Chapter 1 Highlights:
Why is Ernie (Earnest) of all people working for TEAM DARKSOL? -sigh- Hopefully this is the
last we see of him...
Dead soldier corpses per Shining Force 2. I expect
SF2 will be a theme here...
Endlessly-respawning DAMNED BAT gauntlet for TEAM MAXINE on the way to Alterone.
Playable Boken--and he came early--to Maxine's rescue; w/Khris as Alterone's priest. Cool. He's needed for his home region: RINDO HELL.
Death Adder: what did Darksol have over him that he made him use "Addington" as an alias? Because the name DEATH ADDER would've been less-conspicuous. Frankly, I'm surprised Gilius didn't show up as an AI-controlled chara to attack Addie, or get KO'd in a cutscene.
My guess is that Darksol couldn't stand the fact that "Addington" had a more-intimidating villain name.
Chapter 2 Highlights:
TL;DR:
"I hereby make a promotion. Now, RINDO HELL shall be known as RINDO TARTARUS!"
Seriously, f4rk Rindo. The acting was slightly better in the theater portions, though.
That feint was unholy. That, or Varios is kind of rusty on the situational awareness front--suggesting that TEAM MAXINE go left: where elf mercs were prepared to ambush us w/golems. TEAM MAXINE ended up going right after an Egress.
TEAM MAXINE enters the CAVERN OF WONDER to face the SF1 variant of a TENTACLE-WAVING Pr0N DEMON--aptly named the Ravager. And true to SF1 tradition, he holds on to that last 1 HP to murder Alef: TEAM MAXINE's only functional mage w/access to all three elements. Who am I left with? ASTRAL, apparently before SF2 and only knows Bolt. He'd better be good...
Anri (whose portrait is lovely), realizing that she should've joined us in the CAVERN OF WONDER per vanilla SF1 (so that Alef could live--and not suffer LATE JOINER SYNDROME by joining the newly-dubbed SHINING FORCE too late to be of use w/o industrial-grade EGRESS LEVEL GRINDING), opts to join our party after all. Problem here is that she's a strict Freeze specialist. Good thing Maxine knows Blaze (Flames...?).
The banter over the dying, overly-talky Marionette was nice. Just incinerate that dumb Mishaela doll so TEAM MAXINE can escape RINDO TARTARUS.
Oh, wait. The Force must face the CHAPEL OF DELIGHT, where Darksol replaced skeletons with some lantern-carrying Heartless he'd swiped from Xehanort.
Amon joins TEAM MAXINE, and we're off to Bustoke--free of RINDO TARTARUS.
Chapter 3 Highlights:
Hans is a wuss, per vanilla SF1. He's just trying to take care of his family:
right...?
The SFC Forum's Lobo is cosplaying as a brown Zylo--and was brainwashed into joining TEAM DARKSOL...by Hans!?
Damn it! First Ernie, and now Hans! We're lucky that Pelle opted to be a silly singing mountain climber, and that Tao's still training in Manarina--or we'd be in real trouble. Ernie was hardly a threat *to* Runefaust in vanilla SF1, and vanilla Hans was the load once Diane showed up--having Diane at the start here in ALTERNATE... Hans is probably doing *this* SHINING FORCE a favor by siding with TEAM DARKSOL: and Lobo!Zylo can't wait to kill him.
Thankfully, no RESPAWN AMBUSHES in the forest: Lobo!Zylo's advice worked, and TEAM MAXINE had a leisurely hike through the forest to reach Pao Bridge.
It appears that the silver knight in charge did opt to have a few troops guard the Laser Eye properly...but still had other troops on the bridge to DIE STUPIDLY. -sigh- Baby steps...
Chapter 4 Highlights:
Pao Battle was Pao Battle, complete w/the dark priests being *useless* to TEAM DARKSOL. Thankfully, Elliott didn't die, and thinks that he can reason w/Balbazak.
As for Uranbatol Fortress, looks like there was only one way in. Good to have playable Elliott on TEAM MAXINE.
Chapter 5 Highlights:
Seabats, cartoony water demons that M. Pegasus banished from TOON WORLD (as apparently the Egyptian POWERS THAT BE thought that the lands of Rune were the SHADOW REALM), and the ugly-ass green monsters. All of whom love to proc poison status on TEAM MAXINE: Varios was such a poison target throughout the journey that I think he'll develop an immunity.
Oddeye, surely you could just forgo the pointless boss battle and join TEAM MAXINE instead. They don't really trust you, but they don't want to *fight you*, either...
oddeye: I was *testing* them--to see if they had what it took to face Darksol.
me/the PLAYER: Dude, that's just stupid. They've got a friggin' DRAGONUTE on their team!
oddeye: Nothing will compare w/the stupidity to come--and block the FORCE's way to Metapha. -EGRESS out-
Ernie!? You did *not* FAKE THE DEAD! You had the DEATH EXPLOSION!
darksol: I revived him and filled him w/the power of DARKNESS! -evil laugh-
me/PLAYER: I hate you...
Anyway: Why!? Just why, Ernie? Your vanilla SF1 backstory should make you *HATE* Runefaust and want to burn it to the ground. The game's story wasn't ALTERed *that much*.
-sigh- Somehow, Ernie has magic powers, and he blocked the way to Metapha.
oddeye: told you so...
Finally, another boat ride hijacked by sea monsters, frost harpies, and a
Carcharocles megalodon upset that his genus name was misspelled.
Chapter 6 Highlights:
Lyle's protecting the kids--who didn't drive out their parents this time: no. Mishaela just flat-out kidnapped them... This isn't going to
end well, is it...?
Karin and Krin look adorable--complete w/portraits.
The march to Dragonia went painfully, but TEAM MAXINE pulled through...only to enter Dragonia and be unable to leave b/c of the town's Bedoe-like geography. I do question the presence of birds from Bedoe; maybe Volcanon sent them after Balbaroy reported the events in Shade Abbey...?
Bleu doesn't join us--understandably to protect the Rudo kids. Such a good baby Sacred Dragon; I hope he
makes it out okay...
Kane, you ASSHOLE... But I don't blame you; I blame our so-called ADVS Erikin (the chara, not the mod designer!

) Nova would *never* have allowed this HQ ambush to happen; you just know he was a badass dragonute fighter who intimidated the piss out of the legions of Runefaust. They didn't *dare* try to trifle w/the Force's HQ w/him around.
(My head-canon for vanilla SF1 is that Pelle did suggest attacking the Force while at HQ (during his time as a hired merc), and to test the idea's viability, a few MASTER MAGES sent some skeletons to HQ at Rindo--but the skeletons never made it past the steps: b/c Nova incinerated them all w/his fire breath.)
But Erikin? The only noteworthy thing he might've done was boink a mermaid back in Waral. :rolleyes: -SMH-
In fairness, this iteration of Kane is actually Ramladu's son: Abel--who didn't inherit his dad's lack of situational awareness, but was tricked into wearing Darksol's mind-control Darth Vader helmet. Varios didn't believe him at first, but Abel's lack of shame in wearing his secret girlfriend's jewelry proved to save Abel from a heat axe to the face.
And in Demon Castle: Mishaela must be DESTROYED. The baywatch turned the adults of Rudo into CLONES of noteworthy previous bosses, Doppel Kane, and a clone of the MAIN CHARA: MAXINE THE MANDATORY b/c she lost one of her dumb dolls back at Rindo.
max: you'd think she'd have just taken a page from FINAL CONFLICT and brainwashed *me* to fight my RULE 63 ALTERNATE.
mishaela: SF mod rules are that any battles have to be winnable by the player. and you know that you were holding back the whole time I had you brainwashed!
max: I didn't want to kill my *nephew* or Elliott's son (who likely wanted me dead ever since he was a kid--so the brainwashed bit was a perfect excuse for him to do me in). as to "holding back": I was actually bound not by "mod rules", but by SF enemy AI forcing me to make stupid tactical decisions I'd never make as MAX THE MANDATORY.
mishaela: damn you...
me: you can kiss my ass, too, baywatch.
-sigh- Mishaela--opting to milk that last 1 HP for all its worth--tries to kill Maxine...but Bleu took the hit! Not my little boy dragon Bleu...!
Anyhoo... off to Wutai!Prompt.
Chapter 7 Highlights:
Here, King Kusuko was murdered by Musashi, who sits on the throne; he renamed the town of Prompt Sasebo. (j/k)
All silliness aside, the CLONE bit got some mileage for TEAM DARKSOL, as Maxine's imprisonment now has a CLEAR MY NAME trope vibe. Thus, Musashi's suspicions of Maxine being a spy make sense.
Another RESPAWN GAUNTLET on TEAM MAXINE's trek to the Tower. The Force's first attempt didn't go too well, but the second attempt went beautifully when Diane and Boken opted to support Elliott and Amon--while the rest of TEAM MAXINE dealt with various fallen samurai and demon spellcasters (master, sorcerer, and warlock).
Then CHAOS BATTLE (after Abel joins TEAM MAXINE), where the robots were all on the left...and TEAM MAXINE went to the right to gank Chaos. It wasn't an easy battle, but TEAM MAXINE did it and forged the CHAOS BREAKER...while learning that it could be a curse... (That'd better refer to
SF1's ending--not making it a mandatory CURSED WEAPON...!)
Finally, a maze RESPAWN GAUNTLET to Runefaust, where the soldiers have enough situational awareness to fortify the walls so that even the FLYING CHARAS can't breach the walls, take out the artillery units blocking the door, and make Maxine's path to the door a little easier. No; *all* must suffer throught the gauntlet...
elliott: I probably designed it myself to defend then-Protectora from any would-be bandits who'll probably end up joining the ranks of the BALFORMIAN EMPIRE.
me/PLAYER: Not time for that spoiler yet.
elliott: But I think I started getting bart balthukes' lightning breath near this point...
me/PLAYER: Shut it! Besides, you just got Bleu's lightning breath.
Chapter 8 Highlights:
Narsha, instead of joining TEAM MAXINE to replace Boken, opts to be mission control. (Which is cool, b/c Boken is DYNAMITE!)
Then the Force enters Runefaust Castle, where pegasus knights, armored soldiers do battle w/TEAM MAXINE--including those damned MARK TROOPERS! Seriously? Darksol travelled to the world of FEDA (or time travelled) to summon the QUADRA SLICE guys!?
Oh, and Ernie again. Abel unceremoniously beheads him w/o pity just as he was about to go into a proper MOTIVE RANT. So we get no reason for his joining TEAM DARKSOL outside of wanting to be king of Runefaust: no resolution of this plot thread...?
TEAM MAXINE's fight against Ramladu was nice, where Ramladu called the Force "interlopers" instead of "weaklings". TEAM MAXINE still had to MEET HIS DAMNED ROBOTS: cheap knockoffs of Chaos along w/upgraded steel claws, jets, and torch eyes. After an Egress, the second run had no deaths, and TEAM MAXINE defeated Ramladu.
Then Darksol cribs from SF2, forcing Ramladu to be King Galam.
(astral: Except that I'm a MASTER WIZARD--and exorcist, baby!)
(darksol: Bitch, I *let* you win--because Ramladu was dying anyway!)
(me/PLAYER: Oh, so that's why you let Ernie taunt the Force at the entrance to Runefaust Castle...)
(darksol: No, fool: Kane was effectively *playable*, so there couldn't be a cutscene where I alluded to Maxine's nonexistent dead brother.)
(earnest: I was a damned placeholder... I hated this mod, and my sorry role in it; I wanted to be king of this iteration of Runefaust so that I could burn it to the ground--preferably with Narsha tied to a stake.)
(hans: How do you think I feel about my chara derailment?)
(diane: What chara derailment?)
-SIGH-
After this, Elliott gets his signature sword upgraded to a beautiful, shiny gold.
Then TEAM MAXINE faces Colossus: Krang's inbred cyborg cousin. The idiot forgot its initial programming directives and got hacked by Darksol, and when Xeno tried to interface with it, Colossus tried to take over Xeno's body--only to be self-destructed for its trouble.
Next, after the Force finally let Lowe hold the last Healing Rain (the rare and only means for *true* Aura 4) because he'd used most of the Healing Rains on COLOSSUS BATTLE, is DARKSOL BATTLE. A straight shot up the middle where TEAM MAXINE faces off against random Darksol acolytes.
me/PLAYER: How did DARKSOL get to start a religious cult..!?
-SMH-
TEAM MAXINE defeats Darksol, only for Darksol--clinging to his last sliver of HP--to awaken DARK DRAGON.
(anri: No way in f4rk are we EGRESSING out--we don't care that Amon's dead...again.)
(me/PLAYER: Yeah; the poor bird kept getting killed at endgame; it affected her levels.)
PLAYER note: Since this battle featured RESPAWNING in vanilla SF1, I knew that I needed to have someone on those respawn pads until TEAM MAXINE took out the two other DRAGON HEADS.
A succubus appeared and poisoned Varios, but Boken stayed nearby as Varios stood on the succubus respawn pad--in advance of Anri desouling the baywatch.
(anri: Most of my level-ups came from me desouling fools left and right...but I can't desoul robots.)
(me/PLAYER: Robots don't have souls, silly. And you can't poison them either--but at least it works both ways, so Xeno was safe.)
Another succubus later tried to whip Abel (focused on taking out Dark Dragon's main head), but it only took off *1 points of damage*...and Anri desouled that succubus.
Astral was MVP b/c he had the bright idea to simply put the chimaeras and minotaurs to sleep whenever they'd spawn--thus turning the RESPAWN HELL into something the team could manage...
...at least until Dark Dragon opted to kill Astral and Boken (along w/Xeno, I think).
In any event, TEAM MAXINE vanquishes Dark Dragon; Maxine gets stuck w/the CURSE of the CHAOS BREAKER (SF1's ending), but Egresses everyone else to safety (Amon, Astral, (possibly Xeno) and Boken were revived off-screen).
After the credits (including shout-outs from the mod creator), we see the new ending: where fifty years have passed, and all Maxine can remember is her name.
(max/MAXINE: No renaming *me* this time, PLAYER.)
PLAYER note: In vanilla SF1, Max's silent head-turn to us PLAYERS was a cute FOURTH-WALL break that we had given him a name. My guess here is that had I opted to rename our ALTERNATE heroine, that this would've been a cheeky retort where she finally gets to use her *real* name.

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