[FE8 Hack] (Full Length Hack) The Burdened Crown (v2.2.0 is available now!)

Hello there everyone, I made a hack. It mostly started as a test of self to commit to finishing something and I felt like doing it in hack form. Somehow I was able to knot together a story of sorts which seems to be a conventional plot in vanilla FEs but I suppose making this took priority. I plan on making it look better but I just felt focused on getting it out. Anywho, let’s get into it.

Story: The main character, Prince Gerald of one of the continent’s superpowers, Gilgam, was on a mission with some knights assigned to him. One day, an invasion from the other superpower, Attika, changed how his daily life worked… (The rest of the story so far is too spoilery imo)

Features:

  • Melee/Magic Hybrid classes like Harriers
  • Gameplay Changes
  • Status Weapons
  • Heroes Repositionals
  • Quality of life improvements (stuff like danger Zone, display healed amount, display growth rates, etc.)
  • Bad mugs for the most part (if you’re into that sort of thing)
  • An Anima Weapon Triangle, with Fire, Thunder, and Wind
  • 24 playable chapters in a single route
  • SNES Criticals

Known Issues:

  • At the end of 1-F when Gerald promotes, the graphics gltich a bit before the promotion but it does not impact the gameplay in anyway.
  • The modified weapon triangle kinda conflicts with the anima triangle only in the essence of "the enemy has the new bonuses but player units have the vanilla WT bonuses.
  • If the Thunderbolt spell misses, a part of Thoron plays. Not major at all.
  • if you load a file on EPILOGUE, the turncount scene can look a bit off, but the turncounts are shown correctly.

Screenshots:
Dumbass Good job, kiddo 2J-5 Harrier Fenrir Anima Triangle

Download

Includes Normal 0% Growths, 100% Growths, a patch to make player units blue (that one you need to patch over an ROM already patched with the hack, Changelog, Credits, and Special Thanks

51 Likes

Congrats on the release! Looking forward to trying this out.

3 Likes

Looks interesting, I’ll certainly give it a try.

Congrats on getting a hack out!

2 Likes

The first 10 chapters were definitely very fun. having the player nits be green AND a light magic wielding hero as well was pretty cool. can’t wait to see what’ll happen next since there is apparently a route split next after gerald’s promotion to great lord.

2 Likes

Burdened Crown Thoughts
Played through the demo and enjoyed it! My review is hidden below, it’s quite a wall of text so be prepared.

The Burdened Crown v0.1 Review

General

  • Like the color scheme so far, is different and fresh(exception is the shade of blue on the EXP bar. It seems a bit out of place with the rest of the color scheme)

  • Tatyana’s joining seems… to come out of nowhere. Like, she even states she has nothing else to do. Will she be developed more later on?

  • Enjoyed the inclusion of custom items so far(e.g. dagger, extra anima tomes.) Spices up the regular FE GBA formula a bit. Also enjoy the anima triangle and added weapon effectiveness, adds some variety

  • I enjoy the Quality of Life things implemented: Updated stat screen, modular mini-mugs, viewable growth rates etc. All super welcome and useful

  • The wing spear item icon is wonky. Screen shot below (it wasn’t in the next chapter, so I’m not sure what’s up with it. Seemed to alternate between looking normal and not by chapter)
    wingspear

  • Minor note, but there seems to be no completion flag set for some of the boss’s battle quotes, so they end up saying them multiple times. Was this intentional?

  • Also, dang, those early chapters are really packed to the brim with loot, both stat boosters and gold!

  • In this convo at the beginning of chapter 5, should Edythe and Raeburn be with close, or was this just a text command mistake? Seemed a bit funky since they’re overlapping. Screenshot below
    closetalkconvo

  • I enjoy the new myrmidon map sprite! It’s nice and is a cool change of pace

  • The lack of availability of 1-2 range weapons(aside from magic) is definitely annoying as a player in the earlygame, but I do like how it forces you to be a bit more strategic an take the initiative on player phase

  • Also, this line from Lavonna to Gerald upon meeting up with him- “I suppose it’s nice to know that you’re alive” LOL I think I legitimately broke out laughing while sitting alone on my computer, which rarely happens.

  • Dancer in Ch. 7? Heck yeah!

  • Also, after recruiting Apriliah in Ch. 7, uh, this happened to the screen… Probably want to check out that event. It disappeared when I selected a unit, but still a bit jarring. Screenshot below
    ch7error

  • The plot of Ch. 7 is hilarious, if unbelievable. Lol at the enemy soldiers fleeing from “ghosts”. But, uh, wasn’t the point of this chapter to retake the fort? But then they abandon it right away? I’m a little confused by this

  • No music plays during the pre-battle dialogue of Ch. 8. It is just silent and is a bit weird. Was this a mistake or a choice?

-The background for this conversation looks like a tile-wack version of the chapter’s map, not sure what was going on
buggybackground

  • REALLY love the look of the Harrier class, it’s pretty slick. I’m a sucker for the black pegasus.

  • The “my name is you-killer” line is amazing

Chapters

  • Ch. 1 throws you right into everything, which I kind of like from a gameplay standpoint, but I was confused with what was going on in the story, as I felt the exposition wasn’t very clear. I liked, the chapter though, swift gameplay that encouraged me to use all units, which is a plus earlygame in my book.(Small map critique: The row of forest/thicket tiles at the bottom of the map seems to serve not real purpose. Do they need to be there?)

  • Ch. 2’s map functionally works alright, but aesthetically is looks a bit off. The river and forest formations seem too linear and regular to be natural, some breaks/variations in them could change this (making the forest a bit splotchier around the edges?). I see that you are trying to funnel the player a certain way, but there are different ways to do this. As it stands now, the map looks and feels slightly artificial. Additionally, could probably be a tad smaller (there seems to be a good deal of unused, open space near the top). Last note: A second boss that doesn’t move, without 1-2 range makes Gerald be able to attack with impunity. Minor problem, as earlygame bosses generally
    aren’t a big deal anyhow, but worth mentioning all the same

  • Ch. 3’s map is also a bit funky, and could use some variation (i. walls or winding hallway) as a large, open square is a bit bland. It plays fine enough, though. I like the stealables as side objectives, which encourages smart positioning and play. Just could use a bit of different tiling/structure to spice it up a bit from “big open courtyard map with many enemies”. Also, super nitpicky, but there’s an elevation error in the bottom right, in the part where the stair way goes down. Also, the enemy AI is a bit odd at the beginning of the map, with many enemies crashing down all at once. It’s seems a bit odd for nearly all of the enemies to charge, forcing you to tank and go slowly, and then for the majority of the rest of the map to be nearly empty, with none of the enemies moving. Overall, a decent map, but could use some tweaks.

  • Ch. 4’s map is a bit better than Ch. 3, with more variation, nooks, and crannies, but could maybe have a small wrinkle or two in it. I like it better though. Also, those gargoyle’s were not joke at this point in the game! Even though I expected reinforcements from the hint at the beginning, that was super surprising and I had to scramble to adjust. I liked the surprise though, and it also intrigued me a lot from a story standpoint.

  • I like Ch. 5’s map a lot, it looks really good! (especially those peaks, those are pretty slick! I always have problems with peaks). ALso, for gameplay, like, dang, I was NOT expecting every single enemy on the map to move turn 1! I get what you’re trying to do with it, and the pressure you’re trying to put on the player, but at least in my first 2 attempts at it, it seemed to be the case that the map just became very RNG based due to the enemy density(granted, part of this is probably because I need to git gud at Fire Emblem.) Also, those effective weapons are no joke and caught me off-guard with the amount of them the first time! Overall, an interesting chapter, and one that I think fits well thematically with an opposing army charging, even if it does lead to some exasperating resets.

  • I like Ch. 6 from a story stand point, especially with things moving along and the plot picking up from “dudes fight bandits in random villages”. But my first thoughts when viewing the Ch.6 map was “WOW look at that enemy density”. There are a TON of enemies in that relatiely small courtyard in the middle. Pretty much the only recourse I found during the first couple turns where enmies advance(and again, this may be partially me needing to git gud) was to Enemy Phase with Priya, as Lavonna is just a bit too frail(and lance-locked, which is a problem with the enemy variety), and well, Friso is an archer lol. It felt like it took the strategy out of it a little bit, as I didn’t feel I had much choice as a player. Additionally, the objective is to escape but I didn’t see a clearly marked “escape” tile of any kind, which was a bit disconcerting to me as a player, as I wasn’t sure which tile to go to and if I needed all characters to escape or just my lord. Overall, not a bad chapter though. It’s tough to execute a chapter like this with only 3 units and not make it a long slog, so I appreciated the brevity of it. Also, there were a few more elevation errors within the fort, with wall height staying the same even across stairwells.

  • Ch.7 quick note: This map has some more elevation errors, but they seem like they could be fairly easily corrected. Additonally this map is really big and has a mot of empty/dead space that could be cut down on, mostly to the right side. Also, I lol’d at the one mage who spawns like 2 tiles from your army. He looks like he wants to blend in with the good guys lol. Other than the empty space though and the elevation, I like the map, the water is nice aesthetically and it’s got a simple but functional path for the player. Like the inclusion of the thief to incentivize quick play. A simple chapter, and a bit of a breather after the high enemy density of the last two, but plays pretty well

  • Ch. 8’s somewhat gimicky map setup of the enemies vs. NPCs, as well as the low deployment count, makes it seem a little bit like a Gaiden chapter, which isn’t a bad thing. I kinda like the change of pace. Map seems pretty decent, except the top again has TONS of open space that functionally serves no purpose, and could be cut down. I like the map though, it’s different and requires some thinking, even if overall I found it fairly easy. The one odd thing I found is the the NPCs don’t attack on their turns, was this intentional? It just seemed a bit odd. Also was confused about the seize the fort objective with Hilbert chilling on the fort.

  • Hilbert joined at the beginning of the prep screen of Ch. 9 with no real introduction of him after you rescue him, it seemed kinda funky to me. The map for Ch. 9 is functionally ok, if a bit odd with the mid-map choke point making a quick clear annoying to do, but could use a bit of strucural variation. As it stands now, it is a large rectange split in half, which seems a bit bland. It is also easy to chokepoint the coming enemies, leaving the rest of the map wide open and quite boring. Map could use a little more interesting structure to encourage more strategy.

  • Ch. 10 has a weird layout: Extremely high enemy density, and then gobs of open space. Seems odd at first until the reinforcements begin spawning. However, the most powerful enemies don’t move, so that makes the map much easier. I like the idea, but again, the execution could be a bit more streamlined, with less open space and more things to do the first couple of turns. It seems… unfinished to me, like it could have more features and less empty space. Also, the boss was a real problem for me. Couldn’t hit him at all. The NPCs ended up getting the kill

Final Thoughts
This hack has a lot of potential, it does a lot of things well and was pretty fun for a quick playthrough. The story and the characters could definitely be fleshed out a lot more, but I assume that will come with time. The biggest thing I think for now is that a lot of maps could use overhauls to give them variation from essentially being large, open rectangles with a lot of enemies. Still, while up and down, the gameplay has its moments, and unit balance seemed pretty good(nobody was entirely useless and nobody completely trivialized the game). I hope this review helps, and I look forward to see what the future holds for this hack! Shoot me a DM if you want any more details or clarification, I’m more than willing to discuss further

4 Likes

Thanks for the feedback, and I am glad you enjoyed it! I suppose I should respond to as many points of criticism as I can, because that ultimately improves the hack imo. Please note that the changes will be incorporated in a patch in the future.

Summary

General

  • I don’t know if I will develop Tatyana unless it’s in supports, but I’m not ready to put them in quite yet.
  • The Wing Spear thing is a known issue. It impacts nothing.
  • The Boss Battle quotes are an oversight that should be fixed in the next patch.
  • The dialogue with Raeburn in 1-5 seems to also be an oversight. Damn I need to be more careful.
  • That graphical glitch with Apriliah seems to be sporadic from experience. I can’t nail a cause for it.
  • 1-7 was meant to have some comic relief. Gerald and company only re-annex it so the Attikans don’t have a safe base in Gilgamese territory.
  • The background thing in 1-8 seems to be an event oversight. It will be fixed in the next patch.
    Chapters
  • The row of forest/thickets in 1-1 were more of an indication that the bandits came from the woods. Nothing more, nothing less.
  • Since I read your comment on 1-2, I tried to change up the map a bit. I don’t really want to spoil it, however.
  • I completely forgot about trying to see how to rework 1-3 to add some variety. But now I can see some approaches I can take with it.
  • I get your point with 1-5, I changed the AI of some enemies to wait a turn before pursuing so you have time to build a proper formation.
  • I decided to add some dialogue to hint at a strategy to approach the map in 1-6.
  • I see your point about how Hilbert could just waltz into your party after 1-8 without you even knowing if you don’t talk to him with Gerald. Some dialogue has been altered so acknowledge his joining the party at the end of the chapter.
  • I have no idea on how to improve 1-9. If you have an idea I’d be happy to listen in.
2 Likes

Well I have gone through to fix whatever issues I found as well as some feedback. I also added 2 chapters, one for each route. There have been quite a few changes since the last patch but I didn’t want to be spoilery so I added the general changes in a changelog. The patch, changelog, and credits will be added to the OP.



3 Likes

I dont know how i missed this release. I really need to check the forums more often. Regardless looking forward to trying this out soon

1 Like

I am happy to announce that there I have made and update and now it’s available. War Monks make their debut in this hack among other changes. Story progressed a ways and some fixes for older chapters. I have also updated the OP if anyone wants to get it from there.

tl;dr new patch

Download
Changelog

1 Like

It has been a long month for me with final exams and what not, but at long last I have made an update. Once again, the update did not add anything major, but progress is progress. I also updated the OP if anyone wants to get it from there.

Download
Changelog

why do some units have max level 15 while others 20 and raeburn 30?

Are you using an older save? I can’t do a diagnosis if I don’t understand the situation. Screenshots would also help me know what is going on.

yes i am using an older save file from the previous version

…the last guy the archer he also maxed at 15

That may be the problem. I lowered the max level to 15 and that may be the result of your complications. Perhaps your Raeburn was above level 15 and the game made his max level at 30 because it is 15 * 2.

I know it may be a pain for you but it may be best to start your progress from the beginning or promote Raeburn.

i ve worked way to much to start over so i ll just promote him when i max him at 30

I know it’s like 4:35 AM where I am but I have finished making another update, this time arc 2 has been finished, story and all! Some glitches and inconsistencies have been fixed and maps have had some rebalance. I’ll add the link to the OP if anyone wants to get the hack from there.
Download
Changelog

2 Likes

where are the secret shops?

Just picked up this hack today and blazing through it was pretty fun. (Got to chapter 6)
Though there are some issues with it. Balancing problems to be more specific. Either way I’ll have a review set up after I play a few more chapters.

1 Like

Pros:

  • The Anima magic triangle is really cool
  • The battle preparations music is very catchy and upbeat. I love it
  • All of the weapon icons look very nice, like the wing spear and tomes
  • Ch 2k-4 has really neat gimmick with the spots that open up bridges

Cons:

  • Maps are super open with alot of repeated terrain
  • Player battle pallets like Gerald, Promoted Gerald, Irenka and Lavanna, having big blotches of the same color
  • The main lord is very powerful as he one rounds almost all enemies and has decent avoid. Also has an infinite use high crit weapon
  • Very strong items to start off with, hoplon guard is very strong preventing crits. Body ring fixes bad con too easily
  • Daggers ignoring defense provides way too much damage
  • I feel like stat boosters are given out witout having to strategize or hurry up to a village/chest
  • Enemy phase battle music doesn’t sound very good
  • When going onto the stats screen the growth rates come up before the stats
  • When characters are able to do something or know something that was not known to the player it is made fun by the other characters
  • Ch 2k-3 has alot of enemy density around the boss with them not even moving when in range. This makes opening a path much easier

Summary:
I basically soloed the game after giving the main lord all of the early game stat boosters. I went the 2k route and finished the game fairly quickly. I felt that I wasn’t really challenged in anyway, though I did have a pretty fun time playing the hack. The maps really need a revamp in terms of tile placement and looks, since most maps have a bunch of fairly open areas with not much tile variation. Having a bunch of chapters is very good though since most of your efforts have to go into fixing existing material rather than making new stuff considering that the story so far ended in a decent spot.

Thanks for the feedback, I needed some ideas on fixing existing maps and balancing issues. While I will try to be better in terrain placement and balancing, the growths coming up on the stat screen seems to be an issue with the growth display hack.