Shining Force Community Patch Suggestions

[Steve]

Inspired by RubixCuber's Refix patch (link) I've decided to launch a community-driven collaborative patch for Shining Force that will focus on remedying all known issues, bugs and inconsistencies with the core game as many, many new issues have been discovered since the release of the Refix patch. For a time I was considering calling this the 'Refix Redux Patch' but... it sounded silly, and I want to get the community involved in discussing every area of the patch and collectively deciding the legitimacy of each 'fix'.

The Community Patch will serve as a great foundation for modders to build their own mods off of, and also for Shining Force purists to enjoy a modern day 'Definite Edition' version of the game.

The focus of the Community Patch is thus:

• (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.

 

[Steve]

General

• 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 Specific

• 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).

Visuals

• 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%.

Script

• 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.

 

[Erikin84]

Interesting. I’m curious to see these new king portraits.

 

[Steve]

@Erikin84 From what I can remember, all of the new map sprites were designed to my specification, but the portraits (aside from King Guardiana) were designed in a style similar to the GBA remake.

Bear with me while I slowly continue to update the list. It's pretty extensive... like 200 unique items that I've scribbled together over the past two years... yeesh.

 

[Boken]

Just wondering if this was ever completed. Sounds cool.