I’m just about to continue my travels through Erske, La Croix and surroundings…
Below some findings/remarks, maybe you can have a look at this (I use the latest 4.0.0.0 version).
But I’m already impressed again about the quality, visuals, music, overall a fantastic hack!
Remarks
Ch.12
double words
scratching my head all the time I read this… is it related to Ch.13? Where is the secret guide?
S-2
-nice little feature you did include here, fits perfectly in the setting
Ch.13
something does not work correctly with level-ups: after a fight you see the usual exp bar, which goes not up to a full level.
But if you check afterwards, the unit did receive a level up. The level-up screen is not shown.
Hey Cath, thanks for continuing to play and provide feedback! The small things like the typos I will patch up, thank you. As for the EXP glitch, I’m gonna try and figure out why exactly that happened. Can I ask you which emulator you use?
Good bug report, thank you! Glad you like the forging system! It’s not super expansive but gives a few characters a bit more character.
Emulator is VisualBoyAdvance-M 2.1.7.
But this happens also in mGBA-0.10.2, I just checked.
It’s basically in every fight, even without a level-up.
The calculation of exp is different, it’s always higher when you check after the fight, compared to the exp bar which is shown directly after the fight.
Got it, thanks for the feedback. This actually jolted into my brain that there was a reported bug with EXP related to TimedHits that Vesly has since fixed. It is not in the 4.0.0.0 patch but will be in the next release, so for now, I suppose enjoy the faster leveling! Thanks again for the bug report!
if there is already a phantom on the map, Ophelia can use the command again, but nothing really happens
also, it would be good if the phantom could be rescued, sometimes it is doing unwanted things, and there is no way to stop it
Ch.14
actually, it’s 200 items
this dialog at the start of the map, a bit strange IMO. If the units were fallen before, they now show up again, suddenly? Can Lana die at all (she is a game over unit at least in Ch.13)?
It’s just strange, but I can understand, that it is hard to implement such chapters, where you rely on specific units…
even if the knight in front of the door was already killed, the dialog appears to open the door when the key guy arrives
Ch.S-3
Baran’s promotion screen doesn’t show a unit, just some pixels, also the promotion animation does not happen
arena screen is a bit corrupted
Ch.15
triple words
Jay has lost the supply skill icon, after promotion, but he still has access to the supply
Finch can use Lana’s Bata staff, which is strange
this lengthy dialog at the end of the chapter does not happen at all if Dana survives, which makes me wonder if it changes anything in the future… we will see
Ch.16
another small bug regarding weapon usage: the driller bow usage drops from 4 to 2, although there was only one shot (maybe a miscalculation of not included timed hits bonus?), video here:
Hey Cath! As always, many thanks for the bug report. I’ll go through them in the order you’ve written them.
Summary
The summon command functions like this on every chapter, not just Chapter 13. It is to prevent the player from just having a wall of phantoms haha. I do think that having a player controlled phantom is a hugely powerful tool and I’m still leaning against this, but I will see if there is a way I can make the phantom rescuable. That is a happy middle ground.
Good catch on the item number in the supply. I’ll fix it!
The Chapter 14 dialogue may sound funny as written, but Lana and Clinton both retreat and do not die if they have fallen in battle before this chapter. As a result, when you talk to them in Chapter 14 to “save” them, this pop up is essentially saying that you are completing the chapter objective but they will still remain out of the playable party. I’ll see if I can write that a bit better.
I’ll fix the knights talking to the Generals if they are already dead, thanks!
You’re the second person to report this promotion screen issue with Beran and I still haven’t quite nailed down why it is happening. Was this chapter 15? Was it it preparations? Did Beran happen to have the thief’s code equipped (I’m suspecting this to be the case)? A few details if you happen to have them might help me a lot!
Arena screen has been fixed in the newest patch. Good catch, thank you.
Chapter 15 typo will be fixed fixed fixed. Should just be two thats. Thanks.
Jay actually never has the Supply skill and just has it innately. I may make a guide entry about it. Finch periodically gains and loses the skill and so does Jay (with his innate ability to access it), but this is more so because of the way the game’s code works in regards to making Supply nonusable for certain chapters. Was easier to just remove a skill for Finch and leave it innate to Jay.
Finch using Bata is perhaps one of the most interesting oversights I’ve seen. Good catch, will fix!
Post Chapter 15
The post Chapter 15 events were written in a time where I had a slightly different angle and story relevance to Lenore. There was even a time where Sera was not a required recruit in the chapter. I’ve since changed directions and in Chapter 15, it is nearly impossible to complete the chapter without killing Dana and saving Sera is now a required condition, so this post event convo will happen regardless.
Hadn’t seen the durability thing before on killing blows. From what I can tell, this is only happening on killing blows that would have otherwise not happened without the timed hit AND the unit would have doubled. Teddy’s item usage dropping here by 2 is something I was able to replicate and I’ll ask Vesly about it. If nothing else, I’ll add a guide entry explaining that is the cost of scoring a kill earlier than expected.
Regarding the promotion screen issue, I could check this again, and you are right, it happens only if the thief’s code is equipped. Issue was in S-3 preparations, but also within a map (chapter 14).
Ch.15
Regarding “it is nearly impossible to complete the chapter without killing Dana”: for me it was easy, maybe I was just too fast, because she does not move in the first turns, you can easily steal the key, and open the door with a flyer unit.
Would be great nevertheless, if Dana/Lenora would show up again somewhere, if you do not kill her.
Another wonderful year has gone by and I’m very grateful to have had the experiences that I have. I wish I could say that Illuminated is done… But unfortunately it is not. However, I’ve still been working on things at a decent click and have finally finished arguably the largest chapter in the game, Chapter 25. Inside of it has some unique mechanics and the largest dump of story in the game, which was sort of necessary considering the conclusion is slated to be 2 chapters later.
Thanks to the help of some playtesters in the discord, I’ve been able to patch up and update a lot of things. I’m feeling really good about where the game is at the moment, just need to hunker down and finish the last two chapters.
I’m going to update the OP with the newest patch which really only contains an additional chapter (Chapter 25) but a slew of changes under the hood. I certainly would not blame anyone for not wanting to start a run of Illuminated when there are only 2 chapters to go, but for anyone who is interested in keeping up with the story (or in offering some feedback on it), the patch in the OP has been updated. Note that because Timed Hits have been pretty extensively tested by this point, I am including it in this patch as a default.
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2025. Thanks for reading!
Thanks a lot for the update, I will continue my run with the new patch.
By the way, timed hits is a great (and unique!) feature. Hope you nailed down the small issues with leveling up.
Glad to have you playing Cath, thanks. I believe the EXP issues should be solved and are now awarding the proper amount in this patch! Good luck.
@ShirleyVaga The demo is very content rich and contains all but the final two gameplay chapters that I am still working on. In terms of content, it currently has:
29 Gameplay Chapters
6 Interludes
5 Shop Chapters
1 Unique Chapter
Hey Mike, there are no supports in the game. There are “base conversations” in shop chapters where characters will be fleshed out a little more, but you will not find support conversations or support bonuses in the main game.
There is a mode, called Mercenary Mode, that contains traditional supports without conversations (so supports just for the bonuses). Mercenary Mode is in the game currently, but at the moment, it is a NG+ feature, meaning the content in the current beta will need to be finished first.
This romhack is great! Some small issues i’m having is that the miracle skill seems to have absolutely no effect- whether on enemies or the player. Another problem is that the rules behind timed hits seem to apply inconsistently (IE the rules around lethal hits)
Hey @harperers, thanks for playing! I haven’t heard any issues with the miracle skill before, though it may be a conflict with timed hits so I’ll check it out. Can you explain the inconsistency with lethal timed hits that you are experiencing so I can investigate it (excluding miracle)? The way I had implemented it, timed hits cannot lower damage from an incoming lethal hit. Is this not how it is functioning for you?
