Fire Emblem: Illuminated (31 Mainline Chapters - Complete) [Fixed Growths Now Available]

[Sokaballa]

Thanks for the bug reports. I am working on those that I can (like the death wail of a thousand banshees). You are correct about some of the dark magics, some of them I’ve never been able to connect a timed hit. Also working on a solution to phantoms attacking things they shouldn’t be, like torches and rocks!

@Minnnt Thank you so much for the detailed feedback and glad you mostly enjoyed the game! I’d like to respond to each of the points you bring up:

Gameplay

The game is definitely skill emblem, and you’re right on this… To each their own. Outside of the general debate about it, I tried to do my best to make sure each turn and each move of a unit was relevant (and not just moving units to a destination). Obviously this is difficult to fully prevent all the time, and I agree with your consensus about Chapter 6… It does sorta fizzle out and runs counter to the design philosophy elsewhere in the game. I’m going to work on a better solution for this.

Chapter 17-2 is the most divisive chapter in the hack and everything you say has some truth to it. It is slow and there are dead turns. Many chapters in the hack began with a premise of “can I try something new and make it work?” and this one was probably too big of a swing… Fire emblem is not a stealth game haha. I’m at a point in development where I don’t (and in many cases, can’t) re-haul entire chapters, so the quick fix that was added to skip the beginning part of the chapter will have to do for now.

Characters (Mild Spoilers)

Fully agree that some characters get sort of forgotten about. I had a decision to make about going back and adding more text before I released the hack, but to be honest, I was a bit burnt out after 6 1/2 years and was REALLY ready to get the hack out there. Now that it’s been about for about a month and I’ve been able to digest some feedback, I’ve started a new playthrough addressing a good deal of text stuff (grammar mistakes, inconsistencies, etc.). One of my major goals as I do this playthrough is to add more dialogue for 5 characters that are somewhat left behind: Syd, Frederic, Ophelia, Gerry, and Rajia (and probably a bit more Teddy/Clinton). Writing character talks for Chapter S-1 was one of my favorite early memories of Illuminated and I would like to revisit this for some of the later chapters.

Story (Spoilers)

Thanks for the story feedback. Agreed that there could be more foreshadowing beforehand and as I play through the early phases of the hack, I am trying to add some more references to the dialogue to suggest what is really going on under the hood.

I do like your idea about seeing other time loops a lot… Though I do wonder where exactly I would fit them. I’m not ignorant to the fact that there is already a ton of dialogue in the game, so to fit it in during an already made chapter would be difficult. Which, ultimately, brings me to the harsh reality that I’m in with further development:

I think in order for certain concepts and storylines to be fully fleshed out, the game needed probably 3-5 more chapters. The goal was for Lumen’s change of heart to really be driven by his respect for power, something Jay’s party demonstrates to him during the last Zaire arc. The idea for having dream sequence chapters (especially full gameplay chapters) of other time loops would have been awesome… But unfortunately, I am sitting at 300kb of ROM space (and that is after 3 or 4 rebuilds already). My item editors are already maxed, the character list is already full, and the unfortunate reality is that I am limited in things I can add further to the game. I definitely think things you bring up could bring the story up from a 6-8 to a 8-10, but unfortunately, the largest things I’ll be able to add are character convos like the one seen above. If there were ever a sequel to Illuminated, I would certainly make use of these things and my better understanding of FEBuilder… A dream sequence in Illuminated 2 that references the original Illuminated would be wild!

Thanks again and I really appreciate you playing Illuminated (and even giving it an endorsement!).

[diealot]

Thanks for the review. Will definitely check this out in the future

[Cath]

Help! I need somebody! Regarding the gaiden, where to find that “shiny rock/something”? Is it at a random tile in the map? Do I need to check all the tiles on this huge map? Or did I miss any other hint? I insist to play the gaiden! (It’s not the gleaming ore, right? I tried with that one, but it did not work.)

[Itkovian]

Shiny Rock

I have a feeling given your mention of trying already this might be too late, but just in case you can get the shiny rock (+3 res holdable) on chapter 16 with Danielle at the top right of the map. The house near the start point mentions the spot to go to and the village girl who triggered the event being rather spacey as nudge nudge hint hint moment.

[Cath]

Oh well, then I probably missed this in chapter 16, I cannot remember…

[Sokaballa]

If you send me a save file Cath, I can add one to your unit’s inventory so you can access the Gaiden. Pop on by the discord and shoot me the save and I’ll see what I can do for ya.

[ootdega]

Oh, so it’s an extra chapter. Welp, too late now. Missed it in Ch. 16 too. Oh well. I don’t have a save file anyway since the save system stopped working. I’m on save states. Another day, I guess. At least I’ll be able to do New Game+ then.

Is that the one with the rock that I didn’t know you could shove? Cause I don’t remember any indication that it was there in any other map. I haven’t missed anything I knew about except the Restore staff in the Teddy chapter.

Anyway I have a couple things to report.

My Aer Distillate effects apparently disappeared in Chapter 24 or 25. Both Gerry and Rachael are absolutely busted by this point, so it’s not a huge deal, but still.

Ever since the Luxin Capitol, there will randomly be a sound of a sword unsheathing and a damage sound during the enemy turn. In Chapter 25, it changed to the sound of an axe swinging followed by a kiling blow sound. It just happens, no apparent reason. Doesn’t break anything, but it’s really weird.

In Chapter 24, the Sam chapter, the call for the enemies standing their ground to start moving doesn’t actually make them start moving. Maybe it was only applicable to specific ones and they were already dead? Dunno.

EDIT: Should have bought a LOT more Equivalence tomes…

EDIT 2: Angry white magic chick never showed up, no matter how far apart my units were, and I waited until the last possible moment to end the chapter. Only way I could have put Jay and Finch further apart was to put them on diagonal opposite ends. I mean, I had Gerry in the middle for a while, but he was still quite far away from everyone else. Really wanted to fight her. Everyone’s talking like I fought her, even though she never even spawned. Oh well, I guess.

[Sokaballa]

That’s a fair bit of problems , sorry for the trouble. Some of these things I’m aware of (like the aer distillate thing which I’ve taken a stab at correcting), many of these things are first time reports. Still haven’t heard of any save files being that corrupted.

Is it possible for you to send me a save file so I can see what is going wrong for you?

[luxbeacon]

I just beat Illuminated! Had a blast with it and I always appreciate it when fan works take a genuinely serious approach with their works. I really enjoyed a smaller cast, made everything feel more personal and forced me to ensure every single character was trained and viable.

My MVP had to be Sam. Berserker’s high hp, strength and speed mixed with his all-rounder stats made him my most consistent unit. I appreciate the nerfs to fliers, not being able to have terrain bonuses makes sense.

My favorite personality wise has to be Clinton. He’s just a nice, simple guy simply here to help his new friends and do right. Also he’s buff and shirtless, that helps.

I can tell a lot of heart went into writing the characters and their bonds, familial and friendship. Jay and Finch are notable ones and I feel they are great protagonists with a lot of familial chemistry. When a character was emotional I could really tell they were absolutely going through it.

I also like how the game writes redemption. Usually we see a character be obscenely evil and that’s all there is to it. They are the villain, but this game proved otherwise.

I will say sometimes there is too much talking especially just for simple exchanges that should be short, especially depending on the situation. I get it though as a writer, I’ve done the same.

I’m surprised by the lack of romance, not displeased just surprised, I feel like this writing would manage it extremely well.

New game plus interests me, but I’m good for now. This was a rewarding experience and I just wanted to let the dev team know!

[Sokaballa]

Hi @luxbeacon , thanks so much for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoyed Illuminated! The characters were certainly the most fun part to write (even if, I agree, some things are too wordy). Sam and Clinton typically turn out to be really strong units and not surprised to see Sam carrying the team on his back! No biggies on not playing NG+, the game is already long as it is and there are no story changes in it (though I’m not writing off a potential change if I can fit it in).

Thanks for the feedback and for your time!

[luxbeacon]

Always a pleasure! I feel it’s important to let fan creators know their work was loved, so I just wanted to give my positive thoughts!

[Telos]

Congratulations on the release!
Might play this today now that I finally have the time…

[Sokaballa]

Thanks Telos! If you play it, I hope you enjoy it!

[Telos]

Thanks!
Also there’s no like story content or characters exclusive to difficult mode, right?

[Adley]

I have encountered one small problem

[Sokaballa]

Nope, no difficulty exclusive differences. You’re all square on any difficulty me can change difficulty at the beginning of each map.

@Adley Thanks for the report! I’ll fix this for the next patch.

[Telos]

Made it to Chapter 12 on Difficult Difficulty.

My thoughts so far are…

Spoilers

I like the writing, but the gameplay in places leaves something to be desired.

For one, why do we get a thief with no locktouch? Or like, not one that stays that way for the prologue. Like… it feels a bit…

I get the warning to stock up on chest keys but come on man. Like that’s just a tad annoying, me thinks…

Missed the chest on Chapter 12 thanks to that… christ.

Other things to note-

The move economy in this game on the likes of difficult mode is… not the greatest to put it mildly, especially when you’re encouraged to move quickly.

This is because you have a small party (so losing/missing out on even one person hurts), and not many high mobility units. Or not even that many tanks either, and only one to two healers; and one of them has to juggle that plus being a thief.

The border escape chapter has this really badly considering that Gerry quite literally starts off where you started (requiring no small amount of backtracking), you’re on a strict timer; and the enemy clumps are not at all easy to deal with and what feels like a timely fashion; especially when the enemies have 1-3 range access.

I feel like it’s trying to push the player to be hyper-aggressive when you don’t have the manpower of the bulk to do it.

I recommend honestly toning down the bulk on enemies by a notch and then also reducing the amount of enemy 1-3 range; especially when said enemies are placed in ways that can screw up your advance.

[Sokaballa]

Hey Telos, thanks for the thoughts and feedback!

Feedback Discussion

What you have experienced with the move economy in the game was a deliberate choice when I was working on Illuminated. Because the roster is small, I strived to make it to where every unit is important and that for every turn, the player has to be really efficient with every unit’s actions. With that, I felt having any outright tanks that could soak up 3, 4, or 5 hits in an enemy phase would put much more priority on defensive units and it is something I wanted to avoid. It is why, as you experienced, player bulk is typically a bit lower across the board. I won’t claim this style is better or worse than other approaches, it is just my preference in FE and why Illuminated plays this way.

Not having a lock touch unit or lock picking unit was also a product of having an action economy where every unit has something to do each turn. I had one early on, but felt as though having a unit whose main purpose was for picking locks wasn’t fun for that unit considering that the player can’t really replace them unlike FE with a larger cast. It is why I opted for the door key / chest key route that I did.

I would agree that some of the early game chapters may have a couple units carrying 1-3 weapons that could be replaced and it certainly comes to a head in Chapter 9. I’m thinking of giving those enemies 1-2 instead in Chapter 9 to make it a bit easier.

Once again, thanks for playing!

[Telos]

On the topic of why there’s no locktouch unit- it might not be fun, but it is practical to have- even though you can’t replace it, it’s still nice to have. (And weird not to considering what Jay and Lana’s backstories entail).

I also think that (up to Chapter 15 now), there’s some other issues too that I didn’t touch on last time-

Namely that there’s overlapping enemy ranges in places that create scenarios where there’s not really a good option to bait out enemies (using an example from Chapter 15, you have a cav with an Axereaver that moves with a unit that has a lancereaver nearby- meaning there’s no good way to check them), and player phasing them both isn’t really a practical option I feel like in these conditions (at least not without serious risk) which is an issue when the clock isn’t on your side and you need people attacking as much as possible.

Especially when your army is small, you don’t have a dancer, and there’s a variety of objectives/things to do on the map that make for a at times frustrating experience where you’re extending yourself further and further.

I also think that overall, you need to tone it down with the sheer amount of effectiveness weapons, status stuff like poisons, Sleep, and altogether get rid of things like the Hellfire which knock your HP down to one (and with a base 80 hit is honestly stupid to deal with on Hard Mode).

I say this because it forces you to spend a turn with a healer to undo the damage or else deal with it and risk further damage that you can’t afford to gamble- the intent was probably to push for more aggressive gameplay, but the problem is that on Hard Mode that’s just not really possible at times because the enemies are too bulky and too numerous to necessarily be able to tackle them all in one turn, and you just don’t have the manpower to tackle all of that potentially.

That goes double when all the units that could help you make a big push (cavs, mages, fliers) can’t really afford to charge forward because what’s up ahead can frag them and removing that takes time.

Meaning unless you play with the kind of risk that feels like less of a calculated thing and more like throwing things to the RNG and seeing what the corpses are at the end, you’re trying your best to play it safe as you can’t afford to really loss anyone at all.

You have stuff like Rallies but it’s honestly not really worth to uss it in scenarios where every attack matters most of the time. I think it would actually be better if they had something else instead that would be more practical to use, like a Drive Skill maybe. Or just even something that could help on enemy phase.

It doesn’t help either that it seems like any enemy that can wield two weapon types, has both, making enemy phasing them that much more of a pain potentially.

And it really doesn’t help that bows have WTA over mages when that’s a good chunk of your army and a Lord.

Spoiler Chapter Feedback

The chapter where you lose Lana and Clinton, if it wasn’t for the fact that Patch-Up kits and such exist, feels like a really dick move to pull on the player.

Losing two of your most valuable units for the chapter, and then having to slog it out is not exactly a recipie for fun. If it wasn’t for the rain slowing the enemy down too, oh man.

Especially when you don’t always have access to an armory to get stuff from- it makes for something that can potentially be extremely miserable to go through.

The chapter where you need to escape with Caius id also not fun to deal with because there’s a lot of enemies that you don’t really want to enemy phase, but you need to anyways because if you don’t, you’re gonna find yourself very quickly up the creek without a paddle.

Still like the writing though. Candescent and the speed of light surprised me- and I think I know what he’s really getting at with it too.

He’s trying to alter the speed of light to control time, isn’t he? More specifically speed it up and accelerate the creation process.

That’s why the two tomes require two people to truly use to the fullest- letting any one person have that kind of power is asking for trouble.

TL;DR: The enemies on Difficult also have issues with effective weapon spam, having more weapons than they ought to, and throwing way too much chaos into an already frantic situation.

[Sokaballa]

Thanks for the feedback! Enemies on difficult especially were placed in the effort to hopefully promote planning in earlier phases. I’ll admit that nothing is ever absolutely perfect and that there are enemy formations that may be a bit frustrating at times, but the intention was for there to always be a solution. Axereaver/lancereaver overlap? There’s a sword unit for that or at least 1-2 units who can tank it. Hellfire can sure be a pain, but typically they are targeting a low health unit already (if they aren’t, it’s a bug I need to fix).

You may be right, there may be too many effective weapons. I’m currently working through another playthrough (I’m at Chapter 12) so I’ll keep an eye out for it now that you’ve mentioned it.

All that is to say, I hear your feedback. I’m at a phase of development for Illuminated (and with a new job now) where gameplay changes may be a bit more sparse. I’ll certainly keep an eye on these as I replay them though. Glad the story is still interesting for you!