Dr. Rohde won't talk to me. This one guy in the village tells me a historical topic would interest him, but the game does not exactly feature a keyboard where I can type to him, "So how about them world wars, huh?" All I can do is politely press A next to him repeatedly. And I can't move on because I'm told I need to talk to him to go west, and there is something guarding the exit west that forces me away each time I try. This is in the town right after the Kraken battle (which, by the way, killed every single unit I had except my main character... despite the game supposedly being on the easiest mode... how ridiculous).

I was really loving this game up until this part, which is testing my nerves, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I tried reading a walkthrough, and it helpfully says, "Talk to Rohde." Yea, I hadn't thought to try that, haha.

I believe this is the way, first go east from the town after the kracken battle and past the river. You should find some shrine like place that is supposedly a tunnel to grans island. Once you win the battle you will find you cannot use the tunnel. Search around for a chest containing a wooden plank. Then go north and find the town (I don't remember name) where there is a tree that says there is a hollow place. Go to the tree and push item and then select the wooden plank. a secret passageway will open up. Go in and find the archiles sword, then go talk to rhode. He should join you and you can get past the guard. I Believe this is the way, i'm sorry if there's a lack of detail i haven't played this in a while.

There is a shine to the west of the town and across the river as you describe, but I can't go there. When I try, there is a story sequence with some big guard thing. Peter gets scared and forces me to retreat. So I can't get past this guy unless I talk to Rhode, and I can't talk to Rhode unless I get past this guy? Good grief...

I'm sorry, I meant the east.

Heh, I just started wandering around aimlessly in the east and got into some battle, so I guess I'm back on track now.
Thanks though!!

I was just stuck at this very point too! Seanehawk is indeed right - you need to put that block thing in the tree in one of the villages. I was going to ask that question on here too but I figured it out in the end.

I did try looking on GameFaqs - after reading all the disclaimer stuff, character profiles, weapon types and stuff before I even scrolled down to any guide I thought it'd just be quicker to try figure it out myself!

Even after the explanation it took awhile. It's weird, I don't see how most would find this out on their own. I apparently fought the Kraken earlier than intended, skipping two battles, but that's where the river leads, and it felt natural to go that way. Afterwards, my main attackers were way overleveled for the two skipped battles, so I just kept them off to the side the whole time, haha. Then there's the plank which is not explained at all -- why would I assume that, oh, I got a plank, I better put it in a tree? And then the Achilles sword I think I would have just assumed was a good sword if someone hadn't told me.

Anyway, I'm just glad to continue the game. Other than this weird mess, it is super fun!

Yeah it's awesome. I only played it briefly at a friend's house back in the day. I bought this because I absolutely loved Shining Force 3 and always fancied getting this instalment. It plays just the same, which is great.

I just love the battle system in this game - I wish other RPGs used the same system. They're so much more fun than just selecting "attack" from a menu a number of times. You feel like you win battles because of skill, not just because you've "levelled up" to the right amount.

There are plenty other RPGs to do this, and SF wasn't the first. Bragging rights go to Fire Emblem for the "strategy RPG" battle system, and plenty others have copied since. I would much rather a translated Fire Emblem on VC, actually, but of course that's not going to happen.

Fire Emblem isn't the same really as it doesn't have the exploration element Shining Force has. Same goes for Final Fantasy Tactics type games. They have similarish battles but you don't get to explore villages, puzzles, talk to people like you do in traditional RPGs. They just have battles (with cutscene like diaglogue in between). What I love about Shining Force is it has both these things merged into one.

@ madgear
Haha, that's actually what I don't like about Shining Force.
Maybe it's done better in later games, but the towns seem dull, and the overworld is mostly empty and uninteresting. Exploration is cool in a game like Zelda or Metroid where you constantly have things to do as you're walking around, or in a game like Knytt where the scenery and music take front stage, but to me it's just tedium in Shining Force I & II (barely played II so far though).

I like Fire Emblem because it does one thing and it does that one thing very well. In SF it can be frustrating obtuse as to what you're supposed to do next sometimes. Sometimes I feel like just not talking to anyone in a town because I don't care what they have to say... but then I remember how very random it is to chance upon someone who will join you (not in the sense of randomly generated, but there's no clue), so I have to talk to everyone just in case I find a new party member.

But I still like Shining Force. What would you recommend as the best entry in the series to play next after these two? My only systems are SNES, Wii, and PS3. I'm assuming there were some PS1 or PS2 games, no? Does the series tend to get better or worse?

Shining Force on a PSOne?! What a laughable suggestion!

Ignore the Shining games on PStwo as one would reject the opportunity to bathe in the water previously occupied by a leper. The games in the series you can play on your current consoles are:

Shining in the Darkness;
Shining Force;
Shining Force II.

Sadly that's it. Shining in the Darkness is a first-person dungeon crawler that, although decent, is starting to show its age now. Shining Force III, the best of the bunch by miles, was only available on the Sega Saturn and is one of those semi-rare games that commands a high price. It's also split into three parts, two of which were only ever released in Japan, so you'll never get the full story.

Personally I'd look into getting a GBA and a cheap copy of Shining Soul II, which is a most enjoyable hack-and-slash action game from Grasshopper Manufacture. I don't normally like those kinds of games but it had enough to keep me going.

You could also get a copy of Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon on GBA whilst you're at it, which is a revamped version of the original Mega Drive game with new graphics, a brand-new sidequest and some extra characters and battle elements. It's very good.

The series has never reached the same heights it did on the Saturn, and Sega's new crop of Shining games - including an arcade game. AN ARCADE SHINING GAME! - are something of an affront to the series' proud strategy heritage.

Ah, more and more reasons I wish Saturn were a more viable option for the VC... it's too bad the system and its games (well, the ones I want) are so expensive used. The GBA titles are tempting, and I used to have a GBA, but I'm trying to stay clear of the portable world. It hurts my already bad eyes, and if I'm on the go I generally prefer to carry a book with me -- I know, a book, seriously? What am I thinking? Don't tell Mario I said that.