What makes a great hack?
I have recently gotten into play FE hacks and have come across some great ones as well as some that are very poor. So I wanted to get opinions on what makes a hack great.
First off I want to express that it is hard to make a solid hack. Balancing characters, creating maps, and writing an immerse story line all take time and effort. However, this is a list of things that I have found to make a hack generally enjoyable.
Balance/Difficulty
I think most people would agree balance is very important. Nobody likes a game were everything you have is OP and its as simple as just moving your units forward to win. I think I prefer games to be a little more difficult, but at the same time I want to be able to outsmart the scenario not just abuse save states to progress. I think this is the hardest thing to get right in FE. There are so many things to consider, how many characters you have, how many enemy's in each level, xp, character growths, just to name a few.
Maps
For me this is extremely important. Maps are are canvas where everything is painted. the story, characters, everything relates to the map. Part of the reason Pixar movies are so successful are because the colorful interesting worlds they create.
I also think they heavily influence the game play. Maps that are to wide open or too choke pointed often aren't fun to replay. If you cant tell already map flow makes it or breaks it for me. Another example of maps influencing game play are large maps. They are a double edged sword because something like Cog of Destiny in Fe7 is a pretty large map with a ton of enemy's, however its flows well because of the multiple ways the enemy's flow towards you. The flip side of that are large maps where you spend most of your time trekking your 11-13 units across a huge space, that kills the momentum of the level and makes them drag.
Story
I know for a lot of ppl this is extremely important. Although I appreciate good story telling, I generally do no follow the plot very closely.
Characters
For me I want the characters to feel different. This is another hard thing to sum up quickly, it is also something that is hard to execute. I guess this would be partially story and balance combined. I have to tip my cap to hackers that can make you invested in a character. Mark is a pirate you get in the Last Promise. He is my favorite character I have come across in a hack. He walks the fine line of being really good but not being OP. He also has a really cool black berserker "in battle" skin. Another reason I like him is because he was pretty clutch in some tight spots. These are the reasons I have found him to be a solid character, even though he doesn't have a ton of back story( that I know of)
Mission variance
This is something Midnight Sun had a ton of. I have to hand it to them, it was ambitious. They tried a number of different mission types. Some worked really well, others not so much. This is something that isn't priority 1, or 2 for me, but it is a nice change up.
Other stuff
I think some ppl think that because there hacking a FE game they have to give you 2 cavs and a prepromte at the beginning, or they need to include things that are staples in the game. I think it is a breath of fresh air when I play the hacks that don't do this. One of the major reasons I play hacks is to get away from from the rinse repeat formulas that are present in some of the FE games.
so those are my thoughts. What does the hacking community think goes into a great hack?
