Shining Tears
Mini Guide

Version: 1.50
Revised: 26th December 2004
First Written: 21st December 2004
By: Yamikarasu
Dedicated to my friends who play the game:
- Hikaru - SoulStorm -


0. Foreword

Hello to whoever may be reading this.

I have been looking forward to Shining Tears ever since there was news of its release. I managed to pick up a copy of the game on its release date and have been enjoying it a lot. The character designs, voice actors, story and battles are great.

This guide is to help those who have imported the game with little or no knowledge of Japanese. All information found here is based on my own experiences. I am not going to cover every aspect of the game, but just enough to get most people started off and have fun.

This guide will be updated if and when necessary, though I am pretty happy with it for now.


Happy playing!


[ Content & Navigation ]
I. Character Skills
II. Main & Hidden Scenarios
III. Credits/Links

*Effort has been made to keep this FAQ as spoiler-free as possible. There will be warnings/notices to inform you when you are about to see a potential spoiler.*


*DISCLAIMER*
- You may link to this page, but please do not copy my work and redistribute them in any ways, be it on other websites, forums, message boards, mailing lists, etc.
- If you want to reference some of the material here, please do have the courtesy to credit me. Thanks. =)


I. Character Skills
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Quick Select:

 

*Spoiler Note: Skills for extra characters are found on another page. Their names are not shown here to avoid spoiling the story. Clicking on the link will open the page in a new window.

The opinions expressed here are based on my own views. I don't claim to be good at the game and you may not necessarily have to agree with them. I have messed up quite a number of my characters in my first game and I wish that others to not repeat the same mistakes as me. My skill recommendations are just only for reference, so if you don't like it, feel free to customize your character according to your fancy. =)

Skill Notations:
(Lock) - Activate by pressing the "Lock" button.
(Rush) - Activate by pressing the "Rush" button.
(STR-based) - Indicates that the strength/effectiveness of the skill is based on your Strength  (筋力)
(INT-based) - Indicates that the strength/effectiveness of the skill is based on your Intelligence (
知力) / Magic rating ( 魔法力).
(Both) - Indicates that the skill affects both player characters when on the map.

Skill Ratings:
A - Very good skill. Highly recommended. For an Auto-Skill, it is recommended that get it to a very high level or max it out.
B - Good skill. Worth putting points in it to the halfway mark.
C - Average. You can put a few points in, or none at all.
D - Not worth investing any points unless you want to try out a specific character build.

 

 Xion
Special ガード Guard  (Lock) Raises Defense. -
Single Attack サウザンドスラスト Thousand Thrust  (STR-based) Multiple stabs. A
Single Attack サンダーブレード Thunder Blade  (STR-based) Lightning attack. D
Single Attack スパーク Spark  (INT-based) Lightning attack. D
Single Attack グラビティスラッシュ Gravity Slash  (STR-based) Paralyzes enemies and deals damage. A
Auto Skill ディフェンス強化 Enhance Defense  Raises Defense. C
Auto Skill 命中率向上 Raise Accuracy  (Both) Raises accuracy. B
Auto Skill 回避率向上 Raise Evasion  (Both) Raises evasion. B
Auto Skill レジストサンダー Resist Thunder  Raises elemental resistance towards Lightning. C
Auto Skill チェインパワー Chain Power  Raises damage according to your chain count. A
Auto Skill シンクロナイズ Synchronize  (Both) Raises damage according to the sum of both characters' chains. A

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Raise Thousand Thrust or Gravity Slash, or both. Thousand Thrust is a great multi-hitting skill; especially useful against bosses. Gravity Slash is good for crowd control and works well with some partner moves.
- I don't use Thunder Blade because you will have trouble against enemies with high lightning resistance, more so if it is a boss.
- Unless you plan to turn Xion into a INT-based character, don't touch Spark.
2. Auto Skill:
- Definitely get Chain Power & Synchronize. You will benefit from a large chain count and more damage if you frequently use Thousand Thrust.
- Raise Accuracy and Evasion are great, too, cos' it affects your partner as well. I feel that Evasion is slightly better, though.
- Enhance Defense isn't very significant; invest points in it only after you learnt everything you want.
- Resist Thunder is not bad, too. You may want to put a few points into it when need it.

^Back Up

 Elwing
Special 乱れ撃ち Scatter Shot  (Lock) Fires arrows within a certain range. -
Single Attack 連射 Rapid Shot  (STR-based) Multiple shots. A
Single Attack ドライヤドの誘惑 Dryad's Charm  Chance of charming an enemy. No damage dealt. D
Link Attack マルチショット Multi Shot  (STR-based) Fires arrows forward in a spread shot. C
Link Attack リターンアロー Return Arrow  (STR-based) Fires an arrow that follows a U-shaped path. D
Link Attack エレメンタルショット Elemental Shot  (STR-based) Fires an elemental arrow. D
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (INT-based) Summons Amethyst Pixie. Damage + charms enemies. D
Auto Skill クリティカル Critical  (Both) Raises chance of a critical hit. A
Auto Skill 貫通確率 Penetration Rate  Raises chance that your arrows will penetrate an enemy and into the next. A
Auto Skill 対空射撃 Anti-Air Firing  (Both) Raises damage against flying enemies. B
Auto Skill シルフの守り Protection of the Sylph  Raises chance of deflecting projectiles away. C

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Rapid Shot will do fine. Elwing will be using it all the time, as opposed to the charm move.
2. Link:
- MultiShot is pretty good, provided that your penetration rate is very high.
- The other skills are all either too slow to execute or deal very little damage.
3. Auto-Skill
- Critical and Penetration are must-haves. Get both to a very high level. It is recommended to have Penetration at level 19 or 20.
- Invest a bit into Anti-Air Firing because there are quite a number of flying enemies in this game.
- You can invest a bit into Protection of the Sylph, or none at all.

^Back Up

 Ryuna
Special 聖なる結界 Holy Formation  (Lock) Calms nearby Undead enemies, making them lose their will to fight. -
Single Attack 祝福 Blessing  (Both) Raises Attack and Defense for a period of time. A
Single Attack キュア Cure  Heals your partner. B
Link Attack シャイニング Shining  (INT-based) Strong against Undeads. D
Link Attack ターンアンデッド Turn Undead  (INT-based) Damages Undead. Destroy them when they are down. C
Link Attack 霊光陣 Spirit Light Formation  (INT-based) Slows enemies. D
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (STR-based) Summons Opal Snake. Damage + Absorb life.

C

Auto Skill ヒーリングオーラ Healing Aura  (Both) Increase rate of HP recovery. A
Auto Skill 浄化 Cleansing  (Both) Reduces the recovery time against bad status effects. C
Auto Skill 聖なる力 Holy Power  (Both) Raises damage against Undead enemies. C
Auto Skill エレメントブレイク Element Break  Lowers the elemental resistances of enemies within a radius. C

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Max out Blessing.
- You may want to raise Cure a bit (maybe up to level 10), but it is not very effective because it recovers too little, even at high levels. The auto skill Healing Aura does the job pretty well.
2. Link:
- Her link skills aren't very strong, but it is recommended to have at least level 1 Turn Undead.
- Some may recommend having the Summon at level 1 as its life absorption effect helps.
- The extremely low minimum damage for Shining makes it impractical, whereas Spirit Light Formation is slow and does little damage.
3. Auto-Skill
- Max out Healing Aura.
- You may want to add a bit into Cleansing and Holy Power.
- Element Break isn't very useful unless your partner uses element-based weapons/attacks. Even so, the rate per level is very low.

^Back Up

 Razalus

Special 竜炎陣 Ryu En Jin  (Lock) Spews fire at enemies. -
Single Attack 回転斬り Spinning Slash  (STR-based) Hit surrounding enemies. A
Single Attack ヘビィブロー Heavy Blow  (STR-based) Knocks back enemies. C
Link Attack 竜巻切り Tornado Slash  (STR-based) Spinning attack that lasts for a period of time. A
Link Attack ダブルアタック Double Attack  (STR-based) Does more damage if both characters target the same enemy. D
Link Attack アイアンスキン Iron Skin  Stays still for 10 secs. Reflects a portion of damage from attacks. D
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (INT-based) Summons Emerald Dragon. Fire damage.

D

Auto Skill アタック強化 Enhance Attack  Raises Attack Power. C
Auto Skill ディフェンス強化 Enhance Defense  Raises Defense Power. C
Auto Skill レジストファイア Resist Fire  Raises elemental resistance towards Fire. C
Auto Skill アーマークラッシュ Armor Crush  Reduces the Defense of enemies who get hit. B?

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Spinning Slash is the better choice because it does more damage and hits even enemies behind you.
2. Link:
- Tornado Slash is very powerful and can mow down hordes of enemies when his partner runs around to control its movement.
- Double Attack is slow and only hit one or a few targets.
- Iron Skin is dangerous and impractical because you need to get hit. Ouch.
3. Auto-Skill
- Enhance Attack and Defense are not too bad, though the bonus is not really significant.
- Armor Crush is not bad, though you have to get it to a pretty high level to make it worthwhile.

^Back Up

 Blanc Neige

Special スノーヴェール Snow Well  (Rush) Frost appears while rushing. Damages enemies. -
Single Attack アイスブレス Ice Breath  (INT-based) Ice damage. Slow, wide attack. B
Single Attack フリーズ Freeze  (INT-based) Ice damage. Fast single attack. D?
Link Attack ブリザード Blizzard  (INT-based)  Ice damage. Damages enemies within the area. D
Link Attack アイスウォール Ice Wall  (INT-based)  Ice damage. Creates a wall of ice for 10 seconds. A
Link Attack アイスリング Ice Ring

 (INT-based)  Ice damage. Damages enemies around both characters.

D
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (INT-based)  Summons Crystal Mammoth. Ice Damage + Freeze.

D

Auto Skill フローズンアーマー Frozen Armor  Raises Defense and Ice resistance. D
Auto Skill レジストマジック Resist Magic  Raises Defense against Magic attacks. C?
Auto Skill 瞑想 Meditation  (Both) Raises SP recovery rate. B
Auto Skill アイスブレイク Ice Break  Lowers the Ice resistance of nearby enemies. A

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Can't really tell which one is better, since both deal the same amount of damage. I would go with Ice Breath, though. It may be slow, but better due to the fact that is a wide-area attack.
2. Link:
- Ice Wall is the best here, due to the high damage potential by working with your partner.
- The other two are weak, slow and leave your characters open to attacks.
3. Auto-Skill
- Ice Break is a must-have, since it essentially makes her ice attacks more damaging.
- Meditation is very good, though you don't really have to max it. Just raise it till you feel that it is sufficient enough to sustain you & your partner without potting for every map.
- Frozen Armor is pretty impractical because of its extremely low rate of increase per level. Resist Magic might be better, though I haven't raised it high enough to notice any significant reduce in damage.

^Back Up

 Volg

Special クイックステップ Quick Step  (Rush) High rush speed. -
Single Attack フライングクロー Flying Claw  (STR-based) Dives at enemies. Single hit. D
Single Attack ガトリングパンチ Gatling Punch  (STR-based) Rapid slash attack. A
Link Attack デスムーンサークル Death Moon Circle  (STR-based) Runs in a circle and damages enemies. D
Link Attack ドリルクラッシャー Drill Crusher  (STR-based) Launches off partner towards a straight line. B
Link Attack ダブルタックル Double Tackle  (STR-based) Rushes towards enemies with partner. D
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (STR-based) Summons Gold Wolf. Damage + Paralysis.

D

Auto Skill ファストムーブ Fast Move  (Both) Raise movement speed. D
Auto Skill 気合い Fighting Spirit  Raises Attack power according to your current SP. A
Auto Skill ラッキーストライク Lucky Strike  Raises chance of critical hits according to chain count. B
Auto Skill カウンターアタック Counter Attack  Chance of countering when hit by melee attack. C?

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Gatling Punch is very good. Works like Xion's Thousand Thrust.
- Flying Claw is not very useful as it only hits once.
2. Link:
- Drill Crusher is good just for the fact that is has very high damage.
- Double Tackle does less damage than Single skills, so it is not worth it.
- Death Moon Circle will usually fail halfway in tight spaces on the map, making it ineffective most of the time.
3. Auto-Skill
- Fighting Spirit is pretty good. When maxed out, adding 1 stat point into INT will give a bonus boost of 1 Attack power.
- Lucky Strike is great for doing plenty of critical hits.
- I am not very sure about Counter Attack, because so far, I haven't seen it work much.

^Back Up

Mao

Special 幻影脚 Geneikyaku  (Rush) Rush can go through enemies. -
Single Attack 火遁の術 Katon no Jutsu  (INT-based) Launches a fireball. Fire elemental damage. D
Single Attack クナイ投げ Kunai Nage  (STR-based) Throws several Kunai. A
Link Attack 忍法爆裂人形 Ninpo Bakuretsu Ningyou  (INT-based) Fire damage. D?
Link Attack 分身の術 Bunshin no Jutsu  (STR-based) Damages a number of enemies within the area. D?
Link Attack 影渡りの術 Kagewatari no Jutsu  (INT-based) Mao moves towards her partner and damages as the move ends. D?
Link Attack 守護霊獣晶喚 Guardian Beast Summon  (STR-based) Summons Red Jade Demon. Damage + Curse.

D?

Auto Skill 見切り Forsake  Raise evasion rate. A?
Auto Skill 毒の刃 Poison Blade  (Both) Regular attacks poison the enemy. B?
Auto Skill かすみの術 Kasumi no Jutsu  Chance of teleporting to avoid an attack. B?
Auto Skill 空蝉の術 Utsuemi no Jutsu  Chance of negating the last attack that knocks her out; recover some health. B?

*Didn't play much of Mao, so I don't really have a good idea of her style.

*Recommended Skills:
1. Single:
- Level up Kunai Toss to a high level. It deals a reasonable amount of damage and has low SP consumption rate.
2. Link:
- I have no idea what is good here. She has a mixture of INT- and STR-based Links, making it hard to experiment with. So far, they don't seem very attractive.
3. Auto-Skill
- Three of her auto-skills involve evading/keeping herself alive, so there is a lot of repetition here. I don't have a good idea of how to train her, though I know that she is meant to be one of those 'untouchable' characters that dodge more than half the time.
- The Poison Blade is pretty good for dealing extra damage, though the figure is a little small when the regular enemies start having thousands of HPs.

^Back Up


II. Main & Hidden Scenarios
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Here are some of the hidden scenarios that I know of. The exact requirements in getting them is not known, though most of the time, it has something to do with Xion's relationship with the character in question.

I have listed the main scenarios in the game, along with the hidden scenario so that you know to look out for it when it comes up. Please note that I am writing this based on memory, so some parts may have been omitted.

I have managed to get 4 of the Hidden Events on one play-through before, so I guess it is possible to get most of them by having a 'moderate relationship' with all the characters. Basically, if you know that a certain character's event is coming up, just keep using him/her until you reach that scenario.

*The names of the scenarios are the titles you see on the screen before the map loads up. I have included some very rough translations to go with them.

Scenario Map Title Description
01 目覚める力 Awakened Strength  ---
02 しのびよる黒き影 Dark Shadow of the Shinobi  ---
03 宿命の聖女 Holy Maiden of Fate  ---
04 破滅の足音 Footsteps of Destruction  ---
05 とけない心 Unresolved Heart  ---
06 鉄の意志 Iron Will  ---
07 残雪のぬくもり Warmth of the Snow.  ---
08 立ちふさがるもの Standing in the Way  ---
H --- Volg's Grave Visit  Condition: Good relationship with Volg.
This can either occur after Scenario 8 or 9. This is an event and not a scenario; does not involve any battles. (*Note: Some say that your street rank has to be at least 頼りになる
ヤツ for this to work)
H 忍びの心 Heart of the Shinobi  Condition: Good relationship with Mao.
 After Scenario 6, play at least 2-3 free scenarios (the Camp attacks) with Mao to build up relationship. Talk to Mao after Scenario 8 and she will complain that she recently feels as if someone is watching her.
H 光と闇の輪舞 Dance of Light and Darkness  Condition: Good relationship with Razalus.
09 聖獣神の旗のもとに Flag of the Saint Beasts  ---
H けがれなき翼 Unblemished Wings  Condition: Unconfirmed, but possibly has to do with street ranking. Perhaps at least get "頼りになるヤツ". After Scenario 9, there will be reports of a possible revolt staged by the birdmen and you have to investigate.
10 戸惑いの森 Forest of Delusion  Elwing's event. It is part of the main story.
11 謀略の砂麈 Desert of Schemes  ---
H 迷い猫の狂想曲 Rhapsody of the Mysterious Cat  Condition: Good relationship with Mao.
 It is said that you must get the "Heart of the Shinobi" event first. After Scenario 10, Select "I believe (in Mao)" when given the choice.
12 聖???の誇り Pride of the Holy Knights  ---
H 血と絆 Blood and Ties  Condition: Good relationship with Blanc Neige.
 Talk to her after Scenario 12.
13 勇者に捧げる鎮魂歌 Calming Song for the Heroes  ---
14 鋼の竜人魂 Dragon Soul of Steel  Ryuna's event. It is part of the main story. Just talk to her after Scenario 13.
15 漆黒の仮面 Mask of Darkness  <-- Scenario titles hidden to prevent possible spoilers and since there is no need to refer to them for any more hidden events. Highlight to see.
16 太古の亡霊 Spirit of Ancients
17 黒衣の使者 Black-cloaked Messenger
18 輝ける光の軍勢 Shining Force
19 神々の遺産 Inheritance of the Gods

III. Credits/Links
Back to Top^

Shining Tears official site: http://shining-tears.jp/

Hidden Scenario information were referenced from:
- Shining Tears @ Gamekouryaku ( http://gamekouryaku.com/st/ )
Do check it out for tons of ST game information.

And I just had to include in the link for Shining Force Central. The best site for the Shining series.
- Shining Force Central ( http://www.shiningforcecentral.com/ )

Some of my older Shining Soul mini-guides for the Japanese versions.
- Shining Soul 2 ( http://members.fortunecity.com/yamikarasu/ssoul/ssoul02.htm )
- Shining Soul ( http://members.fortunecity.com/yamikarasu/ssoul/ssoul01.htm )

In the meantime, I am making notes of the Shining Tears story as I replay the game. If you are interested in having a look, click on this link. If it ever gets completed, perhaps I could use that for a guide or something.


This mini-translation FAQ is property of Yamikarasu. All Rights Reserved 2004.
The contents of this FAQ is not to be reproduced or distributed in anyway without permission from the author.
Shining Tears is copyright (C) of Sega 2004.