I just finished, thank you for the great game! I look forward to playing Crowns & Thrones as well as the TPK sequel. A few of my thoughts if you’re interested (I’m apparently a little starved for analysis, this is longer than I intended):
Writing: [[spoiler] First thing’s first: I know it’s already been discussed to death, and at some points rather rudely in this thread, but there really are a lot of typos in here. I saw your request for a proofreader, but I got here a bit too late to the game. If you still need one I’d be happy to volunteer my services for future projects.
The characters were by and large well-thought out and distinct, but difficult to keep track of; I still don’t know where Banyu came from or who he is, he just showed up in my party at one point. I know you have the character list with all the relationships in the original post; is the intention to keep that up while playing? While that might have enhanced my comprehension, I can’t help but think there might have been a better way to make sure the character relationships were more spelled out in-game.
The heart of the game lies with its heroes and their growth, which is refreshingly not always in a positive direction. Lennard goes from a meek, soft-hearted prince to a strong leader willing to make tough decisions, but also never fully realizes that not every situation requires the use of violence. Kathleen starts out headstrong and only gets more so, which luckily works out for her, but it seems to me that in a more traditional narrative her bullheadedness would have gotten her killed in the cell with Hilda. She’s selfish and arrogant , but also compassionate, which is why she’s the only one who could have rode out to speak with Lennard on the battlefield and thus saved Reglis.
The plot kind of loses me, starting right at the top with Merciel. I simply cannot picture in my head how he could go up to the king of Garleanne, stick a sword in him, and the Garleannic delegation 1) doesn’t take any action immediately, even to detain him, and 2) is allowed to just waltz on home to muster troops and make war on Lerce. On a similar note, I’m still hazy on the extent of Nymen’s abilities, both magical and cerebral. I know he can puppet dead bodies in perpetuity like Lyon, but he can apparently also possess living bodies which he only does once and for a limited time. If the idea was to keep Lerce and Garleanne at each others’ throats, why not maintain control of Merciel’s corpse, come up with a solid reason for the murder that Lerce can get behind in earnest, and lead the forces himself the way he later does with Sountaine? On a side note, why is the king of Sountaine’s body at the final battle? Shouldn’t he be fighting Myrsin?
On a final note, I want to commend you on the setting. Reglis feels like a living, breathing place with a delicate balance of power, which is completely exploded by the events in the story. To hear Lennard and Kathleen tell it, it’s just all’s well that ends well. I don’t think Teya and Hannah, who lost their entire families, would agree; we can see this in the story with Manfroy as well. I’m interested to see how these things develop in the sequel.
One perspective that’s conspicuously missing after the first few chapters is that of the common people, besides the odd village visit or two. You mentioned that the nobility are getting paranoid of the current generation in the sequel, which means they aren’t even considering that the threat could come from the underclass. We know Nymen is charismatic (if uncreative, not a single Dagnean noble bought the Guillame lie after considering it for two seconds), so I can see him starting or co-opting a peasant rebellion next time since he already tried military conquest as well as political subterfuge. [/spoiler]
Gameplay: [spoiler]I really liked the longbows, and Roderick & Eduard demolished everything in their paths. This may have been the first time Fire Emblem was easy for me, particularly in the end game; most prepromotes were kinda worthless, since it was a race to 20 which beat every enemy in the game, not even the final boss had capped stats. If I play again it’ll definitely be on hard mode.
The squad:
Brave 3-range archers took some getting used to, but I enjoy when archers are a challenge that need to be overcome, and I enjoy having OP bow users too (Warrior Teya with the Telescope goes ham). The one thing I’m really missing is more boss conversations, and I would have loved to have had a good old FE10 4-E style clash with Lennard’s team taking on Kathleen’s. Not a coder, so I don’t know if it would be possible to keep their same stats and keep them alive when killed in battle so they could be used after; but it really feels like that was what this game was building up to this whole time.
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That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thanks again for the great game!