[FE8] Lords of the Seas (Beta 5 Release, 17 Chapters)

LeviathansWake.emulator-0

Discord: Fishcord

Returning from war for the first time in almost a year, Princess Roseanne of Hasana would love nothing more than to never pick up a weapon again. Unfortunately, as the situation at home degrades, she finds herself thrust into a conflict orchestrated by actors willing to burn the continent to the ground to achieve their aims. Though the fires of war burn hotter by the day, she is driven by one overriding goal; bringing down justice on those who sought to tear her ties of friendship and family asunder.

Lords of the Seas is a hack of FE8 focused on naval combat and selling the idea of a large-scale conflict, primarily inspired by the Suikoden series. It’s broadly unconnected to my other hacks, War on Two Fronts and Heavens Fall. It’s the same universe, at an indeterminate but very long time into the future, where the events have mostly fallen into legend. The Beta 5 release encompasses the first 17 chapters.

Features
  • A Suikoden-inspired plot and setting, based on telling character conflicts on a grand scale
  • Naval combat, with many maps featuring combat on both land and water, with playable boats
  • Maps with multiple main and side objectives
  • Tough enemies that necessitate the use of buffs, debuffs and siege weaponry
  • Dismounting, fates-style knives, and minimal skill usage
Wait, Suikoden inspired?

2 and 5, mainly. Suikoden 2’s war battles were my gateway drug into the Fire Emblem series, and whilst replaying 5, I got to thinking that it would work in the Fire Emblem style. The idea of a home base, casts of highly unlikely heroes (you wouldn’t think that in a game of knights and wizards, a chef would be one of the strongest characters) and grand conflicts that actually feel grand. All it really means here is that if you’re familiar with the series, you may notice parallels.

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28 Likes

Looks freaking awesome!! Btw how much content is in the Beta? I can’t find anything saying length.

The first 4 chapters. No idea how I forgot to include the length.

like your icon, fish memory, haha

suikoden II? So intersting :3

Yo! I’ll for sure give this a go! Looks very nice!

@captainfisting
Edit: You forgot to credit me. Thats one of my portraits in the last screenshots.

The second release of Lords of the Seas is now available! This patch contains 5 additional chapters for a total of 9, as well as a number of balance changes, bugfixes and other changes. You can find the new patch in the OP.

Beta 2 Changes

General Changes:

  • Now goes up to Chapter 9.
  • Changed the clear condition for Chapter 4 to be to have Roseanne talk with the Thunderhead.
  • Changed some dialog in Chapter 4’s end event for consistency.
  • Adjusted the palette used for enemy Pegasus Knights.
  • The Thunderhead now has a minimug.
  • Characters who return later will now cause a Game Over on defeat.
  • Changed the Sanctify staff’s description to clarify the boost it grants.
  • Sea, lake and water tiles no longer grant an AVO bonus.
  • Adjusted the movement cost of most classes to allow them to enter water tiles.

Balance Changes:

  • Reduced Cytherea’s base Sword rank to D, base STR by 1 and STR growth by 5%.
  • The Venture Blade now grants Acrobat without needing to be equipped, meaning other units can now use its passive effect. In addition, it cannot be repaired.
  • Increased Gerard’s base DEX by 3.
  • The Short Ballista now grants 2 WEXP per hit instead of 1.
  • Increased the Thunderhead’s STR cap to 25 and DEX cap to 28.

Bug Fixes:

  • Adventurers now properly gain terrain bonuses.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed you to infinitely duplicate Cytherea’s starting items.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Jules to join without the Swordreaver.
7 Likes

Since FEE3 is just round the corner, I figured I’d put out a release early so that other people can play it and see if there’s any errors. It contains 3 new chapters, a large number of balance changes and bug fixes, and some improvements to music and QoL. You can download it from the OP. Note that save files from previous versions are almost certainly incompatible with this release, but this should not apply to releases in the future.

What's Changed

General Changes:

  • Converted the ROM to use Alusq’s Starfall instrument set.
  • Now goes up to Chapter 12.
  • Changed Roseanne’s map sprite to reduce confusion.
  • Altered the description of the Venture Blade to clarify its effect.
  • Adjusted dialog in Chapter 1 to explain rewinding.
  • Made adjustments to Chapter 1’s map.
  • Abram now appears in a different class in Chapter 4.
  • Quirina now appears in a different class in Chapter 4 and Chapter 9.
  • Added tutorial text explaining the Freeze status in Chapter 5.
  • Added dialog warning of the infinite reinforcements in Chapter 5.
  • David now starts off dismounted in Chapter 6.
  • Changed Aiza’s default starting position in Chapter 6 to be on the south side of the map.
  • Added dialog to Chapter 6 to clarify the ability to move to the other side of the bridge.
  • Moved the Chapter 6 starting positions forward, and adjusted the positions of certain enemies.
  • Replaced the Nosferatu in the Chapter 6 chest with a new item.
  • Added a breakable wall and more reinforcements to Chapter 8.
  • Moved the droppable Steel Ballista in Chapter 9.
  • You can now steal with a full inventory.
  • Enemies now have fixed stats instead of rolling.

Balance Changes:

  • David now joins with +20 base Lance EXP, a new personal sword, and his STR growth is increased by 10%.
  • Increased Jules’s base LCK by 2.
  • William now gains Anima instead of Lances on promotion, and has altered promo gains.
  • Phaedrus now joins with the Critical Force skill.
  • Increased Lucette’s SPD by 1, and SKL and SPD growths by 5%.
  • Reduced the weight of the Shipbreaker from 15 to 12.
  • Reduced the weight of the Killer Bow from 8 to 7.
  • Increased the Thunderhead’s SPD growth from 25% to 40%.
  • Changed the Female Aid calc to be identical to the Male.
  • All ballistae and cannons now grant the Savior skill when equipped.
  • Increased the Move of dismounted promoted classes from 5 to 6.
  • Falcoknights now gain an additonal +2 RES on promotion.
  • Increased the base Crit of all Killer weapons to 30.
  • Nosferatu has been renamed to Resire, been changed to a B rank offensive staff, and has had its location moved.

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed an error with David’s Cavalier palette.
  • The Hurricane Axe now correctly allows enemies to double while holding it.
  • Renamed the Sunrise Katana to the Sun Katana to prevent visual glitches on the battle screen.
  • The Freeze status now properly displays on MMB.
  • Fixed an error with the Chapter 5 boss’s dialog.
  • The Thunderhead can no longer be deployed in Chapter 9.
  • The Chapter 9 preparations shop now sells the correct inventory.
  • Fixed the promotion screen playing the wrong audio.
  • Removed all bugged supports.

The next release, containing an additional chapter, should be available in time for FEE3 in a few weeks time.

1 Like

The FEE3 demo has been released, and can be downloaded from the OP. It now contains a total of 13 chapters, as well as a litany of balance tweaks and bug fixes to hopefully create a more stable experience.

Patch Notes

General Changes:

  • Now goes up to Chapter 13.
  • The frigate at the start of Chapter 1 has been moved 1 tile further away.
  • Replaced the Short Bow in Chapter 2 with a Mini Bow.
  • The Chapter 2 shop now sells Hatchets and Short Bows.
  • You can now trade an unlimited number of times per turn.
  • Edited the colours of David and Aiza’s portraits.
  • Changed the description of the Brave Dagger to clarify its effects.
  • Made some edits to the songs “Battle (Chrono Trigger)” and “Egyptian Duel (Yu-Gi-Oh - Forbidden Memories)”.
  • Replaced the Pegasus Knights in Chapter 10 with Soldiers, and moved the reinforcements 1 turn back.

Balance Changes:

  • Increased Pavo’s base STR from 5 to 7.
  • Increased Mikelo’s base SKL from 7 to 9.
  • Reduced the number of maximum uses of the Vyndalvas to 20, but doubled its WEXP gain.
  • Increased the hit of Flux from 80 to 85.

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed the Steal with Full Inventory patch deleting the stolen item.
  • Fixed an issue with the dismounted Falcoknight’s stat caps.
  • Fixed an issue with the Miracle Charm’s uses.
  • The boss of Chapter 4 now uses the correct palette.
  • Fixed Millie’s death not causing a Game Over in Chapter 10.
  • Fixed a number of issues with the Dynamite Edge and renamed it to the Nitro Edge.
2 Likes

Here we go with my question for every hack. Will it have functional supports and/or PE?

Supports are intended to be acquired at fixed times between specific units, a la Tear Ring Saga. As for paired endings, probably. I have no real plan at this stage, but there will be at least some.

1 Like

Edit: My brain thought this was the FEE3 thread. Whoops.

I’ve been playing this and really enjoying it so far! as a guy familiar with GBA FE but new to roms, this is sating a long held itch of mine for more boat/navy mechanics in these games. I love the design of most of the levels (ch4’s music was very choice and incredibly exciting) and am appreciating the unique playstyle of Roseanne + her personality. I’m only on ch8 now but I’m already really intrigued to see whatever direction you take the game’s design on future updates.

Finished the fee3 demo a few minutes ago and what a blast it was. I’ve enjoyed your other hacks and so far this is my favorite yet. Right off the bat we are given control of the Thunderhead and experience naval combat. I appreciate jumping into the action right away. The second map introduces us to dismounting which I was worried at first about indoor maps not flowing as well but it played great, along with the other indoor maps in the game. Several having indoor and outdoor portions simultaneously. With water walking and naval combat playing such a big role the maps really open up to unique tiling that really takes advantage of the core mechanics here. Units generally all felt good with some outliers( amazingly I didn’t like either cav where usually I would deploy as many as possible). Some other thoughts I have are the anima tome progression feeling a bit rough and well misprint helps but ravager just lacks that nice consistency of clean one rounds. Cytherea is a neat unit with the Venture blade being a really prized item on basically every unit for acrobat. I would be interested in her having acrobat at base and making the venture blade a holdable to give her a little leg up. ( I don’t think this really impacts antons uniqueness because they have different weapon types and stat spreads) but that is a big change I imagine. Regardless super fun and I can’t wait for more! Almost forgot, the OST is fantastic, music I haven’t heard anywhere else and it really captures how I imagine a swashbuckling adventure like this to be.

1 Like

There’s a new release out with four new playable chapters, for a total of 17. You can download it from the OP.

Changelog

General Changes:

  • Now goes up to Chapter 17.
  • Added use screen descriptions to the Silver Cloak and Miracle Charm.
  • Changed the affinity of Roseanne, Stelara, Osman, Millie, Kai and Armelle.
  • The Thunderhead is now forced in Chapter 3.
  • Added a tutorial for the Traverse command to Chapter 3.
  • Adjusted reinforcements in Chapter 5, 7, 8 and 10.
  • Added a destructible wall to the Chapter 6 chest room.
  • Removed some forts in Chapter 7, made some visual improvements, rearranged some starting enemies and moved Isabella 1 tile down.
  • The battleship in Chapter 10 no longer drops the Nitro Edge. It instead drops from one of the frigates in Chapter 11.
  • The armory in Chapter 11 no longer sells duplicate items from the vendor. It also now sells Light Brands.
  • The dismounted wyvern rider in Chapter 11 now drops his Hammer.

Balance Changes:

  • Playable Swordmasters, Halberdiers, Berserkers and Snipers now have Crit Boost.
  • Reduced the Nitro Edge’s Weapon Rank from A to B.
  • Increased the Might of Elfire from 8 to 10.
  • Reduced the Misprint’s Backfire rate from (31-LCK)% to (25-LCK)%.
  • The Repair staff is no longer locked to Isabella.
  • Increased David’s HP from 25 to 27, STR growth from 45% to 50%, and DEF growth from 25% to 35%.
  • Increased Cytherea’s STR from 8 to 9, STR growth from 25% to 30%, and increased her base Sword EXP from 31 (D) to 51 (D+20). She also now joins with an Iron Sword instead of a Steel Sword, which has been moved to a drop from a Mercenary in Chapter 4.
  • Increased Osman’s STR from 10 to 11, SKL from 8 to 12, and SKL growth from 40% to 50%.
  • Increased Lucette’s SPD from 13 to 15 and DEF from 4 to 6. Also increased the Might of the Dyrnwyn from 7 to 9.
  • Salathiel now joins with a Lockpick instead of an Elixir.

Bug Fixes:

  • Suspend now properly returns you to the start of the turn.
  • The Flame Lance now properly does magical damage.
  • Fixed an item duplication glitch in Chapter 12.
  • Fixed the name and description of the Dragonmaster.
  • The Sun Katana can now be sold.
  • The Thunderhead can no longer be deployed in Chapter 13.
  • Fixed the dismounted Wolf Knight’s walk SFX.
  • Fixed an issue with Quirina’s portrait.

EDIT: There was a bug involving units being in the wrong order in Chapter 3, this has now been fixed, redownload from the OP if you downloaded the patch before this edit.

7 Likes

Hii, I just finished playing the new release. I became intrigued due to the FEE3 presentation. I really liked and finished it; I loved the music choices and the gameplay was really solid.
I thought I would make my time useful by writing down all the things I noticed in my playthrough.

Bugs

hapter 4
after david gained c rank lances the message of rank up appeared twice. Actually it happens every time I get a weapon rank up with any character

2.-I accidentally put Mikelo in the tile that the sage boss appears and she just didn’t appear

ch 7
after finishing the recruitment conversation, I got a glitchy mess on the action menu, which fixed itself by pressing any of the commands

Suggestions

ch 8

it seems weird to me that you can’t talk with layne after you get him out of the cell. By that I mean talking to him with carley after he is out. I ended up having to reset the chapter because I just assumed this would be the case.

ch 10
as far as I can tell, without a pegasus knight it’s impossible both to save millie and the village in time without some pretty serious rng. Maybe this isn’t such a big problem, since the reward for the village isn’t that relevant.

ch 11
I don’t see any motivation to pick the path north of the recruitable ballistician. Can’t you just ignore those enemies? maybe some reward would be a good idea, or maybe there’s some siege, so that your new ballistician can defeat it

Maps

I found the beggining 2 or 3 chapters kind of boring, im not sure why so I can’t tell you what I would change.
after that the maps got progressively better, specially those with new goals. I really liked the map where you opened the blue tiles to make the boat pass through, and 16 where you have to escort the mounts. The last chapter was also really fun

Regardless, I did feel like the sea aspect felt kind of separate from the land side of the maps, as if you are playing 2 separate chapters a lot of the time.

Units

in general, all the units have fun gimmicks or serve a clear role, being noticeable that mounted units DIDN’T dominate the game. I actually used a bunch of foot units, and I wasn’t slowing myself to do that. I liked a lot that the armor knights managed to have uses, even though their stats weren’t that different to vanilla games, beside william having a magic stat.

David was done dirty with that speed stat. It’s hard to tell if I just got unlucky, but he quickly started getting doubled by common enemies, even though he was getting kills. Still, he has early horse utility, and packs a decent punch. I actually enjoyed that he was so incompetent combatwise, since it allowed the foot units time to shine

Layne was my training project since I got him, and honestly he never got good. His damage quickly falls off, and his skill isn’t very practical due to terrain being out of the way most of the time.
I didn’t promote him, so maybe that would have fixed his issues, but I doubt he would catch up to most of your army. His weapon rank isn’t particularly great either.

I didn’t use osman, isabella, phaedrus or gabriel, so I don’t know if they’re good.

Besides these units, I felt like everyone was pretty balanced and unique. I’ll write a bit on my favourites

Anton got REALLY good in my playthrough, probably my best unit, both with his sea access and great stats (and great promotion too). I wouldn’t say he breaks the game though, since his defense is pretty low and his accuracy can suffer a lot against sword users. I only had to give him the body ring too, so he is a cheap option.

William is such a silly guy, his stats are garbo and yet he still makes himself extremely useful with his bolt axe. I used him throughout the whole game, even though I didn’t promote him. I just noticed that generals actually get magic tomes, so maybe I should have.

Jules was the more “armor knight” of the two, but I felt he actually had some decent durability at the start, and his damage was very respectable. the swordslayer practically became his personal weapon, which allowed him to even one shot some enemies. Not the best unit, but very acceptable.

Writing

I liked the plot, but the character writing seemed a bit forgotten. specifically, it was weird when roseanne went from being very upset and conflicted about his brother betraying her to completely convinced in murder by the next scene. If there was a scene in the middle - that would explain that swift change of heart - it would be perfectly fine

1 Like

Hey, I finished playing the new release recently and I thorougly enjoyed it! I liked the design of most of the levels (Ch13 and 17 were my favorites) and I like how most of the units feel and play, especially Roseanne.
I’m eagerly waiting the next release.