[FE8] The Princess's Lament - A Sacred Stones rebalance, rewrite, overhaul, expansion extravaganza!

[SaintRubenio]

@l2rave

Just finished this hack last night, and it was overall a good retelling of Sacred Stones to me. Here’s my thoughts down below:

Thank you so much for your impressions! Let me go into detail a bit…

Story (spoilers)

Hahahahaha… I love how you describe that. “Waltzing on through the first part of the game, and then chapter 8 drops.” That’s just the perfect description of it, isn’t it? The only major story change in the first nine (ten if you count 6x) chapters is “Fado is now alive,” which would seem to indicate the hack’s going for small changes of the “what if everyone survived and everything was perfect” variety, in spite of the ominous title. And then Orson runs Seth through.

My thanks for the high praise on Eirika’s story! I’ll say, it is super flattering how many people seem to have enjoyed my take on her. I wasn’t expecting quite this level of positive reception!

I am fond of Madrika, personally. It could be called a bit of a cheesy moment, but I feel it goes to show how far Eirika has come at that point pretty well.

The drama with Na’amah and her family is, behind Seth’s death and its MASSIVE sprawling consequences on the overall story, the second thing I enjoyed writing the most. If there’s one thing I’d have to pull from this hack and revisit, should I make a bigger hack or game in the future, I’d say it’s this.

Gameplay (spoilers)

As I’ve said before, I’m no master artist, so I can understand how the quality of the portraits wouldn’t be the best. Still, glad you enjoyed the new units! You got any favorites, if I may ask?

On Ephraim… Yeah. I do feel like I may’ve shafted Ephraim a bit haha. I suppose I was so focused on doing Eirika justice that I didn’t realize I was doing the exact same thing to Eph that vanilla did to Eirika.

@l2rave

Thanks for a great experience, and I look forward to your next hack, should you decide to make one.

You’re very welcome! We shall see. Nobody knows what the future holds!

@Goldblitzx

No lol its not.

Oohhh that one. Yeah, I believe what got me to decide against this one at the time is the placement of the items, which is the main thing I cared about to begin with. I’m sorry, but that’s… really ugly lol. When it comes to HUDs, while practicality is obviously important, I also want them not to be an eyesore. I’m one of those weirdos who plays TF2 with the default HUD, you see.

@TheSuzakuSeven

Oh gotcha! I think it looks slightly weird since the Stache is on an orange background but hood work on it regardless! I figured it was a stache though!

Haha, well, like I said, I’m not an animator. It’s enough of a miracle that Tethys’s little custom animation is as smooth as it is…

@TheSuzakuSeven

I actually like the mini box you’re using, it gives just enough details so I don’t have to keep going into status screens but not enough to never check their stats. I actually like looking at all the enemies stat screens for each map and it’s close enough to vanilla too.

Yeah, personally, I don’t mind going into a menu to see stats. If I’m taking the time to look at stats, I’m not in a hurry at the moment. Items was the main thing I wanted to be visible at a glance, and then I just picked the minimug I thought was prettiest. Affinity in the minimug is beyond silly and I’ll admit I love it.

@ReedRacer

True. And I DO really appreciate that certain characters like Moulder and Syrene get WAY more screentime now.

The two of them were some of my favorites in vanilla. I just had to indulge in some preferential treatment for them haha.

[l2rave]

As I’ve said before, I’m no master artist, so I can understand how the quality of the portraits wouldn’t be the best. Still, glad you enjoyed the new units! You got any favorites, if I may ask?

Response to your question

I like Melville, Na’amah, Fado, and Dara the most. Melville because he was a cute spider that one shot almost everything up to endgame, Na’amah because of her story and connections with other characters (and because her Nocturne is OP), Fado (I know he’s an existing character, but he basically got no screentime in the base game, so I feel that he can be included here) because he was a general that had good stats that I actually wanted to use as well as the contrast between him and Eirika when they meet up again, and finally Dara because she absolutely smoked Valter in the cutscene, and when I saw that I was like “OH SHIT!”

[Aeroponce]

@SaintRubenio

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's a spoiler!

For a while I considered flat out lying in the guide. But I figured if you’re reading the guide in the first place, you’re probably trying not to get screwed like that in the first place.

Either way, as evil as it may sound, I’m glad your confusion made the betrayal catch you off-guard. Out of curiosity, which did you want to recruit? And, of course, which one did you end up with.

This is definetly not a spoiler

I picked Lorell bc he looked like a good guy but then, well, ded, so i ended using avery, though i ultimately benched her after she started falling behind (got dogshit level ups with her, even one blank level up, curse you RNGsus)

[SaintRubenio]

@l2rave

Response to your question

I like Melville, Na’amah, Fado, and Dara the most. Melville because he was a cute spider that one shot almost everything up to endgame, Na’amah because of her story and connections with other characters (and because her Nocturne is OP), Fado (I know he’s an existing character, but he basically got no screentime in the base game, so I feel that he can be included here) because he was a general that had good stats that I actually wanted to use as well as the contrast between him and Eirika when they meet up again, and finally Dara because she absolutely smoked Valter in the cutscene, and when I saw that I was like “OH SHIT!”

Thank you for your answer!

Response to your response

It may be vain of me to say, but I am proud of having managed to create a spider monster that people consider “cute.” Spiders aren’t something you usually associate with cuteness, especially not monstrous ones haha.
(Also fun fact, I conceived Melville as a female baby bael. There’s just no way to tell - Novala certainly couldn’t.)

Na’amah is one of my personal favorites too. I think it shows lol. Another fun fact: Nocturne is a direct reference to Kaga’s Vestaria Saga 2. There’s a character in the game that has that exact same tome as their personal.

Yeah Fado might as well be an OC, his role in the original being what it was. I tried to make him super strong to compensate for the fact that he’s locked as a general with con so high that he can be rescued by almost nobody. It’s only appropriate - the man WAS known as Warrior King!

Dara smoking Valter was just plain fun to create. She has the stats to smoke him in gameplay, too! Of course, she’s really brittle, so you don’t want her to eat a counter if you’re going that route.

@Aeroponce

This is definetly not a spoiler

I picked Lorell bc he looked like a good guy but then, well, ded, so i ended using avery, though i ultimately benched her after she started falling behind (got dogshit level ups with her, even one blank level up, curse you RNGsus)

Neither is this!

Oof… Well, Avery may look a bit scary, but she’s a good girl too. Too bad she fell behind, though. Of the two, I would’ve expected Lorell to be more likely to fall behind, since he has lower stats to compensate for his superior class.

[Aeroponce]

Neither is this!

Spoilerman, spoilerman, does whatever a... spoiler does? idk i'm running out of creativity

Yeah i mean, she didn’t look scary per se, but it was a choice between generic female mercenary and “conan the not-so-much-barbarian” so my choice was made in an instant lol

[Aeroponce]

@ReturnOfTheBlackKnight

Spoiler

The only question is… whether it is worth promoting Amelia into a general or not.

In response to this guy bc i wanted to give my thoughts

I don’t see why everyone hates on amelia, usually she’s not that bad in my vanilla runs as a general (granted, i feed her a couple of stat boosters but that’s it) and in my run here she actually outclassed fado tenfold (with the help of a metis tome that is) but overall she was very fun to use, hell, her prf lance almost twoshotted one of the demon lord’s copies

[ReturnOfTheBlackKnight]

Spoiler

I never said she’s a bad unit. It’s just that I like her more as a Halberdier than a General.

[Panque]

Playing with the latest patch on MyBoy! and for some reason the game auto skips chapter 7, did i miss something big?

[SaintRubenio]

Are you certain you are on the latest version, 1.10? A couple patches before have had the chapter 7 autoskip, but I cannot see it in the current one.

[Aeroponce]

So hey, quick question, did you get rid of the tower and the ruins?

[ReedRacer]

Not sure it’s been brought up before, but on chapter 12 (Turning Traitor) when L’Arachel arrives she talks like she’s on the Ghost Ship.

[Peak_Claw3]

How do I recruit Novala? I had the option for Natasha to talk to him but he didn’t turned into a blue unit though. Can anyone help me out? What am I doing wrong?

[VelvetKitsune]

After doing that just continue on as you would, it’s not an immediate thing.

[ReedRacer]

Hah! Just found out the fun way that Dozla uses the unique ‘Dozla-zerker’ animation. That’s a nice touch!

[SaintRubenio]

Forgot to respond to these.

@Aeroponce

Spoilerman, spoilerman, does whatever a... spoiler does? idk i'm running out of creativity

Yeah i mean, she didn’t look scary per se, but it was a choice between generic female mercenary and “conan the not-so-much-barbarian” so my choice was made in an instant lol

Spoilers, spoilers everywhere

Yeah, I see your point. I tried to make them contrast each other, but Lorell definitely turned out as the more unique character. Too bad you paid him. Oof…

@Aeroponce

In response to this guy bc i wanted to give my thoughts

I don’t see why everyone hates on amelia, usually she’s not that bad in my vanilla runs as a general (granted, i feed her a couple of stat boosters but that’s it) and in my run here she actually outclassed fado tenfold (with the help of a metis tome that is) but overall she was very fun to use, hell, her prf lance almost twoshotted one of the demon lord’s copies

Oh boy

Wow, she outclassed Fado? I thought I’d make that man pretty hard to match! Then again, I suppose no measly king vould ever hope to match the great General Amelia.

@Aeroponce

So hey, quick question, did you get rid of the tower and the ruins?

I did, yes.

@ReedRacer

Not sure it’s been brought up before, but on chapter 12 (Turning Traitor) when L’Arachel arrives she talks like she’s on the Ghost Ship.

She does at first, but then she reveals she’s just practicing her speech for when she actually does find the ship. Unless I did something wrong of course, haha.

@Peak_Claw3

How do I recruit Novala? I had the option for Natasha to talk to him but he didn’t turned into a blue unit though. Can anyone help me out? What am I doing wrong?

As VelvetKitsune said, just talk to him and then kill him as normal.

@ReedRacer

Hah! Just found out the fun way that Dozla uses the unique ‘Dozla-zerker’ animation. That’s a nice touch!

Well, I do love Dozla. Just felt I had to give him a cool animation for himself, he deserves it.

[ReedRacer]

Oh, my bad about that. I guess I just read the ending dialogue too fast.

[Ignis]

I found a infinity money glitch on ch 10 if you save in preps and reset you get 5k gold for Syrene here evidence

[ReedRacer]

Hi, asking this because we get multiple metis’ tomes in a single playthrough. Do they stack, or do they only work once on a unit?

Related question below;

Summary

Novala and Harold’s talk event in chapter 13 apparently increases Harold’s defense and maturity, but I already gave him a metis’ tome a while back. His growth rates show the standard +5 to each, so I’m not sure if the maturity boost from the event worked or not (or it did, and there simply isn’t a visual for +10 to each growth.) Any input on this would be appreciated.

Conversely, if the event was supposed to increase Novala’s growths, it doesn’t seem like anything happened because there’s no +5 visuals next to his growth rates.

Harold did gain 2 points of defense, so that alone was a pretty great boost. Free dragonshield!

[SaintRubenio]

@Ignis

I found a infinity money glitch on ch 10 if you save in preps and reset you get 5k gold for Syrene here evidence

Thanks. Will see how I can fix it.

@ReedRacer

Hi, asking this because we get multiple metis’ tomes in a single playthrough. Do they stack, or do they only work once on a unit?

Related question below;

Summary

Novala and Harold’s talk event in chapter 13 apparently increases Harold’s defense and maturity, but I already gave him a metis’ tome a while back. His growth rates show the standard +5 to each, so I’m not sure if the maturity boost from the event worked or not (or it did, and there simply isn’t a visual for +10 to each growth.) Any input on this would be appreciated.

Conversely, if the event was supposed to increase Novala’s growths, it doesn’t seem like anything happened because there’s no +5 visuals next to his growth rates.

Harold did gain 2 points of defense, so that alone was a pretty great boost. Free dragonshield!

I believe the tomes do stack, yes.

As for your other question…

You know the drilll

It’s a joke. He doesn’t actually mature, and he doesn’t actually gain anything from the convo. It only gives Harold defense.

[ReedRacer]

Hah, that makes sense.