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Tao
Tao image
Elf mage Tao.
Vital statistics
Race Elf
Class MageWizard
Gender Female
Faction Shining Force
Birthplace Pipory Village
Relatives Unnamed father (presumed deceased)
Unnamed mother
Unnamed uncle
Unnamed aunt
Unnamed cousin
Diane (sister)
Wendy (sister)
Appearances Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
Shining Force: Resurrection of Dark Dragon

Tao is a playable female elf mage in the games Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention and Shining Force: Resurrection of Dark Dragon.

Background[]

In Resurrection of Dark Dragon, we learn that Tao is from an elf village called Pipory Village. Her parents were presumably killed (her mother is found in Bustoke), and she came to Guardiana and started working as a maid for Princess Anri. Tao wears a purple and white mage robe with a green cloak and sash. She has hot pink hair and yellow eyes.

Personality[]

Tao is a hard working girl. She started out as a maid for Princess Anri and self-taught herself the spell Blaze. She hopes to become a great Wizard someday, which won't be hard when you join the Shining Force.

Strategy[]

Tao acts as the Force's early Mage, she has good stats for a mage and the most HP, she serves to teach players about magic. Especially early game, she can get away with resulting to physical damage when she is low on MP and takes quite a few hits more than any other mage to go down.

Due to her spells low-cost effectiveness, despite having the least MP of any mage character, she is often able to outlast Anri and Alef in terms of MP usage. In short, when Anri and Alef have spent their MP on powerful spells, Tao's cheaper Blaze spell lets her continue to toss spells for longer.

Her Blaze spell also does more damage to undead then Freeze will.

Her other spells allow her to be a support character for other stronger characters, letting her prevent other spell casters from pulling off spells and putting to sleep stronger minions.

The spell Attack becomes invaluable in aiding comrades who fall behind, especially unarmed ones like Bleu and Adam. It lets the player give them a boost to damage when their attack stat is too low and is one of the fastest ways to boast Adam when he first joins due to how low his level is at the time of his joining versus the enemies the Force faces in the upcoming battles.

Her Blaze spells advantage to undead is short lived, as past the early game the player does not come across anymore undead foes. As this is her best offensive spell, Tao will become useless consequentially as Anri, Domingo and Alef join.

As the player gets stronger Force members with more physical strength, she ends up relying on her magic the further the game progresses and less on her physical strength. Her Blaze spell, while boasting the same range as Freeze, is the weakest of the offensive spells and will render her doing less damage then most other Force members.

As a result, Tao often is the least damaging offensive member of the Force as spells have capped damage and Blaze is the overall least damaging. In some cases throughout the game and depending on the enemies she is facing and her level, she can even do more damage physically then her spells can.

Later in the game with so many powerful fighters, players also may barely have a reason to use her tactical spells. Fighters like Adam and Guntz can draw enemies towards them and take massive hits, so sleep and dispel can be almost pointless.

In terms of speed running, she simply cannot do enough damage to make her worth putting in at times. While she has the spell Attack, it is better to have a fighter in her slot then to rely on the spell.

Powers & Magic[]

Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon[]

Spell Icon Level Acquired
L1 L2 L3 L4
Blaze Magic Blaze Icon-RoDD 4 12 20
Sleep Magic Sleep Icon-RoDD 8
Dispel Magic Dispel Icon-RoDD 16
Attack Magic Attack Icon-RoDD 27
  • Unlike in the original version, levels do not stack; therefore, if promoted early, a spell learned at level 12 unpromoted must be learned at level 12 promoted.
  • — indicates the character has already learned the spell.
  • An empty field means the character cannot learn up to that spell's level.

Quotes[]

  • When she joins the Force: "I am Tao. I'm only an apprentice mage but I'll do my best."
  • In Headquarters, in party: "I'm eager to try my magic. Let's get out there and toast some monsters!"
  • In Headquarters, not in party: "I'll be ready when you need me, Max!"

Trivia[]

  • It is possible to skip Tao entirely (Before going to see the king in Guardiana, walk toward the town entrance until you encounter a man wearing blue close to the guards. Block his path and force him to block the path of the guards at the entrance, making sure to leave enough room for you to slip through before the man in blue leaves his forced position. If done correctly, you should be outside the town without your Shining Force members. Completing the first mission without returning to get your members will trick the game into continuing the story from there, preventing the starting members from ever joining.)
  • Tao has two sisters, Diane, who is also in the Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention game, and Wendy, who is in the Shining Force CD game. Her personality contrasts that of Diane, as Diane is more easy-going and has a carefree attitude regarding her life goals.
  • Tao mentions her parents being killed by a Cerberus. Then she talks about a rumor started by her uncle and aunt, that her parents had fled. This rumor might be true, at least about her mother, as she can be found in Bustoke. It's also possible that the developers of Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon didn't know that Tao and Diane were sisters.
  • In the UKs "Sonic the Comic" series, one of their guest story was based on a combined elements from both Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention and the events of Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing. A character called "Tao" appears in the strip fulfilling the same role Sarah has to Bowie; despite it mainly focusing on members of the Shining Force 2 game. Max and her are the only two members of the first game to appear in the strip.

See also[]

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