Fire Mumblem: The Chronicles of Lussaria (Beta 1 Released! 1/2/2014)

[MarkyJoe1990]

Out of nowhere, I made a new enemy phase theme. It's for early game, and I'm actually surprised at how well it came out.

The Enemy Moves Forward ~ Stalker

EDIT: Stealth update because I wanted to add more.

Edited March 8, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Agro]

bro when are you gonna use panning and some other samples

Edited March 8, 2014 by Agro

[MarkyJoe1990]

bro when are you gonna use panning and some other samples

I don't think I can use panning, but uh... even if I could, it's the game boy advance. What use could panning have?

Other samples on the other hand... you got me there. I really don't use a lot of different samples. I'll try out other ones when I get back from work, assuming I remember to do it.

[Agro]

Try another method of song insertion? It's easier and more efficient than ZSE and also supports panning, pitch bends and modulation. I know that one of the reasons you did prefer to use ZSE was user-friendliness but the mid2agb method is about as user-friendly as it gets. Also, given that most people are playing with either a stereo headset and/or stereo speakers, you could do a lot of fun stuff with panning if you wanted to.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Agro

[MarkyJoe1990]

Try another method of song insertion? It's easier and more efficient than ZSE and also supports panning, pitch bends and modulation. I know that one of the reasons you did prefer to use ZSE was user-friendliness but the mid2agb method is about as user-friendly as it gets. Also, given that most people are playing with either a stereo headset and/or stereo speakers, you could do a lot of fun stuff with panning if you wanted to.

Whoa, really? I gotta check this out. Thanks!

[coolperson1145]

Whoa, really? I gotta check this out. Thanks!

Yeah Agro has given me a lot of input when it comes down to music hacking. This is definitely a superior method in my opinion. Speaking of which I wouldn't mind helping out with this project in terms of its music. I've enjoyed the beta and I love the direction the story is going in.

EDIT: In terms of bugs and whatnot, I did notice the game crashes as soon as I try to move in the netherworld. And for whatever reason Feltyn isn't on the unit list during the prelude. You can use him but when I scroll through the unit list he isn't there for some odd reason.

Edited March 9, 2014 by coolperson1145

[MarkyJoe1990]

Yeah Agro has given me a lot of input when it comes down to music hacking. This is definitely a superior method in my opinion. Speaking of which I wouldn't mind helping out with this project in terms of its music. I've enjoyed the beta and I love the direction the story is going in.

Splendid! Just add me on skype and I'll toss you into the group.

Having more music would really be beneficial to us. While I'm confident in my skills to make good melodies, a few people have told me that the chord progressions I use are rather limited. Perhaps some more musical influence and contributions from a different person will help color up the game's sound track.

Edited March 9, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Mrbrkill]

So I pretty much finished the beta, I have enjoyed it. The writing is amusing, in especially the hackers. For the chapters, they were exciting, and surprisingly difficult. The gameplay felt very awakeingey. I do have a few complaints.

In the first level, one of the objectives is visit all the houses, and in the area you start in there are a bunch or unvisitable huts. Considering the unique map tile choice I found this confusing, and wasted a turn trying to visit the huts. It doesn't add anything gameplay wise, so this seems unneeded.

Also I don't think you can really do anything about this at this point, but the starting playable unit variety is a little lacking, mostly because of the three mages, who feel almost the same gameplay wise. Also the fact the majority of starting units are super fragile doesn't help diversify them game play wise.

I will not there are a few exception an I love how the archer is one of your best starting units, to compensate for the fact she's an archer.

I will not that during the intralude I skipped the text then after having control of the new party and stupidly making a mistake reseting, my save file got completely corrupted.

Overall though great job, and I looked forward to future updates.

[MarkyJoe1990]

So I pretty much finished the beta, I have enjoyed it. The writing is amusing, in especially the hackers. For the chapters, they were exciting, and surprisingly difficult. The gameplay felt very awakeingey. I do have a few complaints.

Awakeningy...? I strove to make the gameplay as far from awakening as possible, but perhaps you see that game differently than I do (Excessive enemy phase reliance, player phase being just taking your most survivable 1-2 range unit and tossing them into the fray. Boring, non-strategic stuff like that).

In the first level, one of the objectives is visit all the houses, and in the area you start in there are a bunch or unvisitable huts. Considering the unique map tile choice I found this confusing, and wasted a turn trying to visit the huts. It doesn't add anything gameplay wise, so this seems unneeded.

Alright. I'll change the text so that it specifies the non-white houses.

Also I don't think you can really do anything about this at this point, but the starting playable unit variety is a little lacking, mostly because of the three mages, who feel almost the same gameplay wise. Also the fact the majority of starting units are super fragile doesn't help diversify them game play wise.

It's been a while since I last played the currently released beta, but I'll let you know right now; I tried my best to make the three mages different from each other. Lussaria's Ziggy Stardust tome now grants +3 defense instead of Spd/Skl, and she has the best physical durability of the three mages. Sorlene has the best magic and skill, and has a great luck growth. Kinsan is the least durable, but also the fastest, and has the best resistence. Hopefully that makes them more distinct.

As for the overall durability of units... As you read above, I buffed Lussaria's defense (She got nerfs in some other areas though). I've also upped Shigeid's defense and resistence. Sorlene is a little durable. Enough that she doesn't get one-rounded by mercenaries anymore (The released version might not have that problem, but mine did for a while). Jonsin... still gets doubled by Mercs. I'm a little unsure of what to do with him, since he is by far the worst combat unit, but I think the gap in his abilities is way too big to balance his mounted status. I went and upped his strength, but I might also opt for upped defense as well.

Marina... alright, I don't have any problems with Marina. I feel she's exactly where she needs to be.

You also got Poalski, who got a bit of a defense boost in the version I'm working with. Hopefully all these things help revert your issues when it's released.

There are a few exception an I love how the archer is one of your best starting units, to compensate for the fact she's an archer.

I'm trying to make player phase extremely important. Enemies have upped skill and luck (their luck growth has also been enabled), so getting hit by them is much more likely now, which means you'll be relying on indirect attacks a lot more. Marina's unique trait is that she can one-round a lot of the enemies now, and that's something exclusive to her. She also has fantastic growths, and I plan to exploit the long bow and ballista features. These should all assist in keeping Marina a relevant unit.

During the intralude I skipped the text then after having control of the new party and stupidly making a mistake reseting, my save file got completely corrupted.

I'm sorry to hear that. If I come across the glitch, I'll see what I can do to fix it.

Overall though great job, and I looked forward to future updates.

Thanks. I look forward to future feedback from you. Edited March 19, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Algid Flame]

So, I've played this beta with the self-impossed challenge of getting all the bonus stuff while not sacrificing anyone, and I gotta say the game design is as solid and RNG-proof as it gets. The only problem I had was that I didn't feel like I was planning or making any relevant choices in the game. Like when you fight that mage boss, I just threw Feltyn and Lussaria to that section of the map, and they even had a battle quote with him (I haven't checked with the other units, but I'm pretty sure they're the only ones) while the other units visited the villages and killed the minions.

It just goes against one of the things I liked the most about Fire Emblem, that there's more than one solution to the same problem, even if you're playing ranked, with a set of restrictions or extra things you have to do or whatever. Will this hack deliver the illusion of choice as I get more units and different maps to work with?

[MarkyJoe1990]

The only problem I had was that I didn't feel like I was planning or making any relevant choices in the game. Like when you fight that mage boss, I just threw Feltyn and Lussaria to that section of the map, and they even had a battle quote with him (I haven't checked with the other units, but I'm pretty sure they're the only ones) while the other units visited the villages and killed the minions.

It just goes against one of the things I liked the most about Fire Emblem, that there's more than one solution to the same problem, even if you're playing ranked, with a set of restrictions or extra things you have to do or whatever. Will this hack deliver the illusion of choice as I get more units and different maps to work with?

That's a tough one... But the first thing I should note is that it depends on what your goals are. If you're trying to just beat the chapters, there are many ways to do that. If you're trying to flawless victory the chapters though, usually there's only a few specific, precise strategies that will work. In that sense, you do have choice; to either get everything, get only a few things, or just beat the chapter, prizes be damned.

But it looks like you mean something else. Could you be more specific?

[Minimo]

Loved the beta! Keep this going, your striving for something unique and different, and i feel your doing it the right way.

Problems and bugs:

- When i first played the Prologue, i dont know why but the text suddenly got skipped and it just felt odd. I missed out the story and the bandit attack, however later i played it again and i could see all the scenes and text.

- In the prologue, i used all my units not counting the Hero, and somehow my turned ended before i could move him.

(Thats it for now)

Things i liked and would like to see later on:

-Unique story! I dont like it when its too much of a joke, but i felt it delivered. Keep it up with the good scripts!

- The fact that you dont lose the characters when they die is pretty nice because you still get handicapped by not having them for the rest of the battle and they get weaker over time if the same unit dies alot

-I would like to see supports obviously.

- My recommendation for the upcoming chapters: Missions of the main cast (The ones you start the game with) Developting and stuff, while the main villain, Marky, somehow watches or intervenes. Optional chapters could be with the Optional units (Example, the troubadour) and their corresponding story, so we have a way to know them and also a less mainstream story.

[MarkyJoe1990]

Loved the beta! Keep this going, your striving for something unique and different, and i feel your doing it the right way.

Problems and bugs:

- When i first played the Prologue, i dont know why but the text suddenly got skipped and it just felt odd. I missed out the story and the bandit attack, however later i played it again and i could see all the scenes and text.

- In the prologue, i used all my units not counting the Hero, and somehow my turned ended before i could move him.

I'm very certain that there are no text skips, but even if there are, it's irrelevant. I'll explain this in a moment.

I've received a few reports saying that Feltyn wasn't included on the Unit List, and I suspect this is related. However, I don't know how to fix something like that. I can only hope it was randomly fixed in the new update.

Things i liked and would like to see later on:

-Unique story! I dont like it when its too much of a joke, but i felt it delivered. Keep it up with the good scripts!

To be honest, I'm not happy with the writing in the current patch. While many people have praised the humor, an occasional complaint has been made about natural flow of the cutscenes and dialogue. After analyzing them, I ended up agreeing, so I sought to completely redo the cutscenes and dialogue for the prelude and chapter 1. Ever since then, absolutely everyone I've shown has approved.

- The fact that you dont lose the characters when they die is pretty nice because you still get handicapped by not having them for the rest of the battle and they get weaker over time if the same unit dies alot

One of my main influences for this hack was the Disgaea series. I like the lack of permadeath because it makes the gameplay way more forgiving.

-I would like to see supports obviously.

I'll get to them eventually. I've written out a few, but I'm not happy with any so far.

- My recommendation for the upcoming chapters: Missions of the main cast (The ones you start the game with) Developing and stuff

That's a very ambitious undertaking. you start with 8 units. That's 8 gaiden chapters for each unless you mean main chapters that heavily involve the main cast. If that's what you mean... I already have some ideas for character arcs, but mainly for Feltyn and Lussaria. I might take you up on the suggestion either way though, since I like my characters and I like watching them.

the main villain, Marky, somehow watches or intervenes.

This is going to happen. I already have a few chapters in mind where the hackers directly screw with stuff as it's playing out. However, subtlety is the key here, since they don't want to reveal themselves (or their omnipotence) to the main characters.

Optional chapters could be with the Optional units (Example, the troubadour) and their corresponding story, so we have a way to know them and also a less mainstream story.

I like this idea. It would add more color to the story and we'd see more of specific cast members. Hm...

With what I've planned for the story so far, it's not exactly typical fire emblem fair. For one, there's no war going on, and most, if not, all the conflicts that occur in the game are things such as the black market, petty disputes between ruling houses, among other things that the series doesn't usually touch upon.

Anyway, lemme also use this reply as an update for people anticipating the next release.

As said before in this post, I completely rewrote the prelude and chapter 1. They still have the whole "hacker attack" and "bandit attack" shtick, but it has a much stronger foundation. Lussaria is no longer the sole main character. She shares the role with Feltyn, who has been rewritten to be more colorful and interesting. Lussaria's personality also comes out more, especially in chapter 1, and I went out of my way to make sure the story is easier to understand than it was before. A new CG was added, the player character's role is made clearer, and I aimed to make their role feel more involved. Etc. etc.

However, due to recent circumstances, the interlude is likely to be removed unless I can find a way to re-write it to work, and the hacker cutscene in chapter 1 has been neutered to make room for more in-setting character building. An unfortunately sacrifice, but I am very pleased with the result, and I feel the new prelude and chapter 1 give each character much more time to shine and get us to like them.

Also, Chapter 2 is 99% done in terms of gameplay. I am very happy with how it turned out, though I fear getting a flawless victory in it will be very restricting.

Edited April 11, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[MarkyJoe1990]

Anybody feel like fixing this up for me?

EDITTED: Thanks to GhastStation for volunteering and making the animation.

Edited April 18, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Lord of Gabriel Knight]

Sure. Just give me the frames.

Edited April 16, 2014 by GabrielKnight

[MarkyJoe1990]

Sure. Just give me the frames.

EDITTED: No problem. Sent it over PM.

Thanks a lot! If you want anything in return, let me know. I have a lot of skills.

Edited April 18, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Lord of Gabriel Knight]

Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this edit as a gift.

[ghast]

yeah also give me the edits too because I made it.

thanks!~

[Siuloir]

Lussaria's frames are in the Lucy Frames folder. I presume you know how animation formatting works.

Problems with the animation

1) Shading is awful. A lot of it is pillow shading.

2) Hair length is inconsistent. Lussaria's hair is supposed to reach down to her knees.

3) When Lussaria flicks her hair in the critical hit, she's supposed to use both of her hands and flick much more of her hair. She's also supposed to flick it to both of her sides, then spin around, and do a sort of sideways cast.

4) The book is too low and angled wrong in the critical hit animation.

5) Uh... I guess I think the animation looks too much like the female sage animation at times too.

I think that's everything. I don't expect you to do all of these things since I understand that's a bit much, but if you wanna go all out, be my guest.

If you want anything in return, let me know. I have a lot of skills.

Unfortunately social ones aren't among them. You don't just slag people on a public forum who did something for you for free. Nevermind the fact that if you've seen the recent work of the person animating it, you'd know how much his skills have improved in recent months.

I thought you were done just randomly berating everyone else's work. This community needs way less of that kind of stuff. Same team, buddy.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Siuloir

[ghast]

I would have appreciated it if you just asked permission to me personally before just handing off my sprite to someone else for editing. That got me pretty cheesed, but at least it benefits me too. At least it was handed off to Gabe who I bet will do a fine job with it and shout outs to him for offering.

I would have also appreciated it if you threw in a "thanks for volunteering" in your post too. Instead of just saying gf but it sucked in x amount of ways. I hate to be that guy but it throws me off of how snarky, pretentious and self-entitled you sound.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Ghaststation

[MarkyJoe1990]

Unfortunately social ones aren't among them. You don't just slag people on a public forum who did something for you for free. Nevermind the fact that if you've seen the recent work of the person animating it, you'd know how much his skills have improved in recent months.

I thought you were done just randomly berating everyone else's work. This community needs way less of that kind of stuff. Same team, buddy.

For the record, I have seen his newer works, but regardless... God dammit.

I would have appreciated it if you just asked permission to me personally before just handing off my sprite to someone else for editing. That got me pretty cheesed, but at least it benefits me too. At least it was handed off to Gabe who I bet will do a fine job with it and shout outs to him for offering.

I would have also appreciated it if you threw in a "thanks for volunteering" in your post too. Instead of just saying gf but it sucked in x amount of ways. I hate to be that guy but it throws me off of how snarky, pretentious and self-entitled you sound.

Ugh... I'm really sorry. I'm going to edit my post.

[ghast]

I would have also appreciated it if you threw in a "thanks for volunteering" in your post too. Instead of just saying gf but it sucked in x amount of ways. I hate to be that guy but it throws me off of how snarky, pretentious and self-entitled you sound.

So by editing you just deleted the dropbox link and critique. And still didn't-

oh, never mind.

[Mangs]

I'll be making a LP of this hack come summer, it looks very interesting and I think it will be hillarious to voice-act.

[MarkyJoe1990]

Well, I can't seem to get back to work on my project. I have no end-game to this scheme, and I find myself unwilling to take the time to seriously commit myself to this project anymore. I have other interests that I've found more fulfilling and... I feel like the only reason I want to finish this is to appease all the people who helped me in making this project. I think it's best I stop lying to myself. I'm sorry, everyone.

Edited May 5, 2014 by MarkyJoe1990

[Person123]

I'll admit I'm fairly disappointed, but ultimately it's your choice to make. You shouldn't feel forced to continue working on a project you just don't want to work on anymore.