Bad news about Corentin and Bronwyn.
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lmao
Like the way Lumi colors their hair 
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Love is love or smth
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Hey awesome hack. The difficulty actually challenges me. I thought it was completed, but just got to the checkpoint 1, and was cut short. Is that supposed to happen?
are you on 1.0.5 in the dropbox? this sounds like a much older patch, it’s def not supposed to show up again on latest
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Haha, I must have been. I play on my mac using openemu, and had to restart, but noticed some positive differences immediately. And in the course of today, am now past where I was on the old one. Haha. I’m having a lot of fun!
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I really want to play your hacks, but chapter 1 literally ALWAYS ends up being a complete brick wall. In case you’re wondering, I try to complete the hacks deathless; I’m a casual player.
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Same here, was this meant to be iron-man game?
To an extent yes, but completing Chapter 1 without deaths should not be that arduous- you can take it slow and steady if you need to.
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you can also turn on turn saves in the menu if you’re dying to minor positional stuff, it’s a good time saver
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Not just here, Drums of War had it too. Haven’t played Dream of Five yet.
None of the chapter 1s require any deaths to get through. I echo epicer: if you need to take your time, dont be afraid to, there’s not going to be a billion hurryupforcements in chapter 1, but they also can and have been played deathless in fast play as well.
Do5’s chapter 1 is significantly easier than HC and DoWs due to a lot of the maps being designed in 2010s, so that could be more your speed, other people like it less because they’re also a lot less involved.
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Considering how much I loved Dream of Five, I can’t believe it took me so long to realize you guys made another game since then. Currently on chapter 5 and enjoying it. This guy is the MVP so far - he can absorb waves of physical enemies all by himself and one shots a decent chunk of them to boot
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Editing this post to write my final thoughts since I can’t reply more than twice in a row.
I’m starting the last chapter now. I’ll write down my thoughts on the game as a whole and then go over my units. Spoilers below.
Gameplay
The difficulty felt very reasonable - not too difficult, not trivial. I think it got easier as time went on, with the most difficult chapters being around early midgame or so (especially the time-limited ones). Archers having consistent and strong access to 3 range made them very good. Mages having their own Prf tome was a fun touch, and this was generally stronger in earlygame, especially those like Jasper where the specialty was a stat bonus.
Chapter 18 was my favorite chapter. The way it was set up is really good - by limiting deployment to units that did not participate in the previous chapter, you made sure the sacrifices would not be a severe blow to the player’s lineup, while at the same time not being complete fodder either due to the ironman-friendly game design. I had a lot of fun making Anghara’s last stand in that map.
I liked supports being story-driven and relatively scarce, as it made things more “canon” in terms of how I grouped my deployments.
Story
I enjoyed the story. There are definite similarities to Dream of Five (which isn’t an issue because I loved that game). Overall, what I liked most about the story execution is the lack of clear black/white good/evil distinction; Asbjorn is not an evil character, but rather someone who is a bit too devoted to maintaining balance and peace to the point where he needs to control everything and has very much an “ends justify the means” mentality. I liked how he got more desperate as the story progressed while still generally maintaining a “civil” persona that one would expect from the previous hero of the world. Similarly, Brecilien is a villain despite being on my side, and I’m curious to see how her storyline ends considering Bronwyn is quite clearly not approving of her behavior and personality.
Characters
The cast is quite big and, as advertised, there are many playable characters who barely speak a line in the entire game. This wasn’t a detriment to the experience, as I felt the world was fleshed out well with important characters getting enough screen time. I liked Anghara as the Varkade of this game, with obvious differences in the direction their characters ended up going. I also liked the enemy characters, especially given the plot setup where they were the heroes from the last war, so many of them are honorable (or at least reasonable) people. Captain Zeuthen was one of my favorite characters (I do have a soft spot for the Camus archetype).
Squad
Final lineup below, with commentary on each unit. There was a lot of wiggle room for who to use in the game due to the ironman-friendly design, and I did let some good units die without resetting.
Final lineup
Fairly poor in earlygame, but grew into a good unit after promotion. Rapier having the reaver effect was interesting. Also, I like how she put on makeup after promoting.
Pretty solid late addition to the party, though not gamebreaking by any means due to his low speed. He’s essentially a tank like the armors, but without a weakness to mages.
MVP of earlygame and midgame (check out those battle counts). He capped defense by chapter 11, and was basically an endgame boss walking around in my party when most enemies weren’t even promoted yet. He fell off a bit in the endgame due to enemy mages being stronger and capable of one rounding him, as well as having not much room to meaningfully grow anymore past midgame due to his relatively extreme stat distribution.
Excellent killer from distance, especially with this game’s easy access to 3 range bows. I kept him around Davett for their support. Maewen unfortunately died in midgame, but she was good too.
Replaced Maewen in the party. Is he from Onduris? 
A walking nuke. She wasn’t hard to train despite the late join time since her toolkit and the enemy composition was quite favorable to her. I wonder what’s the lore here? She seems like a prophet or something, but I didn’t understand anything beyond that.
Tanky swordmaster was not something I expected, but I am glad to have him. Having only 5 move due to a leg injury is a great way of incorporating story and gameplay, and I suspect this was done to make recruiting him less challenging since I was racking my brains for what unit to put in his range as bait that wouldn’t get wrecked by his Prf weapon (before I realized he had 1 less Mov than other swordmasters).
Excellent healer with his Prf tome equipped, as it basically turns Healing staves into Recover staves. The 3 range with infinite durability was enough of a draw to add him to my party in place of other healers.
Staffbot. Pretty bad at combat, though occasionally capable of chipping in a hit when needed.
I kept him around because I liked his portrait. A somewhat mediocre combat unit generally, though capable of holding his own. I did give him a couple stat boosters.
Typical glass cannon swordmaster. Is this a guy or girl? I thought it was a girl all along, until some conversation (maybe with Dryche? don’t remember) made me question that.
I actually haven’t used either of her special dances yet.
Having at least one flying unit is always good. She’s too squishy to be kept near front lines, but does a good job at intercepting enemy fliers and occasionally wrecking someone with a magic sword.
Why have one tank when you can have two? Plays his role well drawing aggro and soaking up hits. In split deployment maps, I put him in the group that didn’t have Davett.
Filler unit who is brought along when the deployment size is larger.
Filler backup healer who is brought along when the deployment size is larger.
Thanks for making this great game! I am really looking forward to your next one.
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I’ve been reborn, and this time, I’m going to… lower total turns… by 20…
(Thirty minutes later, C2, Turn 6.)
Signe: Damn it all…
***
Well… anyway, I eventually achieved that goal. Compared to the first time, it was a very different experience.
Team
Here are units I’ve been training consistently. For each figure, A is from the first round, and B is from the second round.
Lord
- Hmm, the different feeling I had this time was largely due to Bronwyn… If she was blessed by Miskvitha in the first round, then this time it must be Voluspa’s, especially in the early game…
Sword Infantry
- I did not feel any noticeable difference. Critical Hit Machine.
Lance Infantry
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Cronin’s map sprite uses a lance, so I’m guessing they should be here. The ability distribution of lance infantry is similar to that of the Swordmaster, but higher Def.
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Twice I tried to use Per, twice I failed. The enemy composition in the early-game maps wasn’t very friendly to him. I don’t have a screenshot of the first-round Per, you know why.
Axe Infantry
- The Lictor Axe is great.
Armor
- Being able to use multiple weapons and high con give them a advantage.
Cavalry
- Here it is, another part that changed my experience: Gildas’s team!
- Since I’ve learned the importance of support from HC, I definitely considered support when choosing units. When I needed to split my forces, I just deploy Gildas’s team on one side, with two or three other units.
Bow user
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The advantage of being the only marksman is having all good longbows… And Corentin really need them. Due to 5-mov, his support is unlikely to be helpful…
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As for the two skirmishers, it’s a pity that they only had Gildas’s support.
Flyer
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Unable to use Healfdene is the true price of magic swords.
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I’m not very interested in Drake rider because they often have more weaknesses than Pegasus riders. But Hrolf’s design is cool. Interestingly, drake riders seem to wear warmer clothing than Pegasus riders. I guess drakes’ scales are cold.
Healer
- This round, I didn’t use Nerysse until the auto level-up. It looks much better than last round, except for staff rank. Whoops.
Mage
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Est is Est.
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As the leader of Flame Temple team, Kaelin is just solid but not standout, just like her teammates. By the time I realized her weapon rank issue, it was already too late…
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Iswyn’s Prf played a key role in the final few chapters.
Putting aside all the… troubles caused by RNG, I felt that the second run was more enjoyable than the first. But there’s one thing I’m sure is the same: desperately checking everyone’s inventory, because I’d forgotten who had miracle tonics…
Homecoming, aka A song of
Fire and Ice
It’s always nice to see gameplay and story complement each other.
There are Flame Dragon and Frost Dragon, and thus there are fire tome and ice tome.
Furthermore, Kaelin from the Flame Temple possesses the Brave Blaze, while Sverre the priest of Voluspa, has a Prf that grants protection.
Sure, I could continue along this idea, but there’s a risk of overinterpreting things. Better to turn to…
The world's twice-perishing
Reading the story a second time means I can notice many details, such as “less holes” (now I understand what “hereditary” means)…
Of course, compared to Bronwyn’s team, which has a clear storyline, it’s more interesting to discuss their mirrors.
(Every time my code breaks, I ask myself the same question…)
The village visit events in HC are closely tied to the current plot, especially the three in C1. The Prophets’ War casts a long shadow over the people of the Twin Isles. As the victim and the victor, Palnatans became arrogant and underestimated Velia. Yet the Balance, or Harmony upheld by the High King they now trust has changed.
“Then find a way to loosen his… no, let us not forget who we are. Let time do the work. Let him rot in the darkness until he begs to be allowed to confess.”
Ice, like fire, can destroy the world. The “difference” is merely a matter of form.
Speaking of Asbjorn, I saw a screenshot of a video comment section earlier, and it seemed pretty fitting.
Clearly, how he acted as a father is also a topic worth discussing. But compared to the main characters, I’ve always been more interested in…
The rest
Yes, most of them only have few lines, not including their death quotes, and final chapter quotes. But lines are still lines, and they still reveal differences in personality. Like, Merry’s vivacity and lack of experience are, I guess, quite a headache for Anghara. Davett, on the other hand, was clearly more… at least, less worrisome to Anghara.
This is more evident on the bosses, since they have special battle quotes, and players can always read their death quotes.
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Perhaps due to their harsh living environment, the mercenaries from Sjoersund have a twisted sense of humor.
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Asbjorn’s companions, intentionally or not, chose to turn a blind eye. Although Eitri had some reservations at first, once they had crossed the Rubicon, the situation became, as the name implies, irreversible. Given how young they were 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve got some PTSD. (I began to recall another story of a group that met its downfall under the leadership of its lord, the Aspect-Emperor…)
Is it too late to say that I don’t play FE for the story (and related things, like characters)?
To be fair, I usually don’t pore over text this much, but…
The true purpose of this post is finally revealed
To better understand the whole story, I downloaded FEB so I could read the text more smoothly. And to help me remember and revisit the plot… suddenly, I find I’m translating it into Simplified Chinese…
So, if no one has yet requested permission to translate HC, can I share mine with the Chinese community once completed?
I wouldn’t dare say that my English or Chinese is particularly good. But I do my best to ensure that the text conforms to Chinese expression while remaining faithful to the original. I know you’re planning an update for HC, but I think it will take quite a while to finish, check, and polish the translation. And I suppose the changes to the text won’t be much.
Anyway, once again, thank you very much for your efforts 
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自从看了水龙吟我老是从沈郎魂那里借东西哈哈哈
Yes please!
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I beat Homecoming earlier today.
TLDR: it’s good. very good. arguably the best hack out there. easily one of my new favorites and one I’d like to revisit again.
I probably won’t write too much, but I do want to share some of my thoughts more in-depth. I just had coffee and am eating oats, so let’s see how we do here. We’re off the cuff today.
I was drawn to the stripped down premise of the hack – I recall hearing of its development and seeing errant screenshots or reading notes on its design. Generally what I took away was that the game was originally positioned like a “lost levels” type experience from the SNES era. The game’s overall mechanical and narrative structural simplicity reinforces this, but I do think the overall quality and volume of writing, plus the themes an dialogue, do drift from that premise. That said, it isn’t a bad thing at all.
I’ll start with the easy stuff then get into the more nuanced bits.
The aesthetics. Lumi is epic. There is such strong consistency, unique designs, and an overall level of quality and cohesion that few hacks have matched. It’s a very pretty game to look at: not only the portraits, but all of the custom palettes, icons, etc. – the game is so thoroughly scrubbed of vanilla FE8, and I know how much of a lift that is to achieve. To do so with fully custom assets for the game is impressive, especially at this level of quality.
The music by Archer and TrikkiNikki also deserves call out – there were a lot of MIDIs I did not recognize, and I presume many were done specifically for this hack. Again, a certain quality and consistency shines through here. There was even very little FE music from outside the series.
Writing is another strength. Parrhesia is maybe one of the strongest writers in the community, and while they have a distinct parrhesian style in how they write, including the vocabulary, the brand of humor, and quips that characters are likely to make, the overall writing is generally really tight. In particular, the dialogue stands out. Like Dream of Five, I’m able to ignore some of the plot points I’m less keen on because the dialogue executes it so well, even if the premise in some areas feels a bit contrived at times. The dialogue never really drags on, and each of the characters have a distinct voice and register. Again, consistency.
Gameplay overall was good. I really appreciate mechanical simplicity, and this was bread and butter Fire Emblem mechanically with a few interesting items to keep things feeling different than your standard vanilla fare. The game weaves in so many disparate influences in its design seamlessly, and there was a joy in identifying the clear inspirations for different mechanics, items, units, and other gameplay items. There was a clear Archanean vibe to the cast, with many units with overlapping niches that barely get any lines. Archers felt distinctly Gaiden-esque with their long range access. The many PRFs for no name units felt like Thracia. Everywhere I turned, there was a felt influence from vanilla, without it feeling too strongly like any one vanilla flavor. It was fun to pick out the inspiration, like how one might pick out the seasonings in a complex dish. This was not trying to be like any particular vanilla game, which I appreciated, while still being unafraid to wear its influences on its sleeve.
Difficulty was an area I struggled with. The game’s mechanical simplicity invites a certain level of challenge. Without the cognitive overload of excessive skills or funky weapons, there is room for more challenging, number-crunching gameplay. The most important aspect of gameplay is positioning, in part because of the stronger weapon triangle, but also because of the relative strength of units relative to enemies, especially in different matchups. In this respect, the campaign reminded me most of Souls of the Forest, where I would similarly need to meticulously plot out the most aggressive turn possible while positioning myself to not immediately blow up. The campaign skews heavy to the player phase. While you have the units and tools to really clear up dense portions of the maps, you’re often encouraged to overextend, not only to keep pace with the occasionally aggressive anti-turtles, but also because taking a hit is so painful here. It’s not uncommon to get OHKO’d here with some of your weaker units, and the enemies generally had good enough weaponry that even your not-so-squishy units could not be relied upon to reliably frontline more than one or two enemies. The game requires careful tactical positioning, and I found myself breaking out a calculator to see if I could make certain moves work. I reset more times than I’d like to admit.
To that end, this campaign would’ve benefited from an easier difficulty. I could see a more casual player bouncing off it entirely because some maps simply had spots that were too difficult. There were many times I gave up trying to play quickly and decided to just turtle and peel enemies as slowly as possible to avoid death. This was especially annoying towards the later portions of the game, where every enemy had something powerful. In particular, the volume of enemy reavers were my least favorite component of doing calcs and positioning, and there were many more killer and vorpal weapons than I would’ve added. The campaign’s formations encouraging you to press forward, while also then setting you up for defense, was frustrating, yet one of the core challenges of the game. I struggled to press forward meaningfully without putting myself at risk of dying because the game’s combat was very matchup-oriented. An easier difficulty, even if it just nerfed some inventories, would be welcome for players who want to coast more on vibes rather than crunch the numbers as much. Towards the end, I was getting really fatigued because of the lengths of the maps – making an errant death much more painful.
I felt the pacing of the maps were generally good up until around the mid-game, where they started to feel just a bit too long for my liking. Pretty much by chapter 13 or so, every map was taking me at least an hour to do end-to-end.
The gameplay in general did hold up and difficulty curve was relatively smooth. The defend map, chapter 10, was the most difficult of the hack, and felt unusually punishing. I thought the early game was generally the strongest, and that by around ch19, I felt the hack had more or less gone into a “victory lap”, where I was about as strong as I was going to get, and became more concerned about conserving uses of weapons and not dying rather than being efficient or trying to get all of the rewards. The last few maps I really played slowly as a result, and also felt like I was eager for the game to wrap up.
That said, these are minor gripes on the gameplay side – and there are few things I’d really complain about that I’d advocate for changing, much of it comes down to my personal preference. If anything, the game probably could’ve cut out like 3-4 chapters near the end and likely would’ve been better for it, or have a slightly slower EXP curve so I still feel like I need to train going into the final maps.
Some of my favorite maps: Ch3, 12, 15, and 18. I’d rank the first half better than the second half by and large, but I’m splitting hairs. 18 may be the most impressive gameplay/story integration I’ve ever seen, and it’s easily the chapter that stands out the most in my mind. It felt like a solid evolution of the generic chapters from Road to Ruin. I think it’d be a bit of a chore to do on a replay, but going through it blind was really enjoyable.
Bringing it back to the writing, I’ll again emphasize how strong the moment-to-moment writing was. While I thought 19/20 were a little snoozy gameplay-wise (intentional after 18, I’m sure), the writing here is the game’s strongest. The characterization of the Queen is top notch.
I have some issues with the overall flow of the plot, namely the way Brand is handled and how unreasonable the Palnatans are, and the impacts of that – but I can be sold on the idea that the last war was really so terrible they see no room for compromise. It felt a little contrived to have them be so unwilling to meet Bronwyn in the middle when she generally came across as super reasonable – but I suppose that wouldn’t make for good drama.
I do appreciate, to that end, how willing the hack was to kill off characters, how few characters that maybe in other worlds, would’ve had a chance at redemption, did not (ie Zeuthen). I appreciate the focus on the logistical side of war, too – many supply depots were sacked, and many strategies were put together vs. just going fight after fight. It did make the game feel a bit more grounded and low-fantasy, which I tend to prefer.
Anyway, I’m rambling and my oats are cold.
the TLDR for me though is that this hack should be in the conversation for best hack of all time, largely on the overall consistency of its quality and execution. Most of my gripes are super minor, and the hack in general has few notable flaws. For me, I struggle to get into hacks much these days, but this one grabbed me and I ripped through it in a little over a week.
Kudos to Parr and Lumi for yet another banger.
EDIT: btw favorite units are Nete and Maewen. Favorite characters are Cadogan, Brecilien, Esper, and Vnarin.
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