Or autolevels. Is a possible solution
won’t auto leveling them make it seem artificial? The player should feel involve with every unit level up to give it more meaning instead of getting a unit with auto level handed to them when they need it
I think it would be great to find a balancing act between the two. Maybe the player gets a high rank weapon on that unit’s chapter that they wouldn’t be able to use without training or a weapon after checking the level
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This is a great solution!
I am having a blast with this game, the right amount of challenging. I’m in chapter 21 and I want to recruit a certain character who is on a fort… I spoke to her with Edric and Galen, do I need to defeat her or do I just leave her be?
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Either are fine. She can’t be recruited this chapter and defeating her won’t prevent her from being recruiting later.
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Thanks, this has been so much fun!!
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I just finished The Dark Amulet and I have to say this has easily become my favourite hack. The story and the way that it is told is absolutely fantastic. It was an easy to follow story that was unique enough to keep my attention and investment. The level designs were excellent and many of them gave the option or hinted at getting me to play in ways that I typically wouldn’t. And for once, I found the majority of the characters to be actually memorable and unique (in both personality and function) - they were so well written and the supports were the cherry on top.
I loved that in most levels you are strongly encouraged to move quickly but not at a breakneck pace that sets you up for failure. This was certainly a difficult hack, though. I played with save states and it was still a challenge. But man, was it rewarding and I loved every second of it. The use of enemy long range attacks or status effects was used appropriately and not over done. The enemy reinforcements were perhaps a bit on the heavy side, but I think fair overall.
I think one of the best things about The Dark Amulet is that variety of level objectives and occasional forced deployments. It made those levels stand out and really push the story. I was fortunate that I wasn’t punished with units that were forced, whether it be with the items they had or their stats. I don’t think you would need to put in a prep screen for these levels, because it would slow the pace of the story and kill emersion, however, perhaps a warning or note of some kind even at the start of the game before things gets rolling. And one small criticism would be to make the escape levels have everyone escape. Just getting one person to the end can feel a little cheap.
Another thing that I really appreciate was how well the acquisition of items was thought out. Typically near the end of a hack, I would be overstuffed with items or gold and still have tons of elite gear to spare. With The Dark Amulet, I was having to make decisions on when and what to buy, or who to give what and then only have a few relevant things left over. And the secret shop was also a nice treat.
A few annoying things were that silence staves were useless. I don’t know how these mechanics typically work but my hit rates were too low to be used at all. So if this was intentional or I just suck, I don’t know. And the arena during one of the gaidens also seemed useless. I get not wanting people to be able to abuse areas but it was already in a chapter that had a time limit. I experimented with a few units and they were so outmatched it was not possible to win without more luck than usual. But these are small criticisms and didn’t affect me in the long run.
The supports were awesome and very well written. I went out of my way to get a few romantic pairings.
Summary
I put Edric with Catrine and that was definitely my favourite pairing. They seemed the best together, in my opinion.
This is already way too wordy and I probably haven’t even said all the things I love about this game. But I apologize that I don’t know how to format my posts better (experimented with the above drop box thing). I don’t usually post. But I loved this game so much and I was super excited to read about a sequel being worked on. Let me know when that bad boy is ready and sign me up! Thanks for the amazing game, Vorgus!
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Finally managed to finish The Dark Amulet. I will keep it short: Excellent hack, one of the best without a question. Was always thrilled to read a new support and that is something that FE vanilla games and hacks do not always manage. Thank you!
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Thanks for this awesome hack! Im in chapter 6, can’t let go the game so far, im so engaged. Most hacks have very complex story a lengthy conversations, but this one hits a sweet spot, the characters are very funny and well written, its like a mainline game balance. Easy top five among the years I’ve been playing.
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Wow just finished, I can’t express how much i like this game… Thank you very much had awesome week playing.
But i have a couple of questions.
Summary
From the epilogue save you can access map mode, but is not implemented yet no?
Also the ending let the door open for this story to have a sequel, or there is some good and bad endings? Cuz i can’t wait to know how this will continue 
This is my favorite hack now 
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Map mode isn’t implemented at all. I wouldn’t recommend playing it. Not sure anything would even work if you tried.
Yes, the story will have a sequel. The sequel is currently under development. There is only one ending to The Dark Amulet.
Glad you enjoyed the game! Check out the Discord server if you want to learn more about the sequel 
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Okay second playthrough finally focusing on it and I realize, I lowkey Love Eleanora lol. She is childish but like in a funny way that isn’t annoying. With this newfound appreciation of her I just realized she doesn’t support Edric, is there a reason behind this or just space issues. It seems a little weird because they are so close and he has a support with the brother who tried to kill him lol. She childhood friends with Julia but no support. She has less supports than anti social Shorn but twice as talkative lol. Is it because she is younger?
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Is the Discord link broken?
Okay second playthrough finally focusing on it and I realize, I lowkey Love Eleanora lol. She is childish but like in a funny way that isn’t annoying. With this newfound appreciation of her I just realized she doesn’t support Edric, is there a reason behind this or just space issues. It seems a little weird because they are so close and he has a support with the brother who tried to kill him lol. She childhood friends with Julia but no support. She has less supports than anti social Shorn but twice as talkative lol. Is it because she is younger?
Eleanora is great and was lots of fun to write. She’s got this great mix of headstrong naivety and wit that makes her a great foil to dour Edgar and idealistic Edric. As for her supports, yes, it came mostly down to space, in the end. Edric already has 6 supports - that feels like one too many. A support between Julia and Eleanora could have been cool and probably should exist. I just never thought to include it! 
Is the Discord link broken?
Welcome to FE Universe! No, I don’t think the Discord link is broken. It seems to work for me. If you’re still having trouble, let me know. The Dark Amulet
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Hello Again!
Back, after my second complete playthrough. New standouts - and Vauge but Defininte Spoilers below.
- I normally read 20ish published fantasy books a year. Most of them flounder or sturggle with items that your story comfrotably wins/aces…
- Naunced characters: the highlight of the writing actually shines most brightly in characters like Sophia. She’s a woman who’s struggled deeply, and it shows in her behavior. Her inability to find easy ground in the new world (how to feel about monarchy, how to feel about Zeddard, how to feel about Edwin, how to feel Othello) could easily be the feature of their own game. that quality of writing being applied to a side character is impresive work.
- This is true for many of the more plot heavy characters, especially the ones that cross alliegances. Fenix’s plotline is it’s own minature MacBeth, and he would have been a complete villain all his own.
- Elyse isn’t neglected the way most of fire emblem’s women get. She has her own full, seperate story, and could easily be the protagonist of her own novel.
- Harlan’s arc is also verytightly executed.
- Parallels. You close the loop about Edric vs. Zeddard crisply, in the the kind of clean execution they try to drill into folks in screenwriting classes. Zeddard having a second set of foils in Royce and Velania is nuts. Zeddar has to stare at his failures across all angles.
- Duke Forness being such a proud piece of shit, but having characters stil love and care for him creates a dimensional world that feels more believable. Again, great grey character writing.
This is one of the strongest bits of fantasy writing I’ve come across in the pulp sphere. It’s honestly frustrating watching the average fantasy tv show completely fail to balance the number of plates it sets spinning. You’ve easily got about 15 of them going, and you balance them all. Just great work.
Mechanical: Solid. Most of my feelings still stand. I made a deliberate attempt to swap out for new characters, and have to admit it did not feel worth the effort for several of them:
- Rowan ended up speed blessed and I still couldn’t justify him against a strength screwed Rivkah. I trained Morgana, made the best of her PRF weapon, and then had no reason to bring her around again. Gris is my favorite early game unit, but did not transition into the endgame (though I genuinely think that’s for the best.)
- I’m still kind of lost as to how I’d beat the final boss without Leandra’s long distance tome. He was fully capable of 1 rounding every single member of my roster, so striking him outside his distance was the only safe and reliable way to win. Is there something I’m missing here? Are you expecting players to make last minute sacrifices?
- Every Pref weapon in the game is well integrated. I appreciate all their uses and the strategies they encourage.
- The lack of redundant unit classes is mechanically very engaging. Crafting my team felt like a more considered choice. I still ended up accidentally prioritizing movement above all else, but that’s a quirk of Fielding Sophia on Purpose Because I like Her, and she is a great Warp/Rescue unit to boot. Bringing Othello around just to give her a happy ending was a rewarding choice.
After playing through quite a handful of what’s on this forum, I’ve been so impressed with the beautiful work modders have made for this series. Personally, this is still my favorite of the bunch. Thanks again!
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Hey Tiresome, thank you so much for your detailed feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed the focus put into the story and the individual character arcs. Fenix’s rise and fall (and rise) was a joy to create - he’s definitely a bit of a favorite of mine. Fun fact: in the first draft of the story, he was going to die at the end of Chapter 22. Then as I wrote out the earlier chapters, he starting seeming (to me) more and more sympathetic. Still villainous, certainly, but with some jaded decency in there, as well, particularly when it comes to Elyse. So when I got actually building Chapter 22, I had a change of heart and decided to let him live! Really happy with making that decision. Fenix has a boss conversation against Zeddard’s first form in the final chapter and it wraps everything up nicely.
Forness is a classic example of “yeah he’s a good guy but he’s not exactly a good guy.” Also was fun to write. Was sad to see him go so soon but visiting him again the the flashback chapter (Chapter 16x) helped to explain why Forness is the way he is in the present time.
Gotta love Harlan. I’d always planned for him and Julia to be star-crossed lovers as a bit of a romance subplot. The moment I was writing their first scene together and she mistakenly calls him a knight, it all just came together for me. “What if she keeps saying ‘Sir Harlan,’ every single chance she gets, and he keeps correcting her… until it turns out she’s right. The rogue’s got a bit of chivalry in him after all.” And then the sub plot basically wrote itself.
Sophia carries a lot of the political plot of the game as well as the sympathy / explanation for why Zeddard is what he is from the moment she arrives on the scene at Chapter 16 and then onwards until basically the end game. Funnily enough, I wasn’t planning for her to be a playable character. You’d still rescue her (a defenseless NPC) in Chapter 16, but then she’d stay in the background. Then I realized there was really no reason at all not to have her in the party. She also gets a great boss conversation with Zeddard’s first form. And her scene with Zeddard at the start of Chapter 24 when they finally meet again after her long imprisonment… as you said, she’s a complicated character.
Also, a small note on Sophia, I really loved using her as a counterweight to Edric in the latter third of the plot. Edric’s the good guy, the secret heir, the savior of the realm. And Sophia just doesn’t trust him and cannot stand him. Their difficult relationship spells out that politics are messy and being the heroic man with a sword doesn’t mean everyone is going to get along at the end of this (on a related note, I’m currently creating the sequel to The Dark Amulet).
To one of your mechanical points on how can one defeat Zeddard’s first form without cheesing him with long-range magic… He’s pretty damned strong. I typically resort to Edric attacking him from 3-range, with Edric’s support team (Shorn, Julia, Elyse, Catrine) right beside him, stacking support bonuses. His supports + his PRF sword means he’ll be able to survive a round of combat, and gradually take Zeddard down (as Edric can be healed by his allies, but Zeddard’s all alone and doesn’t heal).
People tend not to like the Sophia / Othello pairing because Othello’s a bad dude for keeping Sophia a prisoner for ten years on Zeddard’s orders. They’re not wrong, that was pretty evil of him. But to me their romance isn’t a happy go-lucky lovefest like a lot of the younger pairings. She is broken and alone, without a husband or her much-loved brother. He is hopelessly in love with her. She recognizes that, and appreciates his comradery and friendship during her captivity, even if he was implicated in it. It’s a making the best of a tough situation kind of romance - more about companionship than love. People will hate it but I stand by it
Anyways, I really appreciated your thorough review, so I thought I’d throw in some thoughts of my own.
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Really happy you did. Fenix functions as a great warning for Edric. I think that’s probably a core reason I’ve really connected with this story. Edric is a stand-out good guy - but that doesn’t mean he’s free of criticism or doesn’t have pitfals to watch out for. Most modern FE protagonists and avatars just don’t get meaningful pushback or thematic foils anymore. They’re either too perfect, or the narrative doesn’t really bother.
Edric is about as ideal as a protagonist for a fantasy story gets, and that doesn’t excempt him from friction with the cast. The other characters don’t fawn over him, or immidiately agree with him.
In regards to Sophia… I appreciate her Othello reomance because it plays nicely with her inabiility to let go. As far as women go, she’s probably suffered as extremely as possible from the patriarchal and political nature of Medieval marriage, but she still firmly believes in the authority of lineage and crown. She has more than enough reasons to hate Zeddard, and gets her vengance against him, but still holds love for him.
On this run, I let her get the final blow on his phase one, and it fealt very satisfying. I enjoyed their battle quotes to one another.
She was trapped physically, and that’s straightforward to be free of (even if it’s not easy). But she was “trapped” emotionally and mentally, too. Imagining a radical new world is for younger, more hopeful people. Her deciding on the comfortable, the familiar, the straightforward… It’s a good fit.
Thanks for the insights into where these characters started, and the decisions you’ve made!
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Hello, this is my first time posting on FEU so this will be my first ever post lol. I been playing fe rom hacks for five years now and been on the hunt for any good ones that piques my interests. Let me just say what I think about the hack in general, I really think its up there for being a really good hack, even if i have some problems with it. I think for a first time hack, this is a really good product with a some game designs i love and some that i really do not like.
Let me start with the plot which is really well written for a first hack and a full fledged hack at the same time. I like the world building and major characters you see along the way, Alexias and Catrine being some of my faves. I love the way the support system is complete and short handed which i truly think how supports in hacks should be tackled, a small but well written support list. I like how it goes in depth to certain origin of characters and the flashback chapter was really cool in story-gameplay integration. I unfortunately missed the hidden boots at the time which frustrates me with my slow five move dancer being ferried around later lol.
That is my compliments for the story and I will not spoil much, I’d like others to play this hack to read the full story. One minor complaint but the amount of sequel tease in the ending and pre credits scene i feel like takes away from the accomplishment you and your army has recently done, however despite that i am quite excited to see what you can cook up 
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As for the gameply, this is where my most critical takes appear. I will say the good
- Unique class system for every character, yay no more duo myrms and/or chirstmas cavs
- Growths are good enough for most characters and the enemies do not scale too high that you won’t feel screwed from rng bad luck with your units.
- Personal weapons addition is well handled, it rewards you using certain characters if you choose to use them and it doesn’t seem so op besides a couple few Hero tome with 3 range is broken and longbow killer bow on a class with +20 crit made Miley basically a fates sniper in a gba game
However, i have some complaints about the maps and certain gameplay choices - I don’t like the fact a lot of enemies appear out of nowhere, such as the defend map in the mid game that have you defend enemies from four different directions.
- I wish there was more chances to know when or how long certain units leave your party besides the very first instance. While it would keep the plot less shocking or twisting, a little message of saying “Hey after this map, this unit will leave for a certain period of time. Manage your supplies well.” Maybe i missed something and my complaint is nulled if its like the fe7 matthew situation where you can straight up take his stuff even if you can’t deploy him.
- I did not like the enemy spam of late game maps. I played on the hardest difficulty possible so perhaps it is different but facing walls of units in the map or getting ambushed by 8 different reinforcements isn’t very fun nor can it be strategized well.
Overall i love the hack, but there are some things i did not enjoy. I love what you are doing and i hope to see more from you and the dev team. My only feedback is maybe add some enemy map themes, the final map enemy theme felt anticlimatic lmao. Also, the Leandra and Catrine ending and supports are so cute, i love the yuri ending.
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Just started playing this, do all boss-ending hits use the crit animation? Otherwise, I hit a 2% in Ch 1. with Miley before hitting a 0% (huh???) with Hilda in the following chapter.
If so, this is a cool feature. 
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