Lord Glenn

It's pretty clean, albeit cramped. The Personal Data box is probably the biggest offender of that, though it's still decently readable. The Equipment box (that has the combat stats in it) also seems a little cramped too, though I would much prefer that area be cramped than any other area. I might suggest moving the "Hit" label to the left a pixel or two so that it is left-aligned with the "Atk" label, as it looks odd in what appears to be a center-aligned state. (The limitation of only a total of four weapons/items is also there, but, again, that's more of a space issue than anything else.) The resized FE9/10 skill icons blend well, but I think that's more from the "blurring" via resizing than an actual effort to craft them in the style of the statsheet. The affinity icons are in a similar boat; the resizing has made them blurry, but that fits the color scheme of the statsheet. Obviously, from a creative point of view it would probably improve the work if you were to sprite all of these (by hand) in a style matching the pseudo-FE11 style of the sheet. (If you think that doing it by hand might be above your skill level, don't be negative! Even if it doesn't come out perfect, it's at least practice, and that will help make whatever you work on next better (and so on).) Some other minor stuff: The Tome and Staff weapon level pieces are one pixel too high (incl. the graphic, bar, and dash) The Vague Katti icon could use a fair amount of touching up; while it doesn't necessarily apply for FE11-style weapons (and I hate plugging my own stuff, but...), you might consider checking my custom weapon icon tutorial(s) to see if it helps improve the icon. Statsheets (at least the sprite-based FE6/7/8/11/12) have a map sprite for the unit's class; given the low amount of free canvas already, I can see why you'd omit this. Should you try and increase the amount of free canvas by shrinking the page headings or whatever other methods, this would be something to add. All in all, a clean and reasonably fair attempt at a statsheet, though not one without a few hiccups. Take care of those and it should be cleaned up.

Even with a demonstration that you know what you're doing, etc., eCut pretty much hit the nail on the head in her post. The fact of the matter is, most FE spriters stick with face sprites; the few that do delve into doing battle sprite stills either don't often do full-blown animations or, for the ones that do, they do the animations for projects that they're already knee-deep in. Plus, as The Blind Archer mentioned, you're also basically requiring that whoever does this animation needs to at least have some mastery of producing frames from scratch, which is only going to further limit your pool of possibilities. (Granted, most people that make full animations have this ability, but again, they're mostly busy with their own projects.) I wish you luck, but I wouldn't be too hopeful about getting any takers. :/

One promotion for each character. With all of the rebalancing we have to do as it is (weapon stats, new class caps, etc.), trying to balance two different promotion paths is too much. Plus, I seem to recall that it helps free up classes so that more units can have their own animations (or something like that). Maybe that was only in the earlier version of ASD.

Not only does Ray not take submissions, but even if he did the roster is already filled. As mentioned above, the tracks are currently edited in to the video footage using editing software; however, once an instrument patch similar to the one that was made for FE7 is made for FE8, the majority of the tracks used in the video (provided that we have access to MIDIs of the tracks or can import them from other GBA titles) will be added to the ROM. (Or at least that's the plan, anyway.)

The world, characters, etc. wouldn't "change" between storylines, necessarily. If you go Path A but Path B still has an uprising against a dictator, that event could still feasibly happen; it's just that you wouldn't have been present at the uprising (and possibly contributed to it), since you were elsewhere on the map at the time. Intelligent Systems would end up generating extra content during development (more maps than normal, more characters than normal (gotta have some differences between the characters in the stories), the alternative story paths, etc.), but isn't that a better means of fostering further playing time than endless grind sessions in World Map Skirmishes or an Arena/Tower on the map? I know that I'd rather be able to start a new game and get a different "story" of events than repeatedly fight battles that don't mean anything just to max out my units' levels and stats. I should also note, the topic title is "Mechanics that you want" not "Mechanics that you think are likely to occur".

I'm meaning *separate* stories though. In that, if you go with Path A, it's a unique storyline that doesn't have anything to do with Paths B, C, D, E, etc., barring some character overlaps; it wouldn't just be a large, multifaceted route split. Each route would have its own story, character lists, etc. So, if Krom fights a summoned Demon Dragon in Path A as the final boss, Path B might have him fighting a Goddess as the final boss. Does that make sense? Obviously, crafting a set of paths that consists of more than one story would take a ton of development effort, which is why anything beyond two paths seems unrealistic (unless they'd be patched in with DLC later!), barring significantly shorter game lengths (~20 chapters or so, I'd wager). But, still, it'd at least offer reasons to play the game for more than just gameplay or challenge beyond the first time through.

The idea would be that at the beginning of the game (either as soon as you start a new game or maybe after the Prologue), you get a choice between 2+ options (depending on the story, world, etc. and how many scenarios Intelligent Systems could and wanted to code). Each option translates to a different line on a flowchart and, ideally, none of the lines would connect. Let's say that as the story starts, Krom has to be a guard for a convoy of goods going to a neighboring kingdom and that he has his choice of which convoy to go with: Convoy A going to Kingdom A, Convoy B going to Kingdom B, and so on. If he were to pick Convoy A, he goes with the convoy to Kingdom A and the convoy gets ambushed by a gang of bandits. From there, he makes it to the kingdom and meets the princess, falling in love at first sight. He decides to do whatever she wants to win his favor, which involves going off and doing 30 more chapters. If he were to go Kingdom B, however, he might get to that kingdom only to find that they're not friendly with his country now and he gets thrown in the dungeon. A sympathetic thief manages to break him out and the two have to outrun the troops back to Krom's home kingdom. (And, again, more plot stuff would continue for 30+ chapters after this.) It should work perfectly fine with FE's general setup, as it's mainly just different stories based on a different decision that the player makes. It even opens up the possibilities of having a larger list of characters (on the order of Radiant Dawn's perhaps) where the characters would be grouped into sets. Set A only shows up on Path A (to Kingdom A), Set B to Kingdom B, etc. and you'd have a set for characters that show up in all paths. (You'd also have a Venn Diagram-esque case where the intersection of two sets (Set A intersect Set B) would produce a few characters that show up in both Path A and Path B, but were you to intersect that resultant set with, say, Set C, you'd get nothing.)

In the case of the FE6 example and my hypothetical means of including the Bonus Disc items in special modes in FE7, the outside "aid" is the player. You can't get the stuff if you, the player, don't meet certain in-game requirements. Just like how you can't get The Ballad of Gay Tony if you, the player, don't fork over $10.00 to Rockstar to download the content that they recently programmed and patched in to Grand Theft Auto IV. -------------------- Anyway, to partially bring this back on-topic a bit, I did have a thought about something I'd like to see in FE13 (which was somewhat inspired by the April Fool's topic from a couple of years ago): Divergent Campaigns. No, I don't simply mean route splits; I mean scenarios where, at the beginning of the game (or very close to it), you make some decisions as the player (or as the main character) and those decisions set the course of the game. For those of you that are familiar with the Super Robot Taisen series, it'd be like the start of Original Generation (or the OG1 portion of Original Generations) where you pick a main character and the paths diverge from there (granted, I'm suggesting something beyond the scope of OG1, since the two paths eventually combine and then split again). Yes, some of the titles have had this in limited aspects (FE7 with the trivial differences between Eliwood and Hector's Modes, FE8 with the choice of going with Eirika or Ephraim, etc.), but I'm meaning more like the choice between Hash or Firio (hence the April Fool's inspiration). For example, I select for the Lord to go to Kingdom X on a goodwill mission and there is no overlap between that story and what would have happened had I selected to go to Kingdom Y instead. And, on top of that, you'd still have route splits, different character recruitment, and so on. Just something else to further increase the replayability of the title.

I'm saying that because of technical limitations, true DLC couldn't have been done for Pokémon or Fire Emblem, barring creating multiple updates of cartridges a la Street Fighter II. I suppose that you could call the Wind Sword, etc. "bonus content," as by definition, it just further expands the existing game; however, it's still content that was intentionally coded into the game to begin with and was forced to be unlocked through ulterior methods. It's content that could have easily been accessible to players normally in the game but was left aside simply either to limit the prevalence of the content (all of the old "We're giving away 500 Mews and you have to write in to be included in a drawing for them!" cases, etc.) or to force you to continue to adopt more of Nintendo's one-and-done peripherals that barely saw any use. To me, that isn't bonus content; it's the same thing as on-disc DLC. Bonus content from the pre-DLC era would be something like the surprise you first got in Pokémon Gold Version after beating the Elite Four and found out that you could go to Kanto. You think you're only after 8 badges and then suddenly, you get to go after 8 more. Or, better yet, Fire Emblem itself has already had bonus content, if you think about it. FE6 had unlockable characters to use in the Trial Maps. Now, *that's* an example of bonus content in my mind. In this case, it's extra stuff tacked on to reward players for continuing to play. If there were special modes that unlocked after clearing the Hard Modes in FE7 that had the items already dispersed throughout the chapters in those modes, *then* the Bonus Disc items would be bonus content. But, Intelligent Systems didn't go that route; the items were planned to be download-only to begin with. And that's where I have an issue with this whole thing.

As I admitted previously, the stuff that's been excluded is entirely optional to the rest of the game; my repeatedly stated point is that Nintendo has intentionally had content in the data of their games that hasn't been accessible in the game without some form outside force granting it. It's basically an older form of the now ubiquitous on-disc DLC that requires a paid unlock code to use (i.e. one of the most hated aspects by players when it comes to DLC). Nintendo hasn't necessarily made us pay for it in the past (beyond hardware (e-Reader and GCN-GBA Link Cable) and other materials (e-Cards, bonus discs that come with other titles, etc.)), but you can see what this could lead to. Plus, look at some of the other *correct* (in the eyes of most consumers, that is) types of DLC that are out there, such as Grand Theft Auto IV's add-ons (The Ballad of Gay Tony, etc.), half of Fallout 3's add-ons (Mothership Zeta, for example) and so on. Was that content programmed into the game before it was released? As far as we're aware of, no it was not. It was created later and added in as DLC. This is in direct contrast to the fact that the Wind Sword is already in the game when it shipped and simply wasn't allocated in-game for the sake of being offered as a "download" item. Now, yes, there is the fact that prior to this generation of consoles, it would have been basically impossible to go in such a direction as the physical mediums being used wouldn't have had the means to update the game data. That doesn't mean that coding content and not using it in order to have "download" events is a good decision, however.

@Banzai - How so? They been doing it in America since at least 1998, with the Pokémon example from above. @dondon - The data's already in the ROM for those weapons, though. Those items just sit there unused in-game unless you "transfer" them from the bonus disc. You could argue and say that "Oh, well, lots of stuff is unused in the game," and you'd be right. I don't have issues with content like that (such as how there are unused spell animations in FE7 that were copied over from FE6); it's the fact that the Wind Sword, etc. are *only* available legitimately from the bonus disc unlock that I have an issue with. Would it have been difficult to appropriate those items to village events or characters' inventories? No, of course it wouldn't. But, instead of doing that, we're forced to get them via a special means. I'd say that that qualifies as "excluding content" from the stand-alone experience of FE7.

Lest we forget, Nintendo seems to love "excluding" content to "give" back to their customers at special, opportune times. Pokémon's done it since its inception with all of its exclusive Event Pokémon, dating back to Mew, Celebi, etc. The data's in the game, and they just force you to wait for what's tantamount to an unlock code to get it. Fire Emblem has previously experienced it as well. Remember the Bonus Disc that you got for pre-ordering Mario Kart: Double Dash!!? If you want the special items that are in FE7, you have to get that, buy or have a GCN-GBA Link Cable, and "copy" the items to FE7; items which, again, are already in the data and you're just being allowed to use by completing the procedure. Granted, Nintendo's obviously gotten better as they've progressed past those situations what with the fact that you can now just get on Wi-Fi (provided that you have access) and go about the stuff that way (instead of the roundabout or cost-dependent (e-Reader, much?) methods of the past). My point is that these cases could present the scenario that none of us want; yes, the presented situations are entirely optional in their nature, but do we really want content being "left out" (if the stuff's in the data, it should be accessible in-game without a catch, IMHO) and sold to us for a cheap $0.99? I'm willing to go on a little bit of faith at the moment and hope that Nintendo isn't silly enough to go this route (though their shareholders may deem otherwise... :/) and will instead stick with actual new content that's being created post-launch, a la Grand Theft Auto IV's additional scenarios. (This "argument" is, of course, operating under the assumption that there isn't *any* free DLC; it is entirely likely that there will be a mix of paid and free add-ons though. My point is that Nintendo has a track record of stuff like this and with their adoption of paid DLC, we may need to be wary of a change in the winds.)

Yeah, there's already a thread for this. Closing.

No, I have the art, cut out from likely the very same issue that you just mentioned. (Was it to the right of an "article" about Marth and Roy's quotes from Melee?) I was merely mentioning that I needed to try and rescan said art as I had attempted once before (to put a clearer picture up for the Pre-release section here) but the scan wasn't the greatest of quality. (That being said, I'm sure that Vincent would still want a better picture than what I linked from that page...) Think you could confirm what the beta screenshot of FE6 was, since you've got the issue?

I can't be certain, but I'm fairly sure that it was the awkward battle scene that was shown in the article along with the beta artwork. After clipping the art out of the magazine, I donated it to a local game shop since there weren't any other articles in that volume that I wanted to save. So, I can't go back and check the article myself. I do know that the segment about FE6 was near the front of the magazine, shortly after Player's Pulse, and that the article had to show up between Volume 143 and 174 (exclusive, as I have those two issues - Volume 174 has stuff from Blazing Sword in it, so it must be before then and Volume 143 was NP's first mention of the GBA). If anyone has issues in that range, then we might be able to double check; though, it's a trivial detail at best. EDIT - Hold off on those Volume numbers. Volume 141 has the "HP Bars on the side" screenshot (using Maiden of Darkness as the name) in the issue. It wasn't the issue with the art though, but I'm double checking some of the other issues again. EDIT2 - Okay, it's definitely post-Volume 137. I don't have 138-140; it's not in 142-146; I don't have 147-149; it's not in 150, and the next Volume after that that I kept was 164 (which is January '03, which would be after FE6 was released). So, that should narrow down the range somewhat. ---------------------- I'd wager that the preview in NP for FE13 is probably more of the same (just saying, "Hey, this is coming out for the 3DS in Japan!") and it'll probably use images from the 3DS Conference.

Add FE6 to that also. Granted, it was a small little segment at the bottom of a page, but enough of one that had one of the old pre-release screenshots and Roy's beta Official Art (which reminds me, I still need to try and rescan that clipping...) --------- I'd be more interested to know if FE12 had a preview or mention in NP though, since it had the honor of following titles in the series that had been localized, unlike FE4/6's previews. If it did, I wouldn't necessarily count this as proof positive of good news on the localization front. :/

This... has nothing to do with Fire Emblem 3DS. Moving.

Andriasang is reporting that it's Fire Emblem: Kakusei, which translates to Awakening. Source: http://andriasang.com/comzi3/nintendo_direct_live_blog/ EDIT: Plus, they mention that it's a new, standalone title, borrowing elements from past entries in the series, etc. Mainly stuff we've already known about (Skills--which, from what I gathered, can be completely customized and swapped around--world map, etc.).

I would think the main Creative area would probably be the best location as a general guideline, but, realistically, it would likely be on an individual basis (i.e. if it's writing a film script based off of an FE game, Written Works would be best, etc.).

Closed at request.

Since the log is positioned horizontally, the other tiles would normally go on the left and right of the tree; however, it appears that 6A006B6C doesn't have those tiles in the tileset. You'll have to test the map in-game to see if the log can be crossed or not.

The way that the legs on the female Rogue are positioned looks odd. Notably, the back leg looks as though it isn't attached to the lady's body with how the cloth pixels are positioned. "Curving it back" towards the crotch area just a tad should fix this, I think. (The top row of pixels on the pants would likely be all that needs to be altered to accomplish this, I think.)

Take your ships elsewhere, please. Ray will write his characters as he wants to; he doesn't need outside input on it. The first patch will be after a large plot event takes place partway through the course of the hack. I'm not going to say what chapter or give a date, as that will only pressure Ray further. That is, there *will* be a patch before ASD reaches its "Final" version and you'll get it once Ray gets to that point at his own pace. We're not planning it at the moment, though that will likely be a decision made when the hack is wrapping up. Chapter count isn't finalized. It all depends on how much we need to cover the content that needs to be covered. As for "short," I can't say. I'm sure that Ray would like it to be as short as it needs to be, but he would have to answer as to what he's thinking as a length. (Though, that may change depending on how the plot further expands and develops over time.) Until he gets an instrument patch for FE8 like the FE7 one and has MIDIs for all of the tracks that he wants to include. ---------------- EDIT - For those that haven't viewed it yet, Part 1 of Chapter 3 is up on Ray's YouTube channel.

Please don't necropost in topics. Closing - Cedar if you need this reopened at a later date, please contact a staff member.

Edited and, instead of pinning it in the main ROM Hacking board, I moved the thread to the Hacking Tutorials board. (Should the need arise and people ask questions in the main board about this type of topic without looking in Tutorials, I'll move it back and pin it instead.) I'll concede that actually taking the time to churn through the tutorials and make "significant alterations" (as that is easily a relative phrase) is work; however, I'm sure that you've seen or heard cases outside of ROM hacking of, for example, students writing papers using textspeak or people going to interview for jobs in completely inappropriate attire (t-shirt and jeans, etc.). I'm sure there are many other examples of cases where people that are college-age or younger are applying themselves at sub-par levels. Also, I added a note in about posting other relevant resources to the thread in the first post.