Fire Emblem: Dreams in the Dark

[Zane Avernathy]

I had totally forgotten to reply, sorry mate. I'm not one to really judge stories, but I had an idea for you guys to consider:

Have you ever tried making a map using FE tilesets and putting some map sprites on it to help demonstrate the story? I know that picking which tileset you'd like to use and finding/making sprites might be hard, but I think it'd be a neat way to help convey what's going on in the story.

[Omegaprism]

Well, you may have noticed that I said I would have something to post last week. But then I didn't! *dramatic sound cue*

Sorry about that. All at once, after months of inactivity at work, I got a bunch of, well, work to do. Then I got more things to do at home. To top it off, I'm still not done with either my work-work or my at-home-work. Yay.

The good news is, I have a pretty good outline for book 3 already. I just need to flesh it out for public consumption.

Some replies:

Corrobin, it seems as though you are still pitching a ton of weapons with Fates-style balance in mind, including some really uneven stat alterations (doubling/halving stats is too much). This is not Fates.

The main balancing factors between weapons are rarity, number of uses, price of purchase, price of repair, and required weapon rank.

The main balancing factors between soulstones are weapon rank, which stats they boost, and when you can obtain them. It is very rare for a soulstone to lower any stats, and there should be only one of each.

Honestly, I think there are already plenty of weapons and soulstones in the game. Remember the mantra here: Don't reinvent the wheel. Since the idea of making a hack has been brought up, every new weapon or item that doesn't have a precedent in the series would need new code and sprites from scratch. There are also supposed to be stretches of gameplay where the player is getting a chance to familiarize themselves with the equipment they have obtained, without five new weapons popping up every chapter. So let's take a breather on inventing two dozen swords and twenty-plus S-rank weapons.

Kabby, if you have any experience with hacks, that's more than I do. I would welcome practical advice on how to make something like DitD actually work.

Tumer, thank you for your input. I've tried to imagine a shapeshifter type for each classic Fire Emblem unit type, but I suppose there might be some overlap. I do recall specifically deciding against making both crows and ravens, though. In the interest of taking a critical eye to the roster, which units show signs of redundancy? I'm sure there are a few we could trim down.

Zane Avernathy, the map idea is great! The main problem there is that I haven't got any experience with making maps or using tilesets. If there is a user-friendly program or something, I would appreciate being pointed in its direction.

[InvdrZim13]

For maps you can use FE Map Creator or Tiled, tutorials exist for both iirc, though you'd have to drop the sprites in on your own.

[Zane Avernathy]

Yeah, map tools like FE Map Creator help make maps easily. As for map sprites, you can find sheets of them around the internet. Picking which game you'd want to emulate would be the real defining point on how things would go. FE Map Creator is for GBA FE games, while Tiled is good for making maps using other tilesets. Here's a few links you might want to see:

http://feuniverse.us/t/fe-map-creator-also-generates-random-maps/563

https://thorbjorn.itch.io/tiled

Edit: See wan's post

Edited October 5, 2016 by Zane Avernathy

[Eliwan]

http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/fe8/sheet/53755/

this link duplicated the tiled link so

http://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/fe8/sheet/53755/

[Corrobin]

Again, sorry with the idea splurging.

So. Book 3? Can we get it now? How do you activate the triggers for it?

[かベリー]

I don't really have hacking experience, but I don't think transformable units are that far fetched. I think Crazycolors made a dismounting feature in FE8 yhat changes the units class when the Dismount command is select (in other words, you might as well rename Dismount to Transform and find a way to make it last a few turns? The FEU Discord chat will help you out with any ASM or hacking related questions).

Edited October 5, 2016 by Kabby

[Crazycolorz5]

I think this is mostly hypothetical anyway :P

[CT075]

The FEU Discord chat will help you out with any ASM or hacking related questions).

did you just volunteer us out

[かベリー]

did you just volunteer us out

sorry daddy

[Corrobin]

Alright, time to rebalance those Japan-inspired Soulstones!

Oni Soul- +5 to Strength and Defense. A-Rank, obtained mid-to-late game

Kitsune Soul- +5 to Magic and Speed. A-Rank, mid-late.

Kappa Soul- Allows swimming. D-Rank, Mid-game.

Tengu Soul- Allows flying. A-Rank, Mid-late.

Magatama Soul- Gives Counter. B Rank, late game.

Kagami Mirror Soul- Gives Countermagic. B Rank, late game.

Is this a bit better?

[かベリー]

Kappa Soul - Allows the revival of old memes. C(ucumber) rank.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Kabby

[Corrobin]

Kappa Soul - Allows the revival of old memes. C(ucumber) rank.

You obviously have no knowledge of Japanese culture.

[Zane Avernathy]

I like the idea of having an item that allows swimming. Perfect for helping heavy units.

[Eliwan]

You obviously have no knowledge of Japanese culture.

At least it was funny and not just idea vomit.

Kitsune Soul- +5 to Magic and Speed. A-Rank, mid-late.

A more accurate one would be like "deal % of target health". Perhaps a full hundred. :V

Magatama Soul- Gives Counter. B Rank, late game.

yes because a teardrop stone that often is a good luck charm gives counters; or the one that was used to birth new gods makes sense to still exist

Kagami Mirror Soul- Gives Countermagic. B Rank, late game.

because wisdom and honesty make sense to reflect magic instead of bolster the user's own right??

[Corrobin]

Look, I never said I was an expert on Japanese folklore and myths. I was just going for something that makes sense (Oni's hit hard, Kitsune are tricky fox mages, Kappa swim, Tengu fly, and mirrors reflect stuff). I honestly can't tell if you're Shinto and offended, being nitpicky, just hate my guts or can only talk about what I say. Bedimal. This is Omega's thread and he wants opinions on his ideas and story. By all means, do give me critiques on my ideas but be constructive about it. Tell me what I can do to improve rather than just saying that my ideas suck. I apologize for however I have wronged you. Just help me improve.

[Eliwan]

(please forgive line reordering here please I want to be clear where each of my comments is addressed when possible)

Look, I never said I was an expert on Japanese folklore and myths.

I am not. I am sorry if I gave that impression (to be honest the only thing I actually am very intimate with is kitsunes).

I honestly can't tell if you're Shinto and offended,

I'm not either of these things; I'm just upset at other things right now and that's probably bleeding through

just hate my guts or can only talk about what I say.

You could easily do many many fewer posts with larger concentrations of ideas, think them through more heavily etc- it feels more like you've been just dropping each idea set that you have without further dwelling on it. That could easily not be the case and I'm just not able to tell.

I do not hate you (only bad ideas which you coincidentally have a number of, mixed with good ones), I tend to only reply to your statements because I lack a good method to reply to many others.

being nitpicky,

I do this a lot. I am very nitpicky about ideas because I want them to all make sense and have logic and reasoning.

I was just going for something that makes sense (Oni's hit hard, Kitsune are tricky fox mages, Kappa swim, Tengu fly, and mirrors reflect stuff).

The reference is lost in the case of the magatama and mirror. That was my primary point (I was just overloading it with something unimportant because that is what I tend to do).

Neither artifact has any correlations to the designated effects; that is all.

In the case of kitsunes they aren't mages but I see your point (they are shapeshifters and illusionists).

This is Omega's thread and he wants opinions on his ideas and story.

If I had opinions besides "that is very interesting and I want to see more" I would comment on story pieces much more often, but I rarely do, and most of them have been "that seems pretty arcane from this summary, it would probably be better explained if written in full"--so there isn't a point in pointing it out.

By all means, do give me critiques on my ideas but be constructive about it. Tell me what I can do to improve rather than just saying that my ideas suck. I apologize for however I have wronged you. Just help me improve.

I tried that already and it didn't work so i will repeat

1. think it through; do the research on something if research is applicable to the item.

2. try envisioning when you would use something compared to something else

3. look at what benefits (or downsides) something can have.

[Corrobin]

Alright. Thank you, and I have been trying to do better. For example:

You know the debuff weapons and debuff staves I had back that you said were interesting? I figured how they each would work:

The weapons would be pretty good, not great but not awful Might-wise, but have a really awesome Hit. The debuff their specific stat by 3 if they hit (regardless of if they actually dealt damage). They're meant for prempting an enemy to get them set up for a specific unit (reducing a Myrmidon's Speed so your tank doesn't get doubled, etc.)

The staves would have a uniform Range of 1-5, and would cut the specified stat by 6, meaning they trade damage for range and more debuffing power.

Just because I was talking about them, I'll mention that the buff staves have the same range and buff power (6).

[かベリー]

Well, considering I showcased Japanese mythological creatures once or twice when I was in third grade or so on some annual celebration or something and know 90% of the Touhou cast, I do know about Japan and its mythology, I just made a joke.

Anyways, I like the debuff weapon idea, but can the buffs stack? A few myrmidons with Defense lowering swords could cripple even the most powerful of Generals and although that might take as much time as normally killing a General, it still removes a part of the risk imo.

[Corrobin]

Debuffs of the same type? No.

Debuffs of different types? Yes.

I was watching FE4 and FE5 LP's and they gave me a few ideas as well.

Weapons

Sleep Sword (Skill% chance to inflict Sleep)

Mute Blade (Skill% chance to inflict Silence)

Vantage Lance (You always attack first with this equipped)

Souls:

Hero's Soul (Gives Good Fortune, Strong Riposte, Axebreaker and Sol when used)

Swordmaster's Soul (Gives Vantage, Duelest's Blow and Astra when used)

[かベリー]

Yeah, that might work. Those souls seem a little overpowered to me, if they're used on a unit with already great skills, they might become the theoretical game's Seth.

[Corrobin]

The souls would have to be fairly late-game.

Sol Lance: Drains 1/4 of damage dealt as health.

Luna Axe: Ignores 1/4 of Enemy Defence.

[Corrobin]

Snipe Gale- Anima tome, 2-3 Range, Flyer effective, cannot double or Crit (activation skills unaffected).

Flame Burst- Anima tome, 1 Range, Beast effective, higher than average Might.

And now, the names for effective weaponry!

Swords:

Dragonrender (Seiryuu)

Deepslayer (Genbu)

Flying Fang (Suzaku)

Beastbane Blade (Byakkyo)

Lances:

Scalepiercer (Two for one Seryuu/Genbu combo!)

Sky Lance (Suzaku)

Beastslayer (Byakkyo)

Axes:

Dragonbane Axe (Seiryuu)

Deepstriker (Genbu)

Airrender Club (Suzaku)

Hound Halberd (Byakkyo)

Note To Omega:

Fire -> Byakkyo

Wind -> Suzaku

Thunder -> Genbu

??????? -> Seiryuu

Is Dark Magic effective against dragons? Is there a specialized time for that?

Edited October 15, 2016 by Corrobin

[Corrobin]

48 Hours and no reply, guess I'll ask Omega a question:

How does the mess hall work now? Completely like Fates, mostly the same but with a few differences or something completely new?

[Omegaprism]

Holy balls.

When it rains it pours, as they say.

I have been swallowed up by a massive tornado of extra work for the past several weeks, and as a result I haven't been able to work on Book 3 very much. Sorry about that. Even worse, more business is crashing over me in waves for the next couple of weeks. I wasn't even this busy during testing season! @.@

In answer to your questions, Corrobin, The mess hall works like it did in Fates, with the exception that you acquire ingredients through trade with merchants and dispatching people from your caravan to hunt and gather. That means you might not always find, say, fish or daikon, but variety is the spice of life! Also, Seiryu don't have a magic type that is naturally super effective against them. All magic types are equally effective.