Hello Fazelle
Swords and Peace
First of all, I would like to congratulate you and thank you for this rom hack. After reading the description and realizing that it’s the same chemical makeup like The Dark Amulet and The Shadow of Dawn, I was more than hyped to play this.
I got so excited because similar to those games, the focus is definitely the story and the characters, granted I wasn’t expecting time skips within the main campaign.
Overview
Usually I would like to talk about each aspect of the game (story, characters, gameplay mechanics and OST) however I would like to first detail certain aspects of the game that I wasn’t a fan off
Dislikes
Let’s start with the music, most rom hacks that I play, and I’ve completed about 20 of them I pay close attention to the music (OST), I’m not saying the music must be god tier, heck I wouldn’t mind listening to the OG music, but unfortunately what I realized in the early chapters was that most of the time, the music didn’t correspond with whatever scene was taking place or the chapter I’m on.
It mostly took me out of the game so then I just decided to mute it and play my own collection of fire emblem OSTs that I’ve recorded and compiled on my own. So I guess maybe this is something that could be rectified.
Secondly, battle preparations. (Yes I know at some point the game will tell you that the battle preparations screen will appear more often going forward) In the early chapters of the game, it’s a little frustrating not getting the preparation screen. yes the weapon durability is infinity so in actual sense you wouldn’t even spend that much time in the preparation screen but to completely remove it from the early chapters is a little wild. you’re just thrown into battle unprepared but it’s a tactical game at the end of the game.
The second time both groups meet again, the chapter where we enter the Llach castle, that’s a monumental chapter that badly needs a preparation screen (in my opinion).
Finally, I wish I had the opportunity to level up Esdin and Millia when I wanted to.
So these were the things I didn’t really enjoy about the game so now on to the positives which there are many
Gameplay Mechanics
First of all I would like to thank you for realistic growth rates, there are so many rom hacks where the units just don’t level up well at all and that’s why I’m praising this game for that. I don’t particularly like to compare games but this is the third best rom hack ever only behind The Dark Amulet and The Shadow of Dawn. The growth rates alone prove that, imagine playing on hard difficulty and your growth rates suck, you’ll never finish the game so even though it’s mostly glossed over, having really good growth rates determines whether you experience the full story.
Rating 9/10 - battle preparations screen issue knocks it down 1 point
Classes
OMG, the classes in this hack were all amazing, Izzy being an adventurer in her 2nd tier class is god-like, I absolutely love that class. my only gripe is that there’s no Halberdier class in this one, my favorite classes are the Swordmaster, Halberdier, Berserker, Adventurer and a battle Sage (a sage capable of anima magic and able to use swords; not a class in this hack though)
I did love Millia’s 2nd tier animation
Rating: 10/10
Story
I’m not going to talk much about the story because I think it’s best if every individual experiences it for themselves but I would say that I loved the story and was completely thrown off getting to the end. You see I was using the character details so when I chose to send Esdin to the castle, I thought we had a solid plan, then the twist in 30x happens and I’m like “Ain’t no way, coz in the final chapter Esdin and Anselle have a talk” and even after Millia and the rest graduated to their 3rd tier I was still waiting for a comeback. The chapter where I face Iblis is when I decided to cry because I realized there was no comeback after all. The Story is amazing simple and short and I loved every moment of it so after the game I experimented and sent Millia to the castle, it all ended up being great to experience. Thank you for this amazing.
Rating 9/10 - Inconsistent music choice knocks it down 1 point
Characters
With the way I play my Fire emblem games, I never let anyone die but I can’t post everyone here so these were my important units.
Esdin is your typical generic Lord, similar to Eliwood, very safe and you know what you’re getting from him.
Rei surprised me, in the beginning he was almost useless and too weak to use but I took my time to nurture him and now, he’s always doing Crits while on a mount.
Anselle essentially became like Marcus for me, promoted generic unit that you use in the beginning and then tossed aside after your army builds however Anselle was vital for me throughout.
Clara the Dancer, love that she got the lyndis animation. All magic swords for her
Felicity my MVP and my love for swordmasters made it so easy for me to use her.
Sienna is such a fun character, I loved all her conversations especially the ones with Xena.
Uzziah my pastor, even though I’m not a believer I was so happy playing this unit and seeing his interactions with everyone and his ship with Raider is really special.
Octavia the auto healer, I do love snipers so she was a blast for me
Merri’s low speed made me relegate her to the back sometimes, I guess I may have picked the wrong class for her in the end but she Soo aggressive all the time, it’s odd for me
Thalia is a little special to me and her entire arc with Iblis was so interesting, even after witnessing her supports with pluto I couldn’t put 2 and 2 together.
Kagney is such a sweet boy. I love this kid and he was a beast on the field.
Pluto finally got his revenge and we are here for it, good that he didn’t screw it up with Thalia
Dania, I love this girl even though I may have picked a poor class for her because this way she can’t be the best lancer, anyway she’s dear to me and was mostly on the frontlines
Millia my Queen, I think the entire fanbase would agree that Millia is the better Lord and with Havenrist and Rigera combined with Gerait Guard, completely broken and I love it
Zara is undoubtedly my favorite character in this entire game, her backstory, her ship with Dwougin, her stats as a Marshal is her best class, a tank that deals enormous damage, I could just send her alone to body every enemy on the screen. I love Zara.
Roish was owkay for me, I did like his 2nd tier Berserker class though.
Perseus, a very capable fighter kind of like Raven from FE7
Dwougin, didn’t really use him much and I always made sure he was close to Zara, so that he damages and Zara does the rest
Scord was cool to me, I liked how influential he was to most of the units in my army
Izzy my Adventurer, I loved her 2nd tier class and she was another MVP for me.
Uta my glass canon, if you want an enemy to disappear, just call her and her twin
Willow was another sweetheart of mine, yes she regrets everything so once and for all, just forgive her and let’s move on
Gallae was essentially a utility unit and I still liked her arc, especially when she was very important in the beginning.
I had a Soft spot for the following characters so even though they weren’t the best, I still wanted to keep using them.
Laurel and Tristen, funny pairing and she was owkay
Kevin, my love for swordmasters but he was kinda lame
Varris the ghost, not the strongest, not a tank, has nimble fingers and is very quick, here’s your notorious thief Varris, he’s still scared of Millia by the way
Blanche, I love her, simple. I love Blanche
I did as many supports as I could throughout the campaign
Rating 10/10 Amazing Memorable Characters
Total Rating Overall 9.5/10
Thank you very much for this experience.
Let me know if you’ve done a sequel or another game similar or exactly like this. I want more games to play
Thank you
. Never would I have imagined such a simple thing would modify the adventure THAT much, thank you.
