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The Road to Ruin [Complete] [v3.0.3 Released!]


Primefusion
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Alright, so I finished Chapter 11 today (Video will be up tomorrow, along with the demonstration as to what I'm referring to), but the mercenary towards the right with the Light Brand doesn't turn grey after his action. He'll move/attack, and his sprite will turn red. I have a feeling that this is not intentional, and I haven't seen anybody else mention it, so I thought I would.

Using VBA with the "1235 - Fire Emblem (U)(Venom)" rom as a base. Latest patch.

Edit: Sorry it took 5 hours, I forgot about Hitfilm for a bit. Here's a video of the bug in action

https://youtu.be/HHbGNmeZXNY

Didn't look like he could move after the fact, so it's safe to say it's only graphical, but I figured I'd report it

Edited by Attila
Posting video of bug
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  • 4 months later...
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So I created an account just so I can make a response to this hack and I really enjoyed it and wanted to share my thoughts

Spoiler

Story:

I got hooked to the main characters and supporting characters pretty quickly. Through out the story I just wanted to learn more about the character's back stories and their motives motives, Aier especially.  I loved how Vance and Ava were developed. In the beginning of the game I didn't really think much of them until Vance had more of a story that wasn't mentioned during the beginning. I also loved the relationship between Vance and Ava because it started off slow and they felt more like acquaintances than friends early on. But Ava started to show lots of concerns for Vance's well being mentally and physically. The early on side quests were amazing. It was nice to see what it was like from the opposing side and to see a troubled solider wondering if what he's doing is right. The bond between Aaron and O'Riley was very heartwarming. I also liked how you made Vance and his father's arguments frustrating from both sides to read. It was defiantly satisfying when the mother was the peacemaker between the two. What I really liked was that you made Vance leave for 3 chapters during the mid game. Not because I don't like Vance but it was because it gave Ava a bigger role and developed her character, smart way to not only develop Vance but to develop Ava as well.

Character thoughts:

 

image.png.6bf41ac7e942d01d8976bd6fa19eee9d.png

Vance from what i can tell is just a solid lord similar to Roy and Eliwood with additional buffs to his bases. My Vance got terribly strength and speed screed but that didn't make his utility useless. He was a very solid unit during the early game being able to slap on good amount of damage with his personal weapon. Because he got screwed his he became very solid at cleaning up kills, bait, and dealing a good 15-19 worth of dmg in 1 round of combat. What separates him from being just an eliwood or roy is that he has the option to promote mid game which makes him a solid unit through out rather than just a good unit early to mid game.

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Ava is an incredible jagen during the early game due to her chipping damage and her abilities to crit in times of need. She serves her role perfectly being able to solo a side of a map in the early game (under the right conditions) and a overall solid unit mid game due to her ability to still feed kills and her critting. Her promotion caught me off guard not knowing that she would be more than just a jagen that would be benched somewhere between mid to late game. Once she promoted she immediately became one of my best infantry units. Her premotions gains made her a very good early promoted unit vibe and i gave her a magic ring to deal some nice damage. She's overall an amazing unit and really great designed gameplay wise. During the story I was becoming upset that I wouldn't be using her very much having her just as a filler unit because her role became bigger as the story went on but was really happy when she got a class change. Ava is easily a top tier unit in this game potentially 2nd or 3rd due to her versatility as a unit. Her downfall is only 2 rng but mid game you get a light brand and windsword(latsts while) which makes her really good on her on when placed on a fort/forest/pillar.

 

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Early game flier lmao. What else needs to be said other than she's absolutely amazing. gave her an energy ring and early premoted and she was soloing sides of the map within seconds. On the chapter were there were 2 bosses (great knight and valkyrye) she solo the top half of the map just with a couple of javelins and maybe a vulnerary. She's easily the best character in the game or just for me mainly because she's a flier.  image.png.f4840d4ab59cc7b22f99df46ba214f9a.png

Dude was a critting machine with the killer bow. He was a solid unit early game, amazing mid game, and mediocre late game. He was a good unit early game in terms of baiting enemies and doing solid chip damage. He had really nice defense early on which was great for baiting physical units. I love snipers manimage.png.e60182162ec666581e6745d08c56a430.png

Jorin is an interesting unit. Given he is your first mounted unit you'd expect him to be very overwhelming a couple levels on sorta like franz and sain but he didn't really stand out as a combat unit when compared to vance. They both had similar problems (at least my vance) only hitting once majority early game and mid. He's not bad by any means though lmao. Solid unit with a powerful hit and movement and rescue abilities most units wished they had. He started picking up the pace when i promoted him and gave him weapons like the light brand and brave sword. image.png.11e1b862a909435bf0f52d8bc2f2b5d7.png

Really solid healer and decent magical chip damage and magical tank. That't pretty much itimage.png.e5050adec8827bad10af376d1117925f.png

Samuel was really good at dealing with annoying armored knights and axe fighters when sword units weren't present. He was one of those units where you would just place him on a defense tile and watch him do work vs anyone that didn't wield a sword. He also was a like suede thief for me I'd usually give him chest keys and an unlock staff. He was an overall good unit before promotion and became even better when mounted. image.png.b66e7eaafbdcc39a797250270a7d694f.png

 

Through the gaiden chapters I grew attached to him. He's overall Lowen with good res and really good bases and with a lance. His utility and effectiveness was just as good as Jorins or slightly better because of his better weapon variety and only competes with one other lance unit for weapons.image.png.dfe52535b87d02fb903e44ece1c46b56.png

Probably the 2nd/3rd best character in the game honestly. He literally invalidates the other axe units because of his high offensive bases and strong defense stat. Do I need to mention that he's on a horse? Hugo and O'Rliey were solid units but they didn't take damage very well unlike braxton. The only classes that were a threat to braxton were magical users. Swordreavers and swordslayers completely destroy sword users and his good con and speed make for a great offensive unit

image.png.c69b8544351da0805418b9ec61fa77e3.png

 

There were something wrong with Bethany and calista stats after the chapter you get them. Bethany got the better share of the bug and she just happened to start off with maxed strength and defense which isn't normal. Late game she is superior to Buck in every way except bucks crit bonus. I used both of them cause i thought it would be nice to have 2 archers on these maps that had a lot of 2 path ways. Really good unit for me LOLOL. Her bases in the chapter i got her, she seemed to turn out the same just without the inflated defensive stats.image.png.a5477ab18b0caa8835c378d676a718e8.png

This was calistas weird stats. During the game her stats were actually like her class's base stats so i never really got around using her unfortunately. 

Brief opinion on the rest of the cast:

Marveda: loved her part in the story and is just a better Samuel

Garcia: staff on a horse really good

Tharben: More healing! Also chip damage/clean up

Marris: cool chick, ok thief and free killing edge :D

Geradlt: Great dancer, magic was convenient

Lanora: was good early on but dropped from garcia

O'Reily: lack of deployment spots made me hesitant on using him, hes a solid axe fighter and wouldve used if braxon didn't exsist

Hugo: very good assist early on in the game and very glad he was there. Dropped later for Braxon

Melusine: Lack of deployment spots made me hesitant on using her over samuel

Kristoph: i didn't think i needed him cause i had torie. He seems good from other playthroughs but Torie doubles and has wings

Corvan: the only unit i didn't touch, im just not an armored night guy

 

You and your team did an amazing job creating this hack fully and its very impressive 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by hahayou
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I stopped at 6x cause of an unfortunate glitch that occurs at the end of the chapter. Spamming the B and Start buttons to get past the glitch doesn't work, sadly.

https://imgur.com/aO0hA2r

From what I played, the hack was competently designed, but not fun enough to be engaging. Just comparing, IIRC 4x and 6x to Conquest chapter 10, it isn't in the same league in terms of map design.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Hello, made an account just to comment on this hack. Have been playing it over the past month and generally enjoyed it, but ran into this bug on the final mission:

Before starting the mission, Marveda's stats all got a massive boost for some reason, but after starting the mission they get cut off by overflow and leave her with single digit stats. Stinks, since I wanted to use her. I can provide a save file if you're interested.

bgdcoK4.png

QEpKCil.png

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3 hours ago, reginaldjtrotsfield said:

 

Hello, made an account just to comment on this hack. Have been playing it over the past month and generally enjoyed it, but ran into this bug on the final mission:

Before starting the mission, Marveda's stats all got a massive boost for some reason, but after starting the mission they get cut off by overflow and leave her with single digit stats. Stinks, since I wanted to use her. I can provide a save file if you're interested.

bgdcoK4.png

QEpKCil.png

The limit stats cap is 31 iirc so if it for any reason goes above 31 it will automatically become x-32 ( x is your stat number ) and if it still 32 then will be subtracted again when you start and/or resume missions 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Made an account for the sake of this hack, and due to the superb quality of it, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one :^)

Hugo was my main man through and through. I used him mostly in combination with Vance and Ava as expected, with Sylvia as my main healer. I'm new to this whole hacking scene but I find that such a brilliant thing about hacks is that they get you to experience mechanics both new and old with an entirely fresh perspective. Like, I would have never gotten to care about Gonzales, (brigand from fe6) as much as I did for Hugo. I also gotta say, it was absolutely brilliant to turn Ava from a pseudo-like jagen character into a great character in her own right with that surprising promotion near the end. The story was great as well as the challenging, yet fair, gameplay, leading to a true masterpiece of an experience.

So cheers to you, Mr. Primefusion, and your entire team! I'm glad I made an account here, for if I can find another hack that is at least half as good as The Road to Ruin, I will have another adventure to gladly partake in.

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  • 1 month later...

It's absolutely unbelievable how this project's finished debut was over a year ago.  I got introduced to this hack all the way back in 2014 and was my introduction to the Fire Emblem hacking community.  This project was great back then and now, having just beat it for my second time tonight, is even better than I last remember when I beat it a year ago.

 

One of the things I love about this hack is its simplicity.  It doesn't have an overwhelming amount of bells and whistles - just a simple 22 chapter Fire Emblem adventure, and that's perfectly okay!  I feel as if Fire Emblem hack creators these days focus way too much on the details and get caught up on making a grand adventure when making a simple story with good map design is okay too.

 

I don't recall the last time I've been this engaged in a video game story; the beginning is deceptively simple but is so much more as you go on.  I also love the approach of having one set of support pairings, but each of these pairings being really fleshed out.  Quality > quantity!  I especially give you props for fleshing out the backstories of all the primary characters; each of their motivations feels very genuine.  Top that with clever writing and you got a story that still holds up well upon replaying it.

 

And the gameplay is also really solid!  Though I gotta say, a few maps did drag on a little bit.  The generic units, while an interesting idea of paper, didn't always execute well in my opinion.  While chapters 4x and 6x were great for this, the other chapters where they were included, while necessary for the story, in my opinion at least, didn't need to be there.  Also, I really do think that more playable units would be nice.  I understand that Vance only leads a squad of mercenaries, so in context of the story it makes sense that your army is small relative to the enemy's size.  But the lack of variety really screws over the game's replayability, as you're more likely to use the same units over and over again for each playthrough, especially in the early game.  I feel as if that having Vance's parents and Bjorn playable in the late game or Russel and Raizen giving Vance a few units to toy around with mid-game or periodically throughout the early-mid game would have definitely spiced things up.  Also, why don't halbediers have +15% crit?  That feature seemed oddly missing, and it was kind of disappointing to find out after promoting Kristoph. 

 

A major problem I found is that the promotional item distribution is not done well.  You only get about 7 or 8 master seals to play around with until the late game when, for some reason, you get two more at chapter 17 when everyone at that point should be promoted.  However, everyone except Ava is un-promoted and one of those master seals is going to have to be given up anyways for Vance (unless if you want an unpromoted Vance running around in the mid-game which isn't ideal since he's the main lord and is required in most maps).  In other words,  you have a very limited selection of units to promote and by the time chapter 17 rolls around, being a level 1 promoted unit is way too underleveled.  You have no choice to keep using the same 7 or 8 units that got the lucky master seal in the mid-game all the way to the final chapters since they're the only units that can keep up with the enemies.  If it were up to me, I would probably take the two master seals you get in chapter 17 and put one of them in chapter 7 and another in chapter 13.  If you add the general maximum deployment number for each chapter up 1-3 units (which could have been really nice), a lot of the game could be so much better. 

 

My favorite chapters were chapters 4 (an escape map done very well), chapter 12 (a nice homage to Radiant Dawn), chapter 15 (while I would have preferred getting a torch the chapter before or through a talk conversation with Maris, I think this is a fog of war chapter done pretty well), chapter 16 (really great finale to the Ava arc), and chapter 19 (I liked just about all the castle maps in this hack but I probably loved this one the most).  While it may seem like I'm harsh on the game, I did in truth enjoy about 85-90% of the maps, which is a lot better than most of the other Fire Emblem games I've played.

 

One last thing about the final map:

Spoiler

While I appreciate the difficulty of the final map, Merovech is a very uninspired and generic final boss.  While I like him as an antagonist and character, he seems like a slightly stronger Nergal and that's it.  The S-rank weapons are so busted that defeating him is absolutely trivial.  If he had a second phase or transformed into a stronger unit afterwards then I think that would have been very fitting.  But as it stands, it's probably one of most anti-climactic final boss fights I've had to deal with in any Fire Emblem game.

 

Here are my thoughts about each individual playable unit:

Spoiler
  • Vance - A character that got a surprising amount of development over the course of the game.  Pretty good unit too, kinda disappointed he stays sword locked after promotion, even if he gets +15% crit and his awesome personal weapon with built in paragon.
  • Buck - Overall chill character, I find he can get easily strength screwed but is great for the early game, especially if you get a support rolling with Vance.
  • Torie - Probably the best unit in the game, and had a backstory that surprised me regarding her support with Hugo.  
  • Ava - Pretty decent Jaigen in the early game, then a liability in the mid-game until her promotion where she's....eh.  At least she can use her pian dao!
  • Jorin - His performance really depends on his first few level ups and how much you get his support with Sylvia rolling.  Can either be a hero or zero.
  • Sylvia - Same name of the game here, granted good level ups are as important with clerics.
  • Hugo - I like the idea of Hugo - a slow, critting machine.  With a support with Torie and at promotion, he had up to 60%+ crit with a killer axe (granted, enemies in this game actually have luck unlike in vanilla FE7).  
  • Lanora - I like the inclusion of Lanora in the newer patches and is probably better in the long run than Sylvia.  Sadly I haven't looked into her support with Samuel so I don't have too much else to say about her.
  • Kristoph - Really hit or miss unit.  Lacking the +15% crit upon promotion can really screw him over, but can still be viable.  His crap luck base really doesn't do him any favors though.
  • Corvan - To be honest, I completely forgot this guy existed.  It's cool how he can use axes and lances at base, but aside from that, eh.  His defense base is among some of the best for a while, but his pitiful base speed doesn't do him any favors.
  • Melusine - Finally, a unit that consistently doubles!  Really good for the early-mid game, then kind of drops off later on.
  • Braxton - Really solid guy and the character I replace with for Hugo almost every single time.  I find it funny how he and Kristoph support each other and give each other crit avoid to compensate for the two of them having bad base lucks.
  • Samuel - Well I wasn't expecting mage knights in a FE7 hack, but I'm not complaining!  Also, that magic growth is crazy.
  • Aaron - Love this guy as a character, and he's definitely one of the best units in the game.  I like the idea of speedy tanks and Aaron does this wonderfully.
  • O'Riley - The ultimate glass cannon, and while I don't have a problem with that, it's really hard to find a good place for him when the enemy density in most of the maps are really high.
  • Gracia - Finally a mounted healer!  I don't necessarily see the point in her, as you can early promote Samuel and can still retain his high anima rank whereas Gracia will have an uphill battle getting to that point if you decide to early promote her.  Not a bad option though.
  • Marris - I find it hilarious how Maris's base speed is the same as Merovech's, so in theory you can totally steal his iron rune if you decide to deploy her then.  Finally, thieves that don't suck!  And I appreciate the female thief representation.  "Likes to be on the winning side" is a little too on the nose though.
  • Geraldt - He's a dancer.  Nothing more to say.
  • Bethany - I find it difficult to have the deployment space for her at this point in the game, but she can kick some serious ass if you put some investment into her.
  • Callista - Ehhhh.  At least she can use Luna at base (even though it's appropriately nerfed).
  • Thraben - I don't wanna sound rude but I mean, come on, he's literally Renault with better bases.  While they aren't the same exact character, still it is a little disappointing to see a near copy-paste of him in the game.
  • Marveda - Daaaammmnnn, she's good.  Staff utility, a mount, excellent bases, what more could you need?
  • Russel - Aside from the yucky 10 con, really solid unit and character.  Hearing his dialogue was always a delight.
  • Raizen - While I am happy that this game doesn't follow classic Fire Emblem archetypes, for a Gotoh archetype, Raizen kicks some serious ass.  I also love his interactions with Vance throughout the story.

I'm not gonna go on for too much longer since this is already long enough as it is, but god I love this hack to death.  While I do concede that a lot of my love for this project stems from my nostalgia back in the game's early days, as well as there are improvements that can be made, I will never not love The Road to Ruin.  Thank you Prime Fusion for all your dedicated, hard work throughout the years you spent on this project.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be working on a project like this mostly alone, and the fact that you completed it is a remarkable achievement.  While I understand if you can't or don't have the interest in it, I would love to see you work on other projects in the future.  I would totally support you and even donate to you were that to happen.  Cheers Prime, thank you so much.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

Spoiler

vance.png.2d5f590e3ccdd90b4cb0659d6de8053c.png

Decent unit, he fell behind mid game because other characters were better but i used him to finish kills in the last few chapters so he caught up in levels. 

aaron.png.ed5d52f86889852803afe19a55e3ba46.png

My main tank, he capped defense extremely early and was invincible for a very long time.

 

ava.png.8a30b52b029f491be36c86fe029c8d05.png

Pretty good unit for most of the game, she fell behind in the end game due to a lack of damage.

 

buck.png.d32bc97692b638c09a5794e12a66b98b.png

Buck went from: finally an archer i can use without it feeling like a waste of exp to literally the best unit in the game, Buck was an absolute monster, after he promoted there was never a moment where i felt like Buck was in danger, Buck could go right, Buck could go left, Buck could go have a chat with the boss, Buck could do anything he wanted to and he did, add to that the longbows who are ridiculously strong in this hack and there was nothing Buck could not do.

corvan.png.bf81231605d2a82b0faa33224bafc533.png

Pretty good early on as a tank and promoted him early to keep him relevant through the mid game, dont expect him to carry you to the end though

geraldt.png.6f61b08362c0984407354efcda05b19b.png

Should be renamed to Buck's servant, he allowed Buck to move twice most of the turns.

kristoph.png.9543b6d3bdadbc7b16c1b3ad98008144.png

A lot of disappointing level ups...

lanora.png.44baadb7d36750c39c0ccd7daa4b847f.png

Frontline healer, this unit was amazing, easily the best unit behind Buck.

samuel.png.4e96000cf0085ebe7d10fb2cd5721c8b.png

Backup healer, he had low speed and defense so he was the dude hanging in the back ready to help whoever needs it, healing, rescue, finishing threats that survived my other units, that was his job and he was good at it.

 

torie.png.ec64195b5075e0789dde45db270eb913.png

she was able split from the group on multiples chapters and survive on her own. She got outshined in the late game by a few units but she was always solid from start to end.

Nice hack :)

 

 

 

 

Edited by DekuTree
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From what I can tell most people seem to have enjoyed your hack quite a bit, and while I've been enjoying it for the most part I have a complaint that doesn't seem keen to go away. 
I just finished chapter 10. 

My main complaint is that enemies are too fast. While enemies at roughly the speed of my army certainly increases the challenge of the game, it does it in a way that feels incredibly inconsistent with other FE games. I'm used to my Axe fighter not doubling. But my Pegasus Knight (at level 18 with 17 speed) not being able to hit an Archer twice severely lowers my Pegasus knights ability to function. It makes my Peg Knight significantly more countered by archers, which is not a good feeling. This is my biggest complaint in FE Fates.
I could accept that if my other units weren't also feeling very weak as a result of almost never doubling. Occasionally Vance would double, but even when level 18/2 He still wasn't doubling most enemies. 

While on the subject of Vance, I apologize if this comes across as heated or mean, Vance's promoted class looks bad. I very quickly reached a point where I had his animations (and only his) turned off. I would rather he be a hero without access to axes, then the godawful mess he is in practice.

I do have alot of good notes so far!

getting ahold of items is at a good balance. I feel like gold access is fine and there's a consistent Vendor and Armory in most chapters so far. 
The interactions have been fun and the story has been engaging..I'll probably get on and try to continue tomorrow, but today I'm off to fix my freshly broken keyboard. 
 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Hey guys, I downloaded an older version and played up to chapter 9 (OpenEmu on Mac). Now I patched 3.0.3 but can't copy my save states :(

When I'm doing so, OpenEmu automatically moves my save state back to the previous version's folder. Can anyone tell me a workaround here? :)

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9 hours ago, JoLo said:

Hey guys, I downloaded an older version and played up to chapter 9 (OpenEmu on Mac). Now I patched 3.0.3 but can't copy my save states :(

When I'm doing so, OpenEmu automatically moves my save state back to the previous version's folder. Can anyone tell me a workaround here? :)

Did you try to rename the save state so that is matches the name of your new ROM?

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So I made a big dumb and didn't realize that Vance could promote anytime he wanted to because I made the assumption he would have a forced promotion.  So I checked in ch. 19 to give him a master seal and what do you know, he could promote with the master seal.

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Just finished it, and it was good.  Everyone else has already mentioned my thoughts on it: Story's good, characters are good, pacing's good, gameplay's good.  It took 8 years to finish, and it was worth it.  Don't be dissuaded by people who can't quite figure out the first map for some reason, this fangame is well worth playing.

Character thoughts:

Spoiler

Note that except for the one goddess icon that I used so that Aier wouldn't crit Ava, I neglected to use any stat boosters for the entire game.

IRGQ1Vw.png
He was fine as far as main characters go, pretty much Raven minus the rather low strength.  I think I got unlucky there and as a result, he couldn't even damage Merovech thus denying me the "main hero finishes the entire game" thing I usually do.

EGgISOo.png
This was surprising.  Just as I was about to dismiss her as just a Jagen, she suddenly force promotes and becomes rather similar to Vance except with more res than def.  I couldn't find a support partner for her (I do my first playthroughs blind), so she was slightly worse than she could be.

d73gFS0.png
He's an archer.  Keep him safe and feed him properly, and he'll eventually kill anything he aims at on player phase.  His A support with Vance did help his survivability.

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She's not just a flier, she's your only flier.  Not as good at killing things, but she excels at rescuing units around and getting to places quickly.

MM4Kyoz.png
MVP right here.  Anything that wandered into his hand axe range died quickly, and it got even better upon promotion and completing his support with Torie.

0rWjdej.png
Glass cannon, hits hard but gets hit hard.  Had him spam staffs upon promoting, so much that he could actually use the Fortify staff in the final chapter.

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A healer that turns into a dark mage?  That's new to me, and I like it.  Luna made her very useful.

Nl5DOT6.png
Strong, fast, and tanky.  However, he tends to miss and get crit; an Iron Rune would've probably helped him, but Ulrigar got to Yorlu first.  Thanks, dad.

EnFuJRZ.png
Unlike other people, I try to level thieves so that at the very least they can get faster to steal more things.  She ended up very fast, and very strong too; giving her a wind sword let her be like an archer and take out select enemies.

aZfJoVT.png
She wasn't so bad, but a superior valkyrie made her obsolete.  She still helped out in the final chapter as a staffbot.

Sb1M8IU.png
She was fine, but not outstanding.  Her getting anima instead of staffs threw me for a little loop, but it at least let her use Gust.

0wxyVEl.png
As mentioned, there was no more need to use Gracia after she came along.  Maybe Gracia would've matched her stats eventually, but she'll still only have D rank anima.

XM6lbBZ.png
Bard.  Being able to attack is a novelty, but you'll still want him refreshing instead of attacking.

And the rest:
Jorin - He hit hard, but couldn't take much in return.
Sylvia - Didn't turn out good for me.  Dropped her when Lanora started getting ahead.
Kristoph - He was kinda like Aaron, hits hard but not very accurate and crit threats made him a liability.  Since there's no crit boost upon promotion, I went with the horse.
Corvan - A useful tank early on, but drops off once axes and magic started hitting harder.
Braxton - Everyone else seems to have gotten very good use out of him.  I probably would've too if it weren't for Hugo; maybe next time, I'll use both of them.
O'Riley - Never even touched him because Hugo was already doing well enough for me.
Calista - Already had Lanora.
Bethany - Already had Buck.
Thraben - I thought about replacing Melusine with him, but then she started supporting with Marveda.
Raizen and Russel - Being final chapter-only, I just used them like all those playable generics; weaken enemies for the named characters to kill.

I didn't suffer any stat-altering bugs, so all characters were fine.

 

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  • 1 month later...

This is the first hack good enough that I felt the need to complete it ! It’s a must play. I almost thought it was bad because of Mangs review video.... well, it’s fabulous ! 

-> story is a solid 10/10 , it’s what got me playing until the end. I often get bored after 10 chapters in other hacks.

-> gameplay is a good, weapon diversity was a big factor in making this hack feel fresh. Green units are sometimes stealing loots and this is painful. Generic soldiers was a good idea tho, gave me some Advance Wars vibes ! :P

-> sprites are a good, they convey emotions well making you care or despise the characters. 

Thanks a lot Primefusion and your team.

Minor bug report : after maxing Geraldt support with his partner, I lost it because of an accidental support with the bishop... 

Here is my top 5 unit review, without big spoilers  :

Spoiler

#5 Buck was awesome because of the longbows. He ended up with 30 skill, and a lot of speed, so he was able to double with silver longbows. Slow start, but what a finish !

#4 Vance and Ava : yeah two characters for one spot I’m cheating haha ! Ava is the best Jagen ever with her training sword. It’s so easy to feed kills with this tool !  I enjoyed Vance storyline a lot. It resonated through me ! Good writing, and able fighter all along, but not as good as the leading trio ->

#3 Samuel - his promotion was a good surprise utility-wise. I gave him the body ring for better aim and speed. He was always dishing out his damage and proving himself useful with staves after promotion. 

#2 Torie used two Energy Rings on her, (+4 strength), and it was the best decision ever ! Her utility as a pegasus coupled with good fighting helped my troop in a lot of chapters. The S rank spear is... godly <3 used hammerne on it !

#1 Hugo became my best unit (I love brigands to begin with). He can carry big axes around, and boy does he hurt with them ! Sometimes OHKO mages ... ah !!! 

He’s also a great tank with solid HP, def and speed. Kill the mages before they kill you and you’re kay ! 

Play this hack !!1!

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I finished this hack yesterday after some LPer (Ghast I'm pretty sure) brought its attention to me and holy fuck it's good. Best experience I've had with any GBA FE, official or not, and it was what made me excited to come home every day.

Everyone's gotten here before me so I just want to say that I was struck by how good I found the writing to be, more humorous, entertaining, and engaging than anything I've seen in any other title. I'm sure the more modern language used was helpful for that. Also, I was surprised at the Mug quality, these guys look so good. I haven't seen a lot of GBA hacks but this is the highest quality I've seen so far.

Final party included Vance, Ava, Aaron, Callista, Lanora, Sylvia, Samuel, Buck, Torie, Hugo, and Geraldt.
I used Melusine/Corvan/Marris pretty strongly too but had to drop them when I ran out of master seals. 

Top 3 under the cut + thoughts on the rest of my units. These are my stats upon starting the final chapter, because I didn't take pictures during. I'm not super proud of this, but if I ever got 0-2 stat levels then I would rig it until it's more, unless the level included Str and Spd because those are my favorite stats. Which you'll see when you look at these images:

 

 


5cb24c1b0db7e_Screenshot(864).thumb.png.e23d32538624dfdc88fb05b4cbeb622f.png 
My favorite unit. This guy's incredible, effectively replaced Corvan as my main tank after I had to drop him. As you can see he capped all my favorite stats quite early (Spd and Def were both lv10 I think, Str was quick to follow).

5cb24cf9b0d3c_Screenshot(866).thumb.png.15cc94c802e23af63ddf69587cd1e48f.png
Also awesome. I had to give him the body ring since I wasn't very impressed with his Con stat, but all his other stats more than made up for that. This guy was a total powerhouse for the whole game, and the only character in my whole game who got a totally perfect level (actually, he got two of them). 
5cb24d59d9f70_Screenshot(863).thumb.png.85d6f95ce9463318e198fa27d4529697.png
Glad the main character didn't fall behind, I was really impressed with the lack of need to rig his stats. I usually hate using the MC in Fire Emblem because they always have mediocre stats (especially in Spd and Def usually) but I didn't have the same thoughts here.

Sylvia was probably my 4th best unit. I didn't use her much after I got Lanora since I only had room for 1 healer, but when I brought her back she was a powerhouse. Couldn't get Light to S tho :((((

My Druids didn't cap any stats and weren't terribly close, so I mostly used them as healers.
Hugo double attacked maybe 3 enemies in the whole game. He got kind of Spd screwed and I didn't like him as much as a result.
Torie needed more Con, especially because she didn't get much Spd until near the end. Also, she capped her Str VERY early (maybe 20/5 or so). 
Samuel didn't have much of anything except Mag. 
I didn't realize Ava's promotion changed her growths so I didn't use her until near the end, which I regret because she became good without reaching her full potential.
Geraldt is good but I should've given the boots to him. Wish he could promote too.

I think that's it.


Edit: I was also impressed with the music. I like that there seemed to be some remixed tracks from Fe6? Will of One was one of my favorite tracks from that game and now it sounds better somehow. Also, is there a link to the music created for this hack? One of the ones I was really impressed with was one of the last map themes.


Incredible hack, thank you for working hard on it. <3

 

Edited by Draco
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  • 4 weeks later...

I finished this hack last weekend and I'm impressed. First of all, the fact that it is complete is the best part. I don't think I'm personally a good judge of gameplay so when a story is complete that is always a plus.

I liked the writing and the story. I did find myself invested into Vance and Ava's stories in the latter half.

I especially enjoyed the escape chapters and the use of generic units, I thought they were cool ideas. Difficulty wise, a few of my units got quite strong but the rest kept the game fairly balanced. Not too hard, not too easy. I felt it was just about right.

Spoiler

I only got one unit to 20/20 and that was Hugo. With the help of some stat boosters, I got him to capped str and just enough spd to double the final boss. The S rank axe trivialised the final boss as just a couple rounds of combat was enough to kill him.

My next best unit was Aaron. His stats lent him to being really fast and bulky, not to mention cavalry movement and 1-2 range. He capped his defense and speed his other stats were mediocre but they didn't matter too much.

Vance and Ava themselves didn't turn out that good at the end, them being sword locked didn't help but Ava was useful throughout the entire game.

Tori was pretty standard for a pegasus knight, fast and mobile.

I really liked Samuel, especially upon promotion.

Marveda was a cool prepromote.

Those are all the characters that stood out to me.

Overall, great hack. Would recommend to anyone.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This hack was just flat out beautiful. A great story, wonderful characters, it made me smile plenty of times. 

I absolutely loved the interactions that Vance and Ava had, the pacing was great and the character growth showed marvelously. The way every chapter and interaction flowed just felt appropriate, and I enjoyed every second of it. I think the only real problem I had was Aaron, as the gaiden chapters made it sound like he was gonna have a bigger part in the story, but he kinda just... dropped off after he joined the main team, minus the interactions he had with other Aksum characters.

The difficulty was good, but I feel it kinda spiraled from difficult in the first parts to not very challenging at the endgame. That may just be from me getting heavily rng screwed in the first part though, I'm not sure.

 

Either way, the game was magnificent; it's probably my favorite Hack, and it might just work it's way up there to one of my favorite games.

Marvelous job!

 

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  • 1 month later...

So, I have a quick question about this hack. Specifically, the portrait of Captain. I've seen that portrait (the vanilla Soldier, but with a differently colored trim) in other projects, as well as this one. Is that portrait publicly available? If so, where could I find it? Thank you!

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