Wayward Winds

Wow. First bit of gaming news to nearly make me swear since "we will not be localising Valkyria Chronicles 3". [spoiler=Da Rant...] I mean, come on Nintendo, how old are most of the base games used for ROM hacking nowadays? Are you honestly going to lose money when you don't even make these things anymore, and that most of us own/owned legitimate FE7/FE8 cartridges and GBAs? And it's not like you can play FE4, FE6 or FE12 in english without an emulator or some less-than-legal DS/3DS trickery anyway, even if you legitimately own the system and game. FE4 and FE6, they can be forgiven for. FE12, they can sod off and accept they forced the emulator situation on us themselves by skipping localisation for that one. ...Not to mention a lot of ROM hacks/fan games (FE7x), and mods (not Nintendo related, but compare Mental Omega to the original Red Alert 2, or Twisted Insurrection to Tiberian Sun, or Homeworld 2 Complex to the original Homeworld 2) do things well beyond what the original releases were capable of. Anyway, ROM hacks or not are going to make no difference to whether we buy FE Awakening/Fates/the next Pokemon etc. As far as I'm aware, there's no 3DS emulator, and modding an actual 3DS for piracy is either risky (a risk I personally see no point in taking), or downright impossible. If we like the look of new games, we'll buy them. ...Still, at least they aren't doing a Square Enix and sending cease-and-desist letters to days-from-release projects they'd supposedly been okay with until then (Crimson Echoes, Chrono TriggercRessurectipn etc.). They aren't trying to stomp out hacking, they're just trying to limit awareness of it. (I'd personally be putting disclaimers in theoretical videos. "This is a fangame created using assets belonging to Nintendo. No, I won't be telling you how to play it". It wouldn't exactly stop the information spread, but who searchs Youtube for things they have no awareness of in the first place? I stumbled into ROM hacking through TV Tropes. FE7 page > "Game Mod: Blah blah blah, Elibean Nights" > Hmm, I'm going to Google that... Until then, I had no idea emulators or ROM hacks existed (PC game mods are another story though). Youtube didn't play any part in pointing me this way.) Basically, I think someone at Nintendo (and probably only one or two people there are legitimately bothered by 12+ year old game hacks) is overreacting on the Youtube front. Who else stumbled onto the scene without any help from Youtube? Anyway, properly on topic, how will we get to see videos if you did switch your channel to "private"? I'm a little unclear on how that aspect of Youtube works, but I'd expect just having a Youtube account wouldn't be enough...

Darn it, I'm going to use up all my data allowance with these constant updates! ...Keep 'em coming. And yep, the old version informed me. Not-so-random-question; when does the FE7x analytics thing actually upload its data? Every time you make a move, every time you end a turn, every time you complete a chapter, or just when you start up and it detects an internet connection? Because my internet data is limited, I'm typically not connected unless I'm actively browsing/dowloading. I'd like to know, so I can re-enable my connection at the appropriate times.

If all else fails, have the show's host announce it during the proceedings. "Oh and by the way, you might be interested to know..."

Well, I've actually managed to play something now... and I think the RNG has already signalled its plans to me. Of the four or so levels my characters gained in the Prologue, two were one stat levels (naturally, that stat was "luck"), and Isadora got a totally empty one! This is going to be a long one... On the plus side, S-ranking the prologue on my first go was a pleasant surprise. Granted, that was "classic, normal" as opposed to "classic, hard", but I'm looking for the story first, serious challenge later. I like how houses grant a little Exp. now, an actual gameplay incentive to visit them (I would have anyway; I always seek out world building gunk). I see Madelyn has gone and misplaced her horse somewhere... Maybe he got confused by the fact the OP hasn't actually been updated? It still says the most recent demo is the 4.0.0.0, August 2013.

There shouldn't be a problem with Visual Boy Advance (VBA). You have applied the UPS patch you downloaded to an FE8 (U) ROM using NUPS, right?

Start the game, go into the options on the first menu, and adjust the zoom. I personally set it to "2". While you're there, you can also adjust the controls for a more convenient setup.

Tried it (copied it elsewhere first), didn't restore any functionality or anything. I never finished the third trial map, which is the main reason I griped in the first place, but if it's in the new release somewhere then I'm not too bothered. Are the trial maps integrated into the main story now, or are they still separate scenarios that you get the option to access later?

So... uh, how the heck has the new version (0.5.0.0) stopped the old (0.4.1.0) from working? My custom configuration settings have jumped from the old to the new, which is fine, but now if I boot up the old one the only button that works is "enter", and trying to get into the trial missions or the options does nothing (and actually crashes the game in the latter case). I saved and unpacked into different folders, with different shortcuts, so I would have thought they remained separate. ...I want the trial maps back... Actual feedback for the new version to come when I get a chance to play.

Now that's just wasteful when you don't know when your next stave is coming.I was on an old patch at that point, and I generally didn't heal until <60% health. But sometimes the RNG takes a liking to the enemy.

I wondered about that when I had a look through the vanilla ROM with Sappy. I wonder why the developers bothered with the ninth track?

For me (at this point I was on either v1.0 or v1.1), Katarina hit lv. 20 somewhere in Ch. 7 (healing someone 9/10 playable turns in every chapter to that point, though I never stopped my advance to accomodate a healing break). If that was when your Katarina reached lv. 20, you've probably got an old patch. It resulted in me taking Rayden for healing duties instead of her in Ch. 8... When you've got a few FE/Pokemon hacks loitering around your computer/phone, it's a good practice to name the patched ROM with version number immediately after patching, e.g. FE Requiem v1.3. It helps you tell at a glance whether you need to update, or differentiate between versions if, like me, you tend to keep older builds that are notably different. (I believe I've got four builds of Elibian Nights at this point).

I honestly have no idea what that "spoopy" means. But unless Astra is fibbing, it's not jumping to FEXNA just yet. Two pages back, I asked that very question. Astra answered with a "Nope!"

If I recall correctly, it was mercenaries, mages, archers and fighters; two of each. No fliers anywhere in sight.

The problem I had with Andrei was his speed not being sufficient to double in most cases, and he was a pretty poor dodger. Axe magnetism was luck based so I shouldn't really hold that against him, but it happened anyway. Andrei's high-ish strength (still weirdly lower than Val's at that point) wasn't quite enough to counter his flaws. And then I confronted a number of facts: When he joins in Ch. 15, he's no longer got a good niche. He's not a forced/free deployment for the most part as he was in Val's story. Even if you've dropped Nala for being too much of a featherweight, and not really bothered with Jace, you've still got Val (who pretty much outclassed him in every way but res for me, and that was due to the 2 > 30 something glitch), and Ordanze joins up immediately after. The next chapter, you get Laraya. That's three sword using characters faster, better at dodging, better at critting... just generally better. True, none of the others pick up another weapon class after promotion as Andrei does, but that doesn't help until a few chapters on. I also knew that I'd soon have at least two Falcoknights (Gemma and Nella) and a Paladin (Kane), all of whom would be able to use swords, and in Kane's case, axes. All of them were ahead of Andrei on the dodging front, and the mobility front. All Andrei had was his glitch provided res. See why I dropped him? I tried, but after Ch. 17 passed and he still wasn't improving relative to the other party members, he had to go. ...Admittedly, I ended up being axe-lite given that my only late game axe users were Kane and Thelma, but my party did pretty well anyway. And if I'd been more worried about axes, I had existing specialists in that department to train anyway. I would have trained Marco, but the deployment slots couldn't accommodate him. Off Andrei and onto those Elite Egardians of Ch. 11. I agree that you should probably run away from them, but in my case Drake scuppered that plan. If you don't want to tangle with the boss (and in my case I couldn't see my stats doing anything good on that front), you have to take the long way round. Drake is slow. The Elite Egardians caught up with him, so I had to turn around and fight them off. And yes, it was a ruddy nightmare! ...I'm not saying it should be changed, I probably made Drake engage too much in the early parts of that chapter anyway (thus slowing him down even more). To be fair, I wasn't expecting that level of threat from behind - I expected something, but not something that would take at least two of my stronger characters to kill one enemy, and stupidly accurate and 2/3 hit kills back. Yes, for the only time in the hack, I had to resort to save scumming.

Ah. Well, next Do5 instalment is going to look interesting, that's for sure. The only problem I can see is the screen potentially getting a bit overcrowded if the max four portraits (I know that's not the technical limit, just the aesthetic one) are on screen at once. But I'm sure that scenes will be adjusted to account for that if it becomes a problem. (Yes, I believe there will be another instalment. You lot aren't Valve, you've already proven that by passing the number 3! (Not to mention there are actual signs of progress every so often). So I'm confident we'll get something someday, and I don't mean "coincident with the rapture".)

I didn't know Kalias even had gyms! (Or any other FE/fantasy derived world for that matter). But really, how are all these head-to-mid-body portraits fitting in if this is still on GBA FE? I don't recall seeing anything in the resources thread about the format box size limitation being bypassed...

Interesting how Sadaati looks like the cruel sister in concept art, yet it appears the other way round in sprite form. Maybe thinking about sadism is what's brought a smile to Nilou's face... Uh... will this end badly for me if I say no? I don't wanna die..! In all seriousness though, whoopee! Time for some more Dewey hijinks!

My guess it's another "no story, gameplay only" build. If so, cool, even if I'm slower at finishing these things when there's no story to drag me along...

Haven't we already told you to take it at your own pace? Rushing through stuff and burning yourself out does no one any good, least of all you. ...And I sort of got the impression of stressed but pushing on anyway from the last few day's posts. Again, slow and steady wins the get-out-of-mental-asylum-free card.

...I was going to do a bit of a spiel here but meh, others have already done so; I'll cut it down to two sentences. I suspect you'd actually be rather unhappy if you cancelled ragefest (or any other component of your channel), and half your fanbase wandered off. You've already gone on record stating that Ragefest gets you the most views (and my quick glance through your viewing figures seems to confirm that); try to take things calmly, for decisions made in a surge of rage are rarely the ones that you remain content in making. (And why on earth did I respond to something you probably said on impulse and didn't mean?) Anyway, on the subject of intentionally making you rage... My opinion, not that it necessarily matters much, would be that a "true" ragey award should go to someone who makes you rage in an imaginative way, but one that doesn't impact gameplay in such a horrible way that it makes you scream if the hack is even mentioned again. Long winding paths filled with trees, or the "endless battle in the rain" of Marc's Special Day, they aren't difficult to make (and in the latter's case, poison swords made it worse), and they don't really result in true rage for long. The length of that particular battle was more a big "FU player", doubly so if the posion kicked in as well. On the other hand, the Evil Troubadours with their 100% accurate heal ally/kill enemy staves, or the invisible enemies hiding in the walls; inventive, will make you rage when you first get caught, but then you can actually deal with them. You can't deal with rain. ...If I'd pulled the rain trick, I'd have turned it off after a couple of turns. Short term rage as it caused Marc when he realised each turn was going to take minutes, but once I guaged the initial impact had worn off, I'd have pulled the game out of tedium and rummaged around for another trick to spring. Even "cheap" tactics can be legitimate causes for rage, but only if used in moderation.

I don't know, Shiori kindof annoyed me a bit to start with. But the way I see it, given what happened in Ch. 8 and the Interlude, she's got more of a character arc to come for the immediate future. After all... [spoiler=Concerning plot twists covered in the Interlude...] At this point, Faratrass has already grown as a person quite a bit; apart from possibly learning what's happened to her country and her foster mother now that the DK's hordes have wandered in and are munching their way through the populace, there's not a lot I can see happening to her for the immediate future. Of course, I could be wrong; Hellios' betrayal may be hurting her deeper than she showed in the Interlude. Shiori on the other hand, has the revelation that she's another Hoikade princess, and we have no idea how she not only ended up the Saint of Pylum, or how the DK got her eyes. Is there some shady deal with the devil in her backstory perhaps, one that gave her his malice-sense? She's yet to come to terms with these facts, and if I recall she's been shoved down a few notches from her previously confident, occaisionally trollish self, to a constant state of uncertainty. Away from Fa, she's got several chapters to go through some development... ...So as much as like Fa, Shiori is currently more intriguing to me. I'll reserve proper judgement of Shiori's personality until I see how things play out (and I know no more than the next person about where the plot's going from here).

So, finito. Not counting reloads, it apparently took me a little over 36 hours to beat (note I never turned animations off or skipped scenes, so that will acount for some of the time). That seems longer than an official FE! Do you need/want closing stat screens? IMO, the hack as a whole is pretty well balanced; there are a couple of niggle points that I'll cover a little lower down, but it was rarely stupidly easy or stupidly unfair. Anyway, time for the detailed feedback. All in all, an excellent hack. A few areas that could be improved, but I prefered this to many official FEs.

I reckon that Sophia might have taken a few steps back after Marc's "special day". He probably can't look at her any more without seeing Manphia. And if that doesn't bother him... squick. I'll be disappointed if someone doesn't act-the-Gollum in Marc's Precious.

It's hard to tell. My team is fairly heavily biased towards squishy speedsters (all falco knights, Katarina, Alicia, Ash, Clare, Laraya), with a few tougher folk, with only Val, Kane and Emilia being fairly tanky. But because I keep getting critted by her, even they usually fall in one hit. The priority target tends to be Kane; she doesn't bother with Laraya, and I suspect Val and Emilia are not all that attractive targets because of their defense/dodginess. I'm not foolish enough to leave fliers or mages in her range; the one time I forgot, she dropped a critical on Katarina. Instead of Gemma... ("Fruitless" attacks on Almer? Not when it's always a critical!)

I think it's the Sniper's innate crit. boost. I dropped Linda for a couple of chapters due to low deployment counts; she was good but not outstanding. Shortly after I brought her back, I promoted her and she promptly started murdering everything I pointed her at, flier or not, killer bow/death arc or not. She's actually more reliable at killing than my Lords, Laraya and Emilia now (balanced by typical Archer counterattack problems). It's also telling that I'm having serious problems with Danielle in Ch. 23 right now. She's a sniper, and she seems almost guaranteed to critical and instant kill someone every. SINGLE. TURN. I suspect she's parked on a killer ballista as well, but ouch. This is the first time I've had to stall by leaving some one in her range with the resident crit. cancelling item equipped and wait for her to run out of shots. My general opinion of Linda vs. Skye is; when they first turn up on the team together, Linda's likely to have better stats due to her time in Val's army, Skye has mobility and possibly better growth rates. If you do use both of them, upon promotion Linda is best for pure (to the excessive extreme) stopping power, while Skye has better versatility given he can equip swords.