SacredStones Hack FE8 hack: Fire Emblem the Sacred Emblems

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

Welcome to Fire emblem: The sacred Emblems. It is a fire emblem 8(sacred stones) hack.This is my first ever hack I will finish.

DISCLAIMER

I do not own the rights for this game, which is owned by Nintendo, nor do I take credit for the tools used to modify Nintendo's game

STATS

The new level cap is 30, all classes' will have 60 for the stat caps besides HP which will be 80. Classes' stat growths will be higher for harder enimes and higher base stats so people get closer to the new stat cap

CLASSES

Like FE2, there will be civilian classes but under trainee classes. Male and Female sword civilians who promote to Myrimadon-Swordmaster-True Blade or Mercenary-Blademaster-Hero, Neimi(Archer Civilian) and Colm(thief Civilian) will start as Civilians along with Amelia(Lance Civilian F), all leading to their normal classes. Along with the Amelia Civilian class there will a Male variant(Lance civilian M), civilian-solider-Lance Armor/ Lance Knight) and you should know the rest. Amelia can turn to a wyvern lord by beating the game then doing this Civilian-Recruit-Recruit-Dragon rider-Wyvern knight-Dragon Lord or Falcon rider by turning to a Pegasus Rider when she promotes normally as recruit. Ballisticians will be added along with nomads and nomad trooper(faster then rangers and somewhat stronger). Wyvern Knights act as Dragonmasters in the game so they use axes as well as lances. Dragonlords will use all three wepons of the wepon triangle. Bigger evolutionary lines to get closer to the stat cap as well.Druids can now summon so summoner is now removed. Druids also promote to Necromancers. Erika and Ephraim have 3 classes now Lord-great lord-King/Queen.All other prince and princesses will be their own, similar to those above. Social knights, Paladins, Armor knights, and Generals will be split like FE9-FE10(Rangers will be bow knights, Bow paladins will be added. Marshalls, Silver, and Gold knights, True blades marksmen Reavers, Priests, and Seraph knights will be added. Shamans will now be called Dark Mages Druids will be Dark Sage and Necromancers will be Archsage D M/F. Mages and Sages won't split but will become Archsage A M/F. Both Archsage classes will use all magic items but with different stats.

FEATURES

The Tower of Valani will be replaced by the Tower of Emblems where the other half of your team will be gained. Lagdou Ruins will have 20 rooms with floor 1-10 being like the tower of Valani while 11-20 are like the Lagdou Ruins.

ITEMS

Stat bonuses items won't be in the end of game secret shops, but the secret shops of their normal levels. Ballistas are now weapons for Ballisticians as well as bows. Shorts bow range is now 1 and long bows max is now four. There will be magic staves that do low damage for protection. Heaven seal is the master seal for most 1st tier class ups while the master seal is for all second-third tier classes class ups. Metis' Time will be found more frequently to help stats. Class up staves will be added such as knighting staves. All other FE Main characters will Class up from their emblems respectively. All Sacred weapons/tomes/staves will be unlimited.

STORY

I have one, but it should be a mystery for this Emblem

There is more, this is most of what is done

Edited April 14, 2015 by Fureimudoragon_kōtei

[ghast]

a lot of what you're proposing looks really advanced in terms of hacking. like asm all over the place and idk if there's stuff here that's even possible. this seems a bit too ambitious for a first project

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

Well in terms of eventing, Up to chapter 14 is the same. Few changes to those chapters. Hardest thing will be adding sprites, create sprites, mugshots, and potraiting.

[Eliwan]

Ghast what? ASM all over the place?

>Stats

Nightmare, but I'm not sure where to change the stat cap (I know for a fact that you can give a unit 63 in a stat without having the game break, but the status screen does look pretty terrible), but I know it was done in The Last Promise and I'm pretty sure that doesn't have a whole lot of ASM.

>Classes

Nightmare/Feditor makes it not impossible to make class chains, what I recall was that it was nearly impossible to add promotion branches?

>Tower of Valni

I'm pretty sure that it isn't possible to give back / take away half the team-- but instead use lockouts, the "this chapter can't have these characters" thing, on a ton of units?

>Lagdou Ruins size

...Okay, I'm pretty sure this does require ASM.

>Items

These don't require ASM, just repointing and modifying the value that prevents items from having Use effects...

Except for the class-up staff. I wonder how many routines you would need to code to make that work?

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

There is a modules that let's you change promotion branches. The tower is replaced by a story wise tower where you will get more characters.

[Czar_Yoshi]

STORY

I have one, but it should be a mystery for this Emblem

Typically what people with a more complex story do is give the first ~1-3 chapters worth. That way you get to keep all your plot twists under wraps, but you have something more than "it's a secret" to sell your hack with.

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

I have one, but it should be a mystery for this Emblem

Basically the Grado army has disappeared from there castle and were last seen going into the lagdou ruins (the ruins and tower are meant to be vice vesra form what I said). When Erika and emphraim reach there, after Emphraim's attack on the grado castle and he realized they're gone, they enter the ruins to be transported to an unknown castle's outer walls. There lay an army of dead soldiers. As they approach one says, "L-leave, th-this king is t-to strong.....his army is overwhelming. He goes by the name Mar AHHH?!"

Before he finishes an arrow was shot from a Green haired archer.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Fureimudoragon_kōtei

[CT075]

that is the least vague hint i've ever seen in my life

[gabethegreen]

This sounds really cool. I wish i could help but i am really new to hacking. The best i could do

Good luck whatever you decide to do with this hack

Edited April 14, 2015 by gabethegreen

[X-Naut]

What benefit does having all the stats go to 60 have, let alone with a level cap of 30? (please clarify whether reset on promotion is still in) Unless you make the growths go nuclear this inflation is either pointless, debilitating, or game-breaking.

Edited April 14, 2015 by X-Naut

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

I made this so the game is harder and more reason to grind after beating the game. The stats haven't broken my game so obviously there isn't anything wrong.

Also that's way there are more promotions, if you read, I told you the reason for a lot of stuff such as that.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Balcerzak

[Mage Knight 404]

I made this so the game is harder and more reason to grind after beating the game. The stats haven't broken my game so obviously there isn't anything wrong.

I think you failed to understand X-Naut's meaning of "game breaking" in this context; whether or not the game run fine is not the problem here. It's more the fact that the game would clearly be at an imbalance if the stats were jacked up so high. With mechanics left as is, there would be a far greater margin of error when it comes to combat - players can manage to curb stomp enemies with little issue, and enemies can do likewise.

Why would you even need to inflate the stats so much? Speaking from experience, even with the whole "bigger numbers = harder difficulty!" mentality, it doesn't really offer much and it comes off as lazy. There are other ways to increase difficulty - unit placement, equipment, enemy AI patterns, buffing or nerfing certain classes... Things that don't even need map design changes.

Another thing: is the chapter count still going to be the same as in vanilla FE8? If so, there's even less reason to feature 3rd tier classes, especially with the level cap set to 30, as there's not enough playtime in the chapters to necessitate it without grinding. Grinding is done so that people have an easier time completing the game, but it should not be mandatory to complete your game, that's simply counter-intuitive.

Also this:

Lagdou Ruins will have 20 rooms with floor 1-10 being like the tower of Valani while 11-20 are like the Lagdou Ruins.

Is this without saving in between? If so, then it just seems like a pointless marathon level and serves nothing but to wear the player's stamina down when going through it.

These are some things you should probably take into more serious consideration.

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

The Ruins will have saving, Level cap is 30 because you can only promote from level 20. Growth rates are higher for enemies. AI changes sounds like a good idea, you can't buy stat boosters, and with max promotion at level 30, stats go to like the 50 range. Really Over powered characters, really do need balancing because they reach 60 halfway through tier 3. So they'll need balancing. Most Fire emblems on hard have curb stomping enemies, so it is more about strategy. Enemies stats stop at about 40's, dispite it being 60 for third tiers, so AI changes and reinforcements will add to difficulty. If you find it might be unbalanced, wait until the beta and test it yourself. Also the max stat is 60 for third tiers (should've said that earlier).

The Ruins will have saving, Level cap is 30 because you can only promote from level 20. Growth rates are higher for enemies. AI changes sounds like a good idea, you can't buy stat boosters, and with max promotion at level 30, stats go to like the 50 range. Really Over powered characters, really do need balancing because they reach 60 halfway through tier 3. So they'll need balancing. Most Fire emblems on hard have curb stomping enemies, so it is more about strategy. Enemies stats stop at about 40's for each most tiers, so AI changes and reinforcements will add to difficulty. If you find it might be unbalanced, wait until the beta and test it yourself. Also the max stat is 60 for third tiers (should've said that earlier).

Edited April 14, 2015 by Fureimudoragon_kōtei

[CT075]

i think there's some weirdness about making actual saves between valni/lagdou floors

i remember spending two hours fiddling with it without getting anywhere but maybe you'll have better luck ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Czar_Yoshi]

Basically the Grado army has disappeared from there castle and were last seen going into the lagdou ruins (the ruins and tower are meant to be vice vesra form what I said). When Erika and emphraim reach there, after Emphraim's attack on the grado castle and he realized they're gone, they enter the ruins to be transported to an unknown castle's outer walls. There lay an army of dead soldiers. As they approach one says, "L-leave, th-this king is t-to strong.....his army is overwhelming. He goes by the name Mar AHHH?!"

Before he finishes an arrow was shot from a Green haired archer.

...Setting? Context? Why is Ephraim attacking anyone? Do these ruins have a history of random cross-verse teleportation, and if so (or even if not) why is Grado going to them in the middle of a war with Renais? I'm really confused.

Really Over powered characters, really do need balancing because they reach 60 halfway through tier 3.

Enemies stats stop at about 40's

Yeah, that's what I call broken. If your Def is 20 more than the enemy's Str, they're going to need a 20+ mt weapon to even damage you, not to mention you having guaranteed doubles and the enemy having massive Hit issues.

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

WHEN Ephraim went to grado keep. Seccondly, Lyon went there to study 6 months before the game and went to the other castle by accident(Sacred stones open the portal). He met with the king and got to know him. He saw how strong his army was then so the demon king thought it would be good to have them in the war from the start, but they refused so they tried to invade and failed, but Lyon is still in Darkling forest trying to awaken the demon king where the rest of the grado army is stationed.

[Czar_Yoshi]

So this is an alternate version of the events directly in SS?

[Fureimudoragon_kōtei]

Yes

[GoldenDawn]

How's the hack coming around? This looks like a lot of fun. Good luck!

[Klokinator]

I think you failed to understand X-Naut's meaning of "game breaking" in this context; whether or not the game run fine is not the problem here. It's more the fact that the game would clearly be at an imbalance if the stats were jacked up so high. With mechanics left as is, there would be a far greater margin of error when it comes to combat - players can manage to curb stomp enemies with little issue, and enemies can do likewise.

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is incorrect.

60 STR is still cancelled out by 60 DEF.

60 MAG is still cancelled out by 60 RES.

60 SKL is, however, beaten by 60 LUK. (You only get +30 crit while 60 LUK will give +60 Crit-nullify)

60 SPD is negated by 60 SPD still.

SPD is the only big one. If it was overpowered and important as a stat before, it's doubly so now. You'll need bigger growths for speed on swordmasters and in general bigger growths on stats for all units. Personally, 60 is a stupid number to go for, I think. 40 is the highest I would have considered for FE8CM, and that's only so T2 caps can be a bit more varied. With 60 in cps, you'll have to change the attack speed formula or a 3 SPD difference between units still means getting doubled, while making it 6 AS required for doubling makes the early and endgame painful to balance.

All of this completely still ignores the fact that breaking the caps hasn't been properly done in the English community yet. Short of ASMing your own stat hack, you'll have to take from the Japanese community, but for all the rom modding skills that requires, you might as well code it yourself.

Not to mention all this talk of doubling the number of ruins chapters. Sounds not very doable unless your name has Pi or Bwd in it.

Finally though, the biggest issue is grinding. Grinding is NOT fun. It's boring. Making the level caps higher does not = better gameplay. FE8 had plenty of grinding, and it's really just lower quality gameplay. Think of how to better improve the gameplay, not make even more time be wasted with said grinding.

[ghast]

the OP hasn't logged in since April. I don't think he's making a return any time soon either.

[Klokinator]

Oh wait, someone revived this out of nowhere? FML.

[RandomSwordmaster]

Blame GoldenDawn...

[Czar_Yoshi]

60 SPD is negated by 60 SPD still.

Maybe so, but...

To avoid being doubled by something with 20 Spd, you need more than 80% of that amount of Spd.

To avoid being doubled by 60, you need more than 93.33% of that. Even if the real difference is the same, the relative difference keeps getting smaller, which sharply increases the chances for the RNG to either wildly screw or completely overpower someone.