Fire Emblem: The Art of War (Alpha 2.5 Released!)

[Apparoid1]

Hello There!

I see you’ve come to this page presumably to know what this hack is all about, so i suppose i shall begin on that.

Fire Emblem: The Art of War (which is not directly based on Sun Tzu’s book, just FYI) is more or less the colmination of everything ive done in terms of fire emblem. And it started bassically the moment i first opened FEBuilder last May. And is mostly inspired by Genealogy of the Holy War, Radiant Dawn, a Military Simulator i spent a year as Staff in. And also just a bunch of ideas, attempts & experiments to break the traditional mold of a GBA hack, and this is done in a few ways.

Story

This hack’s narrative is based around the ebb and flow of tactics and battles in a war, rather than a more character orientated narrative. So you can expect the characters to be Radiant Dawn levels of meh, that being said I will attempt to do something with them. And due to the story not existing except for chapter 7 currently, most of it is told through the gameplay of the maps.

Features

-A Generally Upscaled Fire Emblem Experience
-7 Chapters (as of v2.5)
-Planned to be about 30 Chapters with a 7 Chapter Route Split
-Third Tier Classes
-20 Unique Classlines
-Branch Promotions & Dual Gender Variants (WIP)
-Resource Tradeoff System
-Reworked Class & Weapon Stats
-Minimal Use of Skills
-Removed Weight System (will be based off STR in the near future)
-Rebalanced Staves (you may find Recover useful)
-Shove/Canto+ on Every Unit
-Reworked Movement
-Multichapter Grand battles
-BOATS
-Ballisticians on both sides that can also counterattack each other
-Siege Tomes can counter attack each other
-Anima Triangle
-More Weapons & Tomes
-Custom Generic Palletes for both NPC & Enemies
-Named Enemy Divisions with Lore
-Mini Bosses on the bigger maps.
-An attempt to make Bows & Archers good without buffing their range.
-Bow Knights
-Map & Battle oriented narrative rather than a character one.

Weapons List

As of Alpha v2.5

----------Swords----------
Iron Sword
Iron Blade
Steel Sword
Steel Blade
Killing Edge
Killer Blade
Silver Sword
Brave Sword
Fire Sword
Ice Sword

----------Lances----------
Iron Lance
Iron Greatlance
Steel Lance
Steel Greatlance
Killer Lance
Killer Greatlance
Silver Lance
Silver Greatlance
Brave Lance
Brave Greatlance
Javelin
Spear

----------Axes----------
Iron Axe
Iron Poleaxe
Steel Axe
Steel Poleaxe
Killer Axe
Killer Poleaxe
Silver Axe
Silver Poleaxe
Brave Axe
Brave Poleaxe
Hand Axe
Tomahawk

----------Bows----------
Iron Bow
Iron Longbow
Steel Bow
Steel Longbow
Killer Bow
Killer Longbow
Silver Bow
Silver Longbow
Brave Bow
Brave Longbow

----------Fire Magic----------
Fire
Elfire
Arcfire
Bolganone
Meteor
Rexflame

----------Thunder Magic----------
Thunder
Elthunder
Arcthunder
Thoron
Bolting
Rexbolt

----------Wind Magic----------
Wind
Elwind
Arcwind
Tornado
Blizzard
Rexcalibur

----------Light Magic----------
Light
Elight
Thani
Shine
Banisher
Divine
Nosferatu
Seraphim
Purge
Rexaura

----------Dark Magic----------
Flux
Miasma
Verrine
Worm
Luna
Carreau
Waste
Fenrir
Eclipse
Rexvoid

----------Ballistae----------
Iron Ballista
Steel Ballista
Silver Ballista
Killer Ballista

Class List

As of Alpha v2.5 and subject to increase massively.

----------Lords----------

(M) Lord
(M) Great Lord
(M) Master Lord

(F) Lord
(F) Great Lord
(F) Master Lord

----------Melee Specialist Infantry----------

(U) Myrmidon
(U) Swordmaster
(U) Trueblade

(M) Soldier
(M) Halberdier
(M) Sentinel

(M) Brigand
(M) Pirate
(M) Berserker

(U) Archer
(U) Sniper
(U) Marksmen

----------Misc. Infantry----------

(M) Mercenary
(M) Hero
(M) Vanguard

(M) Thief
(M) Rogue
(M) Assassin

(U) Armored Knight
(U) Fortress Knight
(U) Marshall Knight

(M) Fighter
(M) Warrior
(M) Reaver

----------Magic Units----------

(F) Mage
(F) Sage
(F) Archsage

(F) Monk
(F) Bishop
(F) Saint

(F) Shaman
(F) Druid
(F) Necromancer

(F) Troubadour
(F) Mage Knight
(F) Valkyrie

----------Cavalry----------

(M) Sword Knight
(M) Sword Paladin
(M) Holy Knight

(M) Lance Knight
(M) Lance Paladin
(M) Duke Knight

(M) Axe Knight
(M) Axe Paladin
(M) Great Knight

(M) Bow Knight
(M) Bow Paladin
(M) Arch Knight

----------Fliers----------

(F) Pegasus Knight
(F) Falcon Knight
(F) Seraph Knight

(U) Wyvern Rider
(U) Wyvern Knight
(U) Wyvern Lord

----------Other----------
(U) Phantom

(M) Ballistician

(U) Corvette
(U) Frigate
(U) Warship

Due to this first release being attached to the FEE3 trailer that I made about a month ago.
The launch trailer from FEE3 2020 can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpmOijQZlA&list=PLumHgV7XNP68VDG2pBLwycmcb-owsxyOu&index=14
However do of course note that some of the polish that exists now is not featured there, such as some of the maps are unrefined or character colors are a bit off.

Alpha Credits (95% is from the repo)

Character Portraits:
-Attila
-Shin19

Magic Extends:
-Arch
-Blazer
-BwdYeti
-Golden Sun
-Jubby
-Mike_Seregon
-MisakaMitkoto
-Seal
-Teraspark

Battle Animations:
-Alfred Kamon
-Alusq
-Arch
-Aruka
-BatimaTheBat
-Black Mage
-BwdYeti
-Cipher Lee
-Cybaster
-DerTheVamporeon
-eCut
-Eldritch Abomination
-FE7if
-Flasuban
-FPZero
-Glenwing
-GoofyfanG56
-Greentea
-Iscaneus
-Jeorge_Reds
-Jj09
-Kenpuhu
-Leo_link
-Maiser6
-MeatofJustice
-Mercenary Lord
-Mikey Seregon
-MK404
-Moocavo
-MrNight
-Nuramon
-NYZGamer
-Pikmin1211
-Raspberry
-Red Bean
-Riku
-RobertFPY
-Shin19
-SHYUTERz
-Skitty
-Solum
-Spud
-St jack
-Swain
-Team SALVAGED
-Temp
-The Blind Archer
-Vilkalizer
-Waleed
-Wan

Map Sprites:
-Agro
-Alusq
-ArcaneEli
-Blademaster
-blood|||
-CamusZekeSirius
-Dei
-Dellhonne
-dondon151
-DerTheVaporeon
-FE7if
-flasuban
-Jiege
-L95
-ModelZXA
-MrGreen
-Nuramon
-Pikmin1211
-RobertFPY
-Shtick
-StreetHero
-team SALVAGED
-TLP
-Unknown
-Yikes!

Class Cards:
-Aruka
-DerTheVaporeon
-CamusZekeSirius
-flausban
-L95
-Nuramon
-Rasdel
-RobertFPY
-Shtick
-Team SALVAGED
-Unknown
-Yggdra

Music:
-Dolkar
-GratedShtick
-hypergammaspaces
-MrGreen3339
-Mycahel
-MysteriousDancer
-pandan
-SaXor_the_Nobody
-Scraiza
-Sme
-SurfingKyogre
-Swift Saturn
-Tristan_Hollow

Item Icons:
-LordGlenn
-Peerless
-Zane
-Zelix

If there happens to be any kind of crediting issue then feel free to contact me on discord so we can sort it out.

Patch Downloads:

Alpha v2.5: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-HEuexE1_dHg58upOVdwqTpPr1R4W62V/view?usp=sharing

The next version is unfortunately going to take a lot longer than it originally would have due to using an outdated patch, and as a result the whole project needs to be rebuilt in a new rom. However this means that there will be even more classes and most likely characters in the next version, along with wrapping up the first act as it is intended to be instead of it ending at a cutdown version of the first of four maps.

However I do heavily encourage some opinions and critiques on both the maps and also the mechanic ideas introduced, as that would be greatly appreciated!

[Solusaeternus]

portrait is beautiful , i love this hack thank you

[Tsun]

Well, I finished the alpha and oh boy, do I have things to say about it. Let’s start off with unit balance:

If your name isn’t Edwen, Steve, Carter, Patrick, or Essa, you’re either average or so bad that the only viable thing you can do is shove. Yes, that includes Luther and his gang, though maybe I’m being a bit harsh on the cavs. Aside from Luther’s party, I can kinda let this slide, as it is an unfortunate factor in many ROM hacks, let alone FE games. Now, the maps:

The maps are super and I mean super dragged out. I can’t even think of a worst offender for this, because aside from the prologue, the rest are equally bad. I might have the attention span of a goldfish, but that’s not really relevant. This aspect combined with the massive amounts of enemies make it feel that much more boring. Speaking of enemies:

The enemies range from bad to annoying. Not annoying because they’re suddenly obscenely good, but some if not all the bosses have huge bulk to compensate for their nothing stats. This also applies to a lot of fighters and the wyvern knight in Luther’s map. Another dull and just plain unfun aspect.

I can’t really think of anything I like, but at the very least, I can commend the amount of ambition this hack is willing to accomplish and that there was at least some care put in. Obviously, it doesn’t really make up for my experience, but I felt it worth noting.

Overall, in the future, this needs a lot of polishing. Luckily, it is very early in development, so there’s a lot of time for major improvements. I hope you found this at least kind of helpful and that I didn’t just make a raving loon of myself, but there you have my thoughts.

[Apparoid1]

Im sorry you feel that way, although to be fair I did prestate that the way it goes may not be for everybody.

If your name isn’t Edwen, Steve, Carter, Patrick, or Essa, you’re either average or so bad that the only viable thing you can do is shove. Yes, that includes Luther and his gang, though maybe I’m being a bit harsh on the cavs. Aside from Luther’s party, I can kinda let this slide, as it is an unfortunate factor in many ROM hacks, let alone FE games.

Although for the sake of unit evaluation in the rebuild, I’m curious as far as why you feel that way with the characters, as I would think some of them had their extreme uses. Or maybe the patch screwed up, but ill have to doublecheck that.

[Makar]

Im sorry you feel that way, although to be fair I did prestate that the way it goes may not be for everybody.

When taking criticism you don’t really want to fall back on this kind of attitude, it is condescending to playtesters. At first I though Tsun was being to harsh on you, but after playing the hack I think he speaks some truth.

The maps are too big, which is not in itself a con but they drag on too much from nothing much exciting happening, and even something does happen like in 1-6 when the reinforcements arrive it doesn’t achieve the effect you wanted it to achieve, whichever it was. But I get why the maps are big, you wanted to make a hack more alike a FE4 map would be but the thing is that it seems you don’t understand how an FE4 chapter works, in that game chapters are sectioned in different parts; Prologue could be divided into two parts and chapter can be divided in three, one for each fort. The division serves a purpose, it sets the tempo the chapter will have and the rhytmn of the narrative, plus you can like save in the middle of a chapter. You need to revise the chapters if you objective was achieving something like FE4.

There are a bunch of other things, (Shop prices, Every class has 6 mov, questionable weapon and unit stats stats, Free wo dao) that make me feel like you wanted to do shit that sounded cool without really questioning why have things that way or what having things that way would mean. You can be experimental and I believe its great way to go in order to make your hack be appealing and stand out from the rest, but you also have to analyse the results of your experiments.

I hope you do improve your hack on the future whether you take the advice or not.