[FE8] Fire Emblem: The Divine Curse (WIP, testers needed)

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title screen

Hi everyone. I’m happy to present my second full-length hack which is currently in progress. It currently features fifteen playable maps.

To start with, this is a follow-up to Flames of Redemption, taking place in the same world. While there will be callbacks and some returning characters, I hope people who are unfamiliar with my previous work (or didn’t enjoy it) don’t discount this, as I aim this to be a standalone experience. The focus will be on different characters and the story will have different themes.

Screenshots:
feuerburg prologue
status screen seraphine
blood plague wyvern
right training sewer

Features and scope

  • Around 30 chapters planned.

  • “Fight or flight” philosophy. Aiming for simple chapter design with plenty of objective variety, with emphasis on defeat boss/route, and escape maps.

  • A character-driven story that focuses on multiple characters, without a singular lead.

  • Two major arcs: The first half of the game will act as a prequel to FoR, while the second half takes place after it.

  • Characters will visibly age past certain points.

  • Mostly custom music, using some custom samples from other games.

Story

In the year 827, the continent of Pyrmont was hit by a devastating illness known as the blood plague, which turned people into monsters. The demand for clerics grew, as only those trained in staves were able to heal the affliction. In order to keep up, the Church of Edda began to hire mercenaries who could escort these clerics to villages.

One of these mercenaries is Einhardt, a reformed ex-convict who now leads a small order that travels throughout southern Feuerbug, in an attempt to save as many people as possible. One day, they are suddenly tasked with eliminating the trade of the ‘Panacea’, a mysterious, illegal drug crafted by alchemists which supposedly heals the plague…

Core gameplay changes

  • The usual QoL patches. For example: actions after talk/support, fast-forward animations with R button, and casual mode.

  • No mid-chapter shops and armories. Preparation shop will be updated depending on what the player needs every chapter. (Unlocked in Ch2)

  • Poison has been replaced with Plague, which doesn’t go away on its own. Damage will scale as the game goes on, but measures have been taken so that the player can deal with it.

  • The trinity of magic has been expanded, and classes take effective damage (3x) from the magic they’re supposed to be weak to. The triangle is: Anima > Light > Dark > Anima

Each anima magic type will have effectiveness against certain classes, like in Tellius:

  • Thunder > Draconic fliers (wyverns, gargoyles, etc.)

  • Wind > Non-draconic fliers (pegs, mogalls)

  • Fire > Undead monsters (skeletons, zombies and dogs/spiders)

  • Wyverns are not weak to every bow now, although there are more effective weapons against them.

Support conversations

Supports conversations are planned, and implemented gameplay-wise, but are currently blank. Some will have to be unlocked through the story, and will not trigger before a certain point. Units gain support points just for being deployed in the same map, and there is no support limit. Honestly, I’m not happy with the current system, because it has introduced a few problems. I might end up replacing them with talk conversations at certain chapters, but I don’t know yet.

Known issues

  • Starting a new save file will prompt you to save twice.

  • The “talk” indicator bubble shows up for some characters who can’t support.

  • Nasreen’s Keep Up skill sometimes doesn’t work. To fix it, go to her status screen by pressing R, and then back out.

I have a Discord server. You can join if you’d like to report bugs, discuss this project in detail, give feedback, offer a hand or simply chat with us:

Download Link:

Fire Emblem: The Divine Curse 0.3.0

Third release. It includes 15 playable maps in total. Any feedback is appreciated, positive or negative. Hard mode is the difficulty that we’ve tested the most, but feel free to play Normal Mode if you don’t feel like struggling too much.

Credits

Most outside resources were taken from the Resource Repository.

Battle Animations:
Bonewalker (Axe): VilkalizeR (Melee), Big (Hand Axe)
Sword Villager (Squire): Nuramon
Hybrid Hatless Mage: GabrielKnight
Ponytail Archer: DerTheVaporeon
Trickster: Leo_Link (Script by Epicer and Kanto Emblem)
Alice Lord: Yazuki
Elffin Sonneteer: Marlon00224
Female Brigand, Barbarian: eCut
Generic Knight: Salvaged
Generic Cavalier (F): Salvaged
Bulwark King: Leo Link

Portraits:
Sniperguy Hatman (Lennox): BoneManSeth, MeatOfJustice
Mercenary, Version 6 (Einhardt): Sphealnuke
Merlina: LaurentLacroix
Bandit (Version 1): Random Wizard
Brigand Forest (Donald): Matthieu
Skeleton (Mage, version 1): L95, BladerDj
Skeleton: L95
F2E (Nasser): Wasspix2, Shark3134
F2E OC2 (Mubarak): RedBean
Androgynous Waifu (Jaber): XVI
Knight (Version 4) (Nasreen): SamirPlayz
Omar: LaurentLacroix
Assassin (Desert): Wave
F2E OC 21 (Isabella): MeatofJustice
Jake the Pirate: Wasdye
Drake: Spliced from a Bandit mug by Random Wizard

Magic:
Wind (Mikey Seregon)

Map Sprites:
Villager v2: HyperGammaSpaces
Hybrid Hatless Mage: Pikmin, SamirPlayz
Trickster: StreetHero, blood
Bard: Marlon&Louis
Female Brigand: Skitty
Lord (F) Ephraim-Sharena Lance: Circleseverywhere
Generic Knight: SALVAGED
Bow Knight (F): flasubanzzzzz
Baron: WarPath

Class cards:
Trickster: Jj09, Scraiza, Sword of HaE

Tilesets:
Towns: flasuban, N426, ZoramineFae, Venno
Desert Bastion: HyperGammaSpaces

Misc graphics:
Weapon icons (all): Ereshkigal
Green tonic icon: Beansy
Status screen: Lord Glenn

Patches:
Alusq: FE8 custom sample patch
7743: Made FEBuilder, and like half of the patches here.
GFE1R, Zane: MiniMug Box
Agro/Brendor: 16 tracks
Leonarth: 256 Color Title Background, Less Annoying Fog
Huichelaar: AnimNumbers Damage pop-up in battle
circleseverywhere: SkillSys, Actions After Support/Talk, CSA_Creator, drumfix, HP_Bars
Contro: Critcap
Stan: ExModularSave, UnitActionRework
Tequila: Battle Stats with Anims Off, UNCM
ipatix: m4a hq mixer
Scraiza: NarrowFont
Nintenlord: Remove Easy Mode
aera: Change support conversation to 5 people
Vesly: Faster poison damage, Casual Mode
HyperGammaSpaces: Casual mode

MUSIC:
Aquatic Ruin Zone: Sme
Oil Ocean Zone: Sme
FE05 - Crisis: SurfingKyogre
Starcraft - Terran Theme 1: Lemon Tart
Cry-A-Live: RandomWizard

For a somewhat more exhaustive list, please see the txt file included in the drive.

21 Likes
2

TDC
There’s a flashing black square on Micah’s map sprite. First thing I noticed.

TDC
TDC (1)
The look of the axe is different in 1 and 2 range despite being the same unit with a one range weapon

For Prologue 2: Reunion, increasing the time limit from 9 to like 10-11 would be better. I was one turn away from getting her to the escape point. That’s totally up to you, though. I was playing quite defensively, after all.

2 Likes
3

I’ve noticed it but I’m not exactly sure why that happens :sweat_smile:

It’s also a low-priority bug so I haven’t asked around or worried too much about it since it’s not always there. I’ll get around to it eventually, but if anyone knows what causes it, let me know.

4

The visual thing with the map sprite is probably because of the AP set for the moving map sprite.

I don’t think you need to increase the timer in Prologue 2, it’s fairly lenient, even on Hard.

4 Likes
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As a guy who has no life let me speed run it tommrow and let you know about bugs faced.

2 Likes
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That was it! Thanks, Micah’s map sprite has been fixed now.

And I have to agree with the turn limit, I believe it is lenient enough. I could make it easier on normal mode, but I’ll have to see how everyone else feels about it.

7

Played on Hard, Classic.

For the final release, please mention in the difficulty options that Hard/Difficult mode is the intended difficulty. Would recommend detailed descriptions such as: “Intended for those who wants a fair and difficult challenge” or “Select this mode for first playthroughs” and such.

Prologue:

  • Echoes music = Based.
  • Text speed should automatically be on fast by default so players don’t mash A and accidentally speed past the dialogue.
  • Micah was half health yet Wrath didn’t activate against the first enemy. Not sure if it’s a bug, 1 HP off, or I’m being dumb. Either way, a good tutorial on his personal skill if you can get it working.
  • Experience for talk conversations = Based

Prologue 2:

  • The text telling you how to win the chapter disappears too quickly. Please insert a [A] at the end so there’s time to read the message.
  • Good choice with the Trinity of Magic advice. Wonder if this was a FE7 reference with Senna using Lyn’s face after all, lol.
  • I’m agreeing with @DaDogeMaster69 with that the chapter could use an extra turn. I was also one turn away from winning, by one space as well.

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4
There’s not much to say about these chapters that deserve a segment, so I combined them all here. Overall though, pretty good chapters.

  • Wasn’t able to talk to Harley with Ron.
  • Adonis has a great design and his character is my favorite so far.
  • Armor Knight + Keep Up = Thank yooooooou
  • Would recommend giving Ron a chance to get the Thunder tome before Ch4 since Levin Sword is missable, and would introduce the player to Wyvern effectiveness. Either that, or have the droppable thunder tome enemy be closer.
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I was one turn away TWICE. Real and true. I may just be bad/playing far TOO defensively.

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  • Wrath: I didn’t notice it, but you’re right. Maybe it doesn’t work as advertised and he needs to have lower health? I’ll look into it.
  • Text speed: That was one of the first things people mentioned in my server lmao. I think I’m the only person who plays with normal speed. I’ll change the default speed in the next version.
  • Extra turn: Now that two persons have suggested it, I’m really considering it.
  • Harley: You need to kill the two skeletons near her to trigger a cutscene, then Ron will be able to talk with her.
  • Thunder tome: I like the idea of making the thunder mage spawn closer.

I’m glad you enjoyed it overall, and thanks for writing your thoughts about it!

10

Wow, it’s really good. It’s happy for me to see your new hack. But during my play, I discovered a problem: many letters were replaced with ‘, for example, feeling–fellin’, half–'alf. Because I’m a Chinese, I don’t know if it’s a simple mistake or a special way of writing in English. Can you give me an answer please?

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It’s an accent. Some people speak English by removing letters. It might be a southern American thing. I imagine it would be a little difficult to read for a non-native reader.

12

OK. It is indeed a little difficult, but I can still understand it. The important thing is that I have learned new knowledge. So, thank you friend.

3 Likes
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About to try this, will leave comments later. The concept is interesting tho.

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14

Very cool to see a new game in Flames of Redemption universe ! I will be sure to give it a try whenever I have some time :smile:

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Ahhhh I love flames of redemption I played it like 5 times already! I loved the supports and characters are some of the best looking in the hack community for me. Excited asf for this…freaking yay.

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Thanks for the support, everyone. I’ve updated the patch with new chapters and other changes.

Changelog
  • Chapters 5 to 8 have been added, bringing the total playable maps to 10!
  • I’ve received some feedback regarding the difficulty of the hack. While most of our playtesting time will still be spent on Hard mode, I no longer consider it the only intended difficulty. The difficulty starts to ramp up after Chapter 5, so first timers should pick Normal mode if they don’t feel too confident.
  • Vulneraries now heal 15 HP instead of 10.
  • The first enemy of the game now hits harder to make sure Micah is put in Wrath range at the start. This won’t make the chapter harder because of the buffed vulnerary.
  • Increased turn limit from 9 to 10 in Prologue 2. I still think the original limit was fair, but I have no problem making this chance because it’s a very early map.
  • Micah and Ron will now receive a Steel Bow and a Thunder tome automatically upon rejoining in Chapter 4.
  • Removed most of the support restrictions. There are still a few left, but this should minimize the problem where the “talk” indicator shows up with two units that can’t support yet.
  • Increased Devil Axe hit rate from 55 to 100.
  • Increased Tariq’s base stats and growths.

I’ve been thinking about what to do with support conversations, and who knows if they’ll ever be a thing. They’re a low priority right now. Instead, I will start writing more talk conversation between characters for specific chapters. I’ll try to add some of those next version.

Edit: Quick hotfix. I forgot to add the “demo ends here” scene at the start of Ch9 until now.

4 Likes
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Saving this link to test ASAP

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I’m happy to finally release a new public version of this project. Here is a short list of some of the changes:

Changelog

  • Chapters 9 to 12 have been added. If we count the prologues and a very short gaiden, we have 15 playable maps in total.

  • More optional conversations have been added between characters, to flesh out their motivations and the world’s lore.

  • Promotion items are finally obtainable. There is a single promotion item for most units, but there are two things to note:
    – None of your three lords can promote at the moment.
    – (Experimental change) Units can promote starting from level 15, instead of 10.

  • Lennox’s base speed has been increased to make sure he doesn’t fall off too early.

And well, that’s pretty much all that’s worth noting. I know I did some adjustments here and there, but I can’t really remember.

It’s been eight months since the last update. When I was developing FoR, I thought a six-month hiatus was too long. How naïve…

For anyone curious:

Roadmap

As stated in the first post, the story will be divided in two parts. Act 1 will end with Chapter 15, which will be featured in the next patch. In theory, this next patch shouldn’t take too long, especially because all the mugs needed are already done. After that update, there might be another long hiatus, but hopefully not this long.

5 Likes