Attempt at an FE8 sequel

Projects Concepts
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So after really long hiatus and burnout, I’ve finally come up with a hack concept I’m sticking with. Hopefully, this project will turn out better than FE Binding Blade +, a reskin/rebalenceing hack I released on Serenes Forest a while back. I’ve codenamed the project Utopia due to the hack originally being a full custom hack containing fully original characters and a full custom world.

Anyways enough exposition, here’s some copy/paste from my post on Serenes to show what gameplay concepts I’ve come up with. (Don’t ask for major plot details beyond what’s in the next paragraphs yet, the project only became a FE8 sequel today)

Anyhow, onto the concept, in order to reseal the Demon King after he possesses a(undecided) major Magvelen leader, Ephraim and Eirika need to find ALL of the pieces of the 4 shattered Sacred Stones that are scattered across Magvel.

In order to do so, the twins must explore the contienet in a hub world area that has gates to various stages(chapters in FE terms) which lead to the shards, which in turn are obtained thru filling various criteria in these chapters.

basically, there are four shard types
Crystal shard: complete the chapter as normal. Obviously the easiest to get
Clear Gym shard: open all treasure chests in a level. Clearly ripping off CB break the crates goal
Red Gym shard: unlock and clear the chapters Gaiden. Not all stages have one of these shards
Relic shard: a literal LTC goal, beat the clock to get the shard. once again, ripping off CB blatantly here

In each hub, 5 stages are unlocked from the get-go and can be replayed at will, either to complete Shard quests, or grind some enemies(It’s a Sacred Stones sequel, what did you expect, no grinding). Various secrets can also be found in these hubs such as the final weapons. Some of which can be found from the first hub if you know where to look.

So there, I’m not the best FE hacker, and this concept is what I came up with after brainstorming for a while. An FE8 sequel isn’t exactly an original concept, but it can work with this concept and if nothing else; 8 sequel will remain it’s goal for now.

Sorry, Project Utopia you’re no longer full custom

So could this concept phesibly work, or am I wasteing my time.

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Good question. What’s phesibly?

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sounds a lot like ffta for gba regarding the shard collection, but idk how you’d do this in a fe setting.

and the word is feasibly if you were wondering why klok was being a dumbass

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Lol, I thought that looked wrong, sorry I can’t spell Klok.

My plan was to use Fire Shell once it was finished. To do this as an FE8 sequel would require it’s classes, and still being the hacking noob I am, Fire Shell would save me some legwork.

The Shards were the part I was concerned about, I’m still not sure how to work each chapter in the Hub area to tell you what shards you don’t have.

(Would it be possible to somehow work menus and their functions from other games into a FE hack, if so I’m so ripping stuff from Crash Bandicoot : the Huge Adventure to show collected shards?)

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Well you could always add something at the end of the chapter(assuming the conditions were met) with a trigger that would be checked for in every area outside of that chapter. And if it is, different events would occur.

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True, I won’t be able to really get working on this till exams are done and dusted, but I made threads here and on Serenes in order to find out if this is possible.

Now that I know it is, I can start preliminary actions to get this project off the ground.

I can now confirm that a full custom soundtrack will be in this hack,(assumeing Fire Shell will support custom music), personally composed by a couple friends of mine.

(Now I have to find a midi converter)

I’ll post Screenies when actual work beyond planning stages begins post exams

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Cool - let me know if you have any trouble with this and we can make a help thread on it.

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Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind in mind when I get to converting his songs into midis.

EDIT:Not sure if this is worth mentioning, but I thought I would announce new weapon mechanics I’m adding. Basically, swords, axes, and lances will each have bronze, iron, steel, and silver varients as usual affecting the weapon triangle as normal, but there will be an equal amount of weapon types in each catagory that reverse the triangle. For example, we now have iron, steel, and silver lancereavers, which from a stats perspective may as well be axes.

Also, the silver lancereaver will only have one copy in the game, and for VERY good reasons

This is an 8 sequel, but the plan at present is NOT to imitate 8s gameplay. I’m using Elibean Nights and FE:Gaiden as inspiration here, and as such various mechanics will be very different from your typical FE and closer to those games mechanics. (1-5 range bows for example, will be implemented in order to make archers need less babying)

On the bright side, I’m committed to this project, and as such I will not abandon this project.

I do have 2 questions tho: I need a good name for it other than Sacred Stones 2, does anyone have any ideas.
Also; I was thinking about FE Gaiden this morning and remembered how the Archenean peg sisters were in it. I would like to use a similer sub-plot here using FE7s peg trio, but I can’t decide if having them cameo this way is too non-canon to be included in this non-canon sequel or not. Thoughts?

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bro, do whatever you wanna do, no one is going to come in and say THAT’S WRONG and if you make a booboo you can always change it

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Fair enough

Elibe-Magvel connection confirmed

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Magvellian Chronicles

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Anouncement of the day: I’ve decided on making Innes the main antagonist in the same fashion Lyon was in the original Sacred Stones. In other words, Innes gets possessed by the Demon King. I’m using his and Eirika’s paired ending and FE3s basic plot here honestly, so for the sake of Innes needing to despair enough to be possessed, Eirika will still hold feelings for Lyon

I wonder if I’ve said too much

Also, the silver reaver varient of the three base weapons will be very OP, but only have one use, and one copy each.

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Not that it really matters since it’s such a small, small component but… why? All this will do is take up unnecessary inventory space until the player encounters a moment in which they desperately need a reaver weapon. Then they will use the weapon once and then forget it ever existed.

As for your plot details…

Looking over everything again, it kind of sounds like you’re grasping at straws for ideas for an FE8 sequel, which is beginning to feel more and more forced, which is never really good. I have a rather radical idea, and do with it what you will, but what if you just made a retelling of FE8? You could even shuffle existing characters around into new roles.

For example, what about an alternate universe where Duessel touches the cursed lance and becomes mad, instead of Valter? And Valter is more of an anti-hero. Or perhaps Knoll is not a meek researcher of Grado, but an experienced military leader. What if Garcia hadn’t decided to leave the Renais army? What if Eirika’s dad survives the invasion of Renais? The possibilities are endless.

This way you could use existing resources but still have your gameplay concept AND you could do something a little bit different, to motivate players so that they know they’re not playing the exact same game.

In fact, you could even work your own fanfic-esque concepts into the hack. What if Eirika and Ephraim have control over a stone which allows them to travel back in time, thus being able to re-do battles and learn things from them each time. You could even scatter clues across multiple chapters and/or specific items/characters needed to do certain tasks, so that playing the same chapter twice with different characters might reveal new information or even change the outcome of the battle entirely.

As for your chapter goals, honestly, they are lazy and half-assed. Players will almost always get all chests (unless you make those extremely hard to get) and they, of course, will always complete the chapter. That means every time you finish a chapter you already have two of the crystals. That’s kind of boring. You may as well not have them.

I’d propose working obtaining the shards into “quests” more specific to FE. Like, have character X visit village Y to obtain the red shard, but character X is only available if you’ve completed chapter Z before.

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-Eirika is Manrika and Lyon is a kawaii-desu supervillain?

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get out

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but but you admit it has potential right

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True, that’s why I put in the concepts section instead of the projects section. I wasn’t completely sure this was a good idea at all, and my imagination is unfortuanately lacking when it comes to plot lines.

Thats actually why my first project, which is finished and availible for download on SF btw, Binding Blade + was only a reskin/rebalenceing hack. I couldn’t come up with a concept other than Roy’s mom replaces Merlinus’ role in the plot. I made a few other character changes here and there, as well as minor plot changes, but even I saw it as a lazy project.

I want to do more with my next project, but I can’t come up with a concept that will stick. The shard idea I know I’m going to keep, but I will take your advice there Agro and come up with more FE centric goals. As far plot direction goes, it may as well be back to the drwing board anyway, I didn’t care that much for 8, but the Sacred Stones made a convienient plot excuse for the shards. The project isn’t dead, but I am seeking new ideas in terms of plot direction, cause you’re right that I’m grasping for straws here.

Anyways, thanks for the advice Agro, tho I may move away from FE 8 altogether and explain the shard collection somehow else. You know you’re having problems writing the script when your looking to fanfics for inspiration

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I’m gonna briefly chip in and say that not all fanfics are bad… As much as I hate admitting it, there have been a few touhou fanfictions that kept me emotionally invested despite my dislike of some of the fandom…

I get what you mean though.

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Yeah, it quickly became difficult to sift thru the crud, so I’ve decided to do a full custom world with FE connections instead.

In other words, the events of FE7 for example may be referenced in the plot, and Falchion may be a easter egg item, but these things will not actually affect the world of the game. In any case, due to the custom world bit, I’m going under with the project, and will come back up once I actually have progress.

I’m still having custom music composed as we speak that I am somehow going to insert into the hack. I’m still brainstorming for other ideas, however, and am open to suggestions.

The FE connections are more for attempts at humor on my part, so other games may be referenced as well