(Clarification: This is not my hack, it’s made by THE 1)
rhdn link: Romhacking.net - Hacks - Fire Emblem: The Second Scouring
The Second Scouring is an FE6 hack and a sequel story to Binding Blade, and I like Binding Blade. One day the stars aligned of feeling like trying out a lower-quality hack for some laughs, and remembering that this was a hack that existed. It doesn’t even have an FEU page, just a page on Romhacking dot net. That’s why I’m starting this thread here, to make you all aware that this hack exists.
At first, all signs pointed to this being an easy hack to make fun of. Being an extension of an existing story, being posted in an unusual place for an FE hack, and being made by someone I’ve never heard of. Surely this hack that has existed in near complete obscurity was going to be a complete joke.
All expectations were smashed.
Guys, the hack is good.
It’s best described as exactly like what Mystery of the Emblem’s Book 2 is to it’s Book 1. Roy goes on another adventure with a mix of new maps and repurposed old maps, characters returning from the previous story while others you wished were playable are not, and you get some new faces too.
Where most hackers would choose to “fix” the unreliable hitrates of Binding Blade, this bold hacker instead chooses to… not change them. They really captured the essence of FE6 combat where enemies aren’t too tough individually, but misses CAN and WILL happen. There are absolutely changed stats on some weapons, but that unique FE6 game feel that most people hate is here. If you like FE6, give this hack a go.
Epic FE1 Hammers! (And Wade)
On the story side of things, it’s just okay. There are some bad scenes, but also some really good scenes. As a whole, it’s inoffensive. Story isn’t the best part of any of my favorite games or hacks anyway. Heck, I enjoy Fates. You need a strong start button for that game.
A gathering of the greatest minds in Elibe.
What is the best part of this hack is the map variety. While I don’t think I would call any of the maps one of the best I’ve ever played, there were many maps with unique scenarios and objectives spaced out perfectly across the 24 chapters. I felt smart during many maps for correctly judging effective strategies to avoid what other players would likely feel are slogs. “Avoidable slogs” sounds weird, but it works.
Many, if not all FE games and a lot of hacks suffer from stale mid-lategames. Second Scouring avoids this pitfall with it’s excellent pacing and unique ideas for maps. Large, complex maps are followed by smaller, simpler maps. Multiple maps don’t even have enemies on them, but they are decidedly not “FE7 Battle Preparations” chapters. The final battle isn’t half bad either.
A gigantic map that may seem like it will take forever… but a flier’s path to the throne is hardly defended.
Second Scouring not only captures the FE6 essence in it’s combat, but also in it’s cast. There are good units, and there are bad units. You may feel like you’re deploying filler units for a long time, but it works out. It also makes it feel all the better when you finally get new units, often in large, spaced out groups rather than the common drip-feeding approach most hacks take now. It’s different, and I appreciate different. It works pretty well too, I actually had quite a few deaths in my playthrough and I didn’t reset for most of them. FE maps take time and I have a life, you know. Roy is actually pretty good in this, but he’s only a little bit stronger at base, like FE3 Marth. His growths are actually worse than in Binding Blade. With his prf sword, he’s a lot like Chrom really. Weapons are a bit tight early on so it’s pretty useful.
This is funny because Chrom is supposedly an echo fighter of Roy in Smash.
Even though there are characters that are much worse than others, I can’t think of many that are useless. Like in Binding Blade there are base class enemies throughout the entire campaign, so training weak units is always possible. Many join above level 10 too, so you can promote them right away if you want, sometimes for massive gains.
This promotion was nerfed in a recent update. It used to be even better.
Menu graphic palettes are a bit messed up as you can see in some of the screenshots. I don’t know why this is, but it’s not a big deal. It gives the game some old hack energy despite being in 2023, I guess.
Anyway, please go try this game. The hack is good, chief.
Chapter 1 Gonzales. I shouldn’t need to say anything more.
