Shining Force: Horizons V1.0A

Welcome!
What if you could choose the classes of force members as they joined? After some brainstorming, I figured it out and put together what became Horizons. I figured this would be something that would offer tons of enjoyment for those that have always wanted to choose classes for their team. To make this work, there is a limited cast, out of the 12 members, 9 are given the option of choosing a class upon joining.

You'll need an unmodified version (US .bin file) of Shining Force to apply this patch.

It is also highly recommended to use Bizhawk on PC or Retroarch(with Pico Drive core)on mobile if you have an Android Smart Phone.

You can use both Savestates and in-game saving to maintain your progress. Just to be safe, I recommend you make save states regularly... especially in battle, you never know


If you have any issues, please message me at my discord, in the bugs channel.


The choices are between 3 archetypes:
1. Melee
2. Ranged
3. Magic
Here's an example of Khris when choosing her class.

To keep things fresh, characters chosen to use similar weaponry like in the vanilla game, will use another set to set them apart from the original game.

For example:
Gort will use Lances if Melee is chosen.
Hans will use spears if Ranged is chosen.
Alef will use warlock rings if Magic is chosen.

Who are the two that can't be chosen for a class?

1. Otrant(Yes, THAT Otrant): He is a warlock type fighter that can use the new warlock rings for attacking. He comes at the end of Chapter 3. He is also the main reason you can choose your members' classes, it'll all be explained in game!

2. Adam: He's a bit different here. He flies, uses Lances and really big sword you find at the end game. He also has a unique leveling ability called "upgrade" in which you cast a spell to permanently increase either his attack, defense or health each turn. He joins your party at chapter 7. See the readme for more.



Is that it!? What else you got?

- Battles were completely redone to offer a brand new shining force experience!

- New Healing/Support items are now available to purchase and be used by anyone on the force!


- New storyline to fit this new narrative with twists and turns.



- New offensive magic!
There are two types of offensive spells, single or multi-target. To avoid any issues like "I HAVE to choose this guy as a magic user because he has bolt!", each level is the same for all others. No "Bolt is best, freeze is good, fire is garbage" type mentality here.

For the multi-ranged magic spells: there is a spell called "Dazzle" that's unique to each magic force member that will use one of each flavor(blaze,freeze,bolt,blast) at each level. So one may have blaze, bolt,freeze,blast), while another will have freeze,blast,blaze,bolt) in their levels.

For the single target magic spells: Mages will get a spell called "Pummel" and Warlocks get a spell called "Strike". Each version has similar effects when used(like using vanilla promoted gong's attack animation effect), but will differ slightly to give a variety to either side. One will use promoted archer's green attack, the other will use the armed skeleton's machine gun effect. It's similar, but slightly different to make Mages/Warlocks stand apart from each other a little bit.


Now, Warlocks!
They are a new archetype, here in Horizons that serve as a new magic user for characters that were magic based in the original game. Warlocks, like mages, wield magic, but they use rings they equip to attack with. They are kind of in between Mages and Archers. Can do magic damage, but can also do some physical damage if needed. Mages can also do some physical damage from afar, but it's not the same as the warlocks Their rings will summon an element like a tornado, comet falling from the sky, boulder spiking up from the ground, etc.





Credits
There is a lot of people to credit, so I'll just say this:
1. Xeno: He made it possible to transfer certain features from SFA over to Horizons, and he helped make some quality of life improvements you'll no doubt see while playing.
2. Meowth/Lynx/Mrthenornha/Spriter's Resource/everyone out in the internet for their work in pixel art. I do alright, but I pale in comparison to their skill and talent.
3. The modding community that playtested the beta version and helped squash game breaking bugs.

Enjoy Horizons!