[FE8] [IN PROGRESS] Host of the Dark 3.0 [The Third Overhaul] (18 Chapters)

[theghostcreator]

Welcome back, everyone. Quite a long journey, but I think it’s finally time to unveil what’s being cooked up here.

Host of the Dark 3.0, a third complete rework of Host of the Dark, a project I’ve worked on for over 4 years now. If you’ve seen this before, or even played it all the way through before, you would do well to throw out everything you previously knew about the hack.

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Welcome to a story in two parts, telling the story of the final Demon King war. The story of Solum, a young mercenary who will soon be unwittingly wrapped up in the search for the Demon King, and the story of Akaria, a young heir in search for an end to the war, and for closure to the turmoil that started long ago.

The continent of Cloigeann’s foundation crumbles, and in the rubble lay the shining hope for a brighter future. Will it be grasped, or perhaps the facade’s mask obscures the way?

The story of Host 3.0 has been the main focus of this overhaul, and as such is a pretty central part of the experience. The story and the gameplay work hand in hand to compliment and contrast each other.

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Some gameplay details

Speaking of the gameplay, we’ve got quite a unique set of systems here. The lack of skillsystems may make you think that this is a simple vanilla style hack, but this is no FE7. This game’s main draw is in its diverse weapon pool which allows for dynamic and electric turn to turn action.

From the typical, if slightly offbeat.

To the strange and drastic.

Even what you do know is up for change, so be on the lookout.

But that’s not all there is to offer… A new class system awaits.

We start with a healer that we wish to promote. We use a master seal…

Pretty typical split promotions, so where is the novelty? The flavor? Well, when we use a certain new promotion item…

We have quite a different unit than what we started with.

But don’t think class access is all that has been changed in terms of classes.

There are many more features in play, but I’ll leave that for you to learn.

Oh, and here are some maps. (Deployment size isn’t reflective of the real size).

And wait- is that

An enemy dancer, behind a wall… Quite interesting.

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Some extra screenshots.

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Here is the download link for the current 3.0 build.

Currently 18 chapters

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Known Issues

• In chapter 16 after promotion, map sprites are messed up. Refreshing the map by resetting and resuming or entering combat with animations on will fix this.
• Some currently inaccessible in game supports are old - and they aren’t aligned with the current 3.0 plot direction.

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Credits

Revamped Credits

Map Palettes:
The Atlas: Light Green fields
Uncredited: Golden Temple

Tilesets:
WAve: fields,
RandomWizard: fields,
Beast: fields,

Portraits:
Capibarainspace: Solum, Marrow, Valentia, Barya, Seritar, Tina
L95: Dragons, Atom, Generic skeleton, Ikeros, Toma (undead),
Levin64: Mick, Subaru, Luminan, Raigholm, Mira
Damo: Tobias,
Eden: Atom, Tamaki,
Ambrosiac: Davey, P2 Mick, Louis, Tatiana,
CanDy: Lilith, Miles, Tmuran (True Form),
Cravat: Lia, Ilia, Near,
Der: P2 Charlie, P2 Anna,
Scraiza: P2 Charlie,
Epicer: Alder,
Flasuban: Laurec,
Garytop: Cory,
Its_Just_Jay: Sal
JiroPaiPai: Garth, Mark, Wilton, Tmuran, Hendrik, Trim
Atey: Akaria
Kanna: Conall
LaurentLacroix: Parsely, Austin, Sharen, Serenity, Aegis, Jupiter, Fidem, Hellen, Intra, Kyoko, March, Soma, Palm, Mort, Hendrik,
Mycahel: Laurec
PlantAcademy: Serenity,
Lenh: Christof, P2 Fidem, Kein
MeatofJustice: Dawn, Starlight,
Monk-Han: Dominic, P2 Uxo,
MegaCowsamMan: Older Eirika, Older Franz, P2 Max,
Nickt: Prev Miles portrait still in the rom, Leo,
Peerless: Ryon
Raymond: Rose
Smug_Mug: Porter
SSHX: Annie
CobyTheGoober: Sol (Past),
ZeldaCrafter: Viskam, Marley,
Squill: Estel
XVI: Sagiita, Maria, Charlie, Max, Uxo, Toma, Avaal,
Redbean: Luna, Emblem Spirit,
Sphealnuke: P2 Sagiita, Alucarl
Generic Pretsel: Skeleton (Major),
Melia: Anna
BoneManSeth: Unused Armored Guy, P2 Max,
Alusq: Eagle
Relic: Breeze
RandomWizard: Breeze, Ikeros,
Toa: Glenn
SainntRubenio: Akaria’s summon,

Map Anims:
Stephano: Spirit Caller,
Der: Pirate, Great Knight, Mage Knight,
FEGirls: F!Warrior, Scrapper,
Rasdel: M!Warrior, Mercenary,
MeatOfJustice: Hunter, Swordsman,
Nuramon: Sniper, Mortal Savant, General, Knight, Mage Knight,
Pikmin: Demon King, Great Knight,
Jjo9: Student,
Rexacuse: Commander,
Peerless: Commander,
Warpath: Commander,
Alusq: Commander,
Feier: Soldier,
Flasuban: Soldier, Knight, Bow Knight,
ZoramineFae: Hero,
Jey the Count: Rogue,
Aruka: F!Trickster,
Kenpuku: F!Trickster,
GabrielKnight: Swordmaster,
StreetHero: M!Trickster,
Ryn: General,
Snewping:M!Great Lord,
DelHonne: F!Great Lord,
SD9K: Vanguard,
ThyAnarchists: Lord,
Huichellar: Necromancer,
Alexsplode: Druid,
Unknown: Sage,
Ash3wl: M!Mage,
L95: M!Mage, Dragon, M!Dancer,
Dominus_Vobiscum: M!Mage,
SHYUTER: Flame Dragon, Dracoknight,
FaerieFruit: Wyvern,
SphealNuke: Archspirit,
Salvaged: Lance Knight, Axe Knight,
Leo_Link: Vulture,
Tordo45: F!Paladin,
RobertFPY: M!Paladin,
Pushwall: Crusader,
Blue Druid: Griffon Knight,
FE7if: Torch

Battle Animations:
L95: M!Dancer, M!Warrior, Manakete Frost, Manakete Thunder,
Sphealnuke: Berserker, Archspirit,
Der: Pirate, M!Warrior, Thief, Sage,
Leo_Link: F!Fighter, Fighter, Hunter, Sniper, Scrapper, M!Trickster, General, vulture, ranger, dark knight,
Pushwall: Fighter, vulture, griffon rider,
Spud: M!Warrior, Hunter,
Sax-Marine: M!Warrior, General, Great Lord,
Temp: F!Warrior,
MeatOfJustice: Hunter,
Itranc: Sniper, dark knight,
Mercenary Lord: Demon King,
Pikmin1211: Demon King,
Maiser6: Demon King,
7743: Demon King,
NYZGamer: Demon King,
TheBlindArcher: Student,
Flasuban: Soldier, lance knight, bow knight, pegasus knight, falcoknight,
Nuramon: Soldier, Hero, Swordsman, Mortal Savant, General, Knight, Great Lord, Wyvern, great knight, falcoknight, Dracoknight,
Jeorge Red’s: Soldier, Knight,
Alusq: Commander,
SALVAGED: Mercenary, lance knight, bow knight, axe knight, paladin
Iscaneus: Scrapper, General, Knight,
GabrielKnight: Swordmaster, Vanguard, Mage,
BigMood: Swordmaster,
Huichelaar: Rogue, Necromancer,
Jey the Count: Rogue, ranger,
Aruka: F!Trickster,
Kenpuhu: M!Trickster,
Obsidian Daddy: Spirit Caller, Lord, paladin
ZoramineFae: Spirit Caller, Vanguard, Great Lord,
Jj09: Lord, Vanguard,
Seliost1: Light Runner, Great Lord,
Xenith: Light Runner,
Linkain Arakeist: Vanguard,
Mycahel: Vanguard,
Jotari: Summoner,
JonoTheRed: Necromancer,
Alexsplode: Druid,
SamirPlayz: Mage,
MrNight45: Sage,
Marlon0024: Fire Dragon,
Tykky: Manakete, Manakete Thunder,
Epicer: Bow knight,
St Jack: Crusader,
HyperGammaSpaces: great knight, paladin,
Levin64: Paladin,
RJ_Exists: Paladin,
Ayr: griffon rider,
Raspberry: griffon rider,
UltraFenix: griffon rider, dark knight,
Knabepicer: Falcoknight,
Feaw: wyvern knight,
BlackMage: F!Fighter,
SageHapuiaJDJ: F!Fighter,
Itranc: F!Fighter

Class Cards:
Atey: Swordsman,
Nuramon: Swordsman, great knight,
Der: Thief, pirate,
Flasuban: Soldier, knight, Vanguard, Lance knight,
Rasdel: Warrior,
Spud: Hunter,
Topazlight: General,
SamirPlayz: Hero, General
Nuramon: Mortal savant, Swordsman,
Yggdra: F!Trickster,
Jey the Count: Rogue,
L95: Rogue, mage, dragon, wyvern
Huichelaar: Necromancer,
EldritchAbomination: Archspirit, griffon knight,
Leo_Link: Axe knight, vulture,
RobertFPY: Lance knight,
jj09: griffon knight, dark knight,
N426: griffon knight,
Pikmin: dark knight,
Orihara_Saki: Dancer,

Spells:
SHYUTERz: glacial tomb, fire breath, flare wave, frost stone, thorn,The Night’s Call, Phoenix Fire, Sun God’s Wrath, Dragon thunder, Utopic dark,
MisakaMikoto: Swift edge/gale, Flame/flame sword,
Orihara_Saki: Wan, Future sight,
Arch: Shine spark,
7743: Gawain,
St Jack: Wave,
Sme: Icicle sap,
Compile: Icicle sap,
HIROTO: glacial tomb,

Item icons:
Batima: frenzy lance, guard yumi, silent sword(all lvs), moonlit katana, steel sword, nodachi, flame sword, steel blade, silver blade, shine spark, luna, Gale axe, poleaxe, composite bow, Ignition of heart, shining bow, flame lance, burst flame, bolt spear, saunion, kudayari, wave, flame,
2WB: labrys, lunar foil, breaker blade, longsword, thunder stone, heal, mend, physic, Iron axe, hunter’s bow, silver bow, slim lance, breaker lance, wing piercer, ridersbane, final pyre,
CamTech075: flamvell blade, blade of light, swift edge, pinpoint axe, Flamvell axe, headstrong bow, shield piercer, hastam,
GabrielKnight: Frost axe,
George Reds: Silver axe, javelin,
Ereshkigal: hero blade, rogue dagger, hunting dagger, backsword, wo dao, brave sword, sweep sword, warp, return, berserk, morning light, resonance, radiant dawn, sunlight, Steel axe, swordslayer, warhammer, hammer, steel bow, iron bow, short spear, silver lance, steel lance, iron lance,
Kyrads: hand axe,
LordGlenn: Spirited flames, Pure dark, The night’s call, Utopic dark, Brave axe, killer bow, barrier blade, axereaver, fimbulvetr, phoenix flame
Beansy: wyrmslayer, gawain, rapier, plate cutter, zanbato, greatsword, deliverance, drawing dark, truth’s thesis, pure dark, halberd, short bow, heavy spear, icicle sap, storm’s eye,
Zelix: iron sword runesword, killing edge, silver sword, fortify, Killer axe, Luster & Dew, fang stone, vulnerary, elixir, angelic robe, energy drop, secret book, speedwing, goddess icon, dragonshield, talisman, boot, second seal, vanguard brand, killer lance
Zane: devil axe, breaker axe, brave lance,
Topazlight: Dueling club,
Zarg: Tomahawk, Glacial Tomb
Purple: Flaming bolts, master seal,
Seal: Brave bow, body ring, ridersbane, unlock, recover, flare wave
Celice: Fire emblem, dragonspear, brilliance and folly, lancereaver, fire breath,
Maxim: Aqueous Abunda, swift charm, retention band,
N426: frost stone, dragon thunder,
Orihara Saki: Spear, Wan,
Cardcafe: thorn,
Snakey1: Thunder,
Thunder Mage: Dire thunder,
Leif: slashing dark,
Peerless: Sun gods wrath, staff of ages, barrier,
Artist Unknown: Future sight,
lisandra brave: sleep, hammerne, restore,
EldritchA: Aurora Shield, Stalwart Shield,

Music:
SurfingKyogre: Battle with Magus, Hammer of Justice, light and dark, victory is near, bloom in the breeze, From Now On,
Mycahel: Namine/main scene, another side, shadowlord’s castle, dark colossus destroys all,
Dolkar: Plasma Sage, E1M1, Victory Minor,
Purple Mage: Vs Ghetsis,
RSflame: Eyvel,
Sme: disturbance in agustria, together we ride, at the bottom of night,
Scraiza: Eldigan the Lionheart,
Pikmin1211: Beneath a new light,
SaXor the nobody: Clash,
REALxViPerZ: Endless battle,
RSflame: Preparations, Castle pandemonium,
DrGreen: Apex of the World,
GratedShtick: Dialga’s Fight to the Finish,
Tristan Hollow: Battle 2, saturos battle,
A Reliable Chair: Corridors of time, Castlevania - Stage 1,
RandomWizard: Dyed in blood, Frog’s theme, World Map/Fields theme, Walking Forward with Determination, sealed away,
MeatofJustice: X vs Zero,
7743: Gen-Jyou Battle,
MeteorSR23: Airship,
MysteriousDancer: Aria of the Soul, Alight {storm}, You May Call Me Marth
Alusq: Heaven’s Rock Seat,
Azula: Paths that will never cross,

CGs + battle cgs + UI elements:
Unlisted: FE9-10 Rips
7743: all battle backgrounds,
Epicer: stat screen background,

Patches:

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Supports done

Subaru Garth

Alder Mira

Viskam Conall

Fidem Sagiita

Well, I believe that’s it. Any and all feedback is much appreciated! And I hope you all enjoy.

[KrashBoomBang]

Gave the game a quick run. Prologue-6x were pretty whatever, very weak enemies and not really much in the way of interesting objectives to pursue. Chapter 7 was actually pretty cool, I liked having to get the keys from each promoted enemy and then bringing them to the doors to open the path to the throne.

But then after chapter 7, everything went downhill. You’re stuck with one frail unit for two maps with extremely limited healing, and then after that is a really boring survive map. I wish I could’ve just continued with the party I had back in chapter 7, and have more maps of that quality.

[theghostcreator]

I see thank you for your feedback

spoilers (in case any person decides to skim through the comments before playing)

part two was meant to hit you out of nowhere and kind of force you to be careful with your frail lord, if you missed the two chests in chapter 8 then you won’t have the modified shamshir that raises avoid and the angelic robe, the defend map is something that I do think I’ll overhaul for the next patch
I do think that I need to bump up enemy strength for part 1, part 1 only gives you two promotion items (not counting the lord’s two) and on repeat playthroughs you may even send the master seal to the convoy to give one of your units in part 2 an early promo, much like how the wyrmslayer was meant to be in the convoy for the part 2 draco-zombie.
The lord of part 2 should get a boost to hp and a little to defense though.

again, thank you for the feedback, it is truly appreciated

[KrashBoomBang]

You should just have the wyrmslayer be guaranteed in part 2. I never even got it because the boss who was supposed to drop it used it to attack me on enemy phase and he dropped a different weapon. Also maps where you only have one unit are not very fun (in the fog map, I could not recruit the nomad and thief, so I only had the frail lord). Especially in chapter 8, it was extremely tedious to walk around the map and grab the chests after talking to the boss and pacifying the enemies.

[theghostcreator]

yeah the wyrmslayer thing while not necessary would’ve made things easier, I may want to have the nomad and thief recruitable that chapter to make things easier. Chapter 8 could use some ironing out, while I do think a solo chapter is necessary for the story (maybe have Tobias tag along then leave) story shouldn’t sacrifice gameplay so I will fix that up, thank you for the feedback, it was really helpful.

[theghostcreator]

0.6 has been unveiled! Two new chapters, bug fixes, complete chapter 8 overhaul!
I have also submitted Host of the Dark to FEE3 so be on the lookout.

[theghostcreator]

Host of the dark has been updated! 0.7 release raises the chapter number up by two and brings us ever closer to the climax of this story! Still feels like I’m just starting the hack if I’m being honest, progress has slowed down recently but I’m slowly chipping away at it no matter how slowly!

[theghostcreator]

Oh boy, the hack’s almost done! This has been an amazing hack to work on and I’m excited to get it to 100% with supports!

It’s important to note that this hack IS completable all the way to the credits, the only thing missing are the support conversations! So if you’re going to make a fair critique of the story then I advise to wait for the 1.0 release, I intend to fill in a few plotholes in various support convos, excited to write Fidem and Sagiita supports, those two were fun to write!

[TheSuzakuSeven]

How many chapters is this going to have? I tried looking for a number but couldn’t find one. Congrats on an almost release!! Supports are gonna take awhile and of course take your time with writing them and fleshing them out, no rush. Always good to see a rom hack come to fruition. Good luck with the rest!

[theghostcreator]

oh yeah, this hack has 20 full chapters with 2 there for story reasons, forgot to mention it in the post since my previous title had the chapter number.

[Liemile]

Hi there !

I realise this question might be a little selfish, but is there any recruitment or gaiden chapters guide ? (Granted that there is any Gaiden chapters.)

Thanks !

[theghostcreator]

at the current point there is no recruitment or gaiden guide but there are no gaiden chapters with requirements and most if not all recruitments are told pretty blatantly to you, if you’re unsure of it’s requirement try the lord first then Fidem and Sagiita, if you still can’t then reread the dialogue carefully to see if you missed anything.

I may make a recruitment guide to go along with the game’s 1.0 release so if you really can’t play the game without knowing how to grab every character then wait until then but as I said the recruitments are pretty straightforward.

[JeyTheCount]

Ok, then, the review.

Part 1: Characters

You use F2U portraits. At that’s OK, if you don’t feel skilled enough to make your own. However!
Your hack includes a timeskip. It makes it very hard to determine which character is who.
Compare younger and older Sagiita:

Apart from being female, they look nothing alike.
Suggestion: Recolor the mugs so that the younger and older versions of the characters look a little more alike.
Either this:

Or this:

Now they can at least pass as the same character.

The palletes are also very ugly.
Compare this:

To this:

This is a very basic alteration but it goes a long way into making the hack look less visually jarring.

Another complaint: Add character description. It’s nice you write who made which chracter, but some of flavour text would be nice. It adds characterisation to the heroes.

Another random thing I found wierd: why don’t you use the Moloch battle animation for Tobias? His portrait was literally made for it:

Characters are super broken too, but I think that was on purpose so OK.

Part 2: Maps

The maps are… poorly made.
Look at the second map (“Flee insanity”)

The maps lack any detail, are big and empty.

Adding some detail helps.

The later maps are also waaaay too big.

Most time I’ve spent on this map was just moving my units and that’s not fun.
You can narrow it to this no problem:

When it comes to FE maps, smaller is better. If you ever played FE4, you should be aware of this.

I also found a hilarious bug. On map 4 (“Redemption”), there’s a house. It gives a free secret book and you can visit is as many times as you want, efficiently giving you infinte secret books. Just add a completion flag.
On map 17 (“The First Floor”) you need to seize only one throne to win, which was not the point (I think).

Part 3: Story
The idea is cool but the execution… leaves a lot to be desired. It’s all over the place. Of course, too much exposition is bad, but you have little to no exposition. Add an intro where you explain the conflict between men and deamons as this is never properly explained. Go through the dialogues once more. Fix all the lower caps, add comas and so on. Also split the senences a little. The character sometimes have like three or four lines of a single sentence. Not a lot to talk about here, the story is pretty basic and I’m not a biggest fan of it but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Conclusion:
The hack is bad. I congratualte you on making it nonetheless, that’s an achievement in on its own. Now you learned how it is to make a hack and let’s hope your next work will be better.

[JrpgAddict]

but isnt this hack not done yet? how can u give a review when its not done?

[JeyTheCount]

The only thing that’s not finished is the supports. Also the creator recommended me to play it and I promised to leave a review, so… yeah.

[JrpgAddict]

think imma try it for myself too now then, btw what about the difficulty, u didnt say anything about that.

[JeyTheCount]

It’s stupidly easy.

[theghostcreator]

Thank you for this review, even if it’s all criticism it’s the first review I’ve been given so it’s good to see that I can improve from here, thankfully small things like portrait coloring and animations can be fixed along with the support update, maps however I’m still determining whether or not I should change those up, I probably will.

Anyway thanks so much for the review it was very helpful!

[jackofblades1991]

Ok, i gave this a fair shot and quit at defending those two villages. Not gave up, quit, and i don’t do that lightly.

This was mostly due to being both bored and confused.

It feels like there are somehow both too many and too few enemies on each map due to how rough everyones starting stats are. Chapter 4 is horrible because you can end up starting enemy phase after getting a house event spawning 30 dudes in an ambush spawn with a general who can/will one shot everyone moving 6 spaces when all but two of your units can move 5. and almost every enemy has strangely high speed. Like a level 4 fighter with 10 speed strange. Hell on chapter 5 once eagle spawned the boss suddenly went from 9 luck to 29 luck making hitting him annoying.

Not a single character has a proper description, they’re all just named “portrait by blank” which is awful for giving me any reason to care about these characters. In game i don’t even think the continent your on is named. This story isn’t even coherent since since so many characters change so radically that its impossible to identify them.

This hack is in really rough shape.

[theghostcreator]

Thank you for the feedback, I’d like to clear up some things that may help a bit with your issues

@jackofblades1991

a house event spawning 30 dudes in an ambush spawn

okay, I understand your complaint here but I would like to point out that the dialogue clearly stated that there was something off about things, the win condition also clearly said to defeat a character which was no where to be seen, along with that the village is the only one not destroyed within that box of villages, one can assume that there would be something up with that house, it’s also no guaranteed that you visit the village at the end of your turn, the enemies also pop out after a certain number of turns if you take too long to reach the village.

@jackofblades1991

a general who can/will one shot everyone moving 6 spaces when all but two of your units can move 5.

this puts you on a time limit, you also forget that this general has to cross two corners in order to reach the army in the villages, where the main action is, this can also be circumvented entirely with Tobias’s summons/

@jackofblades1991

the boss suddenly went from 9 luck to 29 luck

that’s a glitch I need to fix

@jackofblades1991

Not a single character has a proper description, they’re all just named “portrait by blank” which is awful for giving me any reason to care about these characters.

okay, this was a decision made when I first started hacking, I did this more to make sure I was properly crediting everyone, I most likely will do create proper descriptions once 1.0 is done

@jackofblades1991

In game i don’t even think the continent your on is named.

I didn’t think the name of the continent was necessary, I found no way to naturally fit it into the story, this story isn’t about the continent, or the powers of the continent.

@jackofblades1991

so many characters change so radically that its impossible to identify them.

can you explain this? If your talking about that one point where Cory drops his speaking quirk, that was intentional, if you can provide examples I’d be grateful.

regardless thank you very much for the critique, I’ll take your criticism into consideration for potential reworks and future projects I will work on, I appreciate the honesty, it doesn’t sound like you pulled any punches talking about it, which I am thankful for.