I love how purely thematic the chess battle is and why it is one of my all-time favourite video game plot/boss battles. It makes it truly about sniping the boss unless you grind forever to actually get strong enough to fight toe-to-toe with the combination of quality and quantity that is skewed towards them winning. This game basically teaches you how to win some of those hard battles in Tactics Ogre where the opposing army has too much advantage and you have to cleverly snipe the boss and/or a healer. It really makes it all about taking the king like in IRL chess, has a chess board with specialized sprites and really makes the theme stand out, especially compared to all those Town A to Town B filler battles.
Every time i play this game i always think today is the day i take out the entire chess party but never seems to work out that way. I either start to lose characters or the king ends up running out and say the heck with it and just take him out. Wonder if it is possible to take out the whole chess board
@@JoeFpoc I have seen this done on normal difficulty, but probably will never see it on Super Hard (1.25x base ATK). Winning the battle is challenging enough on the hardest difficulty.
The only fights that gave me any sort of real trouble were the Kraken the first time I encountered it, just like everyone else, and the chess match. The chess match you can't really chip away at their forces because every enemy has high health or defense, high attacks, and probably the largest force you encounter and they're all pretty condensed on the battlefield. I'm sure others strategize similarly to me, try to draw out enemies 1 at a time and overwhelm/swarm them to take them out quickly. That strat just doesn't work on the chess board; you have to go for the king. I wish SF3 was released on a different/more accessible platform other than the Sega Saturn because I never got the chance to play it and I was obsessed with the first 2 games. I can't believe there's a SF game out there just waiting for me to play, but I don't have access to it w/o purchasing a Saturn for $400(the cheapest one I found online) and the game, which would probably also be another $100.
In SF1 I lost Max once early and so chose to baby him from that point forward; the result was I beat the game with Max un promoted (level 7 I think). Taros style battle would have probably prevented that.
This list is actually so incredibly accurate to how I would rank them. That kraken fight is just so unique and special for a tactical rpg. The first thing I think about when I think of this beautiful game. That wooden plank part gave me ptsd! So real. Thank you for this great video!
I feel like your rankings were inconsistent between the Kraken and the Chess King. As you mentioned, the Kraken is legendary is because so many new players get owned by it. Not because the head of the Kraken itself is tough, but because the arms hit hard and players don't know how to strategize. It's really the entire battle, the limited movement area, and all the enemies combined that make this battle tough. It's the exact same with the Chess battle. The King himself isn't that tough (just like the Kraken Head) but his army is extremely tough and hard-hitting and if the King doesn't rush into the battle soon enough, you will be forced to fight through and probably lose a lot of units or even the battle. Same with the Kraken, if the head doesn't come close to the edge, you're forced to fight the arms. I feel like the Chess battle should've been ranked by the same factors as the Kraken and the entirety of the battle should have been considered. You did mention this at the end of that section. I thought it should at least be in the Great tier. It's one of the pivotal battles in the game and a lot of new players also get stuck here. This is just a critique. Going to watch the rest of the video.
Thank you for showing so much love to this 30-year-old game! While playing recently (for the billionth time), I was thinking how cool it would be if there were a sequel that took place in Arc Valley. You could play as Lemon trying to fight his way out. Imagine the terrain and bosses in there. Anyway, great video, and that wood panel is definitely OP.
Cracked up at the Wooden Plank part. But this is SO relatable, because I did the same thing, until my brother found a walkthrough online at least a couple years after we got the game I never made it past that part. Ye gods, that was such an obtuse 'puzzle.'
the kraken fight was easy to be under leveled too as there was some battles you could skip if you weren't paying attention progressing to it.Doing those couple of battles made the fight a lot less difficult.
i adore Kane from the first game, for some reason. though, yeah you're right, most basically every other fight with any other boss in shining force 1 is like, repetitive. you defeat them and they're like "ohh ooo darksol was mind controlling me" after you do that once with kane, you don't do it again.
I’ve played though this game probably 100 times and I’ve never killed the entire chess party or all the legs/arms of the kraken. There’s been a few times where i planned on it but never seems to work out. But never really had any issues with the kraken, just sent peter and Luke out even if they die he will come to to the boat and throw everything at him, just be sure to hide Bowie
Chess is hardest battle in game - Impossible to kill all on super lol - willard is best battle to lv up as its easy and small area - can get to lv 26 pre promoted np. Zeon also isn't fully revived when you face, which is scary in it it's self much like Dark Dragon.
Yeah that’s where i always grind, like you said i go to level 6 promoted usually in this spot. This fight and the very first fight outside the castle with the rats and slimes are the only 2 spots in the game that i grind at
Great list! The Kraken is interesting because many players encounter it before they need to - instead of going east, they continue sailing south. I always tried to sacrifice someone to lure his head to the ship so that I can nuke him and poke him repeatedly with ranged attacks. I kinda feel like the Willard shouldn't be trash. Playing on Super difficulty, he hits like a freight train!
You had a hard time with the last one? I was a child, AND didn't speak the language. I'd spend hours and hours translating with a dictionary sentence by sentence because that's just how much I liked the game. My wooden panel was the Dry Stone. I tried it on everything.
I hope I’m not the only one to point this out. The Kraken isn’t to be attacked as soon as you get the raft. Hear me out. You can actually obtain the Achilles sword before the fight with him. You can access that area. Everyone rushes to the fight. I think he was meant to be deliberately over powering and you’re meant to leave him be. Do the quest to get the Achilles sword. Then fight him. He’s not hard when you do it this way and it beats cheesing him and most importantly I think it’s what the devs intended. Having said that I too did cheese him the first few times.
Yep, there's some other stuff and battles you can do first. Advancing your gear and level. Makes the fight way less crushing. Going right to the kraken fight is brutal. Still doable, but brutal.
To be honest Shining Force 2 tends to be a pretty easy game if you know how to play and pick the right characters. Shining Force 1 is even easier though!
I’ve always considered sf1 to be more difficult. The enemies were way more unpredictable, can’t just lure them out one at a time like sf2. Boses auto heal. Leveling is broken there’s times you don’t gain any stats and so many heavy land effect maps where only half your team can actually move more then one square at a time. I played 1 after 2 and thought that was a good order to play it in. Replaying sf2 again for like the hundredth time. Love this game but very easy game
@@ECLIPSE19974 I've done it using game genie where I maxed his levels out and made it pretty easy except for the fight before zeon, has a lot of magic casters. My last playthrough I did Bowie chester jaha and Sarah. And again not to bad, most trouble I had was that fight where the mud men kept spawning
@@JoeFpoc some fights in solo Bowie are borderline impossible to get through at the start (like battle 7 and 8) and a couple fights before taros, but once you get to the elven village the grind is actually quite fun lol
That wood plank part is so true man, I did the exact same thing. I was never able to progress past that point in the game as a kid. It was only until years later that I looked it up and was able to progress. I mean, how do you fit a wood plank into a tiny hole in a tree?!
In my case it wasn't the wooden plank that stumped my progress, it was the holy sword. I just couldn't figure out what was I supposed to do to do in order to get it. I played the game twice up to that point and then gave up, with no internet at that time to help me. To think it was a mere 4 fights away from the end...
lol i did the same thing as a kid. You interact with it and just tells you it’s stuck in the stone so i wandered around all over the place trying to figure out how to get it out. Eventually figured out you had to search it, so stupid
So in the way back times the book does have a customer support number. After my friend and I exploring the whole continent for weeks my parents let me call the number for that stupid piece of wood!
He’s a problem if you don’t level up. He tends to go twice in the row so if he smacks Bowie twice with a critical he’s done. RNG is definetly you’re enemy in this game
SF2 does a better job of developing the bosses story-wise, but I think SF1 has overall better character design for its bosses. I’m also disappointed that most of the greater devils are easier to fight than the Kraken or Taros. Cameela especially is disappointingly easy. I haven’t tried Ouch! difficulty yet, though - so we’ll see.
This list is actually so incredibly accurate to how I would rank them. That kraken fight is just so unique and special for a tactical rpg. The first thing I think about when I think of this beautiful game. That wooden plank part gave me ptsd! So real. Thank you for this great video!
I love how purely thematic the chess battle is and why it is one of my all-time favourite video game plot/boss battles. It makes it truly about sniping the boss unless you grind forever to actually get strong enough to fight toe-to-toe with the combination of quality and quantity that is skewed towards them winning. This game basically teaches you how to win some of those hard battles in Tactics Ogre where the opposing army has too much advantage and you have to cleverly snipe the boss and/or a healer. It really makes it all about taking the king like in IRL chess, has a chess board with specialized sprites and really makes the theme stand out, especially compared to all those Town A to Town B filler battles.
Every time i play this game i always think today is the day i take out the entire chess party but never seems to work out that way. I either start to lose characters or the king ends up running out and say the heck with it and just take him out. Wonder if it is possible to take out the whole chess board
@@JoeFpoc I have seen this done on normal difficulty, but probably will never see it on Super Hard (1.25x base ATK). Winning the battle is challenging enough on the hardest difficulty.
The only fights that gave me any sort of real trouble were the Kraken the first time I encountered it, just like everyone else, and the chess match. The chess match you can't really chip away at their forces because every enemy has high health or defense, high attacks, and probably the largest force you encounter and they're all pretty condensed on the battlefield. I'm sure others strategize similarly to me, try to draw out enemies 1 at a time and overwhelm/swarm them to take them out quickly. That strat just doesn't work on the chess board; you have to go for the king.
I wish SF3 was released on a different/more accessible platform other than the Sega Saturn because I never got the chance to play it and I was obsessed with the first 2 games. I can't believe there's a SF game out there just waiting for me to play, but I don't have access to it w/o purchasing a Saturn for $400(the cheapest one I found online) and the game, which would probably also be another $100.
It wasn't until now that I realized the purpose of the Taros fight is test to see if you've adequately leveled Bowie.
In SF1 I lost Max once early and so chose to baby him from that point forward; the result was I beat the game with Max un promoted (level 7 I think). Taros style battle would have probably prevented that.
That's actually crazy because I did that exact same thing as a kid. And I could never make it past the Colossus fight.
The wood panel at the end 😂😂so true man!
Also, yeah, the Kraken was such a good "we're in an adventure in the new world" moment, I can't but love it.
This list is actually so incredibly accurate to how I would rank them. That kraken fight is just so unique and special for a tactical rpg. The first thing I think about when I think of this beautiful game.
That wooden plank part gave me ptsd! So real.
Thank you for this great video!
I feel like your rankings were inconsistent between the Kraken and the Chess King. As you mentioned, the Kraken is legendary is because so many new players get owned by it. Not because the head of the Kraken itself is tough, but because the arms hit hard and players don't know how to strategize. It's really the entire battle, the limited movement area, and all the enemies combined that make this battle tough. It's the exact same with the Chess battle. The King himself isn't that tough (just like the Kraken Head) but his army is extremely tough and hard-hitting and if the King doesn't rush into the battle soon enough, you will be forced to fight through and probably lose a lot of units or even the battle. Same with the Kraken, if the head doesn't come close to the edge, you're forced to fight the arms. I feel like the Chess battle should've been ranked by the same factors as the Kraken and the entirety of the battle should have been considered. You did mention this at the end of that section. I thought it should at least be in the Great tier. It's one of the pivotal battles in the game and a lot of new players also get stuck here. This is just a critique. Going to watch the rest of the video.
Thank you for showing so much love to this 30-year-old game! While playing recently (for the billionth time), I was thinking how cool it would be if there were a sequel that took place in Arc Valley. You could play as Lemon trying to fight his way out. Imagine the terrain and bosses in there. Anyway, great video, and that wood panel is definitely OP.
Cracked up at the Wooden Plank part. But this is SO relatable, because I did the same thing, until my brother found a walkthrough online at least a couple years after we got the game I never made it past that part. Ye gods, that was such an obtuse 'puzzle.'
among all these, I remember having the hardest time with the Kraken by far. more so than the final boss
the kraken fight was easy to be under leveled too as there was some battles you could skip if you weren't paying attention progressing to it.Doing those couple of battles made the fight a lot less difficult.
Thanks to randomizers, Shining Force II content /never/ ends.
i adore Kane from the first game, for some reason. though, yeah you're right, most basically every other fight with any other boss in shining force 1 is like, repetitive.
you defeat them and they're like "ohh ooo darksol was mind controlling me"
after you do that once with kane, you don't do it again.
also the wooden panel, so true, that thing always stuck me as a kid, even know I don't think I'd remember how to figure it out
Dude, you should do a video talking about your ideal 12! Love your SF2 content
I’ve played though this game probably 100 times and I’ve never killed the entire chess party or all the legs/arms of the kraken. There’s been a few times where i planned on it but never seems to work out. But never really had any issues with the kraken, just sent peter and Luke out even if they die he will come to to the boat and throw everything at him, just be sure to hide Bowie
Chess is hardest battle in game - Impossible to kill all on super lol - willard is best battle to lv up as its easy and small area - can get to lv 26 pre promoted np. Zeon also isn't fully revived when you face, which is scary in it it's self much like Dark Dragon.
Yeah that’s where i always grind, like you said i go to level 6 promoted usually in this spot. This fight and the very first fight outside the castle with the rats and slimes are the only 2 spots in the game that i grind at
And I thought I was the only one who had problems with the wooden panel in SF2 and the dragon head in the SF1. Thanks
Great list! The Kraken is interesting because many players encounter it before they need to - instead of going east, they continue sailing south. I always tried to sacrifice someone to lure his head to the ship so that I can nuke him and poke him repeatedly with ranged attacks. I kinda feel like the Willard shouldn't be trash. Playing on Super difficulty, he hits like a freight train!
Is that why he’s so hard? Interesting
I'd swap the Kraken and Taros, but otherwise, I agree with this list.
Thanks for posting this I love anything shining force related 😢
You had a hard time with the last one? I was a child, AND didn't speak the language. I'd spend hours and hours translating with a dictionary sentence by sentence because that's just how much I liked the game. My wooden panel was the Dry Stone. I tried it on everything.
I hope I’m not the only one to point this out. The Kraken isn’t to be attacked as soon as you get the raft.
Hear me out. You can actually obtain the Achilles sword before the fight with him. You can access that area. Everyone rushes to the fight. I think he was meant to be deliberately over powering and you’re meant to leave him be. Do the quest to get the Achilles sword. Then fight him.
He’s not hard when you do it this way and it beats cheesing him and most importantly I think it’s what the devs intended.
Having said that I too did cheese him the first few times.
Yep, there's some other stuff and battles you can do first. Advancing your gear and level. Makes the fight way less crushing. Going right to the kraken fight is brutal. Still doable, but brutal.
To be honest Shining Force 2 tends to be a pretty easy game if you know how to play and pick the right characters. Shining Force 1 is even easier though!
I’ve always considered sf1 to be more difficult. The enemies were way more unpredictable, can’t just lure them out one at a time like sf2. Boses auto heal. Leveling is broken there’s times you don’t gain any stats and so many heavy land effect maps where only half your team can actually move more then one square at a time. I played 1 after 2 and thought that was a good order to play it in. Replaying sf2 again for like the hundredth time. Love this game but very easy game
@@JoeFpoc You should try a solo Bowie playthrough, I'm on my second time, Almost at the final battle
@@ECLIPSE19974 I've done it using game genie where I maxed his levels out and made it pretty easy except for the fight before zeon, has a lot of magic casters. My last playthrough I did Bowie chester jaha and Sarah. And again not to bad, most trouble I had was that fight where the mud men kept spawning
@@JoeFpoc some fights in solo Bowie are borderline impossible to get through at the start (like battle 7 and 8) and a couple fights before taros, but once you get to the elven village the grind is actually quite fun lol
Nice Video ! Sub & Big Like ! And Love Shining Force Game !
That wood plank part is so true man, I did the exact same thing. I was never able to progress past that point in the game as a kid. It was only until years later that I looked it up and was able to progress. I mean, how do you fit a wood plank into a tiny hole in a tree?!
The ones that gave me the most trouble were the mustache demon, kraken, chess match and red baron.
In my case it wasn't the wooden plank that stumped my progress, it was the holy sword. I just couldn't figure out what was I supposed to do to do in order to get it. I played the game twice up to that point and then gave up, with no internet at that time to help me. To think it was a mere 4 fights away from the end...
lol i did the same thing as a kid. You interact with it and just tells you it’s stuck in the stone so i wandered around all over the place trying to figure out how to get it out. Eventually figured out you had to search it, so stupid
So in the way back times the book does have a customer support number. After my friend and I exploring the whole continent for weeks my parents let me call the number for that stupid piece of wood!
U should rank boss battles in shining the holy ark
Taros is not really a problem because he don't move plus he don't even attack unless bowie attack him first
I tend to overrate the first section a game a lot since I have a ton of nostalgia for it... more so than the second half of the game.
He’s a problem if you don’t level up. He tends to go twice in the row so if he smacks Bowie twice with a critical he’s done. RNG is definetly you’re enemy in this game
SF2 does a better job of developing the bosses story-wise, but I think SF1 has overall better character design for its bosses. I’m also disappointed that most of the greater devils are easier to fight than the Kraken or Taros. Cameela especially is disappointingly easy. I haven’t tried Ouch! difficulty yet, though - so we’ll see.
Wait, i fight chess king so hard
For a supervillain, Cameela is kinda hot...😍
Really accurate opinion i'd say. I don't like Odd Eye battle too it's way too boring and long.
This list is actually so incredibly accurate to how I would rank them. That kraken fight is just so unique and special for a tactical rpg. The first thing I think about when I think of this beautiful game.
That wooden plank part gave me ptsd! So real.
Thank you for this great video!