Discussion on an old hack’s excellent gameplay but lackluster story eventing is still discussion.
2 Likes
Is there a casual mode for it i heard there was but i didnt see it so i didnt know if i had the right version
You heard wrong because there’s no casual mode here. You can’t not lose people but in such cases, replacements are plentiful.
You should be able to enable casual mode by adding it from febuilder’s patches menu. However, this is untested, so I can’t say if it works flawlessly with VQ, as the game was not built with casual mode in mind.
FEVQ Review: By MegaCowsamMan
(Warning: Its long)
Hello Pandan! So I got finished with my third run of FE: Vision Quest about 2 or 3 months ago and, wow! What an incredible experience that was! It really shows how much effort you and the team put in to create such a unique but also familiar experience. Not much in terms of ground-breaking never before seen ASM hacks or anything like that, just a well thought out, polished experience!
Alright, let’s sort my thoughts out:
Story
The story was very solid and very memorable. Part 1’s story about basically being a pack of bandits trying to survive the harsh taxes put in place, I enjoyed it immensely!
Part 2’s story was pretty good too! traveling around different parts of the VQ World was very enjoyable! Great worldbuilding!
Part 3 was an interesting change of pace, looking at the perspective of a nomad trying to escape the grasps of a deadly villain! Pretty enjoyable, though, its a bit rough, and a bit stretched out IMO.
Part 4’s where it got a bit iffy for me, I really enjoyed the arc with Eresmus and Sigrid. But when it got to the parts with Storch and Titus, it got a bit drawn out IMO. Especially the conversation between Storch and Cassius, boy that was a long one. Not sure if you would make more any changes to VQ, since its marked Complete, but if you were, I’d suggest trimming it down JUST a bit. The ending bit with Festan and his guardian (can’t remember his name) right before I let 'em have it was very interesting!
And of course, the talk of food was always enjoyable for me!
Overall, the story you wanted to tell was very solid and one of my favorites of any romhack I’ve played!
Characters
Characters (personality wise), were very well written here too! Some favorites for me were Helga, Marlen, Cajon, Honeydew, Kir, Osane, Esfir, Bromhilda, Alexander, and especially Onisim!
Gameplay
Gameplay was very, and I mean VERY well done! Absolutely splendid work you and the playtesters did here! Everything feels tight and fare (and didn’t make me to toss my controller across the room), I played on normal mode twice, and hard mode once, hard mode was a bit much for me in terms of difficulty, but I still had a good time nevertheless!
Part 1 was very enjoyable almost the way through for me! some stand outs were 1-5, 1-9, and 1-11!
And 1-7xx’s my favorite in th3e entire game! Very fun map structure, good enemy placements, very fun boss(es), very nice palettes, and stellar map theme!
Best map in VQ!
But, there were a few questionable chapters for my tastes, those being:
1-6. IMO, the weakest map of part 1. A tightly nit fog of war map full of annoying Mercs, hard-hitting Shamans, and don’t get my started on those Wyvern reinforcements! Frustrating, but not terrible!
1-7. Just wasn’t a fan of its structure is all. Seemed a bit too big. I’d make it a tile shorter or two. Not too much to say really.
1-10. I don’t know HOW you can retrieve ALL of the chests AND recruit Honeydew WITHOUT letting one of your units die. Trust me, I’ve tried.
Part 2 was my favorite part for me! Enjoyed almost every single chapter there! Few standout were 2-2, 2-3x, 2-5, 2-5x, and 2-E!
With my favorite being chapter 2-7!
But really, the one I didn’t like:
2-3.
map bad
In seriousness, it was just frustrating to no end! Too many enemies, too many items are hard to get due to the buff reinforcements at the top left, and don’t get my started by the surprisingly bad recruit you get in Vernon, but we’ll get to him later. Really, IMO, the worst chapter in VQ. (sorry)
Part 3 started out strong, then weakened a bit right after 3-3 or so, very fun to play though! My favorite being, well, 3-3! And my least favorite being 3-5.
Part 4. IMO, is the weakest of the parts. Yes, almost all FE games’ overall quality wain around the end of the game (save FE6 and FE10), but for VQ, I feel their is 2 reasons why its the weakest:
1: Bigger maps.
I know its almost a requirement to have massive maps spanning across tiles and tiles, but seriously, they didn’t have to be THIS big! At least, these big back-to-back back-to-back! Just found myself drained by the end of every chapter!
2: Questionable anti-turtle use.
I felt like almost every anti-turtle incentive was just a turn too early for my taste. It was very tough to save the villager chief in 4-3x, tough to save the village in 4-4, and VERY tough to save at least one horse in 4-3.
But all thats just me. Now, back to what I was saying:
My favorites were 4-1x, 4-4, and 4-6. With 4-4 being my second favorite chapter in the game! Ones I dislike are 4-2, 4-3, and 4-3x. With 4-3 being one of the worst chapters in the game.
Overall, very solid and very, very fun!
Units
Characters (gameplay wise) were very good throughout the game. Most felt very well-balanced, and fun to use!
Some favorites were Arcady, Larisa, Onisim, Nazar, Sri, Gunnar, Zoya, Hollace, Mango, Surya, Kir (I like knights), Stina, Onderdonk, Jae, Rakkaus, Erasmus, and Bosco!
There were a few rotten eggs in the basket though. Those being Lera, Marlen, Otilie, Lajos, Freyja Hokulani, Sigrid, Zuzana, Selanne. Vernon, IMO, is the worst unit in the game…
And that leads too a nitpick I have: The pre-promotes are too underpowered. Except Waluyo, Rakkaus, Onderdonk, Erasmus, and maybe Timmonen. IMO, everyone else felt too frail and slow to have a slot in my army. Especially Vernon, feeling too weak and fragile to add to my team at ANY time. I’d suggest you’d give him a point of speed or two.
But! But but but! It was great overall!
Graphics
This game, how it looks great! The portraits blend together so well, giving VQ a very unified look!
Congrats to all of the artists who’s creativity brought these lovable characters to life!
Map tiles and palettes look very nice and clean, and fit the vibe of this hack very well. Especially the village tilesets, those look awesome!
Battle sprites, map sprites, battle palettes, the status screen background, all if it looks very, as I said, unified! Most graphics have a sort of teal-y green, with plenty of greys and navy blues. Excellent job to all of the artists of this game!
Music
Ok, one of the best parts of VQ, and that I always find myself going back to is the music. Almost ALL tracks sound soooo good here! They blend together and don’t feel out of place against one another! Lots of Electric Pianos, Recorders, and Choir Aahs are used in the soundtrack and you inspired me to use them in my own music creations!
My favorites are Corridors Of Time, Star Fox Map Screen, Attack FE7 (Wow thats a good remix!), Restoring Breakfast Pandan, Wumba’s Wigwam Banjo Tooie, Mission Street SA2B, Jungle Wonder Boy 3, ok seriously, I could go on forever! Seriously, great work!
Also, Kens Theme from SF2…Thats like, one of my favorite music of all time!
Final Team
This team was taken from my third hard mode run.
Storch:
Turned out very good right at his promotion to be honest. A vital part of the team in terms of tanking hits and one-shotting enemies.
Titus…Titus Titus Titus! Out of all of my runs, he was the most consistent in terms of performance. And he was amazing everytime! having complete control of the magic triangle is pretty key in VQ IMO. And having Stave utility is a very nice touch!
Also, he got pretty fast.
A very solid pre-promote lord with Bows and Axes was alot of fun to mess around with! Very vital with the final chapter, sniping away across the walls.
Definately one of the better units of VQ. Was very good at his job early game chipping away at the tougher enemies. Which is something I can’t say about 95% of other early game archers.
On the otherside of the spectrum, we have Lera. On all of my runs, she seems to struggle alot getting off the ground. Especially during the midgame. Had to heavily rely on her early support with Merlen.
Marlen was pretty weak too. Capped strength is nice, but that defense made him pretty hard to work with. Good thing he had Canto or he wouldn’t of made the final team thats for sure!
Gunnar was a nice suprise and very useful during earlygame. A great mage killer if you ask me! Though I do find his innate skill a bit pointless being a mercenary an all.
A solid unit everytime she’s used. Struggles a bit on the offensive side, but I got pretty lucky this run. Very good unit overall.
Struggles ALOT during the mid-game, but most of his problems were mended with his promo. Very top heavy, but serves his job well!
Got a bit unlucky with him on this run, and perhaps one of the hardest units to train IMO. A good canitdate to early promote perhaps.
Died on my first run, but was determined to use him in the next two, and he sure delivered for me. Plus I like his design. Like the purple armor!
Capped speed pretty quickly and quickly became one of my better units on my runs. Pretty top heavy, good innate skill, good portrait, good personality. Yeah, she’s great!
A very interesting unit really. Joined in a time where your mercenaries hit their stride a chapter or two ago. At least in my experience. Also, capped strength, thats pretty good!
Ok, I don’t know whats up with Halberdiers in this game, but their some of your best units in the game. Seriously. Joins a bit late but makes his place in the team pretty quickly for me. Excellent unit!
He’s top heavy, and he works with it. One of my better units in my latest run. Since Nasar got stinky level ups in speed. Filled his role well, and deserved the final blow on the final boss!
Pretty solid unit overall. Not the best healer in the cast (I.e, Onisim), but a solid one overall. Pretty fragile, but the innate support with Waluyo helped a bit!
Didn’t get the best level ups with Kusuma, but she made her place with her A Storch support. The maxed skill was pretty good for her since her damage output was a bit lacking.
One of the better units on this run for sure! She perfomed her job veeeery well! Snipping behind the knights. Very good indeed!
…And my third Forrest Knight, being Seruni. She was a bit hard to get off the ground, but when she started doubling, she didn’t disapoint!
Zuljalal was a powerful asset starting part 4. Hitting hard and long! And tanking a few hits or two! A welcome addition to the team!
An honorable mention:
A solid and powerful unit all the way through, but didn’t QUITE make it around the end of the game. Dodgetanking wasn’t much of value around the end, but she did her job. Shame she didn’t make it to the final chapter.
Conclusion
FE Vision Quest is an achievement. An achievement earned. Earned through vigorous testing, tweaking, writing, discussion, and feedback. All done with a passion, a passion for this anime sword fighting, tactical JPRG game series we all enjoy as a community.
Pandan and Friends, thank you.
Also, congrats on 50k downloads! Hope the rest of 'em enjoy this hack as much as I do.
Alright, see ya!
-MegaCowsamMan
4 Likes
Glad you had fun, thanks for the review and giving the hack a look,
also wow we hit 50K that’s wild.
thanks all for the support, really appreciate it.
5 Likes
This was one of the first hacks I ever played, and the first I finished, back in 2021. I have really good memories playing it. Aside from the gameplay or the story (the first arc was an absolute peak), the characters and their personalities won me over, and the fact that some of them have special gaidens was a brilliant idea.
Until this day, Vision Quest has been the FE hack that I most enjoyed playing, and I had played many others since then.
3 Likes
I just started playing this game recently, and I think it’s great so far. Although, I had some issues with 1-3. I’m aware of the bug, but when I skipped the dialogue at the end, the game still crashed. Is anyone also having this issue or know of a different way to possibly bypass it?
Thanks.
Disregard, I got it working by resetting the emulator.
1 Like
Playing the most recent update (v3) and Natsuko won’t level up past level 10. Looking for a fix.
Are you going to make vision quest 2?
1 Like
sorry chief, I tried and didn’t like it
1 Like
I’d need to check, but if you go into FEBuilder, you should be able to check Natsuko’s class and see if there’s anything funky triggered in there that would treat the class like a trainee – this is a super old bug, so it shouldn’t be there anymore.
1 Like
It’s okay this is one of my favorite hack amazing story
2 Likes
Appreciate it – if you’re curious, the demo for the sequel is available here: [FE8] Fire Emblem: Lengths of Time [22-Oct-21, v.01 - 7 chapters] [Canceled]
5 Likes
Problem solved. It was an issue on my end. Loaded a script into the event assembler that caused the bug.
Hey there! Longtime JRPG fan (close to three decades), longtime Fire Emblem fan (close to two decades), and finally getting around to trying this game, my first romhack ever. Outside of fan translations, I guess haha.
So far I’m loving it more than some FE games, but I’m finding that I’m getting the same support anxiety that I got from the older FEs with capped supports.
Basically, I don’t want to blow my supports on early characters when I don’t know my final group, but don’t want to accidentally lock myself out of max supports with certain characters if I decide too late that I want to invest in them. Since you increase supports by battle deployment.
How viable is it to wait until you recruit all of a characters potential supports before raising any? I know the answer is “don’t worry about”…but this is how I play games lol. I can’t not worry about it ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks!
2 Likes
I totally understand your worries with the supports but imo it adds even greater replay ability if they’re capped. It’ll also give you a chance to see what works and doesn’t then next play through you can fine tune who you support who with. Fire emblem has always been about replay ability to me and the fact that it limits you on play through a allows for more things to do and change next play through.
1 Like
I do appreciate the reply, and I have no problem with or argument against the concept of support limits, but I barely have time to play through a game once much less twice. So replayability is moot to me with how I play and approach games.
This is more of a mechanics question here since I don’t know how many battles it takes for a support to raise.
Judging by my experience, everyone has so many support options that you won’t accidentally lock anyone out of getting their A+B filled, just by not pulling the trigger until you’re pretty sure you’re sticking with a character for a while. You’ll know who has an at least medium-term future pretty quickly just based on who you like, and even if someone winds up with a B-rank with someone who got dropped or whatever, risking that is surely more ‘optimal’ than going without supports in the earlygame, where the boosts matter more. Endgame has a very generous support limit, anyway, so a lot of your units will have a future even if they aren’t quite A-listers, particularly if you’re playing ironman.
That all makes sense. Thanks! Was also wondering about accidentally making early game harder for myself for no reason but I know I can’t have my cake and eat it too. I feel a little more able to make choices now, I appreciate it.