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The ROLLING REQUEST THREAD(Currently doing: A Hiatus)


TheMoniker
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What hack/s would you like me to play soon?  

53 members have voted

  1. 1. Here are the choices:

    • Decay of the Fangs(mediocre)
      13
    • League of ASDF(pretty good)
      8
    • Yuri's Sidestory(okay I guess)
      6
    • Shattered Realms(good)
      7
    • Exalted Legacy(no idea)
      17
    • Shatterlight(excellent)
      24


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Alright, finally time to actually post in here. Moniker, I've read most, if not all, of your LPs up to this point, and they've all been damn entertaining. Thank you for all the laughs.

If you don't mind me asking, how come you can't play FE6? I feel like you've probably given the reason before, but I could be wrong.

You're welcome! I enjoy giving them to people, with (most of) the hacks that I play!

(I'm talking about GhebFE here, not this hack)

I did get an FE6 emulator and try to play FE6 once. I got bored 7 minutes in, and decided it wasn't really worth my time when there's plenty of interesting hacks to play. So, I COULD play it, I just don't want to.

So Chapter 7 is an odd one because this is the point where we took over writing full-time, but still had some bits and pieces to work around. The Judith line about killing Cassandra was actually ours, we were trying to inject a little humor into the situation. Sort of like "Well fuck, now what?" "Well we could just kill her and make all our problems go away? :v " Everything you see from here on out is our handiwork, for better or worse. Anyway!

- Vera is intended to be invincible just in case Malorie somehow makes her way over there. She is not recruitable, and there was a conversation planned but we never wrote it? I dunno, it's in the events but commented out.

- And speaking of Malorie, the Zephyr Lance was originally a Killer one. Also she had two more speed, but we dropped it because she was too dangerous with both, and then we ended up taking away both. If you're feeling particularly bold and fed Kate a few levels, it's quite possible to steal her Delphi Shield too.

- So Fia causes some problems because she's your only mage and you have to recruit her with Rose. Fortunately, we're not mean and we did actually did put in an event after the chapter ends that automatically recruits her! ...If she's already an ally? Who the hell coded this up? *facepalm*

Ah, I get it. So I would've gotten Fia, it's just that there's a bug that needs fixing.

For those of you who are wondering, Fia is most certainly NOT going to be magically with us this chapter.

The CHAPTER 8 PRELUDE!

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Time for the story to start heating up! A little.

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So, she's not listening to reason and there's no one left in the palace to convince her to listen. Her odds of survival are looking slimmer and slimmer all the time!

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N: Judith and her soldiers accompany their sovereign every step of the way.

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Wait, hold on! Shouldn't Athania have like, an actual ARMY or something!? I mean, the lords have their own soldiers, and there's a palace guard... but the actual ARMY of Athania hasn't even been mentioned! Shouldn't Cassandra be relying on that instead?

If we don't have one, no WONDER Nicaea or whatever it was is gonna invade! That's probably gonna be the plot of Part 2, come to think of it...

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Whatever, time for the characters!

Vera: Are your men ready?

Richter: I believe so. If we have to fight, we will be prepared.

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Yeah, Vera, that kinda came out of nowhere. Even if Richter IS making his derp-face.

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"Lad"? Would Vera really say lad? I know that the "real" writers are handling everything now, but this feels kinda off with what we know about Vera...

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Okay, OOC Vera here actually has a point. We've been doing pretty much all of the fighting for Richter. He has troops, but they haven't made any sort of appearance since Chapter 3, and have been outright stated to be incompetent(it doesn't help that he continually refuses to deploy them, so they never have a chance to get better). Without Judith and the rest of the team, Richter would be dead many times over!

Richter: I-I… what brought this on?

Vera: Tell me, Richter, If the Empress dies, who’s next in line?

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No Richter, you're his BASTARD son. If you were recognized as a bastard, then wouldn't some other relation become king instead? I mean, that's already why his niece has become emperor. You're probably gonna rule anyways since you're a conqueror and all that, but it's not gonna be by birthright.

Unless I have no idea how monarchy inheritance actually works and was totally wrong about all that. Entirely possible.

Richter: Is there a point to this?

Vera: And should you assume the throne, will Judith rule for you as well? She’s certainly proven herself as a leader on the battlefield. Can you say the same thing?

Richter: …

Vera: Think on it. The battle awaits.

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We once again are in the City of Athan, and now there's lots of soldiers!

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Fortifications? Will this lead to any gimmicks?

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Reddier 1#: They’ll be outside the gates within the hour!

Shining whitey: Blast! Close the gates!

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They closed the gates! How the heck are we going to get in NOW!?

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And then the captain and 66% of the soldiers leave, and the camera shifts slightly to reveal... greenies?

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!!! It's PAULA, Judith's mom! And... some other dude!

Merc dude: Not really the time for joking. We’re in the middle of a war.

Paula: Oh, I’m not worried, Edgar. You’ll be the one doing the heavy lifting, after all.

Edgar: Tactful as always. Just so you know, I’ll want a bonus for this.

Paula: Sure, sure…

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Edgar: Which one?

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So, she doesn't know yet... hmm...

Paula: I’ve told you about my daughter, you know.

Edgar: Might be her, might not be.

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Wait, is he gonna fight us?

Paula: Edgar, do you have an opinion on anything?

Edgar: Only if I’m paid to. Opinions are extra.

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Reddier 2#: Good thing that the gate’s closed, yes?

Reddier 1#: Darn right! You’d need a dragon to knock this baby down!

Reddier 2#: Or…

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And then, the second soldier kills the first one, and the gate is open!

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And our dudes come in!

...Wait a minute. How the heck were we able to walk straight in with such little resistance!? Shouldn't there have been troops on the walls? That's standard tactics in a siege! If there weren't, we could've brought the whole army in with a few ladders!

...You know what, I'm probably making it hard to get enjoyment out of the dialogue with all this stuff. I'm just gonna stop for now.

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Vera: I’ll leave the empress to your soldiers.

And it's up to us once again!

END DIALOGUE

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This is a "Defeat Boss" mission, so we have to kill the captain guy we saw earlier.

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10 dudes! Here's who they are.

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Formation!

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It's because you had like 2 guards, you derp!

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2 soldiers=an advance guard

The royal garrison must be really short on troops.

Strickland: Blast it, this must be Vera’s doing! No matter, those of us who are not traitors will stand strong!

Reddier 1#: …As…As you say, sir.

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He's nervous... Do you want to defect also, buddy?

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(The missing part is just wall)

So, this is where the gameplay once again steps up its game a bit! There might not be that many enemies NOW, but trust me, there's lots of reinforcements that are going to come, regardless of Vera's troops.

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Normally I don't do anything in preludes, but I'm just going to do it now to get it out of the way.

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Paula: Judith!? So it’s true, then? I suppose there couldn’t be another black-haired axe-wielding maiden named Judith leading a coup, but I was hoping…

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No, we might have murdered a ton of troops and a lord, and are now attacking the capital, but none of it was our fault! We swear!

Judith: We’re-

Paula: Being framed? I know, dear. No daughter of mine is going on a bloodly rampage for no reason.

At least ONE character jumps to the correct conclusion about the situation!

Judith: Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried, wondering what you’d say…

Paula: Goodness, Judith, the mere notion that I would ever abandon you… Come on, let’s go.

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Hah! I actually like Paula.

Paula: Niccolo’s taught me a thing or two, so I won’t be in the way.

Edgar: Ahem.

Judith: Who’re you?

Paula: Oh Judith, this is my new bodyguard, Edgar. Edgar, this is Judith, my daughter.

Edgar: I gathered.

Judith: Real talkative, aren’t you?

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Paula: Of course! To battle!

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So, just a question: Did Paula come with intent to help or stop the rebellion? Or did she just want to see if Judith was the leader?

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Anyways, Edgar with his crazy minimug and Paula are now on the team!

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Edgar seems like a standard mercenary: Good strength, skill, and speed, and average in everything else. I was kinda expecting him to be a bit more bulky, but I guess not. I'm interested in seeing his growths...

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This lady here is why I didn't bring Niccolo. We have our REAL healer now! We're definitely using her, and now we don't have to worry about healing with a crutch character!

(Note that the Unlock staff she carries is modified, I'll explain later)

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The enemies still aren't that great, but they certainly don't suck, and there's plenty of them.

...I kinda feel like I've said that before.

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And here's our boss, Strickland! He's not that tough. I'm not seeing any major threats right now...

NEXT TIME: Attack on the capital city!

GROWTHS:

Edgar:

HP: 80%

Strength: 55%

Skill: 40%

Speed: 40%

Luck: 20%

Defense: 40%

Resistance: 20%

Total: 295%

Edgar seems to be a very standard mercenary. Kinda low luck, though. He's definitely usable, we'll see how his first few levels turn out(since there won't be time for him to get more).

Paula:

HP: 60%

Magic: 45%

Skill: 30%

Speed: 40%

Luck: 50%

Defense: 20%

Resistance: 50%

Total: 295%

Paula is definitely NOT the "low-magic earlygame healer". She starts at level 10, and actually has a magic growth! She seems built for the designated staff-user role! Let's hope she turns out well.

So, guys, I'd just like to announce this right now. While the current patch does have some "extra" chapters that don't have dialogue or anything, I'm not gonna do them. I'm going to end the LP at the end of Judith mode. Why? Because this is NOT an abandoned project like a lot of the hacks I play, and I might be coming back to it if it's updated in the future. If/when that happens, I don't want to be replaying stuff. So yeah.

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The Unlock staff doesn't work like you think it might! By which I mean it doesn't work any differently than base game. Details:

It's a display bug and getting it to act like the range says requires rewriting hardcoded staff code. We've since reverted that change since there's no guarantee we'll ever get a Mag/2 range working on it.

Edited by FPzero
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Paula exists because we couldn't come up with a reason for Judith NOT to have family. We didn't want to do the whole dead parents thing so...we didn't. And then we made Paula playable. Other Paula facts:

  • Paula was almost the Supply Caravan at one point due to her merchant background.
  • As caravan, we threw around the idea of her having a way to attack but having her stats/growths be poor so that she wasn't a real fighting unit, just one capable of defending herself.
  • As a Troubadour, she actually has a very slight custom battle animation. Compare her to other troubadour sprites and you'll see she has long hair and no hairband.

She's one of our favorite characters to write.

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Paula is pretty damn cool. Why can't other FE Lords have their mothers join up?

I'd wonder about their fathers too, but they're often...unavailable, as it were.

Fun fact about Judith's dad, he's alive in the story. He stays home while Paula's out doing the merchant thing and watches the family shop. Also Moniker, you should make sure you bring Rowan and Frank. Something we started doing (I'm pretty sure it doesn't show up before this) is giving some random characters talk conversations in every chapter. Just to add a bit of personality to some of the characters who don't get much screentime.

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The Unlock staff doesn't work like you think it might! By which I mean it doesn't work any differently than base game. Details:

It's a display bug and getting it to act like the range says requires rewriting hardcoded staff code. We've since reverted that change since there's no guarantee we'll ever get a Mag/2 range working on it.

Dangit! Mp/2 Unlock staff is a really good idea too...

Paula exists because we couldn't come up with a reason for Judith NOT to have family. We didn't want to do the whole dead parents thing so...we didn't. And then we made Paula playable. Other Paula facts:

  • Paula was almost the Supply Caravan at one point due to her merchant background.
  • As caravan, we threw around the idea of her having a way to attack but having her stats/growths be poor so that she wasn't a real fighting unit, just one capable of defending herself.
  • As a Troubadour, she actually has a very slight custom battle animation. Compare her to other troubadour sprites and you'll see she has long hair and no hairband.

She's one of our favorite characters to write.

I think having Paula is definitely better than having dead parents!

Fun fact about Judith's dad, he's alive in the story. He stays home while Paula's out doing the merchant thing and watches the family shop. Also Moniker, you should make sure you bring Rowan and Frank. Something we started doing (I'm pretty sure it doesn't show up before this) is giving some random characters talk conversations in every chapter. Just to add a bit of personality to some of the characters who don't get much screentime.

Interesting! I don't think I took both of them, sadly... maybe I'll go back for it and include it in a bonus update?

Time to play awfully(??? I should really stop making this pun...) in...

Awful Emblem: Episode 9: Chapter 8: Cutting through the garrison

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Let's start with a building!

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Merchant: Everyone’s gone east to escape the fighting.

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Merchant: just so business can pick up again…

You're okay with us winning for reasons OTHER than taxes? You must be insane!

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Edgar. This is not a good start.

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Victoria lures out a few enemies, but her awesome lance breaks... now she just needs to use basic iron!

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Reinforcements come from both sides of the map! I'm surprised they're happening already... This is going to be difficult if they keep it up!

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Good, Martin, good!

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Little boy: I miss the nice Emperor… he always said hi to me…

Aren't these houses supposed to contain useful information?

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This being a huge city and all, the armory has the best selection in the whole hack. It's the last one we'll see, so I grab a few things. Sadly, I forgot to sell the red gem of a certain someone, so we're kinda broke.

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Wow! Let me say, this thief is the opposite of sucky! When she wants to be, that is...

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3 more? How long is this gonna go on?

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As you can see, we've split into two groups. They're going to conquer their respective portions of the map and eventually reach the boss!

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Despite the fem. cavs apparently being sword-specialized, most of them show up as wielding lances for some reason. It's kinda weird.

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Beautiful! I'd like a lot more stats across the board, though... I mean, she kinda sucks right now! Ferris beats her in a LOT of stuff!

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The knights don't move? Huh.

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Conspiracy theorist: They’re in league with Orexia, I tell ya! They must be stopped!

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This was the Red gem I mentioned earlier. Despite the interesting conversation, we won't be using the extra cash.

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A cavalier attacks Paula in a mysterious black background... let's all take a moment to admire the custom sprite FPzero mentioned!

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Three, no, FOUR more dudes come from the sides, AND we have two soldiers from the top!

As I said, things are definitely getting more difficult here! Nothing we can't handle, though.

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There are actually more guys fielded now than at the start of the chapter!

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This group is in a bad position... CAN THEY FIGHT THEIR WAY OUT OF IT?

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*suddenly switches to different plotline*

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These guys don't even have 2-range weapons! Rose is so happy about getting to nuke them she snags an AMAZING level!

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The boss calls for reinforcements...

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And it's a turn reinforcements don't come on. Next turn they might come? But from where...

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Bleh. Get strength, lady!

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You too!

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Defense and speed is an acceptable substitute.

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First level. Nothing special about it.

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The vendor here also has an excellent selection.

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I was JUST too slow to catch Shaver's cool custom animation, so enjoy the miss instead!

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Hey! Those guys came from outside the city! That's where Vera's troops are! That's where OUR army is supposed to be camped! How did they get an entire-you know what? Nevermind. More XP for me!

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Rose seeks to balance her good levels with bad ones. Not a smart decision.

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This is literally the exact same level Judith got earlier. Weird.

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Here they come!

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Here's the custom animation! First, a minor explosion near the mage, then a gust of wind past Kate...

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AND THEN A WIND EXPLOSION

Best wind spell ever. Was that really custom-made?

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Defenses!

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Everything-enses!

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Let's reward ourselves for all our hard work.

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Worried mom: Could you take this to him?

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I'm happy for another Saber, but we'll probably never get the chance to actually deliver it. Unless there's a recruitable myrm character later...

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(This is why I'm happy to have another Saber)

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Time to fight!

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They drop like flies!

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Meanwhile, Paula lures out Longbow guy.

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Last house!

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Dude: and you interrupted me! I was going to be the greatest poet in all the land… Fie on you! Fie on the rebellion!

These civilians all seem kinda fickle and unconcerned about this whole rebellion thing.

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BEAUTIFUL! However, you shall not once again become HECTORA until you become better than Ferris!

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Longbow obtained!

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Well, we're down to just the boss, with no more reinforcements coming. You know what that means!

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HEALGRINDING! I can do it, now that I have a good healer!

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Hmmm... who to give it to?

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Oh, what? He moves? I thought he was just a door guard!

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He's so competent, he manages to actually land an attack!

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This is where I realize the power of the Unlock staff, too late to test it. Ah well. Really, making Unlock MP/2 would have made it 1000x more useful and viable.

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Judith can't do it alone... well, she probably could, but it would take a while!

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Everyone chips in! Kate even gets a level!

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He's all ready for death!

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Dangit, June!

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Ferris gets the kill instead now.

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Ferris, at this rate, Judith will surpass you easily!

NEXT TIME: We enter the main palace, and at last Richter and Cassandra talk! Is it really too late for diplomacy?

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Time to do a double-thing in...

The CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION and the CHAPTER 9 PRELUDE!

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Richter, maybe you're not enthused, but is the derp face really necessary?

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Paula: Getting in the good graces of the future emperor, eh?

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Headcanon time: Richter had a crush on Judith from the moment he saw her, and dragging her into this whole rebellion was just an excuse to get close to her.

Judith: I’m just protecting Falnor! That’s all!

Paula: Hmm? What does that have to do with invading Athan?

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There was a fade-to-black I missed, but Paula is now up-to-date!

Paula: Well, end result’s the same. Shall we?

Richter: What do you mean “Shall we”? How are you so comfortable with this?

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Yeah, that's not really an option...

Paula: A bit late for that, don’t you agree?

Richter: Yes, I suppose. But please, at least let me try to talk to her first. There may still be time to stop this without further bloodshed.

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Hah, hah. Yeah, I kinda doubt this in going to end in anything other than death.

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That was really short. Let's do the next prelude as well!

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What makes Richter so true?

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Her personal guard is big enough to staff both the city and the castle? I guess it has to be, when the emperor isn't willing to call in the army!

N: They wait inside, ready to fight to the death for their empress. Judith and company prepare for battle, one final time…

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Remember the map we used for "the politics updates"? Well, that's where we're fighting now!

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Judith: You really think you can talk to her?

Richter: We have to try! I will not kill my cousin without even attempting diplomacy.

Is Cassandra going to use teleportation like Cedric did?

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Oh, she actually walks up to us!

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Richter: Cassandra, you’ve been misled! The one who killed my father was none other than Lord Cedric.

Richter, maybe it would be a better idea to start with the small things then just delivering your conclusion?

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Cassandra: I heard he died the same way!

Richter: Of course he did! He was the one who supplied the poison!

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We're still the worst negotiators ever!

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Cassandra: Cast the traitor down!

"BOY, I SURE HOPE THE ENEMIES WE'RE FIGHTING CAN'T HEAR MY STRATEGY!"

And yet, we're going to wander right through those hallways and succeed anyway.

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Cassandra locks the door and sprints away. Now we've got to go around!

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Richter: for one last time, lend me your axe.

Judith: …Very well, my lord. I’m at your service.

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Is it time for a FULL-TEAM PRE-MAJOR CHAPTER CHIP-IN?

(Nope, we only get to see these three)

Judith: One more battle!

Rowan: Never thought we woulda ended up in this mess. You sure this is okay?

Clover: No turning back now, bro!

Willow: I don’t think we could stop now, even if we wanted to. All we can do is press forward.

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Ha! Rowan, you underestimate us.

Clover: Darn right! Losing is not an option!

Judith: You said it, Clover! I’m depending on all of you.

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Niccolo: For better or worse. I just want you to know that I’m proud of you.

Judith: I just hope that we’re doing the right thing.

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Honestly, I don't think this situation is all that morally ambiguous.

Niccolo: All we can do is choose our path and put our trust in the gods.

Judith: Then I pray that they favor us today. We’ll need all the help we can get…

The RNG gods, that is.

END DIALOGUE

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Here it is, the last map of the demo we're going to play!

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We get to bring almost the entire team, two(three if we actually recruited Fia) have to be left out.

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The obvious choice for the statboosters, honestly. I want this lady to be as awesome as possible!

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Here's the final ranking. It's as great as could be expected! Clearly, this is because of my tactics and not things being unmodified from FE7!

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Here's the positioning. This is actually better, since we aren't all in some weird square. Time to get started!

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So, this map actually has some problems. Compared to a lot of the castles in FE Romhacking I've seen, this one is actually quite intricate, and certainly isn't ugly! However, if you look closely, you'll realize that it's just one straight path to the throne area. While the "corner them in the hallways" thing is definitely represented in gameplay, there's no reason to split your troops up, and when you have 13 viable blue units all charging together in the same area... well, the opposition we're going up against just isn't enough to stop this from being VERY easy!

If this map had multiple pathways that we had to send our units in groups down, then it would probably be more difficult and interesting. But, this is what we have, so let's look at the enemies!

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The generics still suck.

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However, the shaman in the chest room has a new-and crazy powerful-spell! Are we going to be made to fight it?

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We also get a new weapon.

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Cassandra herself is sitting on the throne... we HAVE to kill her, don't we?

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This might not look that tough, but she has throne bonuses and LOTS of HP. She's going to be quite difficult to kill!

NEXT TIME: The final battle begins!

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Having a map with only one hallway to dump all of your units into can work if you make sure to keep the enemies diverse. Whereas specialising enemies on either side of a fork encourages the player to send certain units in certain directions, having a bunch of different weapons and classes means that you have to arrange your units in such a way that armor units protect from some enemies but don't get armorslain by the ones with armorslayers, fliers can throw javelins but are out of bow range, mages can attack from behind the physical units but won't get hand-axed, etc. Reavers are good to mix things up too, but... if the guy with the swordreaver is that sole axefighter in the room with soldiers, the merc, and the monk, it looks like you'll steamroll them pretty easily with lances.

Despite the presence of stairs, there are no changes in height anywhere in the map's walls. Poor perspective ·_·

The "unexpectedly thrust into power" description confuses me. Was Cassandra not in league with Cedric already?

That Hex, though. I wish vanilla FE had a dark tome as great as that.

Also,

rMKQQxs.png

... Awful Emblem spriters, pls. You can't use the lightest skin color as white, unless it's a yellowish- or brownish-white, which it isn't given that the next shades on all of these characters' cloaks are blue. Put a white color in your sprites. If you can't because you already have 16 colors, re-arrange them so you can.

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Also,

rMKQQxs.png

... Awful Emblem spriters, pls. You can't use the lightest skin color as white, unless it's a yellowish- or brownish-white, which it isn't given that the next shades on all of these characters' cloaks are blue. Put a white color in your sprites. If you can't because you already have 16 colors, re-arrange them so you can.

Hi. I don't normally respond on Serenes but I'm gonna respond to this.

Short answer, I'm probably not fixing it.

Long answer, Yes. I can use the skin tone. As someone who normally uses full palettes when spriting I agree that I would rather have a pure white color, but this was caused by a couple things.

One, is palette limitations. There's a couple portraits that are hitting the 16 color limit without even coming close to to having access to white. Judith and Richter aren't notable for this, but there are other characters we have where I've already had to cut out quite a large number of colors already, and those colors don't use white at all.

Two, is technical limitations. For whatever reason FEditor sees 248,248,248 as transparent no matter what we tried. If I'm going to be forced to use off-white anyways I don't see why I can't use the off-white of pale skin tones.

And three, is relative shading. Basically, due to the fact I'm shading it with grey (or blue in Richter and Paula's cases, again, to save palette space) unless you're closely examining it, or told directly, you shouldn't realize the white is the skin tone. It will look off-white, but won't match the skin. It is a trick of contrast.

Basically, while I get the reasoning, unfortunately as far as I'm concerned it's not really possible. It'd also be a LOT of work to go back and try and fit an extra color into the ~50 portraits I have finished so far, where I'm already pressed for time to finish the ones we need to get the game out. I'll definitely think about it going into future sprites but it's not really a concern, nor something I'm going to go out of my way to accomplish.

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Hi. I don't normally respond on Serenes but I'm gonna respond to this.

Short answer, I'm probably not fixing it.

Long answer, Yes. I can use the skin tone. As someone who normally uses full palettes when spriting I agree that I would rather have a pure white color, but this was caused by a couple things.

One, is palette limitations. There's a couple portraits that are hitting the 16 color limit without even coming close to to having access to white. Judith and Richter aren't notable for this, but there are other characters we have where I've already had to cut out quite a large number of colors already, and those colors don't use white at all.

Two, is technical limitations. For whatever reason FEditor sees 248,248,248 as transparent no matter what we tried. If I'm going to be forced to use off-white anyways I don't see why I can't use the off-white of pale skin tones.

And three, is relative shading. Basically, due to the fact I'm shading it with grey (or blue in Richter and Paula's cases, again, to save palette space) unless you're closely examining it, or told directly, you shouldn't realize the white is the skin tone. It will look off-white, but won't match the skin. It is a trick of contrast.

Basically, while I get the reasoning, unfortunately as far as I'm concerned it's not really possible. It'd also be a LOT of work to go back and try and fit an extra color into the ~50 portraits I have finished so far, where I'm already pressed for time to finish the ones we need to get the game out. I'll definitely think about it going into future sprites but it's not really a concern, nor something I'm going to go out of my way to accomplish.

I apologise for my critique being worded too bluntly. Of course you /can/ use the skin color as white: I meant that it's probably a bad idea to do that with every single portrait in the game, especially those of the main lords. You're using FE8 colors, to boot, which means the lightest skin color is even more of a bright yellow than it is white.

Re: palette limitations, that's a character design issue. They either shouldn't have so many colors to begin with or should re-use them in other places (as with Richter using blue on his cloak). As for that FEditor bug, I can't say I've had the same problem because I never use pure white (I use something like 243,254,254). If you're using pure white or transparency as the portrait's background, maybe it's that?

It may be that my computer screen is making things look more yellow than they are, but a light yellow (the skin tone) followed by a light blue seems extremely egregious to me, enough that I would care to mention it. I'm not sure how people are tricked into not seeing the difference between opposite colors unless they examine them closely, or the fact that it's clearly the lightest skin color right there.

That being said, I understand that making large amounts of sprites (especially with the framing process) burns a spriter out very quickly, so it's understandable if you don't want to re-visit all of those at the same time, even if I am a little baffled as to why anyone wouldn't want to fix something. I'm also afraid that I appeared confrontational pointing it out, so sorry about that. I honestly thought that you might benefit from people out there offering their opinions on what sticks out about the sprites in the game. Although it is easy to unwittingly condition yourself to look past oversights, you probably ran the sprites by a good amount of people given that AE is a collab project, so I apologise for mentioning it.

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This map USED to have a second pathway through the right, but for reasons you'll soon see it was cut.

Yeah, when I first played this I used the pathway, and I think I know why it was cut...

Having a map with only one hallway to dump all of your units into can work if you make sure to keep the enemies diverse. Whereas specialising enemies on either side of a fork encourages the player to send certain units in certain directions, having a bunch of different weapons and classes means that you have to arrange your units in such a way that armor units protect from some enemies but don't get armorslain by the ones with armorslayers, fliers can throw javelins but are out of bow range, mages can attack from behind the physical units but won't get hand-axed, etc. Reavers are good to mix things up too, but... if the guy with the swordreaver is that sole axefighter in the room with soldiers, the merc, and the monk, it looks like you'll steamroll them pretty easily with lances.

That's true. You have to have a lot of opposition to make it work, though, and this map doesn't, not really.

Despite the presence of stairs, there are no changes in height anywhere in the map's walls. Poor perspective ·_·

The "unexpectedly thrust into power" description confuses me. Was Cassandra not in league with Cedric already?

Yeah, while the Emperor's death may have been "unexpected", Cassandra clearly did expect to be in power once he was gone.

That Hex, though. I wish vanilla FE had a dark tome as great as that.

Also,

rMKQQxs.png

... Awful Emblem spriters, pls. You can't use the lightest skin color as white, unless it's a yellowish- or brownish-white, which it isn't given that the next shades on all of these characters' cloaks are blue. Put a white color in your sprites. If you can't because you already have 16 colors, re-arrange them so you can.

That white color is skin tone? Really? *squints*

And here I thought I was nitpicky

Responses in bold.

Time to finish this Awful...naaaah, I'm not gonna make that joke. This hack doesn't deserve to be mocked, unlike certain other hacks

Awful Emblem: Episode 10: Chapter 9: Cassandra's Crazy Castle

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The first turn is us moving.

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And... huh?

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Ah, it's you again! But, you seem awfully close to that treasure chest...

Jack: Let’s seeeeee… There’s gotta be somethin’ good around here!

svH0OaV.png

Shaman: Seize this man!

Jack: Hey there buddy, relax! I don’t want no trouble now…

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And then they fight. Jack gets a crit, and we don't get to actually fight against the super dark tome.

xhnivtP.pngTW1BiNn.png

Hey! Wait a minute! What the heck, Jack!? In Chapter 3, you said you wouldn't do assassinations/killings! And you killed that guy! I mean, maybe you just knocked him out, but if I recall correctly "stabbing them with a massive sword" wasn't the best knockout tactics!

Jack: I better be all quick-like.

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And he is fast. In stealing AWESOME LOOT!

I'll talk more about this in a minute.

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Ow. Bad decision.

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Two cavaliers AND two archers! If this keeps up, we'll be here a while!

If I remember right, this was the only real reinforcement wave in the chapter.

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Here's Jack, holding the Earth seal and a bunch of other tantalizing stuff. Again, I'll talk more about him in a minute.

(Also, he doesn't have a Lockpick! How'd he open the chest?)

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Gimme that!

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I like this lady already.

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VERY nice, Edgar! You got a crit without it using all your luck!

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June, some people said you turned out good. They were wrong. SO HORRIBLY WRONG.

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You can lure out half the 5-enemy-line in the treasure room through setting people with 2-ranged attacks near the walls. Just in case you thought that enemy formation was challenging.

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Enemy Phase 2, Jack leaves.

So, let me explain a bit here. In the older patches, there used to be an opening the wall you could smash and enter to get into that chest room. However, this led to people breaking Jack's event, and using it to get the Earth seal and maybe some of Jack's other loot. This event happens very fast, so breaking it outright required "ludicrous rescue-drop prostrats", but people did it anyway. Finally, SA got tired of it and slapped a wall there.

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Willow, still the BEST archer.

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Important stats!

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This thief is gonna beeline straight for the chest! I don't want to lose both! I must hurry!

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Honestly, only the people at the front are seeing action the enemies are getting wiped so fast. This is not a chapter where you want to have low-MOV units mixed with high-MOV ones.

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Good luck!

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Bad luck...

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Worse luck...

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He's gonna reach the chest!

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Luckily, my thief made it just in time! A killing edge certainly isn't bad...

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This thief is heading to unlock the other door. Note the cavaliers, who all charge the instant the door is unlocked. This is the culmination of Cassandra's "corner in the hallways" thing, and can be quite challenging if you aren't prepared.

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But we are prepared. Or, more specifically, JUDITH is prepared.

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Smashing this wall, even though we don't really need to!

So2dj5y.pngNHj2Hi9.png

Rather than letting the cavaliers suicide on her, this myrm charges first and ruins everything! Stupid AI! DON'T BE SMART!

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Now THIS is much better!

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(Blech!)

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Come on, guys! Get a lot of stats!

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Yes! Just like that! That's good!

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GOSH FRIKKIN DANGIT MARTIN

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And then everyone was dead. Except for the people who aren't dead.

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Which include the knights, who move! They ALMOST actually killed me!

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There was actually a LOT of offscreen misses on my part in this chapter, I'm serious. Apparently, my prayer to the RNG gods had the opposite of the intended effect.

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Excellent, Judith! You may need those stats in Part 2...

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It's just Cassandra now. Note that, despite there being tons of spots on the map for reinforcements, none come.

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Judith can't talk her down... does that really leave us with just the option of pummeling her into submission?

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Which we can do, with LONGBOWS!

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Cassandra, you're all alone. Literally only you fights in your name now. Just surrender!

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Speed! Luck! Resistance! NOT MAGIC!

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Get her, Kate!

(The modified Hero sprite looks kinda odd here..)

Time for Judith to attack!

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Cassandra: Richter’s lapdog? I’ve yearned to test my axe against yours!

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Oh no Judith, you've ONLY been the entire reason it didn't INSTANTLY DIE.

Judith: All I wanted was-

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Cassandra: Yes, yes, I’ve heard. You’re a ways off from Falnor, wouldn’t you say?

Judith: …

Cassandra: You could’ve stopped at any time, you know. Was your rampage through Athania worth it?

Judith: …Enough!

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Both sides have points, but Judith is STILL the world's worst negotiator!

Cassandra: My thoughts exactly. Prepare yourself!

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And then I forgot to screenshot their epic battle, so have a level instead!

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Because of the higher damage, Cassandra REFUSES to switch to the Light brand, so my sword-users have a major advantage here!

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Get her, guys!

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And now, our lord shall deal the finishing blow!

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Uh... and now, someone else will deal the finishing blow!

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Edgar! Perfect!

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What, Cassandra? Are you worried he's going to raise the taxes?

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What an excellent way to end Part 1!

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And then the chapter ends! Despite the objective clearly being "sieze throne", it stops when you kill the boss. Ah well, Cassandra probably lived through all those weapons, just like Cedric did! Right?

NEXT TIME: The final story bit, final stats, and my final thoughts on this hack!

Okay guys, it's time to announce the next hack we're going to be playing, since the recording is all finished! Looking at the poll, Midnight Sun and Bloodlines very closely competed with each other. Midnight Sun won, HOWEVER... Midnight Sun's V1.5 patch is coming out soon. If we don't use said patch, then not only will we miss out on some stuff, our save file won't be compatible with the eventual V2.0 patch! Since Midnight Sun is AMAZING and definitely an LP I want to be able to continue as the hack is updated, I'm going to have to say no to Midnight Sun(FOR NOW, will definitely do it when the new patch comes out) and declare Bloodlines as the next hack we'll be playing!

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That's true. You have to have a lot of opposition to make it work, though, and this map doesn't, not really.

lolyep; rip map. I won't be surprised if it gets fixed, though. Despite that, I think that AE got a lot better in the last several chapters: hopefully it will be better still next demo.

Note that, despite there being tons of spots on the map for reinforcements, none come.

Those little staircases being everywhere to induce paranoia in the player is something that I love seeing in castles.

And here I thought I was nitpicky

Again, there is a chance it's my computer screen making it really noticeable, but even though I usually try to avoid nitpicking someone's got to say it... or so I thought. I'll stay quiet next time.

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Chapter9Small.png

This used to be chapter 9's map. But people kept finding ways to kill Jack using the Rescue staff and rescue-dropping tactics and somehow killing him on Turn 2. Unseen here were the enemies placed in the small room below the chest to act as roadblocks. I could have had Jack run off the map right away but I really wanted him to sit on the map for one turn, essentially taunting the player with his inventory before leaving. Problem is, when you kill him, his leaving event still occurs because it wasn't supposed to me possible to reach him, much less kill him. As such, when the game tries to move a character that is no longer on the map, it will freeze. So when people kept finding ways to kill him even after a few fixes on our part, I said screw it and just took the door away. Unfortunately, this reduced the number of paths through the level from 2 to 1. I should really go back and have another look at this map some day. That or redo some reinforcements, especially in the latter half of the level.

Fun fact, the current version of the map is like, version 4. Version 2 is the one I posted above. Version 1, well, it was this:

Chapter%209%20Blue.png

I loved this map but it was way too big to use as the end of Act 1. Another fun fact, in the first version of our plot after we took it over from the other writers, we were set to return to this castle around chapter 20. As such, I made a Chapter 21 map that incorporated the upper area of that big chapter 9 map:

Chapter%2021.png

You can see Chapter 9's throne room at the bottom of it. In fact, I put this image together to show how they linked up:

Chapter%209%2B21.png

Sadly, neither old chapter 9 or old chapter 21 are going to be used in full, but I did salvage a portion of chapter 21's map for a different chapter in our current plot, so not all has been lost.

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Again, there is a chance it's my computer screen making it really noticeable, but even though I usually try to avoid nitpicking someone's got to say it... or so I thought. I'll stay quiet next time.

I was kinda joking, it's fine to share opinions

Chapter9Small.png

This used to be chapter 9's map. But people kept finding ways to kill Jack using the Rescue staff and rescue-dropping tactics and somehow killing him on Turn 2. Unseen here were the enemies placed in the small room below the chest to act as roadblocks. I could have had Jack run off the map right away but I really wanted him to sit on the map for one turn, essentially taunting the player with his inventory before leaving. Problem is, when you kill him, his leaving event still occurs because it wasn't supposed to me possible to reach him, much less kill him. As such, when the game tries to move a character that is no longer on the map, it will freeze. So when people kept finding ways to kill him even after a few fixes on our part, I said screw it and just took the door away. Unfortunately, this reduced the number of paths through the level from 2 to 1. I should really go back and have another look at this map some day. That or redo some reinforcements, especially in the latter half of the level.

Fun fact, the current version of the map is like, version 4. Version 2 is the one I posted above. Version 1, well, it was this:

Chapter%209%20Blue.png

I loved this map but it was way too big to use as the end of Act 1. Another fun fact, in the first version of our plot after we took it over from the other writers, we were set to return to this castle around chapter 20. As such, I made a Chapter 21 map that incorporated the upper area of that big chapter 9 map:

Chapter%2021.png

You can see Chapter 9's throne room at the bottom of it. In fact, I put this image together to show how they linked up:

Chapter%209%2B21.png

Sadly, neither old chapter 9 or old chapter 21 are going to be used in full, but I did salvage a portion of chapter 21's map for a different chapter in our current plot, so not all has been lost.

All those different maps are really interesting! Ultimately, I think that the "Version 2" is the best one for the situation... oh well, I guess this is one of those "why we can't have nice things" things.

Though... the problem could maybe have been fixed with a few locked doors... no, people would still find a way.

Time to unfortunately be finished in...

The AWFUL EMBLEM CONCLUSION.

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Richter: Indeed. The palace is ours.

Vera: Well done, my lord. And now, what next?

Richter: Hmm? What do you mean, Vera?

Vera: Well, we’ve taken the palace, yes?

C3GXotv.pngMVvoGy5.png

He could probably just tell the truth? I mean, with a few things omitted, not the FULL truth... Besides, they're just a bunch of toothless old men anyway, right?

Richter: …We’ll have time to consider that later. For now, we must pay our respects to the fallen. We can convene the Senate in a few days. In the meantime, I need you to send messages to the duchies, explaining what has happened.

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Oh, Vera! Come on! "Spinning things to make them sound better" is like, number 1# on the "politics education priority list"! Richter should totally know how to do it!

Richter: We’ve just killed the empress, Vera.

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Don't worry Richter, everyone will forget about it quite quickly when that n-nation invades!

Vera: By your will then, my emperor.

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Judith: Stop moping, you’re the emperor now… Your Majesty.

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And now, it's time to address everyone! The throne room is once again full of people, empty no longer!

(Look closely, can you see what's wrong with this picture?)

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Well, not exposed, since Richter apparently refuses to tell everyone what happened... Or maybe he didn't, and everyone's just going to assume he's lying. Somehow.

Richter: I am in your debt.

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Clover: It was nothing.

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Richter: No, no, it’s perfectly fine. However, there’s much work to be done. Those of you who are returning home, I will ensure that you receive an escort. The rest of you, I ask that you lend me your aid in the ensuing months.

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Ferris: yours for ten years. So why stop now?

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So, Ferris, Martin, and June, Richter's original servants, are staying with him. Remember it for Part 2!

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And Rose too.

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What!? Fia! When did YOU get here?

Judith: Haha. Very well then. I suppose we should be on our way home as well.

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Richter: May I speak to you before you head out?

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And now, the two have a private meeting...

Richter: Please, just call me Richter. I wanted to thank you for all that you’ve done. Without you leading the troops, we never would have made it this far.

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Oh no, you ONLY massacred everything with smaller numbers using brilliant tactics. I mean, they were MY tactics, sure, but in-story they were yours!

Judith: Any of your officers could have done the same.

Richter: I don’t believe so. You’ve a special talent, Judith. I need people like you to help me rebuild Athania.

Rebuild? Was it destroyed?

Judith: You don’t mean…

Richter: If it would please you,

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Good idea, Richter! I she clearly deserves the position!

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Come on, Judith! You can't say you didn't expect this. I mean, you've done pretty much all the work so far.

Judith: Are you serious? I could never…

Richter: You can and you have! I can think of no one better suited to the task.

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Richter: But what?

Judith: Do you remember why I came to you in the first place? My village still needs me, and my militia.

Judith, if you were the general, you could send actual army troops to protect the village and stop the bandits! It'd be better than commanding a few civilians!

Ah, whatever. She's too NOBLE for power!

Richter: …I see. Yes, I understand, but please, think on my offer.

Judith: I will. Thank you Richter.

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For our next scene, Judith was apparently carrying the whole party on her back. She just drops everyone once she stops.

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Judith: Mother, you know how much the village needs us. Maybe when we’ve trained up some new recruits, but for now, we’re all that Falnor has.

Judith, the position will probably be taken by then! Then you'll have to wait for a war to kill the old general... which probably won't take that long, thankfully.

BxESjn2.png

Angus: Those trees ain’t gonna fell themselves, d’ye ken?

Paula: Oh, speaking of trees, expect to see me in a few days. Falnor took a beating, and we could use the lumber.

Angus: Just say the word Paula. Me boys an’ I‘ll have all you need in an afternoon!

Judith: That reminds me, where did Frank go? He didn’t come with us?

Angus: Ach, there’s no tellin’ where that great berk has wandered off to! Not ta worry, though. At least he’s got enough sense ta find his way home.

Wasn't his dream to serve the lord? He's probably also with Richter.

ATb2WHr.png

Willow: We’ve been gone for quite a while.

Paula: Don’t worry about it. I arranged for protection with some nice gentlemen I met in the capital.

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Judith: …No, I’m sure that our village won’t be a smoking crater when we get back.

Yeah, trust your mom. She seems cool.

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Rowan: who’s gonna run Thessalon? Or Delphus, for that matter?

Good question. I'm sure there are plenty of suitable candidates...

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Niccolo: she would be next in line. Assuming that her family isn’t publicly denounced, of course.

I'm guessing that we're going to denounce Cedric's family, and Beatrice is gonna end up doing some crazy quest for vengeance.

Judith: Who knows what the future will bring? For now, we’ve a church to build, right, Father?

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Everyone heads off...

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And we are done.

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I might take a quick peek at the first "demo chapter", but as I said earlier, I'm not going to actually play them.

FINAL STATS:

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Judith herself! She didn't really excel as much as I was expecting her to, but she was never terrible, not even a little. I enjoyed having her as my lord.

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Clover! She didn't get nearly as much strength as I would have liked, but she isn't terrible. She'll just need to get some power in the future to be good...

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The cavaliers, side-by-side for comparison. I'm going to say that Martin was the better of the two, even if he is a level above June. A bit of skill and speed isn't enough to make up for how weak and unlucky June is, really. Still, we'll see what becomes of them! Assuming we continue the hack later on, that is.

iY2IeQq.pngZXIge3L.png

Our fighters, side-by-side again. Frank is a few levels down, and maybe he got RNG-screwed, but Angus clearly beats him in every way. I might even drop Frank because of how much BETTER Angus is!

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Victoria didn't get strength. I might need to use any wyverns we get later as a flier... she has defenses, but I like to have some offense too!

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Kate. You know, in most FE games and hacks, you'll get a thief early on who is fast and skillful, as well as lucky, but doesn't do good in strength or defense. Then, you'll get a slower one later on who's a bit bulkier. Kate seems to reverse this trend-she's not that fast, but has actual combat stats! Good on you, Kate!

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Rose is kinda weak, but that's okay because she's a magic user. What I find odd is how BALANCED her stats are. She has moderately high numbers in everything across the board! There's no specialization at all! Weird...

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Rowan, the soldier. He had lots of the "Big Three" of stats(strength, speed, and defense) and was thus a good unit.

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Willow! She has got to be one of the best archers I'd ever used. I wish I could replace archers in certain other hacks with her...

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We didn't get to use Edgar for very long, but I think he would've been a good unit if we had.

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She's a few levels ahead of the curve due to healgrinding, but DANG. This lady is absolutely AMAZING. I mean, look, there is NOTHING she does not have! It's crazy!

d5iQ9qN.png

Ferris's defense started out good, but as time's gone by it seems to be morphing into more "crippling overspecialization". Still, he has enough speed to not get doubled by literally everything, and could hold chokepoints if any situation arises where I actually need a chokepoint held.

ZaX0hkt.png

Last but not least, Niccolo the crutch. He was definitely helpful while I was using him, but I think it's best for the team if we set him aside and move on to better units for the future.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall, this hack was good. I can be critical at times, but despite it all, I really did enjoy playing this hack. The gameplay has a few hiccups but really, even the best hacks have hiccups. It was definitely fun at all times, and it was kind of nice to play a hack that actually followed an FE7-ish difficulty curve, rather than "make all battles massive-scale and be crazy hard right from the start". The story has problems, but its nothing that can't be fixed. If the holes are patched over, then it could definitely stand on its own and be a good story!

So, TL;DR, good job SA hackers! I hope you continue this project in the future, as I definitely want to see where it goes, and will pic up this LP again if more chapters are released.

So, viewers, tell me...

yHNGVcd.png

Are we forgetting anything?

NEXT TIME: Awful Emblem Bonus Episode!

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Well, that was interesting. I might have to play this hack myself, just because it's a solid game. A real shame about your cavs, though. Kinda makes me really proud of the Sain I had just before finishing a run-through of Lyn Mode on FE7. Dude was stronger and faster than Kent, yet a level behind. Weird, I tell ya.

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I suppose this means it's time for our closing remark as well. For starters, I want to emphasize just how angry you people made us with breaking Jack's event. By the time we decided to just scrap the whole thing, people were still making it work via a stupid chain of events that goes something like:

- Have Nick start as far right as possible, use Rescue staff to grab Kate

- Have Kate unlock the door

- Have Paula run over and trade for the Rescue staff, rescue Judith (who has a chest key)

- Judith should be just close enough that she can reach the chest before Jack spawns

And rather than see all that and say "Hmm, maybe I'm not intended to get this chest/meet up with Jack this chapter?", people kept pushing it further and further until we finally took our ball and went home.

Anyway, first and foremost I do want to thank you for doing this LP because this is the first time anyone has actually had substantial feedback about the plot. You've brought up a bunch of stuff that showed us just how much we either didn't mention at all, or mentioned far too late for when it would be relevant and a lot of that feedback is going into our "list of shit we really need to fix for the Act 1 rewrite." At some point when we get off our asses and finish writing Act 2, that's the first thing on the agenda after that.

Let's see, aside from that I want to briefly explain what exactly we were going for with the plot. Ignoring the mess that it ended up being for bureaucratic reasons, one of the things we tried to do was make Cassandra not...evil, I guess? Paranoid and unlikable, sure, but she's not actively a villain. She had no idea what Cedric was doing behind her back, and as far as she knew, it basically went "Emperor poisoned, Richter leaves; Funeral happens, Richter is conveniently not there; Richter marches on Cedric's estate; Cedric dies by Richter's hands." Unless they were really close (and they weren't, which is another thing we might have failed to get across), it would take a lot of smooth talk for Richter to get out of that, especially when his defense is "no seriously Cedric killed himself with the same poison that Theodor was killed with." I don't want to bog this down with a bunch of "no seriously here's all the plot that only exists in the documents that only we know about," but I'll leave it by saying there are some things which are kinda look like plot holes, but I promise we explain them later on. Or maybe we won't! God knows that these projects are a mess at the best of times.

So yeah! Thanks again, and I hope everyone enjoyed it. We were going to shoot for a new demo at FEE3 but I think the window where that's feasible has long since passed.

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I also want to thank you for doing this LP. I'll echo much of what Artix has said but as the main mapping/eventing person, you've also given me a few bits of good feedback that I'll take into consideration as we go back over everything. We made these maps so long ago by now, and while we've touched some of them up over time, it's easy to just say "they're done and final" and leave them that way forever so we can focus on newer things. God knows I want to work on Act 2 more than Act 1 now, but there's definite stuff to go back and touch up in Act 1 (again).

Looking forward to your bonus update, whatever it might entail.

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By the time we decided to just scrap the whole thing, people were still making it work via a stupid chain of events that goes something like:

- Have Nick start as far right as possible, use Rescue staff to grab Kate

- Have Kate unlock the door

- Have Paula run over and trade for the Rescue staff, rescue Judith (who has a chest key)

- Judith should be just close enough that she can reach the chest before Jack spawns

Stupid? It's pretty elaborate, don't you think? Sounds like sour grapes.

You said before, "What's the point in [giving Niccolo a high staff rank] if we don't give you a couple cool toys to play around with?"

Well, what's the point of cool toys if the developers don't let you play around with them?

And rather than see all that and say "Hmm, maybe I'm not intended to get this chest/meet up with Jack this chapter?", people kept pushing it further and further until we finally took our ball and went home.

If we're not intended to get this chest, why doesn't Jack nab it immediately then leave before it's physically possible to reach him?

FPZero said earlier the purpose of Jack hanging around is to taunt the player with his gear. That's kind of a thinly veiled "fuck you" to the player, isn't it?

This is a game, not a movie. The audience having a degree of control, being able to experiment and pull off ludicrous strategies to see what will happen is one of the best things about this series.

If the player is not allowed to do anything, what's the point of making a game in the first place?

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Sorry but I agree with others on this. You can't really expect to rely on the player to accept your trolling instead of taking it as a personal challenge to prove the game wrong. I get wanting to taunt the player but doing it in such a way that pretty much down right tells the player to go fuck them-self was just begging for people to break your game. First off let us talk about just how much incentive you gave the player to get to jack as fast as possible.

- You put what looks like the only promotion item that could be used for just about anyone in a chest. If nothing else, it could be sold for a lot of gold.

- You made jack seem like he could be recruited (will explain more on this in the next point)

- You made jack able to drop loot. That is the biggest sin here, seeing green in a enemy's inventory means I can kill that bastard for his shit some way some how. Bonus points if I killed him before he got to the chest.

- Gave him a skill book and blue gem, that is just overkill.

- Gave the player time to get to his smug ass, 1 turn is a turn too many.

- Made jack a taunting troll that could be killed. Providing happiness if he was actually killed.

With that much incentive, can you really blame the players for screwing up jacks event, especially since he was just there to wave his ass in front of the player thinking he was safe?

The next problem is the game does not do a good job of letting the player know jack was suppose to escape with the loot. He comes in like cath from fe6 , legault in fe7 or rennac in fe8 who has a face portrait and waits a turn before he escapes with the swag. In all cases, the player can either recruit or, in cath's case, talk her into going away. So pretty much, your average fe player will assume a enemy thief with a portrait is someone the player needs to recruit or killed to keep from the spoils. Like baldrick said, either make the event all in 1 turn or you could have made jack an npc. The player can't do absolutely shit to an npc. They can't trade with them, they can't kill them. Sure the player can rescue them and get him killed but it wouldn't count or there are ways to easily prevent that. (2 jacks for instance that have the same inventory, it is possible. 1 jack has 25 con or something like that.) It's far easier to control the AI actions instead of trying to limit the players options.

Just something to keep in mind

Edited by MrNight48
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PS. When I say it's mean to the player, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it or anything. Just:

A. Don't be surprised when people strive to get the Earth Seal

B. You have no right to be angry about it when you're the ones who started it.

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...I personally kinda like the idea of Jack not being recruitable in part one and being recruited later, assuming he still has all that loot. It creates an eagerness to recruit him once you have the chance.

But yeah, having an item be green really does put a target on his head, though as I recall most thieves drop items from chests when killed, so that might be something actually in the game code.

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I suppose this means it's time for our closing remark as well. For starters, I want to emphasize just how angry you people made us with breaking Jack's event. By the time we decided to just scrap the whole thing, people were still making it work via a stupid chain of events that goes something like:

- Have Nick start as far right as possible, use Rescue staff to grab Kate

- Have Kate unlock the door

- Have Paula run over and trade for the Rescue staff, rescue Judith (who has a chest key)

- Judith should be just close enough that she can reach the chest before Jack spawns

And rather than see all that and say "Hmm, maybe I'm not intended to get this chest/meet up with Jack this chapter?", people kept pushing it further and further until we finally took our ball and went home.

Anyway, first and foremost I do want to thank you for doing this LP because this is the first time anyone has actually had substantial feedback about the plot. You've brought up a bunch of stuff that showed us just how much we either didn't mention at all, or mentioned far too late for when it would be relevant and a lot of that feedback is going into our "list of shit we really need to fix for the Act 1 rewrite." At some point when we get off our asses and finish writing Act 2, that's the first thing on the agenda after that.

Let's see, aside from that I want to briefly explain what exactly we were going for with the plot. Ignoring the mess that it ended up being for bureaucratic reasons, one of the things we tried to do was make Cassandra not...evil, I guess? Paranoid and unlikable, sure, but she's not actively a villain. She had no idea what Cedric was doing behind her back, and as far as she knew, it basically went "Emperor poisoned, Richter leaves; Funeral happens, Richter is conveniently not there; Richter marches on Cedric's estate; Cedric dies by Richter's hands." Unless they were really close (and they weren't, which is another thing we might have failed to get across), it would take a lot of smooth talk for Richter to get out of that, especially when his defense is "no seriously Cedric killed himself with the same poison that Theodor was killed with." I don't want to bog this down with a bunch of "no seriously here's all the plot that only exists in the documents that only we know about," but I'll leave it by saying there are some things which are kinda look like plot holes, but I promise we explain them later on. Or maybe we won't! God knows that these projects are a mess at the best of times.

So yeah! Thanks again, and I hope everyone enjoyed it. We were going to shoot for a new demo at FEE3 but I think the window where that's feasible has long since passed.

Your welcome, and thank you for helping to make this hack and providing dev commentary! Cassandra, right now, comes off as more stupid and murder-happy than anything, though from her point of view she is justified in being so, as you pointed out. As I said, I think that the plot could be good if some stuff was fixed.

I also want to thank you for doing this LP. I'll echo much of what Artix has said but as the main mapping/eventing person, you've also given me a few bits of good feedback that I'll take into consideration as we go back over everything. We made these maps so long ago by now, and while we've touched some of them up over time, it's easy to just say "they're done and final" and leave them that way forever so we can focus on newer things. God knows I want to work on Act 2 more than Act 1 now, but there's definite stuff to go back and touch up in Act 1 (again).

Looking forward to your bonus update, whatever it might entail.

Yeah, I can understand why you would want to work new stuff rather than spend time fixing old stuff. I feel the same way sometimes, really.

Sorry but I agree with others on this. You can't really expect to rely on the player to accept your trolling instead of taking it as a personal challenge to prove the game wrong. I get wanting to taunt the player but doing it in such a way that pretty much down right tells the player to go fuck them-self was just begging for people to break your game. First off let us talk about just how much incentive you gave the player to get to jack as fast as possible.

- You put what looks like the only promotion item that could be used for just about anyone in a chest. If nothing else, it could be sold for a lot of gold.

- You made jack seem like he could be recruited (will explain more on this in the next point)

- You made jack able to drop loot. That is the biggest sin here, seeing green in a enemy's inventory means I can kill that bastard for his shit some way some how. Bonus points if I killed him before he got to the chest.

- Gave him a skill book and blue gem, that is just overkill.

- Gave the player time to get to his smug ass, 1 turn is a turn too many.

- Made jack a taunting troll that could be killed. Providing happiness if he was actually killed.

With that much incentive, can you really blame the players for screwing up jacks event, especially since he was just there to wave his ass in front of the player thinking he was safe?

The next problem is the game does not do a good job of letting the player know jack was suppose to escape with the loot. He comes in like cath from fe6 , legault in fe7 or rennac in fe8 who has a face portrait and waits a turn before he escapes with the swag. In all cases, the player can either recruit or, in cath's case, talk her into going away. So pretty much, your average fe player will assume a enemy thief with a portrait is someone the player needs to recruit or killed to keep from the spoils. Like baldrick said, either make the event all in 1 turn or you could have made jack an npc. The player can't do absolutely shit to an npc. They can't trade with them, they can't kill them. Sure the player can rescue them and get him killed but it wouldn't count or there are ways to easily prevent that. (2 jacks for instance that have the same inventory, it is possible. 1 jack has 25 con or something like that.) It's far easier to control the AI actions instead of trying to limit the players options.

Just something to keep in mind

I'm kind of neutral on this whole thing, really.

Time to do some stuff in...

The AWFUL EMBLEM BONUS EPISODE!

First: A quick peek!

Ei3ZE0R.pngAD61uoC.png

These are the "demo chapters" we won't be playing. I'd much rather hold out and wait until they're finished instead of doing them now.

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Here we go!

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I'm assuming this is just left in?

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Does the title imply bandits or rebels?

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Enemies spam-deploy everywhere and we just start. Seems pretty simple, honestly.

(And yes, Richter IS our main lord here. I think it was pretty obvious, but still.)

Anyways, that's all we're gonna look at! If you want a full prelude, you'll have to wait for the new demo to finish things!

Second: The fight of the century!

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I promised you all an arena fight, and an ARENA FIGHT YOU SHALL GET!

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Fia is in the unit selection, despite the fact that she really shouldn't be. Weird...

(Yeah, I checked, she was NOT available as a unit while playing the main story. Yes, I'm sure!)

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First off, we have the fighters, knights, and our thief leading TEAM PHYSICAL.

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Second, we have a variety of units from all weapon types led by a magical one on BALANCED TEAM.

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We only have enough manpower for 2 teams, so that's what we're doing! I will be taking command of Phys team.

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To begin, Judith stomps Rose and profits!

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The game responds by sniping me with Willow!

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Die, myrm, die!

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No idea why it used Rowan to finish, but it did! We're down a guy now.

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Dangit, Ferris!

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We have to take Willow out, she's the strongest one!

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The game picks off Kate and profits immensely from it... it was a mistake to put her on the team!

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In response, I finish Willow! Our numbers are still equal...

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But not for long! I finish Rowan! It's just Victoria and Clover now...

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She's gonna be annoying, isn't she?

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I do finish Clover, however...

This is it! EVERYONE FIGHT VICTORIA!

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I didn't repost the screenshot-this happened twice! Victoria was REALLY ANNOYING to kill...

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But kill her I did.

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And I win, as could be expected.

Really, I try to make these fights fair but its difficult when the units can all be so unequal and the AI is the AI. Maybe next time I'll try something different for this...

Third: I TOLD YOU ALL I'D DO IT

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Frank and Rowan talk!

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Frank: But of course, my good man! What do you need?

Rowan: Well, I been thinkin’… why are we here again?

Frank: Why, to fight for our lord and honor! Those cowards have stained our lord’s name, and they must be brought to justice!

Rowan: Justice, eh? Yeah, I get that… But uh…ain’t we the ones stormin’ the castle here?

Frank: Well, how else do you plan to get to them? You wish for us to ask nicely?

Rowan: Ain’t we tried that yet?

Frank: Uh…surely, we must have! Lord Richter would never jump so swiftly to violence!

Rowan: I guess you’re right… Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Frank: Well, buck up, lad! This fight shall be over before you even know it!

ZvEbQFy.png

And now you all know.

NEXT TIME: Bloodlines!

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