I wasn’t able to replicate the bug on VBA-M, but with mGBA I did. The download link should contain a patch with the bug fixed.
A treasure map has been added to the opening post.
This sounds like the Devil Axe underflow bug. I’m not too familiar with it, but from what I understand it was already in FE7, and has something to do with the game miscalculating the backfire.
It worked. I didn’t expect such a fast fix, so thank you a lot.
Now something more general. You have amazing map design. It constantly keeps you interested and engaged and are very creative. However, I am playing on easy and even on easy I feel like it gets to somewhere conquest hard and above level of difficulty. Of course its not up to me to say what the vision for the hack should be, but I think it can hurt accessibility, especially for those who may think that stuff called “easy” and “casual” hurts their ego in some way. The only reason why I am concerned with that is because less people will be able to appreciate your talent in map design. One thing that I may suggest is making less bulky. Most of the units do not have very high damage output growths and even speedy ones struggle to double often, which all in all leads to fact that even effective weapons are sometimes weak as shit and you need to gather the like 5 units to kill just one (which obviously slows you down, yet map gimmicks are designed to push you forward). Good luck anyways!
Thanks for the feedback!
I can see how Easy difficulty can be tricky for some people: the core gameplay remains pretty much the same regardless of what difficulty you choose. There are some, but not huge changes to enemy stats; difficulty affects the enemy composition and equipment much more. My goal with this approach was to affect how much cognitive load is placed on the player with it increasing the higher difficulty setting you choose.
I think I’ve said it before, but this hack rewards more methodical use of your units. What this means is that attacking enemies haphazardly can get you into trouble pretty quickly. Instead, you should make plans and decide where and when to use your units. Most enemies, as well as player units, should die to 2-3 hits in most cases. Enemy bosses can require more hits, especially the ones you have more limited weaponry against.
Let’s say you have units 1-4. Unit 1 and Unit 3 might be able to kill the enemy unit, whereas Unit 1 and Unit 2 might not. However, Unit 2 and Unit 4 could very well deal enough damage for the enemy to die. I hope this explanation makes sense.
I’m going to use that as my segue to match-ups. There are some very defensive units: Great Knights, Generals and Sentinels all have high Defense but low Resistance, whereas Bishops have low Defense but very high Resistance. This is intentional design, my goal is to encourage players to have different kinds of units and weaponry in their teams. Targeting only the Defense of these bulky Generals means you might very well need 5 hits to take them down. Alternatively, even strong magic users struggle against Bishops. Targeting their weaker defensive stat makes them easier to defeat. However, many enemies should have low enough defenses to the point where you can more liberally use units to kill them. If this wasn’t what you were referring to when you said you need to gather 5 units to kill an enemy, I apologize.
With all of that said, I’m open to the idea of making Easy mode easier than it currently is - whether that is by decreasing the amount of enemies and their stats, changing their equipment and/or making anti-turtling objectives less stringent - as well as reducing enemy bulk especially if there are some egregiously tanky opponents. While whatever bruises one’s ego might get from playing a difficulty mode labeled as “easy” are beyond my control, I’ve tried to make sure players don’t feel patronized or left out by choosing Easy mode over other difficulties. There are no hard-mode exclusive super secret endings or easy mode exclusive OP player characters.
Thank you for playing and sharing your thoughts!
I’m liking the game so far. You really have to be creative in every move you make. Great job Zarg and thank you for making this hack. Would you mind making a gaiden, recruitment and item guide. I mean a lot in our community skips most part of the story and they miss out important details. Thank you
Thank you, and good to hear you like the hack so far!
What do you mean by item guide? A list of all items you can get in each chapter?
I’ve actually very much been enjoying the difficulty on hard mode. Most of the levels feel like a surprisingly well-constructed puzzle where there are specific lines that almost feel like they have to be the intended solution because I don’t see any other way to make things work on-time. Even if it was incidental and a factor of getting the right growths in the right places, the fact that this happens so often and consistently suggests that there are probably multiple “outs” to getting the same result with a different character combination most of the time based on growths. Which is a remarkable if true.
My only complaint whatsoever so far is that however it is you are supposed to acquire the extra unit in the first three maps is not at all clear. The only place that made sense to me was the house that had the speed pinions. Seeing the extra unit slot in map 4 but with no unit to fill it was just like “uh, I just straight-up missed someone? how?”
On the map with all of the villagers that you have to save, one of the guys says “he is just going to lock the door” and doesn’t exit the house. I just wanted to make sure this was intentional, and that I’m not experiencing a bug.
only the villages / houses with red rooves should have villagers come out. The houses that give exp should not.
The centaur in the monster level seems to get faster while wielding a weapon with a weight lower than his con. For some reason he doubles Hyledd with a Light Brand, even though both their speeds are 12 and the Light Brand weight is exactly Hyledd’s Con is, so she doesn’t lose speed.
The formula usually makes it so if the Con is higher, it just doesn’t reduce speed, but it seems like wielding a lighter weapon actually increases speed for this unit, if not every enemy unit.
Going through a Normal mode playthrough and I’ve been enjoying myself. A lot of the maps, even on Normal, feel very tight, and don’t leave a lot of room for error, making you have to really utilize every character’s turn to utmost efficiency. I’d say so far the Pirate Ship chapter has been my favorite in regards to both originality, difficulty, and design. Loving the story so far, as well as your writing style. I’m only on Chapter 6, but it’s a bit of a refreshing take as opposed to the typical Fire Emblem “invading empire” storyline.
I will say “Adversaries” does seem a bit cruel, and not necessarily in a way I enjoy. Going towards the right route seems to be highly discouraged, if not impossible with the Wyvern Reinforcements and Ballistas. So the other option is going upwards, which puts you in the recruitable Archer’s path. The problem is if you went shopping right before the route split, you’re likely not going to have the 5k gold required to recruit him without selling highly important promotion items. There’s a Thief with a Blue Gem, but trying to grab him before he runs away seems to be a bit of a trap. You’re getting bombarded by a Bolting Sage with massive Attack for that point in the game, and frequent Cavalier/Wyvern reinforcements. The Barrier Staff that could help you is in a village you had to skip to avoid getting ambushed. Not to mention if you try and cut off the Thief, you’re right in the way of the Paladin Boss, as well as the Bow Trooper Boss who will then begin moving. I have a Promoted Elisabeth at 13/1 but even with her and Agnessa I’m still finding 1-2 units dying in my attempts to get the Blue Gem and survive the Sage.
I appreciate how much is going on in that chapter, and I hesitate to use the word “overtuned”, but the enemy density is pretty bonkers. I can’t imagine what it’s like on Hard Mode!
Send a screenshot. I’m not able to reproduce this bug.
Thanks for reporting!
I’m not going to claim that every possible outcome or scenario is intentional, but the design approach that there are / should be multiple “outs” as you put it is intentional. You might have noticed how the first two patches focus more heavily on Hard mode. The reason for that is that I made a mistake and balanced the early game too much around level ups - now character bases (and slightly higher stats) should be more reliable than they previously were.
I tried to add markers around the barrel where he is, but that alone doesn’t communicate intent - that is, communicate what you’re supposed to do. How would you improve this recruitment? Yes, he needs to be in a barrel. That is a reference to one of the side quests in Divinity: Original Sin 2.
You’re not the only person who has found that chapter to be cruel. It’ very likely that it will be toned down in a later patch.
Yes. Their job is to make you hurry up and clear the map.
What is the “secret reward” that you’re supposed to get in the chapter “Exalted Realm” ? I didn’t get spotted by the guards or the boss, but at the end of the chapter I didn’t get anything.
If you clear that map undetected, you should go to chapter “For Old Time’s Sake”. Is this not what happened?
Oh yup, I did, I thought it was normal through, I assume you don’t get it if you don’t complete the objective? That’s pretty cool.
That is correct.
Wait on one of the two wooden floor tiles in front of the fountain
Hey, I’ve played a bit further now (Bestowal of a Saint) and after my initially slightly critical post I really want to praise this hack. I switched to normal and promoted some of my units earlier and the maps have become more manageable, still very challenging (Conquest-esque), but not feeling unfair anymore. The story is intriguing as well and I’m happy that the writing has stayed solid so far, with previous hacks I often had the feeling that the writing peters out towards the mid/endgame, because people spend more effort refining the early game.
I just wanted to ask if you could provide a list of Secret Shop locations (unless there’s houses that point them out pretty specifically) and if there’s any more unpromoted characters joining after this point, because I’d love to be able to sell my Master’s Seal without feeling gimped later on 
Your last unpromoted character joins at chapter 8 “Alchemist’s Lament” (if you managed to recruit her) so if you have enough items to promote everyone now, then you can sell all your remaining Master Seals.
Should I put the secret shop locations in the first post? Meanwhile, here’s a little hint: all secret shops are in the same chapters as where you get a Member Card.
Last but not least, thank you! I’m happy to hear you decided to give this hack an another chance and enjoy the writing/story!
Hey I had another quick question: where are the traps that need to be disarmed in the water map? Thank you!
