[FE8] Fire Emblem: Blackwing Struggle[Technically Dead]

Hacks dead, I’m not. Working on different hack. Will have demo for other hack at some point, been busy with work. May make introduction post and release demo at the same time.

Will likely return to this project after a while but figured I should close this for the time being.

All this don't matter no more

All this is mostly incorrect now. I’ve been making big changes and all that so tons of stuff is very different and arguably better. Most notable additions are skills and map do-overs. I’ll probably just post part 1 publicly when I’m done with it which should be ~14 ish chapters. My workflow is fairly good with a few hiccups every now and then but I’m alone so its slow. Feel free to play this crash course if you want but don’t expect much from it. Might rework this whole post soon but it’s unlikely. Thanks for the feedback constructive or not and see you in a few months I guess.

Yo. I’m Ysor. As of now I’ve yet to make an introduction. That aside I present my hack.
Fire Emblem: The Blackwing Struggle
Progress 4/?? | ??% Complete
V.0.2 Is now up. Fixed most known issues
with .0.1!

My plan
  • ~30 chapters, even if I release in 10 chapter increments
  • Finish something
  • Take pride in something I’ve made

Be on the lookout for my official introduction for more about me as a person.

The Story

Fresh out of an informant the Blackwings go to investigate their now silent friend only to get involved in a succession race. Xael carries the blood of the king and eventually is willing to accept the responsibilities. Join him as he goes across the country and gaining allies and enemies alike. As fate would have it The Blackwings weren’t always thieves, they used to be prosperous assassins under the moniker of The Bloodwing Assassins. That business breeds enemies quickly and even though they were integral to the now deceased King’s plight they couldn’t escape their past.

Part 1
The Budding nation of Acraylia suddenly losses it’s king. The public, who know nothing of his heir, frantically search for a worthy king. The nobles, who do not care about an heir, battle among themselves for power in the rising oligarchy all while bandits, using the chaos as a guise, tear the country apart. The very people who kept order as the King’s elite are forbidden to interfere. The country will crumble if left unchecked, with that in mind many seek a source of hope for their nation. Xael finds himself in a position to be the people’s hope, whether he realizes it or not; thanks to that The Blacking Thieves have a chance to save this county. This journey starts with a search for a friend, will you see how it ends?

The Charaters

Xael, The Lord.

  • A young man initially unaware of his heritage who is a well trained thief and assassin. His upbringing, specifically the death of his mother, left him suffering. The aforementioned death of his mother is what cause his mortality salience and intense fear of death; ironic is the assassin who is afraid to die. Through the years he has been slowly overcoming it but it remains a part of his journey.

Reynard, The experienced.

  • In his past he was the leader of The Bloodwings and as such has killed many a man. He now leads the re branded Blackwings in their struggle for survival. Despite the loss of many of his closest friends and sister he remains a stoic individual and a disciplinary figure in Xael’s life. As his uncle he is aware if Xael’s connection to the king, yet for some reason he hides it.

Sark, The Crazy.

  • Sark can be a bit hyperactive at times but he’s a very capable assassin. Crass and cynical, he has a habit of saying too much. When he’s not talking he’s fighting or tending to his weapons. Sark’s insensitivity and love for battle can be traced back to his older brother, Varken, who was a prominent assassin during the heyday of The Bloodwings. Varken held the title of the Bloody Hurricane, a title that Sark inherited upon his brother’s death. Despite his imperfections and influence of his brother deep down Sark is a compassionate person who cares deeply for his allies.

Aaron, The sain Sane.

  • If Sark is fire Aaron is ice. He can be on par with Sark in terms of enthusiasm, just not showing it. He’s not exactly an introvert he just isn’t as expressive as the rest of The Blackwings. Under his blank exterior lies earnest and pure emotions that coincide with his ties to his allies. He’s dependable and sturdy in contrast to his speedier friends. He is Blair’s brother.

Blair, The Whimsy.

  • Free flowing, energetic, and unpredictable. Blair lives with a personalized set of rules that prioritize fun in most cases. Although she is a member of The Blackwings she comes and goes as if she’s just visiting, going out to gather local information. She has a knack for solo missions but will help the herd if they’re struggling. Her whimsy can be interpreted as refreshing or insubordination depending on who you ask. She has many scars from her solo outings and she thinks they are unique. She is Aaron’s sister.

Abigail, The Guts.

  • Despite barely being in her teens Abigail can handle herself in the world of thieves and killers. She has a strong will and doesn’t let anything hold her back nor stop her from speaking her mind. She may seem like and unrefined, headstrong child but she’s unusually clever and can keep up with The Blackwings’ schemes quite well. With her bow she can do what’s expected of her and much more.

Jack, The Talker.

  • The most unlucky man alive has no place in the world of thieves yet he’s here anyways. Jack doesn’t fight but provides logistic services that would otherwise hinder The Blackwings.
    He has quite a way with words when he’s trying to persuade someone, otherwise it’s snide remarks and sarcasm all around. He doesn’t consider himself a coward, he’s a fan of self preservation.
Features

Patches!

  • Modified Rogue Robbery, Much love @Tequila
  • Weapon triangle neutral Daggers, Thanks @Snakey1
  • Passive boosts, @Venno you are great

**Other

  • Hybrid classes( Just rogue for now)
  • Personal Weapons
Screenshots

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Credit where its due

V.0.2
Down for mantenence
Feedback is necessary for sucess so feel free to tear me a new one let me have it!

Known Issues
  • Throwing dagger icon graphical issue
  • Throwing dagger pallet is ruined
  • TBA
Changelog

V.0.1

  • Initial release

V.0.2

  • Fixed Issues.
  • Dialogue changes.
  • Rogue Class Rework
  • Rhona becomes playable in chapter 2
  • Daggers have less uses
  • Changed Aaron, Rhona, and Reynard’s base stats
  • Wrote supports for for Xael/Reynard(C - A), Sark/Aaron(C - A), Abigail/Rhona(Only C)
9 Likes

After what I’ve done to help you with the story (not actually that much), may as well give this a try! I’ll let you know what I think after I’m done.

Also, do you recommend Normal or Hard?

1 Like

So, I played through the hack.

It’s rough. We both know that. But there were a lot of fun moments (like abusing Lethality to kill a terrifying boss through a wall), and definitely areas where simple improvements would make it a lot better. Overall, I had a pretty good time, although I don’t know if I’d recommend it to others in its current state.

Thanks for making this hack!

1 Like

Thanks for playing it!

I see “Projects” topics, i :heart:

1 Like

the portraits and characters are great so far. aside from the usual spelling error’s, as well as textbox’s being to big in some scenes like in chapter 2, as well as the chapter 3 starting event crashing the game, i say that its pretty fun so far. i do like the idea of a thief hero though, since xael is the kind of protagonist that i think can pull it off. in chapter 3 though the game will hang when you recruit the brandits brother thats a reinforcement. regardless its pretty good so far. i’m surprised that i haven’t seen a yugioh reference yet since blackwings were a big thing back then during the early 2010’s of the game’s era. can’t wait to see more of it!

1 Like

The reference really stops at the name of the faction as the titles of the monster cards don’t fit with the characters that well. Glad you played it and thanks for the feed back! Could you clarify what you meant about Chapter 3 and recruiting Xavier?

when you finish the conversation between him and xael, the game softlock’s immediately while the music is playing. even pressing start to skip it causes a black screen to happen.

1 Like

Yeah that is bad. For now recruit hom with Abigail instead.

V.0.2 Is up

3 Likes

Hey so uh read that and uh yeah. Think of that what you will.

Read what? Was there a post somewhere that got deleted?

Any news on an update though on the hack?

Now it’s at the top

This hack definitely has a lot of effort put into it; I can tell based on the dialogue and the page you have here. I wish that translated a lot more into quality, because the concept of the hack is interesting. There’s quite a few issues I could talk about, but I’ll just mention one right here that’s probably the most important: there are way too many thieves. I don’t know if you were sticking to the idea of thieves, or trying to show off your daggers, but there are an abundance of sword units. That feels… somewhat bland. You don’t get a non-thief until chapter 2. I think your hack could be a bit more enjoyable if you spruced up the weapon selection. I haven’t seen a ton of the game so maybe this gets resolved later, but I’ll assume there aren’t many other non-thief units. Just for the sake of it, here’s a few ideas that could work as non-thief roguish characters:

  • street magician
  • pegasus knight who functions as a smuggler
  • “mafia” brute with an axe
  • corrupt city guard knight

I don’t know, perhaps I’m wrong on this and you do have characters planned that aren’t mostly thieves. But in vanilla, you don’t usually get very many thieves at the same time for a certain reason: it’s redundant. It’s a cool concept, but I don’t believe it works well in Fire Emblem. I’m just hoping you do attempt to polish this hack, because it could very well be polished into a good hack. The effort is there.

4 Likes

Hey thanks for the feedback. I’ve been working on the “sameness” of the units for a while now and I have tried a few ways to differentiate the units from one another(Most notably Sark and Aaron and to an extent xael for now) as well as increase weapon diversity early on. The corrupt city guard hit the nail on the head with the new character, and you only get one more sword in part one. My idea wasn’t necessarily “everyone is a thief” but more so that the main cast(The blackwings) were. Overall in part one you end up with diverse weapons and classes but your most available units would be the thief based classes. I wanted there to be options for some of the more unorthodox chapter objectives that I had in mind which is why you get 5 thieves(the lord, two thieves, an assassin and a rogue) in the first place. I wanted each of those classes to have a much more flexible role on top of being able to steal/pick locks and made changes where I saw fit(EX. Blair is a healer). With minor class variations and in depth character differentiation( stats, the upcoming personal skills, personal weapons) I had hoped to have them be able to fill certain roles when needed but still stay true to their thief nature. In short my goal was “everyone isn’t a thief but those who are have differences.” With the way the story is structured Xael doesn’t get different until part 2 while Sark and Aaron seem to fill the same role. I hope this is fixed properly in my rework. The tone of the game should become more engaging and less like a chore. If you have anything else feel free to comment again, PM me on here or, DM me on discord(Ysor#9192). If you’d be interested in helping me with the hack directly I’d be very grateful. I’m glad you played it and cared enough to give me constructive criticism an ideas. Given the current climate of the community this is especially appreciated. Thank you. :grinning:

2 Likes

Closed by a request from OP.