Hey, I’ve made it to chapter 23! I felt it was as good a time as any to comment a few things I’ve been meaning to say about your hack.
First, it’s been a really fun time! I’ve been playing on maddening, and so far, for the most part I felt it was a fair difficulty.
If I had to make any criticisms, some enemy classes are a bit too tanky for my tastes, and I think you should probably use crit boosted classes less often on the enemy side, because crit isn’t fun to deal with when there are no hoplon guards in sight.
Lastly, in chapter 15, the wyvern knights that appear after seizing attack immediately, which can be a nasty surprise if the player has left any units behind. Making them wait a turn before moving or moving the player army to the area near the keep after seizing (like in chapter 20) would fix this. Other than that, I have no complaints. Tight and creative map design overall, really nice.
EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to comment on the number of deployment slots. I’m not saying it’s a flaw, but it’s been a bit awkward to manage the amount of units I wanted to use with the highly limited slots I was given. So many cool looking characters, and yet so little room… Decisions, decisions.
I also wanted to take a moment to appreciate the playable cast. Almost everyone is a fun character, I can’t wait for complete supports. And then there’s the units. Really like the units too. Parvati is an amazing concept, for example.
Some of the promotions are wild. The best example in my opinion was Ariel. When I first saw her, I was expecting to bench Ariel as soon as I got Kathryn back, but when I saw the option to promote her into a lance healer of all things, I just couldn’t resist. She’s been surprisingly useful, too! I half expected it to be a waste, but she’s been quite good, and I’ve been thankful for the ability to fight while silenced more than a couple of times.
I like the portraits as well. A bit rough around the edges at times, but I like how… distinctive they are. I don’t know, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but they have a little something to them that makes them feel unique compared to most other GBAFE portraits you see out there. I quite like them! I think my favorite is Kurtis. I won’t lie, beard pegasus knight was the main thing that seduced me to play this hack in the first place, haha. That puffy beard just looks wonderful.
There’s a couple of really obvious splices, but most of them are on minor enemies, anyway. The most jarring of them is Devante and his Narcian face. It suits him, but given how important he is, the blatant splice rubs me the wrong way. Still, nothing too big.
So yeah. Loving the hack so far. Now, I’ll leave here a bunch of typos and other minor issues I’ve found, for you to fix if you want. It’s going to get long, so please bear with me. I try to be as thorough as possible with these kinds of typo reports, haha.
Minor issues
Enemy Silvan, unpromoted Roxie and generic myrmidons have this weird green outline in some places that looks ugly.
This may’ve been intentional, as a sort of incentive to hurry up and kill him quickly, but the thieves in Prelude III will attempt to steal the boss’s dracoshield.
Myles has his post-timeskip portrait if he dies pre-timeskip.
In the chapter 9 ending cutscene, Wyatt and Kurtis both attack the same enemy. Wyatt kills it, it fades away, and then Kurtis just sort of… summons it back to existence so he can deal no damage to it. Weird. Doesn’t softlock or anything, but it looks funny.
Enemy templars have a different palette when they’re healing and when they’re attacking.
Neilson has no palette.
Aura’s description claims it grants +3 defense, but it only seems to grant +2.
Despite being a swordlocked unit, Leah doesn’t suffer effective damage from swordslayers.
This thief, in spite of having no displayed movement, moves to steal items. I’m guessing it’s just a quirk with the thief AI. Wouldn’t be the first time it’s caused glitches, even in the official GBAFE games…
Queenie appears to be standing outside the map in this cutscene. She’s dead in my run, I imagine that’s most likely the cause. The scene doesn’t softlock, fortunately, it just looks a bit weird.
This is a bit subjective, I suppose, but I think the GBAfied version of Shackled Wolves used in the hack sounds horrible. I don’t mind the use of regular GBAFE music too much, and I certainly prefer it to bad ports like this one.
Typos
is not within my memory.
take in the ambience
This one pops up a couple of times. It should be “have a bone to pick against us”, right?
at all costs
fliers like Pegasus
I will see to it
then request negotiation
at its lowest
“Aid” is consistently misspelled as aide throughout the hack. While “aide” does exist, it means something completely different - It’s a person who acts as an assistant.
a change of contracts is in order
Unnecessary “a”
they always do
Auntie Winifred always gets what she wants
…Also, is that the greatest line in the history of ever or what?
Well, no, not really. Amanda has the greatest lines, no contest.
Anyway.
who controls the area
the Hero of Justice
under the protection of the royal family
Skilled messenger
No one comes in
just getting acquainted
it is high time
the White Lions look a lot younger
You’ll be meeting yours soon
who turned corrupt
Unnecessary “a”
to the Cursed Song
requests an audience
So that’s it
It’s probably better not to ask
is harder than I expected
about the situation
Many a time, or just many times
Take the river to Fort Kansa
sworn to protect
The big blue class name for the oracle class on top of the promotion screen is missing an O.
I am here
I offer you redemption
with whom do I speak?
please excuse me
they threw me in here
All things considered
I suppose it should
What happened here? There’s four typos in this one conversation lol
In any case, you’re certainly a sight.
I’m guessing “sore legs” instead of “eyes” is not a typo, but rather a joke on the fact that he’s a slow armor and he’s “the fastest messenger in Celyste”.
Prince Josheph
wait till you hear this
Unnecessary “am”
Both of these are the same typo - it should be “messenger”, not “messanger”
Ametona versus Celyste
I apologize of my people’s behalf
It’s a shame
to you lot?
preparing to battle
It’s still not too late
Devante’s success
the evil that destroyed
endure another catastrophe
I’ve instructed
due to our association
Our economies
many times
What a pity.
the world is at stake
Same typo in both of these. It should be “stabilize”, not “stablize.”
In the chambers beneath
Double “the”
The daughter
for these kinds of surprises
Hmm…reinforcements from the port?
Well, that’s it for now. Perhaps I’ll come back after I finish the day to drop a few more typos and some final impressions. Till then!