[From hack to indie] Path of the Midnight Sun

[B.Mage]

Chapter 8 was pretty easy to be honest. I went at a very slow pace, and then the last wave, I just let them rush me while I walled at the fort

[Vayatir]

Chapter 8 was pretty easy to be honest. I went at a very slow pace, and then the last wave, I just let them rush me while I walled at the fort

[spoiler=Chapter 8 and stat shot] Yeah, but it's the benefit of hindsight. If I had taken it slower, I'm sure I would have had an easier time.

Okay so Menmus did actually get a 12 in skill, but other than that was horribly mediocre for me. That Sae'rah is comparable to him (aside from HP) is enough said on that point.

Cristoph was my bro throughout the playthrough, and his prayers to God were clearly answered.

Andre was The Load for the first few chapters, but after promotion he got better.

Rya was surprisingly useful for an archer, and I certainly didn't expect such a stellar performance from her. Sidenote, do we ever find out what's up with her eyes?

Garion wanted to be like Cristoph, but unfortunately could not compare.

Schwarz had skill issues and I probably should have fed the eyeball to him.

Ceapana was mounted healer, and that alone made her cool.

Sae'rah was getting very good level-ups, but she promoted at the start of Chapter 8 which meant she couldn't get much exp.

Weiss and his tankiness saved me so many times. I love you Weiss. <3

Puledra was healer Jeigan.

Cattleya was The Poison. I think Anna had it out for her, because whenever she was deployed things always seemed to go wrong. She got crit killed by one of the Luckos in Chapter 4 (a perfect kill, at that), and she seemed to suck away everybody else's good level-ups to get slightly better ones for herself. She got benched, and then Letruffe came along and was just all I wished Cattleya was and more.

Biggest disappointment was definitely Menmus for me.

[Book of Ereshkigal]

[spoiler=Route split choice] I'll go with Fa I guess. Mainly because I like her more (probably because she showed up first)

Edited May 28, 2014 by L95

[Wayward Winds]

[spoiler=Alfred and the final Ch. 8 wave]Curious. I thought that I was the only one who tried to beat chapter 8 asap to not get swarmed by those monsters at the end.

I designed the last wave to be OP as hell, but it seems that most people didn't have any problems beating those final monsters. XD

[spoiler=My Thoughts on the "OP" Wave]

Hate to say it, but if you're positioned right you've got little to fear from them. I was bunched up in the little "T" junction in the thickets above the village at the time. I'd already triggered the mauve dogs, but disarmed Hellios was keeping all but one of them distracted, and Schwarz and Cattleya were systematically taking them out. Centaurs and skeletons were mostly coming from the boss' direction, so I had Letruffe (Hook Blade) and Weiss forming a defensive line to hold them off, with Sae'rah as backup. Ceapana and Puldra were on healer/support duty. And that left Menmus, Andre, Djambo and Rya to handle the nuisances (big eyes and the odd other thing) trying to come in from the top left. A couple of turns later, and anything that was going to come after me had been wiped out. The rest was just clean up.

That said, I did freak out when I saw what had just spawned. But once I realised that I was in a good defensive position despite technically being surrounded, there weren't any problems.

[Azura]

[spoiler=Chapter 4]I think I've found a glitch or something. Garion simply doesn't show up in Chapter 4. I know I talked to him the correct way. He showed up, and I recruited him, on my first attempt at the chapter, but then I deliberately dragged it out to watch what would happen after the 17 turns. After getting the game over, I restarted via the game menu, and now he won't show up. I used a few savestates really early in the game, might that be the reason why?

Besides from that, I really like the hack. Shiori is awesome, and the music is really good. Thumbs up from here.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Azura

[Ancora]

[spoiler=Chapter 4]I think I've found a glitch or something. Garion simply doesn't show up in Chapter 4. I know I talked to him the correct way. He showed up, and I recruited him, on my first attempt at the chapter, but then I deliberately dragged it out to watch what would happen after the 17 turns. After getting the game over, I restarted via the game menu, and now he won't show up. I used a few savestates really early in the game, might that be the reason why?

Besides from that, I really like the hack. Shiori is awesome, and the music is really good. Thumbs up from here.

Did you reset the emulator? That normally solves some issues - hope it gets fixed for you! The hack is good :)

"File" tab -> Reset

Edited May 28, 2014 by Ancora

[Alfred Kamon]

[spoiler=Chapter 8]Well I rushed them because the dialogue seemed to imply that the waves would become progressively more difficult to the point where you would get overwhelmed, and considering the dialogue has usually been a good indicator of strategy I decided to follow it. I probably COULD have taken them down if I had waited for them to spawn instead, but because I decided to rush they spawned whilst my units were spread out in that part of the battlefield, meaning there was no way I was surviving an enemy phase with everybody alive.

Still, when I do a second playthrough, I'll probably try and turtle through them (hopefully with a better Menmus...).

But yeah, as I said before can't wait for the next part!

Chapter 8 was pretty easy to be honest. I went at a very slow pace, and then the last wave, I just let them rush me while I walled at the fort

[spoiler=My Thoughts on the "OP" Wave]

Hate to say it, but if you're positioned right you've got little to fear from them. I was bunched up in the little "T" junction in the thickets above the village at the time. I'd already triggered the mauve dogs, but disarmed Hellios was keeping all but one of them distracted, and Schwarz and Cattleya were systematically taking them out. Centaurs and skeletons were mostly coming from the boss' direction, so I had Letruffe (Hook Blade) and Weiss forming a defensive line to hold them off, with Sae'rah as backup. Ceapana and Puldra were on healer/support duty. And that left Menmus, Andre, Djambo and Rya to handle the nuisances (big eyes and the odd other thing) trying to come in from the top left. A couple of turns later, and anything that was going to come after me had been wiped out. The rest was just clean up.

That said, I did freak out when I saw what had just spawned. But once I realised that I was in a good defensive position despite technically being surrounded, there weren't any problems.

Wow, understood guys.

Apparently the creator is the only noob that found ch.8 really difficult lololol

But it's better this way, chapter 7 was really hard after all (at least judging by the feedback I've received).

^^

[spoiler=Chapter 4]I think I've found a glitch or something. Garion simply doesn't show up in Chapter 4. I know I talked to him the correct way. He showed up, and I recruited him, on my first attempt at the chapter, but then I deliberately dragged it out to watch what would happen after the 17 turns. After getting the game over, I restarted via the game menu, and now he won't show up. I used a few savestates really early in the game, might that be the reason why?

Besides from that, I really like the hack. Shiori is awesome, and the music is really good. Thumbs up from here.

That has been fixed in v.1.1, be sure to have downloaded the latest patch.

Also, if you saved in your battle preps in version 1.0, you need to get to chapter 4 again... I hope you saved in different slots or you had some savestates on chapter 3. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad you like Shi.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Alfred Kamon

[tuvarkz]

Alright, finished chapter 8, statshots and character comments in spoiler.

Faratrass is just awesome, a few levels, her def gets rolling, and she goes full snowball into a more-than-solid unit. Would still trade a couple def points for 4-5 more resistance, though. Nosferatu in next few chapters plz?

Rya is a quite good archer, her overaverage Res makes her good at walling casters while shooting them down. Eldritch eyeballs may never have been as scared of a princess.

Cristoph is decent, it's just that his abysmal skill and relatively low defense don't make him very attractive as a unit. Benched after chapter 4

Andre, winner of best trainee ever. Even with what seem to be comparatively bad RNG, he's still quite good and his high res make him a Puledra 2.0 in terms of offense once he promotes.

Puledra is quite good as a healer and ocasionally taking down the spare undead being, but he will probably end up lagging behind as Andre and Ceapanna gain levels and become far stronger. (I'll just assume Andre's promo nets him Staves)

Menmus, or why Wyverns are BEST.CLASS.EVER! The Agile Hasta makes him go from good to really really good, and the moment he gets C in axes and gets Short Axes and the Agile Axe rolling, he just owns anything in his path. Well, maybe Archers and magical users give him some trouble, but that's it (Assuming they even get to attack that is)

Cattleya, a beautiful myrmidon of pure offensive power. While her early levels are a little troublesome, she becomes a competent unit fast enough. Used the +2 STR on her.

Garion has the strength, the skill and a little bit more def than Cristoph, but his low spd makes him still destined to the bench after chapter 6.

Djambo, although can be gotten to 10 in chapter 6, it's quite problematic to do so (effectively boxing the bow knights and spamming Bonecrusher), but chapter 7 provides more than enough Revenants for him to gain the exp.

While Weiss has promising stats, his frailness (bows say hello), low luck (Which got him critted once by a monk) and relatively low skill (Which will probably end up locking him to swords) make me want to bench him. And why use a Peg Knight when we already have a Badass Wyvern Rider in the form of Menmus? As soon as I manage to promote Weiss, he's getting the Agile Estoc Schwarz was kind enough to bring to the table.

Weiss is quite the good cavalier, with good stats all around and the skill to employ his Axe availability to the fullest. Also, chapter 5x lets him easily reach levels 17-19 without major issues. A Knight Crest should probably be made available in Chapter 9, please. It's quite difficult for this one not to reach 20 before then.

Ceapanna, what FE8's Mist should have been. A more than competent healer who can fight as well, with reasonable durability and decent strength. Shame her weapon won't last long, as overusing it in 5x is a must (or else face the possibility of Weiss losing all his weapons)

Sae'rah still seems to not have flourished the moment she promoted, but nonetheless is already starting to show the potential of an agressive unit. If Soldiers could just be given 8 Con for her to not be as crippled with using Steel Lancers, she'd be far better (Used the +2 skl item on her)

Letruffe does his job as a thief, durable enough for a couple skirmishes before needing to heal, but at the same time can deal a good amount of damage.

Overall: Sae'rah needs a small buff. A Knight Crest in ch 9 is a must. Faratrass could use a bit more Res. Could Menmus get a higher Skl growth % so, according to what I have seen from others' snapshots, his Skl variation isn't as wide? Cattleya could use a +1 STR from the start. Also, Mercenary join soon please?

[Maya A.]

Since everyone is doing it, why not?

[spoiler=party members]

Tanky dark mage, I love it. Suffered from speed problems. Mage!Hector sounds about right.

Ahh Cristoph, you and your average stats. But hey, when have you seen a fighter with almost as much resistance as defense?

Archer with same strength as fighter. That is all. Much resistance. Such wow.

Mage with as much HP as fighter. Nothing else. Will try the other promotion path later.

AHAHAHAHA LOOK AT THAT SPEED.

AHAHAHA GET OUT. Too weak to even be trained.

Second best character 9/10. Gave him the luck boost cause he kept getting eating criticals. Some more skill would be nice.

Best character 10/10. Everyone else get out.

Hey, she got strength. That already makes her better than old man priest.

Hey, that Hook Blade saved my butt a few times. Look at that con and defense. Awesome.

Others I didn't screenshot: didn't use.

So yeah, speed seems to be a problem for my team in general. More of that would be nice.

Anyways, great job! I really enjoyed this, and felt kinda sad when I couldn't play anymore orz. Can't wait to see what else you're gonna throw at us~ (psst that Hollow King dude is hot make him a party member)

Also, about that battle preparations theme, is it something you made yourself or you imported it from another game?

[Shugey]

Welp, here's a massive critique or whatever. Obvious spoilers to those who haven't finished the current hack yet.

[spoiler=Character thoughts]

I might as well start with characters and stats. Remember, I played on Difficult Mode, so my comments apply to that. All I know, certain characters are a lot better on Normal.

Faratrass was extremely important in winning. She was a little tank who could one round a lot of tough enemies. Certain monsters and mages could hurt her, but she could bulk through most of it. Dark magic is kinda expensive though. Plotwise, pretty neat main character. Normally I would say the whole angst was overdone but as it was a major plot point, I have to say you did a good job with it. Solid character development. Of course, considering how Helios is a liar, I'm really not sure on how much I actually know about her. Felt kinda bad for her though.

Look at these fantastic stats I will never be able to use again. I knew something was up with him as soon as I noticed that he didn't appear in the battle prep support library. Of course, I figured this is an early release, no supports yet, etc. However, his fast growth rate made me suspicious, although I was honestly expecting him to die protecting Faratrass or something. I figured he was like Sigurd but turned out to be like Zeek from Tear Ring Saga. I benched him on a few maps so others could get some EXP, but I made good use of him on later maps. It was Difficult Mode, can't just ignore the best unit. You sorta have to use him, even though he will leave. Anna warned me so I stole his equips. Plot twist caught me off guard, it seemed a bit odd that the Demon King was trying to protect Faratrass from himself, but the whole seal business makes sense. Funny in hindsight as he was the guy to rescue Faratrass in Chapter 5. I expected a cool long lost brother Seth kinda character, not the main villain. Well done character. Although I kinda feel dumb for saving his Warp Sword and never using it. We get another Warp Knight, right? If not, I guess it will look cool in storage.

HERO CREST WHEN? Seriously, this dude might be my favorite character. He's like Othin without Wrath, still a great unit. I like how he handles his religion in his own way, he's sorta goofy but I like him. Easygoing but can get kinda serious. At the end of the day, nice guy. Hopefully he can promote to Hero. Statwise, he got seriously blessed it seems(all the praying payed off!) and he was really critical to my strategy in most chapters. Chatper 8 would have been near impossible without him, as I can't use Faratrass.

Hey, he was memorable to me. Like Boyd and Rhys combined.

Speaking of her, she's an archer that's ACTUALLY GOOD. WOAH. There's enough fliers and situations where she can be useful. The lightning arrow helped too, although I hardly used it. Her normal attacks did enough for me. Personality wise, didn't really get much out of her. Just a no-nonsense princess. Seems like a nice enough person. Probably going to be a powerful Ranger if she can promote to that.

He was a healer on Hard Mode. Obviously he was very helpful. His level ups weren't too bad either, but those bases are awful, and rightfully so. He was helpful, but not broken. Probably going to keep using him, healers are very important, and this one can hurt monsters a lot too. Personality is great, he's just an old guy who enjoys having fun. His interactions with the next guy were funny, keep it up

.

Ewan on steroids. This dude hit hard with magic and had some good speed as well. Totally worth training him up. Neat little guy, having vodka and hitting on an enemy soldier. His interactions are funny, totally going to keep using him.

Take that boss flag off of him while he's an enemy, seems like a lot of people missed him because of that. I was unsure, but figured he seemed nice enough, and hey, he joined. His stats were, well, average. Seven speed meant that magic users would tear him apart, and he has that bow weakness as well. Probably just needs a few more levels. Didn't seem to have much of a personality, loyal soldier and whatnot. Fine by me.

Guess who my least used character was. Or rather, don't, because I'll just tell you that its her. She can't damage things very well, has no durability, and isn't even THAT fast. The thief guy has better stats than her. Minor buffs would help her out, Maybe a personal sword or something? Personality is just like Menmus. Loyal soldier. Probably has a lot more to her, just didn't see that.

I did not use her much at all during the hack, as her level was capped up until now. I don't want to waste EXP on a unit who can't gain any. Of course, she did some damage on 5x and Chapter 7, sorta forced to have her fight there. Judgelight is in near perfect condition, so I can't wait until she can actually use it without wasting EXP. Neat character, wondered why she was so close to Faratrass but SHE WAS THE REAL LONG LOST SIBLING OOOOH. Sorta like Micaiah, but you did the plot twists right this time and made a better character. At least, she will be as long as her route doesn't involve senseless war crimes.

Garion is a cool guy, bandit Garcia and whatnot. He just wasn't very helpful. Growths didn't help much, dude is slow as hell. Couldn't even damage much on Difficult mode. Also, Cristoph was a much better axe user at this point, and he just got better while Garion was busy trying to hit things without getting killed by mages. Honestly, I would make this dude a prepromote Berserker. We only have one prepromote, and he is a healer anyway. The only other one we sorta had was Hellios, and he's gone for good. He would be a lot better for tougher chapters like Chapter 8 and whatnot. That's only my opinion though, I just find him pretty weak as is.

Bandit Ross, yeah! Dude wasn't too easy to train up, but totally feasible. Much better than his not-dad, and he's reaching Cristoph levels of power. Look forward to him getting even better, the trainees are done very well in this game.

Well isn't he an odd guy. Talking about ponies and stuff. Solid unit, not very durable though. He would get one shot by the archers in Chapter 7, and he would die easily in Chapter 6. Maybe some more base Defense? Going to keep using him, want to find out about his past and whatnot.

He hit level cap in Chapter 6, as he got extremely close in 5x. Giving this dude a Knight Crest IMMEDIATELY. As for his starting equipment, throw an Iron Sword in there as well. All he has are axes and a sword that works like an axe, and none of them are very durable. He only had three uses of the Lancereaver left by the end of 5x. An Iron Sword would give him something durable, accurate, and helpful for those axe dudes. Dude's still awesome, though. Reminded me of Maxim from Lufia II with the hair and confidence.

It probably helped that Last Duel was playing as the map theme. You better use that more than just that chapter, it is a damn good track and you converted it excellently. I just really like Lufia II. Now that I think about it, Cristoph reminds me a bit of Guy and Dekar. Anyway, next character.

Woah, swords AND healing. Very good unit, will promote her when possible. Good job on making a magic user with swords though. Her magic sword nearly broke though. In terms of personality, seems like a nice gal. Nothing more, nothing less.

It wasn't easy training her up at all. Enemies were getting durable, and she struggled to even inflict damage with her bases. Got her up to level 10 though, going to make her a Super Recruit or whatever it is called. Gotta have class diversity! She's like Amelia but stoic and cold. I like it.

Gentlemanly thief, I like it! He's going to be a lot of thievery and a decent amount of fighting, as he has good stats. Can't wait to do more with him. Nice hat.

Hee hee.

So overall, great characters, good balance, only a few suggestions I had. Feel free to take them into consideration or ignore them entirely. It's your game, and you have done a very good job with it.

[spoiler=Other stuff]

Like I said earlier, holy crap this hack was amazing. Did not expect this much from the first release of an FE8 hack, glad you stuck with this project. I think I got everything in the chapters, although it sounds like a missed the Agile Hasta, whatever that is. The chapters themselves were really good.

ha ha fatty guys

In all seriousness, the whole red text thing is genius. It allows for non stagnant maps without some bullshit coming out of nowhere and ruining your plan. It also allows for characters to talk more mid battle, and for advice to not seem like it is breaking the fourth wall. Excellent idea, great execution. Can't wait to screw around with the Tower and Skirmishes to see what you did with them.

Chapters each have their own quirk, never feels like i'm playing "ANOTHER BANDIT CHAPTER" or anything. The stealth mission was tough but I got all the treasure. Thanks Menmus.

Plot and characters are great, did not see plot twists coming but they didn't feel like they were dumb or anything. The game is well structured, pacing is great, and now the plot is getting REALLY good. Like shit, didn't meant to unleash the Demon King.

One minor issue, I can't buy Heal staves and other low level equipment from the map stores. I think Serafew only sells stuff like Mend and Flash as opposed to Heal and Light, and no place sells Iron Lances or Fire. I can still buy them through the battle prep armory, but they are more expensive there. I just like using the cheaper equipment, so modding the map shops a bit more would be great. But yeah, graphics, music, everything is great. Anything I forgot to say, I'll try to remember later.

Wow, that took a while. But yeah, good job. This may just be my favorite hack. Sorry DoF, EN, and TLP.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Shugey

[Dandragon]

So from what I've noticed chapter 8 seems to be the last chapter of the current version. Which is sad.

So Christoph is gonna promote to War Monk hm hah hm hah HM?!

[B.Mage]

I didn't find Chapter 7 hard at all. I don't think I had to restart/savestate for that one at all (except for the fact I forgot to put Weiss and I chose the wrong unit by accident. And the fact that I just kept skipping turns to know where the Thief comes up, but that was just to help me recruit him because I wasn't sure where he would come.)

ANYWAYS. My Plan.

I had split my units up, having Hellios rush to Shoiri to support, Fa and Menmus went slowly with after with Letruffe, and then Menmus and Letruffe went to the right. (PINSIR ATTACK WEEEE) and then I had the rest of my units (Andre, Ceapana, Schwarz, Cattleya, Puledra and Rya) Led by Weiss, attack the left side and meet in the middle. (BLACK PONY TANKED AN ARROW I WAS SO HAPPY) and then I slowly advanced and managed to get all Treasure.

[Alfred Kamon]

Alright, finished chapter 8, statshots and character comments in spoiler.

Faratrass is just awesome, a few levels, her def gets rolling, and she goes full snowball into a more-than-solid unit. Would still trade a couple def points for 4-5 more resistance, though. Nosferatu in next few chapters plz?

Rya is a quite good archer, her overaverage Res makes her good at walling casters while shooting them down. Eldritch eyeballs may never have been as scared of a princess.

Cristoph is decent, it's just that his abysmal skill and relatively low defense don't make him very attractive as a unit. Benched after chapter 4

Andre, winner of best trainee ever. Even with what seem to be comparatively bad RNG, he's still quite good and his high res make him a Puledra 2.0 in terms of offense once he promotes.

Puledra is quite good as a healer and ocasionally taking down the spare undead being, but he will probably end up lagging behind as Andre and Ceapanna gain levels and become far stronger. (I'll just assume Andre's promo nets him Staves)

Menmus, or why Wyverns are BEST.CLASS.EVER! The Agile Hasta makes him go from good to really really good, and the moment he gets C in axes and gets Short Axes and the Agile Axe rolling, he just owns anything in his path. Well, maybe Archers and magical users give him some trouble, but that's it (Assuming they even get to attack that is)

Cattleya, a beautiful myrmidon of pure offensive power. While her early levels are a little troublesome, she becomes a competent unit fast enough. Used the +2 STR on her.

Garion has the strength, the skill and a little bit more def than Cristoph, but his low spd makes him still destined to the bench after chapter 6.

Djambo, although can be gotten to 10 in chapter 6, it's quite problematic to do so (effectively boxing the bow knights and spamming Bonecrusher), but chapter 7 provides more than enough Revenants for him to gain the exp.

While Weiss has promising stats, his frailness (bows say hello), low luck (Which got him critted once by a monk) and relatively low skill (Which will probably end up locking him to swords) make me want to bench him. And why use a Peg Knight when we already have a Badass Wyvern Rider in the form of Menmus? As soon as I manage to promote Weiss, he's getting the Agile Estoc Schwarz was kind enough to bring to the table.

Weiss is quite the good cavalier, with good stats all around and the skill to employ his Axe availability to the fullest. Also, chapter 5x lets him easily reach levels 17-19 without major issues. A Knight Crest should probably be made available in Chapter 9, please. It's quite difficult for this one not to reach 20 before then.

Ceapanna, what FE8's Mist should have been. A more than competent healer who can fight as well, with reasonable durability and decent strength. Shame her weapon won't last long, as overusing it in 5x is a must (or else face the possibility of Weiss losing all his weapons)

Sae'rah still seems to not have flourished the moment she promoted, but nonetheless is already starting to show the potential of an agressive unit. If Soldiers could just be given 8 Con for her to not be as crippled with using Steel Lancers, she'd be far better (Used the +2 skl item on her)

Letruffe does his job as a thief, durable enough for a couple skirmishes before needing to heal, but at the same time can deal a good amount of damage.

Overall: Sae'rah needs a small buff. A Knight Crest in ch 9 is a must. Faratrass could use a bit more Res. Could Menmus get a higher Skl growth % so, according to what I have seen from others' snapshots, his Skl variation isn't as wide? Cattleya could use a +1 STR from the start. Also, Mercenary join soon please?

[spoiler=general comments on final team]Yeah, there'll be a promotion item in ch.9.

Also, I like to have characters with some flawed stats. Faratrass won't ever be good in Res (unless you get really BLESSED). That way you can compensate their flaws with some other characters. Having someone who is good in everything isn't good for difficulty balancing.

Sae'rah is ok, I saw many screens and her stats are good. She just joins late so it's hard to train her properly for now.

But... I totally agree on Cattleya. She's really weak as of now.

(also wow, that Menmus is pretty good!)

Thanks for the feedback! :3

Since everyone is doing it, why not?

[spoiler=party members]

Tanky dark mage, I love it. Suffered from speed problems. Mage!Hector sounds about right.

Ahh Cristoph, you and your average stats. But hey, when have you seen a fighter with almost as much resistance as defense?

Archer with same strength as fighter. That is all. Much resistance. Such wow.

Mage with as much HP as fighter. Nothing else. Will try the other promotion path later.

AHAHAHAHA LOOK AT THAT SPEED.

AHAHAHA GET OUT. Too weak to even be trained.

Second best character 9/10. Gave him the luck boost cause he kept getting eating criticals. Some more skill would be nice.

Best character 10/10. Everyone else get out.

Hey, she got strength. That already makes her better than old man priest.

Hey, that Hook Blade saved my butt a few times. Look at that con and defense. Awesome.

Others I didn't screenshot: didn't use.

So yeah, speed seems to be a problem for my team in general. More of that would be nice.

Anyways, great job! I really enjoyed this, and felt kinda sad when I couldn't play anymore orz. Can't wait to see what else you're gonna throw at us~ (psst that Hollow King dude is hot make him a party member)

Also, about that battle preparations theme, is it something you made yourself or you imported it from another game?

[spoiler=chapter 8 final stats]Oh wow. Just look at that Schwarz! I'm glad you liked him, you're one of the few people who actually used him. Which is pretty great because I want him to be a pretty important character in Fa's route.

Hollow King won't be playable unfortunately but he'll be a badass enemy

The battle preps theme is "N's Castle" from Pokémon B2/W2.

Welp, here's a massive critique or whatever. Obvious spoilers to those who haven't finished the current hack yet.

[spoiler=Character thoughts]

I might as well start with characters and stats. Remember, I played on Difficult Mode, so my comments apply to that. All I know, certain characters are a lot better on Normal.

Faratrass was extremely important in winning. She was a little tank who could one round a lot of tough enemies. Certain monsters and mages could hurt her, but she could bulk through most of it. Dark magic is kinda expensive though. Plotwise, pretty neat main character. Normally I would say the whole angst was overdone but as it was a major plot point, I have to say you did a good job with it. Solid character development. Of course, considering how Helios is a liar, I'm really not sure on how much I actually know about her. Felt kinda bad for her though.

Look at these fantastic stats I will never be able to use again. I knew something was up with him as soon as I noticed that he didn't appear in the battle prep support library. Of course, I figured this is an early release, no supports yet, etc. However, his fast growth rate made me suspicious, although I was honestly expecting him to die protecting Faratrass or something. I figured he was like Sigurd but turned out to be like Zeek from Tear Ring Saga. I benched him on a few maps so others could get some EXP, but I made good use of him on later maps. It was Difficult Mode, can't just ignore the best unit. You sorta have to use him, even though he will leave. Anna warned me so I stole his equips. Plot twist caught me off guard, it seemed a bit odd that the Demon King was trying to protect Faratrass from himself, but the whole seal business makes sense. Funny in hindsight as he was the guy to rescue Faratrass in Chapter 5. I expected a cool long lost brother Seth kinda character, not the main villain. Well done character. Although I kinda feel dumb for saving his Warp Sword and never using it. We get another Warp Knight, right? If not, I guess it will look cool in storage.

HERO CREST WHEN? Seriously, this dude might be my favorite character. He's like Othin without Wrath, still a great unit. I like how he handles his religion in his own way, he's sorta goofy but I like him. Easygoing but can get kinda serious. At the end of the day, nice guy. Hopefully he can promote to Hero. Statwise, he got seriously blessed it seems(all the praying payed off!) and he was really critical to my strategy in most chapters. Chatper 8 would have been near impossible without him, as I can't use Faratrass.

Hey, he was memorable to me. Like Boyd and Rhys combined.

Speaking of her, she's an archer that's ACTUALLY GOOD. WOAH. There's enough fliers and situations where she can be useful. The lightning arrow helped too, although I hardly used it. Her normal attacks did enough for me. Personality wise, didn't really get much out of her. Just a no-nonsense princess. Seems like a nice enough person. Probably going to be a powerful Ranger if she can promote to that.

He was a healer on Hard Mode. Obviously he was very helpful. His level ups weren't too bad either, but those bases are awful, and rightfully so. He was helpful, but not broken. Probably going to keep using him, healers are very important, and this one can hurt monsters a lot too. Personality is great, he's just an old guy who enjoys having fun. His interactions with the next guy were funny, keep it up

.

Ewan on steroids. This dude hit hard with magic and had some good speed as well. Totally worth training him up. Neat little guy, having vodka and hitting on an enemy soldier. His interactions are funny, totally going to keep using him.

Take that boss flag off of him while he's an enemy, seems like a lot of people missed him because of that. I was unsure, but figured he seemed nice enough, and hey, he joined. His stats were, well, average. Seven speed meant that magic users would tear him apart, and he has that bow weakness as well. Probably just needs a few more levels. Didn't seem to have much of a personality, loyal soldier and whatnot. Fine by me.

Guess who my least used character was. Or rather, don't, because I'll just tell you that its her. She can't damage things very well, has no durability, and isn't even THAT fast. The thief guy has better stats than her. Minor buffs would help her out, Maybe a personal sword or something? Personality is just like Menmus. Loyal soldier. Probably has a lot more to her, just didn't see that.

I did not use her much at all during the hack, as her level was capped up until now. I don't want to waste EXP on a unit who can't gain any. Of course, she did some damage on 5x and Chapter 7, sorta forced to have her fight there. Judgelight is in near perfect condition, so I can't wait until she can actually use it without wasting EXP. Neat character, wondered why she was so close to Faratrass but SHE WAS THE REAL LONG LOST SIBLING OOOOH. Sorta like Micaiah, but you did the plot twists right this time and made a better character. At least, she will be as long as her route doesn't involve senseless war crimes.

Garion is a cool guy, bandit Garcia and whatnot. He just wasn't very helpful. Growths didn't help much, dude is slow as hell. Couldn't even damage much on Difficult mode. Also, Cristoph was a much better axe user at this point, and he just got better while Garion was busy trying to hit things without getting killed by mages. Honestly, I would make this dude a prepromote Berserker. We only have one prepromote, and he is a healer anyway. The only other one we sorta had was Hellios, and he's gone for good. He would be a lot better for tougher chapters like Chapter 8 and whatnot. That's only my opinion though, I just find him pretty weak as is.

Bandit Ross, yeah! Dude wasn't too easy to train up, but totally feasible. Much better than his not-dad, and he's reaching Cristoph levels of power. Look forward to him getting even better, the trainees are done very well in this game.

Well isn't he an odd guy. Talking about ponies and stuff. Solid unit, not very durable though. He would get one shot by the archers in Chapter 7, and he would die easily in Chapter 6. Maybe some more base Defense? Going to keep using him, want to find out about his past and whatnot.

He hit level cap in Chapter 6, as he got extremely close in 5x. Giving this dude a Knight Crest IMMEDIATELY. As for his starting equipment, throw an Iron Sword in there as well. All he has are axes and a sword that works like an axe, and none of them are very durable. He only had three uses of the Lancereaver left by the end of 5x. An Iron Sword would give him something durable, accurate, and helpful for those axe dudes. Dude's still awesome, though. Reminded me of Maxim from Lufia II with the hair and confidence.

It probably helped that Last Duel was playing as the map theme. You better use that more than just that chapter, it is a damn good track and you converted it excellently. I just really like Lufia II. Now that I think about it, Cristoph reminds me a bit of Guy and Dekar. Anyway, next character.

Woah, swords AND healing. Very good unit, will promote her when possible. Good job on making a magic user with swords though. Her magic sword nearly broke though. In terms of personality, seems like a nice gal. Nothing more, nothing less.

It wasn't easy training her up at all. Enemies were getting durable, and she struggled to even inflict damage with her bases. Got her up to level 10 though, going to make her a Super Recruit or whatever it is called. Gotta have class diversity! She's like Amelia but stoic and cold. I like it.

Gentlemanly thief, I like it! He's going to be a lot of thievery and a decent amount of fighting, as he has good stats. Can't wait to do more with him. Nice hat.

Hee hee.

So overall, great characters, good balance, only a few suggestions I had. Feel free to take them into consideration or ignore them entirely. It's your game, and you have done a very good job with it.

[spoiler=Other stuff]

Like I said earlier, holy crap this hack was amazing. Did not expect this much from the first release of an FE8 hack, glad you stuck with this project. I think I got everything in the chapters, although it sounds like a missed the Agile Hasta, whatever that is. The chapters themselves were really good.

ha ha fatty guys

In all seriousness, the whole red text thing is genius. It allows for non stagnant maps without some bullshit coming out of nowhere and ruining your plan. It also allows for characters to talk more mid battle, and for advice to not seem like it is breaking the fourth wall. Excellent idea, great execution. Can't wait to screw around with the Tower and Skirmishes to see what you did with them.

Chapters each have their own quirk, never feels like i'm playing "ANOTHER BANDIT CHAPTER" or anything. The stealth mission was tough but I got all the treasure. Thanks Menmus.

Plot and characters are great, did not see plot twists coming but they didn't feel like they were dumb or anything. The game is well structured, pacing is great, and now the plot is getting REALLY good. Like shit, didn't meant to unleash the Demon King.

One minor issue, I can't buy Heal staves and other low level equipment from the map stores. I think Serafew only sells stuff like Mend and Flash as opposed to Heal and Light, and no place sells Iron Lances or Fire. I can still buy them through the battle prep armory, but they are more expensive there. I just like using the cheaper equipment, so modding the map shops a bit more would be great. But yeah, graphics, music, everything is great. Anything I forgot to say, I'll try to remember later.

Wow, that took a while. But yeah, good job. This may just be my favorite hack. Sorry DoF, EN, and TLP.

Hehehe! Thanks Shugey, this comment of yours is so precious to me.

I like how you analysed every character, both in raw gameplay power and in personality.

[spoiler=general comments, big spoilers]Yeah, I suppose Hellios is just too good to not use him in Difficult Mode. he's such a perfect troll

Do you want to know who will be able to use Warp Swords?

[spoiler=Warp sword][spoiler=Hey, this is a big spoiler][spoiler=Ok, here you go]Faratrass.

And wow, that Cristoph is amazing. I didn't even know he could be that good. I think he prayed the RNG goddess well enough.

Another horrible Cattleya... now I REALLY have to make her stronger, especially because her recruitment is a bit nasty.

Also, wow. Your levels are pretty high. I don't know if that's because of DM or you're just an exceptional player or you grinded a little (boss abusing Faratrass in ch.8, maybe? And Garion in ch.3?)

Hmm... there aren't common items in the world map shops because you can already get them in the battle preps shop. And the price is the same... I just generally raised the price of things, hm. Especially because I give the player the opportunity to get a lot of gems.

I'm really happy you enjoyed this hack to the point you consider it your favorite. (Y)

Edited May 28, 2014 by Alfred Kamon

[eclipse]

MADE IT! Time for pics/thoughts after a blind Difficult Mode run.

[spoiler=Screenshots and thoughts]

So to start things off, we have the MVP. Got enough Speed to double (and not be doubled), and was bulky enough to take hits when needed. His ability to hit Res helped immensely with the monsters in the later parts, as they were getting defensively tanky (31 HP/13 DEF kind of tanky, with 13-14 SPD to boot)

Looks cool, but didn't have mounted canto with durability. Since repositioning makes things easier on my sanity, out she went.

Her Wind Sword was clutch in Chapter 7 (the floating eyeballs take critical damage from it). Mounted healer with offense is always welcome (and unlike the other guy, she wasn't insta-dead when a late-game monster attacked her)

JUST bulky enough not to die instantly, JUST fast enough to stay in my team. Had either of these gone out of fashion, he would've hit the bench.

She makes up for her awful Speed by hitting Res when it counts.

He was very close to being ORKO'd constantly in Chapter 8 - he'd require a minimum of four Speed levels to NOT be doubled by the Skeletons. He makes a good wall-buster, and that's about it.

Kinda slow for a thief, but sort of makes up for it in bulk. His character could use a bit of tweaking, as he doesn't feel. . .right. Gameplay-wise, his recruitment amuses me.

The ONLY reason why he wasn't insta-kicked from my party was because he flies. That's. It. His Speed was awful, his accuracy was almost as bad, and he didn't quite have the offense to make up for those two flaws.

Mage tank, monster gibber, and healer, all in one Jeigan package. If anyone got the Speedwings, it would be him.

Rambo right here. The only reason why he wasn't on Andre's level of godliness was because I ran out of chapters.

She's either awful or amazing against enemies. Against flying eyeballs, it's "amazing".

Sorry, girl, but you came at the wrong time. Maybe skirmishes might get you up to par.

Surprisingly bulky for a pegasus knight, with awful Skill/Luck to make up for it. . .but since he has swords, the only issue I have with him is his Luck and somewhat ineffective offense.

I think he has the potential to be the next Sigurd. This one. . .was the next Lowen.

Overall: I think the way the story is presented in the beginning could use some polishing, but the premise/plot looks like it'll work. For a Normal run, I think it'll be relaxing - for Difficult, the player will need Hellios for a very long time (he was still beating the crap out of everyone at the end of this hack). Good luck with the route split~!

[Pull My Devil Trigger]

Chapter 5 was awesome

SCHWARZ is best character I just don't see how he is "girly-looking" change that description to "manly as fuck" right now

as for the chapter, I think I figured out how to get everything but didn't get the Ruby because the only way I figured how to was with Menmund, whom I didn't recruit, oops

[aboose]

I agree, the red text is a fantastic idea and well executed.

I think I've spoiled myself with this rom hack! I want more FE but there aren't many with as great quality as this one.

Edited May 28, 2014 by aboose

[Fateborn]

I agree, the red text is a fantastic idea and well executed.

I think I've spoiled myself with this rom hack! I want more FE but there aren't many with as great quality as this one.

Agreed. So Kamon. Get on with it. :D We're satisfied but you'd have to feed us more later.

[Jyron Stone]

I was the person that watched Vayatir play: since I haven't played the hack for myself, I'll just throw in my two cents on the non-gameplay stuff.

First, the nitpicks:

• Phoebe's modern slang feels very out of place: the rest of the character dialogue does a pretty good job of feeling like it would fit in a proper FE game, making her anachronistic speech particularly jarring.
• Probably more of a subjective thing, but some of the song choices didn't fit well with the GBA sound (the boss themes come to mind, as much as I love Bravely Default's soundtrack). In particular, the GBA does not seem to like guitars.
• There should be an earlier warning prompt from Schwarz about the insta-gameover house in Chapter 5. It's somewhat dirty to have it be possible to reach that house beforehand and have to start over the chapter through no fault of the player, especially when visiting the first house is what opens a blind spot among the soldiers for you to progress in the first place. Also the chapter music was pretty extreme for zigzagging around a town and delivering baked goods. :P
• Chapter 4 is pretty confusing the first time through. You're on a time limit to reach Fa, but Shiori keeps saying to stay away instead, and for good reason: capped monsters that will eat you so hard that your ancestors will have bite marks. Given that this is a hack, odds are one's first instinct is to immediately save state reload if they can't hightail out of the monsters' range. There's no clear indication that those guys Shiori warns you about are actually immobile without first putting your neck on the line.
• Fa's change of heart regarding human/innocent bloodshed in Chapter 6 is pretty abrupt and extreme, especially considering she seems to tone it back down immediately afterward.
• Skype's screen sharing was starting to lag pretty hard at this point, so I might be missing some important lines, but the reveal about Shiori's vision in the Interlude seems like a bit of a plot hole/contrivance. Shiori opens her eyes numerous times despite being blind (girl has a flair for the dramatic I suppose), but when she loses her magic sight, she apparently never opens her eyes until Fa tells her to.

And now on to the gushing:

• The chapter set-ups were great, particularly Chapter 5 improving on FE9's idea of a stealth level (aforementioned house aside).
• Though some of the characterization was a bit plain (which I can excuse for now given that I haven't seen any supports or the like yet), the characters that were colorful were particularly enjoyable. BLOOD FOR VALONTUOJA! VODKA FOR THE CHILDREN!
• I was impressed how Shiori fluidly goes from "crutch of magical nuking" to someone that most likely needs some backup/healing items come Chapters 7 and 8.
• You made an Archer into a unit that's actually worth using you brilliant sonofabitch.
• The new animations are all pretty damn good. I particularly liked the minor touch with Andre's Wonder Pupil class no longer losing balance when launching an attack.
• The fact that certain classes are no longer bound to specific weapon choices was pretty cool, as well as how the AI is no longer bound to only using male sprites (though that's only really applicable to the Cavaliers at the moment).
• The recruitment conversation between Fa and Menmus was the cutest fucking thing and it actually made me feel sad because she was trying so hard to make her ex-soldiers not die in doubt of their cause but he just couldn't raise his weapon against her despite her attempts to the contrary and aaaaaaaaaaa otp

[B.Mage]

[spoiler=general comments on final team]Yeah, there'll be a promotion item in ch.9.

Also, I like to have characters with some flawed stats. Faratrass won't ever be good in Res (unless you get really BLESSED). That way you can compensate their flaws with some other characters. Having someone who is good in everything isn't good for difficulty balancing.

Sae'rah is ok, I saw many screens and her stats are good. She just joins late so it's hard to train her properly for now.

But... I totally agree on Cattleya. She's really weak as of now.

(also wow, that Menmus is pretty good!)

Thanks for the feedback! :3

[spoiler=chapter 8 final stats]Oh wow. Just look at that Schwarz! I'm glad you liked him, you're one of the few people who actually used him. Which is pretty great because I want him to be a pretty important character in Fa's route.

Hollow King won't be playable unfortunately but he'll be a badass enemy

The battle preps theme is "N's Castle" from Pokémon B2/W2.

Hehehe! Thanks Shugey, this comment of yours is so precious to me.

I like how you analysed every character, both in raw gameplay power and in personality.

[spoiler=general comments, big spoilers]Yeah, I suppose Hellios is just too good to not use him in Difficult Mode. he's such a perfect troll

Do you want to know who will be able to use Warp Swords?

[spoiler=Warp sword][spoiler=Hey, this is a big spoiler][spoiler=Ok, here you go]Faratrass.

And wow, that Cristoph is amazing. I didn't even know he could be that good. I think he prayed the RNG goddess well enough.

Another horrible Cattleya... now I REALLY have to make her stronger, especially because her recruitment is a bit nasty.

Also, wow. Your levels are pretty high. I don't know if that's because of DM or you're just an exceptional player or you grinded a little (boss abusing Faratrass in ch.8, maybe? And Garion in ch.3?)

Hmm... there aren't common items in the world map shops because you can already get them in the battle preps shop. And the price is the same... I just generally raised the price of things, hm. Especially because I give the player the opportunity to get a lot of gems.

I'm really happy you enjoyed this hack to the point you consider it your favorite. (Y)

Will Shoiri evolve ASAP or will it be later?

I knew the Battle Prep Music sounded familiar, and I'm 172% sure that the LoZ OoT Opening music for the Opening music of this Hack.

I used Schwarz, feelsbd He's my 4th favourite unit on the team D:

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH FARATRASS IS GONNA BE THE DARK KNIGHT CLASS, AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH *faints, orgasms and cries at the same time* Will she learn Anima magic too?

[Shugey]

Hehehe! Thanks Shugey, this comment of yours is so precious to me.

I like how you analysed every character, both in raw gameplay power and in personality.

[spoiler=general comments, big spoilers]Yeah, I suppose Hellios is just too good to not use him in Difficult Mode. he's such a perfect troll

Do you want to know who will be able to use Warp Swords?

[spoiler=Warp sword][spoiler=Hey, this is a big spoiler][spoiler=Ok, here you go]Faratrass.

And wow, that Cristoph is amazing. I didn't even know he could be that good. I think he prayed the RNG goddess well enough.

Another horrible Cattleya... now I REALLY have to make her stronger, especially because her recruitment is a bit nasty.

Also, wow. Your levels are pretty high. I don't know if that's because of DM or you're just an exceptional player or you grinded a little (boss abusing Faratrass in ch.8, maybe? And Garion in ch.3?)

Hmm... there aren't common items in the world map shops because you can already get them in the battle preps shop. And the price is the same... I just generally raised the price of things, hm. Especially because I give the player the opportunity to get a lot of gems.

I'm really happy you enjoyed this hack to the point you consider it your favorite. (Y)

Yeah, this is probably the most anticipated one for me right now. TLP is the only real finished hack, and I dunno what the others are doing. As for levels, I just fought a lot and ignored using Shiori and other maxed units(Weiss once he reached level cap) so that others could get EXP. No boss abuse. I also fought out all the Chapter 8 waves, no way I could break through and beat the boss without someone dying. I guess I never noticed that the prices were the same. I guess that "issue" is solved. But yeah, make Catteya stronger, Garion faster or something, and give Weiss an Iron Sword. Not much else I can suggest.

[spoiler=THAT REALLY BIG SPOILER]I should have figured Faratrass would be able to use warp magic. After all, it would allow her to damage enemies with large RES. I hope she can promote soon, she's at level 19 in my game!

Edited May 29, 2014 by Shugey

[LightingChaos]

Hey Alfred, I really love this hack. It's amazing, I love the music, characters and all of that. Keep up this awesome work.

[Alastor15243]

Hey, got the hack working, gotta say, great work so far! PLEASE tell me that Hellios has good growth rates, his class is way too awesome for him to not be used the whole game.

Also, bit of a glitch/oversight I found during chapter 2. That dialogue that happens the first time Faratrass attacks an enemy, featuring that generic male soldier, happens even if you're fighting one of the female units, in this case a cavalier. I added a picture to demonstrate.

[Percivalé]

so i'm on chapter 8 not finished yet BUT

[spoiler=buttmad]come on man why did you have to make the myrm one of the worst units in the game, with a meh personality too?? you can do better than that! in the update i better get more badass myrms because cattleya is a fucking pansy. she isn't worthy of the myrm title. sucks because my Always Use Myrmidons policy kinda got me fucked over in the end.

i'm not really that mad but i do expect better myrms from you in the future

oh also schwarz says "payed" in chapter 6 when it should be "paid"

also there's a weird glitch in 5x that someone else has probably mentioned but if not I'll try to explain it because it's kinda hard to explain

edit: pssst

edit: I'm fond of the name 'Ramov' and was wondering if I could possibly borrow it for this writing project I'm doing?

Edited May 29, 2014 by Quote

[eclipse]

so i'm on chapter 8 not finished yet BUT

[spoiler=buttmad]come on man why did you have to make the myrm one of the worst units in the game, with a meh personality too?? you can do better than that! in the update i better get more badass myrms because cattleya is a fucking pansy. she isn't worthy of the myrm title. sucks because my Always Use Myrmidons policy kinda got me fucked over in the end.

i'm not really that mad but i do expect better myrms from you in the future

oh also schwarz says "payed" in chapter 6 when it should be "paid"

also there's a weird glitch in 5x that someone else has probably mentioned but if not I'll try to explain it because it's kinda hard to explain

edit: pssst

You can probably send a PM to Alfred if you wish to explain that glitch better. Screenshots can help!

[TheWill]

If I recall correctly, Alfred said he is going to buff Cattelya slightly and a slight buff is all she needs. She's pretty good, otherwise.