[FE8] [Complete] The Dark Amulet v1.6 (08/08/2024)

Full review after putting in just about 45 hours into the game… which is… Hot damn, what an achievement on your part! This was, in full efffect, a complete Fire Emblem game that I’d rank as an equal to the GBA era.

Some notes:

  • The story is fantastic. It fits all of the beats of a standard Fire Emblem game, and feels as comfortable as a glove. Despite that, it has twists and turns that make it feel fresh. That epilogue is very fun. :wink:
  • The character writing, especially, is top notch. I grew really fond of my entire crew (though I did not manage to pull off as many paired endings as I wanted. I wish the thresholds for building supports was a little lower for narrative reasons, but I get that it’s hard to do for mechanical ones.)
  • Thank god you made all the supports readable in the Extras menu by default. I like your writing, but do not have the time to replay the game several times over to get them all. Very kind of you.
  • The Incident’s chapter is very, very well done. Narratively and mechanically.
  • This was a hard-as-hell mod. I enjoyed it on most chapters, with only one or two being stand out as too tedius or too difficult. I don’t know that I’d have beaten the last 2 chapters or the first jailbreak chapter without save-states. But that might be me, more so than your balance.
  • Swapping character availability in and out constantly was interesting. There were moments I loved it, and moments where it really wrecked my ability to field a strong team. It nearly bricked my run on Chapter 17, because so many of my key units dissapeared. I ended up going a few chapters back to train a second string bench squad to survive that chapter. If you make another hack (which the ending implies?), I’d ask that you never rotate more than 3 characters out at a time, tops.
  • This is especially true because the promotion items come in relatively slowly. Spending a promotion item on a character and then losing them for a while is a massive difficulty jump.
  • I was realy sad about how bad Miley turns out in comparison to the rest of the cast. This is a very enemy-phase heavy game, and her stats and bowlock don’t allow her as strong a presence as the other archers. Even if they’re only available later, Donnal has a stronger statline and has double mobility bonuses, Edgar has 1 range. She needs something - and she does get it! But at promoted level 10, which is just too late. I really liked Freya as a character, and also had to bench her - as a flier, she just can’t compare to Nadya (who’s a fucking monster if you give her a magic ring or two - which she has no competition for) and Hadima (if you give her a speedwing, which is admittedly much more competative).
  • if you’re in the buisness of tweaking this still, please give those two some love. Returned-Rowan, Gareth, and Morgana also needs a little something, something. They come in late and a little under par.
  • You made really good use of the Talk action, and thank you for not making it end a units turn.
  • Absalutely loved training Leandra. Wouldn’t have beaten the last chapter without her Pref Weapon. Phenomenal unit feel. Overall favorite unit.
  • Loved Alexias being such a zero to hero unit (same with Hildi, though she’s much easier to train). Both of these units pairing together made me very happy.
  • Rivka and Dwalt are my favorite Axe units in ANY Fire Emblem game. Love their characters, love how they fit on the roster, love that they’re a romantic pairing. (though having two amazing axe units is another strike against Rowan, who will never match either of them.)
  • GRISS IS GOD. Thank you for making an armor knight such a key player for over half the game. Dude is a champion and I loved fielding him in a way I haven’t loved fielding armor units since Oswin literally 20 years ago. Amazing unit feel.
  • The prevalance of Crit builds was necessary to deal with the difficulty, but it did reduce Shorn’s special factor a bit. When half the cast including the lord has a base 25 crit… He’s a little rough, and doesn’t dodge tank reliably enough until late game. I don’t know that he needs a buff, though. Just an observation. By End-End game he was completely essential for taking on bosses.
  • Kudos for making side characters so dynamic. Really enjoyed watching Fenix and his relationship with Elyse move with the plot. Braggo is a great act 1 villain. Royce being such an aweful person it fucked Zeddard up was a great bit of villain writing.
  • You set yourself up for a sequel and I’m really hoping it comes through.

There’s been plenty of amazing hacks on these forums. Yours is in the upper tier. I appreciate the risks you took, even if I wasn’t a strong enough player to navigate some of them. I appreciate the care in the writing. I appreciated the silly places I needed to warp to just to find easter eggs. As cheesy as a joke as it is, I loved that some character could understand the wyvern completely.

Really great job.

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Hey Tiresome - thank you so much for the detailed reply. Hearing your appreciation and feedback for the hack makes me all the more inspired as I work on the sequel. I don’t plan on doing any more balance tweaks to The Dark Amulet, but I can certainly apply your considerations on unit balance and chapter design to the next game.

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Glad to hear you’re working on a sequel. Good luck and godspeed.

I figured as much about the balance - it’s honestly better than every single mainline FE game, because normally units like Dwalt (axe fighters), Griss (armor knights), Edric (lord), Revkah (armor knight instead of cavelier) and to some extent Harlan (assassin) and shorn (swordmaster) end up really below par on hardmode, which they didn’t here. Meanwhile mainline cavaliers are all great in a very uniform way (they’re either seth or they at least have 8 move), but you made very different units of Revka with her insane but limited to axes combat, Hildi with her reliable and versatile play, and galen with his suprise dark magic usage.

I’m very impressed with most of the cast, which I think is why Miley stood out so much. Rowan only stood out in comparison, because he couldn’t measure up to Rev and Dwalt, meanwhile Morgana just showed up a day late and a dollar short for an unpromoted unit.

Ultimately, the only piece of advice I’d really beg you to consider is limiting the number of “away from home” units that can go missing on the player in one chapter. I really don’t know how I would have gotten past chapter 17 if I alternate what slots I saved the game on, meaning I could roll back to chapter 15 and prepare for it.

I’m looking forward to anything else you put together, and I’m already looking forward to habitually replaying this hack the way I do with fe7 and 8

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Did you somehow remove player phase dodging in this. Because after trying chapter 2 twenty (no i’m not exaggerating) I have yet to dodge anything that wasn’t 0 percent hit.

I haven’t messed with the dodge formula from vanilla at all. Chapter 2 can be tough if Edric hasn’t gained much defense or if shorn can’t one round most axe fighters with the iron blade from chapter 1.

My advice is to take chapter 2 pretty slowly, and rely heavily on Griss’s impressive defense. Don’t push to far forward too quickly. Make use of Catrine’s skill to reduce incoming damage on your frontline by 2 points - that difference adds up. Also Edric’s skill gives nearby allies +10 avoidance. Very useful for surviving enemy phase.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

Now I can’t even blame the game for my getting hit by five 36s in a row

To anyone who cares, I finally beat it.

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@Vorgus Thank you for this Amazing top tier romhack!!!

For some1 that just started hacking in 2023, you did an amazing job, u really got talent for this.
I loved evrything u did in this, i really cant find 1 bad thing about this hack.

It is Perfect! :star_struck:

Also excited for a Sequel!!!

:ok_hand:t6:

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@Vorgus One question, is shiela sypposed to have the steal skill? I assumed she would, as she is a thief and there are a bunch of stealables that indicate you should have someone who can steal, but she doesnt have the skill…other than all the missed stealables teasing me this is one heck of a rom hack, I’m a bit past mid game and man, the story is amazing, the characters are great, just an amazing job, props

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Sheila can steal. She doesn’t need the skill to be able to do it.

No she can’t, the option does not appear

FE The Dark Amulet-52
FE The Dark Amulet-53

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Are you on the latest version? I played the game when it came first came out a bit and seem to remember her being able to steal then, but she cant now…just tried again, option does not appear

Sheila can definitely steal.

The bug is that while Harlan can steal even when his inventory is full, Sheila can’t do that. Sheila needs an open inventory space to steal.

Also remember, as always, your thief’s speed must be equal to or greater than the target’s speed to steal from them.

Ahh, that makes sense, gotnused to bot worrying about inventory space so shes always had a full inventory. Thanks!

With the context of other supports, I am 200% not okay with the ending to EdricXElyse.

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And yet, it’s the only possible ending for them. Sad, but true…

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It’s the canon ending insofar as it will be the ending used in the upcoming sequel hack, which takes place 10 years after the events of The Dark Amulet.

But the other endings are still possible for this game, and certainly count as much as EdricxElyse. Elyse’s fate is more or less sealed, Edric can end up in a less bittersweet place, love-wise. I think him and Catrine are particularly sweet together :slight_smile:

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Are you going to put a demo or an incomplete patch of the hack available for playtesting? I’d be excited to give feedback on your new project.

(corporate speak for “your writing is so cool and i would hate for it to be attached to a hack that isn’t greatly tested. i have confidence that your map design capabilities improved since TDA but, it never hurts to have a fresh eye)

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There will definitely be play tests for the sequel before it’s released. It’s still early in development, but I can see an initial playtest coming out before too much longer. First 10 chapters are almost done.

There’s also a big bug I need to sort out first: the game uses a split convoy and right now items seem to totally disappear or end up in the wrong side of the split. Hopefully I can figure that one out soon.

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