A few months ago, I posted on this site about a complete script I had written for a Fire Emblem fan game, offering to give it to anybody who wanted to make a game but didn’t want to write their own story. Unsurprisingly, I got no takers, but some encouragement to try making the game myself. Now I have tried. The game is not yet complete, but I wanted to post the first 13 chapters (prologue, ch. 1-11, ch. 10x) in order to benchmark the progress and keep myself motivated, as well as receive feedback. It’s still very much a writing-driven experience. I think the plot and the characters are much of what the game has to offer. But I have playtested it several times, and have been pleasantly surprised at how much fun the gameplay is, at least to me.
Current Download
Old Download Links
Features
-13 playable chapters at the moment, 10 more planned.
-22 recruitable characters so far.
-An expanded class system with branching promotions. Rather than every class having a skill, skills are used as compensating advantages for classes with fewer weapon types or no mounts. There is full information about this in the “Class System” heading below.
-Most of the standard QoL stuff: SkillSystem and all its usual entailments, act again after support/talk. Would be happy to consider further patches of this kind.
-No movement skills! No Shove! No Reposition! No Canto! Just suffering!
-Bows have 1-2 range (except longbows, which are 2-3).
-Supports build at up to 3 squares’ distance and are mostly faster than vanilla.
-Relatively tough and strong enemies that you generally can’t one round, but that also can’t generally one round your units. Which is the kind of FE that I like.
-Maps with varied objectives, and sometimes with exciting but reasonably well-signposted mid-map changes.
-All classes except main character unique classes promote with Master Seal.
-An original story that takes its inspiration less from Tolkien or medieval history, and more from things like Ursula LeGuin; Avatar: The Last AIrbender: the ancient history of the Mediterranean and of South Asia; the Mahabharata. More on this in the story tab below. But I promise in advance that nobody is being controlled by an evil sorceror, a dark god, or an evil dragon. Human beings are scary enough.
-Extensive and interesting supports that flesh out both characters and the world. There are currently 22 complete support chains in the game. Every recruitable character in the demo except Hanali has at least one complete support chain. More to come. The Support Conversation Viewer is unlocked to allow perusal at will.
Difficulty
I playtested on hard mode mainly, but normal mode also works so far as I can tell. It is indeed slightly easier than hard mode, but not tons. I haven’t tried easy mode, but I don’t see any reason in theory why it shouldn’t work.
The difficulty on hard mode is probably closest to the FE7 hard modes or Fates CQ Hard (not lunatic). Not for beginners, but probably not for people seeking a super-intense challenge either. I’m not actually very good at FE, but I could beat all these chapters without save states, RNG manipulation, or any other tricks. I don’t usually play iron man, but the game is designed for iron man runs to be possible. New characters come frequently and are meant to be mostly usable upon joining.
Class and Skill System
This class system is designed around the idea of traits. A trait is one of three things: access to a weapon type; a mount; or a skill.
All unpromoted classes get two traits, all promoted classes get three. The effect in practice is that rather than every class getting a skill, classes without mounts or with fewer weapon types get skills as compensatory advantages. The -faire skills are locked to single-weapon promoted infantry. Skills are gained with the class and never lost, so that e.g. a thief keeps their thief skills even if they promote to swordmaster. No further skills are gained by leveling in a class.
Keely and Milo, the main characters, have unique class lines with only a single promotion option. To compensate, their unique promoted classes have four traits each.
Most bows have 1-2 range. Canto does not exist. Great Knights and Cataphracts have 8 move like Paladins.
swordfighter (sword, sol)
->hero (sword, axe, sol)
->sword pal (sword, horse, sol)
myrmidon (sword, +15 crit)
->swordmaster (sword, +15 crit, swordfaire)
->hero (sword, axe, +15 crit)
thief (sword, thief skills)
->assassin (sword, thief skills, lethality)
->swordmaster (sword, thief skills, swordfaire)
sword cav (sword, horse)
->sword pal (sword, horse, sol)
->cataphract (sword, axe, horse)
lance cav (lance, horse)
->lance pal (lance, horse, luna)
->great knight (lance, axe, horse)
axe cav (axe, horse)
->axe pal (axe, horse, rally str)
->cataphract (axe, sword, horse)
bow cav (bow, horse)
->bow pal (bow, horse, adept)
->nmd trpr (bow, axe, horse)
archer (bow, adept)
->bow pal (bow, horse, adept)
->sniper (bow, adept, bowfaire)
hexblade (sword, dark)
->spellblade (sword, dark, staff)
->dark knight (sword, dark, horse)
peg knight (sword, flying)
->falcoknight (sword, flying, staff)
->light knight (sword, flying, light)
peg mage (light, flying)
->dark flier (light, dark, flying)
->light knight (light, sword, flying)
wyvern rider (lance, flying)
->wyvern lord (lance, sword, flying)
->wyvern knight (lance, axe, flying)
fighter (axe, rally str)
->axe pal (axe, horse, rally str)
->warrior (axe, bow, rally str)
pirate (axe, duelist’s blow)
->berserker (axe, duelist’s blow, axefaire)
->warrior (axe, bow, duelist’s blow)
soldier (lance, luna)
->halberdier (lance, axe, luna)
->lance pal (lance, horse, luna)
knight (lance, frenzy)
->halberdier (lance, axe, frenzy)
->general (lance, frenzy, lancefaire)
mage (anima, charm)
->sage (anima, staff, charm)
->wizard (anima, charm, tomefaire)
light mage (light, renewal)
->bishop (light, staff, renewal)
->light sage (light, renewal, tomefaire)
shaman (dark, lifetaker)
->druid (dark, staff, lifetaker)
->warlock (dark, lifetaker, tomefaire)
troubador (staff, horse)
->mage knight (anima, staff, horse)
->valkyrie (light, staff, horse)
exile [keely’s unique class] (lance, seal spd)
->dynast (lance, sword, seal spd, bowbreaker)
apprentice [milo’s unique class] (anima, seal def)
->pyromancer (anima, staff, seal def, staff savant)
Story
The ring of lands around the sea has for some centuries now been ruled by the imperial city of Jatra. Jatra is governed by the Council, a convocation of the city’s best and brightest who make their decisions by deliberation. Governors for the empire’s many provinces are selected from the Council, year by year.
Keely Clearwater, eldest daughter of Jatra’s illustrious House Clearwater, attempts to earn her seat on the Council by investigating Governor Viren Greathull’s administration of Kalt Province. Her report is damning; he suppresses it and manages to have Keely exiled to Castilo, the city that is home to the Academy of Magic and the Archmage’s House.
Meanwhile, Archmage Hasa Tsever, the legendary mage and ascetic, suffers a similar exile in reverse: summoned from Castilo to Jatra, she is detained there indefinitely by the Council, who are suspicious of her power and influence. Her apprentice, the freed slave Milo Tsever, is wracked by self-doubt, and reluctant to take on the role of Archmage in her place.
Keely and Milo meet in a chance encounter in Castilo, and devise a plot to solve their problems together. But their choice to act implicates them in an expanding network of consequences, which require further action in turn. Can they live with those consequences? With their own choices? Is there any way to act morally at all in a complex and broken world? Are you sick of romhacks that try to entice you with interesting gameplay ideas? Do you want to spend lots of time reading a character-driven story with fun, snappy dialogue? Do you like subtle, ambient queer and post-human themes? Find out the answers to all these questions when you play…Fire Emblem: The Verdict of History!
What Isn't Done Yet
Aside from the second half of the game? Essentially everything but the gameplay and the dialogue. Things in particular that you may notice:
-No custom palettes yet for the vast majority of characters. The few who do have them, they don’t look great. I’m not good with colors. This will take me a while.
-Cutscenes consist only of dialogue with backgrounds. At some point I hope to put in the little animations where units walk around in space, but not till after the chapters are finished.
-I haven’t touched anything related to audio yet. Seriously, I playtest on mute. I’m sure some of the sounds associated with the movements of certain classes are wrong. Again, this will probably be fixed later in the dev process, after the main chapters and story are done.
-Still many more supports to go. New ones will hopefully be added in every update.
Content Rating and Warning
T/15+. If you have read novels like Ursula LeGuin’s Left Hand of Darkness or Powers, I think those are good references for the tonal level here. No extreme brutality or sexual material is ever depicted or described in any detail. But slavery exists in this world, and its impact on the lives of several characters forms a major thematic core of the work, including indirect and non-graphic allusions to the sexual exploitation of enslaved people. Sex also exists in this world (unlike, so far as I can tell, the worlds of some mainstream FE games). Characters allude to consensual sexual encounters and the impact of those moments on their emotional lives, but there is nothing graphic. Alcohol is also briefly referenced.
Another note to hopefully avoid hurtful misunderstandings: the system of slavery in this world is based on Roman slavery rather than antebellum American slavery, which is more familiar to many people. Roman slavery was a complex social institution in which certain slaves could become highly educated and, in a certain sense, wealthy; such slaves could entertain reasonable hopes of manumission, and all Roman slaves, when manumitted, became Roman citizens, albeit with some legal disabilities. The children of freedpeople were full citizens. Roman slavery was not based on skin color, nor was it exclusive to any single ethnicity: any captive of war or kidnap victim could potentially become enslaved. None of this is meant to suggest that Roman slavery was anything but morally horrendous. But this context may help in understanding how slavery is imagined in this world.
Screenshots
Maps
I got better at making maps as I went on. Here are PNGs of some of the maps.
Early efforts
Little better
Now we’re talkin’
Known Bugs
I would happily accept advice on any of these.
-The animation for Milo’s Wildfire prf spell doesn’t play sometimes. I don’t know why. It’s just the Fire animation. The item is overwriting Reginleif.
-The screen flashes blue after you visit the house boat in ch. 6. Don’t know why. Maybe because it’s a visit where you get items but there’s no tile change specified?
-Some of the chapter titles don’t display in the initial screens. I cannot detect any commonality between the ones that don’t or difference from the ones that do in the Builder. Please send aid.
Credits
UTILITIES AND PATCHES
FEBuilderGBA by 7743, in which this entire hack was made.
SkillSystem by circleseverywhere
Anti-Huffman by Hextator
Convert Chapter Titles to Text by circleseverywhere
Actions after Support by circleseverywhere
Actions after Talk by circleseverywhere
Prohibit Support Conversations Under Specific Conditions by 7743
Add Event: Get/Set/Clear Support Level by 7743
Adjust Mode Coefficient Experience Gain by Vennobennu
Add Event: Instantaneously moving a unit at a specific coordinate to another coordinate by 7743
Those are all the patches that I knowingly used. If I am detectably using any without knowing it, please let me know so I can add and credit.
PORTRAITS
Player Characters
Altrek by AmBrosiac
Ankesh by JiroPaiPai
Bairan by Its_Just_Jay
Dau by Zeldacrafter
Gavore by CanDy
Getaan by RandomWizard
Hanali by Levin64
Keely by Flasuban
Milo by Cravat
Orau by monk-han
Pallante by AmBrosiac
Reore by LaurentLacroix
Ruki by Shirex
Saldan by Levin64
Sen by JiroPaiPai
Shevren by JiroPaiPai
Snail by JiroPaiPai
Sundraan by faeriefruit
Telyran by RandomWizard
Ter by JiroPaiPai
Theroc by monk-han
Uresh - I don’t have the credit for this portrait. I had some computer trouble in the development process, and I lost some information. Everything else I was able to find again, but this one for some reason I can’t. I am 100% sure it came from the repo. If you know who made this, please let me know so I can credit it properly. Likewise, if they’ve changed their mind about it being F2U, let me know so I can remove it.
Valek by XPGamesNL
Vara by Cravat
Yari by MrGreen3339
Zair by TheWildCard
NPCs and Enemies
Abaulo by Nickt
Alaki by CapibaraInSpace
Alelten by memestaralbert
Ch. 5 house visit guy by Parrhesia
Daileni by alusq
Dimak by MegaCowsamMan
Domer by Zaim
Fireni by Parrhesia
Frak by Kanna
Frek by JiroPaiPai
Hasa by XVI
Hastor by RandomWizard
Tsentor II by Wasspix2, Shark3143
Leraal by Citrus
Old Darubi man by Matthieu
Viren by Ereshkigal
Waran by Nickt
All other portraits by IS
ANIMATIONS
Apprentice by Eldritch Abomination, N426 (clumsy recolor job by me)
Assassin by Redbean, RiriK
Axe Cav by Leo Link, Pushwall
Bow Cav by Pikmin1211, Maiser6
Bow Pal by RJ_Exists, Obsidian_Daddy
Dark Flier by Ayr, DATonDemand, Faolin
Dark Knight by Teraspark, Pikmin1211, Nuramon, jj09, DerTheVaporeon
Dynast by Spud, Leolink, Iscaneus, Nuramon, Dora Drago (clumsy recolor job by me)
Exile by Yazuki
Falcoknight by Jeorge_Reds, ShadowOfChaos
Halberdier by TBA
Hero (F) by Nuramon
Hexblade by Marlon0024
Light Knight by Ayr, Marlon0024
Light Sage by Jey the Count
Nomad Trooper by Pikmin1211, Maiser6, Itranc, Valak
Paladins other than Bow Pal by Aruku, Kenpuhu, Nuramon, Lord_Tweed, Mexicancactus2911
Pegasus Knight by Flasuban
Pegasus Mage by Ayr
Pyromancer by Eldritch Abomination (clumsy recolor job by me)
Soldier by dr0zz
Spellblade by CranJam
Spirit (Dryad type) from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, ripped by Eeveeloverthespriter8, scripted by Dark
Spirit (Black Fomor type) from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, ripped by deathbringer, scripted by Dark
Spirit (Evergrim type) by Almirage, EldritchAbomination
Spirit (Alura-Une type) from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, ripped by HunterKillerCx6, scripted by Dark
Swordfighter (F) by Russel Clark
Wizard by L95
Wyvern by MercenaryLord, faeriefruit
Wyvern Knight by Feaw, St Jack
All other animations by IS.
TILESETS
FF2 town 1.0 by WAve
FF5 caves by WAve
Improved snow castle by Peerless
Night village by Flasuban, N426, ZoramineFae, Venno
Rainforest by me, using the Apojii Island Exterior maps from Golden Sun: The Lost Age provided to Spriter’s Resource by Davias
All other tilesets by IS.
MAP SPRITES
Apprentice by SALVAGED
Axe Cav by Siuloir
Axe Pal by RobertFPY
Bow Cav by FungusCaesar
Bow Pal by Leif
Cataphract by Pikmin1211, DerTheVaporeon
Dark Flier by Ayr
Dark Knight by Pikmin1211, Nuramon, DerTheVaporeon
Dynast by Spud, Dora Drago
Exile by circleseverywhere
Halberdier by blood, dei, Dondon151
Hexblade by Topazlight, Unknown
Light Knight by Ayr
Light Sage by Devisian_Nights
Pegasus Knight by sephie, Cornontherob
Pegasus Mage by Ayr
Pyromancer by Leif, MeatofJustice
Soldier by Rexacuse, Peerless, Alusq, Warpath
Spellblade by L95
Spirit by Eldritch Abomination
Sword Cav by Agro
Sword Pal by RobertFPY
Swordfighter (F) by Flasuban
Wizard by Leif
Wyvern by faeriefruit
All other map sprites by IS.
CLASS CARDS
Axe Cav by Leo_Link
Axe Pal by Shtick
Bow Cav by Jey the Count
Bow Pal by VelvetKitsune, Sir_Dadou, RobertFPY
Cataphract by Nuramon
Dark Flier by Melia
Dark Knight by Pikmin
Falcoknight by Flasuban, ArcaneEli
Halberdier is from the repo but uncredited there
Hexblade by jjo9
Lance Pal by RobertFPY, Flasuban
Light Sage by Flasuban, N426, Aruka, Yggdra
Peg Mage by Melia
Pegasus Kn by Flasuban
Spellblade by L95, Robert FPY
Spirit by Eldritch Abomination
Sword Cav by RobertFPY, Flasuban
Sword Pal by Shtick
Wizard by L95
Wyvern by faeriefruit
All other class cards by IS.
BACKGROUNDS
Lunar bg 09 by Fenreir
FF5 caves bg ripped by Fenreir
Advance Wars DoR snow background 11 ripped by Amdy
As mentioned above, I had some computer trouble that messed with my records during the development process. I did the best I could to figure out where everything came from and credit it properly. If I missed or miscredited anything, please let me know so that I can fix it as soon as possible.
All maps and writing are my own.
