[FE8] Fire Emblem Sengoku : Oda v106 (WIP, 8 chapters done)

[Shuusuke]

Latest patches plans/downloads/etc:
-Oda
Latest patch (v106)
Youtube playlist
Prologue (Matsudaira variation)
@Vesly 's showcase video.
Gameplay of the prologue* for FEE3 by Dancer_A
*: The current version of the hack is different than the showcase due to using the WIP Fourth/Purple allegiance hack. It is intended to be used in the hack when it is complete, but I wanted to show it even though it’s incomplete for FEE3.

Special thanks for gameplay-related functionalities created and used for this hack:
-7743 for the “Convert Memory Slot to String” patch.
-Leonarth for the “Get ID/allegiance of killer unit” patches.

Credits for assets

Affinity icons: Earth by @Venno, Heaven by @Obsidian_Daddy
Axe and Sword armor map sprites from Map Sprite/Class Card Repository.
Battle and magic animations from the repository, namely:

[Anima](Aircalibur Rip){Mikey Seregon}
[Anima](Aqua){Alusq}
[Anima](Shaver){Blazer, BwdYeti}
[Dark](Jormungand){Orihara_Saki}
[Dark](Svartr Calamity Gate){Orihara_Saki}
[Dark](Worm){Arch}
[Light](Hvitrwolf){Orihara_Saki}
[T1][ARM][Knight](Vanilla +Weapons)[U]{IS, TBA, Orihara_Saki}
[T1][BOW][Archer](Der Ponytail)[M]{DerTheVaporeon}
[T1][CAV][Cavalier](SALVAGED)[M]{Team SALVAGED}
[T1][LNC][Soldier](Deserter)[M]{Alusq}
[T1][LNC][Soldier](Improved 2.0)[M]{Alusq}
[T1][LRD][Lord](Ephraim Repack +Weapons)[M]{DerTheVaporeon, Pikmin1211, ZoramineFae}
[T1][SWD][Mercenary][F]{TBA}
[T1][SWD][Thief](Cath P Repalette +Knife)[F]{Pikmin1211, Maiser6, Skitty, GabrielKnight}
[T2][AXE][Custom Axe](Marauder Mounted Brigand)[M]{Spud}
[T2][BOW][Sniper](Hunter)[M]{Deranger}
[T2][CAV][Paladin](Vanilla +Bow, Staff)[F]{IS, ltranc, Genocike, Kao, DerTheVaporeon, Primefusion}
[T2][CAV][Paladin](Vanilla +Weapons)[M]{IS, ltranc, Genocike, Kao, DerTheVaporeon, Primefusion}
[T2][LNC][Halberdier](2.0)[F]{Black Mage}
[T2][LNC][Halberdier](Dragoon v2)[M]{Mercenary Lord, NYZGamer, Pikmin1211, Maiser6}
[T2][LNC][Halberdier](Spartan)[M]{Vilkalizer, Pikmin1211}
[T2][SWD][Assassin](Jaffar - Shirt)[M]{Glenwing, SD9k}
[T2][SWD][Assassin](Ponytail +Bow)[F]{Keks_Krebs, Beccarte, SD9K}
[T2][SWD][Hero](Armored +Short Hair)[F]{flasuban, Nuramon}
[T2][SWD][Hero](Armored)[M]{Nuramon}
[T3][CAV][Master Knight](Grand Paladin)[M](Kenpuhu, Aruka, Nuramon)
[T3][CAV][Master Knight][M]{St jack}
[T2][MAG][Dark Knight](Mageknight-Style)[M]{Teraspark}

Screenshots

As the name implies, this is a project inspired by the Sengoku Jidai, in other words, the Warring States Era of Japan. I considered making the hack follow multiple clans’ perspectives, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, ideally, each clan will have to get its own hack, and hopefully, this will eventually become a series, starting with the Oda clan. But the future is uncertain, and I’ll want to finish one before starting on another.

This series will obviously not follow history to the letter. As a fan of the Nobunaga’s Ambition series, I will take inspiration from it, and I will also adapt history if I think the gameplay or story will benefit from it. And also…because I’m not a specialist in japanese history, I’m just very interested by it. Some things I don’t know, others I’ve read unclear/conflicting records, and so on.

For the gameplay, the plan is for it to be more versatile. What I mean by this is, side objectives, branching/consequences for actions/choices, a quicker pacing, a bigger variety and balance in weapons, and so on. It’ll also be more difficult than vanilla FE7/8.

Examples (some may not be in the game yet)

-Slim weapons give +3 speed and have the brave effect, slim axes were added. (If you played the Sacred Chairs, you’re used to this one)
-All weapon types have heavier (blade/yari/poleax/yumi) versions that give a bonus to defense. Yumi can also attack from 3 range.
-All weapon types have “spirit” versions, which target RES and give a bonus to the unit’s RES.
-Poison weapons can be obtained by the player and are essentially weaker but more durable versions of iron weapons, aside from poisoning.
-Buffed steel weapons. They’re stronger and more accurate, along with getting a small chance to crit. They still have less crit than killer weapons, but are more reliable now.
And more…

This hack is being made with FEBuilder.

Lastly, please do give feedback. I’m working on the hack by myself, so I’ll most likely miss bugs, and different opinions can help improve the gameplay in ways I alone didn’t think of. For other aspects, such as writing, music and spriting, I’ll be especially grateful for those who want to help on those fronts, since they’re not my forte and I prioritize working on the gameplay over all else. If you’re knowledgeable/enthusiastic about Japanese history, feel free to suggest things to add to the writing or even gameplay if you think it’ll be interesting.

Thanks for playing, I hope you enjoy it.

[GratedShtick]

Are there any screenshots? It would help out a lot .

[Shuusuke]

There’s just 2 chapters worth of material for screenshots, and nothing aesthetic was changed, so I figured that the videos would be more than good enough, both for those who want to watch the full chapters or just catch a glimpse of it. But I’ll add some later then, thanks for mentioning it.

[Fates-Blade]

This sounds interesting.

[Shuusuke]

Updated to v025. Text changes, small cutscene fixes, small gameplay changes in Ch1 in the form of branching possibilities and class changes.

EDIT: Finally made some screenshots.

[Shuusuke]

Updated first post to v031. Chapter 2 is done. Fixed and changed some things in the previous chapters. Added all (planned) custom animations, credits will be in the first post. Adjusted some classes’ stats. Fixed some effectivenesses.

Known issues:
-Destroyed villages have the closed gate tile on them, this is to prevent a side-effect from an applied patch, will try to fix it later.
-The ring effects display japanese text, expected since they’re unused in FE8. Will come up with names later.

[anon81024007]

Sound very promising, what are the branches implying in the screenshots?

[Zarg]

I gave this a spin and was pleasantly surprised. I played on Hard mode, and have yet to explore all branching paths, but I did clear all 3 chapters.

The gameplay is solid. It’s punishing, but at the same time offers versatility in how you can/want to tackle the maps. The way the branching works - through active gameplay choices instead of “yes-no” textboxes - is also a nice twist. Speaking of twists, each map has a surprise to it to keep the player on their toes, and I approve of this.

I understand this hack is still early in development, but I do have some suggestions on things you might want to add, change and double-check:

• As someone who really is not familiar with Japanese history at all, the name-dropping at the world map cutscene can be a little overwhelming. Of course, since the assets are placeholders as of now, I’m not sure how useful it is to highlight the areas when they’re introduced similar to vanilla FE8. I guess you removed the highlights to avoid confusion, so make of this what you will.

• The first map is probably my favorite of the three. Having to compete with the other clan works really well as an anti-turtling incentive. I didn’t manage to defeat their leader, but made enemies of them by killing one of their guys. The civilians are surprisingly resilient, so they’re not in as big of a danger as what one might think. They can still die, but it takes time. I have to say that the boss is actually pretty scary. I don’t have much in terms of WTA except the merc that gets doubled, and baiting the guy with anyone else means I have to risk a crit because the boss is a berserker. Maybe make him a warrior instead?

• Longbows - I love them. Took me a while to get used to the increased range, but that’s completely on me. These longbows allow what otherwise would be a sitting duck on a gate be a threat. I didn’t expect there to be a twist, too bad it came a bit too late in my opinion (I had killed most of my now former enemies and new allies), unless that’s how you intended it to be instead of being a turn-based event. Also, not only is there a useful green unit, but they’re a knight of all classes? Color me impressed.
  What would I change is the village position. It’s currently not very accessible for Nobuhide, and considering what you get from there, I’d say Nobuhide needs it more.

• As for the third chapter, the new reinforcements and player units appear in a weird spot in my opinion. The green units got destroyed and my second healer died before the turn 12 event. I like the idea, but I think you could move some of the enemies from behind the player to their front (closer to where you started). This way the latter part of the map would have more to do than simply outrun the enemy. Maybe add a couple of forts and have one of the enemy commanders say how they have units waiting in there, so they can trap you. Just a thought. That Berserk staff is also pretty nasty, I’m not sure if it’s absolutely necessary.

• In general I found the Blades and Yari to be a bit underwhelming. Compared to Lances, the Yari deals only +1 damage, and unless it’s Nobuhide who’s using it, I get doubled, meaning the defense buff I get doesn’t do me any favors. Example: when Lance is equipped, I take 8 damage. When Yari is equipped, I take 5*2 damage - Yari is so heavy Katsuie gets doubled. Same thing with Nobuzane and the Iron Blade. The defense buff is not very useful because I get doubled and take more damage that way. Perhaps decrease the weight on these weapons and/or increase the Mt so that there’s a more clear trade-off? As for Nobuhide, I’d argue there are better weapons for him anyway, like the Slim Lance that allows him to attack 4 times.

• Mages seem to be really good in comparison to other units. On top of having 1-2 range they don’t have the same hit rate issues like melee units do. Aside from some exceptions the hitrates seem to be somewhere in the 60-70+ range even with WTA, whereas mages have 80+. Mages also have really good damage output in general, what with Wind doubling and Fire dealing effective damage on cavalry, and the enemy not having many magic users /good or high resistance units themselves.

• Some of the player units could use a little buffs or stat changes. The fighter could use more Strength, for example. Considering he’s not very fast to begin with, so you want to make every hit count. Right now the merc outclasses him in all but HP (and Con) - at least in my case he did. These two seem to have a similar stats spread in the first place, so you might want to change things up a bit. Speaking of unit balance, the Pikeman green unit in Ch2 seems to be clearly stronger than the brigand despite being lower level.
  

That’s all for now. Hope this helps!

[Shuusuke]

@anon81024007

Details about the branching

Prologue:
-You can make a truce with the Matsudaira clan or not. If you do, you can’t directly fight them, only compete with and try to get more points than them. If you don’t, you can also attack them to make it harder for them to get points. This choice has repercussions later.
-On normal mode, Kiyoyasu leaves the map, but on hard mode he stays.
-Minor: If you get more points than them, you get an extra reward at the end. On hard mode, if you get less points, you fail the chapter. The villages also give red gems, which affect your general funding.

Chapter 1:
-You can ignore the western castle or not. If you do, and Tadamasa is still alive when you approach the eastern castle, he and the Mizuno forces will become green units. If you don’t and killed Tadamasa, the Mizuno will remain as enemies. If at most 6 Mizuno soldiers were killed, you also get a reward. This choice has repercussions later.
I also had initially planned to make it so if Masatoyo survived the chapter, there would be repercussions. But that wasn’t done since it’s virtually impossible for him to survive, and it would depend entirely on luck. Unsure if I want to come up with something else or leave it like that.

Chapter 2:
-There are 4 magic units in the map initially. If you kill 3 of them, Nobuhide will suspect enemy reinforcements are on the way. They also have droppable tomes/staves.
-If Nobuhide suspected enemy reinfocements, when they arrive, allied units get buffs and enemies get negative status effects, making it easier for you to fight/avoid them. If Nobuhide didn’t suspect reinforcements, some allied units will get negative status effects and the enemies will gain buffs, making it more difficult to fight them.
-There are two villages in the map. When you visit one, Hirotada will promote, his choice depends on which village you visited first. If you do not visit any, he will remain unpromoted and drops his Hero Crest if you defeat him.
-(Uncertain if I’ll keep this one) Defeating Ujiteru may have repercussions later.
Repercussions:
-If by the end of the prologue, a truce was active, Nobutaka can be recruited in this chapter.
-(May change this one)If Tadamasa survived chapter 1, you will receive Mizuno reinforcements, including a playable unit (Tadashige) in this chapter.

@Zarg

• As you might have noticed, writing is really not my strong point. Most of the dialogue is minimalistic and just goes as far as getting the point across. I wanted the world map cutscene to serve as an introduction, it briefly mentions what’s commonly considered the start of the Sengoku Jidai (The Onin War), then focuses on the Oda clan. It initially said a lot more, detailing what happened in the Onin War, what happened to each faction when it ended, included other clans that bordered the Oda, as well as other major clans at the time. But I cut that out, and I’m obviously biased so I’ll definitely listen to suggestions about the writing, though I think any less than that would leave the player a little blindsided to what’s around them. Ideally, I’d have it be more like vanilla in the artistic part, having the world map instead be a map of Japan (or at least showing the regions the Oda clan historically affected) and highlighting the countries as they are mentioned, but currently that’s beyond me.

• For Yaemon (the bandit boss in the prologue) I am aware it’s scary to take an attack from him. His defenses aren’t good though, and you can always let the NPCs take the attacks and weaken him, then take the kill yourself. That’s more of the intention there really, even though you can take him on by yourself with some luck.

• The event and the Mizuno rebellion can be triggered either by approaching the eastern castle (that fort in the middle of the map is essentially the line) or by killing Tadamasa, so it’s completely dependant on the player’s actions. The reason I put that village there is because Nobuhide is already pretty strong. The other lance user (Katsuie) is more likely to be in the lower group to get it, and they face more enemies so it gives him more defense if needed.

• The reinforcements are more of a geographical thing, I guess. I did consider making them spawn where the player starts, but it wouldn’t make sense for them to appear behind the player given how the Imagawa are to the southeast. Besides, I think it’s already challenging enough to avoid them where they are, it might get a bit too annoying to have to go through them too. The chapter is more of a gauge, the player can take risks (continuing the attack even after being warned, trying to get Nagachika and Hirotada’s droppables, trying to fight the reinforcements, etc) and possibly struggle running away, or play it safe (falling back when reinforcements are predicted, using the NPCs as bait, using the light rune, etc) and have little trouble dealing with them. There’s also more to the reinforcements, explained in the spoiler about branching. I understand the Berserk might seem excessive, but if the player plays cautiously, they likely won’t be at risk from it, otherwise there’s what’s in the spoiler.

• I’ll agree the +def weapons are more situational. They work better on units who’d wouldn’t double anyway, get doubled anyway, or already have good enough defense that the +3 essentially makes them take no damage. Steel and silver versions give +5 and +7 respectively, so I think it’s a bit too early to decide to change the numbers, but it’s definitely something I’m considering. I also might provide more Body Rings to make them more usable if the player wants to, or something.

• I’m trying to make it a bit of a clan identity sort of thing. The Matsudaira being more melee oriented, the Mizuno having more bulky units, the Imagawa being more magic and bow oriented, that kind of thing. Certainly against the Matsudaira, mages are very useful, but they will deal less damage against mage-heavy clans when you face those.

• Nobuzane and Nobumitsu probably need some help, yeah. But I’m considering alternatives to buffing their stats, so I’ll see how that goes first. The pikeman isn’t a generic unit, so it doesn’t seem too strange he’d be stronger than one.

Thanks for playing and for the feedback, glad to know you found it enjoyable.

[Telos]

So if this is based on Sengoku era, then…

Spoilers

Does that mean Mitsuhide would be the final boss/final hack in the series to be released?

[Shuusuke]

Usually I wouldn’t spoil part of the plot, but given that there’s a long way to go until it gets there and things may change (besides, it’s based on history anyway), I’ll say some ideas I have.

Things I have in mind for that part

-I might have Mitsuhide be sort of a Zephiel in FE6, as in the final boss if you fail to complete certain conditions.
-I might make it so the Honnoji incident can be averted, and from them on follow a fictional story as if Nobunaga survived.
-I might make it so for one map, you play as the Akechi. Afterwards the story may branch, with the player being able to continue playing as the Akechi, or one of the other major Oda retainers.

Those are the current top ideas for that incident. I’m not too sure I want to extend the story much longer than that, since that was when the Oda clan’s decline started and the hack is supposed to focus on them. I’d rather save the post-Honnoji for a Matsudaira/Tokugawa version.

On the other hand, I like what-ifs so I’m inclined to entertain the idea for at least a chapter or two, maybe to give different endings or a sort of cliffhanger to make players want to play other versions.

[Ribombee]

Note that Japan culture was very similar to China’s so there may not be axes in it i think
Ancient times is monarchy? If u watched history of japan in x minutes video
Oh and japan army has a whole bunch of samurai and archer i think (Yeah like hoshido)
And its common for samurais to commit suicide of a very painful way (rip stomach) (can be used as an apology wtf) due to honor i think
And theres a friend to cut his head to end his suffering
Theres a very unique japan style castle like very high and something
And I think I saw somewhere japan army take a lot of flags to war
Oh and they use katana and naginatas (yeah curved blades) so maybe u need tp change the weapon icons (painful artworking)

[Shuusuke]

Made a patch that changes up the prologue. Instead of playing as the Oda and competing with the Matsudaira, now it’s the other way around. Did you only win the original prologue because the Oda have a natural advantage, or because your tactics were superior? Now you can prove that.

Patch added to the first post as a “spinoff” since I don’t plan on making that be part of the potential Matsudaira/Tokugawa version of the Sengoku series.

Now whether to make a truce or not is up to the NPCs, not you. If they initiate an attack against you, there’s no room for negotiations and you’ll have to fight. But if one of the Oda dies before attacking you, they will go for the truce instead. You can trigger this too, since the truce is refused only if they initiate.

Changed some other things for gameplay purposes. Kiyoyasu’s been nerfed, buffed some of the Oda’s weaker units, switched the endings, and Kiyoyasu’s retreat was reversed (he retreats on hard mode but not on normal mode), and added some events to fit the allegiance reversal.

You can play the other 2 chapters if you want, but weird things will probably happen.

[Shuusuke]

Updated to v035, changes:

-Added recolors for most (all aside from the first boss, unless I forgot someone else) named units
-Added another chapter, 2x
-Some tweaks to chapter 2, I recommend replaying it otherwise getting Ch2x is virtually impossible, also to see the new ending scene

Info on chapter 2x

-To get the possibility of playing this chapter, Ujiteru has to be defeated in Ch2. With the update, that’s much more feasible (if you fulfill a certain side-objective in it).
-Even if Ujiteru is defeated, you still have the option of skipping Ch2x.
-If you do not skip, all units deployed in Ch2x will be unavailable for the next chapter.
-You can’t deploy Nobuhide nor Masahide (your prepromotes) in Ch2x.
-Named enemy units you defeat in Ch2x will join your party, though they won’t be avaiable for a while. You won’t get them if an NPC defeats them.
-Villages grant the visitor a level up instead of items.
-You can retreat from Ch2x whenever you want, and that will clear the chapter.

This chapter is intended as an opportunity to get some extra units (which might be challenging if you bring weak units) and free experience in villages (for units that you want to give a chance but haven’t been able to give them much exp yet), though it comes at the cost of them being unavailable for one chapter. You’ll have to decide if you think it’s worth it.

[Shuusuke]

Updated to v044, changes:

-Added chapter 3.
-Added recolored portraits for the remaining named units.
-Fixed support information for all playable units, text is still unchanged and chances are I’ll just make them have no text later. Existing saves will have strange support points built up, so ideally, new playthroughs would have to be made to avoid problems. This won’t happen again since I’ll add those when I add units from now on as well.
-Units now gain support points as long as they’re deployed on the same map, they no longer have to be adjacent like in vanilla GBA FEs.
-Some tweaks to Ch2x. Includes a potential fix to a bug caused by then-unknown AI list behavior. The ending cutscene might be innacurate now, but I’ll fix it later since it’s just aesthetic.
-Misc changes such as stat growths, movement penalties, etc.

Info on chapter 3

The first (mostly) indoors chapter. This chapter introduces what I intend to be a common mechanic in indoor, or more specifically, “Siege” chapters.

-Standard siege mechanic(1/2): moats. This a new terrain type that reduces most units to 1 move, and armors and unpromoted cavalry can’t cross them. It also applies -40 avoid and -3 def/res to units on it. (The display is bugged)
-Standard siege mechanic(2/2): crossing moats. Across moats, you will see “Flat” terrain. If a playable or NPC unit stands on them, a bridge will be lowered, allowing units to move across them without movement and stat penalties. Some enemies and most NPCs will prioritize moving onto those “Flat” tiles, the former to protect them, the latter to open them. This would/will work the other way around if you are defending instead of attacking, in future chapters.
-Chapter ends either when Nobuhide seizes the throne, an NPC stands on the throne, or the enemy is routed. In the first possibility, you also recruit Yorinori.
-The chapter fails if Yorinori is killed.
-If Nobuhide talks to Mitsuyasu, the “Toki” enemy units will become NPCs and help you lower bridges from the inside. However, there may also be downsides to doing so, so when/if to do it is up to the player’s strategy.

As always, feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks for playing, I hope you enjoy the hack.

[Shuusuke]

Updated to v052, changes:

-Fixed event issues in the prologue and chapters 1, 2 and 3
-Fixed dialogue and cutscenes of all chapters
-Added palettes to all characters
-Added affinity icons to the custom affinities (their palette is bugged but I’m lazy to deal with that, unless there’s a quick fix they’ll stay like that for the time being)
-Added some class animations (to classes that don’t show up yet)
-Fixed all classes’ promotion paths and items, all aside from one class have 3 options
-Chapter 4 shows the turn count and returns to the title screen

I didn’t want to release new versions without adding chapters, but since I don’t know when I’ll come up with chapter 4, I went through it again and fixed issues I missed before, as well as dealing a bit with the aesthetic part.

[Shuusuke]

Updated the Matsudaira variation with the most recent base version (palettes, portraits, etc. were placeholder when I made it first), and made some more changes to make it more different than just switching sides, such as the Oda gaining extra items in hard mode, and the chapter also requiring you to rout the Oda after routing the bandits.

Also, I updated the playlist in the first post with playthroughs of the updated chapters.

[Shuusuke]

Updated to v053, mainly just dialogue fixes.

Added many screenshots to the first post.

[Vesly]

Tried this out. Kudos to you - there’s some cool stuff in here.

Summary

So far I’ve only played Ch 0 and Ch 1. Except I got a game over at the end of Ch 1 from Nobotumo killing himself against Sadayashi. I played on Hard mode. Please put in all the standard quality of life patches people have added. Skip H&S, intro, modular minimug box, etc.
Without these, it can be a bit of a drag to play.

• Intro

Country warfare details were tl;dr basically. Either show this with pictures and game events (game events is tons of work, but background pictures as CG aren’t too bad to work with), or sparse it down a little. Otherwise players will be unlikely to engage with it.

Victory BGM seemed odd to start with. Unless the main lord is specifically being arrogant, or something. I initially thought Masahide was a steward attending to Nobuhide’s estate and child, so it seemed odd for them suddenly to go into battle together.

• Ch 0: A blade of coin

I loved the objective in Ch 0. It was an interesting map with a number of considerations to make. I couldn’t be bothered checking stat screens most of the time, so I yolo’d it. I sent Nobuzane and the 2 pre-promotes west and the other 3 east. Spoiler: Nobuzane did (almost) nothing useful.

Reputation

I wonder if there’s a way to replace the “enemies left: 9” with yours + the enemy’s count of villagers impressed, or whatever the count is of. I might name this “Reputation”.
This doesn’t seem to work for displaying [G] after convert to string is used:

Aww. Oh well.

I suppose displaying it whenever it updates is fine.

I was surprised the armoury gave me a weapon for free, but whatever.
Pirates in FE8 attack villages generally. Please make them fighters if they aren’t going to. Eg.

Midway through the map Katsuie met his unfortunate end to the Matsu’s. As NPCs they can walk through my units, which I hadn’t thought about, so RIP Katsuie. Yaemon was scary to engage, but I was lucky enough against him to take him out. Final score was 10 v 8. (I did not ally with them.)

A very fun map that felt fair overall, however, the enemy phase not rewarding points felt unfair. Will definitely try this chapter again sometime.

• Ch 1: The Tragedy at Moriyama
  RIP Katsuie, my lance Cavalier

There was a lot of zoning to do in this chapter. I would’ve found it much easier with Huichelaar’s adaptive danger area thing, but it can be laggy and would mean no fog of war missions if you have plans for those. Again, no modular minimug box was annoying. Especially having to look at stat screens to figure out attack speed with con weighing units down and all that jazz. I didn’t really bother, mostly soloing the map with Nobuhide while my other cluster of units in the SW would lure an enemy or two at a time and kill them in a slow crawl. Yoshimune charged into his death after a few turns but I wasn’t invested in the character so it didn’t matter.

Add one of these pls

I was confused about everything that was going on with the number of character names and motives. I’m sure it probably makes sense, but to me it was just “oh we’re on your side now lol”. From a quick glance just now in FEBuilder it looks like it’s a range event that triggers this.

Towards the end of the chapter I finally had a look at the boss to see he has an armorslayer, tons of defense, and might kill off Nobutomo. So I rush over there first, healing my units along the way and luring out the merc. Plan was to use some mages to rush the boss and win. Now, I thought they’d be safe enough, but wouldn’t you know it that ballista archer in the corner deals exactly 14 damage against my Hidesada, who I thought was sitting comfortably at 14 HP. RIP Hidesada.

Then to finish the chapter Nobutomo suicides himself against the boss while I was trying to figure out a way to kill him. Ah well. Game over.

• Overall (for now)

I think you’ve done a commendable job on much of the actual gameplay. The battles were fun and if I had been playing less casually (or MMB was there) my units would probably still be alive. Hit rates in general seemed a bit too low, perhaps weapon triangle should give more hit advantage? (But not necessarily any more hit disadvantage.)

I would suggest that you consider the direction that you want your game to go. The narrative feels unclear to me so far. Perhaps starting simple and building is the way to go. For example, I might embrace the chapter 0 idea of directly competing with another nation. Everywhere you go, Gary Oak is just one step ahead of you. That competing nation has already been protecting the village, or searching for the lost artifact, or has just burned the bridge you wished to pass, etc. etc.
This builds up your primary antagonist / nation that you will eventually go to war with. Everyone else could be simple or inferior: eg. Ruffians, Monsters, Civilians, Generics, bands of non-generic units that are smaller than your own army (eg. L’Arachel, Rennac, and Dozla), etc.
I think you can still get across some history even in a simplified form. L’Arachel travels pretty much alone, but she represents all of her nation. You can have many nations involved, just you need to give their representatives screen time and introduce them slowly, one nation at a time. It is hard to world build that much in this format, so I’d just warn that if you take such a complex and quick approach, it can feel isolating to the players. All that said, I’ve only played Ch 0 and 1, so my opinion is not a fully informed one. It is certainly an ambitious idea to work with.

Keep up the nice work and I look forward to seeing more of this hack. I will be playing the rest of whatever’s available at some point, probably in a few weeks. Thanks for making it.

[Shuusuke]

For the QoL patches, you’re right, I forgot the ones you mentioned even though I already applied others.

For the world map thing, my intention is to eventually change the map to Japan, and do like vanilla in which countries are highlighted, their names and leaders’ portraits being shown. I suppose I could show their portraits for the time being, since I haven’t looked at anything related to the world map yet. For the text, as I mentioned before it used to be longer, detailing the events of the Onin War and history of the Oda clan. Later I toned it down, leaving only information necessary to understand how the Sengoku period “started” and the current diplomatic and territorial situation of the clan. I’ll try not to repeat this point too much throughout this post, but it’s never been a mystery that storytelling and assets are not my strong points, and the fact that I already know that part of Japanese history makes my judgement more biased.

Ch 0:
I didn’t think too deep on the starting music, but it’s a more cheerful one to go along with news of the birth of the clan leader’s heir. Masahide, being Nobuhide’s right-hand man, tactician, friend and in the future guardian of his aforementioned heir (as well as co-Jagen if you will) seemed fitting for both delivering the news and joining him in battle.

About “reputation”, I had the name “Influence” in mind, making a reference to the game Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence. I also considered storing the value as (player score x 100) / (NPC score) and displaying that, but for one reason or another I gave up on that and just made it display everything the score is updated, I think that’s enough.

I suppose I could tell the player the shops just give an item instead and that the enemies don’t target villages, but I prefer to limit direct information to essential explanations, such as the mechanic for the chapter and later the Moat terrain.

Yaemon is indeed scary but he’s not meant to be faced alone (you still can do that, but it takes some luck), and somewhat incentivises you to use the Matsudaira as fodder, in a show of opportunism.

When I started making this chapter there was no way to get the ID of the killer unit if they weren’t the active unit, so there wasn’t an alternative to consider and I designed around that. And even though there is a way now, I still like the way it is for this chapter. It rewards proactive play and provides a third, mediocre alternative. After all, it’s better that nobody gets the point rather than the Matsudaira.

Ch1:
I see you skipped the first castle then, that makes it so the Mizuno become NPCs instead. If you defeat Tadamasa, that doesn’t happen when that event triggers. Nobutomo and Sadayoshi have high defenses and deal effective damage to each other, so it’s both tempting and risky to let them have a round of combat to weaken each other and then take the kill. Up to the player whether to let that happen or take the slower and safer route. I’m not sure I got the impression that buffing hit rates was necessary, but making the weapon triangle more relevant is something I’ll consider for sure.

Glad to hear you liked the gameplay, that’s by far the most important part for me. The story is based on actual history, and I’ve been considering showing when each chapter takes place (for example, the prologue takes place in 1534, while chapter 1 takes place the following year) to help the players locate themselves. Since I’m going over historical events, longer jumps will happen rather often.

I’ve also been trying to keep the storytelling on a more down-to-earth level (for example, despite Nobuhide being the protagonist, he’s not once depicted as heroic or naive, quite the contrary, if anything his opponents may be more sympathetic) so no over-the-top characters and fewer/toned down comical moments. I’m particularly going against having a clear good vs bad atmosphere here, since it’s mostly clans competing for power, not for ideals, while still giving the player some basic information to form their opinion on clans/characters and provide some amount of character building for the more story-relevant ones at least. Another thing that may be relevant to keep in mind is that while Nobuhide is the main character, he’s also a father, if you know what I mean.

Thanks a lot for playing and for the feedback. While I haven’t worked on new chapters in a while, I’ll definitely keep in mind your suggestions, especially regarding the writing. I’m very aware it often falls short but it’s also hard to notice exactly how without other people telling me. When you play the rest of the chapters, let me know if your opinions change or are reinforced. Any advice you (or anyone else, for that matter) have to make the narrative more appealing will be very welcome.