This is it. The final chapter. For all the marbles! We’ve been lucky enough to skate by relatively unscathed up until now. Shoutout again to Mae & Zylo, who left us earlier in the journey, and to Domingo - brought back from the brink of the grave to fight another day. Heading into these last battles, we had two resets left in the tank, a whole mess of nasty enemies ahead, and the looming final boss. After some last-minute prep in Runefaust, it was time. Battle 26: Ramladu’s Castle. Let’s go!
Battle 26 – Ramladu’s Castle
Honestly, the danger here wasn’t on my mind at first. I was feeling confident. That lasted until a Chimera swooped down and decided Guntz was the day’s special. Double fire breath. KO’d. Just like that, my armored armadillo was toast. But hey... it’s the last chapter. I’m not letting that stand. Reset #2!
Except… when we re-ran the fight, another Chimera had the exact same idea. Same move. Same result. Guntz dead again. At that point, I had to accept fate. Goodbye, Guntz. You’re up there now with Mae & Zylo. From there, the Force dismantled the rest without much resistance.
Oh, and fun fact - Hanzou subbed in for Alef for this chapter. But since Guntz bit the dust, Alef was right back in for the next one. Gotta love the revolving door, haha.
Battle 27 – Ramladu
If there’s a “perfect grind battle” in this game, it’s this one. No contest. A neat enemy layout, enemies that still give solid XP even for higher-level members, and the ability to run it again and again? Yeah, you bet I double-dipped here.
By the time we went in for real, the whole thing felt like a dress rehearsal we’d practiced twice already. Step by step, blow by blow, it was clean. And then there was Ramladu himself. Just like always, he mostly sat around waiting to get wrecked. With ranged firepower and spellcasters lighting him up, Ramladu quickly became Deadladu.
Battle 28 – Colossus
This one? This one was nerve-wracking. The Chimeras and Blue Dragons alone had me sweating buckets, knowing full well they could double shot or crit a key member into oblivion. And this is the point in the run where losing anyone stings extra hard.
So I played it slow. Painfully slow. Flyers carefully picked off groups, units moved like chess pieces across the map, and I made sure never to overextend. Group by group, we cornered the Colossus heads and put them down. No major scares this time - just pure, grinding tension until the final strike. And miraculously, no casualties.
Battle 29 – Darksol
The point of no return. Once you start Battle 29, you’re locked in through to the end. No more grinds. One reset left. Everything on the line. Mom's spaghetti.
My strategy? The opposite of reckless. Absolute patience! We chipped away at the Torch Eyes from a distance with the Chaos Breaker and spells. No hero moves, no unnecessary risks. I wanted the Force fully intact going into the final showdown.
Darksol himself didn’t go down without a little drama. We pelted him hard and fast, hoping to drop him before he could fight back. And while we almost whiffed it - he got left with 1 HP at one point - Balbaroy clutched it out. A Chaos Breaker spell sealed the deal. Good riddance.
Battle 30 – Dark Dragon
The final boss. The last hurdle. It’s manageable if you play it smart, but the RNG factor makes it scary. One wrong spell cast, and you can lose a vital squad member instantly.
Case in point: Dark Dragon whipped out a Bolt 4 that erased Hanzou from existence in a single turn. All 50 HP gone. A short-lived tenure with the Force, but he’ll be remembered for his contributions.
After that, it was just about discipline. Pick off the armored skeleton. Block respawn tiles. Focus down one dragon head at a time. Keep heals on standby. Balbaroy, Musashi, and the casters did the heavy lifting, and a timely Healing Rain kept us on our feet. The only other real scare was a Demon Blaze that rocked us, but it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum. Slowly but surely, the Dark Dragon went down. Thanks for not spamming awful spells the entire time, bro!
And just like that - the permadeath run was complete.
Closing Thoughts
This whole run was a blast. It forced me to play Shining Force in a way I never had before - slower, more tactical, weighing every risk as if lives were actually on the line. Max never died, which meant I never had to hit the “mandatory reset” rule, and in the end I only used 2 out of 3 resets. Not bad at all.
The Domingo reset was absolutely essential - losing him in Chapter 7 for good would’ve been brutal - but aside from that, the Force held strong. Guntz, Mae, Zylo, and Hanzou all gave their lives, but their sacrifices paved the way for victory. I'm still mad about the Domingo death, by the way. Complete garbage. Watch the tape!
If I do another run in the future, I might spice it up by eliminating grinds altogether, making it that much harder without going full nightmare mode.
Either way, this was one heck of a ride. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget - you can check out the playthrough if you want to see all the chaos firsthand!
Comments