Bylift

One of my favorite builds: Brawler with: - Gauntlet lv. 5 - Brawl Avo +20 - Death Blow - Tomebreaker or Quick Riposte - Str +2/Fistfaire Killer Knuckles+ Add a battalion with +15 or +20 avoid and youve got a really dodgy unit that doesn't need alert stance and can EP/PP pretty comfortably. Warmaster works great too with that +20 crit and +5str class bonus, but I prefer Brawler for FIF and Thief type movement (uninhibited through bushes; nice on a lot of maps).

If you like the idea of mage armor, I highly recommend playing Vision Quest (FE8 Romhack--yes I realize it's not 'mainline'). In addition to being a phenomenal romhack, you get a Lord mage armor. He has 5mv and a busted prf tome. Good stuff.

My unpopular opinion: I can't stand the engage ring mechanics.

@Saint RubenioJust wanted to drop a line and say this is a very enjoyable hack! I don't often finish FE8 hacks and this one has me hooked. I'm on my second playthrough. I'm not sure if you are still working on it, but I would humbly suggest allowing some way for the player to grind. I know it's not "necessary" and a lot of players look down on it, but I am a big fan of the tower and arena abuse; both of which were sadly taken away. I am not the greatest FE player, but I have felt behind the level/XP curve pretty much the entire game, which can be frustrating at times. You might say "well play on normal then" but normal suffers from fewer units, fewer reinforcements, and thus less XP, and less interesting maps. Maybe add an optional patch that leaves the arena open in Chapter 5? Anyway just my thoughts. Excellent hack, great stuff. SKREEEEEE!

Late to the thread but wanted to say GG on your run! Only thing I wonder about is: 1) why no quick riposte on your war masters? 2) why no brawl avo+20 on your brawlers/warmasters? Just questions, not criticisms. Congrats!

Some folks have mentioned Cyril and Dedue, and that surprises me. I like Cyril. He isn't some overprivileged snot like so many 3H characters. He is an orphan who works hard, learns to read, isn't afraid to speak truth to power, and is a lot more grown up than most of the characters despite his youth. His supports with Manuela and Hilda are some of my favorites in the game. He basically tells Manuela to quit being a co-dependent lush, and calls Hilda out for being a manipulative lazy ass. What a champ. Dedue is probably my favorite character in the whole game, it's funny to hear people say he's the least liked in his house. He is a gentle giant, extremely loyal, would rather garden or cook than fight, handles the prejudice against him with grace, and his return in part 2 is one of my favorite moments in the game. Dimitri doesn't deserve him. None of us Dedue do.

If anyone knows of instructions or resources on how to patch a switch game, can you share? Sorry if this is considered off-topic. But it sounds from the comments like others are in the same boat as I am. I'd like to play this mod on the Switch itself since I don't have a PC with enough juice to emulate Switch. But I have my games on an SD card, so maybe I can patch it on the SD using my PC? IDK just thinking out loud here.

This says it all. And you get 2 uses. The other battalions in this group are assorted rubbish. If poison tactic had 2 uses, I would rate battalions with PT much higher.

10/10 no notes would absolutely play. I would even (finally have a reason to) use Anna since she's the only thief. I've never applied a patch to a switch exclusive game so I will have some learning to do myself before playing this hack. You mention above that you would add abilities etc. to each player's skillset; what will happen with certifications/class changes? Is there a limited promotion tree like in FE8 for each character? Or are class changes still open to all (assuming you can manage to train the skill levels)? Would love to learn more about this. I realize you're still working on it but if you have any patch notes or anything else available please share and thank you for doing this 🙂

The 2-tone hair would be fine, but combined with a white-and-gold costume, Alear looks too much like a clown 🙃.

I am never going to convince people who disagree, but I think Jeralt's mercs are a 8/10. You get them for free immediately. They are E rank so anyone can use them now matter how early in the game or untrained the unit is (see: Felix with Authority bane). Assault troop is very useful. 15 extra AVO is solid. The 75 durability is usually a B-rank stat. +3 atk ain't bad either. JM stays useful for a very long time. I love it. Just my opinion. don't @ me 😜

I agree with a lot of the hesitation and critiques about the campy and childish cinematic scenes, over the top fan-service female characters, and all that. But I mean, look. It's a reveal trailer, and you had to really pause and look frame by frame to see much of the gameplay. So I'm cautiously optimistic. End of the day I love the strategy and gameplay of FE. The story always seems to be wanting, but if I can skip cut scenes? I'm good. Just let me load out my units and clear the map. Hoping we get more gameplay trailers or first looks soon. EMBLEM - ENGAGE!! (lol)

replying to the OP: The game funnels you to (ab)using dodge tanks by bloating enemy stats to the point where everyone gets ORKO and forcing you to move quickly to avoid reinforcements or meet objectives. I just dont have the patience to not use them. I dont mind them being OP, because maddening mode is nuts without them. Doable, but not enjoyable, at least to me.

GG and well done on your maddening NG run! And thanks for sharing the details. Very fun to read.

Rafail Gem is neat-o but could use a buff IMO. I rarely use it in the few runs that I even get it. Maybe give it innate defensive tactics or even nullify battalion damage, or nullify all effectivenesses (new word!). That would make fortress/great knight tank builds more useful on end game maps. I feel like the death knight is tough enough without it though

Hard agree. If it happens naturally, fine, but I've never found a spot for defensive, let alone offensive tactics, in my precious few ability slots.

I love assassins and Ignatz does easily fall into that class. Where I disagree is putting impregnable wall on him. His innate Hit +20 when combined with Archer Mastery Hit +20 means his offensive gambits are going to hit 100% most of the time. I'm stating the obvious to many but in case anyone doesn't know, Hit +20 applies to gambits too. I'd sooner give him a wide AOE attack battalion with a nice Str. boost (he needs it) so he can hit harder on PP and rattle enemies for CC while using stealth to avoid retaliation on EP. Other units are going to have a harder time hitting with their battalions and I like to give those units support gambits, which never miss. Swords are a good weapon type it baffles me when people say otherwise. The Rapier+ might be one of the overall best weapons in the game and you can even get 2 of them without using the Pagan Altar on VW. All of that said, there are a million ways to beat/break this game and the OP's setup is viable and interesting.

This is a wild challenge run. Thanks for posting! Fun to read.

Ironic title to this thread.

RIP Ashe. He was never cut out for war. Lol Gilbert. He's so hard to use on this map in Maddening. If only you could give him swordbreaker beforehand. That would at least help him hit something. This run sounds really challenging. Thanks for the updates! ENCLOSER! I always forget it exists but man it comes in clutch sometimes. Thanks for explaining.

I've been watching and am at chapter 14. It's a good run and I like the music choices. Something to consider on future videos is maybe every couple of chapters you could slowly scroll through the unit detail screens so we can pause and see what their inventory, ability levels, and equipped abilities are? I can't believe your Ingrid strength. She got 18 of the first possible 20 strength levels. I'm lucky if she gets her strength over 22 by the end of the GAME naturally and she's already over 30 by level 20 in your run. She's got better stats than Byless 😄 What a legend. One question I have is, at the end of certain chapters you seem to be getting multiple levels on certain characters (i.e. Dimitri chapter 13). Can you explain how you are doing that? It seems to be some form of abusing boss XP but I don't get how units like Pallardo and Randolph don't seem to be fighting back?

Are you allowing Blacksmith? I'm not sure if the blacksmith existed in/before Awakening as I haven't played anything after GBA and before 3H, yet. Re Bows: Mini Bow+ is an excellent weapon that I've used for its 1-2 range without close counter and nice crit chance on several builds. And hey, you might actually have a use for a longbow with your current set of restrictions! I realize I'm not telling you anything you don't know here, but I would try and leverage lances/swordbreaker/Jeralt's mercenaries or similar Avo Battalion/ and a bush, and just Pray for some misses. It's hilarious how useless axes are on this map. I like to put a lance in Ashe's inventory to give to Gilbert when they appear next to each other; and an extra steel/silver shield if you can spare it. He becomes... slightly less useless that way 😕 Only other thought that comes to mind is protection stacking on Dimitri or Byleth with the Aegis Shield and Dedue's Battalion, both of course available on AM route. And any defense stat boosters, if you're allowing those. If you're already past Chapter 13, please share how it went and what you did 👍

These are some of my favorites, I don't think I can really rank them. The music in this game is incredible all around. Roar of the Dominion - ditto what @Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said. It's a big reason why Chapter 12 is one of my favorites. It has those "desperate resistance against an overwhelming force" vibes, and I love that it plays during the prep menu as well. "REPORT!" Chasing Daybreak - ditto what @Dark Holy Elf said. Shackled Wolves - my favorite Aux Battle music, never gets old. Dwellings of the Ancient Gods - I love the eerie, mysterious, downtempo electronica feel of this tune. It's a nice change from some of the more hectic early game pieces like Fodlan Winds and tearing through heaven. Scales of the Goddess - maybe not everyone's favorite that comes to mind, this is the Part 2 monastery music. Sometimes I fiddle around with menuing and other nonsense tasks just to zone out to this one. H/T to The Long Road and A Funeral of Flowers

Appreciate the explanations, thank you. And my hat is off to you for destroying this challenge and making it look easy 🙂

*sweats in a dozen ports/remakes/remasters of original Final Fantasy 1*