Shining Force Setting Compendium
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Scans available at Google Drive and the Internet Archive. This Setting Compendium (which I sometimes shorten to World Book for ease) is an official guide more focused on worldbuilding than game data. It has some unique info compared to other guides, like character heights and ages, but is also shorter than the others and sadly does not cover all characters. It also contradicts other guides at some point, because nothing can be easy or coherent in this series. |
Navigation:
Character Profiles
Profiles are split between a basic table with info such as age, height and weight, a story section, and a strategy section giving an overview of the character's role in battle and expected growth.
Sadly, late game characters are not covered in this book, only the 21 listed here.
As usual, translation notes from here on are under the horizontal lines, and the characters' original names in the JP version are noted [in brackets] when different.
These pages do show different romanizations for some character names, but since they're not consistent even with other JP guides, I'm ignoring them.
Also, usual warning for alcoholism at Vankar's section, the man's a disaster.
 Max |
 Ken |
 Luke |
 Hans |
 Lowe |
 Tao |
 Mae |
 Gort |
 Gong |
 Khris |
 Anri |
 Arthur |
 Balbaroy |
 Amon |
 Diane |
 Zylo |
 Kokichi |
 Pelle |
 Vankar |
 Lyle |
 Guntz |
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The swordsman of incredible skill, and a secret Max |
A young man who displays power sometimes beyond his own understanding A young man with amazing swordsmanship skills. While being a human, inferior in physical strength, his abilities in battle are on par with those of the centaurs. He is not a citizen of Guardiana. He drifted ashore, unconscious, and was rescued by Lowe. Despite having lost his memories, he seems to be used to the battlefield judging by how he moves in combat. His skills have even the royal knights’ jaws dropping in awe. |
A fast learner whose role is to deal the finishing blows Being a swordsman, he attacks with his incredible sword skills. At first his defense and agility can be a problem, but he grows quickly so it’s not much of an issue. In particular, his strength grows incredibly fast. He’s not one to put in the front line to pierce the enemy lines, and is better suited to deal huge damage to the enemies with follow up attacks. It’s easy for him to become the focus of attacks so be careful. |
Villain Profiles
Villain profiles have only the info table and story section, with nothing on their gameplay stats.
Also, they all keep the "starting weapon" and "starting level" lines in their info despite it not applying to them. Very silly.
 Darksol |
 Cain |
 Mishaela |
 Elliot |
 Balbazak |
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A being completely shrouded in mystery! Darksol |
The emissary of darkness who obtained Ramladu’s favor and authority One year ago, he suddenly appeared in the country of Runefaust, ruled by Emperor Ramladu, and became the real authority behind its political and military affairs. There is pretty much no information on him, all that is known is that he is researching how to resurrect the incarnation of evil, Dark Dragon. While his whole identity is shrouded in mystery, there are rumors that he is capable of using the dark magic “Demon Breath”. |
Enemy Info
A couple of pages are dedicated to generic enemies. Nothing worth writing home about, but hey, I already translated it.
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Dark Dwarves [Dwarves¹] Muscular warriors who attack with huge axes. Their distinctive beards grow independent of gender, and they strike with superior strength. Dark Snipers [Sniper¹] Masters of the bow who shoot down their prey with surefire accuracy. Their precise, calculated attacks leave opponents at a loss. Skeletons Dead warriors brought back to life through magical arts. They attack with fast, hard to follow movements. Huge Bats Their strength lies in their fast movements and sharp fangs. They intimidate opponents with their huge wings, creating openings for attacks. Their area of action is very wide. Dark Mages¹ Dark mages skilled with magic. Can cast high level spells with the staves in their hands. They have no physical strength, and thus only attack with magic, but since they can strike in a wide area it’s tough to approach them. Armed Skeletons [Biouber²] Skeletons of giants upgraded with machines. They’ve been remodeled for field battles. The strongest enemy soldiers, built by Darksol with technology of the Ancients. ¹The localization added the "Dark" prefix to certain enemy names, like the dwarves and snipers. Dark Mages however had the prefix in the original too. Perhaps the localization tried to make things more consistent? ²This is the only romanization I'm taking straight from the book instead of doing my own take, because I have no clue what this enemy's original name is supposed to be, and I never found anyone who does. Its name is ブローバー(buroobaa), and my best guess would be something like "blobber", but what does that even mean??? And where did the book get a "biou" out of that??? It might be taken from a language I don't know. |
Species Info
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A game world with countless species In the world of “Shining Force”, 17 species are shown, including humans. To help you understand what they are like, we explain ten of them here, from the common humans to dragonewts and the mysterious Yogurts. At the end of the explanations we list example characters of each species as well. Humans Compared to other species they are short lived, weak, and have no special abilities. However they may acquire special abilities through the way they are raised and trained. Hobbits They are generally short and robust. A race that prefers using their heads as opposed to fighting. Elves They look much like humans, and are slender, tall and dexterous. They are skilled with bows and magic, and have long lifespans. Dragonewts A humanoid dragon species. Superior to other species in power, skill, intellect and everything else. Centaurs A species with a human upper body and a horse lower body. They use the same weapons as humans, and are drawn to fighting. Birdpeople A humanoid species with wings on their backs. Many like toying with their enemies with their distinctive swift movements. Dwarves They grow long beards, and have sturdy bodies. With very lively personalities, they usually work as warriors. Giants They usually have large bodies, and are a violent and savage race. They are easily fooled by people, but their strength is superior. Wolfling A species with wolf faces much like werewolves. They excel in fighting, and are proud of their own species. Yogurt A mysterious species that only appears in this game. Weird creature from the evil planet Yogurt. |