| Tao | |
 | |
| Elf mage Tao. | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Race | Elf |
| Class | Mage Wizard |
| Gender | Female |
| Faction | Shining Force |
| Birthplace | Pipory Village |
| Relatives | Diane,Wendy, sisters, Mother & father deceased |
| 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 killed, 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.
Her Blaze spell also does more damage to undead then Freeze will.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.
Powers & Magic
Tao can cast the following spells:
- Level 1 - acquires at Level 16
- Level 1 - begins the game with it
- Level 2 - acquires at Level 4
- Level 3 - acquires at Level 12
- Level 4 - acquires at Level 20
- Level 1 - acquires at Level 27
- Level 1 - acquires at level 8
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.
- 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 2: 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.