The Serenes Forest FE6 Telephone Game [ENTRIES CLOSED - PLAYTHROUGH IN PROGRESS]

[AlexArtsHere]

This is something I was originally kicking around on the SF Discord server (which is really cool and you guys should join it if you haven't already) - entries have now closed there with six entrants, so I'm opening things up to the wider community. Without further ado, allow me to introduce The Serenes Forest FE6 Telephone Game!

This will be a full relay playthrough of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (i.e. from the first chapter all the way to Idunn, with all the relevant gaidens in between) with a twist: Each player will have no idea of what the player previous to them has done, nor what the player after them will do. Nobody will see anybody else’s gameplay until the whole thing is done and compiled into one playthrough. Here’s how this is going to work:

•    All players will have the same ROM and patch of FE6
•    Each chapter will be assigned to a participant at random (possibly with some correction by myself to make sure proper rotation is achieved, depending on how many participants we end up with)
•    The game will be played iron man style – no resets, even if your favourite dies!
•    The only time a reset will be permitted is, of course, in the event of Roy dying, but also in the event that a player fails to meet the conditions for unlocking a given gaiden chapter – we’re going for 100% here (participants will be reminded of the relevant gaiden requirements when it’s their turn to play, but in effect it means keeping up to five other characters alive until their relevant gaidens have been reached)
•    Gameplay of your entire play session is to be recorded without commentary – once you have completed your chapter, you’ll send your .sav file to the next participant and a .mp4 video file of your play session to me (this will probably need to be done via file hosting site – I’ll figure out the logistics of this and the recording format once we’ve confirmed our list of participants)
That’s about all I can think of for now regarding the rules. This is my first time organising something like this, so please understand if there are a few teething issues. Given that we've already got six participants, a maximum of a further 24 slots are up for grabs (I've lumped the endgame chapter in with chapter 24 given how much of a nothingburger both maps are) - if our total number of participants ends up being less than 30, there'll be rotation of however many participants we do have, so some people may end up playing two or more maps. Entries will close Monday 16th October, so if you'd like to join up, please drop a reply in the thread!

Edited September 3 by AlexArtsHere

[Saint Rubenio]

Hey, happy birthday! Sure, I think I'll sign up. Could be interesting. Here's hoping I don't get every sword user in the game killed when it's my turn.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[AlexArtsHere]

Thank you! 🙂

[AnonymousSpeed]

I can possibly do this. Can we request certain chapters?

[AlexArtsHere]

Sorry, but in the interests of fairness (and chaos!), all chapters will be assigned randomly!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Sounds like a neat project! But, I have a few questions on this:

Which difficulty - Normal, or Hard?

How long a timeframe will each player be permitted?

Will there be "backups/alternates", in case someone can't fulfill their chapter obligation?

And, do I need prior experience recording gameplay on-screen, or is this something even a novice like me could accomplish?

I might be available to participate, depending on the answers. Thanks!

[Eltosian Kadath]

Alright, I will throw my hat into the ring, so sign me up.

This is reminiscent of when I organized a relay game (I called it a Succession Game, as that was the name of that style or play from the Dwarf Fortress and Crusader Kings context I originally got the idea from) of an FE6 HM ironman game a few years back, but as a screenshot LP, and without the blind twist. It will be nice to just play, and not have all the extra stress of organizing the thing.

[AlexArtsHere]

On 10/10/2023 at 8:28 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Sounds like a neat project! But, I have a few questions on this:

Which difficulty - Normal, or Hard?

How long a timeframe will each player be permitted?

Will there be "backups/alternates", in case someone can't fulfill their chapter obligation?

And, do I need prior experience recording gameplay on-screen, or is this something even a novice like me could accomplish?

I might be available to participate, depending on the answers. Thanks!

Normal difficulty

I think it's probably reasonable to give each player up to a week to complete their chapter

If somebody needs to drop out for whatever reason, we'll just continue the rotation as normal without them

I'd be happy to provide instructions on setting up OBS to record footage

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, AlexArtsHere said:

Normal difficulty

I think it's probably reasonable to give each player up to a week to complete their chapter

If somebody needs to drop out for whatever reason, we'll just continue the rotation as normal without them

I'd be happy to provide instructions on setting up OBS to record footage

Cool, thanks! In that case, I believe I would be able to participate. Assuming you haven't yet reached the deployment limit, that is!

[AlexArtsHere]

With entries now closed, I just want to say thank you to those who signed up! I will be getting in touch at some point this week to let you know which chapters you'll be doing and providing instructions for setting up!

[AlexArtsHere]

So I've not really bothered with public updates on this, but I'm breaking that pattern of behaviour today for reasons that will quite quickly become apparent.

First of all, the bad news: The project has stalled. For over a week now, my Wi-Fi service has been extremely temperamental or outright non-existent. I had hoped this would be a minor, very ephemeral hiccup, but the reality is that right now I'm in no position to review and download large video files, and with that in mind there's little point in me asking anyone to play their chapters. That said, I'm (perhaps foolishly) optimistic that these issues will be resolved soon and the project will resume.

Thankfully, there's good news to share too: We've only got ten chapters left to play! This means we're within the final third of the game and, god willing, I hope to have this project completed and the resulting video published by the end of the year. That's very much an aspiration, not a hard and fast deadline, but the takeaway here is that things are singificantly closer to the end than they are to the start.

Frankly, this project has been a small nightmare. I have not been the right person to organise it, there are elements of the core concept that could've been changed to create something much more fun (picking a different game might've been a start), and I ultimately underestimated just how big an undertaking this would be for me. With that said, I am very grateful to all those who have joined me on this journey and I've no intention of doing anything but seeing this through to the end.

[Eltosian Kadath]

8 hours ago, AlexArtsHere said:

 

Frankly, this project has been a small nightmare. I have not been the right person to organise it, there are elements of the core concept that could've been changed to create something much more fun (picking a different game might've been a start), and I ultimately underestimated just how big an undertaking this would be for me. With that said, I am very grateful to all those who have joined me on this journey and I've no intention of doing anything but seeing this through to the end.

I don't think there is a right person for organizing one of these messes. At the very least I didn't handle it any better when I organized what was roughly a screen shot equivalent to this. I would even say you are doing a better job than I did. For what it is worth, I have been enjoying the run, I probably would have preferred making it a little spicier with Hard Mode, but I am still having plenty of fun with it, and you can't please everyone in a group effort like this. I guess what I am trying to get across is thanks for taking on the burdensome task of organizing something like this, it has been fun; and hopefully those technical difficulties clear up so we can finish this run, and see how all the others have played, and what chaos our decisions have wrought.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 9/3/2024 at 2:09 PM, AlexArtsHere said:

The project has stalled. For over a week now, my Wi-Fi service has been extremely temperamental or outright non-existent.

Oh jeez, that really sucks! Here's hoping the issue gets resolved soon.

On 9/3/2024 at 2:09 PM, AlexArtsHere said:

This means we're within the final third of the game and, god willing, I hope to have this project completed and the resulting video published by the end of the year.

As long as we make it to Zephiel's throne room in time to defuse his bomb, then I think we're good.

On 9/3/2024 at 2:09 PM, AlexArtsHere said:

With that said, I am very grateful to all those who have joined me on this journey and I've no intention of doing anything but seeing this through to the end.

I have really been enjoying myself as a participant. Let me just say, I really appreciate all you have done to organize it. It has made for a great community endeavor.