[COMPLETE] [FE8U] Fire Emblem: Shackled Power (33 Chapters, Version 1.334. Easy Mode Available)

[BobbyAsaka]

In my most recent playthrough of the game, I’d taken it upon myself to trigger as many battle quotes as I possibly could. It is, however, impossible to get every single battle quote within one playthrough, given that the most obscure and hard-to-get quote in the game is also mutually exclusive with a gaiden chapter.

Of course, I’m talking about the Mort vs. Peirhok battle quote in Chapter 17. This might sound reasonable and normal at first glance, until you remember that Mort is a very dangerous cavalry boss who rushes at you from the first turn, and will probably die on turn 3 as a result… and Peirhok is a reinforcement unit who will not appear until turn 20—about 10 turns after most people have probably finished the chapter—whose arrival means you’ve lost the Gaiden chapter that comes after this.

So how was it done?

Pretty simple really, copious amounts of Sleep uses to nullify the immediate threat. This also gives me time to get all the people that Mort can ORKO and/or hurt very badly outside of his range, which lets them deal with the castles in the meantime.

By the time Mort wakes up, the middle road of the map is a lot clearer, so it’s much easier to bait him down to the bottom of the map close to where Peirhok will show up. I kept him trapped with lance units, but unfortunately I was careless and they took away a lot of his HP counterattacking, so I ended up having to remove their weapons so they didn’t kill him.

Peirhok shows up on turn 20 to say hi to him

And finishes him off

How did I get the gaiden after that? Loading a save state, of course. But I compromised with the quote by bringing Mort down to the bottom of the screen and ending the chapter without killing him anyways.

What’s the point of going out of my way to get this? A goddamn fine sense of accomplishment that’s hard to emulate in other hacks. It’s uniquely fun and interesting to work towards getting it, and I hold Spheal in a lot of respect for adding little interactions like these that have a practically 0% chance to occur unless the player goes out of their way to deliberately make them happen. It’s especially important to have a quote like this given Mort’s involvement in Peirhok’s past, even if almost nobody except me will actually see it in game.

Is this thinly veiled advertising to try to get other people to go out of their way to read this nice bit of lore? Maybe.

[Parrhesia]

Finally got around to getting through this and didn’t at all regret it. While I felt the start was a little slow and inconsistent, almost as if both I and the designer were both feeling out the environment, it absolutely took off in the midgame in chapter design, overall gameplay and story. Every map feels distinct, and had me tailoring my roster to the situation rather than just setting and forgetting the same 12 guys. The antagonists and their dynamics were especially praiseworthy, and there were some proper blockbuster ‘hype’ moments where I felt able to do little more than point at the screen and pog. In particular, they weren’t just content to remain static, and the protagonists weren’t allowed to have all the momentum, which is a lesson that a lot of stories could stand to learn from – they weren’t just interesting, they felt legitimately threatening.

There’s a few quibbles, and there’s also a few quietly very good things that aren’t particularly interesting to comment on. But the overall takeaway is: play Shackled Power.

Endgame Team (obvious spoilers)

Got early statboosters, took off, didn’t let up except for his awkward late promotion.
(C King Dad)

Marilyn. Absolutely pivotal lategame unit – Christ, she was almost 20/20?? Liked her character a lot, which was handy, since she was stapled to the team.
(A Melanie C Bast C Silph)

I really needed a lategame piece with high defence. He was that guy.
(C Prosel)

Best unit in the game.
(A Orville C Lou)

Really fun character to have around. I’m using the dancer pretty much no matter what, so being likable with a great design helped!
(A Melanie C Alta)

Another really strong unit throughout. I get the sense she needs to roll well at the start to take off, benefits from a little love. She got it. If Vesper was MVP, Silph was runner-up.
(A Eileen C Alta C Marilyn)

Annie was effectively a legacy hire. Early on in the run, the town militia trio were basically my power squad; late in the run, they were what I sent off to do unimportant things. Annie could just about do a job, but realistically, she fell into the ‘Kassandra was better but I prefer Annie around’. Still, even if I’d dropped her when she stopped being one of my best units, I’d have been happy with her contribution.
(A Hute B Lou)

Archer.txt. Had the classic archer statline. Did classic archer things. Easily the strongest of the militia trio… but not as good as Vesper or Bast. But hey, he more than pulled his weight.
(B Annie B Hute C Vesper)

Eileen was a journey. I tried to drop her multiple times, and she was on the brink a number of times, too. I don’t like earlygame pegasi. But she dragged herself to continued relevance with just enough strength, just enough defence, even when I got other fliers.
(A Silph B Madari)

Bombs were a really strong weapon type and Bast was a nice, solid guy with solid characterisation and a solid connection to the plot to come in and, for a time, monopolise them. Just a pity he didn’t have a solid long-term support, but then, this equipped him to be a lone ranger.
(B Alta C Marilyn)

Shackled Power really, really, really wants you to use Darrel. I did not. Orville’s pretty great, though! Both in character and as a unit.
(A Vesper B Madari)

Really fun character, really solid piece of my army. Cthylla got Hammerned, which says all it has to.
(B Eileen B Orville)

Huuuuuuute! Important earlygame, pretty shit on paper but good in practice through the midgame, pretty shit in all phases of play in the endgame but he limped over the finish line anyway, even if the likes of Kassandra would have been a better choice.
(A Annie B Lou)

Slotted straight in. I kept forgetting she was one of my best-defence units.

I only took a screenshot of him because on the last EP he got poisoned which broke his sleep and I wanted to always remember this.

Guys Who Didn't Make It In But Were Still Important

Eddie got an early promotion (at level 12) and was a crucial powerspike unit in the early midgame. Alta was very useful but just didn’t have stats; Eliza’s fragility was her downfall. Lyra slotted in in lategame but ultimately didn’t squeeze into the final squad.

[ReedRacer]

Finally finished my first ever playthrough of Shackled Power!

Phenomenal game, this might honestly be my favorite original story rom hack out of the dozen or so that I’ve played. Even if that changes in the feature, this hack has a permanent spot in my top 3 original story rom hacks ever.

Here’s my review:

Summary

The Bad

Starting with this first…
Oh, who am I kidding. I legitimately don’t have any big criticisms to make. Nada. Not a one. The only minor nitpicks I have is that there are a few instances of improper grammar or minor typos, but these are few and far between.

The Good

Uh… Everything?

But seriously, SP is one of my favorite hacks for a reason. The maps were fun, with a mix of objectives, the enemy balance was difficult at times but never felt unfair, and the few new mechanics (bombs, mostly) forced me to adapt and work them into my strategy rather than just ignoring or brute-forcing around them.

I really loved the custom animations used in this hack; and I mean the ones that WERE unique to SP, not the ones I’ve seen before from the community. Prosel really embodies the strategy of ‘make bad guys more deader,’ his Savage Lord animation is a beautifully macabre masterpiece.

Fulshir’s berserker animation really carries the nigh-animalistic rage he fights with!

There are more, but I especially love Birgitta’s animations (both of them) really just show how much of a sheer FORCE she is.

And here’s where the hack REALLY shines for me;

The writing

I can’t remember the last time I was this invested in a rom hack’s story as much as I was here. It’s been said before, by people more knowledgeable about hack design/writing than me, but the bad guys aren’t just some vague, looming threat you occasionally catch glimpses of. Birgitta and her forces are a constant, on-screen force marching towards their goals. None of the villains are black and white; in particular I think Aspria was my favorite of the Wasteland Mercs. Probably my favorite example of the ‘good person, bad guy’ trope I’ve seen in recent history. I’d almost call her a Camus archetype, but I don’t think she fits quite in with that label.

I was genuinely sad that she wasn’t a recruitable character. Damn shame, but some people just don’t get the redemption they deserve. I feel like that’s one of the messages from this hack; life isn’t fair; you just have to play the hand you’re dealt and make the best of it.

Prosel is easily one of my top 3 favorite lords/main characters; he’s a simple guy he tries to keep things simple (do good, protect your family and home) and everything complicated just keeps trying to get in his way.

Marilyn is a super-unusual healer archetype (and I can’t even call her a healer; she was my go-to light magic user by the endgame.)

Last but certainly not least; I could’ve easily seen Lilim given the honor of being a third ‘lord’ type character. For someone who I thought was just a side character; she had probably my favorite character arc in the whole hack.

Summary

It’s a tragedy that she had to put her brother down not once, but twice.

And this is the part you’re probably waiting for; my endgame team.

Summary

Big strong Axe bro. Prosel was meant for wrecking stuff, and that’s exactly what he did. Fell off slightly towards the endgame because he stopped hitting his speed growth, and I had to give him 2 skill books to make sure he kept hitting things. I also gave him… one or two dracoshields and/or a talisman. I can’t remember which one. Might’ve been both.

Marilyn was easily one of my best units. Gave her 1 Angelic Robe and… 2 dracoshields, I think. Probably will be a surprise, but she hit something like 15 defense all on her own, no stat-boosters needed. Same with skill/speed. She was just determined to be a frontline magic user. Guess it fits with her true personality.

King Dad, general # 2. Honestly another one of my favorite characters. I really like that for once the protagonist’s dad is closer to a typical FE villain than being another knight-in-shining-armor dad. Not much to say about him. Solid unit for the purposes I needed him for.

I’ve heard people have had middling results with Hute, which surprises me. Dude kicked F**king ass for me. General with capped skill/speed, nearly capped def, and solid strength. Also gave him the Viceroy for the endgame, which really helped. His bulk and capped speed with it equipped turned him into a death machine.

However many stat boosters you think I used on little miss murder-machine, it’s not nearly as much as you think. The str/skill/speed was entirely her, and 90% of that res was her. I think she hit 20 res before I decided to dump my remaining talismans into her to make her my go-to mage killer. Whatever dracoshields I had left over from Prosel and Marilyn went to her, because her def was the only stat she wasn’t SSS-tier in. Phenomal unit; A-support with Hute, B-support with Wyler. They were my go to trio if I needed to make the enemy army considerably smaller.

Demi was… a good unit. She wasn’t ever fantastic, and she had a string of hp/mag/res level ups (at least 4 or 5 of them) by the time she’d already capped mag/and res. That lower skill/speed of hers kept her from being fantastic, but as a healer and single-round burst damager she was decent. Def was okay, but with her lower speed in the endgame she definitely wasn’t a frontliner.

Kneel before the God of Death! Uh… what else is there to say? I pointed Wyler at whoever I needed dead, and he killed them. Gave him a couple killer lances and the Gae Bolg for the last few maps, and there wasn’t a soul that could cross paths with him and remain standing.

Nello was a great unit. Never in my top 3, or even top 5, but great. The main thing that held him back was that he was low speed until the last 2-3 maps, where I dumped pretty much every speedwing I had into him. He had capped strength/skill earlier on following a string of solid level ups, but his speed hovered around 20-21 up till the endgame, where I decided to stop holding back and gave him… 2 or 3 speedwings at once, which REALLY helped him out in the last few maps.

Silph… good healer, better fighter. Lower defenses were a problem at times, but her high mag/speed allowed her to kill most things before they became a problem, and her A-support with Marilyn helped boost her combat function some. Better magic user than Demi, but not as good as Marilyn. I don’t know if I gave her any stat boosters; maybe 1 Angelic Robe. She had, like, 3 or 4 level ups towards the end that I’m pretty sure were only mag/speed, AFTER she’d already capped both.

Little Miss Badass. A-support with Prosel, they tore up every battlefield they were on. Probably my favorite character in the game after Prosel himself.

Nidas was a good unit all around. He wasn’t ever as fast, strong, or tough as some of the others, but there wasn’t anything he was bad at. Not much else to say. He wasn’t the best, but her certainly wasn’t the worst.

I’ll admit, I put basically whatever stat boosters I had leftover into her. I loved her custom animation and backstory, and wanted to make her a member of my team. She wasn’t ever the best fighter (in fact, I don’t think she activated Silencer a single time) but she was a fun unit, and since I benched Bast I needed someone to sling bombs at my enemies.

Eliza is… the odd one out here. She wasn’t strong enough to really pull her weight in the endgame, and I really only kept her around because I was trying to A-support Carrie, not realizing I erroneously already hit Eliza’s 5-support cap. Got them stuck at B, much sadness.

Magi-tank staffer. Carried her weight as a healer, had some use as a damage-dealer. Her and Eliza are the best honorary aunts Lilim could ever ask for.

Honorable Mention

Darrel was a thief who did thief stuff. A-supported his sister, benched for the final maps. Good thief, mediocre combatant. I recognize that Orville has more significance to the plot, but I stuck with him and was paid off for it with two lategame units.

Bast hit hard, and hit reliably, but his speed was a problem by the lategame. I didn’t want to bench him; his spot went to Eliza because I (again, erroneously) believed I could A-support her and Carrie. Probably would’ve kept him in if I’d realized my mistake.

This hack has a thing for high-def magic users. I’m not complaining. If I could go back in time, I’d swap Bast for Eliza and Dour for Carrie. At least that way I would’ve gotten an A-support between two people for the endgame. As for Dour… solid early-mid game unit. Once Marilyn promoted though he was obsolete.

All in all, fantastic hack all around. Thanks for all the effort and time you spend on this! It was a joy to play!

[MagicalTalkingPony]

I’m experiencing a really frustrating glitch or choice. Only the first twelve units on my deployment list show up during the endgame selection, even though the deployment limit last chapter was 15. The last three members of my deployment list were three characters needed to access the hidden stuff in the endgame lobby. They’re still in the map, I can access their stat screens by getting to them with L and R, but the game just puts the cursor at the corner of the map and keeps trying to go further so I can’t actually get them to do anything. This is the second time I’ve beaten this map but have had to reset because of weird stuff with this section.

[Sphealnuke]

After each section of the endgame trials, you’ll return back to the lobby with the first 12 units you have deployed. For the secret, when selecting deployments, keep one of those three characters in the first 12 displayed slots rather than at the end of the list. Deselect a group of units, then add the thief in to ensure they’ll be available.
My apologies for the trouble.

[MercenaryVictor]

This will be on rom?

[wiraaly]

Really enjoy this, most game increase the game difuculty but this offer easy mode, so i always look at this game when i try to relax

[Sphealnuke]

Probably not. Largely made them as design reference pieces and for fun. Someday I’ll likely end up making an animation for Melanie’s still and replacing the current animation, but I’ve got more pressing matters on my plate at the moment.

[mai]

Playing this for the first time and having fun!

Hehehe

I managed to defeat Hama in 17x using Grant with a Swordreaver, Annie with a Silver Sword, and Prosel with a Swordslayer. However, this was just for fun since my units would not survive her squad on enemy phase.

I like the difficulty so far. Reinforcements are a bit tough in certain chapters, but everything is within reason. I’ll post my midgame (at the start of ch. 18) squad with some thoughts on each unit. I won’t include prepromotes that recently joined or Melanie since their stats either don’t matter or I haven’t had any influence on them yet.

Squad

I don’t know if my Prosel got unlucky, but he’s a very mediocre combat unit. I even gave him a few stat boosters. His late promotion isn’t helping either. I do enjoy the gimmick of him kicking in doors and chests though!

She’s a good healer. The two range staves helps tremendously. I’m curious to learn more about her past and what’s really going on…

Archers are really good in this game, and Lou has been a stalwart throughout the entire game from when he joined. He even has decent defense to tank some hits if needed. Definitely lives up to his name of being Prosel’s first recruit that got this whole story started.

MVP frontline unit along with Annie (the fact that the two of them have support is the cherry on top). He tanks everything and even has decent speed. His mastery of the weapon triangle is quite useful as well.

MVP number two. Not nearly as tanky as Hute, but usually better at dishing out damage especially against speedier enemies. Competent Light Brand user as well for ranged attacks.

Her stats are kind of mediocre, but having a two range attacker is always helpful and she can heal after promotion, which always has utility.

Basically Lou #2, but not as tanky. She’s an excellent mage killer though. Her higher speed is also sometimes useful for being able to double some enemies that Lou cannot.

Another good frontline unit that I usually keep around Prosel - he’s essentially a much better version of Prosel when it comes to combat. Able to soak up hits due to his bulk, and gaining bows on promotion is useful too.

Why is she smiling like that… Anyways, she’s not a great combat unit but fliers are always useful to have. Cadence died on her join map so Eileen is my only flier.

Immediately outclassed Darrel upon joining and is a remarkably competent combat unit with bombs.

Very squishy healer that I’m planning to drop now in favor of Madari.

Looking forward to how this story progresses!

[cb1052]

It’s rare seeing Marilyn not at level 20 this late in the game. Have yoj been ignoring her combat?

[mai]

I have pretty much not used her for combat at all (honestly I forget she can attack with the Gleamstone most of the time)

[mai]

I’m currently on the chapter where I have to 1v1 Peirhok and… damn, I think my Prosel is extremely Str-screwed. I even gave him the +5 growth rates item!

[mai]

I’m approaching what looks like the final chapter, so I’ll post my final squad and thoughts below. Spoiler warning. Also, this is an edit of my last post since I cannot post three times in a row.

Overall I really enjoyed this game. It started off a bit slow, but quickly got interesting and the second half was very captivating. The gameplay is a strong suit - I enjoyed the map designs, especially in the endgame chapters, and the difficulty level felt challenging but fair. I liked the cast of characters, and I think the relationship between Prosel/Nidas/Aster in particular was done well. I expected the cliche of Aster being killed at some point to motivate Prosel, so the subversion of that trope was a pleasant surprise. I also really liked the designs of Birgitta, Hama, and Girulian. The Dread Knights’ portraits are beautiful and I enjoyed their characterization as well as role in the story.

Here is my final squad with thoughts on each unit/character.

Final Squad

This dude was extremely Str-screwed. He was a poor combat unit from early to midgame, but became better in endgame after promoting. I Hammerne’d his Royal Chopper since it’s very good at taking out the high number of mounted/armored units in endgame. I enjoyed his himbo personality and the way he referred to Aster as “King Dad” was endearing.

2-range staves had great utility and she became a solid combat unit after promoting, although I still usually used her for staff duties since I had enough strong physical units.

Excellent Gotoh with limited offensive use by the time he joined since his low Spd held him back. However, he was great at soaking up hits in spots, and I gave him the Bloodaxe back which allowed him to one-shot most sword-wielding units. He also did 60 damage to Birgitta in a single turn in the throne room fight (acting twice using Melanie’s Play), which I felt was very appropriate lore-wise considering most of my other units could hardly scratch her.

Very good player phase unit for the majority of the game alongside Hute and Annie. I kept the three of them together as a squad to make use of their supports. His low-ish Spd became a hindrance in endgame as he was unable to double a good chunk of enemies.

My MVP. From start to finish his massive bulk allowed him to take the vanguard position and soak up hits like no other while also dealing high damage in return due to his unexpectedly high Spd. He was only slightly vulnerable against mages, but I gave him a Talisman or two and he was even able to tank magic hits for the most part. His mastery of the weapon triangle also allowed good flexibility in dealing with different types of enemies.

Excellent player phase unit, although she dropped off a bit towards the end as a frontline unit due to her squishiness.

She was a worse version of Lou at the start but I think she’s better than him in the endgame due to her higher Spd allowing her to double many enemies he cannot. Very squishy, although she had some utility in baiting mages.

Excellent frontline unit with good bulk, although like Lou, he fell off towards the end due to his low Spd holding him back from doubling enemies. I kept him with Prosel at all times for their support. Also, what’s his history with Birgitta hinted at in their boss dialogue?

Dancer. I like her portrait.

I generally like rounding out my squad with staff users for utility, and that’s why Madari is here. She had some niche combat utility with Cthylla, and eventually became my Galdrar holder (as my only unit with an S-rank in Dark), though her use was primarily as a healer.

Required some babying and a Speedwing to get up to par due to his late join time as an unpromoted unit as well as his low Spd. Eventually he became a competent combat unit, although his low Res and susceptibility to archers forced me to be careful with his positioning.

Basically a staffbot. I selected her over other potential options (such as Lyra) due to her surprisingly decent bulk meaning that I didn’t have to worry about her getting splattered on accident.

She has good offensive power, but her extreme squishiness meant that in practice I could not really rely on her to be a frontline fighter. She ended up being mostly a staffbot that provided some cleanup duty.

Solid filler combat unit with the ability to open doors and chests. His stats are decently strong, but his low bulk meant that he was not a frontline unit when I had much better units at taking hits.

Thanks for making this game! I think it holds up well compared to more recent romhacks I played despite being 5 years old. I had fun.

[Sphealnuke]

Hey, I’m glad to hear you had so much fun. Honestly I’m still surprised at how much love the Dread Knights get from players, as part of me felt like I underutilized them with how much else was going on in the story.
Thank you again for playing.