FE8:One Man Blitz

Sorry about the name, I’m not good at em(well besides people names that is).

Anyways this is just a small thing I’m doing. In preparation , for my future bigger FE8 hack I planned out(more info on that when I get more work done on it) , I am doing a small(6 maybe 8 chapters), solo blitz, meaning by myself. The goal is simple finish all chapters(or rather have em in a functional/playable state) , by this time next month. I feel thats reasonable, as long as I don’t try and do anything too insane. The main purpose of this is to ready myself for making my other hack(I"LL be moving this summer and won’t have internet most likely and would like to have at least a semi functional prototype by then.), which i feel I’m not ready for yet.

This will also be for FE8, it may have a very bare bones story, if i feel like adding one. Otherwise it will have stuff you usaually see in hacks these days(skills, classes etc etc), but will probably use regular or recolored portaits, since I havn’t learned that yet. And doubt it will be learnable in a month along with everything else.

It will receive bug and balance fixes, and will be put up for download(meaning the patch) for others once at least chapter 2 is done. These are being made as I go, and may just have very loose connections to each other.

I don’t have access to the 1 pc in my home right now, so I’ll upload images tommorow. But I do have relative progress and a to do list.

Progress:
Chapter 1(45% Complete, needs refining, like changing some enemy ai and stats,as well as terrain(still learning how to make decent mountains) and dialogue insertion for certain events, but the general layout/concept is done as well as player units are stated)
Chapters 2-6(Not started yet)
Chapters 7-8(undecided if they will even be done)

To do:

-finish eventing chapter 1 and begin other chapters
-insert animations for new classes
-Figure out why chapter 1 refuses to allow tile changes
-Intial balance testing.
-Change chapter 1 reinforcements to not be ambush spawns.

I realize this is not some grand project, sorry if you were expecting more. I just feel like I’d like criticism on my work, so I know what to improve before I start my bigger hack.

So since I don’t have any kind of image capture software on here, and probably cant get away with putting one on here without my family finding out, like I can with everything else. I decided to screenshot the map in VBA to the best of my ability. So sorry, also I tried to export the map, so that people could take an easier look at it. But I dunno if I’m doing it wrong or its FEBuilder, it seems to not want to export(it exported as I was typing this, but can’t figure out an easy way to view it atm. So anyways here are some images, I’ll be going into more detail on these and a few others in a new reply, because I don’t want to clog this up too much:

Only two for the main post for now, because theirs not really anything else I feel like needs to be shown in the opening.

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Okay like I said, time to go over some images I took today and get some feedback, and also address some issues and plans I currently have:

I’m unsure which right now, but one of these two needs either a buff or a nerf, I sadly forgot to take screenshots of the general enemy stats, but take my word for it. Originally the Simon(btw all these names are placeholders), was even more busted then he looks right now. As it stands hes still relatively good, but not as busted as before(he no longer doubles pretty much everyone). But my issue is Simon is almost as strong as Gregory…a level 5 Paladin. I just don’t feel that’s right, sure I want Gregory to be the Jagen of sorts, but he’s not much of a Jagen if he is outclassed in Chapter 1 right? So Gregory will probably be buffed, while Simon will probably stay as is, since hes working fine atm.

These two need either a buff, or enemies need to be nerfed slightly(probably the latter), because as it stands they are really just too much dead weight. Granted the next chapter(which I planned out slightly last night) is gonna have easier enemies then this one, but I still feel like no ones gonna want to carry around two units who basically cant do much outside of nick kills for a chapter. I want you to have to make use of Gregory and Simon, I want those two to be stronger than these two, but at the same time, I don’t want you to have to literally take the chapter on with just those two, which right not, its honestly a better strat to do that, then to try and give these two exp.

Starting Area of the map, houses arent evented yet, but they will probably just say random things tbh. Now one thing you will immediately notice, is the map is pretty damn big. This is something I think I need to address, maybe make it slightly smaller, or add more to this area, since right now its a lot of empty space. You may also notice the armory and think “What’s up with that”? Well, its gonna do something if ya send someone over to it and wait on it, its not a normal armory. All I’m gonna divulge atm.

The upper and mid right of the map. Yes that is a Hero, who is actually not as threatening as he looks, he wields an axe and well…you see that green merc over there. He’s recruitable, and he has Axebreaker as his personal skill. So even though the Hero has good stats…hes not hitting that guy…like at all. I’ve actually been debating if I want to swap axebreaker out and give him a different skill, but then I realize if mister Merc goes off and fights the hero, he might die if he doesnt have it. Obviously, I can just move him in that case, but yeah. Speaking of the green merc, he is set to move towards Gregory, but…for some reason seems to want to fight everyone on the way there…even people not in his path. I probably just need to change some AI, I’ll take a look tomorrow. Btw here’s his stats for those interested( typing em out, since well, VBA stopped taking screenshots for some reason): Level 7, 32 HP, 11 STR, 13 SKL, 14 SPD, 10 LUK, 8 DEF, 5 RES. Honestly I feel these may be too high, or some stats could use a nerf, I just need to nerf enemies FIRST , so I can figure out how badly he needs to be toned down.

Who wants to talk about MAP DETAILS?! You probably don’t , but I sure as hell do, so sit down and listen to me ramble. OK, so the first section in the top left picture, is the place I found(at least), to be where players will be spending a lot of their time. Why? Will because it has most of the enemies, its the most direct path to the boss, and also the previously mentioned Merc(lets call him Lenny since I forget his name), to recruit. You may notice the wall seperating you from Lenny, I am debating whether I want to keep or remove this, on the one hand, it keeps you from reaching him TOO quickly, but on the other, it kinda looks out of place to me, and also makes it really hard to actually reach him.

You can also see down towards the bottom, the head of a great knight, yes, there is a great knight on the map, who wield a Steel axe, I may just change him to something else, maybe unpromoted, since he’s kinda insane atm(much more so than the hero is). Honestly I might just take the 2 promoted enemies out, because as it stands they don’t add much of anything.

Top right is just the bottom of the top left so moving on.

Bottom left and bottom right, show the general top of the map and the region the boss is in. Now you may notice the merc and Fighter standing by, what appears to be a doorway, and wonder…why are there no doors here. The answer is simply, I was trying to add tile changes to the map, and FEBuilder refused to let me, and I havnt figured out why yet. So in order to play test the map, I just removed the doors for now(enemies still have door keys on em, since I may add the doors back, once I figure this out). Yes the boss is a swordmaster on a gate, don’t worry tho, I’m not a masochist, I’ll make sure hes actually not too hard to beat. You may notice the jumble of mountain pieces in the top left of the bottom left picture, the reason thats there, is because I’m still learning mountains(so many pieces and not all of em fit well together), so I just threw a bunch there, so I know “okay mountains are going here”, if you saw the picture of the top right corner of the map, you probably saw another one just like it.

So overall, how do I feel about this map? I feel its okay, but 100% needs some work. There’s a bit too much empty space for my liking, some enemies need reworks(in particular stat nerfs), the mountains need to be done, I need to event a lot of stuff. Its no where near done yet, but the concept is there. Size is a big worry of mine, and it probably needs to be made smaller, more condensed, or like I said, just have more added to it, so its not so…big and empty.

Anyways any feedback is welcome. I’ll probably add some screenshots of enemy stats come tomorrow, since I have to get off the pc as I’m typing this, and its easier to think about balance when you know what stats the enemy has. For now, let’s assume FE6 HM stats.

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So Im sorry to disappoint, but this project(at least for now), is being put on hiatus, which means i’m not countinuing it most likely.

I’ve decided to devote all my resources to FE7:Hectic Mode( which might transform into FE7 in 8 depending on if I want to do the work.), its the project I enjoy most at the moment and tbh, even if the systems vary, I feel like that project will allow me to learn as much if not more about how to make a good hack, then this one.

Again sorry to disappoint those who wanted to see where this woild go. But I’d rather devote time to something I actively want to do and have plans for.

I’d delete this post, but sadly there appears to be no delete button.