[LT] Fire Emblem: Andromeda (Acts 2 out of 4) [Latest Build: 20251114]

[Eretein]

Rated E for Edgehog… Viewer discretion is advised.

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FEE3 2023.
FEE3 2024.
FEE3 2025.

What’s the hype all about?

Synopsis

In another time, another place, a priestess of Naga embarks to deliver a sacred tome across the continent of Andromeda. Joined by comrades new and old, what begins as a pilgrimage sweeps her into an epic clash against men, monsters, and eventually gods… Vows broken, bonds shattered, and oaths cast aside, Naga’s priestess must answer the age-old question: just how far will you go to preserve what you hold dear?

Gameplay

Command five protagonists and a small, diverse party through a campaign that spans four acts. Shape the story through choices made both in dialogue and on the battlefield. Each chapter in Andromeda is a tight-paced battlefield demanding full deployment and full attention: split your forces, secure multiple objectives, and uncover secrets, all while managing a momentum system that rewards aggression and punishes blunders.

Andromeda is not your typical rom hack… And now, it’s not a rom hack at all!

Features

★ Soulslike difficulty: enemies scale to your power level and mistakes carry weight.

★ Deathless system: sacrifice units who return weakened in the next chapter, or perfect your strategies so no one falls.

★ Momentum system: accumulate Momentum for impactful free actions and extra turns, or lose it when the tides turn against you.

★ Positioning matters: Flank, Corner, and Surround enemies to secure an advantage.

★ Aggro system: Guardians can Cover vulnerable allies—but enemies protect their own, too.

★ Threat system: characters receive Threat penalties to Crit and Avoid after being attacked, punishing juggernauts.

★ Modern skill system: 100+ high-impact skills, but each unit only learns 6 at a time, in addition to a unique Personal Skill and a powerful Keystone Skill. Choose wisely.

★ Dozens of unique items, weapons, and spells: adapt your tools to the task at hand.

★ Branching skill trees let your characters carve their own niche, while equippable gear lets you customize them further: decide your own playstyle!

★ Third-Tier promos: three promotion tiers with unique stat spreads and skill pools per class.

★ Modern class system: full reclass and respec systems for experimenting with builds.

★ Combat roles: craft a balanced party of Strikers, Bruisers, Guardians, and Strategists to conquer the battlefield.

★ Pair Up: characters with A-Rank Support assist each other in combat and grant unique perks based on their roles.

★ Full Custom Aesthetics and Soundtrack: pushing the boundaries of a modern engine, say goodbye to the constraints of an FE8 ROM.

What’s in Beta 3.0?

All of the above and…

★ Complete migration (and more!) of Beta 2.0 from GBA to the awesome Lex Talionis engine.

★ 30 playable characters and 16 playable chapters, including 2 secret gaidens that tell a story parallel to the campaign…

★ An Act 1 that takes around 20 hours of gameplay, give or take, more if you replay to search for secrets and easter eggs.

★ An Act 2 that takes off from Act 1. Half of Act 2, anyway. Takes about 20 hours of gameplay, too!

★ Supports for the playable cast!

★ A complete 100-track Sound Room using the Starfall Soundfont fully unlocked for your pleasure. Each track that plays in-game is custom, arranged in high-res by me for the LT engine. Some songs may sound familiar to you, some may be completely new.

★ Public playtesting is required to iron out gameplay and discover unforeseen bugs.

Lots of Screenshots!

Gallery

Don’t lie: you went here first.

Known Issues

None! The perks of a proper, testable game engine.

This won’t last long.

Other Details

Credits

Consult the spreadsheet in the download which contains full credits for battle animations, map sprites, portraits, music, etc. as well as information about the game. If your work is in Andromeda and you find that I forgot to credit you, please inform me so I can add your name with my apology.

Let’s promote transparent and organized documentation.

About the Author

Since this is my first real thread on this forum, allow me to introduce myself.

Hi, I’m Eretein.

I’ve been a fan of Fire Emblem since the 2000s. My favorite games in the series are FE8 and FE13 while my favorite rom hacks are Blazer’s The Last Promise and The Emblem Brigade’s sadly unfinished Zhack.

I’m a programmer by day, a writer and artist by night. I’ve published stuff that I’m legally disinclined to share under my online identity. However, I’ve also published trash novels on FFN and Ao3 (you may already hate know me). In fact, Andromeda occupies a small corner of my flagship series—the Loreverse Chronology.

Reading my other stories isn’t necessary to understand the story of Andromeda, though, so don’t worry about that. At most, there will be fun cameos and little nods and references to already established lore.

Have fun playing!

About Andromeda

Who is this game intended for?

Fans of Code of the Black Knights will adore the branching narrative, the attention to detail, and the impactful choices you have to make. Players who love Souls of the Forest will find the fast-paced, deadly combat and equipment system a familiar song and dance. Veterans who still replay The Last Promise might feel right at home with Andromeda’s edgy anime cheese aesthetics. Purists who think proc skills are cringe, rejoice! For your wish has been granted—proc skills don’t exist in Andromeda at all…

Or do they?

Those who think that any of the three games I mentioned above are too hard can get by on Tears difficulty, as it’s really intended for casuals and some of my curious readers who might play this for the lore (though Andromeda is gameplay over story first and foremost). The only thing you’re missing out on Tears is the S-Rank flavor scenes and S-Rank rewards from Blood, anyway, which you probably won’t need since Tears is that easy. Think FE8 easy. Play Blood if you’re not into that level of difficulty and want something similar to the three games I’ve mentioned.

How to Play

Download, extract, then run andromeda.exe. To update, copy your andromeda/saves folder and chuck that into the directory of the updated build.

If you don’t want to play on a PC or just can’t, see this LTDroid guide written by yours truly.

Guides (Spoilers)

Chapter-Specific

S-Rank can only be earned if playing on Blood difficulty.

1-0

Fallen Hope

Secret: Kill Zayre instead of fleeing. This nets you a Silver Lance.

Some forts have items on them and can be interacted with.

1-1

Red Wings

Secret: Skye fights the Cavalier that has a Dragonspear (look for the exclamation mark!).

Gaiden: Visit the upper rightmost village.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Finish the chapter in 13 turns or less.
• Both Tony and Holt must be alive by the end of the chapter.
• Visit all red-roofed villages.

S-Rank Reward: Speedwing

1-2

Haunting Season

Secret: Have Isabelle, May, and Silas each fight a Thief.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Finish the chapter in 9 turns or less.
• Finish the chapter in 7 turns or less.
• Acquire all loot (doesn’t matter if done by opening chests or getting them as drops).

S-Rank Reward: Talisman

1-3

Long Road

Secret: Have Freya fight Ambros.

Gaiden: Visit the house at least once.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Visit all red-roofed villages.
• Finish the chapter in 12 turns or less.
• Vivi must be alive by the end of the chapter.

S-Rank Reward: Wyrmslayer

1-4

Raiders of Kris

Secret: Kill Bill instead of waiting for the timer to expire.

Gaiden: Wait until the very last turn before killing Bill, or just wait for the timer to expire.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Visit all red-roofed villages.
• Skye recruits Haarhus and Haarhus is alive by the end of the chapter.
• The Gaiden requirement is unlocked.

S-Rank Reward: Second Seal

1-I

First Departure

Secret: Have Fleur visit all villages.

Gaiden: Must accomplish the following tasks in order… Have a unit Respec inside the Arena (Lorelei and Vivi get free opportunities). Next, wait until the fifth turn. Lastly, have a unit Wait on the Arena tile, ending their turn. A cutscene should play on phase change.

If all Gaiden requirements so far have been met, a certain character will appear and offer the First Gaiden. Completing the First Gaiden nets you a Grand Rapier. Also, completing the First Gaiden is a requirement for unlocking the Second Gaiden.

1-5

Before the Storm

Secret: Have Sofia talk to Eren at least once (must be accomplished before a talk with Zane).

S-Rank Challenges:

• Recruit both Eren and Zane: have any female commander talk to Zane, and then have Zane talk to Eren. If Sofia has talked to Eren beforehand, she can also recruit both by talking to Zane first, then Eren for the second time.
• Kill Hugo instead of ending the chapter early.
• Finish the chapter in less than 7 turns.

S-Rank Reward: Flamberge

Getting Zane or Eren killed prevents you from recruiting the other, but it is permissible and impacts the story.

1-6

Landfall

Secret: Slay the first boss in 11 turns or less, then slay the second boss that spawns in 1 turn.

Gaiden: Visit the bottom-most village.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Visit all red-roofed villages.
• Unlock the secret.
• Finish the chapter in less than 12 turns.

S-Rank Reward: Rune of Tenacity

1-7

Dark Star

Secret: Slay no more than 12 enemies during your escape.

S-Rank Challenges:

• Unlock the secret.
• Finish the chapter in less than 12 turns.
• Finish the chapter in less than 8 turns.
• Open only either the left or the right chest (choose one).

S-Rank Reward: Red Gem

S-Rank can be acquired by completing only 3 of the challenges, so it won’t get in the way of genocidal players.

1-F

New Dawn

Gaiden: Visit the house at least once. Subsequent visits will heal all allies for free.

New Dawn has a bunch of story branching that affects the campaign’s ending.

• Fleur Route: Must unlock the Secret in 1-7. Then, do not initiate combat vs. any of the village Generals. Also, do not engage Lorenzo. Instead, have Fleur walk up and talk to Lorenzo.
• Lorelei Route: Finish the chapter by killing Lorenzo. Then, choose Lorelei. This nets Lorelei her Keystone Skill.
• Scarlette Route: Finish the chapter by killing Lorenzo. Then, choose Scarlette. This nets Scarlette her Keystone Skill.

Having unlocked all S-Ranks up to this point nets you a Gold Star.

2-1

A Beginning

It’s possible to promote Bloom by getting the Magnus Crest from the Sage. If the Magnus Crest has been acquired but Bloom isn’t promoted, then it will be transferred to the player’s convoy after 2-2.

2-2

An Ending

An Ending has two story branches that affect the campaign’s ending.

Gaiden: Visit the Inn (Fletch will note where it is). Visiting this Inn with Lorelei nets you a different cutscene.

• Lorelei Route: Have Lorelei destroy at least 7 villages.
• Eris Route: Have Eris rescue at least 7 villages.

2-I

Second Departure

This chapter unlocks Base Respec for the first time.

Secret: The following steps must be accomplished in order… Have Lorelei talk to Eren, then have Lorelei talk to Freya. Then have Lorelei talk to Freya again.

An additional 15,000g can be acquired through the following steps.

• Have Lorelei talk to Cyrus. Do this first.
• Have Fleur read all the books in the Mythology section.
• Have Scarlette read all the books in the Magic section.
• Have Lorelei read all the books in the Literature section.
• Have Luciana read all the books in the History section.
• Interact with the upper left-most shelf.
• Interact with the chest.

On top of the extra gold, talks grant experience and could be a way to boost underlevelled characters.

If all Gaiden requirements so far have been met, a certain character will appear and offer the Second Gaiden. Completing the Second Gaiden nets you a Lucille. Also, since completing the First Gaiden is a requirement for unlocking the Second Gaiden, then completing the Second Gaiden is a requirement for unlocking the Third Gaiden.

Feel free to ask questions below! Feedback is greatly appreciated.

[knabepicer]

In Chapter 3, Genevieve (Vivi) can’t be displaced with skills like Shove even after recruitment. This is due to a movement setting tied to the skill system (Boss NULL Move) which I haven’t found a way to dynamically change via events.

I use the Set Unit Status patch to change this for stationary units being recruited.

[blood]

Congrats on the release! This looks really good!

[Eretein]

@knabepicer

I use the Set Unit Status patch to change this for stationary units being recruited.

Thank you so much! This worked perfectly. Bookmarking this for future reference.

@blood

Congrats on the release! This looks really good!

Thanks. I’m looking forward to Sacred Trilogy’s next release!

[Rivian]

Some of the aspects of design discussed within the post piqued my interest, and I finished the available chapters. Also of note is that this is the first time I’ve seen FEBuilder autofeedback being used that’s not 7743, but sadly I am more comfortable giving feedback in this format. Hopefully, this might be of some use.
I think the project is quite promising.

Story

Won’t go into too much detail. Lorelei seemed to be an interesting character, both maintaining and abusing her reputation as this vile sorceress but with seemingly more going on underneath. Serves as a nice contrast to more good-intentioned Fleur and Luciana. There’s some build-up regarding the relationship between the countries and the political turmoil the characters are going to be involved in, although they’re mostly just fighting criminals right now. A pretty solid opening, in short.

Of note is when Lorelei parodied one of the most overused hack memes in what is ostensibly an important scene, the jarring combination made this section of the story very difficult to take seriously for me. The impacts of this chapter is the focus of the next interlude as well. I don’t mind references, but this felt a little too on the nose, especially if its supposed to be an important moment.

When a few of my units died, I rather appreciated two extra scenes discussing their loss. I feel like the “let the chips fall where they may” thought doesn’t mesh well with the fact full deployment seems to be the standard, as there is no replacement for them, and particularly since I found certain maps incredibly punishing even with everyone alive. I saw that generic replacements were a consideration and I feel like it is a good one.

Units

I really appreciated the unit design of the hack. Skills seemed well chosen such that they are impactful and support the unit’s role, are even better, none of them are proc skills. This in combination with impactful prfs that while very strong, does not necessarily obsolete all other weapon choices for the unit, makes each unit feel unique and interesting.
Here is a quite writeup of my experience with each unit.

• Fleur: Was basically just a healer the entire run, though 1-3 heal makes her job quite easy

• Liliana: Unsurprisingly, a crutch unit that was good at practically everything.

• Skye: One of the highest contributing units, able to wipe out whole enemy squads with nosferatu sword. Is vulnerable to being killed in a single hit, so I found angelic robe to be valuable on him. His skills focusing on mobility and his ability to peak walk was also quite fun to use.

• Tony: A rather interesting unit, does a lot of player phase damage through the guaranteed double, but doesn’t seem to actually make a great tank due to atrocious speed being extra punishing with increased weapon triangle, and tanks likely have to take attacks from two different weapon types. While his defence growth is certainly high, enemy offensive stats seem to scale way higher that his defensive growth can make him a relevant tank. Not sure his strength growth needs to be so terrible.
  
  Growths aren’t real anyways, right?

• Holt: Pretty good unit starting off like Tony, but his offences seem to quickly fall off such that he is 3 rounding, but also very fragile against regular enemies. Renamed gamble is more useful here than most given certain blow, but either I missed or didn’t see a weapon that makes good use of it.

• Lorelai: I like mages that do a lot of damage. Kills things good.

• Reginald: Doesn’t feel like a good Army Standard user since getting doubled is so punishing, gets by with Ranceur and armor/cav effectiveness but seems a lot less useful when he doesn’t have effective weapons in his hands.

• Freya: Ladyblade saw some useful matchups. Acceptable bulk and never got enough speed to double anything important. Ended up similar to Reginald’s contributions.

• Vivi: Similar case to above, but exchanges winning matchups against a very specific kind of enemy to having decent 2 range damage.

• Scarlette: Extremely fun to use during the port chapter, 3x4 huge range AoE was kind of incredible. A lot less useful in 1-5 where she does pitiful damage without siege, though I am unsure if I am missing something about what conditions is necessary for siege to work.

• May: Very interesting unit weapon set up and assassinate. Good on 1-2, but kind of ruined by the fact her join time in 1-4 makes her unable to double anything ever and in fact lets her be doubled by some units in 1-5, making assassinate useless. Does pitiful damage without doubling.

• Isabelle: I love galeforce archers. Has it slightly less bad than May due to long range and galeforce and is still useful for cleaning up after joining main party in 1-4. Is basically essential in 1-5 for use with ballista and killing two reinforcements per turn.

• Sofia: Seemed incredibly strong, with decent strength and defence as well as high speed, but due to enemy scaling in 1-5, was just acceptably good. Canto+ is always incredibly valuable.

• Wyatt: Saw little use in 1-6 besides fail to one shot a soldier with a crit. Had very bad matchups this chapter due to be destroyed by myrmidons and mercs.

• Silas: My first thought was, “There is no way this man isn’t dying a scripted death next chapter.” I was pleasantly surprised. Wary fighter gives me no downside with provoke item, and combined with high mixed bulk and renewal, made him by far the best tank. This is before considering powerstaff and live to serve as essentially two actions very turn. Incredible unit, please don’t be killed by the story.
  

I didn’t get the blindfolded shaman. Thanks, Lorelei.

My thoughts on the units is really impacted by enemy scaling, which seemed to accelerate in the last 2 chapters such as a lot of units that were decent before became a lot more unviable. More in the map section.

Weapons/Items

I like that Weapon triangle increase makes matchups highly critical. Reavers make this matchup a near guaranteed dodge against the corresponding weapon type. However, hit rates are also consistently high even without weapon triangle, which is very appreciated.

The standardised weapon descriptions is appreciated. Where it gets a little confusing is where items would say “Effx [Skill Name]”. I’ve played enough hacks to recognise every skill system skill by name, but this may not be the case for other players. Furthermore, some of these skill names are renamed from their original names to make this a little harder.

The 5% negate defence on steel seems superfluous, a whopping +1 damage at its best. Perhaps there could a subset of weapons with higher negate defence instead of a small boost that just makes calculations a little more off.

Passive skill items are quite interesting, mainly finding use out of army banner and windshoes. A lot of the others don’t feel impactful enough to be worth 10k gold in the secret shop, expertise, blue flame, discipline, miracle, etc. It would be nice to have the actual skill effect (as well as stat boost) in the main description and not the secondary box, as the second description is more difficult to access and cannot be seen while shopping.

Another minor thing is regarding the effect of blow skills. When I saw the description lacked numbers and said “almost guarantees etc” my first thought was numbers were intentionally being obfuscated and not that it just maxed the number. Taking out the “almost” would resolve this. I assume it is there because nihil/wary fighter or some other skill exists but I think the player can see it would negate the “guarantee” part.

One more minor thing, would be nice for vulns to have HP healed in main description, as above.

Chapters

I plan to detail my experience with each chapter, so lots of text ahead.

Prologue

I have to apologise in advance for being pretty harsh here, but this chapter made an unfavourable first impression and almost made me drop the hack.
The intent seems to be a puzzle, where the player figures out a “correct” set of moves. However, owing to the fog, high move fog fliers, incredibly little leeway and the fact the player only has essentially one action every turn, it feels like a game of trial and error, or figuring a combination code by inputting every combination.
I have no idea where enemies will show up from, their AI is inconsistent, there is little to suggest what moves are “correct” and what has killed me 2 turns down the line without me knowing.
A boss suddenly showing up out of the fog and almost instantly killing Luciana if he is accompanied by any other unit also seems difficult to avoid, given I cannot see where he comes from.
I am not even sure how I arrived at a “correct” solution, just that I had to abuse miracle and somehow made it.
I am little surprised escape is an area event and not the command “escape” as most escape maps typically use.
Ultimately, I am glad I didn’t drop the hack right here, because my impression of later chapters are a lot more favorable.

Pictured: Incredibly suboptimal first turn

Chapter 1

The player is kind of throw into the deep end here, with a lot of immediately threatening enemies and have to quickly learn how each unit kit functions, each optimal match up and how many enemies to pull before a painful death. Luciana seems like she might wipe the whole map, but abundance of horseslaying weapons do keep her in check, though thankfully there is enough leeway for her to survive a hit.

The anti-turtle is quickly established and punishes inefficient enemy clearing. It took me a few tries to adjust, but ultimately it felt like a fairly tough but manageable situation.

Not the time, Skye.

Chapter 2

I would also call this map a “puzzle chapter”, with a only a few possible actions to arrive at a correct set of moves, but I would say its much better than the first. It is very clear what objectives the player needs to arrive at and there are powerful tools to leverage to get there. I wasn’t able to get the iron dagger, but I got everything else, so close enough I suppose.

Chapter 3

Another pretty nice chapter. Three separate anti-turtles that encourage fast player and a split, and enough extra units to push with. Long range stationary archer set up encourages use of provoke and Skye’s peak walking can be shown off here.

Chapter 4

This map is pretty interesting. Again, several evident anti-turtle objectives, a powerful boss in the middle and many ballista. But a 3x4 siege range AoE tome to obliterate enemies? Sign me up.

The first hurdle is that I had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to use the siege tome. It was not immediately evident that she would have to stand still to use it, perhaps this could be hinted at in the post preps dialogue. There also seems to be some kind of HP condition? A bit more clarity would be nice here.

For whatever reason, these first ballisticians had negative res and were immune to bakaretsu.

You might guess what I’m going to mention next. Yep, the ambush spawns. I suppose one could make the argument turns 1-3 is supposed to inform the player, “yeah, we have ambush spawns here.” But then later turns the ambush spawn coverage is the entirety of the lower part of the map. I don’t think its a “you’re not supposed to be here” case, there’s a red house down below and it feels natural for the fighting to move here, give one would be fighting the pirates that already spawned. Even so, my opinion is that player phase reinforcements should be the rule. Furthermore, these pirates are also a big step up from the last chapter in terms of threat. They made the back half of the chapter a more painful experience.

The green units showing up with provoke to help draw attention away from the player is a nice touch, increasing reliability.

I assume the boss with over 80 HP and massive bulk was to encourage the player to use the thief to steal from him, but even with higher speed and an empty inventory slot, I couldn’t do it. He didn’t have watchful either. Confused, I took to builder, and it appears he does have watchful set? But its not displayed, and I assumed 6 skills was the cap.

Interlude

Chapter 5

The chapter objective is pretty cool. Effectively reskinned multiseize but with a theme, combined with half a defend map. Its fog again, but at least last map gave ample opportunity to stock up on light sources.

Bakaretsu didn’t seem to be able to used this chapter. I am not sure if its because it is raining and that puts out fires, or because bakaretsu was a one time gimmick. If this is the case, either I missed some dialogue or perhaps some more clarity is needed.

The opening position felt quite difficult on the right end, with multiple powerful enemies immediately threatening the start position. Enemy scaling seems to have gone through the roof the past two chapters, units that were solid performers initially now seem to melt instantly and do little damage. Almost every enemy doubled, and none got doubled except against Lorelai or Skye.

Can we trade units?

Fortunately, Luciana and Silas were still up to par. I felt like I needed to abuse Silas with the provoke item to get through the chapter, since so few of my units could even take hits without reavers. Being in fog is already a tough circumstance, the excessive scaling felt… excessive.

RIP 5x.

Misc

There seems to a be lot of polish in things like UI, world map, menus, etc. Things like that make a hack stick out, so its quite appreciated.

The portrait colors feel a little off, especially the skin tones. A pretty common opinion is that character creator skin tones (at least, I am assuming this is where these colors come from, as other character creator portraits have this kind of color) have a “clay soldier” kind of look, which really sticks out. While I appreciate the fact that vanilla villager mugs seem to be recolored to fit the aesthetic, the colors still feel quite weird compared to more vanillaish color schemes.

Is there a particularly reason that minimap is disabled? I know a lot of people might not use it, but I like using it myself and I don’t think I am alone in that regard.

[Eretein]

@Rivian

I think the project is quite promising.

Thank you!

Replies

@Rivian

Of note is when Lorelei parodied one of the most overused hack memes in what is ostensibly an important scene, the jarring combination made this section of the story very difficult to take seriously for me. The impacts of this chapter is the focus of the next interlude as well. I don’t mind references, but this felt a little too on the nose, especially if its supposed to be an important moment.

Haha lol. I know, but I decided to do it anyway. I live for jarring controversies

@Rivian

When a few of my units died, I rather appreciated two extra scenes discussing their loss. I feel like the “let the chips fall where they may” thought doesn’t mesh well with the fact full deployment seems to be the standard, as there is no replacement for them, and particularly since I found certain maps incredibly punishing even with everyone alive. I saw that generic replacements were a consideration and I feel like it is a good one.

Yeah, I was thinking about this, too. Decided to implement generic replacements in the next major release. ready the glock

@Rivian

Tony: A rather interesting unit, does a lot of player phase damage through the guaranteed double, but doesn’t seem to actually make a great tank due to atrocious speed being extra punishing with increased weapon triangle, and tanks likely have to take attacks from two different weapon types. While his defence growth is certainly high, enemy offensive stats seem to scale way higher that his defensive growth can make him a relevant tank. Not sure his strength growth needs to be so terrible.

He’s meant to have high damage in the initial chapters, acting like a pseudo crutch character. Being lance-locked is a weakness that is meant to discourage putting an Army Standard on him in the early game. Tony is supposed to transition into either a physical bruiser (Halberdier with Lancefaire and Quickdraw for +7 damage on Player Phase) or a full-blown physical tank (General with Wary Fighter and Fortress Defence) by the mid-game. But even if he’s not yet promoted, he gets Short Shield at Level 10 which should buff his tankiness. You’re right about the growths though, must have missed that one. I’ll make sure he gets a buff.

@Rivian

Holt: Pretty good unit starting off like Tony, but his offences seem to quickly fall off such that he is 3 rounding, but also very fragile against regular enemies. Renamed gamble is more useful here than most given certain blow, but either I missed or didn’t see a weapon that makes good use of it.

Holt isn’t meant to maintain high damage and high defence against all enemies. He’s an opportunist. He’s a tactician — that’s his theme. Holt with Atlas is supposed to pick favorable matchups via armor and cavalry effectiveness while evading counters and bad positioning with 1–2 range. Grace (Gamble) denies enemy doubles, which guarantees safe burst with Swordreaver versus squishy and speedy swordfighters (looks at edgy swordsmen that double your other bruisers). His growths focus on mixing Hp and Skl so the player can opt to promote into a bruiser that leans more towards defence (Hero with Renewal and sword access, think about Bloodthirster) or a bruiser with more offence (Berserker with Axefaire, Death Blow, and Crit+).

@Rivian

Reginald: Doesn’t feel like a good Army Standard user since getting doubled is so punishing, gets by with Ranceur and armor/cav effectiveness but seems a lot less useful when he doesn’t have effective weapons in his hands.

That’s why he has Guardian Knight (Barricade+). But I’ll see what I can do about buffing his initial Spd so he can get by until he gets his tanky growths and promotions. I was thinking about doing this, too. Anyway, the Army Standard in the early game is mostly intended to pull shots from longbow-toting enemies so they don’t destroy your squishies. If you manage to unlock 5x, you’ll experience how the Army Standard can decide a chapter’s flow in the mid/late game.

@Rivian

Freya: Ladyblade saw some useful matchups. Acceptable bulk and never got enough speed to double anything important. Ended up similar to Reginald’s contributions.

Yep, she isn’t meant to be as strong as Lorelei in the early game. Mid game, she gets access to either 100% magic immunity on player phase and 8-move (Paladin) or bows and Acrobat (Ranger). The Ladyblade is one of the most consistent ways to net Secret #4 by killing Bill in Ch4. Man can be killed with the proper approach, don’t let the ??? Hp intimidate you. If you kill him on the last turn, even better, as something happens on Turn 8 that’s one of the requirements to unlocking 5x.

@Rivian

Vivi: Similar case to above, but exchanges winning matchups against a very specific kind of enemy to having decent 2 range damage.

And they laughed at a Pegasus Knight that has higher Mag than Str lol. The reason is alluded to in her support with Freya btw. The game reason is that she can promote to Falcoknight (Staves) or Dark Flier (Dark) which both require a decent Mag stat.

@Rivian

Scarlette: Extremely fun to use during the port chapter, 3x4 huge range AoE was kind of incredible. A lot less useful in 1-5 where she does pitiful damage without siege, though I am unsure if I am missing something about what conditions is necessary for siege to work.

Siege has a minimum range, you can’t use it on nearby enemies. Also, this, if you press R:

@Rivian

May: Very interesting unit weapon set up and assassinate. Good on 1-2, but kind of ruined by the fact her join time in 1-4 makes her unable to double anything ever and in fact lets her be doubled by some units in 1-5, making assassinate useless. Does pitiful damage without doubling.

I buffed her slightly in the build I’m working on. She’s meant to target mages and go for chests, anyway. That’s her theme. Mid game is when she gets better damage and bow access. Enemies in 1-5 were also nerfed since I noticed that I clicked on hard mode bonuses one too many.

@Rivian

Wyatt: Saw little use in 1-6 besides fail to one shot a soldier with a crit. Had very bad matchups this chapter due to be destroyed by myrmidons and mercs.

I think you meant 1-5 lol. Have you tried using him with the Gargoyles? Man eats them alive with almost guaranteed crits and triangle advantage. I mean, it’s a matchup-oriented game.

@Rivian

Silas: My first thought was, “There is no way this man isn’t dying a scripted death next chapter.” I was pleasantly surprised. Wary fighter gives me no downside with provoke item, and combined with high mixed bulk and renewal, made him by far the best tank. This is before considering powerstaff and live to serve as essentially two actions very turn. Incredible unit, please don’t be killed by the story.

how about a scripted death in the final chapter

Glad that the two jagens functioned as intended.

@Rivian

I didn’t get the blindfolded shaman. Thanks, Lorelei.

The beauty of a branching narrative. There is a way to get the blindfolded shaman. He’s a nostank with Wary Fighter. He’s living the dream. You can get him later down the road if you missed him now though.

@Rivian

My thoughts on the units is really impacted by enemy scaling, which seemed to accelerate in the last 2 chapters such as a lot of units that were decent before became a lot more unviable. More in the map section.

Yeah, I found the scaling a bit difficult on recent playtests too. I’ll see to nerfing the enemy scaling so it plays smoother.

@Rivian

The 5% negate defence on steel seems superfluous, a whopping +1 damage at its best. Perhaps there could a subset of weapons with higher negate defence instead of a small boost that just makes calculations a little more off.

Yeah, I’ll see what I come up with. Maybe if I bump it up to 10% and move silvers to 20%?

@Rivian

Passive skill items are quite interesting, mainly finding use out of army banner and windshoes. A lot of the others don’t feel impactful enough to be worth 10k gold in the secret shop, expertise, blue flame, discipline, miracle, etc. It would be nice to have the actual skill effect (as well as stat boost) in the main description and not the secondary box, as the second description is more difficult to access and cannot be seen while shopping.

I’m quite limited by the UI, unfortunately. The intent was to let the player figure out the item’s effects from the flavor text alone. Anyway, the other items have their own niche. Miracle lets Skye and Lorelei nostank reliably, for example, while Blue Flame lets you build a scaling army with all the stacking +2 Atk (you can actually get 2 Blue Orbs in the current build). To each their own playstyle, though. The Magus Hat also grants Paragon, not Discipline. This lets you accelerate the growth of a scaling unit of your choice. Personally, I prefer buying Miracle as this can come in incredibly clutch when you’re an aggressive player like me.

@Rivian

I have to apologise in advance for being pretty harsh here, but this chapter made an unfavourable first impression and almost made me drop the hack.

You’re not being harsh at all — I’ve had harsher critiques.

@Rivian

The intent seems to be a puzzle, where the player figures out a “correct” set of moves. However, owing to the fog, high move fog fliers, incredibly little leeway and the fact the player only has essentially one action every turn, it feels like a game of trial and error, or figuring a combination code by inputting every combination.
I have no idea where enemies will show up from, their AI is inconsistent, there is little to suggest what moves are “correct” and what has killed me 2 turns down the line without me knowing.
A boss suddenly showing up out of the fog and almost instantly killing Luciana if he is accompanied by any other unit also seems difficult to avoid, given I cannot see where he comes from.
I am not even sure how I arrived at a “correct” solution, just that I had to abuse miracle and somehow made it.
I am little surprised escape is an area event and not the command “escape” as most escape maps typically use.

Yep, the intent is a puzzle. If you observe how the enemies move, you can decipher a pattern quickly. Pegasus Knights attack on sight, dealing chip damage which wears down Luce, while Wyvern Riders move to surround her — it’s effectively game over if she gets pinned. You’re given a hint to stick to the forts (for healing) and a cue to be careful where you end your turn (Luce at the start & Fleur on the second turn). The key is to consider how you can possibly get pinned on the enemy phase and take measures to avoid this. You’re pretty much safe if you take out a wyvern each turn to leave an empty tile to wiggle out of. Though, I can see how a player unfamiliar with puzzle design and gimmicky bosses could find this chapter frustrating. I’ll see about how I can communicate these intricacies in a less subtle way… Might be the most challenging part lol. I’m used to showing, not telling.

You can kill the boss in the Prologue, by the way. It’s one of the requirements for unlocking 5x. Requires mastery over Luce’s kit though, such as when to attack with Resolve, when to self-heal, and how to kite enemies.

The escape with range instead of a seize-like command is a QoL feature to make escaping more convenient. The area is lit up, anyway, so I hope it’s communicated well.

@Rivian

I wasn’t able to get the iron dagger, but I got everything else, so close enough I suppose.

Shame, getting all the loot is a requirement for S-Rank. You can definitely optimize your solution even further.

@Rivian

For whatever reason, these first ballisticians had negative res and were immune to bakaretsu.

This is a bug with FEB’s skill system, I think. Negative growths cause — to appear, not 0. Fixed this in the latest build. Nice catch! Fortunately, this bug doesn’t carry over to seal skills (they display 0 correctly).

@Rivian

You might guess what I’m going to mention next. Yep, the ambush spawns. I suppose one could make the argument turns 1-3 is supposed to inform the player, “yeah, we have ambush spawns here.” But then later turns the ambush spawn coverage is the entirety of the lower part of the map. I don’t think its a “you’re not supposed to be here” case, there’s a red house down below and it feels natural for the fighting to move here, give one would be fighting the pirates that already spawned. Even so, my opinion is that player phase reinforcements should be the rule. Furthermore, these pirates are also a big step up from the last chapter in terms of threat. They made the back half of the chapter a more painful experience.

You’re not supposed to charge head-on into ballista range — Lorelei’s musings are meant to communicate this. The houses in-range of the ballisticians can be visited safely with clever use of Vivi (as alluded to by her talk with Lorelei) or even with the Luciana + Scarlette combo. The strong ambush spawns have been telegraphed pretty well, I think, and breaking the rule here seems fitting since it’s a chaotic no-holds-barred siege between Astrea and Almach. Green units with Provoke are also meant to offset enemy reinforcements. But I’ll see to tweaking the green units so they can immediately tank the waves of pirates. This will probably turn difficulty down a bit.

@Rivian

I assume the boss with over 80 HP and massive bulk was to encourage the player to use the thief to steal from him, but even with higher speed and an empty inventory slot, I couldn’t do it. He didn’t have watchful either. Confused, I took to builder, and it appears he does have watchful set? But its not displayed, and I assumed 6 skills was the cap.

Nope, you’re meant to fight him head-on. Crazy, right? But killing the boss in one turn can actually be done. Killing him this way is one of the requirements for unlocking 5x. Wary Fighter actually works against his favor here. But I digress. 6 Skills isn’t the cap. You can add more invisible skills in the backend. In this case, Watchful is to prevent an easy Iron Rune. But I can see how this can be misleading, so I’ll probably rearrange his kit.

@Rivian

Bakaretsu didn’t seem to be able to used this chapter. I am not sure if its because it is raining and that puts out fires, or because bakaretsu was a one time gimmick. If this is the case, either I missed some dialogue or perhaps some more clarity is needed.

It’s the fog and the rain. But I agree, more dialogue to communicate this is needed. I was lazy

@Rivian

RIP 5x.

Yeah, unlocking 5x is hard, meant to be hard since you’ll find it difficult without going through the process. But it’s worth it. Most fun I had while playtesting actually.

@Rivian

The portrait colors feel a little off, especially the skin tones. A pretty common opinion is that character creator skin tones (at least, I am assuming this is where these colors come from, as other character creator portraits have this kind of color) have a “clay soldier” kind of look, which really sticks out. While I appreciate the fact that vanilla villager mugs seem to be recolored to fit the aesthetic, the colors still feel quite weird compared to more vanillaish color schemes.

There’s a story reason for this. But beyond that, I just like the aesthetic lol.

@Rivian

Is there a particularly reason that minimap is disabled? I know a lot of people might not use it, but I like using it myself and I don’t think I am alone in that regard.

None in particular. This is a relic from that time I was testing out builder. average developer moment

Thanks for the detailed feedback! I just released a hotfix which addresses some concerns that can be fixed quickly (minimap, negative res, growths, base stat buffs etc). Stuff like communicating that Siege is disabled in fog and replacement units will take more time to implement.

[SubwayBossEmmett]

Reading this reply has left me more than a bit confused.

You constantly referred to trying things multiple times

Yep, the intent is a puzzle. If you observe how the enemies move, you can decipher a pattern quickly.

Shame, getting all the loot is a requirement for S-Rank. You can definitely optimize your solution even further.

[getting all requirements for 5x] But it’s worth it. Most fun I had while playtesting actually.

But how do you want people to play?

★ A fully functional Ranking System. Starting from Chapter 1, every time you clear a Chapter, you’re given a grade from C to S based on what you accomplished. S-Rank is only available on Blood difficulty and grants an extra scene as well as a bonus reward.

The only thing you’re missing out on Tears is the S-Rank scenes and bonuses from Blood, anyway, which you probably won’t need since Tears is that easy.

but at the same time your opening description recommends to not save state

The abuse of savestates to avoid “undesirable” outcomes is discouraged.

and that you should let things just happen

For an organic experience, it’s better to let the chips fall where they may.

But what does this mean for a player.

Are they supposed to play as a psuedo iron man missing things and snowballing to the point they can’t find anything on Blood mode and miss every S rank event because they lose more and more units?

Or are they supposed to methodically check for things and explore your hack? Or are they supposed to embrace their unfolding narrative? This problem will only get exasperated the longer this hack goes for vs its current 5 chapter length as well.

I will admit I started this post without realizing that you had recently added the guide for the secrets to the main post which is definitely appreciated.

However, I do believe that a hack should get its priorities in order for what experience it wants to foster because something like outerrealm 5 is nothing short of nonsensical and would not be found unless someone is playing perfectly to a guide.

[Eretein]

Replay the game once you finish a run and find that you haven’t found everything. Secrets and Bonus Chapters are exactly just that. Flavor. They’re not required to progress in the game nor do the S-Rank scenes contribute anything critical to the plot. Think of them as your reward for playing really well. I playtest on pseudo ironman and while losing units is difficult (I’ll compromise by adding replacement generics), the game is still very much winnable. Besides, the spike in difficulty is the player’s responsibility when they don’t reset after losing a unit: the reset + resume combo is there for a reason. Contrary to your belief, embracing a bad narrative won’t make the game unplayable. There’s pros and cons for everything (eg. letting Vivi die actually nets you a version of her Prf that anyone with a Lance-rank can use, but you lose out on an early-game flier).

@SubwayBossEmmett

However, I do believe that a hack should get its priorities in order for what experience it wants to foster because something like outerrealm 5 is nothing short of nonsensical and would not be found unless someone is playing perfectly to a guide.

They’re called secrets and easter eggs for a reason. They don’t impact the game that much, they just add flavor. Where’s the wonder of playing a game without a guide and just discovering stuff? Personally, I prefer playing games blind and experiencing this feeling.

Andromeda is meant to be hard, not player-hostile. I’m sorry if you feel this way.

[Eretein]

Hi, all.

Due to the Prologue being…controversial, I’ve decided to include an option where a more explicit hint on how to solve the puzzle is given, in the form of revealing all your enemies for you (might as well go all the way, right?). Players who dislike puzzles and gimmicks will enjoy this breath of fresh air, while players who loved the original concept (including me and several of my private playtesters!!!) can still have their gimmicky fog puzzle map. But the game will remember your choice, so take heed. Thanks for the feedback!

Saying yes to the creepy voice will result into this…

The patch and the changelog’s been updated. With that, I’m off to bed. Why am I pushing a build at 12 midnight, you ask? It’s toxic developer culture.

Have fun playing!

EDIT:

Generic Replacement Framework is now live!!! See the first post for details.

[MercenaryVictor]

The wyvern knight from chapter 1 only approaches units and they won’t engage if you don’t wait

[Eretein]

@MercenaryVictor

The wyvern knight from chapter 1 only approaches units and they won’t engage if you don’t wait

Fleur comments on enemy movements at the start of the second turn. This behavior is intentional. Do you understand why? Understanding why is crucial to forming a consistent strategy for the Prologue. Good luck.

[MercenaryVictor]

About Sofia when you mount and dismount her max cap are differents

[Eretein]

Fixed in the next release. Anyway, this is an artifact from when I was testing if it were possible to change Sofia’s stats when mounting/dismounting (ie. more Spd with Wyvern Lord but less Def when General). However, I discovered that this is impossible without writing my own ASM. Thanks for the report!

[Eretein]

Hi, all. New patch just dropped. Changes in the most recent version include:

★ Implemented more equipment such as the Sacred Rune (which heals the holder per turn) and the Silverite weapons (generic weapons with effx versus mages)
★ Refactored some code in the backend to utilize 7743’s silent change unit status ASM instead of vanilla routines (done to avoid crashes when issuing more than 20 REMUs)
★ Changed unit slot IDs of several bosses to account for replacement generics (now we have enough space for approx. 20 replacement generics yay!)

See the changelog in the top post for more details. Have fun!

Now Silas can’t tank everything…

[MercenaryVictor]

Holt as a hero cannot pass level 10

[Eretein]

Fixed in the latest update. The new patch includes the ff. changes.

★ Increased stat caps of promoted units from a range of 20–30 to a range of 20–40, to further segregate classes into distinct niches
★ Fixed some promoted units capping at Level 10 (due to a patch installed with the skill system)
★ Changed bases of some (lategame) pre-promoted characters to account for tweaked caps
★ Further polished some tracks in the sound room
★ Slightly nerfed Dracozombies and the boss in the first phase of Ch5x (but the gaiden is still nightmarish difficult if you play with your brain off – don’t play Andromeda with your brain off)

See top post for the download link and a more detailed changelog. Thanks!

Ch5x sleeper carry just got buffed… Might nerf next patch?

Good news! I’ve also managed to submit a trailer for FEE3 at the last minute. See you there.

[tweetyboy]

Supports and PE are part of my favorite thing in the series and I love how you seem to put such emphasis and care into them. LOVE IT!

[Eretein]

@tweetyboy

Supports and PE are part of my favorite thing in the series and I love how you seem to put such emphasis and care into them. LOVE IT!

Good to hear!

Anyway, the latest patch is now live with the ff. changes. See the top post for a detailed changelog and the download link.

Beta 1.6.5 (August 28, 2023)
★ Added more quality-of-life changes to the Prologue by adding 1 extra turn to the time limit (in case you accidentally press Wait without meaning to), moving the escape range from the forest to just the tile past the fort, and automatically rescuing Fleur with Luciana you may now complain that the Prologue is braindead easy like 99% of other FE games out there
★ Buffed Skye’s Hp, since I kinda forgot to buff it back up when I was playtesting in the last patch (when you nerf units in playtesting just to simulate a worst case scenario)
★ BIG UPDATE! The Codex is now live! Use the in-game Codex to see gameplay hints for players who have hit a roadblock, a self-updating journal to review previous events and check story flags, a bit of lore on Andromeda, and a dossier on characters you like. A bit of optional reading for everyone!

Finally, the Guide is useful…

And now, I’m off to bed. Have a nice day!

[Eretein]

FEE3 schedule just got announced and it looks like we’re up on the 12th of October. I can’t wait to be the author of the most controversial Dark Souls hack in this year’s showcase. ^ _ ^

In any case, Beta 1.7 is live with the following changes.

★ Remastered a couple of tracks: including Infinite, His World, Devil Trigger, It Has To Be This Way, and I Am All Of Me (Andromeda’s soundtrack should be at least 10x edgier now)
★ Fixed an error where the Shadowhood counted as a Speedwing
★ Fixed the prices of the Windshoe, the Handaxe, and the Javelin being dirt cheap
★ The wait events on the two chokepoint forts in the Prologue have now been changed to interact events (now they also have markers to better communicate this)
★ Corrected some minor grammatical errors that I didn’t catch the first time
★ Door Keys, Chest Keys, and Lockpicks have now been made more expensive
★ Poison now deals constant damage, meaning there is no variance in the damage it inflicts (it still scales according to story progress, but now it deals a flat amount)

Have fun!

[TheSuzakuSeven]

Not to be that guy but I can’t find the answer. How long is this intended to be?