I have heard several requests to allow for Shiloh, Riley, Wanda, and Tanya to all be recruited on the same play through. I am thinking on this one. I ran into complication with allowing this on a 2nd play through, but I might do something Maddening exclusive. I will need to incorporate something that makes sense though. It’s on my mind and might see light of day.
Shiloh and Rob, huh? That is an interesting pairing. I can prioritize thinking on this one. Benji and Caspian is one that I definitely want to do soon. Caspian is going to be getting a lot more content in the future.
I think Benji gets disregarded for two main reasons.
People meet and have a chance to use other archers like Winifred, Liang, and Caden before having the chance to really use Benji. People seem to get attached to character who join earlier, and I have seen this true for Winifred and Caden. Liang also gets overlooked too.
Benji has weird growths for an archer, which can be a turnoff, but it can also make him fun to use.
Agreed. Myles and Joseph pairing is pretty funny.
I enjoy your comments. I am trying my best to keep improving and improving this hack, so thank you.
To be honest, the reason why I want Shiloh and Rob is mainly since Shiloh got Joseph, Rob, Eamon and Kurtis. Joseph is mainly supporting with Wise or Myles, which is quite unfortunate. While Eamon would be better supporting Wise since both can quite beneficial to each others and Eamon Silver Knight can follow Wise nicely. Kurtis joined at a very “interesting” chapter and face a tons of others competition on the sky, mainly in my playthrough (Wise and Shane) could turn out much better despite Shane joining really late into the game. So sadly I’m just so used to pairing Shiloh with Rob, and I understand why would you fell iffy about that paired ending ( sorry T-T). And speaking of which, I don’t think we have a monk counterpart for male who use light in the game outside of Queenie right? Levelling Shiloh up to 20 would just make him maxed A in staff and halfway to S so its quite hard to get him to S in light ( which is a shame). But I understand why you want to do it, to make people want to use Queenie more and to make her standout as an important character plot wise. Lael is also a pretty weird choice to max light on, since she would also br better as S in staff due to move range and forced deployment in the 3 final map.
And yeah, people used to see what I said as being rude or annoying so I want to make sure I’m not being an asshole or anything…but if I’m being rude in the future, please call me out on it. And thanks Caladrius <3
Joseph can make a pretty good support partner for Shiloh, but I also understand wanting to pair him up with Wise or Myles. Everyone wants that fire affinity! Shiloh wouldn’t be bad with Eamon (definitely haven’t written that one) if you make Eamon a Halberdier.
I will definitely think on Shiloh and Rob though. Shiloh is definitely becoming more and more interesting of a character the more content I give him. I like his backstory - even though it’s not all in the game yet. Happy you like Shiloh as he seems like one of the least popular charcters.
Yes, Shiloh is the only option for a male light magic user. It is still possible to get him to S in light even if it is difficult. I also don’t intend on adding a male monk to the game. I already have a main magic user for every type of magic.
I think the reason for him being unpopular is because he is a newly added character, and he exist in the same game as Kath and Ariel ( both you get extremely early). And also the fact that if you get him, you couldn’t get Riley and vice versa. But then again, both of them are not exactly game changing ( RIley is pretty much a hit or miss but become really strong after getting his promotion while Shiloh serve as a heal bot for a while). And btw, I have finished the male challenge on hard ( this time using Joseph as a sage and using Liang since I’m getting Riley for Streling). Have to rush Liang to get his adventurer promotion just so I could get a healer was tough but worth it overall, I like how you make Adventurer get the ability to steal since I’m more prono into Atticus being an assassin. Somehow my Myles turned out worse as a swordmaster than my assassin playthrough but it’s could just be because of RNG. Sterling is a strong unit overall, especially if you can feed him some level but then again, he is an Est which not that many people like. I have always have a thing for Est tho ( Nino, Zeiss, Pelleas, etc) so worth it!!!
Actually, Atticus and Liang should always keep the ability to steal regardless of which class you make them. They are special like that. Atticus can steal as an assassin or whisper and Liang can steal as a ranger or adventurer. Similarly, Eliza can steal as an assassin.
I think there is probably some truth in that. People tend to become more attached to characters they meet earlier. Ariel and Kathryn are great healers too, and it takes some time for Shiloh to really shine. I do find Shiloh interesting though.
I cannot believe you finished this so quickly! Very cool. Glad to hear that Liang put in work as an adventurer. He is a great res tank.
Myles is an ally and eventual member of the White Lions. Myles is confident, a little reckless, and completely selfless. He is shown to make friends easily and treasures the time with them more than anything.
Myles had a tragic childhood when his parents and sister were killed in a bandit attack, and while thankful that he survived, he wishes that he was strong enough to make a difference. Myles lived on the streets without a home or family for some time, and he refused to give into despair, vowing to become stronger and find his own happiness.
Eventually, Myles meets Lael, and the two form a close bond with their companionship filling holes in their hearts. After some time together, they are aided by Boone and the White Lions during the Celyste-Ametona War. After fighting alongside the While Lions, Myles wants to be a part of them; he wants a family again, which is contrary to Lael who chooses to run from her past.
Myles is shown to bond with all of the White Lions over their travels, such as forming a brotherly bond with Boone and Caspian, a friendly rivalry with Travis, and a complicated friendship with Winifred. He also gains the respect, trust, and friendship from Prince Joseph after aiding him in defending a Celyste city. Myles is the type of guy who will always rise to any challenge that life throws at him. He is a loyal friend and lives with a smile.
Appearance:
Myles has spiky blonde hair and initially wears a very worn out coat. After the time skip, Myles has shorter hair, a pierced ear, sports a small goatee, and cleaner clothing. His armor color is blue and wears two shades on his coat and shirt.
Growth Rates:
HP
Pow
Skl
Spe
Lck
Def
Res
65%
50%
40%
60%
55%
35%
20%
Unit Analysis:
Myles has solid growth in Power, Speed, and Luck and will be double attacking reliably for good damage. It should be noted that Myles’ base power is only average, so he is subject to being RNG screwed in some situations. Still, Myles is a solid candidate for the Energy Ring found on Ch10 to boost or correct his offensive capability. Defensively Myles is not great. Most notably, he has subpar HP and horrible Res. Despite has poor defenses, he will have very high avoid and can dodge many threats that come his way. Still, he will need to be played cautiously in situations where there are many magic threats.
Myles’ promotion options work hand-in-hand with his growths and will further boost his offense and avoid. Swordmaster is a great offensive class for trying to take down opponents in one blow thanks to the critical hit boost; however, Assassin is the better choice for Myles to expand his weapon arsenal. Assassins have access to swords, knives, and bows, so Myles can have reliable 1-2 range weapons available to him unlike the sword locked Swordmaster. Assassins also have lethality and will allow Myles to provide thief utility too.
Overall, Myles is a versatile offensive unit who can also provide the coveted thief utility as an Assassin and amazing fire affinity support bonuses to his friends. Additionally, Myles has one of the highest avoid in the game and is a great option to place strategically on tiles with terrain bonus and watch him go to town. It should also be noted that Myles is tied for having the best availability in the entire game. Therefore, he has many opportunities to prove himself… and he only gets better and better.
Support Options:
Myles has the amazing Fire affinity and a lot of good support options to choose from:
Boone - Ice
Leah - Fire
Travis - Anima
Joseph - Wind
Lael - Anima
Winifred - Dark
Noelle - Ice
Myles appreciates offensive support bonuses that also improve his critical hit rate in order to take advantage or support either promotion option available to him. Affinities that boost Myles avoid are also good to consider if looking to make him into more of a dodge tank.
Leah is probably going to be Myles’ best support option as the double fire affinity will significantly boost power, avoid, and critical hit. Double fire affinity is also beneficial for Leah who appreciates similar boosts as Myles. A downside to choosing Leah is not being able to benefit from the bonuses early in the game as Leah does rejoin later.
Joseph’s wind affinity is also very good on Myles for boosting his power and critical hit, and Joseph mutually benefits too. Joseph also rejoins earlier compared to Leah for Myles to benefit more during the course of the game. It should be noted that Myles may not be near Joseph enough later in the game if Joseph is promoted to Dark Griffon.
Travis and Lael provide a very nice bonus to Myles, but they are missing the key critical boost with their anima affinity. Pairing Myles up with Travis or Lael is a good idea if wanting to also boost Myles’ defense while also contributing to avoid.
The dark affinity bonus that Winifred provides is pretty good for Myles but not the best option. Winifred makes a great secondary support to a primary of fire, wind, or anima.
Boone and Noelle’s ice affinities are probably the worst option for Myles in terms of boosts; however, Myles and Boone can immediately begin building support on chapter 11, so Boone could be a very good support candidate if the two White Lions will be fighting a lot together. Boone will also not say no to a fire affinity bonus.
Popularity Poll:
I intend to continue doing character spotlights each month. Silvan will probably be getting the spotlight next month. I acknowledge that he has pulled ahead in the character popularity poll. Vote for your favorite characters and tell me why you like them.
Played through the full game on hard a few days back, and I really enjoyed the run a lot. If you’re new and want to give the game a shot, there will definitely be spoilers in here, so the overall consensus is this: give the game a shot, and I doubt you’ll regret it.
Leah’s arc does a good job of getting the player used to the game’s mechanics, similar to Lyn in FE7. I do wonder what chapter 11 would look like without having a decently leveled Caspian, though. Mine was about level 10, and it was still pretty difficult to successfully save the red gem. It’s a very stressful map to play, with the brigand in the back, and I personally think the map would be a much more enjoyable intro to the timeskip if the red gem wasn’t on such a short clock.
I had a really hard time with chapter 12, but that was mainly because I was determined to get both the physic staff and dragonshield, despite having a practically base Travis and currently underleveled Myles, on top of getting Roxie, who also wasn’t leveled much in the pre-skip map. It’s a really well-balanced defense map considering all of those things, and chapter 13 was easily one of my favorites right after.
I think I enjoyed every single map, actually, except for the desert map that requires Lael to reach Edith (I think it was 23?). The monster spawns felt rather excessive, and I ended up breaking a lot of weapons just trying to set up units in a way that could both remove enemies so that Lael could successfully talk without getting hit at all, while trying to keep my units out of the berserk range I couldn’t totally remember for sure. I think my absolute favorite maps were the jail break (16, I believe), the fake drum location (25?), and chapter 28 was quite possibly my favorite overall.
A couple of things I noticed: Majestra doesn’t appear to actually be light magic, but rather it functions as a sword, even at range. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it /feels/ like she’s supposed to be able to combat shamans with it. In a similar field, I noticed gargoyles are not weak to wind or thunder magic, but are weak to the wind sword, which I found extremely useful, but I doubt was supposed to happen. Faith and Amanda’s C support appeared to be bugged; only one of them could initiate it, but I don’t remember now which one was able to do so. Lastly, on the before last map, there is a hero who spawns to the bottom right side of the map, pretty late in, who has a silver lance and silver axe, instead of a silver sword. I also wish Devante would lay off the berserk, once there was a unit in range of him, but that map is overall really cool and I hardly count that as a point against it.
I think I only have two criticisms of the game, and they’re both pretty minor: first being the late character recruitments. I was playing blind, and didn’t have any trouble with anyone until Amanda, which made me replay her map twice, before finally giving up and having to look it up, and I’m definitely not a fan of losing half of my army, especially when none of the remaining units were healers. (Also, related to that map, is there any reward for keeping the two civilians imprisoned with Ozias alive? I know it’s possible with some well-aimed sleep staves, but I wasn’t properly equipped to do so.) Lionel’s recruitment also caused me to restart, since my Lael was very underleveled and needed to be kept out of combat for the most part. There was also Shane, who seemed to be hellbound on flying directly into the snipers near his spawn point, but this one was easy enough to solve by ignoring Amanda and letting her come to us, while the army heads straight north. This is also really only an issue if Wise didn’t see any use.
Second, I was bothered by the use of the green monsters in Wise’s map. Their being able to move through my units almost forced a reset at the end of (the first part) of the map, but Roxie got a very lucky dodge. I think it would feel very similar if the monsters were just red, and Wise and his men went green when they appeared. I understand not wanting to lose the monsters’ ability to attack at the boss and his men, though. I’m not sure if there’s another way to go about the third army, though perhaps allowing the use of enemy range display could be a handy step, and would definitely be welcome regardless, to help watch for siege tomes.
Overall, I thought the game was amazing. It was just long enough to not get tired of it, and there aren’t two maps that feel particularly similar in gameplay. Having only master seals was a great change, and I can very easily say this is my favorite playthrough of a gba FE game, for the story, gameplay, and characters. Can’t wait to see the rest of the supports fill in.
Thank you for checking out the game, @Kjmccloud, and thank you for taking the time to provide your review and feedback.
Chapter 11 isn’t actually too bad if Caspian is a low level or at base level. He actually has decent bulk to still take out pegasus knights if you position him in a tree. Grabbing Liang instead of Roxie is usually a good idea if Caspian, Myles, and Boone were completely ignored. Though, Boone and Myles should have received some leveled from their forced deployments.
I have done some rework on the desert map to make it less brutal already. I have lessened the amount of monster spawns on that map, so I hope it will be easier to break through the monster swarm.
Actually, Majestra isn’t actually supposed to be light magic. It’s basically just a super powerful light brand, so it won’t have advantage over shamans.
The sonic sword is only supposed to be affective against thunder based units and pegasus classes, so that is a correction I should make.
Good catch on the hero holding a lance instead of an axe. Thank you.
Honestly, I don’t know what is up with Faith and Amanda’s support trigger. There is nothing different with how their supports trigger. Faith actually will trigger a support with Amanda like 5 turns later. This makes little sense to me considering they have the same starting value and the same support growth. Not sure if anyone has any thoughts here. Why would it only be happening with this specific pairing?
Regarding your recruitment thoughts:
I intended for Amanda’s recruitment to be pretty hard late in the game. I wanted her to be sort of like a Karla to get; though, I didn’t like the idea of having it be a use this one character check, so I made it so you need a strong team of male characters. Using Shiloh really helps with getting Amanda. She is not someone that is needed on every play through though. She is fun to use. I will give her that.
You do not get any reward for saving the two civilians on Ch26. They are fodder for allowing Ozias to live long. Though, I am rethinking how Ozias is recruited to make it a little easier. Though, I still want the player to have to rush there.
Lionel’s recruitment isn’t too bad actually. Lael just need to be adjacent to Lionel, and you can speak with him on the same turn with either Boone or Ariel. Even if Lael is weak, she doesn’t need to engage in combat for this action.
Ah yes, Shane flying into the snipers. I agree. This is kind of annoying. I have already adjusted this so that Shane won’t be doing this. You will still need to get to him before he does stupid green unit stuff, but it won’t be as bad.
Regarding Chapter 15:
I agree with your assessment on Chapter 15 100%. Actually, that map is probably my least favorite in the game for a lot of different reasons. I don’t like the green units either. The fact that they basically have pass is super annoying. I do like your suggestion with making Wise’s units green though. That might be a good balance here.
Wow! That’s some crazy, high praise. Thank you!! I try my best with creating this hack and continuing to improve it. More supports should be coming soon and there are a lot of pairing that have been written, so stay tuned.
I don’t mean to say that Lionel’s recruitment is hard, I just think that it and Amanda’s are counterproductive to being able to just play the game blind. most people don’t expect to go through a romhack multiple times, and unless you’re looking ahead and trying to route out exactly what you want to do, there isn’t any way of knowing how you should prepare for such recruitments. I love the game, but didn’t really like Riley, so Shiloh is an easy choice for me moving forward, but just playing the game, the player quite possibly won’t even know he exists (actually, looking back, I picked wrong on all three of the character splits, relative to my preferences. I’ll probably be doing Liang, Tanya, and Shiloh from now on)
Lionel’s recruitment costed me a run, because I had Lael and Edith together very far away from him, and having to suddenly change her trajectory after learning what I was supposed to do was more inconvenient than just restarting.
And in the same vein, I don’t think chapter 11 is difficult, either, but not knowing what’s in a village, and also not being able to get to it can be a big disappointment, especially to a newer player who doesn’t know what his team is going to look like going into the map. Removing that brigand I think removes a lot of pressure, and just turns it into a regular prologue map, but there’s definitely an argument there for wanting to reward the player for knowing what they’re doing. And again, money is spread out so well, they won’t need it anyway.
I fell in love with Amanda as soon as she called Faith a peanut, though, so I was determined to figure out how to have her on the team, and willing to make any sacrifice necessary to do so. That scene absolutely brought me to tears, and it alone convinced some of my friends to pick up the hack, too.
I didn’t think Ozias was particularly hard to recruit, though I’ve only played the map on hard so far. Knowing it was okay to kill Amanda on that map made it much more manageable, but my first run through of it, I was skirting her around the map while cleaning up the chests and getting to the secret shop, which was a very difficult, but also very rewarding thing to accomplish, even if I ended up having to replay it again after figuring out what her recruitment requirements were.
I can see your point, @Kjmccloud on Lionel and Amanda being very tricky characters for people to find when playing the hack blind. I know they aren’t needed characters to beat the game, but people do seem to want to recruit as many characters as they can.
Strangely, I have heard from a couple people who have played Lonely Mirror multiples times already. I was honestly not expecting that, but I like to think that the game has decent replay value. It is always cool to hear people’s experiences.
I really think Liang and Shiloh tend to not get chosen over Roxie and Riley. For that reason, I think Liang and Shiloh are probably the most overlooked characters in the game. Liang can take some work, but can turn into a valuable res tank. Bishop Shiloh is kind of OP at the end of the game with seraphim tomes and having another healer during Burga’s arc is kind of nice. I wouldn’t say they are better or worse than their counter recruits. Just not as liked or overlooked characters/units. I am kind of 50-50 on Tanya and Wanda. It really depends what makes more sense for your team.
Maybe I will see about delaying the Brigad by another turn or 2. That can give the player some more time to get the house, so it doesn’t seem like an immediate rush. I will admit. This house is difficult to get, and I usually ignore it on runs where I don’t really use Caspian or Myles.
I love Amanda too! At the same time, I am terrified of her. She’s great, and a lot of fun to write. Happy you had enjoyment with the Amanda scenes.
Personally, I’ve never considered playing a hack more than once, but this one was definitely an outlier for me. I’ve been building support triangles and considering different units I want to try out for future runs, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be completely done with it. I really look at this game similarly to how I’d look at one of the official FE releases.
Supports building from three spaces away is absolutely amazing, by the way, and I forgot how huge of an improvement that was until I just went back and played some FE7. Definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.
I plan on giving Liang all the str boosts on my maddening run, so that he can hopefully exist as both a decent mage killer and healer. On paper, he’s an amazing unit without his low str growth holding him back, and I’m excited to see it in practice.
Liang was the star player on a draft play through of the Lonely Mirror. I grabbed Liang after not getting access to any of the healers. I did just what you are planning. Gave Liang the strength boost to get him going. He was my archer, healer, and res tank all in one unit. Worked pretty well for me.
I did most of the testing on Visual Boy Advance 2.0.2, so that is the Emulator I would recommend using. Others seem to work though. I would not use very old versions of Visual Boy Advance though as they experience some issues.
Alright and thanks both of you for that!! I got Visualboy emulator but now I just need to know how to play this rom I’m a big fan of Gba fire emblem games but I new to downloading roms and playing them
Yo Caladrius, been a while. Just wanted to ask how the game’s been updated since I played the first release. I recall a lot of high enemy bulk and reinforcements last time, but if that stuff has been toned down, I’d be up to give the game another playthrough.
Alright and thanks both of you for that!! I got Visualboy emulator but now I just need to know how to play this rom I’m a big fan of Gba fire emblem games but I’m new to downloading roms and playing them
I try my best with creating this hack and continuing to improve it. More supports should be coming soon and there are a lot of pairing that have been written, so stay tuned.
