After having left this thread up labelled as a demo for the longest time, I’ve finally decided to move it where it belongs for now: The Concepts.
Ash Blossom – a name I will probably change – is an FE8 hack centering around seven lords and their trials and tribulations across each part. Their armies split and converge throughout the story, and they actively play a role in each others’ journeys.
The Prologue takes place during the winter and focuses on Geraldine, a young and compassionate lieutenant, who’s sent on a wild goose chase to surpress a staged rebel uprising.
In Book I, which is set in spring, Fleury and their trusted companion Didier lead a ragtag group of thieves and scoundrels, who are caught up in a war of succession riled up by the tremours of the senseless killings which took place in the Prologue.
The Interlude centers around Casimir, Rachel and Benedetto making preparations and forge new alliances in the summer for the coming war, as the newly-crowned king plunges his nation head first into the next calamity.
Finally, Book II stars Clemence, the bastard princess, who tries to gain the favour of the king, by leading the offensive through the harsh autumn storms and a crafty undermanned defensive. She discovers many uncomfortable truths about herself, her subordinates and the nature of this conflict…
While I will not shy away from showing the horrors of war in this colourful visual novel-chess hybrid, I will not make a spectacle of it. The tone outside of the individual battles is rather serious, with a few attempts at humour thrown in, but not constantly drawing your attention to how grimdark and edgy it all is, and everyone is dead inside, and the world is gonna end, etc. etc.
The gameplay is as close to a vanilla experience as I can muster, albeit with a healthy amount of inflation. The Skill System will be used for additional flavour for player units and weapons, as well as just being quite convenient to use! I do intent to give each chapter a theme or gimmick to set them all apart.
I intent to make the chapter relatively short and the number of playable units rather low, despite the multiple army splits. The goal is to have around 35 units at most, and 18 missions. Thus, the story would be pretty damn condensed for how many moving parts I intend there to be.
There is currently no demo available to the public, but I can hopefully finish the Prologue by Christmas this year.
~ Queen Buggo