Crimson Mors

Just a small bump since I've done a small edit. Been a bit distracted with school but I'm starting development up again and posted a comprehensive summary of fanhack thus far. It's an hour long but feel free to click through if it pleases you. Comments on my video are acceptable or responses to this thread would help greatly.

So, the heir is unaffiliated with the rebellion; the goal of the rebellion is to put him on the throne though. Joey uses the rebel faction to get close enough to assassinate the heir prompting the war between Gorlan and Miv. Is it just Gorlan that has enslaved dragons, then? That would probably create a tech divide with their neighbors and lead to tension so that fits the narrative. So the narrative threads I'm gathering thus far: Pertaining to Dragons: Dragons are an oppressed species in either the world or just Gorlan specifically, and this oppression (the use of dragons as a power source) grants insights in technology to Gorlan. Mother (a dragon) is the head of a rebel organization that wants to free dragons and put chains on humans instead. Samuel (also a dragon) splinters the organization over the question of whether enslaving the humans is correct Both of these factions make up the larger group known as Atlas (or is it just one faction specifically) - the goal of which is to fight against an unequal society Pertaining to Nations: Gorlan is a nation that is gaining a technological edge over its neighbors by using dragons The dynasty of Gorlan is descended by Etyl of the Madness, which places a madness on its royal family leading to them taking dark actions Nation Z has a spy named Joey in Gorlan. Pertaining to Characters: Joey -- Has had a rough life to the point of wanting to side with dragons over his own kin. He's a spy sent to Gorlan by Nation Z. Samuel -- Has a life link with Joey which is slowly sapping both of them of their life force. Leads(?) a portion of Atlas which wants to put Gorlan's heir on the throne over the current king in hopes of a better society. Mother -- Was radicalized by a ruthless attack on Atlas. Leads a portion of Atlas that would see humans enslaved in place of dragons. My Questions: Pertaining to Nation Z and Joey: What was the nature of Joey's orders? Infiltration? Gather information on a target. Insurrection? Sow unrest within a target. Assassination? Remove a powerful target. The nature of Joey's orders from Nation Z shape why he is in Gorlan. How much freedom he has with interpreting his orders, too, changes the nature of Joey's character. Or if he even intends to fulfill those orders. What was Joey's target? Atlas? Was he intended to infiltrate and feed information on Atlas back to Nation Z. War? Was his intended mission to instigate the war between Gorlan and Miv. The Heir? Was the removal of the heir his mission. Is Joey affiliated with Atlas of his own accord or via interpretation of his orders? Joey's views align with those of the dragons due to personal trauma. Is he with Atlas because of his orders -- or as a means to fulfill his orders -- or as a side objective he's assigned to himself of his own accord? Because of his orders, or in spite of his orders? If his mission was insurrection or assassination: Is Nation Z actively trying to help dragons by using Joey thus aligning their nation with the interests of dragonkind and by proxy Joey as well? Is Nation Z actively trying to weaken Gorlan for a different purpose, thus creating a divide in their interests and Joey's? Why does Naton Z want Gorlan and Miv to be at war? There is a lot of flexibility with this topic and could lead to several different kinds of stories. I dont expect answers to all of these, it's really just something to think about as you storyboard. I like the idea of insurrection with war being the goal and Joey interpreting his orders in his own way leading to an assassination. I think that would fit the narrative as you have presented it, but that doesn't mean you have to limit yourself. You're trying to think of a bigger conflict that would justify the change of perspective, yeah? Well Nation Z's motivations are a pretty good place to start when looking forward. Especially the final question: Why does Nation Z want Gorlan and Miv to be at war (if not for the express purpose of helping dragons). I really enjoy storyboarding. I can keep bouncing ideas back and forth with you unless you find it tiresome XD

It makes me happy to have someone praising my world building, Thank you! ^.^ I do plan on having a character inspired by Vanessa's place holder. I agree, the support opportunities are pretty numerous. I didn't quite like how I handled it in v0.1 since her child was one of the NPC's in the house, and he escapes but Vanessa didn't really come off as concerned where her child went. That was a writing oversight on my part. And Colm's character is for excessive comedic effect mostly but he knows what he wants XD I'll probably be keeping both of those concepts. I'm a little less sure of gerik, he feels too generic especially with self proclaimed assman over there. If I include a merc, it will likely be a more traditional in-it-for-money type of person. I've never read Thomas Covenant, perhaps I'll check it out for some inspiration~ Untold truths, Who knows~ The written history of Iruthia only goes back to the ancient battle, when Feln mandated its creation. But we know there is a history more ancient than that. >.> Hidden Motives? Always. Everyone has motives, some darker than others; but who~ I do plan to have some sort of back story for the dark demigod but I don't know if it'll be satisfying to anyone. If I make it a sob story everyone will groan in irritation because of course the bad guy has a sob story. But if he's evil for evil's sake everyone will groan because he's just FE8's demon king again. I need to think longer about that, but yes, he will be more fleshed out at some point.

Okay I think I get the idea you were going for now a bit better. Just to confirm before I start throwing nonsense around again: The heir to Gorlan exists for the purposes of prologue and narrative essentially. He is slew by the real protagonist Joey. Am I correct in assuming they are both a part of the same rebel organization, or did I misread that? No one knows who killed the heir, and Joey uses the death as justification for war between Gorlan and Miv -- a tactical ploy to lure Gorlan's armies away and weaken them internally. So my take on Joey is that he's devious and will attempt to attain his goal by any means necessary. I am unclear on what he hopes to achieve through the rebellion if it wasn't to put the heir on the throne like everyone else. War for war's sake? Knowledge of a greater threat leading to the global conflict? Split story as per Geneology is a cool concept. What timescale are you looking at? A full generation like Geneology, or a few years as per Three Houses. Maybe even a couple weeks. It is likely that given a smaller time scale that the protagonist will run into old allies along the way, potentially as enemies, if their goals don't align. I like the idea of bringing units along based on their support rating -- I do believe there is a way to code for that in FEBuilderGBA but I can't say for sure. The question then becomes, do you want the rebel factions to be in full swing when you flip to a new theater of storytelling, or do you want them to have resolved. I personally like the idea of having them left on a cliff hanger -- since Joey isn't invested per say in what the others are fighting for. Those story threads can wrap up as the second arc progresses and have a larger impact on that arc. I will think of a potential global conflict going forward, but I just wanted to confirm I understood your vision here. You could just use both characters. Dahlia could be a secret promotion path within the game dependent on visiting villages or something. SImilar to how certain characters visiting villages in Geneology would net certain bonuses. You did say you would base her somewhat on Silvia, who has the lady sword locked behind a village visit if I'm not mistaken. If you want Ark's story to be front and center, Dahlia's could be hidden in the background of the world, not unlike her mysterious past she hides behind a bottle of booze. Ark is the bottle of booze in this analogy I guess, but you know what I'm saying. I think it should be *possible* to do what you want for Ark's hallucinations. I just don't know how difficult. If you make them Green Units I don't think you can program them for just a single blue unit to do damage to them -- or for red units to not do damage to them. It is difficult for me to give an opinion on this, as you said it is more of a character study. I'd like to know more about the world and motivations if you come up with them as we're talking.

Hey~ I can relate to dabbling in programming -- I've actually decided to pursue a career in it. I'll be getting my Game Dev degree next year. Not that I know what I'm talking about or anything. I have no practical experience so don't take me seriously just yet XD I'd always wanted to hack and decided to actually try doing it seriously pretty recently. I like the premise. You're not actually playing a nation so to speak, you're more of a rebellion army. It reminds me of Thracia 776 with Leif's crew. It's pretty similar to how actual revolts work. I could site the rebel forces in France during WWII -- there were many different factions trying to liberate France but they all had different ideas of how to go about it and what the government should be. Your splintered rebel faction is akin to this, perhaps by design? The reason for there being a splinter in the revolt is also solid, it is a moral question. Everyone being equal or replacing the top dog with someone else. I do agree that recon would be amazing as a concept but I haven't the slightest idea of how to do something like that in a romhack. This also has Thracia vibes in that it wants to make all units important to the war effort. Leif's units were important because of fatigue. Your units would be important for side objectives like scouting. I like it. Again, no idea how to implement. As stated above, the idea of factionalism in a rebellion is a real world thing. You could use anything as a premise for a revolt so if you don't like your enslaved dragon idea you could try for something else. If your protagonist is literally the sole heir to the throne and he believes his (father, uncle, cousin, etc.) is an evil ruler then that is justification enough for a rebellion. However that is more of a military coup, rather than a civilian coup which is what I'm getting the vibe of with your description. The revolt would most likely be a ragtag group of citizen soldiers rather than a segment of the army loyal to the heir. As far as a much larger global conflict, the other faction could gain momentum in a country outside of Gorlan. Dragon enslavement is continent wide afterall; they don't have to operate solely in Gorlan. Image this: Mother and her faction manage to successfully stage an uprising, free their dragon brethren and seize control of, if not the whole country, a sizeable portion of a country and declare a free dragon state. This state then goes to war with the entire continent because viva la revolution and so waves of dragons sweep across the land liberating camps in a domino effect. Protagonist just won control of his throne at the palace of Gorlan and is recognized as the true king; the old king is either still on war campaign or died somewhere or you fought him; up to you narratively. This puts Samuel in a predicament. He could either stay by the protagonist's side and fight his own people to keep humans free from slavery. Or he could stand down and refuse to fight since his people are now free in Gorlan which was his goal for being with you (I assume). If I am correct in assuming Samuel was the Jagen of your game, the player is now in a very difficult position and the threat feels more significant. Boom Global Conflict. He can be the very best king he always wanted to be by going to the aid of his neighbors; but also staying true to his word to Samuel by liberating dragons as he goes as well. Some of them may even refuse to fight on Mother's side. Eventually that group of dragons you saved could join you in the final fight with Samuel at the helm having found the resolve to fight his kin. Anyway~ On to Idea 2 I see a theme of protagonists struggling with mental conditions; first a demonic curse and now hallucinations and PTSD. I think that is pretty cool actually. We have way too many heroes that are pristine mentally even after everything is said and done. The hallucinations gimmick feels difficult to implement in FE systems but could be interesting. I assume they would do damage to Ark otherwise they're more annoying than a hazard. Or you could have a mental gauge for him to see how close to breaking he is. Defeating the apparitions could reduce the gauge but each time he's attacked by one it goes up. Again, similar to Fatigue, but not. Perhaps Dahlia was a dancer prior to her enslavement, but after such treatment she lost any taste for it. PTSD and all that. To have her overcome it would require a storyarc, but you seem very keen on those so dive right into it. Maybe it includes family or an old instructor she thought was killed. It depends on the manner of her enslavement. Was she doing a dancing gig for a venue and some sleeze ball kidnapped her? Was her whole town raided and the woman all taken? If I were to assume that an entire town was raided then it seems plausible that some family or a mentor were also taken and enslaved. Dahlia might assume not everyone survived and in addition to how she herself was treated but also the belief she is alone in the world -- it would definitely lead to the drinking problem you're describing. Finding leads on these missing people of importance and having them help her get over the drinking little by little and eventually her old instructor is found/rescued and she finds the will to dance again if it means putting and end to evil people?

I suppose I should talk about the actual ancient war since the abridged version I was forced to use as the opening cutscene is disappointing at best. In ancient times gods and humans mingled. Some of them even fell in love and demi-gods were born into the world. In Iruthia, a demigod was born with an affinity for dark magic. This demigod would bend humans to its will and pit them against each other for its amusement. They would plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of humans and orchestrating a great war that enveloped the continent. Once the people of Iruthia were beaten, bloodied and helpless, the demigod commanded the construction of a great tower, situated upon the highest peak of the continent. There the demigod sat upon its throne of darkness, allow its miasma to perpetuate the continent and spread to further lands. 'Ere the demigod sat devoid of light until even the old gods were ancient history. But it would not last forever. Ana, a talented magus, delved deep into the ancient magics of the gods of old. This magic she would use to infuse ore with great power. Gilis, an extraordinary craftsman, would light his forge; the last of its kind in the land, and together with Ana he would create weapons with power enough to fell a god. Weapons too great in power for an average human to wield, and so they traveled Iruthia to assemble their heroes. They did not have to look long. The miasma that spread had brought strong willed persons to the shores of Iruthia from all corners of the world. These youths took on the mantle of hero and grasped their weapon of power. Together they would ascend the steep cliffs to the demigod's tower of shadow. They were... The lovers, Ludia and Kali; Wyvern Lord and Falcon Knight respectively, Nora the Valkyrie, Tenpa, the Great Knight, The brothers, Orwin and Orlan; Warrior and Ranger respectively, Salha, the Bishop, Feln, the Druid, Taury, the Berserker, Ana, the Sage and Gilis, the blacksmith of legend, although incapable of wielding his own weapons he would also take the fight on the mountain. Through the tower the heroes fought, felling human and horror alike. Atop his throne they found the King of Contempt, the Demigod of Shadows. For thirteen days the heroes fought the menace; however on the fourteenth day the sun shone through the clouds that plagued Iruthia for the first time in a millenia. Victory was not without great loss, however. The demigod, ever the master of manipulation, warped the minds of Ludia and Kali against one another; never again would they stand together as lovers much less allies, a curse over their namesakes that lingers. Orwin lost his arm to dark corruption that gradually perpetuated his body, destroying his ability to fight ever again and eventually killing him prematurely. And Ana sustained a fatal injury protecting her husband Gilis. She would live to see victory achieved but pass shortly thereafter. The heroes went their separate ways, establishing communities throughout the land of Iruthia to help its people recover. These settlements would become dominant cities and eventually countries in their own right. Some would merge together through conquest or through diplomacy.

I'm still working on the roster I want for the player side, and of course I want those characters to feel unique. For some of the characters I do have a strong idea for their motivations and personalities. A lot of the FE7 and FE8 portraits that I've left as-is are placeholders until I get around to creating personalized art for those characters -- but they represent a character I have ideas for. For example: Tethys -- Queen of Ludinia -- She has been on the throne for half a decade so her rule is stable, but she has never had to handle a war and thus she is afraid she wont live up to her role. However she is a queen first and foremost so she keeps calm in the presence of her court and subjects to ease their fears. In private she confides in her betrothed (represented as Forde). Their relationship is a political marriage between the countries of Ludinia and Norba and while at first they did not expect to find romance their relationship ended up blossoming into what it is now. (This relationship is expressed in v0.1 chapter 1's opening dialogue) She is a distant descendant of Ludia ------ Class: Queen -- this class will have access to lances and will promote into a wyvern class with a legendary sword which was Ludia's weapon. In terms of bases/growths I'm not that far yet, but she will likely have higher speed and res than the average wyvern, she may suffer in the hp department. Forde -- Prince of Norba -- The youngest of six brothers. Without a chance of claiming the throne over one of his many brothers Forde elected to aid his country via political marriage to establish a stronger bond with neighboring Ludinia. His loyalty to his homeland is second only to his desire to help the Queen of Ludinia by any means necessary. As he did not have the opportunity to prove himself to his people as a likely heir, he is eager to assert his worth and often behaves recklessly to that end. (As seen in chapter 1 of v0.1 where he heads into Tenpa valley with his two retainers to prove his worth to Tethys by promising to defend the lands) He is a descendant of Nora. --- Class: Prince -- this class will have access to axes and promote into more of a general type class. I probably wont neuter his movement though. Pent -- Duke of Orlanis -- His role in court is as an economic adviser to the crown. The town of Orlanis lies along a major river that flows to the ocean and so it facilitates trade between the coast and the interior. He is also inquisitive by nature and so fosters a burgeoning intelligence ring. He is suspicious that someone within the court is feeding information to Kalisia and recruits Lute to act on his behalf to gather information. He descends from a junior branch of the Orlan family. -- Class: Hero Lute -- Mage General -- She is the leader of Ludinia's mage corps as well as the headmaster of the mage academy within the capital. She is not fond of tackling problems head on and instead prefers to use underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. This was of handling problems lead to her creation of offensive staves, a new invention to the world with precious few in circulation. Class: Sage Dozla -- Ludinian General -- Commander of the wyvern division of Ludinia and chief general of the army. He is overconfident and believes he is the cornerstone that keeps Ludinia from collapsing. Unwilling to take others' opinions into account he will often start arguments with the other advisers, leading to strained relations all around. As someone who would rather dive headlong into a fight he has a particular dislike for Pent who takes time to construct a plan. Class: Wyvern Lord Gilliam -- Duke of Tenpa -- He lives his life honestly and cares for the subjects of his domain. While unimpressive in most regards, none can say he does not stand his ground in a fight. Unyielding, perhaps to a fault, he has won many army awards for simply exhausting his opponents' will. He is the head of the Tenpa family, the namesake of his province and city. Class: Great Knight Gustav -- Wyvern Rider of Ludinia -- He's a bit of an idiot. that's really all you need to know. He's loyal to his country and doesn't really think things through very carefully. Class: Wyvern Rider Christina -- Mage of Norba -- one of Forde's retainers. She likes to collect things, usually to Justin's expense. She is quite young, although her talent for magic had her enter the service of the youngest prince of Norba not long after entering the mage academy in Norba's capital city. She then traveled with him to Ludinia to, as she would say "see all the cute things in the market." While she is immature and distractable, she remains a loyal servant to Forde and a powerful ally. Class: Mage Justin -- Fighter of Norba -- Forde's other retainer. When Forde was born, Justin was assigned to be his aide. Having spent most of his time alive serving by Forde's side he has gotten used to the reckless nature of his master. While maintaining that his is the voice of reason, he is easily manipulated by Christina into buying whatever trinket she fixates on from week to week. Perhaps he has a week spot for children, having not settled down and being in his forties. Class:Fighter Seth -- Silver Knight of Kalisia -- He is one of the trusted general of the Kalisian army. He is essentially the Camus of this game. He constantly seeks worthy opponents when he is deployed. He fights honorably and often times will spare his opponents in the hope they become stronger to fight again. He is a descendant of Kali and wields her fabled lance without realizing what it is exactly he holds in his hands. In a land where weapons choose their wielder, it is hard to discern mythical relic from magic lance, after all. He is exhausted by the constant bickering and upheavals of his nation's government and so handles his post as general a bit half-hearted. Class: Paladin Mokoto -- Swordmaiden of Ludinia -- She is a combat instructor in Ludinia for many of the new squires. She is a woman of few words as she does not value idle time. She once resided in the forests of Feln (a province in Norba founded by the hero Feln) where her family was in service to the druids there as scribes. Not being partial to that lifestyle she left and cut a name for herself in Ludinia. Class: Swordmaster Cassidy -- Squire of Ludinia -- A squire training underneath Mokoto prior to Kalisia's invasion. Very keen on appearances, she strives to be elegant even in battle. She was seeking to be knighted to bring attention to her downtrodden noble house -- a distant branch of the main Tenpa lineage. Believing wholly that her deeds will provide her family with reinvigorated livelihood, she answers the call to arms against Kalisia. Class: Cavalier Richard -- Squire of Ludinia -- He's very much a showman. Desiring to outshine everyone else on the field of battle he has a knack of getting into troublesome situations. Always quick to inflate himself, others are quick to deflate his ego or risk a headache in the morning. Artur -- Elected Representitive of Kalisia -- No Info at this time Raymond -- Noble Usurper of Kalisia -- Kind of a dick Anna -- Ana's Namesake -- I couldn't name a mythical hero Ana, and not use actual Anna in the game now could I. There is no other reason I'm using her as a character. Hm, i wonder who she is descended from... or how that someone's appearance looked. It's like Nurse Joy, there's just a lot of them and they all look the same. She'll get Ana's mythical tome. Class: Sage V0.1 Characters -- unsure if using in V0.2 Colm -- Self Proclaimed Ass-Man -- The thief the game will use is represented by Colm right now. I don't have a personality for him, he just likes ass. Class: Thief Gerik -- Thirsty Merc -- The dude hasn't been laid in years and is just really thirsty. He's good natured at heart, but his price is just some time with boobs in his face. Class: Mercenary Vanessa -- Mother and Knight -- She's a knight in a backwater village taking care of her child as a single mother. Class: Cavalier Tana -- Medic -- A travelling medic. She arrives in Ludinia to assist the war effort by healing the wounded. She stumbled upon a merchant selling one of Lute's offensive staves and decides to buy it. She's descended from Nora through a distant line. Class: Troubadour A bit more of the lore since I've already typed an essay. The most recent war to happen on the continent of Iruthia was between Ludinia and Kalisia 30 years prior to the events of this game. It wasn't the same war as the mythical war but I could only fit so much lore into the opening cutscenes. This war was fought between Tethys' uncle and one of the many previous elected officials of Kalisia. The war was instigated by Ludinia over the border in the Tenpa mountains which they had claimed as belonging to them and Kalisia had established mines in the mountains for decades without permission. Ludinia used this as a premise for war and eventually won. They took the province of Vedan(where the prologue starts) as compensation -- essentially seizing Kalisia's mining industry and crippling their economy. It's only been 30 years since this war and it is the reason for the political unrest within the country. Raymond uses the unrest of the people to seize power by promising them prosperity. He uses the justification that Ludinia is harboring fugitives to start the war -- which is really a publicity stunt to keep the people under control and if he wins then great. He's got other agendas to attend to. At the end of the prologue when Mokoto gets cut down by Seth, she recognizes the mythical lance of Kali. This is because she spent her childhood as a scribe in the forest of Feln. The druids were responsible for archiving the history of the continent as mandated by the hero Feln upon its founding. Having been a scribe for a few years she knew enough to recognize the lance eventually but not immediately and so made the mistake of confronting Seth head on. She has plot relevant information that will be used when I need plot to happen. Be prepared.

I have a bit of world building in progress. I shared my latest version to the bulk Concepts page; (I should probably update this page to reflect that). I've got a series of excel sheets for character bios, location bios, hero lineage, ancient lore, etc. It is very... free form at the moment -- it's difficult to determine where all the pieces will connect and what will need to be ret-conned. You can find my current version 0.2 stuff at this link to the v0.2 playlist. You'll find that I overhauled the prologue map and cut down on the turn count by the premise remains the same -- I've also done some personalized character art via the frankenstein's monster method of cutting and pasting existing character pieces. The playlist includes my custom dialog for the lore cutscenes which I'm trying to figure out if can be extended since there was more lore I wanted to include. It also includes my custom world map and my very poorly constructed world map event for the prologue.

Hey folks. So I'm working on a FE8 hack right now. I made a concept forum listing back in January about it. Didn't get much feedback, but what i did get was pleasant. What I had submitted original was a version 0.1 essentially. I wanted to know what people thought of it. I'm working on version 0.2 now. Here are my playlists for each version. They are Unlisted so this is the only way you'll get access to them. Version 0.1 Version 0.2 There is a lot different between the two versions. Namely I have more custom characters and a world map now. I learned how to use world map events and all that noise. Version 0.2 is only at the Prologue, while the first version I had up to chapter 3 and a lot of story concepts planned. You can watch the Version 0.1 stuff to get a rough idea where I'm taking the story. You could also look at my original concepts post to read about the general gist of things. I'd appreciate feedback yet again. Hoping I get a bit more by posting in this thread than I did making an independent post.

Thank you so much! I've been waiting for pretty much any feedback. I agree that the map design in the first chapter is a bit awkward. I was trying to make it a "defend the throne" chapter akin to how FE7's Ostia chapter functioned but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to program the fortress gate tile and to make the enemy target it. It would make it so you couldn't just hide in a corner or move as a blob. The whole flank on the western part of the river was therefore going to be more threatening since it's so close to the fortress. If you've got any tips on how to make that functional I would very much appreciate the information. I do think looking at how other people do river chapters would be beneficial. I've actually hit the snag of not knowing how to work around the world map events. I probably should've done more research before I started, but I enabled the skip world map fix but have no idea how to actually disable the world map with it. *shrug* I might import what I have into an FE7 hack to just not deal with it but I still wanted to do branching promotion and skills so it's a bit of a loss. Again, thank you for the feedback!

Iruthia Chronicles (Subject to Change) Current Length: Chapter 1 EDIT: I have included here for you all a newly recorded video. The purpose is to have a comprehensive single video that outlines where I am right now in terms of development, but also a summary of the desired story direction I intend to take my game in. I decided it would be better to have a singular video rather than an entire playlist (with terrible audio) for members of the community to view and comment on with critiques and suggestions. Current Version Video: [Version 0.2.1] About the hacker: Hello Serenes Forest~ This if my first time genuinely attempting to create a romhack. I started back in January when I created the first iteration of this post. I really enjoy story driven games with many of the story heavy Fire Emblem titles being my favorite. I'm still getting used to FEBuilderGBA and all it can do so my awkward cutscenes will continue to get better with time. Thank you for any feedback you provide. About the Hack: I will try to keep this brief to avoid the TL;DR that probably put a lot of people off last time Iruthia is a continent with a past stretching back to the age of the gods. When gods mingled amongst humans, many demigods were born into the world. A demigod with great power over dark magic was born in Iruthia. It would use its power to sew the seeds of doubt in the minds of humans and pit them against each other, sparking a devastatingly bloody war. When the people of Iruthia were bloodied beyond the ability to resist its power, the demigod forced the construction of a great tower to be its throne over men. There was a long period of piece, but wars have begun to occur more regularly. The most recent of these wars was three decades ago and the continent seems on the brink of another. Could these wars be a hint at something deeper beginning to stur? Okay that was very abridged, but it gives some information. I responded to a comment in my previous iteration, it should still be down below and gives more depth to this premise. There are character profiles below as well, I'll probably bring them up to this post as soon as I figure out how to do collapsible tabs... ..I never learned how okay.. The Goal of this Hack: Besides learning how to romhack, I want to create fun and engaging games. I'm currently in school for a degree in game development so this is great practice for me to understand the development process, even if I'm using tools for a GBA game. I want to create a game for this community because Fire Emblem has always been a huge part of my life.

Aye aye Captain. It was meant to be a general discussion on immersion in Fire Emblem so I saw "general" and posted here. My apologies. As for beating a dead horse, I didn't realize Fates had gotten that much flak since I haven't been on the forums in a while. I think it's a pretty good game, but wanted to rationalize why I wasn't getting into it.

Good Evening to those that clicked on my uninspired title card; I really couldn't think of anything else to title this. To start off I want to make clear the intentions of this post, or rather what inspired it -- I'll make it short and sweet before I get into my thoughts: 1) I've been a long time fan of the FE series. 2) My interest in the series has been waning with the years. 3) I struggled to pin down why I was feeling the way I was. There will be no spoilers posted in this first post for those who have not played any of the FE games -- I don't think it should be an issue, but just making that clear up here that no worries if you haven't played any of them. I only reference mechanics pertaining to a few. And now into the long winded monologue you were promised! My intentions are for this to spark some conversation about the preferences of the fans, So as I started above I've been torn over the fact that Fates hasn't been interesting me the way the series did when I was first introduced to it in 2004 with the introduction of Blazing Sword to the West (I know it was released in 2003, but I didn't find it until 2004). This could be attributed to a number of things, of course like age, or the fact it's not "new" anymore, but I just didn't think that could be the reason as I still enjoy the old games a lot -- which also could be added up to nostalgic value. So I decided to pick it apart by comparing Fates and Blazing Sword; what are these two games to me as a Fire Emblem fan, exactly? My internal investigate began with Fates -- my initial conclusion was it must be something wrong with the game in terms of Fire Emblem-ness. This was simply false, however. The game(s) have a decent story of kingdoms torn by war and differing ideals as is customary for the series, they sported fully realized characters with distinct tastes and cliches which is also typical of what we've seen through the years, and plenty of waifus; can't forget those. You've got the mystical stuff about dragons, on their own they're pretty good games. Drawing a blank I looked to Blazing Sword instead. And my analysis was basically the same type of deal; good story, realized characters, epic battles, etc. I even replayed the game to try to get a handle on this whole ordeal -- if you could call it that. I came to a conclusion about what I felt made this game more Fire Emblem to me than Fates. It comes down to the role of the player in the world of the story. Just how much power did I hold over the events unfolding before. This is kind of an awkward gripe to have, when the main gimmick of Fates was that you had full control over the (initial) outcome of the story. Birthright or Conquest. Let's back pedal for a second, though. The Role of the Player in Blazing Sword is that of the ally army's tactician -- You make only sprite appearances and are spoken to by the characters of the game but outside of this your only role is to command the army. On paper it sounds rather, well, boring right. Maybe, but I feel it sells the game to its audience quite impressively. The events of the game are unfolding before you as opposed to happening to you and so you are able to suspend your disbelief. I feel that Blazing Sword has a high immersion factor in this regard. So Fates has a branching path, so what? Well that's were things get a bit dicey. I'm going to reference, instead, Sacred Stones and why I had no problems with the branching paths featured in that installation of the series. It goes back to what I mentioned about events unfolding before you. In Sacred Stones the events are already laid out, go with Eirika or Ephraim, you simply have to choose which events you wish to observe. This differs from Fates since the events in Fates are happening to you, the avatar or MU. Why is this such an issue? We've always wanted to be the main protagonist of a Fire Emblem game after all, right?! For me, this event broke my immersion and I couldn't regain it and here's why: The decision brought to us in Fates gives us 2 options from the beginning. Hoshido or Nohr. But it's more than that. For me, my decision was torn between "What story do i want to play now?" and "What would this character ACTUALLY do in this situation?" and by extension, "What would I actually do in this situation?" Up until this point in the story I am capable of being immersed in the narrative being delivered to me by the game, MU has a personality of its own, more or less and the story is caring on like a typical game. Being the main protagonist didn't affect the story in that right. As soon as the narrative pulled me aside and thrust the weight of what my character would actually do onto me it became a bit of a stretch. This isn't the first case of FE using these "weight of the world" decisions to throw the player for a loop. The best example of which comes from Awakening after what I would describe as the beginning segment of the game. Chrom is faced with a devastating choice and it is the players job, as Chrom's friend Robin, to urge him one way or another. How is this any different from what Fates did? Simply, the choice is made in spite of Chrom and it exudes the powerlessness of the situation and the player to prevent events from occurring in the narrative. When I first played the game this moment through me for a loop and it did pull me out of my immersion -- I actually spent about 10 minutes considering each of the options only to be mocked by the game in a twist of fates (pun intended) by my presumptuousness and my immersion was restored because, Yes, this is exactly what would have occurred regardless. By now I hope I'm shedding light on the dilemma that Fates branching paths affects immersion. In the end I decided that Conquest was the route the MU would most likely take, but it isn't the path that I would most likely take and so playing through the story I broke the immersion for myself essentially. Playing through Birthright, which was what I would have done, felt a bit forced for the MU. It's a bit of a me problem to be honest. Soooo, discussion? Did you have any problems with immersion regarding Fates? What do you think the MU would most likely have chosen (between Hoshido and Nohr)? Who's your all time waifu? (cause why not.)

Welcome to the Forest, Blizzia. Denmark huh, never met anyone from there before so that's pretty neat for me! And that's pretty impressive, swordfighting competition huh. I considered taking up Fencing or HEMA before. That sounds pretty awesome even if it is embarassing XD Welcome to the nerd club I suppose. I have a bit of a history with Blazing Sword myself. I used to wake up early every morning before school to play a chapter of it when i was in the fifth grade. Such a great game. Anyway, i've rambled on enough. Enjoy your stay here! (Come say hello the public chat sometime, I'm often there)

If I had to choose between one of the Oracle games I'd choose Ages, simply because I found it not only to have more depth to it, but also the right amount of challenge. Seasons was also really good though, so I'd likely get both while you're at it. As for Etrian Odyssey, i think Untold is a good place to start what with the Story Mode. It's the remake of the first game -- though I don't think that matters too much. The plot of Etrian Odyssey is make a team and go as far as you can, in that sense all the games are more or less equal.

Of the anime in the currently airing season, my favorite so far is the adaption of Unlimited Blade Works (UBW). I'm also really enjoying Kekkai Sensen, Owari no Seraph and Arslan Senki. I'm really looking forward to the movie adaption of Fate's Heaven's Field route, super stoked. Stuff that's already been aired, i just finished Chrome Shelled Regios, it was decent enough. All hail Haruhi. But seriously, they made a spin-off for what would've happened if Kyon hadn't decided to change everything back at the end of Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. It's cute if you let yourself get into it X3 So who here has seen the Fire Emblem anime from the mid 90's? So bad, but so great.

The cat's purrsuasion paid off and the cucumber allowed the cat to join in their heist.

Helloooo~ Welcome to the Forest of Hopes and Dreams. And no shame in being new to the series. We all love the series here. Like 4star said you could probably find a group of people with the romhack community, or you could hang out with me and some others in the Chatroom. :D See ya around.