Shining Force - When to Promote 

Started playing this game again after 2 decades. ❤️❤️

I am 44 years old, and just love this game.

As a kid, I always promoted at 10 and never had any real trouble beating the game that way. I didn't learn about people promoting at 20 until years later and wondered why the end game needed to be even easier.

They got to bring shining force back the way it was meant to be. This game still look good.

Always love seeing more SF1 content! There’s a community that’s “cracked open” the game if you ever want to dig in on the guts of leveling up. I’m sure they’d be happy to share what they know.

whoa, almost 500 views, I thought this was gonna get like... 10 Edit: and now we’re at almost 20,000 views, one of my most viewed videos, check out my Zero Death play through of Shining Force if you haven’t

I think “Babysitting” is the correct term for Level grinding. Some characters are meant to play the background.

Just finished a play through. Arthur was my best character from mid to late game. He is the only character I got to level 20 before promoting. I never grinded or repeated a battle. Bleu was number 2 then Guntz with a mobility ring.

Speaking of Thorasu, he has a game record breaking for me in my first playthrough ever... He was struck for 152 damage by Ramladu (Critical strike), setting him at the highest damage my character ever got in 1 strike.

I play through this game once every 2 years or so and I love it every time.

When I play, I generally promote mages and healers at 20, everyone else I promote as soon as they need to for their next weapon.

RNG is fun and all, but when a character levels up and gets literally no bonuses, it just feels bad.

As soon as you said RuneScape, I knew I clicked on the right video 😏

Can you make a Tier list video please? Love your content, and love this game! I play it in the winter pretty much every year for the past 20 years lol

I always heal even when it's not really needed, just for the exp. I never really have a problem keeping my healers leveled. Plus, once you get Aura 2, you get TONS of exp. One time I was trying to get my whole army leveled up in the Ramladu battle, and at the end when everyone else was level 20, Khris was level 52 from all of the Auras she was casting. In the final battles, I basically just use Aura 4 occasionally as a "free" shower of cure.

Thanks for that. I always wanted to see the difference but never had the time.

Arthur is the GOAT! 🐐

One of my top mega drive games. Love this game. Currently doing a modded playthrough which changes who joins when, and I was in two minds about promoting at 10 or 20. This is helpful.

Every Time I've played... Anri had stupidly high defense for a Mage. That woman is a tank. It's practically unfair... breaks the rule of Mages being glass cannons. She's just a cannon.

When I played the Game Boy advance remake I waited to promote at lvl20. After you do that your characters seriously become indestructible Demi gods.

I’m playing this again after 20 years and this time with 4 Horsemen 😂 Centaurs are really good. I never liked them as a kid.

Thanks for the video, I'm about to replay SF1 and the tips help me. Greetings from Argentina.

I love Shinning Force. A lot of this stuff I didn't know.

This is one of my favorite games I played as a kid, and still one of my favorite games to this day, but as for when to promote, that is an interesting debate. While you can argue that every character does have slightly better stats, certain characters are only a difference of 1 or 2 points in things, while others 15 to 20 points. It does really make this debate harder, as you know which characters need to grind the most to really receive their true potential but also make you wonder if it's truly worth the time and effort to grind these characters out. I guess it all depends on how you play this game, to which I can say there are plenty of ways to play this game. If you're trying to play through and get to the end as quickly as possible, then promoting characters early will not hinder your progress, but if you're trying to go through the game quickly with characters at their best potential, then it's a debate of whether they're worth the time and effort into doing extra grinding. I guess you can say that this game has an ingenious idea behind the whole promotion gimmick as even to this day people argue when it's best to promote, because some people say it doesn't matter, while others disagree. Heck, I've been replaying through the Shining games, and I'm currently replaying through Shining The Holy Ark, a Sega Saturn exclusive game, and it too has this very same mechanism of promotion at a particular level, however, unlike in Shining Force where you lose stats during promotion, that's not the case in Shining The Holy Ark, but still, almost every play through I've looked up on the game has everyone promoting their characters at the earliest moment possible. And while they are still able to beat the game, I wonder how much stronger you can be by promoting them later, or if you can have a challenge and beat the game unpromoted. People do acknowledge this stuff on forums and other things, but nobody has video record of this yet for Shining The Holy Ark, but your video here, as well as my play through of the Shining Force I did years ago, before stopping making play throughs, I did this exact thing, but yet it still doesn't feel satisfying because of the factor of how different people play through this game. The evidence is clearly here to show the difference between waiting and not waiting, but it's still a debate because it's clearly not worth it for a lot of characters being so minor in Stat point difference, but also just how certain characters are in general knowing you have to babysit these characters in order for them to become incredibly good. I will say, I admire this video and would like to see other videos like this in other Shining Games...particularly the one I'm currently working on, Shining The Holy Ark, and I'm surprised there's not much put out there on that game, but I'd really like a Shining Force 3 version of this because if you play through all 3 games of Shining Force 3, and push things in all those games vs promoting early, what is all three of those games drastic difference...

I had never heard of Shining Force until last year when I read an article about it in a retro gaming magazine. Long story short, I put it on the Steam Deck and have been loving it since. Though I gotta say I wasnt even sure you could promote past Level 10 (as in, I kind of assumed the level would be capped there until you promoted lmao) Ken is a monster in my current (first) playthrough :,) And Gort and Tao kind of too. I love them.

I don't remember if it is exclusive to the GBA, but Turosu's shield spell breaks the Colusosus fight

Thank you for confirming my suspicions I've had since I was five 🤣. I was always like "Why are some units getting better stats on levels than others?" Now I know.

This was great, you're awesome.

I would really like to see this same video, but for the GBA version, since some of the Characters are so different.

Kokichi with his 2 best spears and also both mobility and evil rings. Death from above... literaly.

It’s different every time, except Zylo. Zylo could kill god in his sleep

LOVE THIS GAME! Great stuff!

Started playing this again.

Healers could be brought to level 99 relatively easy, as they always get exp for healing, regardless of their level. Especially mass aura, which rewards you with 5 xp per healed character. Some items allow healing as well, so the non healers who can use them can similarly benefit. P.S. I was crazy enough to bring all my characters to level 99 in both SF1 and SF2.

Great video. I still don't get why Sega didn't made a proper Shining Force IV yet... or just port all the Shining Force III games on modern system. A 2D-HD upgrade of episodes 1-2 would also be great!

SF1 has a lot of jank, but it is still one if my favorites.

I found that with only healers and mages I’d just promote at 10 because I barely used them. It was a miracle if any of them were even level 20 by the end of the game lol.

You can have a secondary attack with The Chaos Breaker Sword? Cool!

Promoting early vs Promoting late: it's almost like you're playing two different Shining Force games. Promoting late renders all late-joining already-promoted characters weaker in comparison to your existing force, but helps make up for "empty levels" at Level 20+ Promoted in every game except Shining Force 2 (where there are no "empty-levels"--the characters get reasonable level-ups all the way to Level 40 Unpromoted and Level 99 Promoted). Promoting early makes it easier to compare every character on their own merits, but in every Shining Force game outside of SF2, you rob those characters of their true potential because of "empty levels." If you want to fight the secret boss fight in Book 4 of Shining Force CD, promoting the 12 characters that participate in that at Level 20 is HIGHLY recommended!

My name is Adam so I want to use Adam. Any advice?

Blue Dragons are totally exposed to desoul spells!

Its been a few years but i find the best area to grind at is in the fight against balbazac. The fight is quick and gives good experience. You dont really have access to promoted only weapons so its not much of a slog. It usually only takes an hour or two to get my core team to 20. Character i get aftewards, i just feed kills to get up to. Its definitely overkill. When you can beat the game in under 10 hours, is adding an hour or two of grinding really worth it?

The spellcasters seem to get pretty big increases in MP, which is worth it imo. Other than that Max had absolutely insane difference in stats. Bleu has no weapons, so he is always a promote at 20 character for me. Same goes for Zulo. That said, I like grinding, so I grind mages, Bleu and Zulo. In the GBA game, it's even more fun when Mawlock can damage fucking everything on the map so everyone else can finish them off easily. Which, also makes Mawlock always be like 15 levels higher than everyone else.

i remember there being a lot of randomness when your characters level up. Sometimes you would gain a level and get zero gains at all. So kinda wonder what the differences are between 2 different games but using the same characters and taking a record of their stats. SF2 seemed to be a little more giving with the stat gains

I downloaded the app which lets you pause at any point during the game and save. I restarted the game again and again until I got the best numbers for each level and yet they are only comparable to yours. What gives? Are you the luckiest person alive? I promoted them at 19.

Honestly I’ve always promoted around lvl 10-12 ish. The game is easy enough that you don’t need to overlevel (at least I never found myself needing to.) Only grinding I do is to get characters like bleu up to speed. Also it’s on the switch library now which has rewind so if you REALLY want you can rewind level ups until you get good stat boosts and it’s alot faster than actual grinding. But yeah. I wish this one had multiple difficulties like shining force 2 but it’s still my favorite of the series, likely from all the nostalgia

Well it looks like it's time for me to promote a lot of my team members because I wrongly assumed getting them to lvl 20 before promote meant=god like stats compared to a lvl 10 promote!

I hope Shining Force 1 and Shining Force 2 get a remake the same as Super Mario RPG, where the remake is super respectful and faithful to the original game

played my game with chars that i get, didnt rotate them maybe i did get it wrong but isnt you just should show us 3 pictures? char lvl 10 char lvl 20 promoted char lvl 10 that could be enough

Balbazak battle is the best place to grind characters out to 20 and then promote. Sea Bats give great xp.

I grind up Gong pretty hard, because he's the only healer with defensive and offensive strength to speak of. He's no Luke or Gort, but he does better than all the other healers and some mid guys.

I played this on sega smash pack 2 From 1999 - 2004 . Got shining force 2 on steam but Never finished that final battle .

I need this game to compete with fire emblem!

I have expirience in playing with no promoted characters When i was a kid, the first time i played, after promoting my team at 10 the next battle felt awful, for the stat drop, so i reset the game to have unpromoted units and cotinued until the Kaine battle, my units felt weak, and they cant be more powerful, so i finally understand the promotion, i restarted a ton of times that battle, until my unist dont felt like weaklings.

For casual play Tao is the one I wait on, for me she slows down on damage if you don't get blaze 3, by the time I do I have come to rely on Domingo and Anari. Have only ever gotten blaze 4 when I hold off Tao's promotion.

I *always* promoted my characters at level 20, because, think of it this way: Promoting at level 10 robs your character of 10 potential level-ups. All other things being equal, a 20/20 character will *always* end up stronger than a 10/20 character, even accounting for RNG in stat gains. Patience really is a virtue; I have no qualms whatsoever with grinding.

Good video btw! I would have liked if Sega made the switch version a "replayable" one (You can replay the game forever each time getting tougher). Also, I almost cried when I saw the video of the new shining force 1 (In 3d) only to be cancelled ;(

I'm actually playing this game for the first time right now. I found the video because I was kinda wondering when should I promote the characters. I'm currently right after the fight with Kane, I have no promoted characters yet (which might explain why the dude was one-shotting everyone with his basic attacks) and most of my team is around level 15-17. Main exception being Bleu who I just got, and so far he's being a pain in the ass to train. Should I just promote him outright then?

Great video!! Did you forget to mention Bleu? :D He also gets a ton more points!

The past 3 years I've replayed both games once a year. Can anyone recommend any romhacks that are fun?

Thank you.

You know what I learned from watching this? Sometimes Amon and Lyle actually hit the enemy.

played this game so many times

4:40 Whoa you hold no weapon so it looks like a Sorcerer instead of a Wizard 😂

Please I need the link to download the full game for pc

In every Shining Force game, I basically try to promote at whatever level the pre-promoted characters seem to be promoted at. I always have trouble finding this info, but some games promote them at 10, and others seem to be at 17. I try to keep the characters on "level ground", so when I'm choosing my final party, it's a 1-to-1 comparison.

The difference for Hans is huge, 11 HP and 13 Def? That may easily allow him to tkae another 1-2 hits, the 7 attack more is also a great bonus. Similiar for Gong who should be a much more viable frontline healer with those additional stats and the atk bonus is also quiet a bit bigger then for others. I'd say for chars without weapons and casters it seems more viable then for more common unit types this does make a difference, now if it is needed or worth the time is up to the player.

Wow, this is recent. I’m currently designing a game and referencing Shinning Force’s leveling system. I don’t suppose you have the leveling data and be able to share it with me, do you? The forums I’ve found are very outdated and seem to have errors, so I want to find out as much as I can.

Is it possible to complete sf 1 and 2 without promoting anyone?

I personally don't find it worth grinding to 20 to promote. The game isn't hard enough to warrant doing it. But it's worth doing once just for the fun of it.

So just grind the MC and the mages got it How about the sequel? Do they follow the same rules more or less?

Love this game

I played this as a teen and I have beaten it with several different parties and I STILL don’t know when to promote. 😂😂😂

I promote when it feels like its getting too hard (except arthur bleu and zylo 20 all the way for them) depending on the stats I get that can be lvl 12 - 17

so basically the mages are the ones that should be promoted last? ironic considering the manual says that warriors should be promoted last while mages and healers should be promoted early, I guess you can't always trust the manual.

5:43 Move 6/7? Maybe with a Turbo pepper?

It's better to promote at level 10 because the earlier you do that, the better chance you have of leveling them up from level 1 after the promotion early on so you don't have to at the end of the game and it's too late.

Wouldn't Hans be viable to wait until Level 20 to promote as well?

Bro. Did you try use game genie codes? It makes your job much easier. In SF 2 i only promote after lv 40 😂 but it breaks the game because the team becomes uber powerful and using codes i get everyone in lv 99 it’s so awesome the green health bar and the ??/?? But sadly at this point even zeon is no match for ANYONE in the party. Ok nostalgia hits me really hard now…

What about Jogurt?

i level all char to 99 in shining force 2 i also level healer char to 99 at start of the game.

SF1 = Whenever you want, really, the game's pretty easy as is.

I see people wasting the power potions, etc by spreading them out before any promotions and the 15 year old me screams. You dump them all into a single character, and not Max.

Man how do you get multiple items like Bread of Life or Def potion?

What version of shining force is this? It doesn't look like any Sega genesis version.

So, since Zylo is crazy good, is it a good idea to promote him immediately or later?

Sf2 pleases?

my team is max tao anri alef diane kokichi zelo domingo khris lowe gong

too bad new game ➕️ wasn't a thing back then

At level 20 for maximum power! :)

PLEASE do this for Shining Force 3 ♥️♥️♥️

This game is too easy not to promote some. Levelling tao,ken and gort early makes this game a breeze midway. I’m currently playing this game and Tao can one shot many enemies with fire4

Your comparison isn't good. Level 10 then to level 20 vs level 20 and back to level 20. The 20 to 20 set had 10 whole level ups more. Also, try this out: don't ever promote the main character. When you win the last battle and it does that cut scene it promotes your character, or, really, shows the promoted graphics. 9 year old me figured that if I lose when main character dies I will just never put him at risk. And it worked, lol.

DONINGO IS THE STRONGEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME.....

It promotes at level 10

The first playthrough I ever did I did not promote lol

2 questions: 1: wouldn't it have made more sense to level up those promoted at 10 to level 30? Because leveling up at level 20, then getting to level 20, thats 20+20=40. Whereas 10+20=30. So there is technically a 10 level gap between the two even if the numbers read the same. Also, do you know any way to get extra mithril in the game beyond the standard 15? I've always had a fantasy of getting each of the 25 characters who can use weapons their best possible mithril weapon but never figured out a way how to do it. Thanks in advance!

Whats the best way to grind levels?

I'm the same. This is the one old rpg series I always replay. Sucks they kinda ruined it with exa and feather tho. 😒

Dude, you talk so fast I don't anyone can understand you