Is it possible to recreate FE5 in FE1?

[Lord Louie]

Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light, Thracia 776... my two favorite games in the series. Despite their age gap, they're similar in some interesting ways, such as being the only two games where the Convoy/Storage is a physical building that can be visited during maps, and the only games out of the 10 I've played to have 25 mandatory story maps. (FE6 doesn't count)

Having played some FE1 hacks with all new maps lately, it got me thinkin'- would it be possible to demake FE5 in FE1?

I posted a hack on FEU in which I ported FE5 graphics to FE1, so I know it's possible from a visual standpoint, but what about deeper mechanics? Maybe Resistance could double as Magic, or actual trading could be implemented, I've no way to know for sure.

https://feuniverse.us/t/fe1-visual-hacks/16924

I've attached renditions of the first three maps of the game (sorry 2x) I made in TileED to this post. I made these a while ago, and I want to see if others are interested in the idea.

 

[Polinym]

Yes, this is in fact, completely possible with enough time a little bit of ingenuity. Trading specifically would be very difficult since it involves a sequence of brand new menus, but it's not too outrageous to add features from future games back into FE1. Linking Resistance with Magic would actually be extremely easy! Turn the Resistance stat into the Magic stat, re-order the stats in the menu, tweak a few checks in ASM, and kablamo! They're one and the same. There's even an unused Visibility stat that could be reworked into a functioning skill system!

You may already be aware but some content from Thracia was ported accurately with artistic liberties taken in my Time For Tom hack.

I actually thought about doing this exact thing a lot, but my big obstacles have been - my huge other poject I'm working, limited time, and the fact that my knowledge about Thracia is limited.

So yes, completely possible. With ASM hacks you can even add branching Gaiden chapters with the original 25. I'm confident you could even fit a simplified Book 2 in with Book 1 here. Now, there are some limits that are more difficult to get around, like map sizes and unit limits. There's only so many bytes in RAM you can work with without adding some insane compression. You can't have a gigantic map clogged with enemy units.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Polinym

[Lord Louie]

3 hours ago, Polinym said:

Yes, this is in fact, completely possible with enough time a little bit of ingenuity. Trading specifically would be very difficult since it involves a sequence of brand new menus, but it's not too outrageous to add features from future games back into FE1. Linking Resistance with Magic would actually be extremely easy! Turn the Resistance stat into the Magic stat, re-order the stats in the menu, tweak a few checks in ASM, and kablamo! They're one and the same. There's even an unused Visibility stat that could be reworked into a functioning skill system!

You may already be aware but some content from Thracia was ported accurately with artistic liberties taken in my Time For Tom hack.

I actually thought about doing this exact thing a lot, but my big obstacles have been - my huge other poject I'm working, limited time, and the fact that my knowledge about Thracia is limited.

So yes, completely possible. With ASM hacks you can even add branching Gaiden chapters with the original 25. I'm confident you could even fit a simplified Book 2 in with Book 1 here. Now, there are some limits that are more difficult to get around, like map sizes and unit limits. There's only so many bytes in RAM you can work with without adding some insane compression. You can't have a gigantic map clogged with enemy units.

Hey, if there's a process to this that even a completely code-inept person like me can handle, I'd do it.

[Polinym]

10 hours ago, Lord Louie said:

Hey, if there's a process to this that even a completely code-inept person like me can handle, I'd do it.

Well, if you're willing to work within the confines of the original game, then it should be simple to do without code. This link (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pr9roh0rriuckc2/AAAiLr76X7PIVGRHz0rF6muAa?dl=0) to Darmann's notes, especially the ROM Map, will help you get started. Unless you want to code your own tools in a programming language, you'll have to use a hex editor like the one in FCEUX to change things. If you've had success with the Nightmare tools though, you can also use those to some degree. Not everything is documented in Darmann's notes like the enemy encounter dialogue table, so I can point you to things too.

If you want to break out of your limits and tailor the game to what you need, you'll have to learn ASM. These are the byte instructions for the NES 6502 processor thingy that runs the game. Darmann documents a few code routines used in the game, but for the rest you'll have to figure them out yourself. I figured out quite a few things so if there's anything in particular you want to know about like the text-printing system or parts of the battle system, I can let you know.

To learn ASM, see here: https://forum.starmen.net/forum/Community/PKHack/ASM-for-Dummies for the concepts, or perhaps this http://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/ for a NES-specific tutorial. To see all the opcodes, check here: http://www.6502.org/tutorials/6502opcodes.html

[Jotari]

How hard would it be to implement capturing? Since Shadow Dragon doesn't actually have anything like a rescue system, it seems like it'd be difficult to simultaneously render a unit as not existing yet existing at the same time. And speaking of that vision stat, actual Fog of War was introduced in Thracia too.