So I’ve played through 3 of the 4 routes, only missing out on C because I accidentally saved over any chance I had to get it. Played on hard, and had slight spoilers ahead of time because I’m a dummy who always looks at tv tropes before I finish a game. Overall really fun. Probably my favorite hack, or if not tied with Vision Quest. There were lots of things I found praiseworthy, and a few that I think could have used some work. I’ll give a larger review tomorrow since it’s kinda late, but I can’t promise it will be as eloquent or insightful as KingOfAllTrades. Either way, good work.
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Yes
He’s pretty aggro, and he’s fast – he’ll get to you before you get to Vert unless you perform some shenanigans. I just bopped him with a Sleep staff (his Resist is not great). He will flee the level, shamed but very much alive, when you kill Vert.
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Thanks!
Yeah I figured that was it so I had Mithra give a rallied-af Shwartz a one-way ticket to VertPain Town lmao
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Okay, review time. Let’s see what I can come up with. Lots of spoilers.
Gameplay
Map Design
Pros:
- The maps were generally really fun. Great balance of different objectives, enemy placement, and unique design decisions. I think you really hit your stride between 7-19 or so, although the early maps were also pretty damn fun thanks how limited the resources were.
- Just enough new mechanics to keep things spicy, but not so overwhelming as to overtake the classic Fire Emblem experience. The Cidelith fields and the stealth missions were good examples of this.
- Enemy density and aggressiveness forced me to think up more creative solutions to keep deaths at a minimum. I felt this a lot towards the beginning of the game (such as chapters 4 and 8) and towards the end (pretty much 23 onwards).
Pros/Cons
- Powerful enemies that kept me from using the same units in every scenario, most notably with Cidelith weapons and siege tomes. I think sometimes it went too far, though. It felt like every other enemy towards the endgame had a brave weapon, and some generic enemies were very difficult to remove without having to scan the whole map first (such as the inexplicable counter Warriors).
- By much the same token, I liked that enemies were more than just sacks of meat with stats that would suicide into my units. I generally had to carefully consider not only what the enemies could do to me, but also how they were supporting each other. There were some more annoying aspects of this, however. Pretty much any enemy with a random offensive/defensive skill was a pain in the ass. Enemy swordmasters would frequently proc Astra, and enemy generals (who already couldn’t be doubled) would nullify my anti-armor attacks. There will always be some variance in fire emblem, and part of the fun is mitigating that, but no player likes to lose a unit for something that they couldn’t have counted on. Playing cautiously isn’t bad, but I would have liked to take things more quickly.
Cons
- I was not a big fan of the maps directly following the timeskip. 18 was fun, but 19-22 felt way too open and haphazard. There was little reason not to turtle, and it didn’t feel as tightly designed as some of the earlier maps or the ones directly after taking down Vert. I’ll go more into each one in a later section, but it felt like both the gameplay and the story dipped a little bit in quality by that point. Worry not, however, as I think things picked back up afterwards.
- There were mostly no ambush spawns, but I still didn’t like the player phase ambush in 20 and 22, especially when the rest of the game didn’t really have any.
Mechanics
Pros
- The Augury was a great idea. Helped to ease accessibility on some of the tougher maps and help explain some of the new mechanics. Considering that this hack was often a decent challenge, I appreciate the gesture, even though I didn’t personally use it. That said, there was nothing stopping a player from just reloading after reading the Augury avoiding the cost altogether. I’m not sure if there’s much of a solution to that, but it’s worth considering.
- The changes to dark and light magic were great. They went from being pretty much just a coat of paint to some of the most powerful offensive and defensive weapons that you had. Naturally, this also made dark and light mages much more useful than ever. The only real downside of this is that they kind of left Anima magic in the dust in many ways.
- Explore and Interlude maps were a neat idea. Gave us some worldbuilding and rewards while keeping things interactive. It was nice to check in on my units to see how they were handling the situation, too.
- I appreciate the promotion split for even the Lords. This both adds replayability and shows off their dominance and utility.
- The green units didn’t suck
Pros/Cons
- Third tiers were a blast to dominate with, and they looked really cool. That said, they were often too powerful, and the balance was clearly swung in favor of some over the others. Even with the removal of Luna from an Apocalypse Rider, why would I go with Dragonheart? Apocalypse Rider was somehow faster than a Seraph Knight, but also had good strength and Galeforce. Third tier priests were almost essential, and the third tier swordies (Rose and Walker) were such ridiculous crit machines that it was difficult for them not to kill an enemy. By comparison, classes such as Apollo, Master Knight, and Silver Knight struggled to maintain relevance. This point may sound more like a con, but that’s only because its easier to elaborate on what wasn’t fun about 3rd tiers than what was.
- Anima had some good qualities (by far the best S tier weapons, the best siege tomes, and consistent 3 range options), but overall felt outclassed by dark and light magic. In a hack where everything has lots of unique attributes, anima did little to kill or protect any better than the dedicated specialists. Thunder was rarely useful thanks to being only 1 range, fire was good but little better than the other generic spells, and wind was helpful for sniping but incredibly weak. Those 3 are the majority of what we got throughout the game. I found the siege tomes difficult to use as well. Any mage who has to use them needed to be so far back that it was a pain to have them rejoin the fray, but they also weighed down so much that they were usually best for setting up kills instead of performing them. While there is use in that (especially if you’re trying to be player-phase focused), it also tended to leave my mages weaker than the rest of my party. I know this is a problem with siege tomes in general, but if that’s all that anima has over the other two magic types then it might need a buff.
Cons
- Maybe this belongs more in map design, but I felt that the enemy status tomes go really old really fast. Sure there’s counterplay to them, but even at their best there was little reason to do anything but bait them out. They forced you to slow down, but by the time they became prevalent you didn’t really need to go fast. I found this especially irritating in 26A, as there was little way to avoid them besides just silencing the enemy staff user (which is inconsistent, and silences are limited). Essentially, the status staves ended up as even more of an incentive to go super slow in a hack where you will probably already do that.
- I might have missed some foreshadowing, but I don’t like how the situation with Mercer was set up. The fact that you can either lose a unit (who at that point was one of my best) or access to the first S-rank weapon with little indication struck me as strange. Not to mention, it makes little sense why we never find Quetzal anywhere else. There’s also the fact that virtually no one would keep Mercer alive unless they knew they needed him later, especially when he drops a Nosferatu in chapter 8. While you face a similar choice with Mithra depending on whether or not you kill Alliser, at least you get told right away that it was a bad decision if you choose poorly. I don’t know if this point should be classified as a mechanic, but it felt worth mentioning.
- Protection (the spell or the status) was really obnoxious. Your units were far more likely to activate a skill or a crit than the enemies, but the fact that these get blocked instead of merely prevented was a major pain in the ass. I would rather that those weapons just granted Nihil or something.
- I’m sad that Mjoll left me
. I don’t like that her return was tied to units that you may or may not have been using.
Story
I’m not a writer, so I don’t know if I’ll be quite as structured or well-informed as before (though I’m not a game designer, either).
Pros
- Good world-building. It rarely felt like you were just pulling ideas out of a hat for new maps, but that each characters’ decision was informed by the world around them.
- Both Lords were highly enjoyable and well-developed, although I think some routes portrayed them better than others. I felt like I especially related to Schwarze, a very moral man who is often foolishly idealistic yet harbors extreme wrath towards evil. Intelligent and serene, but occasionally nervous and headstrong Noir is probably the kind of person I would want to be, or maybe that I would want to be with instead.
- Vert was a good antagonist, and had more depth than I gave him credit for. I really expected him to kill his wife, but he actually made the somewhat selfless choice to keep her out of all this. Not to mention, he really did have some good points about what was to come. Even Schwarze kind of ends up agreeing with him in route B.
- I like how magic was grounded and given limitations. Its so easy to write it as a cheap fix-all to any of your problems, but you did good to both write a world in which it could reasonably exist and not be the lynchpin of every happening.
- I appreciate the crazy amount of planning that it took to account for every contingency. You told me yourself about how there are several ways that chapter 7B can go down depending on how you complete it, all with the same outcome. There are unique talk conversations if certain characters died, there are extra bits of dialogue depending on what you do (such as keeping the Agony knife), and thus each playthrough had the chance to be significantly different in even minor ways. Personally, I really would have liked to see Josephine confront her father, but I’ll have to check that out elsewhere.
- Route A was a great return to form compared to the bleak post-timeskip march on Kalm. The Lords felt like they were more themselves than ever: Moral, principled, and even occasionally light-hearted. They would not sink to the depths of Vert to bring about peace, they will find their own way even if it’s grueling and time-consuming. This ending also felt the most optimistic. Even though Layton was still out there, the fact that the final scene with Schwarze and Noir takes place after his massacre implies that they were still able to take down Weissholdt and minimize overall casualties. Considering that Schwarze has the Knell, I’m willing to believe that he was able to personally kill Layton, who did not seem intent on hiding by that point. It brought the story back to somewhat of a classic FE game (with Radiant Dawn vibes, which felt intentional), and I feel like it was the strongest route because of it.
Pros/Cons
- The supporting cast was relatively fun. Zero and Walker were probably my favorites, the former for the laughs and the latter for being the “wandering badass”. However, they were given very little screentime and importance compared to the Lords. This is not surprising, and it’s a problem with almost every FE game, but it was a little sad that we didn’t get to see more of them. I don’t expect there to be supports between everyone as in VQ or Three Houses, but I would have liked to see them contribute more.
- Route B was an interesting take, seeing Schwarze and Noir becoming a bit like Vert and willing to take extreme measures to avert catastrophe. When things go wrong, though, the story shifts to almost extreme darkness. I don’t think we specifically needed levity at that point, but despite being an overall positive ending it didn’t seem right to me that they should suffer so much. Schwarze never returning to Lumae? 50,000 people dying for no real reason (I don’t think it gets explained why the soul stone broke)? It didn’t sit as well with me as Route A, even if the tone was consistent with the events of the story. I was also disappointed that we barely learn about Zero, even though his relevance in the story is just as important as any other route.
- Route D was suitably tragic, and that part of it was executed well. It was understandable that the surviving Lord (Schwarze in my case) would be hardened from the war, but still fights with righteous anger. However, the events of Route D were on the short side, and it explains the least of the 3 routes that I played in terms of plot. Black and White weapon show up out of nowhere and are given like, a brief snippet of dialogue each. You kill them and then kill Layton; that’s it. I wish there was a bit more to this route, because I think the implications of what the Lords choose in regards to Weissholdt and whichever one of them dies could have interesting effects. I think it also has the potential to reveal the most about Weissholdt, since it’s the only one to my knowledge where you go there for any extended period of time.
Cons
- The timeskip was reasonably well-executed, and it gave time for things to happen, but I also feel like it was often inconsequential. No one but the main lords really change all that much, and as I’ll go into in a moment, the second march on Kalm felt kind of underwhelming.
- I wasn’t a big fan of the second march on Kalm directly following the timeskip. Each chapter felt like we were going through the motions. Fight one general, go through a forest, fight another, and then boom; it’s Vert. There was very little time to let the emotions or gravity of the situation marinate, and then we fight Adam with very little buildup. Worse still, as I’ll mention here in a moment, the time spent on the second march could have instead been about the war with Weissholdt and the true villain of the story. I mentioned before, too, that I didn’t particularly enjoy these chapters in terms of gameplay either, although 18 and 23 were good. I feel that things would have progressed more smoothly if the timeskip ended with us defeating Vert (and maybe Adam), and then skipping ahead as we begin to deal with Weissholdt.
- Layton barely appears in the story despite being the main antagonist. You don’t even get to see his backstory unless you complete two specific requirements on two separate routes. I’m not even sure he does anything in Route B, which is maybe why that’s the one in which he appears the least. This is especially sad since I feel he had the potential to be a great villain, as his motivations and abilities were highly intriguing. He’s cowardly and self-serving, but self-aware enough to recognize these aspects of himself and still tries to better the continent. There are clearly both aspects of altruism and selfish preservation, but he ends up feeling undercooked thanks to his minimal screentime.
Individual Chapters
Chapter 1
Solid introductory chapter. You did well by showing off the strengths of each character. Schwarze is pretty strong, but more so on player phase, while Noir is a terrifying all-rounder, but also highly fragile. I do wish that there was a true anti-turtle incentive though, but since it’s the first chapter I didn’t care all that much.
Chapter 2
This one was really fun. You have to move pretty quickly thanks to Oliver, but your own units are pretty weak and can’t take a ton of punishment. Even the reinforcements, Josephine and Maria, kind of struggled without support. Really made me balance just how much aggro I was taking, along with the fact that I wanted the gaiden chapter.
Chapter 2X
A reasonably fun limited resources map, though I’m not exactly sure what everything was meant to do. Why save the mercenary? Why does Anna pop up and lock you in if you visit the village? Why are Zero and Elizabeth so weak? Walker was the only one who could really get things done. I’m also a little disappointed that we didn’t get to keep the steel bow from the top left village, although I understand you don’t want to make the gaiden chapters feel mandatory. Side note: Zero was really funny here.
Chapter 3
Definitely an interesting one. I would ordinarily call the cramped corridors bad design, but since there were no real tanks and my units were still pretty weak it actually forced me to think pretty hard about where I wanted everyone. I might have screwed something up, but if I recall there weren’t enough keys to get every chest, not sure if that was intentional. Schwarze super struggled in this chapter, which was actually a recurring theme throughout the early game thanks to the fact that he usually fought at a weapon triangle disadvantage. Not sure if that was intentional, or even whether I liked it or not, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Last thing: The reinforcements that spawned when I took too long didn’t attack me, but you may have patched that already.
Chapter 4
I really liked how we were just kinda thrown into the middle of a huge group of enemies at the start. Already forces you to make some quick decisions that will carry over into the rest of the chapter. It was a large map, but the enemy density and ballistae force you to keep your hand close to your chest. It was a very intense map thanks to how powerful the enemies were, how far you had to travel, the stakes, and the side objectives. I like how Helman can be talked down by Oliver, and how the enemy troops don’t advance until you make the first move. Excellent chapter, already felt endgame-level despite the fact that it’s one of the first.
Chapter 5
Genuinely laughed out loud at the opening dialogue lol. Anyways this was a fun nonlinear map. Plus we got Hazel, who is the rare good thief unit. My main criticism is that the chapter was kind of easy. The enemies felt significantly weaker than the previous chapter, and we had a lot more options. As I might have told you, the reinforcements weren’t even aggressive, though you might have patched that already.
Chapter 6
Not much to say about the gameplay, since it’s mostly just a story chapter. I did think one thing was weird though. Vert says “It would be better if the mercenaries from Zoyla never had come”, and this makes Schwarze suspicious. Maybe I’m just dumb, but I have no idea either why Vert would say that or Schwarze would find that line objectionable. It’s true that Vert is responsible, and there was plenty of suspicion on him already, but I’m not sure what Schwarze seems to find wrong with that statement. Unless the implication is that Vert had a slip of the tongue and implied that he was the one who hired them, but I don’t think he would be that stupid.
Chapter 7B
I liked this one a lot. The Cidelith fields were super fun to work with, but did not trivialize the map as a lesser hack-maker might have done. By this point, my magic users were actually pretty important, so turning off their combat/healing ability was a risk. The enemies were just about perfectly dense as well. It was still a risk to push out, but it could be done with some careful management. My only criticism is that the leftmost Cidelith field was almost mandatory thanks to that damn blizzard siege tome. None of my units were resilient enough to take 2 or 3 at once.
Chapter 8
I loved this chapter. Sort of a defend map, but one that you also couldn’t dally around in. The constant threats from both sides as well as the incentive to rush the boss and avoid Mercer’s wrath made it hectic but not unfair. The only thing that I found to be irritating was what I mentioned before about sparing Mercer and getting Noir to 14. Otherwise, well done.
Chapter 9
Relatively lax, our first chance to try out an explore chapter. The details were spaced out well enough that they wouldn’t be missed by someone who is looking, but not to make putting them in a chapter redundant.
Chapter 9X
I really had no idea what I was doing to be completely honest. That’s probably just on me; I’m not very smart. I got through it eventually, and it was alright.
Chapter 10
I liked this chapter. It was classic FE in terms of side objectives and decision making, but the twist of throwing Jaeger in there to make us compete for exp was really fun and interesting. It was also really inspired that a traditional side objective (protecting villages) became mandatory. I kinda wish he didn’t give you a crest if he kills the boss, since that would make you actually work to get it.
Chapter 11
Kind of a reverse prison break chapter, and it was highly enjoyable. This was the first time where rescue management was an important skill and not just a suggestion. The added intensity of the promoted spawns once they were freed was also a nice touch. I’m not sure I liked the boss and their room, though. Not only is it somewhat of a player-phase ambush with plenty of tough units, but the boss was ungodly hard to kill. Nosferatu swordie on a throne? I was lucky I had a longbow, or else I may never have completed the chapter. I hear Hall is pretty good at taking down the boss, but I didn’t choose him.
Chapter 12
I enjoyed 12 as a concept, sort of scaling a large building around to the back to get inside, but it also felt really slow and simple. If I remember, there was no real reason to rush apart from saving Mia, and so I just took on every threat one at a time once I recruited her. It was excellent visually, and fun to win, but not the most engaging besides that. Even the boss could just be waited out by baiting the siege tomes.
Chapter 13
This one was fun. I liked finally getting a dancer, and the enemies were well-balanced enough that I had to take them seriously, but wasn’t overly rushed. The lower movement really made me consider each decision carefully. I’m not sure what the deal was with the boss, though. The dialogue implied that they could ambush spawn if no one was holding their location, but they never showed up even when I tried to bait them out. Not a huge deal, though.
Chapter 14
Super interesting and fun. In such a combat oriented series, I always enjoy the occasional pacifist chapter, but you definitely didn’t make it easy. I also enjoy the story touch that Blaise isn’t convinced unless Noir shows some weakness, as it’s no wonder that a battle-hardened general like Blaise wouldn’t bow out simply because someone else thought they were in the right. I wish more recruitments worked like that, instead of just convincing the opposition that “we’re totally better, yo”. I’ve also been told that killing too many units results in Noir getting possessed and turns the chapter into a route map. I feel like that would have been suitably shocking and interesting, plus the objective is apparently the same as in the Lost Chapter, hinting that it’s Layton. Really nice touch, there.
Chapter 15
A good example of a chapter that can be engaging without too much fluff. You have to push forward, but there are roadblocks in the form of tough enemies coming down on either side. It’s a challenge to get through, but rewarding to complete. I also really liked the bosses characterization, and we got my favorite broken swordy to boot.
Chapter 16
16 was fun, felt good to finally take down Mercer (I’m sure Sylvan as the boss would be much more tragic). The infinite reinforcements spawning by the tough, but not invincible green units also meant I had to divert my resources carefully. Fortunately, I was able to wait out the siege tomes. Part 2 was pretty tough, plus it had forced deployments. Thankfully, I was pretty good at armor busting by this point, but it still caught me off-guard and I nearly died. There’s nothing wrong with that though. Ultimately a fun chapter, but it didn’t blow me away.
Chapter 17
I liked this one a lot. Still sort of an escape chapter, but there is reason to actually push out a little bit, but there’s ALSO reason to hold back since there are plenty of tough and aggressive units to fight. I have no idea how I could take down Vert without someone dying, but fortunately I had plenty of money already. Awesome chapter.
Chapter 18
Part 1 was a great multi-layered escape chapter. It’s best if you don’t alert the guards, but there are lots of different ways to get out whether or not you choose to fight. The “hide” mechanic was helpful, and it made it more doable.
Part 2 was just a tightly paced and intricate prison break. Plenty of incentive to push forward, but the time limit is only barely enough to allow you to. I think Angel was trying to do something to the guards at the top left, but no animation or attack ever played out. Not sure if that was intentional, and I didn’t even realize that I could go let them out right away because of it. Still, I always like the progression of chapters like this as you slowly get units back, only some of whom can fight.
Part 3 was a more traditional map, but I enjoyed the side objective of wrestling Hades from Charon, and it was gratifying to finally get back our other Lord. The fact that the chapter ends upon killing the boss means that you can’t really dally around, which is good because otherwise I would have just arena abused everyone to the level cap. Solid chapter
Chapter 18X
Back to a more limited party, we had just enough power to overcome the relatively strong enemies. They say that we can’t let any of the monsters enter the jail, but none of them tried. Were they meant to? Either way, this was a tough one. I’m admittedly not the best FE player, but it often felt like I had to just hope that no one died on my way to the boss, who was fortunately very easy herself. It was a decently fun chapter, but kind of frustrating.
Chapter 19
This chapter didn’t do much for me. Apart from recruiting Abraham and getting the chest, there was little reason to push forward not to mention how weak the enemies were. Even the lunge siege tomes weren’t very threatening. I feel like some reinforcements from the left or the top would have made the map more interesting. Lilia also had no way of attacking from 3 range, so it was easy to cheese her and not sacrifice Luxterra. I did have fun with this chapter, but it was on the lower end of the hack.
Chapter 20
Another explore map, but this time with a player-phase ambush. I had to reset for that, which wasn’t fun, but at least it wasn’t long. Even with foreshadowing, we don’t know how numerous or powerful the enemies are. Still, getting 2 S-rank weapons was pretty fun. The Goddess Axe in particular was an MVP for the rest of the playthrough. Not terrible, but the ambush was quite irritating.
Chapter 21B
Much like 19, this chapter didn’t do much for me. The enemies were fairly weak and there was no reason to rush. The thing with the villagers and green units didn’t really matter since money was really easy to obtain in this hack, so there wasn’t much of a dilemma. The boss was easy, and arguably the biggest threat was the Giantsfeller guy. Again, I didn’t not have fun, but it was one of my less favorite chapters.
Chapter 22
A suitably “final” feeling chapter, and definitely better than the 3 before it. The enemies finally felt like threats again, with nearly capped stats and powerful weapons. There were a lot of overlapping threat ranges, which made the first part of the chapter a lot of fun as I had to figure out how to eliminate the initial wall. The trek up after that was a little boring, not much to it. Once we got to the wall there was a player-phase ambush to kick off the second half of the chapter. I had to reset again, which was unfortunate because it actually took me a while to get that far. Besides that though, it was pretty fun to fight through Vert’s last line of defense while holding off Jaeger from the side. Vert himself served as both a challenging but fair boss and as his own anti-turtle incentive, since you didn’t want to let him heal back up to full. Apart from the player-phase ambush and the slow moment in the middle, it was a good chapter.
Chapter 23
The good ol’ elevator chapter. I tell you, I didn’t even know the stairs could lead to the other locations. Probably would have been easier if I did, but I still managed to win with no casualties. Definitely a unique idea, and it was a lot of fun deciding who I want to try and kill the reinforcements with while progressing the map objective. Even getting to the bottom was pretty fun, as there was a swarm of tough enemies and no good way to deal with them besides careful positioning. As much fun as it was, Adam himself was kind of a pain with his blizzard tome. It reminded me of Conquest chapter 26 with Iago and his staves. However, Iago’s effects were manageable, but Adam was just annoying and nearly inescapable. Still, it added a decent challenge. I also didn’t expect the final vanguard of troops to be so strong. The berserk staves were pretty damn annoying, not to mention kind of hard to remove. Still, I highly enjoyed this one, although I feel that fighting Adam was not nearly as satisfying or built up as Vert.
Chapter 24
Not much to say here. It was nice to take a breather for just a moment. It was good that we got a warning of the upcoming plot decisions.
Chapter EX1/Route D 25
I was kind of hoping the weapons would just destroy each other, but the fact that we had to hunt them down and keep Elias safe was a decent challenge. The weapons were kind of weak though, and Giantsfeller straight up pierced Hoplon Guard. Plus, we could just rescue Elias and bring them to us. Still decently fun, but nothing special. As much as Schwarze has suffered up to this point, I always pictured that having to kill Noir would cause a greater reaction. That’s just me though, the way he reacted makes sense in context. He really has been hardened by this point. I wonder if Noir would be the same.
Endgame D (Schwarze)
Pretty simple. My Schwarze was an absolute monster by this point, and he effortlessly stomped all competition and Layton. No real strategic depth or anything, but it was satisfying. Considering that Layton here is the final boss, I do wish there was some way to view the Lost Chapter in this route, but that’s minor.
Chapter 25
Bah, I’ve never been a fan of fog of war maps. It wasn’t too hard to trivialize since there was virtually no reason to use the torch staff before now, but trying to find my way around was pretty annoying. Glad that Schwarze finally got his super-sword; that certainly helped. I’m sure this one will be more fun to try and S-rank, but was otherwise uneventful.
Chapter 26B
This one was fun. 10 turns really isn’t a lot, but the enemies were placed well enough that pushing out was hard. I was glad to have promoted Hermes into an Apocalypse Rider, or else I don’t think I could have done it. Long chapters where you have to chase an/multiple objectives are always fun.
Chapter 27B
You nailed the tone here. A bunch of green units that are almost impossible to save, and an initially limited part that gradually joins the fray. Super effective stuff. I don’t like that the units who come in are forced, though. I hadn’t been using Maria or Grey or Oliver, and they severely underperformed. I didn’t really need to protect them or anything, but they also didn’t help. The infantry units also struggled to catch up with everyone else. I’ve already mentioned how I dislike the soul stone breaking and causing this chapter, but I suppose it was foolish for Schwarze, Noir, and Kayleth to try and play God.
Chapter 28B
I’m struggling to remember this one, I forgot to write notes as I played it. I think it was the one with a ton of monsters and an eventual summoning. It was alright. Sometimes, I just like to see a good ol’ fashioned brawl. It encouraged me to go fast simply because I could. Otherwise, nothing too special about it.
Chapter 29B
Kind of like the previous chapter, except now everyone has SUPER POWERS. Breaking through the wall in the middle was pretty tough, but encouraged smart positioning and offensive play. The reinforcements from the back didn’t strike me as a big deal at first, but they started moving fast, and I really had to rush to evade them. While I was initially unimpressed, this chapter got more fun as it went on. Third tiers are awesome.
Endgame B
Definitely my favorite endgame of the 3 that I played. Seemingly overwhelming odds that seem almost unfair but are totally manageable. High stakes, and horrors unlike anything you have ever faced up to this point. It might seem minor, but the bridge up to the Black Weapon really upped the ante. It was like we were fighting something otherworldly, while also making it hard to avoid its overwhelming numbers. The infinite reinforcements from the bottom also promoted either moving quickly or leaving some units behind to deal with them, both of which have consequences. The Weapon itself was a huge pain, only manageable because Avalon and Knell could block Adept. Combine that with Schwarze and Noir’s support abilities and a Diraigeki from Sally, and I was able to take it down. Suitably challenging, grandiose, and a cool-ass animation made the final boss satisfying to defeat.
Chapter 26A
A pretty fun trek through a monster-infested keep. Definitely took some doing to hold off the enemy staves, purge tomes, and relentless offense. Unfortunately, my game glitched to the point where I had to sort of cheese the chapter to win. On turn 4 or 5 or something, someone on the enemy’s side would end up glitching out and crashing the game. One time it was a druid who walked offscreen, and another it was Kayleth just doing… something. I ended up warping Sally with the Diraigeki and manipulating some crits, because I didn’t have the patience to wait any longer. I had fun while it lasted, although the enemy staves were a huge nuisance since I felt there was little counterplay. One small note: I don’t feel like Kayleth should have been the leader of Ouroboros. In fact, his position in the story feels kind of superfluous. It could easily have just been Layton instead, and that way Ouroboros doesn’t have to be sympathetic at all. Better yet, he could have just tried to manipulate you into making the Weapon yourself. Kayleth was pretty strong in Route B, and I think he had the potential to be interesting, but there’s far too little time for him both before and after the reveal.
Chapter 27A
An interesting variation of the typical boat map. Instead of overwhelming forces from all sides, you are the overwhelming force meant to crush the opposition. You will get overtaken if you don’t send people out, but it’s more like you want to start killing simply to end it more quickly. I’m not sure if it’s strictly good design or not, but I had a lot of fun deciding where I wanted to place my units to ensure an efficient victory.
Chapter 28A
Similar to 29B, this one allowed me to just let loose with my 3rd tier units. It was fun in that regard, and I also couldn’t slack too much if I wanted to save Jaeger. I ended up blitzing it pretty hard, although it wasn’t particularly challenging. The boss could just be one-shotted with Giantsfeller, or pretty much any anti-armor weapon if I remember (by the way, I feel like Elias, just like with Layton and Kayleth, could have used some more screentime). Fun chapter overall.
Chapter 29A
Aww yeah, got the FE6 endgame going on here. Really fun to go room-by-room managing threat and trying to move quickly. I’m mad at myself for not trying to S-rank it, because that sounds like a ton of fun. It was simply pleasing to be able to use each unit to the best of their ability and overcome the odds.
Endgame A
While not quite as fun as Endgame B, this still provided a solid and memorable challenge. The enemies were numerous and powerful, but not overwhelming. You had to first make use of everyone’s individual strengths to make it out of the starting rooms, then altogether to take down White Weapon. I don’t know what happens if you lose this and I don’t want to find out. I also didn’t have the guts to try for the 4 light shards gimmick. Whatever it was can’t have been that important, since the one knock against this chapter is that White Weapon was pretty easy. Noir and Schwarze alone probably could have taken it on, much less a boosted Diraigeki or Giantsfeller. If I used my warp staff well, I wouldn’t doubt that I could have cleared it in one turn considering how strong some of my units were. By comparison, Black Weapon was much more of a group effort, if only to clear a path for my units to reach it. Still a really fun chapter, though, and I can’t expect everything to be cheese-proof.
The Lost Chapter
Not much to talk about on a gameplay front since it’s almost impossible to lose, but I’m glad we did get to see a bit of Layton, if not much. I found it somewhat immersion-breaking that he immediately tells the audience how he views Kalm as a brother. I feel like there has to be a more natural way to incorporate that idea, but it’s also the only instance of it that I can remember in the whole game at the moment. His story is suitably tragic, and I think he would have made for a great villain if given time to shine. Maybe we’ll get a sequel one day, but no pressure 
Final Roster
Noir was an absolute beast all throughout. Clearly the best magic user, amazing all-around stats (usually faster than the swordies and stronger than any sage), and a bunch of personal weapons and items that were gift-wrapped to make her a monster. As a Queen, she retained her excellent combat capabilities (especially when she got Aether in 29A), while also being my best support unit. While Schwarze may have overtaken her at the very end, she was the most reliable unit throughout the rest of the game, and her only true weakness was a relatively low HP pool.
Schwarze started off kind of underwhelming. Darting blow made him strong on player phase, and he had decent stats, but he was outclassed by Noir and struggled with the high volume of early-game lance users. I turned him into a Knight Lord with the reasoning that, with free convoy access, he would always have a staff on hand without the need to take up an inventory slot. He definitely filled out as a combat unit post-promotion, and I also began getting better levels with him. I do somewhat regret not making him a Great Lord, mostly because I didn’t actually end up using his staff utility much, and also because everyone else seemed to get staves anyways. Once he got Knell, he became my best combat unit on average, even before his promotion. It’s like if Avalon was 1-2 range. He was an easy candidate for energy rings and juna fruits to unlock his true combat potential towards the end. I did feel like the Exalted Knight class was kind of redundant though, especially since Knell already blocked skills and counted as light magic from a distance. Still, Schwarze did end up holding his own, and he was the only one I was confident enough to throw into a large group of enemies.
I got really lucky with Hermes. He leveled speed far more than his growth would indicate, and in fact he capped it almost immediately in Route B (this here is from Route A). Because of that, I had a flying tank who could double, kill, and galeforce away. Since I dropped Maria, he was my primary axe user, and used the Goddess Axe to great effect. Even on Route A where he wasn’t as fast, he was great at completing side objectives and keeping other units safe. I’m also lucky that he kept Luna from before that was patched out, otherwise he would have been a bit less powerful.
Josephine was definitely an early MVP, being pretty much my dedicated tank in lieu of a knight/general. Much like Hermes, she also got more speed than she probably deserved. Around the 2/3rds mark of the game though, she started getting outclassed by everyone around her. This was most prevalent when we began promoting to 3rd tier. Still, she was my tankiest unit, and could kill with brave weapons in a pinch.
I did not expect this guy to be as strong as he was. Zero virtually always leveled strength and speed, and since he was my only archer got all the best bows as well. With a combination of brave, runic, killer and killer bows as well as a longbow or Giantsfeller, there was nobody he couldn’t kill on player phase; and he could do it at a distance. I kept expecting him to fall off, but he remained incredibly useful all throughout.
I used Elizabeth mostly because of her personal skill. There were plenty of healers and light mages to choose from, but I wanted the ability for one to actually get things killed. To her credit, she probably got the most crits of anyone that wasn’t Zero, Walker, or Rose. She also got pretty good levels the whole game, keeping her up to par in terms of combat. Spur speed made her immediately useful as a support unit, too. By the end of the game though, she was mostly a staffbot. Not that I mind, considering Powerstaff gave her twice as many turns as anyone else. Very solid overall.
I knew Hazel would be good for thief utility, but most of all I just wanted to get the Red Wizard class (which was really cool!). She ended up as a pretty good combat unit though, in spite of her relatively low strength cap. I mostly ended up using her for siege tomes near the end, though. She was a little too fragile for constant combat.
Mithra immediately supplanted Oliver as my main healer when she came around. There were too few unit slots to keep more than one (or so I felt), so she became the one. She was probably one of my less useful units overall, as Elizabeth ended up doing her job but better, and Mithra’s classline wasn’t very good. Master knight was probably the weakest 3rd tier class in my opinion, why would I want my mage to fight physically? She was still good, though.
As my one dedicated Anima mage, Sally got virtually all of the best tomes. She and Rose were the most likely to get mediocre levels, but by the end I was able to bring her up to par, as in the screenshot. Thanks to Quetzal, she was also my first S-rank weapon user, and when she got both that and Diraigeki, one of my best overall combat units as well. If something needed killing, it was either her, Noir, or Walker for much of the game. Sally also has the distinction of being the one to kill Black Weapon in my Route B playthrough.
Cecil was an absolute champ throughout the early and midgames. He was literally just Josephine but better for the most part. He was fast, mobile, had good weapon access, and got an unreasonable amount of strength levelups. As might be evident from the screenshot however, he fell off towards the end. He stopped getting good levels while everyone else was coming into their own. It’s sad to see, but he still had Canto+ utility towards the end, which I could make use of to set up kills or retreat all the same.
Rose was really good, but DAMN was she annoying to levelup. She would inexplicably never get either strength or speed for most of the game, despite those growths being relatively good. Despite being somewhat fragile, I practically had another Lord on my hand once she promoted. An unbreakable 1-2 range 9 might magic sword with 30 crit? Yes please. Her average crit rate was close to 90, and she was fast enough to double virtually everything. Even Walker, my other swordy, didn’t have her 2 range utility or magic damage. I couldn’t just throw her into a pack of units like Schwarze or Noir, but she was still fantastic.
Can’t go wrong with dancers, especially not ones with 10 move and re-move. I can’t tell you how many times she saved us by refreshing 2 or 3 units in one turn. If I wanted to, I could probably clear any chapter in 1 turn if I kept trying.
Last but not least is Walker. He was pretty much Rose, minus the magic sword, but plus a lot of strength. He also got relatively speed blessed. Thanks to his personal skill, he would virtually always reach over 100 crit with a Zweihander, and sometimes with other weapons as well. Despite this, he still retained a weakness to lances, as he was both fragile and not as able to dodge them as I would have liked. Still, I could count on him to kill virtually anyone if I really needed them dead.
Technically, Elias was also there, but I barely used him and he’s Route locked. Kayleth was the other Gotoh in Endgame B, and overall more useful.
Other Units
I won’t go over everyone else here, just a few that I want to comment on.
Maria
Despite seemingly good growths, she was super fragile, and I found it difficult to use her beyond even earlygame. Her best use was to early promote and do a bit of legwork towards the early-midgame, but I dropped her after that.
Oliver
I really wanted to use him, but with as limited as my deployment slots were, I felt that Mithra’s superior range and durability would be better early on. Unfortunately, this caused him to fall so far behind that he was eventually too much of a liability to deploy.
Lewis
Was useful in his join chapter as a prepromote, but I didn’t want to waste exp in the long run, so no dice.
Crescent
Probably had the potential to be as good as, if not better than Zero in the long run, but Zero was already better than her by the time it mattered.
Sei
Another probably-good unit who was simply outclassed by another party member; Noir. As much fun as she could have been as a summoner, I just didn’t feel that I had enough deployment slots for her.
Subaru
I was so tempted to use Mr. Rallyman himself, but it didn’t seem worth it compared to everyone else
Grey
Unfortunately kinda weak for his join time. It’s sad, because I actually kinda liked him, and I hear that he gets a neat skill at 20. Was he the one who was buffed in a recent patch?
Tolkien
Didn’t end up using him at the time, but now I wish I did. Ashura looks super cool, and vantage+ seems broken with it. Plus, the animations are sweet. I managed to view them at the very end by manipulating a bunch of re-moves with Angel on a dummy save file.
Random Thoughts
- When did Noir and Grey have time to make a plan before the timeskip?
- Would Naga actually have destroyed the continent if they began to live in peace? I wouldn’t like to imagine so given how benevolent he seems, but it was awfully suspicious how he didn’t give a straight answer about it when questioned.
- The music was great. I especially loved Twilight of the Gods in I think 29B.
- Along with Kayleth, Layton, and Elias, I wish we got to see more of Flynn.
- I wish Grey had a unique quote against phantom Helman in 29A.
- Lauren seemed like she should be more important, but we neither witness her death nor the effect it has on Schwarze. She could probably be written out. Does she marry him if he hasn’t reached an A support by that point?
Bugs
I’ve already posted about some of these, but there were a few others I forgot.
- Trying to 3rd tier promote Wyvern Knight Hermes glitched out a little. It skipped the promotion animation and started showcasing a couple of glitched map sprites of him. The game didn’t crash, but it was odd. This also happened with someone else later down the line, but I forget who.
-
I got some weird graphical glitches in a few characters inventories from time to time, such as the pic above, but there were some other ones I remember and can’t duplicate as well. - There was one Champion in Endgame A who crashed the game when trying to attack with Lightbrand.
Well that ended up longer than I thought. Sorry if I was a bit rambling at times. I really liked this hack, and I’m a little depressed to be done with it. Maybe I’ll play it again, go for some more S ranks, but I also have some other obligations. Good work.
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Whoa, that’s one hell of a long review. I’m really happy for the dedication you put into both the game and the review itself.
There are some points that have been taken (Such as the one with the antagonist’s screentime, and third tiers’ balance) and will be used to improve in future versions. 
That said, while you made very good arguments, there are some defenses that I’d like to point out:
Of course, spoilers.
I felt like I had to give this route some sense of drawback. If the ritual had not gone horribly wrong, and the Weapon indeed returned everyone’s souls once it was defeated, then since the war already ended relatively peacefully and practically no one died we’d be looking at an unambiguously happier ending than ending A, which I feel would make other endings less relevant.
I kind of disagree here. Even with their limited screentime you can see that many characters have changed, and in some cases, even made a whole 180° flip.
Josephine goes from slightly arrogant noble and a knight apprentice to a full-fledged general who can take charge of the whole organization.
Cecil goes from a shy and benevolent little guy to a devoted knight who even calls out on Schwarze’s bulls**t.
Oliver becomes much more sober and Zero has completely adapted to his new situation. So on and so forth.
- Remember that scene right at the beginning of CH17, where someone asks Noir to give them details on the knights’ whereabouts? That’s Grey.
- I have deliberately left this at the player’s interpretation. Given his actions in routes A and B, this seems unlikely but you have to keep in mind that he is merely returning the favor you did to him (Saving his ass).
She does! If Schwarze has no A-supports then she gets more scenes, and of course, it makes her death scene (Which is extended) much more impactful on Schwarze’s psyche. Many of his boss interactions, mainly with Elias and Layton, change as a result (In fact, he starts angrily shouting at Elias IN CAPS!!! during the peace conference for essentially giving the order to kill his wife, even though he was barely involved.)
That’s all. Once again, thanks a lot for the review, and I hope to see you around!
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Thanks for replying, and I think your defenses hold up. Upon thinking it over, I agree with all but the first one (of course, I couldn’t have seen the last one). I probably should have remembered that scene from CH17, too.
Spoilers
I kind of figured it was there to add some kind of drawback. It’s a reasonable consequence for what they tried to do, but the fact that it’s almost unexplainable and causes Schwarze to go into exile by the end made me feel it was maybe the worst outcome. One way to fix this could be if Layton is the one that tries to convince them to make the Black Weapon. He could lie and say that this will be the best way to save everyone while also giving him more screentime. Whether or not they would trust him is another thing, but if I remember right he’s not even prime minister at that point. I suppose there is also the issue of him having interacted with Noir before, so that might set off some red flags, but I think it could be worked around. Even if the same number of people die, the fault still mostly lies with the deceiver. He’s already the penultimate boss in Route B, anyways. In addition, this means that we get to personally take him down instead of having him offscreened by Kayleth. Still, I’m satisfied with the way things turned out.
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Ending E spoilers
On turn 4 of The Last Stand, which you get if you fail certain requirements for Ending B, Layton will appear as an enemy reinforcement.
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Hi everyone, a tier list maker for the game is now available!
https://tiermaker.com/create/fire-emblem-code-of-the-black-knights-798347
Of course, spoiler warning for recruitable units.
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Spoilers
Where is Kelly and Celia on the tier list maker?
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Are there plans to buff the characters on C and low B tier ?
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You’re right. I just updated it.
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Hermes…
You are potentially the only flier that stays up until Chapter 18.
Hermes…
You join in like, Chapter 2.
Hermes…
This is Chapter 15 pt. 2 right now. Your bases and growths are decent enough for when you join.
So...
WHY ARE YOU SUCKING SO HARD?!
Sighs.
Goddamn it what is it with Hermes getting stat-screwed on my playthroughs…?
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It seems he got nein strength.
(Okay i’m heading out please don’t ban me)
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Yep…
Thank god for Mjoll. I honestly consider her better than Hall.
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unit spoilers
Since I played an older version (without the mercs, and no route C), can someone check over my descriptions? (placements are from Mycahel’s tier list)
Isaac: Orange haired young man beside Mithra
Cyan: Black haired man with a purple headband
Mjoll: Red haired young woman between Josephine and Aurora
Abraham: Red haired man between the Shade and Isaac
Crescent: Woman who has Lewis’ hair colour next to Iris
Bonnie: Blond woman between Oliver and Tolkien
Clyde: Johan/Iuchar looking guy next to Subaru and Cyan
Nikolai: Light blue haired man with red armor (Stephen from J&P), between William and Grey
Kelly: Eyepatched woman
Celia: Black haired woman with red armor
Are these correct?
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I was wondering where people get all the Rune Shards from to promote the majority of their end game party? On my first playthrough I only got 2 so was hoping to find the source now that I’m nearing the endgame on my second playthrough. Thanks.
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Don’t worry, you will soon have more than enough to promote your party!
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Spoilers
Depending on the route, you should get the Fire Emblem, which will allow you to promote everyone.
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Question, is Damn Again an soundtrack exclusive to this rom hack or does it come from another source?
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