Hello, you lovely anime-chess players ! My name’s Zeldacrafter64, as you’ve probably already figured out, and I’m here to share my project with you ! I know, right ? What a surprise ! It goes by the weird name of “Terror Of The Forest”, and I hope you’ll play and enjoy it ! But let’s not waste any more time, and jump right into it !
(Although I apologize for my occasional grammar errors, I’m not a native english speaker. Please correct me if you find any, so that I can hopefully improve !)
Download the latest patch here !
EDIT : Due to the recent rules regarding hack content and age restriction, here’s a list of everything listed under ESRB’s website that I could identify within ToTF. I apologize if I forgot something, so please notify me if you find something “trigerring” I haven’t mentionned here. Note that I have listed the project as 17+, but maybe it belongs more to 15+? All this is kind of confusing to me.
-Depiction of blood and burn scars, some light gore and mentions of torture
-Fantasy violence
-Use of alcohol
-“Comic mischief” (I dunno, that’s what ESRB calls it)
-Somewhat strong language
-Partial Nudity (During Ch10’s intro cutscene, nothing NSFW is shown or said, it’s not even explicitly said the two characters concerned don’t wear underwears)
-Sexual Content
-Sexual violence (Especially attempted from one teenager to another. Thankfully off-screen and avoided before anything really squicky can happen. Happens in the middle of Ch13’s long end cutscene, specifically Arya’s flashback)
-Hate Speech (Between fictional races, especially from amazons to regular humans around Ch18.
What’s new?
-The entire final chapter as well as the ending and the individual characters’ epilogues have all been added
-Several characters have had their designs altered to various extents (Octavia, Laetitia, Zugma, Marguerite and Cazadora in particular are noticeably different)
-Several other characters have had their personalities reworked to appear more excentric (Morgana and Satsujin for example) or more likeable (Marguerite)
-Speaking of Marguerite, her role in the lategame has been changed to be noticeably more important. I hope you guys will like the changes!
-Other dialogues have been reworked. They’re too numerous to be listed, unfortunately
-Added NPCs and visitable houses in several chapters (Prison Break, Fabricated Menace, Secret Keepers and Feeling of Deja Vu)
-Added TWO new characters. Velvet, a female thief and Ambrose, a male swordfighter. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do!
-Johnny’s recruitment convo is now unskippable by any means
-Amy can now be recruited more easily later into the game
-Probably some other stuff, I’m not good at noting down stuff I do lol
I - The Hack's Story (Warning, big text ahead)
A long time ago, war broke between humans and monsters (Wait, isn’t it that game’s into ?). After years of struggle, humans emerged victorious, and sealed the monsters away with the help of powerful artifacts.
Now, a thousand years later, humans have completely forgotten about this war and these artifacts. In a world in relative peace, everyone lives happy. Despite the King and Queen’s death in an unfortunate accident, everyone is confident that their daughter, the princess Felicity, will be a fit heir and continue their dream of creating a kingdom of peace. Are they right ? Will the princess manage to live up to their expectations ?
You’ll probably never know, since this is mostly irrelevant to the story of this hack. In this joyful world, not everyone lived happily. Some were desperate, some were poor, some had their dreams crushed, some lost everything… And among them is Sylvester. A 30-years old-ish guy who resorted to banditry in order to survive. He and his loyal companion Zweite (Shout-out to every German-speaking person out there who realized just how bad I am to find names for ANYTHING) begin their quest for money by trying to rob an old lady of her money. Unfortunately, they get caught and sent in prison, and from there, everything they’ll do will snowball until they SOMEHOW save the world from a terrifying threat. On their way, they will meet with many different people, each of them being as much of a loser as they are, including the leader of a mercenary guild who just went through a mutiny, a young, angsty (but pretty, I need some waifus) teenage girl with a very different physique from others, and a whole bunch of other flashy, weird losers.
II - About this Hack (Warning, ALSO big text ahead)
Three years ago, I started writing a story, about men, about monsters, about fun and about horror. Two years ago, I had an epiphany and realized that my Wii U’s e-shop could allow me to play those game I only ever knew through Super Smash Bros, but really wanted to play : Fire Emblem. After someone pointed out that my characters did share similarities with FE’s characters, I wondered if I could make my story into a game. One-year-and-a-half ago, I discovered Fire Emblem Hacks. If I remember correctly, the first two I’ve heard of were Elibean Nights and Ostian Princess. Amazed by all that could be done on this engine, I downloaded FEBuilder and started making my story into a game.
Except it wouldn’t fit. First off, I decided there wouldn’t be any horses or dragons in my story, just out of spite for their important roles in an usual fantasy setting. How could I make a FE game without them ? Additionally, I didn’t imagine any of my characters according to FE classes, so a lot of them didn’t fit, including the main character ! And to top all that, my story was too long to fit in a 20-30 chapters-long game ! However, I did try anyway, and managed to make two “playable” chapters. During these chapters’ creation, I had to create a new character. An early-game bandit boss. Originally just a Migal recolor, I named him Sylvester. Once I decided to cancel this project, I grew so attached to this guy that I made him an integral part of my story. That’s when I had an idea. If I couldn’t directly make my story into a Fire Emblem, then why not make ANOTHER story ?
That’s how this project was born. The one-shot early-game boss became the main character, and from that point on, everything went easier, eventually becoming the hack you have in front of your eyes.
III - Features
-22 playable chapters out of 23, from the Prologue to Chapter 20. I’m not that good at designing things gameplay-wise, but I hope you’ll enjoy some of them !
-54 playable characters out of 61. Each one coming with a different personality ! It’s unlikely you’ll like every one of them, but I’m sure you’ll find a favorite in no time !
-Only infantry ! On both sides ! Horses, Pegasi and Wyverns don’t even exist ! Because some people just want to see the world burn, I guess !
-More weapons for some classes, including Assassins and Generals with Bows and Heroes with Lances !
-The most basic bunch of patches you could ever imagine !
IV - Screenshots
V - Credits
(Unfortunately, my dumb *ss mistook the file in which I’ve written the credits for another file and sent it straight into the nothingness, so I tried to find back everything I used and credit them to their respective creator. I apologize for any mistake I’ve possibly made.)
Music :
Ant-Man Theme : KTMILLER
Dining Room : Charles Stiles
Ib_-_Memory : Vaati The Wind Mage
Ib_Memory : Hakumi
Hyrule Castle : Megacowz
Molgera : Christian.litser
Let’s Dance Boys : Cthylhu Sciences Music Division Section 2
Pepper Steaks : MrChris01020
ANT MAN : Roddek
Megalovania : CinderFire
Hyrule Castle : Phosphor
The Schemer = Dekkadeci
Shantae Medley = thebandteacher
Bran-Son = BrainyLucario
Lament Of Innocence = Bumbghork Piano
Don’t Speak Her Name = Forblaze
Mipha’s Theme = DS Music
Taken from the Music Blitz :
Driftveil City - Meilu
Fatalize = Meilu (I think ? Not sure. I’ve tested so many versions of it)
Power-Hungry Fool = Nyawenyye
Guile’s Theme = Sme
Mute City = Sme
Linebeck = Sme
From the Music Repository :
Sheena’s Theme (ToS)
Zelos’ Theme (ToS)
Rest Of The Heart (ToS)
Portrait :
Myself !
(Although I did use Shin19’s FE6 mugs with blinking frames for some of them, so he deserves some credits)
Arnold’s chin has been edited by my boy Ruby
Marguerite’s latest redesign has been greatly improved by Leo_Link, more than by my own hand lmao
Animations :
Legault Assassin + Bow = Andy, SD9K
Jaffar Assassin+ Weapons = DerTheVaporeon, Glenwing, Andy, SD9K, Jj09 (The repo doesn’t say who did what, actually I only used the vanilla animation and the bow)
Female Hero Lance = Pushwall
Male Hero Lance = Pushwall
Amelia Halberdier = Spud, TBA, Black Mage, Temp, Wan
Male Halberdier = TBA
Female Soldier (Ponytail) = Dr0zz
Female Berserker = eCut, Skitty
Female Warrior = Temp
General + Weapons = TBA, DerTheVaporeon, GabrielKnight, JPN
Armored Brigand = TBA
Tethys + Sword = Circleseverywhere
Cleric Repalette = Eldritch Abomination
Priest Repalette = Eldritch Abomination
Bishop Repalette = Eldritch Abomination (Male and female)
(I could not find whoever made the Female Pirate animation I used, sadly)
Patches :
16 Tracks, 12 sounds : Agro, Brendor
256 Color Title Background Installer : Leonarth
Convert Chapter Titles to Text : circleseverywhere
Actions After Support : 7743
Actions After Talk : 7743
HP Bars with Warnings : circleseverywhere
Lose item : Kaito, 7743
Alusq : Native Instrument Map 2
Thanks to :
BrightFlame (For occasional testing and giving his opinon)
Applejuice (For greatly helping me with maps during this project’s early life)
VI - Recruitment guide
I realize a few characters might be hard to notice, or to understand they’re recruitable, so in case you’re worried about missing anyone, here’s a recruitment guide :
Prologue :
Sylvester - Joins automatically from the start
Zweite - Joins automatically from the start
Chapter 1 :
Achille - Joins automatically during Turn 1
Magam - Talk with Zweite
Chapter 2 :
Lancelot - Joins automatically from the start
Laetitia - Talk with Sylvester
Chapter 3 :
Batto - Talk with Sylvester or Cazadora
Armaduro - Talk with Sylvester
Jess - Talk with Achille
Cazadora - Talk with Sylvester or Batto
Chapter 4 :
Vicieux - Joins automatically from the start
Lucy - Talk 3 times with Sylvester
Venemum - Visit house
Bill - Stand on the arena tile
Chapter 5 :
Starhuka - Joins automatically from the start
Martin - Open Leftmost door
Sally - Open rightmost door
(Note : Opening the door next to Martin’s gives Achille an item that will be useful later)
Chapter 6 :
Hans - Talk with Zweite or Woody
Woody - Talk with Laetitia or Hans
Velvet : Wait on the ruins
Chapter 7 :
Yami - Joins automatically during Turn 3
Igor - Talk with Yami
Valkyr - Talk to Igor with Sylvester, then talk to her with Sylvester
Chapter 8 :
Alyssa - Talk with Igor during Ch7, keep her alive until the end of the chapter
Shell - Talk with Armaduro
Dick - Visit house
Arnold - Joins automatically from turn 5
Tenebrice - Joins automatically from turn 5
Chapter 9 :
Arshan - Joins automatically from the start
Hercules - Joins automatically from the start
Lily - Joins automatically from the start
Octavia - Wait on the ruins
Chapter 10 :
Vertov - Joins automatically from the start
Barnaby - Joins automatically from the start
Sofia - Joins automatically from the start
(Note : If Achille has the Weird Notes he got by opening the 2nd door during Ch5 in his inventory, talking to Sofia will give her Explosion, a very powerful tome)
Chapter 11 :
Esther - Joins automatically from the start
Chastity - Joins automatically from the start
Eve - Talk with Laetitia, Vicieux, Sally or Lily
Stranger - Step into the non-grass tile northwest with Yami
Chapter 12 :
Morgana - Joins automatically from the start
Helena - Talk with Yami, Lancelot or Octavia
Chapter 13 :
Zugma - Open the chest between Johnny and Jukujo
Jukujo - Talk with Zugma
Johnny - Joins when entering the zone after the two-tiles wide bridge
(Note : Making Johnny wait in front of the door he came from will give him the Raw Meat item, which will be useful later)
Chapter 14 :
Satsujin - Joins automatically from the start if Jukujo, Zugma and Helena are all recruited and alive
Arya - Joins automatically from the start
Trashie - Joins automatically from the start
Walter - Joins automatically from the start
Alicia - Enter village with Sylvester or Zweite
Chapter 15:
Gerard - Enter the first house clockwise (Required to end the chapter)
Vivian - Enter the last house clockwise (Required to end the chapter)
Amy - Give the Raw Meat (Obtainable by bringing Johnny in front of the doors he came from during Ch13) to Lily and talk to her.
Chapter 16 :
Suzanne - Joins automatically from the start
Willy - Enter the southern village
Chapter 17:
Theodore - Joins automatically from the start
Andrew - Talk with any female character (YES, ANY. MADLAD HAS 27 DIFFERENT RECRUITMENT DIALOGUES)
Ambrose - Enter the south-west house
Chapter 18 :
Barbara - Joins automatically from the start
Abigail - Talk with Sylvester
Brut - Talk with Abigail or Barbara
Marguerite - Joins automatically from the start
Chapter 19 :
Golem - Talk with Arnold, Tenebrice, Arshan or Suzanne
Amy - If not recruited or killed earlier, you can recruit her now by talking to her with Willy
Final Chapter :
Anastasia - Talk with Arnold
VII - Known Issues (IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ)
-There’s been some problem with save files. I HIGHLY reccomend using a savestate every time you end/start a chapter. Thanks for understanding. (Also, not saving wherever you saved your first chapter appears to be safer, but don’t count on it too much either)
-Unfortunately, your save files from previous playthroughs will be corrupted. I did all I could to avoid that, but there was no use. My sincere apologies…
-There is a secret event during Ch20. I won’t tell what happens or how to trigger it, but if you do manage to do that, the game will bug heavily. This is simply fixed by going back to the main menu and then resuming the chapter.
Do you want to be a part of this train wreck I call a project ? Do you have Discord ? Then that’s great, 'cause here’s the project’s discord server : https://discord.gg/vCYEp5E
Thanks for your attention ! I hope you’ll have fun playing this hack, even with all its flaws !