Hello everybody!
I cannot believe it, but I will post the first demo of my custom campaing Hack: The Withered Rose for your entertainment!
This hack is tailored to an audience who likes a way more darker setting within Fire Emblem.
The aim to create a difficult but beautifull game experience (I bit like in soul games).
It took me way too long but now I think, that the first demo is suitable for playtesting!
I still have to create a Credit List before publishing, but I already want to present you some bits of the hack as screenshots and some infos about the hack itself.
I am grateful for every testplayer and user who gives feedback once I uploaded. This hack was playtested using the mGBA emulator.
Hacks content (so far)
- Full custom campaign in a dark fantasy setting with a character driven story, drama, emotion and conflict (and a lot wall of text)
- Custom spliced portraits and portraits from the Repository
- Exclusive Thief lord (there wont be any other thieves)
- Unbranched Class promotions planned, custom classes and weapons
- Custom Music from the repository, other hacks, video games and series
- 8 playable chapters containing 2 prologues and 6 main chapters of the first arc
- 14 playable characters
- Skillsystems, skill limit of three personal skills
- Focus on good looking but difficult maps
- Multiple endings planned
- Secrets to find
- Advanced Class Subdivision (see next tab)
Advanced Class Subdivision
The idea is to create “weigth classes” within sword- axe- and lance users, balancing out these classes through CON, LCK, SKL (stats, that in my opinion are too neglected in gameplay). Weapons and base stats will be balanced around these classes and additionally, certain classes have locked access to certain weapons to help expressing their role within combat.
The class subdivisions:
- Fencer (light infantry) - Mercenary (all rounder) - Doppelsoldner (heavy infantry)
- Pikeman (light infantry) - Soldier (all rounder) - Knight (heavy infantry)
- Bandit/Pirate (light infantry) - Fighter (all rounder) - Cataphract (heavy cavalry)
Additionally, you can choose between sturdy Archers (Heavy weapon specialists) and Hunters (Beast killers)
Other classes were also divided into sub groops to make them more unique in their playstyle. You will probably see similarities to that in other hacks.
Flying units and cavaliers keep their support role through high movement on the battlefield.
Magic Units are divided into:
Light mage (high SPD) - Anima mage (effective damage) - Dark anima mage (high Bulk and DMG)
Premise
In the year 919, Nebra, an orphan and petty criminal, lived in Vlisk, the southernmost port city of Rotheria. Along with her street gang, she survived in the city’s back alleys under terrible conditions. Emciated by hunger and inconspicuous in statue, she made a living by stealing from and deceiving other criminals, always hoping that one day she would find a way out of the city.
Two years had passed since the end of the Great War between the Western Empire of Ghelanos and the Eastern Empire of Konstyll. Konstyll had lost the war, and with it, the empire itself had fallen.
Rotheria’s revolutionary secession from Konstyll, led by the folk hero Roland the Conqueror and the Black Thorns, had sealed the fate of the Eastern Empire. With the war finally over, peace slowly began to return to the land.
But this peace came at a heavy price. Rotheria’s former ally, the Western Empire of Ghelanos, continued to treat the people of the East like an occupying power. Food shortages, heavy taxes, forced conscription, and widespread looting drained Rotheria’s largest cities and pushed its people deeper into poverty.
Nebra’s life changed overnight when Lord Edwynn, the governor of Vlisk, announced that all criminals were to be deported from the city. This lead to chaos and internal infighting with the Black Thorns giving Nebra and other criminals the golden ticket to flee out of Vlisk.
At the time, Nebra had no idea what role she would soon play in the fate of the world. Together with a nobleman named Konrad and his Ghelanian companion, she would become part of a journey that would ultimately determine whether Tellus could be protected from what would become its greatest and most dangerous threat.
Content Warning
- Blood in portraits
- Harsh language
- Psychological terror
- Elements of horror
- Self Harm
- Physical and mental abuse
- Mentioning of tobacco and alcohol
- Suggestive themes
- Mentioning of Enslavement
AI usage
I used AI image generation for backgrounds and translation
Secrets
Some chapter contain secrets, unlocking them leads to additional story elements, altered dialogue and bonus items. I have currently hidden 5 secrets within the first arc:
Prologue I: hidden
Prologue II: hidden
Chapter 1-2: hidden
Chapter 1-4: Finish the chapter within 15 turns when you found Secret 1-2
Chapter 1-5: hidden
I guess I let the other secrets hidden until publishing Arc 2, have fun looking for them. I think they wont be hard to find! 
Bugs
Unfortunately, I still have some bugs in this hack that I couldn’t manage to fix (Or where found after release). Maybe you guys can help me with your hacking knowledge, I would be gratefull for this!
- Soldiers in the east gate in 1-1 will be visible even if you don’t unlock the door
- DO NOT HAVE Hennik in Chapter 1-3 as your last unit in player phase, it skips directly to enemy phase (he is somehow not registered as returned and deployed unit right now)
- Generally, playable units who leave your group temporarily lose their stuff from previous chapters (except Hennik somehow),
- Lillith’s mend staff gets repaired between 1-3 and 1-4 (so more heals for you for now…)
- Missing Secret Message for 1-2
- The Soundtrack “Axel & Staix” glitches out after a while
- Brundyr’s potrait glitches out in the Status Screen
Download
The Withered Rose V0.1
Contains the UPS File + Credits (PDF and Editor Version)
