Care for a preview of said interesting things?
Itās unlikely, unless I figure out how to add a way to demote units without requiring a new item. All the item slots are already taken 
Nice.
And i donāt knowā¦ 2 suggestions, first, i dont know about how people use febuilder so donāt take me that seriously.
- If junaās fruit (i think it existed in the base game) place has not been taken, you can make it the demoting item
- Or maybe do like in that rom hack called āsacred echoesā where units promote by interacting with a special statue/tiles probably. (Can be placed in the tower or ruins)
Whatever, if it gets pretty hard and all that, you donāt have to do it, the hack is still pretty good, demoting just sounds good so you donāt have to restart a playthrough to train and promote units the best way possible to face the post-game content that is supposed to be hard even with late game units
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Maybe a tiny postgame map with a scripted event that resets everyone who you deployed on it to their base stats/class/level/skills? Obviously thatās less powerful than villager looping like in Sacred Echos, but itās easy enough to get anyone back up to speed with the Tower of Valni and the promotion items and stat boosters in the creature campaign secret shops.
I think it can be pretty bad if they lose all their stats, what i mean is just demoting without losing stats (except by those that exceed the basic caps) and skills, you will still have to level up the demoted unit to promote again
Some takeaways so far:
- The fact you have to end a unitās turn twice if it has Canto+ and doesnāt attack anyone (because Canto+ activates even if you choose Wait) is very annoying, considering the fact half my army has Canto+ at this point and they canāt always all attack. Itās pointlessly doubling the number of actions Iām required to do. I know for a fact that there is a variant of Canto+ out there which doesnāt activate when the unit presses Wait, so if you could implement that, itād be great.
- I do not like the choices for enemy skills. My stance on enemy skills is that theyāre fine as long as they arenāt RNG and as long as they donāt slow the game down too much. But Iāve seen Focus on Mogalls and Mages (+10 Crit when there are no allies within 3 tiles), Adept on Mages (chance to attack an extra time), and Sure Shot on Archers/Snipers (Skl% chance to guarantee a hit and strike with 1.5x damage). Iāve also seen Barricade on Fighters and Baels (take halved damage from follow-up attacks). The first few of the skills I just listed are basically skills that can randomly kill you, which means that you always have to play as if they will activate, which I find a bit annoying considering how low of an activation chance they have. Itās high enough for you to need to consider it, but also low enough that having to consider it doesnāt feel great, because you know it wonāt matter most of the time, but it might matter when you least expect itā¦ then Barricade, on the other hand, just slows the game down in my opinion, because it makes enemies harder to kill while they arenāt offensively threatening anyway, even on Difficult Mode. Miracle on enemy healers is similar to Barricade in that it just slows the game down, but itās easier to play around; you just have to double them. I think these skills should be replaced with other skills that donāt fall under the categories I just listed.
- Duessel seemsā¦ weirdly nerfed, while Cormag seems really powerful. Iām not sure why this choice was made, but just look at the screenshots below.
Duessel looks very sad by comparison. And Cormag has a ridiculous skillset, too.
(For clarity: this Cormag is 15/1, and Iām playing on Fixed Mode. I believe that Duessel gained at least one level, and it was a pretty good level-up.)
In general, Iām not sure I understand the balancing changes. Some units, such as Cormag, LāArachel, Marisa, Lute, and arguably Tana, were buffed a considerable amount, but trainees are more or less the same, Dozla has his vanilla bases, Garcia is more or less the sameā¦ Iām just not sure what the aim is. This isnāt really a critique, Iām just a bit confused. Some of the units I just listed werenāt even bad in vanilla.
So far, the hack plays ~fine? It plays like a different version of vanilla. I personally think itās worse due to the aforementioned use of chance-based skills on generic enemies, but it is nice to be able to use a buffed Marisa/LāArachel/Lute, so Iām of two minds here. Itās definitely one of the better reduxes Iāve played so far, because it doesnāt change a TONā¦ but some changes it makes are changes I donāt really agree with, so my opinion is mixed. I do like the repositioning skills on infantry, though.
Might post an update here if my opinion changes later on.
Update: Yeah, sorry, but I canāt recommend this hack. I think itās a straight downgrade from vanilla. It doesnāt fix the primary issues of vanilla, and it introduces new ones through skills. Having to face +crit enemies, barricade enemies, and adept enemies is not fun. It introduces extra random chance of your units dying when they normally would not. And on the playable side, the balancing changes are a bit weird; Cormag is genuinely overpowered while Duessel is a shell of himself, for instanceā¦ and LāArachel is suddenly really good, while Dozla and Rennac were left as-is, with all their vanilla problems and no significant buffs. Iām just not sure what this hack is aiming for other than āslightly modified vanilla,ā and if that is the aim, then I donāt think most of the changes are very good.
I agree. I wanted to remove it, but the overwhelming majority of the players voted for the feature to stay:
This Canto+ issue is a problem present on the current version of the skill system available in FEBuilder, which this hack uses. A fix was already made by Vesly and incorporated with the current version of the skill system available on github, and it also comes with an AI so that enemies can use it. I tried to make a custom build with buildfiles, but soon discovered that the current github version has other issues, such as skill scrolls not saving properly in the convoy. I plan to update the hack once a new, stable version of the skill system becomes availble, whenever that may be.
This approach to avoid proc skills is a trend that Iāve noticed with the newer hacks coming out. I was actually considering releasing a third version of this hack with this approach. This also brings me to another point you made:
This hack already has an option for people who donāt want the skills. The Lite version only features vanilla skills (and Annaās survey skill). Perhaps you would have enjoyed that version more?
I havenāt touched unit stats in a long time now, but I do remember that one of the principles I had while developing this hack was to not significantly modify character growths or bases, with the exception of Tethys (due to having access to swords) and coming up with Magic and Strenght bases, growths and limits for units who originally didnāt have them because of the STR/MAG split. I wanted the characters to remain close to vanilla, and even had to turn down player feedback asking for some units to be buffed (such as Knoll and even Ephraim). I did have to make some adjustments to units who joined at higher levels than vanilla because I also wanted units to be usable without having to grind them first.
Iām currently checking Duesselās vanilla stats and he is arguably worse there, because he joins at level 10 and has only 6 move. The other stats were reduced slightly because of his lower joining level, but it seems I nerfed his strenght a tad too much, so I guess I will have to correct that. Also, that comparison with Cormag is not very good, because Duessel has access to two more weapon types and can make great use of this variety due to his triangle adept skill. If you gave that Duessel an axe, he would likely wreck that lance locked Cormag.
Well, the thing is I didnāt change the player units in any significant way. The rebalancing of this hack was focused mostly on enemy scaling, equipment and class distribution. As I said in the OP, my objective with this hack was ājustā to make sacred stones feel fresh and more challenging, with a new coat of paint.
Any feelings you may have had with some playable units being better or worse probably came from the skills (which are optional if you play the Lite version) and much of the criticism you provided is geared towards vanilla issues which I deliberately chose not to modify in order to preserve the āfeelā of FE 8.
Iām sorry this is your opinion on this hack. It is what it is, though. Iām a novice developer and I have already learned that itās just not possible to please everyone with the same product. Everyone will have their preferences and I just have to accept that.
Regardless, I appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback from your experience. It was valid criticism and it will help me improve as a creator. Thank you.
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Appreciate your response.
I played the full version because like I said, Iām not inherently against skills; I just donāt like the use of skills here. Basically, I wouldāve preferred different skills to be on generic enemies. I didnāt mention stuff like Ignis on Novala, which makes him unsafe to fight, and I think there was at least one more proc skill on a boss somewhere.
The thing is that these proc skills are basically an extra chance to get crit, but without you being able to do anything about it. Support bonuses wonāt help, a Hoplon Guard wonāt helpā¦ Nihil would help, but I didnāt see Nihil on any of the playable units, and the unit with that skill would probably be somewhat centralizing. Itās just not great for certain enemies to always be able to ācritā you, in my opinion. Iām okay with playing around crit chances from enemies, but this isnāt something I can play around ā it just happens, or it doesnāt.
Duessel does have full triangle control, but Cormag flies, Wyvern Knight gives him Crit Boost, and the lead he has in Strength is just immense. Keep in mind that he also has Death Blow and Pragmatic, so he straight up one-shots enemies on player phase, even with weak weapons. Duessel may have triangle control, but he doesnāt compare in raw power or mobility. Cormag even gets Luna later, which can allow him to wreck bosses if it activates against them. Duessel is a bit tankier (if I recall, he gets Tower Shield), but I think Cormagās advantages put him way, way above. And I found that weird, because I think theyāre both worth using on Ephraim route in vanilla (I went Ephraim route), but here, the difference between them was pretty staggering. Duessel wasnāt awful; Cormag was just so much better. And for clarity, I played on fixed mode, so my Cormag isnāt blessed. Itās just his natural statline.
Wanting to preserve the feel of FE8 is just fine, I have no issues with that. Like I said, though, Iām not sure what your balancing aims are. Do you plan to keep unit strength about the same? Do you plan to make weaker units stronger? Stronger units weaker? Iād have things to talk about in any of these cases, for example LāArachel being so, so much better than in vanilla (which I donāt inherently mind, itās just a major change).
Itās been a while since I last posted here. Just wanted to share that Iām glad to know is cooking a new update.
While at it I wanted to share a few skill combos that I made during endgame with the scrolls obtained throughout the game:
Edit: This Colm is mighty unholy to the game balance XD
Some had most of their skills changed while others got just a few of them.
This seems really impressive, and the stuff Iāve seen so far is great. Unfortunately I havenāt seen that much because I canāt get past the earlygame. It just feels too similar to vanilla for me. You get used to the new sprites and music quick, and the gameplay changes are few and far between. I did like the Provoke skill on Gilliam and the Javelin/Swordreaver enemies; more stuff like that would do a lot to keep me going. Of course if youāre going for more of a āremasterā feel thatās different, but in that case Iād recommend replacing all the sprites (and maybe some other graphics too if you can).
Also, a question: what made it in from the rest of the trilogy besides the music? (Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, itās a very big topic XD)
So let me askā¦you mentioned that you managed to squeeze some extra space from the ROM, and that you were looking to add a more recent/stable version of skill sys.
- Will this new version include some of the most recently added skills? Cuz those would go a long way to help some of the more lackluster members in the roster.
- Are you still open to add more unique dialogue/support convos, like the ones i wrote for you awhile back?
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I tried to make a custom build with the most recent version available from github, but even that version has some issues like skill scrolls not saving correctly in the convoy. I would have to wait for the issues to be fixed, and that may that a long time. 7743 already said they will only release a new version for FEBuilder next year.
Well, I am. Especially related to Anna and Jake. I havenāt tested yet, but they start with an A rank while having no actual support convos, so I fear that it may cause the game to crash if the player tries to check their suppot convos from the viewer menu.
That being said, someone else is working on a really cool feature for the hack, but it requires me to deliver a final, definitive version. I asked for a two-week deadline, so Iām rushing to finish everything. If you would like to write more dialogue, I would ask you to have that deadline in mind. I wonāt reveal what that feature is at this moment so as not to put pressure on the other person. This project is really close to completion.
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Humā¦thatās sounds complicated. Would it still be an issue if the new skills would be used solely as personal skills and not involve skill scrolls at all?
Humā¦maybe for Anna and Jake you could add a dialogue option similar to how Pent and Louise worked. Hum iāll send you some new dialogue during the weekend, will that be within the deadline?
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Iād like to point out that this bug only affects skill scrolls that teach a skill with ID bigger than 63/0x3F, so if youāre planning to give the player less than 64 different skill scrolls, you should be able to bypass it by reorganizing the skill IDs.
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I count 18 during the main campaign and 63 in the tower/ruins.
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Ohhhh good to know I will wait to start my playthrough then!!
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I donāt remember exactly how their dialogue works in FE7, but werenāt they just extra dialogues that you could unlock in certain chapters? Iām gonna have to look that up. I still have like 7 days left. All the mechanics and graphical assets are done, Iām just playesting EVERYTHING before releasing.
Good to know, but I have a deadline and I cannot afford any radical changes at this point.
Gave Peerless Tactition, Pavise, and Aegis to an assassin with Lethality.
Absurdly fun.
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Hi, recently been playing this rom hack and Im loving it so much. Ive already beaten Eirikaās and Ephraimās route, but theres something I want to know. Is there a way to boost the difficulty or stats? Im playing on the hardest difficulty and without grinding Tower, and after certain chapter im too OP. Thank u, my first hack room and not dissapointed at all, if im playing FE8 again, this will certainly be my way to go
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The biggest problem i have with these romhacks is this!
They are so damn easy, only a few are really hard( The Eligorās Spear, for example) but 90% of romhacks here are so damn easy if u know how to build a small hardcore team without wasting exp or stat itemsā¦
Make Romhacks hard again!!! 
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