#sf max

[claire-starsword]

and now for my next trick i am turning max into a chicken! Again!

i promise that this is crucial study of the rom's memory and not just me fucking around

[starswordartblog]

Shininginktober Day 1: Max (+ Mead and Sonette). If I had the energy I'd put everyone else from the start of Final Conflict as well, but alas. I wonder how he picked up a bunch of kids to follow him at the time. They must have had a good time.

[claire-starsword]

my sins are undone, I've translated the Chaos scene. I guess I had posted this one here before, but who cares, it's better on the website. look at my tragic robots (you actually don't get to look at the tragic robots because screenshotting chapter 7 without having the saves ready is a pain and i'm not doing it)

[claire-starsword]

The Guardiana Magic School Run - Part 10

We're back and everything was set up in the last part, so it's straight to battle this time. The clear bonus is only money this time so no pressure, which is good, because it's a forest battle, so no one's walking far today!

There's skeletons in the road, but they're the least of our problems. The Pegasus Knights should be way stronger, and move a lot better in the forest.

Also our instakill friends are back, because Runefaust loves to raise my stress levels :)

Very little happens on the first turn, Max and Gong bait a skeleton, the Pegasus knights do not come towards us, one actually went upwards which is ??? but okay, and everyone else is chilling at the forest with three steps per turn.

Of course a single skeleton is no issue to deal with, we even manage to leave the kill exp for Anri, who is the only one behind in levels after how well Arthur did in the last battle. I put Max to the right of the skeleton in hopes it would bait a lone knight out, but nope. The knights seem to be gathering with the dark elves on the middle of the road. Because of course I want the new strong enemy type to team up with the old strong enemy type, i love this, i'm fine with this situation :))))

I'm actually scared of moving Max up because of the instakills, so I take things slowly. Tao and Gong clean up another Skeleton, also these things are dropping Medical Herbs like crazy today but at least from these guys I expect it. Max finally baits a knight and shows that he's still invincible no matter what new things the game throws at us. I play a bit safe with Anri to make sure she's not in reach of any enemies, since after the last battle i'm fairly sure the elves prioritize mages over even Max.

She also finally gets to use Freeze after all the undead she's had to face so far.

Ironically, she learns Blaze 2 as soon as I say that. Finally an AoE option, though I'm fairly sure Freeze 1 deals the same amount of damage for less MP so it's still the best option for single targets.

Every time these guys attack I feel like crying, but thankfully the ferocious attack is not the attack we fear.

Turn 4 is here and I need those elves dead but I also need the knight dead because Anri is A Bit Squishy. All of these enemies have big evasion I think. We'll be essentially rolling a lot of dice right now, except Tao does reach the knight so her kill is guarantee, I'll even use Blaze 2 because I'm unsure if 1 would do enough damage and I'm not taking any risks.

The RNG has blessed me and with this (hubris incoming), the worst of the battle has passed. Tao also gets a mediocre level up of only +1 defense, but who cares she's still the best.

I try giving Khris some exp and the skeleton decides to be mean with a counter, thankfully Arthur is there to save her, in a reversal of last battle's dialogue.

Khris redeems herself by finishing off a Pegasus Knight after Anri and Tao softened them up. Turns out I was right to be paranoid before, Blaze 1 deals only 7 damage to them.

It's turn 6 and things are entirely chill. Between his last level up and the forest bonus Max is only taking 2 damage from the lizardmen this time around, so not even them get to be a problem. By turn 8 all enemies have been wiped out with no hassle. I mean, almost.

This guy has refused to move since the battle started. Dude does not care at all. Zero ambition. I respect that. I do not respect the rest of this battle though.

Look at the vast amount of nothing in front of us. There's only three enemies at the very end, and another lone knight in the middle, which might also not come. I don't feel like wasting a billion turns to bait them, that's for sure. No one needs exp that much right now.

So yeah! Let's have a whole vacation on this forest I guess! I'll also start casting the heals for exp, because I doubt there'll be any need for them, and if I mess up there's always herbs, the skeletons made sure of that.

It's now turn 13.

boy that was BORING. Gong got a chonky level up and that's it, Lowe also leveled up but it was nothing of it, he just learned Slow and who cares.

The pegasus knight finally came so we get something to do. Despite the boredom, it would not surprise me if we fail the clear bonus just because we can't reach the enemies in time, half the team is pretty much useless at this point.

Perhaps it is also worth mentioning that the final pegasus knight at the bridge is of a higher level, so that could be trouble. Not for Max of course, but for normal people.

Also, I've just noticed some of my characters have a "defend" marked on their stats, and I have no clue what that is.

Turn 15 is here. We're not getting that bonus.

I do have a last ditch effort to make, I did hope I could show this off as soon as possible.

OH GOD IT ACTUALLY KILLS

IF I GET THE BONUS LIKE THIS IT WILL BE SO FUNNY

anyway, that's Supernova. 16 MP well spent. Max has 19 MP right now, so it is a heavy cost, but you now know it very much has use.

And now that I've seen it with my own eyes I can explain why I doubted Max would learn this spell unpromoted. The man does not have animation for it at all, I'm familiar with the ripped sprites so that's why I was confused. Between this and it being a technological thing, it would not surprise me if this was meant to be promotion only (his hero armor is also heavily implied to be ancient tech, even more in this game), and they forgot/couldn't code it like that for some reason. Given all the other wonkiness I've been complaining about spell levels and promotion, maybe there's even more coding disasters behind this.

And that's it on the obligatory tangent during a boring battle, let's see if this light from above was actually a miracle.

Gong hit this guy, Arthur sadly missed, so unless Max somehow counters both enemies that's a no on the miracle bonus.

absolute nonsense

alas, as the nonsense happened I realized it would not work out,

because that DAMN knight is still napping out there in Bustoke, so no, we did not wipe out all enemies, and the battle is not finished.

Given how half my force was useless from the middle on, there was probably some smart play of sending them to deal with that guy. I thought about it. I just didn't wanna risk it because I'm here to not let anyone die above all.

Gods, that's frustrating though, I can't believe Max's absurd stunts are gonna go to waste. Actually, nothing matters anymore so let me go on another tangent. So, Supernova, am I right? Remember that at this point of the game's plot, Max has amnesia. He knows nothing of the ancients, we haven't even seen Laser Eye. This man just leveled up one day, and recovered exactly one (1) memory of his past, and that memory is essentially "hello son, here's our nuclear launch codes, bye".

I can't blame him for not being normal. Who would be normal under these circumstances.

So. yeah. We step on the bridge and win, no bonus. I am so sad.

Ending the battle in the bridge takes you straight to the next battle, but I just use the retreat command, we have setup to do back at Bustoke. Even without the bonus, we should have enough money to buy at least one more Silver Ring.

We do, and honestly the bonus would not give us an extra one, so perhaps i'm crying about little. It was more a matter of glory, really.

The ring goes to Anri, because while the magic users continue to be unoriginal and all have the same defense stat, Anri has by far the worst HP, so hopefully this will still let her survive a bit. Though the next battle has something to say about that, the next battle will just be horrible for Anri in general.

There's no more setup to do as the deals section has nothing new, but we have a few more promotions to discuss, as everyone has reaped piles of exp this time.

Lowe is on pretty much the same situation as Gong, he only learns Heal 4 at level 22, after promotion. Unlike Gong however he doesn't learn Aura so he isn't delaying anything else important, who cares about Quick and Slow. So yeah, like Gong, he'll be promoting at level 16 after getting Heal 3 as fast as possible. I don't recall Vicar only staves until chapter 6, so that should be plenty of time for him to level up.

And now Arthur.

Arthur might be the character that pisses me off the most when it comes to this mechanic change. He only learns level 1 spells, Blaze at level 15, Freeze at level 20, and Bolt at level 25. This is already kinda bad in the mega drive version, having single target Blaze and Freeze spells on a guy that already has weapons with the same range is pretty meaningless, save for getting through the occasional high defense enemy. Bolt is the only meaningful spell he gets due to being AoE at least, and he's already getting it super late.

Here, though? He's getting it ten levels later at best, and by promoting him earlier, you also delay his first spells by ten levels, which completely loses the character flavor. Like, is he still useful? Of course yes, you are seeing him kick ass in this playthrough, and the new weapons help a lot. But he's largely just another paladin. It's pretty sad that the series fumbled the concept of a magic knight twice.

There's no helping it though, so I will be promoting him now and hope we still get to enjoy at least a bit of Bolt eventually, but don't count on it. I legit considered not counting him for this magical playthrough because of this, but since he's a character that normally gets overshadowed by late game knights, it's nice to get to focus on him here. He just really deserved better.

Still, congrats to him for being the first promoted member of the run. His prize is, stat loss. Another stupid mechanic but I can't blame the GBA version this time. jk I can why did they keep this.

It's a bummer note to end on but next update should be exciting as we face Laser Eye. See ya.

Losses: 0 Deaths: 2 Max's memories: Just one, but it's a doozy.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Unused/Removed Content

“But Claire didn’t you have a world book to translate?” Yeah! And then I had to check a tiny detail on another book, and saw something weird, and TCRF wasn’t helpful, so I went down a 140+ page long forum thread and downloaded a ROM editor. It happens. And now you’re gonna hear about it.

So, usually i gloss over the gameplay data on these guide books because I assume people have this information elsewhere already due to hacking and FAQ and the like. That might have been a mistake though, look at this peculiar entry on the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Mephisto

Movement: 6

Weapon: none

Uses Demon Breath. As a boss monster, regenerates HP every turn.

If you don’t know/remember, Mephisto is the JP name of the Shining in the Darkness final boss, later revealed to be Darksol and Mishaela’s kid. Looks like he skipped on helping his dad here.

The encyclopedia notes the HP regen of every other boss, but none use this specific phrasing of “as a boss monster”. This makes me think he was gonna be a boss on some battle, and then a regular enemy later on.

The cut feels understandable to me though, he and Darksol are pretty much identical, no point in having both in a game. And if there was any idea already of establishing a lore/connection between the characters as well, putting him as a regular enemy would ruin that. Given that there’s no artwork to go on, it’s also possible that this was actually a generic demon enemy, and the name was just a coincidence and would be confusing. I kinda doubt this possibility though since there’s plenty of other connections between this game and SitD, at least when it comes to design. Hard to believe they’d forgot or ignore the big bad.

Sadly that’s all the info we have to go on for this guy. I’ve looked over with the editor and found no trace of him. Most I can say is that there are a couple Yogurt placeholders among the enemy map sprites, and a couple unused data entries for Dark Mages. But that could be anything. Unless there’s some oversight with the editor, Mephisto was either fully removed, or never implemented to begin with, and the guide book just published out-of-date info by mistake.

The next monster is the opposite, though

Green Golem

Movement: 4

Weapon: none

Can move on water, and has high attack.

I’m legit afraid that this is an enemy from the game that i just forgot and am embarrassing myself here, because the beast is complete. Graphics, data, you name it.

By graphics I mean it is just a color swap of the regular Golem, as its name implies. Stats wise, it has -3 attack and -2 HP compared to the Golem, meaning it’s an weaker enemy. Makes sense since it’s likely made for the naval battles in chapter 5, while regular Golem debut in chapter 6. Still, with how hard Golems are to hit in the regular game, i’m very glad they did not put a thing with the same defense in the previous chapter.

Well, not that glad. On the other hand, according to the editor...

Its localized name is Weed.

And I kinda need to see this in an actual screenshot right NOW.

I do need to finish this post first. Here’s the last, smaller oddity in the encyclopedia’s monster data:

Storm Rover

Movement: 6

Weapon: Swords

Be careful as it can attack with lightning.

Storm Rover is the JP name for the Shellfish enemy of the naval battle. In the final game they can poison, not attack with lightning. It seems the naval battle went through a lot of changes at some point.

Saying they equip swords is also weird but there’s a lot more mistakes about weapons in this guide, like saying the dragonewts use swords and the conches uses spears, so these might be just mistakes. Anyway still shows that this list is goofed and was probably printed by mistake.

That’s it for enemies, but there’s a few more unused NPC sprites, i think.

I don’t remember any of these in game, but do let me know if i’m wrong, it’s hard to remember all NPCs. I will be kinda mad if the cat is in and i just forgot, given that it’s cute as heck, and cats were my first act of hacking in a Shining game. Why was the SF2 cat not like that to begin with.

Now, on to text data. The thing about text data is that it is a list of 2000+ strings. And even though the event data is beautifully organized in diagrams in this editor, I cannot emphasize enough that it is a very elaborate editor, it’s still tough to sit and comprehend all that, especially in a single day. So I can’t say I have fully checked everything out for now, but you know me by now, i definitely did try. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Lines 41 and 42 here from Simone’s introduction seem to go unused. To be fair, they don’t add anything.

Alef has a line set up for the boat HQ, even though she isn’t available until after the boat battles. The other late game characters (Torasu, Lyle, Bleu, Musashi, Hanzou, and Adam) all have empty strings for this instead. [Update: I have since investigated and this is an issue in the english version only. Shoutout to whoever in the localization loved Alef very much.]

Khris seems to have a surprised line set up for if you manage to enter Alterone’s castle before the merchant puts in a good word for you, which should not be possible in regular gameplay. [Update: I have since investigated this one too and it can be seen with walk through walls cheats, showing Khris is also in a different position of the map as well. The JP version is even more scandalous.]

Anri also seems to have an extra line to continue to reject Max when they meet for the first time, but from what i recall, Nova immediately comes up to convince her he’s telling the truth. Perhaps you were meant to do something to convince her instead.

Otrant also seems to have a line reacting to Max being turned into chicken, however from what i recall, his room is inaccessible when that happens.

Plenty of other inaccessible NPCs seem to have lines set up for this as well, however they are just reusing lines from the NPCs you do talk to. Those generic lines like “what’s a hen doing here?” and such.

Update: I’m sorry for Spreading Misinformation Online, you can explore all of Manarina as a chicken in this game so these lines are not unused, you can even heal yourself off the chickening by leaving Manarina or entering the next battle. The GBA version fixes this oversight by locking you out of a good chunk of the map so i got confused.

But enough of these minor details. We’re here for deleted content. We’re here for plot lines being dumped in the trash. Bring in the kings.

That’s right baby, it’s Adam and Cain losing plot lines again, it’s not just the localization that did it to them. Ever noticed how Adam do not get the usual “character has joined the force” message, and kinda just appears in your team during the Chaos battle? Yeah, that might have been a hasty fix. There are traces of a bigger scene here with Adam, Darksol and Cain, upon which Adam would join the force with the proper message.

Only a single line of these events has survived, in which Adam urges Max to take the Chaos Breaker. This might mean you would have the sword before fighting Chaos, as the pre-battle dialogue with Chaos is right after this in the data. The remaining lines have been wiped, though the code referring to them remains there along with the code for loading character portraits, which is how we get the handy diagram above.

Unfortunately I don’t know enough of this editor to check if there’s leftover animation data on this cutscene. Sprite data relating to it does seem to be present in the map though, check it out:

does this remind you of something?

:)

put this one in the pile of “the GBA version is just what the devs intended all along” with the others. Granted, “intended” might not be the correct word since they did cut it. Why? Who knows. One possibility I see is that they might have felt a flashback would be confusing, the game doesn’t do any kind of perspective change, unlike the GBA version which does hop between Max, Narsha and Ramladu’s POVs every chapter. While Adam loredumping in the og version might be a more boring way of conveying the plot, it is also more in line with the game’s presentation. A flashback might have also posed technical difficulties, like adding a sepia tone to the screen when no other scene requires it, etc. Though SF2 does have a sepia scene, so if that was the case they figured it out eventually.

Another reason might be that avoiding this scene helps hiding how messy it is. Cain and Chaos get beaten up and corrupted, which makes sense. Max on the other hand also gets beaten up enough to get amnesia, and yet does not get captured or killed, but instead, blown across the ocean??? Somehow???? The GBA version adds the concept that Cain’s armor can warp space and teleport, though seemingly putting a heavy strain on the user’s body. While it’s not explicitly said, we can assume Max’s armor is the same, and that he used it to escape, making his injuries and amnesia not just from Darksol. I’m still connecting a lot of dots on my own here, but it’s something of an explanation, while the classic game had no foreshadowing for this. Even if the deleted dialogue here explained, it would feel more coming out of nowhere.

That’s all speculation though. There might be more clues on unused lines of the japanese version, but i don’t have an editor for that. I have heard tales of a debug mode though, so i’ll look into that. For now i leave you with this monster of a post

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force World Book translation - part 1

Original scans from here

Let's get this translation party started. There's nothing too new in terms of character backstory compared to the other guide i translated, but there are small details such as character ages and some new named locations. Sadly, not all characters are here. Perhaps they didn't want to spoil the late game, but at the same time, Lyle is here while Earnest and Domingo are not, so who knows.

Shining Force - Member List

The Shining Warriors who have the courage to face the forces of darkness

Max, the hero who sets out in his journey as if guided by fate. He and his comrades challenging the forces of darkness will come to be known as the Shining Force. However, they are not a military organization like the Runefaust army, and more like a group of allies with the same goal.

___

The swordsman of incredible skill, and a secret

Max Class: Swordsman Species: Human Gender: Male Age: Unknown Height: 173 cm Weight: 65 kg Place of Origin: Unknown Starting Level: 1 Starting Weapon: Middle Sword

A young man who displays power sometimes beyond his own understanding

A young man with amazing swordsmanship skills. While being a human, inferior in physical strength, his abilities in battle are on par with those of the centaurs.

He is not a citizen of Guardiana. He drifted ashore, unconscious, and was rescued by Lowe. Despite having lost his memories, he seems to be used to the battlefield judging by how he moves in combat. His skills have even the royal knights' jaws dropping in awe.

A fast learner whose role is to deal the finishing blows

Being a swordsman, he attacks with his incredible sword skills. At first his defense and agility can be a problem, but he grows quickly so it's not much of an issue. In particular, his strength grows incredibly fast. He's not one to put in the front line to pierce the enemy lines, and is better suited to deal huge damage to the enemies with follow up attacks. It's easy for him to become the focus of attacks so be careful.

A young knight with an honest heart

Ken Class: Knight Species: Centaur Gender: Male Age: 17 years old Height: 185 cm Weight: 158 kg Place of Origin: Guardiana Starting Level: 1 Starting Weapon: Spear

His distinctive trait is a playfulness unusual for centaurs

A member of Guardiana's Royal Order of Knights. Though he's still in training. He's the youngest in the order, and Mae treats him like a little brother.

He's a rare nice fellow amidst the prideful and noble centaurs. He has seen the protagonist's skill with the sword, and honestly respects him. However, because he secretly likes Mae, he doesn't let this respect show.

Let him fight battle upon battle to see his abilities grow

At first he doesn't have much HP, and is thus weak to the enemy's attacks. Take out the enemies with teamwork utilizing his movement and strength. Because he's still young, he grows fast. You want to raise his level and keep him in the main team. His HP in particular grows remarkably, possibly becoming the greatest in the party. Using him as a shield is a strategy as well. Although his defense doesn't grow much.

____

A man who doesn't like fighting

Luke Class: Warrior Species: Dwarf Gender: Male Age: 64 years old Height: 136cm Weight: 75kg Place of Origin: Guardiana Starting Level: 1 Starting Weapon: Short Sword

A bright and fun guy even amidst a dark world

A bright, friendly, childlike guy. Also kind of an airhead and careless, not the kind of personality you'd expect of a warrior.

The reason such a guy became a warrior is because he was attacked by monsters as a child, and rescued by dwarf warriors. He became enamored with the brave image of warriors since then.

It's kind of a lukewarm reason, but when he heads to the battlefield his personality changes completely, and he shows fierce fighting power. 

Valuable at the start but slow to grow, the late bloomer type

As a warrior his agility is unreliable, but his other stats are quite high. His attack and defense in particular are great so he's a character you want to put in the very front. His stats all grow slowly. He might be hard to use through the mid game. Only his HP grows steadily, so don't worry about it and raise him patiently. If you do so, he becomes of great use in the late game.

[Note: Japanese notoriously makes less distinction between singular and plural, so it’s unclear if he was rescued by one or many warriors. I went for plural to be vague, but it might have been just one guy and possibly Gort, as it would match the other guide.]

Archer who doesn't flaunt his real power

Hans Class: Archer Species: Elf Gender: Male Age: 126 years old Height: 196 cm Weight: 63 kg Place of Origin: Guardiana Starting Level: 1 Starting Weapon: Wooden Arrow

A pacifist to the end, no matter what others say

An archer of Guardiana's army. Despite being an official soldier, he dislikes fighting. The kind who chooses peace over hurting one another. Because of that, he's terribly mocked by his fellow archers. However, he's certainly skilled with the bow, and his peers value that only.

He is to support his allies with attacks from the back

As an archer, he's specialized in ranged attacks. You want him behind the characters who do close combat. None of his stats are too low, but none are high either. His attack is okay, but because his weapons aren't too strong you can't expect much. Since he's weak to enemy attacks as well, he should stay strictly as support. Since he tends to improve with time, the best thing to do is to raise him steadily.

____

His best skill is taking care of others unnoticed

Lowe Class: Priest Species: Hobbit Gender: Male Age: 100 years ago Height: 132 cm Weight: 48 kg Place of Origin: Guardiana Starting Level: 1 Starting Weapon: Wooden Staff

A young man whose exterior doesn’t match the inside

He joined as an apprentice in the church of Guardiana in order to become a priest. While taking a stroll at the beach near town, he found the protagonist on the verge of death, and brought him to the church. After that the protagonist started living in the church, and became good friends with Lowe. Once he became a soldier, Lowe was determined to go along.

He's really foul-mouthed and overly familiar, but a good guy. The kind who is easily misunderstood, but he doesn't care.

A helper to the others with different kinds of magic

As a priest, he's average. His magical skill is average. If you raise him, he learns new spells. The rate at which he learns them isn't too fast nor too slow, in any case, he eventually becomes capable of using a variety of spells. You can also count on him for support spells other priests cannot use too well. Someone you definitely want in the back during boss battles.

[starswordartblog]

Started translating Max’s diary from the japanese guide book on my main and it’s full of silly doodles so I felt like doing silly doodles of my own as well. You cannot hide you stupid ramblings from the public any longer, Max, my bad.

[claire-starsword]

Max’s Diary - Chapter 1

[Welcome to Max's very own Shining Force Let's Play! These diary snippets are spread along the actual strategy part of the guide, so there's one for each battle, except Dark Dragon since these guides tend to avoid spoiling final bosses. So it makes the ending a little abrupt sadly. They are also labelled "Protagonist's Diary" because this guide really didn't want to use Max's name for some reason.]

___

(1) Month of the Crimson Sparrow, Day 23

Is something happening at the Gate of the Ancients? Because of this and that, His Majesty entrusted me with this task, so we went to check the gate. When we arrived, a Rune Knight and some others were there, looking for a key to the seal. We have to drive these guys out before anything else...

Just as we were about to fight an earthquake struck. Our heads were spinning, so we retreated to a mountain hut. It was lucky, because Gong was in that hut and became our ally. Nice. If these things keep happening, even someone with little real experience like me might be able to do something. We went back to the gate and started the fight again. But, those dwarves swinging their axes are really scary. I really have no choice but to let everyone else do their best. That’s why I don't wanna stop being a leader anytime soon. Heheh.

___

(2) Month of the Crimson Sparrow, Day 27

I worried about what that Rune Knight said, so we left the Gate of the Ancients right away. But, Guardiana was already surrounded by Runefaust's forces. We had to hurry. His majesty was in danger.

I wanted to go back in just a couple of seconds with the carriage, but the one we took to the gate was nowhere to be found. I didn't expect to get robbed in a place like that. With no other choice, we had to go back on foot while fighting. And, going through mountain terrain sucks. Felt like we had used all our power before the battle even started. As I thought, by the time we got to the bridge near Guardiana, Lowe and Gong had already used up all their magic. No one can even hide how exhausted they are. Huh, what? Hans looks just fine though. Since he just shoots with his bow. It's kinda unfair.

___

(3) Month of the Crimson Sparrow, Day 35

We're chasing Cain who went to Alterone. This time Mae and Gort have joined us. Both are pretty strong, so that's a relief. But, we couldn't relax yet. There were Huge Bats. Their agility is high, and their movement is absurd...

If that wasn't enough, their fangs can infect you with something that puts you in a deep sleep. Because of that, people kept falling asleep on their feet again and again. I felt like we should have just booked a night at Hotel Guardiana if that's how it was gonna be. To counter that, I had Ken weaken them up with the Spear, then dealt the final blows myself. These combos born of mutual trust are what lead to victory after all.

___

(4) Month of the Green Swallow, Day 7

Unlike the other battles until now, we had to battle the Runefaust army within the city of Alterone. When I think of the people that are gonna have to clean all that up, my heart hurts a little.

But, we had to fight so of course it would cause a mess. That's just how it is.

In this battle, our dedicated mage Tao quickly got to Level 4, and learned how to use Blaze level 2. She can hit several enemies at once with it. That’s how I was thinking, but she got excited and used it a lot. Burning and burning. If you burn down enemies you burn down the ground they stand on as well. Or you might end up burning some houses. They weren't anyone's houses so it ended up fine but, we gotta be careful next time or we'll be in trouble.

___

Notes:

In both SF1 and Final Conflict, Max uses the formal first person pronoun "watashi". The other encyclopedia even remarks that he's well mannered. Here on the other hand he uses the casual and tough pronoun "ore", and mostly casual language. Keep this in mind for later.

(As an aside, the same goes for the GBA remake, where he tends to switch between “ore” and the more softspoken “boku” instead of “watashi”. I haven’t checked all the dialogue on that one though, so this is a general observation.)