Shining Force Community Patch Suggestions

• (Re)fix areas of the game that are conclusively not functioning as intended.
• Restore areas of the game that were likely not implemented/finished due to limited memory.
• Improve areas of the game that do not meet the same level of polish as other areas.

• Fixes
  • Hanzou now correctly learns Desoul Level 2 upon reaching level 25. Reason: Previously learned Desoul Level 1 for a second time.
  • SF1Edit's 'Fix Land Effect' enabled. Reason: Land Effect effects do not work by default.
  • Ken's promoted 'voice' set to '#3' to match his Unpromoted 'voice'.
  • Anri and Tao's alternate outfit 'voices' set to '#2' to match their Promoted and Unpromoted 'voices'.
  • Balbaroy and Amon are now able to equip the Sword of Darkness when promoted to Sky Warrior class. [Credit: Erikin84]
• Improvements
  • There is now a join notification when Adam joins the Shining Force. Reason: For newer players, it is not immediately clear that Adam joins immediately before the Chaos battle in Metapha as there is no notification of any kind.
• Misc
  • 'Durahan' enemy unit renamed to 'Dullahan'. Reason: The mispelling was likely due to a localisation error. These enemies are correctly referred to as 'Dullahan' in the GBA remake.
  • Max will no longer gain additional MP or exceed 8/8 MP when levelling. Reason: Why should he? He doesn't learn any additional spells and on the rare occasions an enemy uses MP Drain, the player can always use an Angel Wing if absolutely necessary. Also, it may mislead the player into thinking that Max may learn a new spell somewhere down the line.
  • Ice Worm resistance to ice-based attacks increased from 25% to 50% resistance rate.
  • Jet and Steel Claw resistance to Muddle increased from -25% (somewhat susceptible) to fully immune.

• Battle #4 - Alterone Town Square
  • Dark Mage now has the Shield Ring equipped. Note: Previously the Shield Ring was left unequipped in his inventory.
  • Dark Mage will now drop a Shield Ring which is available for collection if the Force member that defeats him has an available inventory slot.
• Battle #6 - Cavern of Darkness
  • Skeleton enemy will now move during battle and is no longer completely immobile.
• Battle #8 - Shade Abbey
  • Ghoul now regenerates lost health per round. Reason: The Ghoul is arguably the first real boss encounter, according to his relatively high stats and gold reward, and 'regeneration' is an inherent ability to most bosses.
• Battle #9 - Bustoke Quarry
  • Dark Mages now have the Shield Ring equipped. Note: Previously the Shield Ring was left unequipped in their inventories.
• Battle #12 - Pao Prarie
  • Elliott will now move during battle and is no longer completely immobile.
• Battle #14 - Uranbatol Harbour
  • Balbazak will now move during battle and is no longer completely immobile.
  • Evil Puppet enemy replaced with Dark Priest.
• Battle #18 - Rudo Forest leading to Dragonia
  • High Priests and Master Mages now have their respective weapons equipped. Note: Previously their weapons were left unequipped in respective inventories.
• Battle #19 - Dragonia
  • Kane now regenerates lost health per round.
  • Kane's 'Special Attack' type changed from '150% Damage Crit' to '200% Damage Crit' to correspond with the majority of boss' Special Attack attributes.
• Battle #24 - Metapha
  • Demon Masters now equipped with Demon Rods. Reason: Previously completely unarmed.
  • Demon Master no longer uses non-existing Muddle 3 spell; replaced with Freeze 3.
• Battle #25 - To Runefaust
  • Demon Masters and High Priests are now equipped with Demon Rods. Reason: Previously equipped with Holy Staves, respectively, with effectively makes them weaker than earlier encounters with them.
• Battle #26 - Runefaust Castle #1
  • High Priests now equipped with Demon Rods. Reason: Previously equipped with Holy Staves, respectively, with effectively makes them weaker than earlier encounters with them.
• Battle #27 - Runefaust Castle #2
  • Ramladu now equipped with new weapon, 'Holy Mace' with identical stats to Holy Staff.
• Battle #28 - Castle of the Ancients
  • Victory conditions now require all Colossi to be defeated. Reason: Previously only the central 'Bolt Head' boss was necessary to defeat for victory.
  • All Colossus heads now regenerate health per round.
• Battle #29 - Darksol's Lair
  • Darksol now regenerates lost health per round.
  • High Priests are now equipped with Demon Rods. Reason: Previously equipped with Holy Staves, respectively, with effectively makes them weaker than earlier encounters with them.
• Battle #30 - Dark Dragon's Lair
  • All Dark Dragon heads now regenerate health per round.
  • All Dark Dragon heads now share identical stats (utilising higher HP and Agility of the central head, and higher Attack of flanking heads).

• Fixes
  • Luke's (aka 'Lug') Promoted map sprite recoloured from green to blue
  • Pelle promoted map sprites edited to display correct fur colour. Reason: Previously grey when his fur should have been brown.
  • Shellfish front-facing map sprite now includes shadowing. Reason: Previously, its shadow was only present on side-facing and rear-facing sprites.
  • Pelle's portrait speech animation no longer shows background pixels where his shoulder armour should be.
  • Restored Max's missing right hand for his alternate Unpromoted idle animation
  • Arthus now has a consistent facial appearance for both his Unpromoted and Promoted map sprites.
  • Gort's beard is no longer green in his Promoted second Attack frame (21_3.bmp).
• Improvements
  • All kings (Guardiana, Alterone, Waral and Prompt) now have unique map sprites and portraits (designed by Dan), inspired by existing map sprites and/or Resurrection of Dark Dragon remake artwork. Reason: It doesn't make sense that they would all share identical artwork, and the inclusion of four King portraits (one unique, three duplicate) suggests a budget/time limitation imposed on Sega.
  • All Force Members and Enemies that were previously missing an alternate Idle frame (internally referred to as 'Idle 2' by SFMods staff) in battle have assigned given one where appropriate (designed by Dan)
  • 'Common' aka 'Force' map sprite palette revised; purple (#926ddb) replaced with blue (#4164c6)
  • Spirit of the Spring now sports side-facing and rear-facing map sprites (designed by Dan). Note: By default, Spirit is immobile and does not require these additional sprites, but they were absent so we added them.
  • Kane now features an 'Unmasked Kane' map sprite variant for use in events occurring after his battle with the Shining Force in Dragonia.
  • 'Injured Soldier' now sports side-facing and rear-facing map sprites (designed by Dan).
  • Varios now sports a new 'injured' state portrait after his encounter with Kane in Guardiana.
  • The priest in Shade Abbey (Darksol in disguise) now sports a unique 'sinister portrait' and map sprite set recoloured to match 'enemy' map sprite palette
  • The injured priest in Waral now sports a unique 'injured priest' portrait and map sprite set
  • Dark Mage, Master Mage and Demon Mage battle sprites updated to show more consistent colours for skin tones and staff textures
  • Adjusted weapon positioning in Warrior battle sprites to better suit hand positioning
  • Added blink animation to Torasu's portrait
  • Priest portrait will now blink correctly. Notes: Previously, the priest would have his eyes closed during dialogue and open them to blink.
  • All Colossus heads now sport a revised colour scheme to help players determine their elemental power at a glance.
  • Hanzou now has unique spellcasting battle animation. Reason: His regular attack animation really does not lend well to spellcasting.
  • Tidied up Tao's portrait speech animation (replaced grey pixels)
  • Domingo now has a unique speech animation. Reason: He previously did not have one.
  • New flame sprite added to replace instances where the original blue flame sprite did not make sense. Example: During the exchange between Max and Mishaels on the ship in Rindo.
• Misc.
  • Decreased Max's Unpromoted overall battle sprite dimensions by 10%.
  • Decreased Max's Promoted overall battle sprite dimensions by 8%.
  • Decreased Zylo's Unpromoted overall battle sprite dimensions by 8%.
  • Increased Lyle's Promoted overall battle sprite size by 7%.

• Corrections
  • Line #63: Text updated to read, '[With] the battle over and Rune [...]'
  • Line #470: Replaced 'loses' with 'gains'. Reason: Using the Demon Rod to steal an enemy's MP does not expend or lose MP - it's actually the opposite.
  • Line #703: Corrected grammatical error, '[...]Though strong, but we also [...]'
  • Line #1974: 'Hanzo' text updated to read 'Hanzou'. Reason: For consistency's sake, and it would appear that 'Hanzou' is the canonical spelling.
  • Priest will now respond with correct text string when player declines Force member reviving. Explanation and fix instructions by RubixCuber
  • Kane no longer erroneously known as 'Cain' during the battle in Dragonia.
• Misc.
  • 'Luke' renamed to 'Lug'. Reason: 'Luke' is a result of a localisation error, and there already exists a Luke in SF2.
    • Force member name changed to 'Lug'.
    • Line #748: 'Luke' text updated to read 'Lug'.
    • Line #915: 'Luke' text updated to read 'Lug'.
  • 'Chimaera' enemy corrected to 'Chimera'.
  • Treasure chest-opening text changed from '[NAME] discovers a[LINE][ITEM]!' to '[NAME] discovered:[LINE][ITEM]!' Reason: Better accommodates all items and in some cases benefits readability. Example: 'Max discovers a Evil Ring' - not grammatically correct.
  • Line #433: "[Max] has been defeated..." has been changed to "[Max] and the Shining Force have been defeated..." Reason: More thematically impactful.

Steve said:

Sorry @Boken - missed your message!

@Ivan_Cal Sort of, I sort of carried on working on it and expanding the extra tweaks as I went. I'll see if I can dig up the old changelog doc on my PC.

Click to expand...

Steve said:

@Ival_Cal Here's my old list from 2020. I've skimmed over the list just now, and some list entries don't even make sense to me anymore. A lot of the notes are very sloppy, and the video references can be a bit jarring, but hopefully the list could be of some use to you.

Spoiler

IDEAS (not implemented)

• Incomplete 'Purple Goblin' enemy restored and implemented as 'Imp'; present in Battles:
• Incomplete 'Purple Dark Dwarf' enemy restored and implemented as 'Demon Dwarf'; present in Battles:
• Incomplete 'Weed' enemy restored and implemented; present in Battles:
• Sound test menu border now displays correctly
• Add purpose for the second Moon Stone? Found during ship battle in hidden chest. Perhaps a booster for Zylo?
• Rename/restyle iterative enemies that appear identical but sport different stats? This includes the Skeleton enemies in Chapter 5 and Mage variants and others?
• Restore Max-Kane brother storyline?
• Adam (both Promoted and Unpromoted) now uses 'speech' sound #8 (which is the default speech sound for Chaos and Colossus)
• Rename Demon Blaze to Demon Breath in lieu of Western translation error: https://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24440
• Add shadow to Jogurt map sprites?
• Give Guntz a spear throw animation
• Silver Knight is no longer classed as the 'boss' unit of the battle, meaning that the battle is no longer immediately ended upon his sole defeat
• Amend Elliot's 'I am the last of the Dragonutes' line?
• Are Promoted Gong's attack frames reversed? Perhaps he should be crouching in Attack 2?
• Adjust Hanzou's weapon position and orientation in attack frames?
• Make it clear that the enemies encountered during sea/ship battles are not part of Runefaust? Perhaps replace Pegasus Knights?
• Evil Dark Mage working independently of Runefaust?
• Give Bleu a fire attack or fire spells? 'Bleu spews fire'
• Dark Dragon cannot dodge by default?
• Dark Dragon heads have different spells?
  5:02:xx
• Add side-view and rear-view facing Max swimming/drowning map sprites (157.x.bmp)
• Musashi's default portrait blink animation is a bit crap...
• Add better flame graphics for Rindo ship fire (caused by Mishaela)
• One Zombie has higher stats in Shade Abbey battle? Possibly meant to be a Ghoul?
• Domingo has the exact same battle sprites in his promoted form? Maybe Sega planned to make him promotable...?
• Add pulsing effect to Chaos battle sprites, the Orb and eyes?
• Kane boss has MP but no spells? Perhaps he could learn magic as a playable character? Perhaps playable Kane can learn Bolt like his son Ian? https://shining.fandom.com/wiki/Ian
• Darksol boss has MP but no spells? Perhaps he could learn magic as a playable character?
• In Battle 11, the Laser Eye Bridge Battle, perhaps make the Laser Eye the boss? Or remove boss status from the Silver Knight?
• Update Balbaroy/Amon battle sprites to make their hand position not change, perhaps do the same for other battle sprites?
• Give Simone a portrait during Chapter end dialogues
• Make bronze lance bronze, not green
• Make it so that Wizards (promoted Mages?) hold their staves during battle animation?
• Gort's voice changes upon promotion // update - doesn't seem to be the case at all!
• High Priest(s) in Elliot battle do not move at all? Only attack if a Force member is next to them?
• Darksol and Dark Dragon need to be resistant to magic, default set to no resistance
• Add headbob animation to more map sprites
• Zylo should join at level 7. Diane joins at Level 6 and Pelle at Level 8
• Add Jet enemies to later Darksol/Dark Dragon battles?
• Dark Dragon has MP reserve but no spells
• Kane has MP reserve but no spells
• Give the Goblin enemy a club to match his concept art
• Adjust weapon placement in Musashi's battle sprites (Animation 26)
• Adjust weapon placement in Hanzou's battle sprites (Animation 27)
• The Black Ring is Unequippable, but not Cursed? Editor error?
• Promoted Gort needs to hold weapon at different angle for Idle frames
• Either give the Pegasus Knight a Steel Lance weapon upgrade or re-colour his battle sprite lance
• Either give the Rune Knight a Steel Lance weapon upgrade or re-colour his battle sprite lance

GENERAL

• Bugfix: Persistent (De)buffs by Xeno: http://sfmods.com/resources/166/
• Applied rubixcuber's in-editor 'Fix Muddle'
• Cursed weapons and items are no longer registered as 'Cursed' (only 'unequippable'); this change removes the [name]'s body goes numb' battle effect but retains the Force member damage possibility during attack (see 'cursed items.png' for discussion)
• Due to 'Stat Cap to 127' (and '3-digit stats'?) being enabled in-editor, all enemies with the infinite MP value of 100 (Mishaela, Ramladu, Colossi, Darksol and Dark Dragon(s)) have been assigned the new infinite value of '127' (see 'enemy regen and 100 infinite.png for discussion)
• Hanzou now correctly learns Desoul Level 2 upon reaching level 25; previously learned Desoul Level 1 twice
• All kings now have unique map sprites and portraits (designed by n0r0nha)
• Priest will now respond with correct text string when player declines Force member reviving
• SF1Editor settings enabled:
• - EXP 'Overflow' enabled
• - Automatic Item Passing enabled
• - Fix Land Effect enabled
• - Maximum stat cap for Force Members and enemies increased from 99 to 127
• - Three-digit stat display enabled
• - Extend Status Screen enabled (Adds Crit and enemy level values)
• - Max now bests Varios in sparring match at the very start of Chapter 1, in keeping with Japanese original script and RoDD remake script
• - 'Durahan' renamed to 'Dullahan' (as was the case with RoDD)
• - Max will no longer gain additional MP when levelling
• - There is now a join notification when Adam joins the Shining Force -
  // https://youtu.be/hbpXIjNxTbM?t=655

SCRIPT

• Luke renamed to Lug, in lieu of the script mistranslation during western localisation
• - Line #748: 'Luke' updated to read 'Lug'
• - Line #915: 'Luke' updated to read 'Lug'
• Line #63: Text updated to read '[With] the battle over and Rune [...]'
• Line #703: Corrected grammatical error
• Line #1974 (Hanzou join message): Corrected inconsistent Hanzou spelling
• Using the Demon Rod to steal an enemy's MP triggers inaccurate text. Line #470: Replace 'loses' with 'gains': https://forums.shiningforcecentral....7968f319889e75ba886acd5dd975&start=20#p511501
• Opening treasure chest dialog text changed from '[NAME] discovers a[LINE][ITEM]!' to '[NAME] discovered:[LINE][ITEM]!' in order to better accommodate item names
• Line #433: "Max has been defeated..." has been changed to "Max and the Shining Force have been defeated..."

VISUALS

• All Force Members and Enemies that were previously missing an alternate Idle frame (infrequently referred to as 'Idle 2') in battle have been given one (designed by n0r0nha)
• 'Common' map sprite palette revised; purple (#926ddb) replaced with blue (#4164c6)
• Luke's promoted map sprite recoloured from green to blue
• Spirit of the Spring now features a Resurrection of Dark Dragon-styled portrait, and side-view and rear-view map sprites (designed by n0r0nha)
• New 'Unmasked Kane' map sprite used for events occurring after his rescue in Battle #18
• 'Injured Soldier' map sprites now feature side-view and rear-view map sprites (designed by n0r0nha)
• Laser Eye now features front-view and rear-view map sprites (designed by n0r0nha)
• Varios now sports a new 'injured'-style portrait after his encounter with Kane in Guardiana
• The priest in Shade Abbey (Darksol in disguise) now sports a unique portrait and map sprite set
• The injured priest in Waral now sports a unique portrait and map sprite set
• Dark Mage, Master Mage and Demon Mage battle sprites updated to show more consistent colours for skin tones and staff textures
• All paladin map sprites now sport unique signature colours that correspond with their unpromoted equivalents
• Several weapons, items and spell graphics have been updated to use their newer Shining Force II equivalents
• Adjusted weapon positioning in Warrior battle sprites to better suit hand positioning
• Added blink animation to Torasu's portrait
• Colossus heads now sport different coloured eyes that correspond with their elemental magic power
• Hanzou now has unique spellcasting battle animation
• Pelle promoted map sprites edited to display correct fur colour (now brown, previously grey)
• Blue Dragon now correctly uses frame 24_4.bmp as part of 'tail swipe' attack animation (previously re-used 24_2.bmp)
• Shellfish front-facing map sprite now include shadowing (previously shadow was only present on side-facing and rear-facing sprites)
• Restore Max/Kane/Darksol scene in Metapha https://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15145&p=755721#p755721
• Pelle's portrait speech animation no longer shows background pixels where his shoulder armour should be
• Tidied up Tao's portrait speech animation (replaced grey pixels)
• Gave Domingo a speech animation (previously had none)
• Restored Max's missing right hand for his alternate Idle animation
• Arthus now has a consistent facial appearance for both his Unpromoted and Promoted map sprites
• All Colossus heads now sport a revised colour scheme to help players determine their elemental power at a glance
• Promoted Gort has a green beard in Attack 2!
• New fire/flame sprite added to replace suit events where traditional orange/red flames are more suited, such as the exchange between Max and Mishaels on the ship in Rindo
• Priests now blink properly
• Muddle spell efficacy
• Sleep spell efficacy

FORCE MEMBERS

• Ken's promoted 'voice' set to '3' to match his unpromoted 'voice' (steve review this, 'women' use 3)
• Anri and Tao's alternate outfit 'voices' set to '2' to match their promoted and unpromoted 'voices'

ENEMIES

• Ice Worms resistance to Ice-based attacks increased from 25% to 50% resistance rate
• Steel Claw resistance to Muddle increased from -25% (somewhat susceptible) to fully immune
• Jet resistance to Muddle increased from -25% (somewhat susceptible) to fully immune
• 'Chimaera' enemy name now correctly spelled 'Chimera'

BATTLE
- Battle #4:
- Dark Mage now has the Shield Ring equipped; previously the Shield Ring was left unequipped in inventory

- Battle #6
- Skeleton enemy will now move during battle and is no longer stationary

- Battle #8:
- Ghoul now regenerates lost health per round

- Battle #9:
- Dark Mages now has the Shield Ring equipped; previously the Shield Ring was left unequipped in inventory

- Battle #12
- Elliot will now move during battle and is no longer stationary

- Battle #14
- Balbazak will now move during battle and is no longer stationary (note to self: check to see if battle can be skipped by stepping on Balbazak's old tile)
- Evil Puppet replaced with Dark Priest
- Dark Priests (one previously an Evil Puppet) will now drop Shield Ring item upon being defeating and can be collected if a free inventory slot is available

- Battle #18
- High Priest and Master Mage now have their respective weapons equipped; previously weapons were left unequipped in inventory

- Battle #19
- Kane's now regenerates lost health per round
- Kane's 'Special Attack' type changed from '150% Damage Crit' to '200% Damage Crit' to correspond with the majority of boss' Special Attack attributes

- Battle #24
- Demon Masters now equipped with Demon Rods.
- Demon Master no longer uses non-existing Muddle 3 spell; replaced with Freeze 3

- Battle #25
- Demon Masters and High Priests are now equipped with Demon Rods; previously equipped with Holy Rods

- Battle #26
- High Priests are now equipped with Demon Rods; previously equipped with Holy Rods

- Battle #27
- Ramladu now equipped with new weapon Holy Mace (identical stats to Holy Staff)

- Battle #28
- Victory conditions now require all enemies be defeated; previously only the central 'Bolt Head' boss was necessary to defeat for victory
- All Colossus heads now regenerate health per round

- Battle #29
- Darksol now regenerates lost health per round
- Darksol now equipped with Evil Ring
- High Priests are now equipped with Demon Rods; previously equipped with Holy Rods

- Battle #30
- All Dark Dragon heads now regenerate health per round
- All Dark Dragon heads now share identical stats (utilising higher HP and Agility of the central head, and higher Attack of flanking heads)

BUG FIXES

• - Kane is no longer erroneously referred to as 'Cain' during Battle #19

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