I’ve finally managed to play up until the start of Chapter 11. I genenrally had a good amount of fun and apart from the last few chapters having insanely busted promoted enemies, it was all pretty good. I took notes while playing and thought i’d drop them for you, hopefully they’ll be of use for you.
Mind you i played on version 0.1, not 0.2 which you released recently.
Prologue
The priest starting another dialogue just to tell you to visit the village right next to you feels unnecesarry. Not only were you just told that you’d get started by the main character, but visiting the village should also just be the first thing the vast majority of players will do. I would suggest just completely cutting the dialogue about the village.
The defence Xander has feels a bit incoherent with how big his armor is, and how big we are told his armor is. His face also looks like a straight up copy of Kent. I think adding one or two facial features from another character would help a lot to make him look more unique. Chadwicks portrait looks more like a thief than a mage, but still mage-y enough to be considered a mage, and otherwise pretty good.
I liked how you could lure in 2 brigands at a time with your lord and mage, allowing you to follow up and kill both on following player phase. Nothing much else to say otherwise. Alright first chapter.
Chapter 1
I really like the portaits of your Cavs, especially Niles. Giving him steel weapons so he gets weighed down and can’t double the enemies but perfectly chip them makes him immediately feel useful.
This is how the map looked at the start of turn 4. Would honestly just add a few more brigands inbetween the middle and the boss, because the following turns felt a bit empty despite me still needing 2 turns to even reach the boss.
Chapter 2
Zara’s dialogue starts with Hallo instead of Hello. Unless you’re going for a german accent or something (which would be cool), it’s technically a typo.
Desmond specifically mentions Wally when talking to himself, then Wally says something about Desmond. I feel like Desmonds dialogue is enough to hint towards his recruitment, and you could probably cut Wally’s dialogue.
Desmond actually fights Wally if he gets in range. Would make more sense if he initated a talk.
Couple of dead turns. Would probably be better if you had one of the brigands drop a chest key or two, so you can get one side of chests with Zara, the other with any other unit, and then converge in the middle instead of spending extra turns having to walk/rescue drop Zara over to the other side despite already being pretty much done with the chapter.
Chapter 3
Had my first game over here due to Xander being doubled and killed by 2 Myrmidons on the left side despite being full health. While they did feel a bit stronger and were pretty unexpected, i should’ve been more careful with where i put my torch to scout. I don’t mind the loss since the difficulty felt a bit easy so far.
2nd run went a lot better, just got Holly’s village instantly and then mostly went down, had a handful of moments that could’ve ended badly but i managed to maneuver around. By turn 7 i had gotten all the villages and killed every enemy apart from the boss, who felt a bit too strong without Niles who i had used to get the village at the bottom left. The only other units who could even do anything against the boss were Chadwick and my stat blessed Dominic (if they even hit), aswell as jade. The boss pretty much nearly one rounded everyone else.
Holly felt very useless to me despite me liking archers like her normally. By the time you get her you already have 2 good 2 range chippers in Chadwick and Jade, who hit harder, with better accuracy, and were both faster than her at this point. I feel like Holly needs some kinda thing going for her to stick out and not immediately hit the bench. Maybe she could start with a longbow, or slightly better bases in turn for slightly worse growths. I don’t know. But her performance makes me not want to use her when Deployment slots don’t quite give me room for her when better units are around.
The game does not specify whether you need to escape with all units individually, like escape usually gets handled in FE, or if you just need to reach the escape tiles with one unit (which is the case).
Overall this is my favorite chapter so far, i like the tension, but i feel like it wouldn’t hurt if it felt a bit more like an escape mission with more and more enemies going after you. Maybe you could make Zade a bit weaker by not putting him on a forrest, and incentivise the player to actually keep moving forward more.
Chapter 4
I like how Desmond can recruit Brock. It’s never outright stated, but it makes sense considering they’re both mercenaries.
By this point Xander really started to fall off and i’ve started trying to specifically feed him kills, but the fact his Tyrhung has 10 less hit than an ironsword means he only sits at around 65 hit against lance cavs, making it pretty hard to actually let him hit. He just generally feels very squishy, which seems very unfitting for him. Honestly it wouldn’t hurt him if you increased his base DEF by a bit imo. His other stats were growing fine, but he was still at his 5 base DEF at level 4. Faster enemies were doubling him and he usually could not take more than 2 rounds of combat from a lot of enemies.
Mind you this picture of Xander is from CH6. I gave him a Dracoshield since he vehemently refused to level DEF
The boss felt pretty lackluster. He could probably use some more STR, or maybe even just a stronger weapon like a spear, which could also show him of being a higher rank than the other soldiers.
Chapter 5
I overextended with Brock, and had him die to exact damage from two swordfighters due to overestimating his DEF. He’s my first death. (you may wanna look at his death quote, looks a bit weird since 3 … are on the top row, while a single . is at the bottom)
Chapter 6
Alright chapter across the board. But i wish you would make the chapter objective be EITHER talking to Pete, OR killing the Boss. Because having to walk Xander over to Pete after you killed the boss feels uncessesary.
Chapter 7
Good and fun Chapter. I got lucky with the Wyvern rider since she dodged a ballista shot that i accidentally put her in. Went through the level normally, then saw the arena. Chadwick, who was one of my best units at this point due to his quick, magical and accurate 1-2 range damage, ended up winning me multiple fights, and i had just a turn or two left until i killed the boss, so i thought “eh, why not try a higher bet”. Took one around 910 gold, got matched with a nomad with a weird palette who ended up being insanely strong. The mercs i fought had around 22 HP and couldn’t double while doing 7 damage out of Chadwicks 21. The Nomad however had 28 HP, did 13 damage (with an iron bow!), and doubled with like 74 accuracy, meanwhile chadwick did like 12 damage with 63 hit. I instantly hit the B button but it was already too late. He got doubled and ended up being my second death. Really sad since i liked him a lot, but even if the Nomad may or may not be overtuned or bugged, it was still my own greed that got him killed.
On another note, there is a brigand on the right mountain who seems to be going for the house. I assumed i’d get something by saving it since he seemed ot want to destroy it, but i don’t recall getting anything.
I also like Friede’s name. It’s german for Peace. Quite fitting for a cleric.
Chapter 8
Had another game over here due to Xander dying on the bridge on the right. I was pretty bogged down there as i didn’t really have any units to take on all the enemies at once, especially with the wyverns and the entire weapon triangle being there. the bridge is also like 3 tiles large with the enemies being another 3 tiles or so away, so you cannot really attack them with more than 1 or 2 units. I feel like you should either move the enemy units a little closer, or honestly just make the bridge 2 tiles wide. Although i think the latter would be better.
These dog riders have crazy good stats. My Dominic started to get doubled here
I feel like the Forts get underutilised here. The graphical design of the map tells me atleast some enemies will appear from the forts, but i don’t think this is ever the case. The middle section is also a bit of a slog due to it being a 1 tile choke, and it taking quite long to get your army through. I feel like if you expanded it a bit, it would feel more fluid. I also got the idea of the player being ambushed by enemies from the forts (don’t necesarrily have to be ambush spawns, especially not without any warning). That way you’d have this “oh fuck” moment where you have enemies in front of you, and suddenly also behind you, also giving your backliners something to do.
The last part 1-2 turns before you reach the boss also felt a bit empty. I honestly wouldn’t mind some zone based reinforcements which appeared from the top left once you got maybe like 5 tiles past the choke section.
There is also a house at the start which is unvisitable. On my first attempt i sent my cavalier there with canto so he could visit, which turned out to be useless. Would love if the house got so
me dialogue (if you put in the aforementioned fort reinforcements, you could be told to be careful of the ambush appearing at the middle of the map!), i would also make either of these two tiles plains tiles so whichever unit you send to get the village and the house, doesn’t need to move back again and lack behind. This would also encourage players to actually visit the house compared to if they have to go a little out of their way to visit it.
Chapter 9
My favorite chapter so far. at first i thought it might get a bit boring due to the left side of the map being pretty much completely ignorable by the player, as you can just grad the first village with a flier early on, then rush the 2nd village near the ballista. But it turned out i was wrong! It felt like the enemies were close to overwhelming me, every unit had a job to do on most turns, and i even had to dance with death and the RNG a handful of times due to my mistakes, luckily never ending deadly for me. I managed to BARELY get the northern village, and easily get the southern one, and the energy drop on the brigand (Zara my beloved)
After a while a promoted Dogrider appeared from the bottom with absolutely busted stats. better than even the boss. I’m not quite sure if that was intended.
Accidetally put an Injured Helman in range of the sniper which cost him his life to a crit. Real shame, i love armor knights and he was very promising. Upon closer look, the Sniper also looks absolutely busted. The only unit which maybe could’ve taken one crit from the sniper was Helman… at full HP. But even he would’ve then been doubled and died anyways. The sniper had a whopping 23 crit or so becaues of his insane +15 class boost, which combined with his 18 STR and the might of the steel bow, and his speed meant that most of my units could barely even take a round of combat with this guy, if at all. On top of that there is a hard hitting dark magic user right next to him. The only reason i didn’t have another unit die was because i got very lucky with Slim Sword Niles not being doubled, luckily not being crit, and barely surviving both with 2 HP. I think you should definitely tone down the stats a little here.
Also: These guys should probably start moving after a while, or after you moved close enough to the boss. They were kinda just standing there.
Chapter 10
First impression: The map looks absolutely gorgeous! One of the best looking maps i’ve seen in a while. The other thing i notice: Yngvar is actually weaker than the random promoted dogrider i fought last chapter lmao.
Had Domenic die to a thunder mage and another unit. Didn’t really mind it since he was really lacking behind at this point. The Warrior near the middle is also very overtuned again. He only has a hatched but that also means he’s very accurate. 15 Spd is a actually enough to double nearly everyone in my entire team, even niles gets doubled for 11x2 out of his 27 HP, which combined with the red gem knight is what cost him his life.
Zara ended up eating an Angelic Robe because favoritism she needed the HP to tank the promoted enemies.
I took a lot longer on this map due to the absolutely busted Warrior, which i could only slowly chip down by hoping for killing edge crits with Zara… until he just ate an elixir and suddenly i found myself sandwiched between 2 more promoted dogriders who one rounded over half my army, and the warrior who also one rounded over half my army. I ended up having to sacrifice Eric due to him being the least useful to me at this point and me rather having the other units. I also felt like i had to early promote Murough at level 14 so he could take on the dog riders, only to realise the swordmaster promotion has absolute dogshit promotion gains, so it didn’t really do anything for him other than take away his potential levels.
I wasn’t quite sure if these guys would destroy villages or not, so i sent niles in their range to kill them. Again, there doesn’t really seem to be a reason to go on the left side.
Also these guys should probably move after a while, like i proposed for last chapter.
Please just tune down the promoted enemies. Otherwise the map was fine.
Unit Review
Xander: Started off very meh, and vehemently refused to level DEF, so i fed him a lot of kills which luckily made him atleast good offensively. He ended up getting a B support with Jade, which really helped his accuracy problems. Once the norther isles arc began his PRF actually started to become really useful since he could now actually hit enemies he was effective against. Oh, and this is AFTER i gave him a Dracoshield.
Jade: Started out really strong, then kinda fell off a little due to not doing that much damage, but was consistently useful again after getting her support with Xander, and her PRF tome, since she could relatively reliably double.
Brian: He heals… okay jokes aside this guy got insanely good level ups, especially in spd. After he promotes he will be a killermachine.
Zara: My favorite unit in the hack. Super fun to use, super dodgy and very good against axe users. She ended up getting a C support with Desmond due to them both using Colm and Neimi’s character slots, which actually helped up a lot for the both of them. She ate an angelic robe and then became one of my best units since she never was doubled, did alright damage, especially with a killing edge, and could take a hit or two on the offchance she does get hit.
Wally: Was very strong at first, then fell off a bit, then fell on a bit. His biggest issue was honestly just his hitrate. The halberd was practically useless since he always had like 40 hit with it
Murtagh: Ended up being promoted at 14. I wasn’t quite sure whether i wanted to use him or not at first. But i always found a slot for him, and he was always super useful. He had the best damage output on the team apart from maybe Zara or effective damage from Xander and Jade. His high HP came in particularly handy.
Sylvia: I tend not to like Wyverns much usually since they tend to be very OP. But i always had a slot for her, and she was always useful, but not so good that she could just solo everything. Very well balanced wyvern who was consistently useful.
Friede: Pretty much a worse Brian, but she’s a 2nd healer, so what more can i ask for.
Desmond: Started off rather weak and sat on the bench for a while, but then came back and got a god level or two. His speed is what really kept him alive and useful and let him barely take on the absolutely busted warrior in CH10 when most others could not.
Gerhard: Genuinely pretty weak. One of my overall worst units. He doesn’t deal much damage, he doesn’t double, he can rescue and has potential i guess, but he was a chore to train since at some point a lot of enemies just one rounded or 2 shot him, and he just couldn’t hit anything.
Noah: I didn’t really use him much after chapter 3 or so. He’s fine and can probably still be useful if i wanted to get him off the bench, but there were always just other units i’d rather bring.
Holly: By the time you get her she’s just an objectively worse version of your other 2 range chippers in Chadwick and Jade. Doesn’t do damage. Doesn’t double, requires loads of investment, and doesn’t look like she gives you much of any payoff. I would increase her stats a little or maybe give her a special Longbow with slightly better stats to make her stick out from the other 2.
Lucia: Was immediately useful when i got her due to her high damage output. Her bases are phenomenal, apart from her DEF and HP, so i guess you gotta be careful with that. But if i get another angelic robe, i may just give it to her so she can always take alteast one hit.
Sigrun: Just got her, just seems like a somehow worse version of Gerhard. Around the same stats, but without the mount. I guess the extra skill is nice, but i’m not sure it will be enough to get her going. She’s cute tho so maybe i’ll give her a try.
Lenny: Lenny is in a similiar boat stat wise, although he seems to have somewhat better growths across the board, and can move on water, aswell as has the phenomenal berserker class later on.
Alyssia: She’s suprisingly comparable to Sylvia, and looks quite useful. I may just use her.
Ellie: An extra healer. May swap Friede out for her since she just looks like a better version of her.
Dead Units:
Brock: Instantly felt super strong thanks to his insane defence, especially since i didn’t have many tanky units. Unfortunately i got careless.
Chadwick: One of my best units. pretty quick, good magic, can take atleast 1 hit, great damage output.
Domenic: Very good early on, then kinda stopped getting good levels… or levels in general. he was always around, and i really was hoping for a support with Niles to keep them both relevant, but it just somehow never appeared.
Niles: Useful from start to finish. I definitely noticed him falling off near the end, but his high move, okay stats across the board, and high weapon ranks always came in handy. I wish he could get a Silver lance somewhere since he’s the only one who can use it for a while. I think his EXP gains might be bugged, and his power level set too high. I used him every chapter since i got him, and used him very frequently to chip enemies, even got him some kills, chips against promoted enemies (whom he only got 6 exp from despite them being higher level than him). But at the start of chapter 10 he only sat at level 2 72 EXP, which is laughable. I would’ve expected level 5 or so. You may say his growths suck anyways so why the bother, but for Jagens every single stat matters and can keep them useful for that much longer.
Eric: Super good bases, had a handful of good early levels and was just shy of being really good… but then the norther isles came and he became near unusable due to what felt like 90% of all enemies having axes. Ended up having to sacc him unfortunately.
Supports
Supports: I know you haven’t touched them at all yet, but i would honestly love if you atleast went through and changed the character slots and growth. Just make all the supports blank or keep em Vanilla text wise. That doesn’t really matter so much for now. But i’d just really love to have them be in gameplay wise. Up until chapter 10 i was only able to get Xander/Jade B rank, and Zara Desmond C rank (and i’m pretty sure that’s only because they replace Neimi and Colm, thus starting with a free support saved up). Supports should be seen as part of the gameplay first and foremost in my opinion, since it can help some units a lot. Niles is the best example. If he had the ability to get quick supports with Xander/Jade/Dominic/Noah, he would stay relevant for a good while longer, and help them to get going, doing his job as a jagen even better. Eric has really bad luck, but with even just a C support he could maybe get enough Crit avoid to not regularly face crit chance, and so on.
Some supports i’d definitely love to see: Zara/Murtagh, Noah/Niles, Wally/Desmond. Same affinity supports tend to be the strongest bonuses wise because 0.5s get rounded down to 0 in GBA, so it’d be nice to see some of them too.
On another note. I’ve also noticed Sylvia doesn’t show up in the support viewer at all, but that’s probably due to her not having any supports at all currently.
