Main characters
Toma: A human boy born and raised in the wild. He doesn't appear to be very intelligent, but has a cheerful disposition and a bit of a quick temper. He possesses a strong sense of justice, and the one thing he wants in life is "great power", which leads him on his quest for the holy sword known as the Shining Force. He is often advised by Zenus, a jackal-like creature who is a product of ancient methods. He thinks that having the power of the Shining Force will help him accomplish his goal.
Cyrille: A human girl brought up in the Noswald Empire, one of the two main warring factions in the world of Shining Force EXA. She is the opposite of Toma, highly intelligent and a skilled user and researcher of magic. Like Toma, she is also in search of the holy Shining Force sword. She has a cool disposition and tends to be cold towards people, but despite her outward appearance, she is truly a gentle person. Sweets and candy are said to be a secret indulgence of hers. She is often accompanied by her familiar, a ferret-like creature called Zhirra.
Secondary characters
Maebelle: An elf maiden searching for the Holy Sword in the hopes of saving her dying race. Calm but merciless in battle. Superb archery skills. According to Maebelle, she is what the elves refer to as the "Last Child", meaning she was the last newborn elf since the incident with her people unable to bear children. Maebelle is quite mature and has a motherly complex toward Cyrille at times. Her unique trait is that she seems to eat more than anyone else in the party (much to Duga's surprise) and frequently snacks when she gets a chance.
Gadfort: Former Noswald knight. Parted ways with the Emperor due to differing ideals. Met Toma and the others on his quest for the Holy Sword. Uses a lance as a weapon. Gadfort has a habit of lecturing Toma on his sword style, calling it unpredictable and without form, but in actuality he is simply being a teacher to him. Gadfort idolizes the legendary hero Avalon, and has just about every book written on him in his personal collection. He also follows a lot of Avalon's examples, such as keeping the weapons and armor in his room spotless.
Amitaliri: A girl from an elite Magnus family from which many La Vaes were born. Reckless and truant. Neglects her training but is skilled at magic. Toma nicknames her Ami Girl, which she hates, and is generally called Ami by everyone else. She has a school girl crush on Duga, who can't stand her approaches, but she eventually gives up on trying to get his interest. Her self-centered attitude causes a lot of grief for Faulklin, who has to do everything for her, from cleaning their room to doing her school assignments (along with his own).
Faulklin: A peace-loving Quintol boy. He learned the art of healing and light magic to assist his good friend, Amitaliri. He is generally shy and very quiet, except when it comes to dealing with Ami. He may have some feelings for her, but can't seem to tell her outright. Faulklin is easily taken advantage of and is stuck doing a lot of the work for the two of them. His healing talents and holy attack spells are quite noteworthy on missions.
Duga: A Wolfling and former Noswald Army officer. Gadfort's best friend and a friendly rival, claiming to be stronger than him. Duga is a talented fighter among Wolflings, and is always keeping himself trained and rested for battle. He seems to have a thing for Maebelle and openly asks her out on dates in the Geo-Fortress. He actually has a habit of telling dirty jokes and is quite the womanizer. Much like Volg from Shining Tears, he is strong and fast, but lacks the defense necessary to withstand much damage at any one time.
Adam: A robot soldier from an ancient mobile fortress. He is highly intelligent but lacks emotions and empathy. He originally served alongside the previous Heritor in an ancient war. His systems shut down after fighting too many enemies and straining his power reserves. His memory banks can immediately recall records and analysis from the war. According to him, the description of his capabilities was taken out of a sales manual.
Antagonists
Ragnadaam III: The current Emperor of the human Noswald Empire. He is known to his people as "The Lion". At first, he tries to talk to Toma and finds him too immature to deal with. Soon after he sets his sights on Cyrille, and holds informed conversations with her. Because Cyrille is quite familiar with world history, Ragna tries to convince her to choose sides, because he wants to obtain the power of the Shining Force for himself.
Riemsianne La Vaes: The current La Vaes, also known as the Queen of Fyrlandt, the southern territory belonging to the magnus. She is quite manipulative and tries to lure Toma to her side with her feminine wiles many times throughout the story. However, despite her calm appearance, she is quite deadly in battle and wields devastating magic spells. Reimsianne is a responsible leader to her people and strictly follows an age-old taboo of not trying to incite a war with the humans.
Optional characters
Garyu: A mysterious dragon whose name is known only from a signboard. He is clearly very intelligent and can understand human speech. Garyu interacts little with the party, and is only affectionate toward Toma and Cyrille. He is immensely strong and able to take on and defeat great numbers of enemies all on his own. He is gained after defeating him in his cave.
Avalon: An undead man with the same name as a legendary knight. Gadfort is convinced of his identity because of his skills and weapon. Avalon is quite open with regards to his past, having fought with a powerful dark mage when he was a reckless overconfident knight, and lost his life for it and was cursed. Toma and Cyrille were shocked with his need to drink human blood to sustain himself. However, Avalon is greatly opposed to the thought of actually murdering another human. He occasionally cracks a joke about drinking the blood of beautiful young girls. He is gained through collecting his bones scattered throughout the game.
