Shining Force Strategy Guide

Shining Force Strategy Guide. Illustration by Yoshitaka Tamaki (玉木美孝).

The Shining Force Strategy Guide (シャイニングフォース攻略の手引き, Shainingu Fōsu Kōryaku no Tebiki) is a strategy guide for Shining Force: Legacy of the Gods written by Famitsu and published by ASCII in 1992. This book contains detailed battle plans, short biographies of major characters, and a country guide with fictional histories and demographics.

The book is noteworthy for its involvement of lead Shining Force writer Masaki Wachi. Many of the details Wachi contributed to the guide are referenced in the script he wrote for Resurrection. Yoshitaka Tamaki repeats Wachi's date for the beginning of the Runefaustian invasion—the twenty-third day of the Scarlet Sparrow—in Doom Blade: Shining and the Darkness Gaiden.

ASCII's Shining Force Strategy Guide uses coat of arms illustrations that have elements in common with those of Shogakukan's Shining Force Setting Compendium, but the two books display contradictory population statistics.

Foreword by Masaki Wachi

Scenario writer Masaki Wachi's foreword in the Shining Force Strategy Guide.

Shining Force writer Masaki Wachi provided Famitsu with the following introductory message for the book.

The World of Shining Force
シャイニング・フォースの世界
Text: Masaki Wachi (Shining Force Scenario Lead)
文●和智正喜 (シャイニング・フォース　シナリオ担当)
Anything Goes in the World of Shining Force . . .
〈シャイング・フォース〉の世界は〈ナンデモアリ!〉だ･･･
Several thoughts kept surfacing in my mind as I wrote the scenario for Shining Force. First of all, how it would relate to the previous game, Shining and the Darkness (which was a totally different kind of game). Should it preserve the world shown in Shining and the Darkness or go for something completely new . . . ?
シャイニング・フォースのシナリオを書くにあたって、いくつか考えたことがあった。まずは前作(システム的には全然別のゲームだけど)<シャイニング・アンド・ザ・ダクネス>との関係。S&Dの世界をそのまま継承するか、まったく新しいものにするか･･････?
It was honestly a pretty distressing decision to have to make. And what was its result . . . ? Well, as we all know, Shining Force has a very different atmosphere from that of Shining and the Darkness.
その決定を委ねられたことで、正直、かなり悩んでしまった。で、その結果がどうなったかというと･･････それは皆さんもご存知の通り。SFはS&Dとはかなり違う雰囲気を持つゲームになった。
Shining and the Darkness follows a strict fantasy setting as opposed to Shining Force's world, where you get the sense that anything goes. There's no denying that knights and wizards play an important role, but you also have creatures running around that you can't really identify, and there's this an old man going on a rampage with a helicopter on his back. At best you could call the world rich with variety, but at worst just comes across as chaotic . . . It gave me a lot of anxiety wondering whether or not people would be willing to accept that. But those fears did come to an end. I think that the world of Shining Force we have now, shaped as it was by the hands of the game's amazing staff, has grown to be embraced by a lot of people, and it's taken on its own sort of charm.
S&Dがかっちりとしたファンタジー世界を舞台にしているのと対象的に、SFの世界はいわば＜なんでもあり＞の世界だ。騎士や魔法使いが重要な役割を占めていることは否定できないが、正体不明の生き物だの、背中にヘリコプタ一を装着したジイさんだのが暴れ回る、よくいえばバラエティに富んだ、悪くいえば目茶苦茶な世界……………。それが受け入れられるか否か、かなり不安ではあった。しかし、それは杞憂に終わった。優秀なスタッフの手により現在の形になったシャイニング・フォースの世界は、多くの人に受け入れられる、ある種の＜愛嬌のよさ＞に化けてくれたと思う。
[Caption] The impressive full-screen battle scenes are innovative with their CinemaScope style.
★ビジュアル性を全面に押し出した迫力の戦画面シネスコタイプのレイアウトが斬新。
What makes this an essential book for fans of Shining Force . . . ?
というわけで〈シャイニング・フォース〉ファン必携の本ができた･･･?
Well, during the production of ASCII's Shining Force Strategy Guide, I got a request from their editorial department.
さて、今回この＜アスキー/シャイニング・フォース攻略の手引き＞が作られるにあたって、編集部の方から、こういう申し出があった。
They said, "We want to create a book that's a little bit different from traditional strategy guides up to this point—one that allows people to enjoy the world of Shining Force beyond what's shown in the game."
「従来の攻略本、ガイドブックとは少し趣を変えて、ゲームの中だけでは語りきれなかった＜シャイニング・フォース＞の世界をもっと楽しむような本が作りたい」……………と。
So I couldn't help but want to get involved in the making of this book. And I didn't just use setting ideas from when the game was in development; I also came up with a lot of new setting details—and they sure did ask for a lot . . . Jeez!
そこで非力ながら、この僕も本の製作に関わらせて頂くことになった。ゲーム製作時に作った設定のみならず、この本のためだけにもかなりの設定や資料を作成することになった(本当に人使いが荒くて･･････もう)。
So a lot of different things ended up in this book. Of course, you've got battle strategies, but there's also each country's GNP and coat of arms, pie charts with racial demographics, the operating principals of Gantz's steam suit, and nitty-gritty details down to the contents of Gong's rucksack.
だから、この本にはさまざまなことが載っている。戦闘の攻略は当然として、各国のGNPから紋章、種族比率の円グラフ、ガンツのスチームスーツの作動原理、それにゴングが背負っているリュックサックの中身に至るまで………………。
All these vignettes aren't really necessary if you just want to finish the game. But for those players who think there's more to playing a game than compiling statistics on allies and enemies or strategies for defeating enemies in particular . . . I think this book should make for a really fun read. It brings me joy to see people really taking the world of Shining Force to heart . . . Anyway, that's what I think.
それらのエピソードは、ただゲームを終わらせるだけなら必要ないかもしれない。けれど、敵や味方のデータを集め、戦略を立てて敵を倒していくだけがゲームの遊び方じゃない………………そう思っているユーザーの方々になら、この本はきっと楽しい読み物になると思う。シャイニング・フォースの世界が、皆さんの心の中でもつと広がってくれると嬉しい・・・・・・そう思う。
Photograph © Bonkarā
写真提供（Ｃ）ボンカラー

Shining Force Strategy Guide

Foreword by Masaki Wachi

Articles with Translated Excerpts

History, Geography, and Demographics

Characters

Concepts

Resources