I'm likely to just jump right into that. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, and it's annoying enough to me that I'm forced to play the game even once on a lower setting before I can jump right into the harshest of challenges the game has to offer.

Ok, if you like it hard I won't stop you. But I guess in the end it was primary added as replay feature, therefore I have no issues with the point that you have to finish the game first.

[DomingoRules!]

I stick with Wings the most time too. Actually all other special Wings besides the Sylph Wings are fine to use and have comparable strength. The main difference is the effect of the specials (sonic wings = slow / cosmic wings = confuse / zero wings = instant kill)

I did consider the Sylph Wings, but that was mainly because the HP regen complimented how I was basically using Eldar as an explorative tank. Equipped with the White Ring, there wasn't a whole lot many enemies could do to her, so she was a bit of an explorer of sorts. Always a bit off to the side from the rest of the force so she's not in the way, and oftentimes getting enemies from behind and such.

Ok, if you like it hard I won't stop you. But I guess in the end it was primary added as replay feature, therefore I have no issues with the point that you have to finish the game first.

My philosophy on difficulty is, "If it's not at least NES Hard, then it's too easy." Back in the day, I may have done it progressively, but nowadays I just don't think I have the time. I probably won't revisit the game again for many months, or even a couple years anyway, so by time I do it's not like I'll be likely to remember any of the useful information that would make having played through an earlier difficulty first advantageous.

[MCRT]

I did consider the Sylph Wings, but that was mainly because the HP regen complimented how I was basically using Eldar as an explorative tank. Equipped with the White Ring, there wasn't a whole lot many enemies could do to her, so she was a bit of an explorer of sorts. Always a bit off to the side from the rest of the force so she's not in the way, and oftentimes getting enemies from behind and such.

Yeah, Eldar and Zero always end up being kind of an separated from the rest, as they are the only flying units in the first 2 scenarios for the biggest part of the game.
But Sc 3 really changes that, as this is the scenario where you will be able to reach total sky supremacy over your enemys

My philosophy on difficulty is, "If it's not at least NES Hard, then it's too easy." Back in the day, I may have done it progressively, but nowadays I just don't think I have the time. I probably won't revisit the game again for many months, or even a couple years anyway, so by time I do it's not like I'll be likely to remember any of the useful information that would make having played through an earlier difficulty first advantageous.

Hmm, ok, in this case it makes sense to directly tackle the highest difficulty... even if insane unprepared can be a quite frustrating experience when played for the first time and unprepared

[DomingoRules!]

Honestly, I hate the lack of flying units. I feel that having a flying unit is a staple in any force, and the fact that there's not really any choices for them basically makes both Eldar and Zero necessities for every play through in my book. Even if there were just two that joined by mid-game, at least then I'd have them to alternate between.

[Rune]

My philosophy on difficulty is, "If it's not at least NES Hard, then it's too easy." Back in the day, I may have done it progressively, but nowadays I just don't think I have the time. I probably won't revisit the game again for many months, or even a couple years anyway, so by time I do it's not like I'll be likely to remember any of the useful information that would make having played through an earlier difficulty first advantageous.

If you remember to use spells and items that boost your stats, you will find that insane falls just short of NES hard.

[MCRT]

Honestly, I hate the lack of flying units. I feel that having a flying unit is a staple in any force, and the fact that there's not really any choices for them basically makes both Eldar and Zero necessities for every play through in my book. Even if there were just two that joined by mid-game, at least then I'd have them to alternate between.

Then you will be excited about Sc 3... especially as all of those are unique classes and no bird men

My philosophy on difficulty is, "If it's not at least NES Hard, then it's too easy." Back in the day, I may have done it progressively, but nowadays I just don't think I have the time. I probably won't revisit the game again for many months, or even a couple years anyway, so by time I do it's not like I'll be likely to remember any of the useful information that would make having played through an earlier difficulty first advantageous.

If you remember to use spells and items that boost your stats, you will find that insane falls just short of NES hard.

Yeah, but I guess SF3 mechanic makes it impossibe to become NES hard. I mean the GBA remake of SF1 after the 20 star and when playing without Mawlock is the only SF that can rival that

[DomingoRules!]

I imagine the main problem I'll run into on Insane is that by that point, the game probably expects you to know the battles inside-and-out. Knowing the exact details of things like enemy behaviors, and ambushes that occur, and stuff like that which I'll have probably roughly forgotten by time I play the game again.

[Heldane]

On a related note, is it worth it take Large/Small Mithril with your characters as you finish Sc.1, to save it for Sc.3?

[legalize freedom]

Use all you need and you will still have leftovers if you don't miss many of them.

There are plenty in Sc2 and Sc3.

[Rune]

If you're too lazy to use it, but plan to later, bring your small mithril along. I can't think of any reason to bring large mithril.