[LT] [In-Progress] Embrace of the Fog (Community/Roguelite)

[Lord_Tweed]

Embrace of the Fog (working title), also known as Tweed-Emblem, is a community-input, roguelite-styled adventure. Summon allies at random, empower them at your base, then journey through 3 acts of epic battles, strange events, and powerful bosses!

This project is defined as a community-input project, which is an experimental format somewhere between a full-on community project and a solo effort. The community (i.e., you!) pitches ideas for playable characters, items, events, and maps, and the Dev Team uses those ideas to build the game! This keeps a focused, centralized development team who can keep up a steady work pace, while engaging the community by having them contribute in a fun way (who doesn’t like being an idea person?).

The GitLab hosts the most recent version of the game files. If you have an installation of Lex Talionis, this is the version you want to play.

Latest Build - LordTweed / Tweeds_Roguelite · GitLab

If you do not have Lex Talionis installed but still want to try the game out, below is a stand alone version of the game. This version will not be as up-to-date, but you can just download, double click the “double click to play file”, and enjoy the game!

November 05, 2023 EXE Build - EotF_EXE.zip - Google Drive

Game Summary

The game follows a very light and fragmented story. A woman wakes up alone in a mansion surrounded by a dense fog, and must find her way out of… wherever this realm is.

At the base, the player is able to summon new permanent allies, upgrade allies permanently, read up on lore, unlock new game systems, and more! Once ready, the player can then embark on their journey, selecting any 4 allies they own as their starting team.

Each room will give you 3 choices. You must pick one of them to proceed. Many of these choices will be standard FE-styled fights (though smaller in scale) that will grant EXP, Items, and Currencies. You may also encounter Camps, where you can heal and summon new temporary allies, Shops, to purchase items, and Events, where anything goes!

The game currently consists of 3 Acts, each one of which is 15 rooms long. At the end of each act, you will face a trial and boss fight. See if the team you’ve built can take on the danger of the fog!

Features

• 130+ unique characters, and counting!
• 60+ different maps, also counting!
• 3 Acts to test your mettle against
• A free-roaming base camp
• Permanent upgrade systems for characters, systems, and more
• A unique “Support” system, where you can call in aid to escape battles, remove enemies, and more
• A story, technically

How to Play

There are 2 ways to play the game currently.

1. Download or Clone the GitLab version and run it using your own Lex Talionis installation.
2. Download the EXE version, and just run the file. This version will not always be up-to-date.

The GitLab is for the project files. Simply boot up the Lex Talionis Editor and load up the Project Folder from wherever you cloned/downloaded it.

If you need help with setup of the engine, please refer to the following guide and ask for help on the Lex Talionis Discord server!

Lex-Talionis
Getting Started — lt-maker documentation

How to Contribute

Currently, we accept submissions for characters, maps, items, and events through the #tweed-emblem channel on the Lex Talionis Discord server.

Lex-Talionis

We have threads there for each submission type, and each thread has a pin with submission guidelines. I look forward to your contributions!

Credits

Dev Team

• Lord_Tweed
• RandomWizard
• BigMood/SigmaRaven
• Rasta

Asset and submission credits are included in the credits.txt file in the Gitlab. If there is anything missing, please let me know!

All assets used in this project are either from the Graphics Repository, or submitted by their original owners and used with their permission. If you see anything that violates submission guidelines or that otherwise breaks any rules, please report it to Lord_Tweed!

Screenshots

Other Materials

We have a Tier List maker, if you want to play around with that. It will be updated periodically.
https://tiermaker.com/create/embrace-of-the-fog-16013037

[Rammerrush]

This has been the number one game in LTcord for the last month or so.
I can’t recommend it enough for anyone interested in some good gacha fun

[Yasako]

Armor Knight named Rook

Awesome…

Rook only has 4 Mov and can’t En Passant

Not as awesome…

Might hop on LTcord and submit some code or something for a custom skill component where you charge infinitely (or up to x amount) in one direction, stopping at the first obstacle that the unit cannot move through and initiating a battle when attempting to move through an enemy unit.

[d_h]

I finally got some free time to check this out!

I’ve only made it to the second trial/boss, but I can already see why this has been so popular within the Lex Talionis discord.

Stratagems are fun to play around with and can be super helpful. Accessories in general are great and figuring out different synergies within them is fun (Killer Helm+Bolas+Bombs). The item rebalancing is pretty fair and non-support items being infinite use really works.

I’ve been running Doofus, LT, Ekaitz, and Aeilem/Intruder with some success while I try to unlock the rest of the cast. Playable character variety is great with everyone doing something different than the rest.

There are lots of really cool additions that make each run feel unique and I would recommend anyone interested in Fire Emblem Roguelike hacks to check this project out.

[Rivian]

I can’t express enough how interesting the playable units here are. Almost all of them have identifiable kits, which combined with many unique accessories, weapons and skills create interesting synergies.
Discovering each new unit feels rewarding as none are ‘generic mercenary number 3.’

One of my favourites is the funny cleric that eats souls.

Another favourite is the self-replicating mogall, allowing considerable… strategy, I’ll call it. This ‘strategy’ will not be survive a future update.

Check this project out. It is very cool.

[Lord_Tweed]

I have updated the EXE build to a more recent version, here’s the general summary of what’s new since the July build:

• Act 4 is now available, and serves as the game’s finale.
• After clearing Act 2, Skill Inheritance is unlocked by speaking to the Wardrobe at the base.
• After 3 runs are finished, the player will be able to speak to allies in the base. This serves as the primary way to unlock new skills for Skill Inheritance.
• After clearing Act 4, the player will be able to apply difficulty modifiers to the game. There is currently no reward for doing so.
• A new type of combat reward called “Weapons+”. These nodes grant boosted WEXP and drop stronger weapons.
• Many bug fixes and balance tweaks

To maintain your save, go to the Saves folder of the older version, and copy the “Gacha_Game-persistent_records” file (Gacha Game is the game’s internal working name). Paste this file into the saves folder of the new version, and you should be good to go. I recommend finishing or abandoning your current run before moving to the new version.

[4bundy]

Hey, I had fun with my first run so far, but I have an issue in the second boss battle, when the enemies with their movement skill bands attack me on enemy phase a bunch of them cause the game to crash. Is this a known issue? Anything I can do about it?
(Using the .exe build in the OP)

[Lord_Tweed]

Thanks for reporting! I’ve updated the EXE to a new version, the problem should be fixed now. Just download the new build and copy over all of your saves (just bring the entire folder). I also recommend going into the config.ini file (in the Saves folder as well) and setting debug to 1. This will allow you to access the “All Saves” feature from the Extras menu on the main menu, which can bring you to the stage selection right before the boss fight. I recommend starting from there if possible.

Apologies for the trouble!

[Luba]

Great game!! I just finished clearing the game for the third time and unlocked all (110 unlockable, non-event locked characters) and i’m speechless and how good of an experience this game was, it was even hard to find that many exploits or broken things, so congratz on that front too.

Exceptions to that last sentence, obviously spoilers ahead!

The support system is a bit exploitable in the sense that “search>Respite” lets you loop through the first floor of the game until you have enough fragments to unlock everyone, it took me like 2-3 hours to accomplish this once i unlocked it, but it’s a obviously not the inteeded way to do it or use said system which is why i wanted to mention it.

Thundering clap and sorcerer’s skull allow you to extend the range of aoe tomes like pyroclasm, but they don’t work for one such as hunger (Marked in game as cleaves), i wonder if this is intentional or not which is why i included it here, apologies for the screenshot spam.

Edit: This was done on the EXE file.

[EAALen]

As the dev of Hope’s Trail, a hack which people have often likened to a roguelike… I absolutely love where this is going. I just cleared the first boss, but I thought I’d spill my thoughts & feedback below because I want this project to be as amazing as it can be.

What I love about this

• Every unit feels super distinct thanks to the prfs and skills they have, and some of these designs are really clever. My favorites so far are Gazer (despite a criticism I’ll get to later on), and the stance-switching lady with two lances. But the important thing is even the less crazy designs still bring something powerful and unique to the table.

• Following from that, the way EXP (spread evenly across the party) and HP (a precious, waning resource) works really encourages me to mix and match my team between each level, which is rare for an FE game to pull off. Because of how unique and cool the unit designs are, I actually look forward to this as it gives me a reason to try more of the cast.

• In addition to the diverse unit designs, the sheer variety of equippables, “spell items,” and stratagems - it all comes together to evoke the replayability and addictiveness of a great roguelike.

My biggest criticism

Stall tactics are too strong. The AI seems… extremely passive, and units on “hold position” AI don’t approach even after being attacked. This seems to allow a ton of cheese. Gazer, for example, can often just clear groups with 0 risk by repeatedly chipping from 6+ range (swiftsoles make this even more silly). This is the most extreme example, but depending on the map, you can often do similar things with Rescue or the Canto+ Stratagem.

Coupled with the fact that many levels have no clear incentive to go quickly, this kind of verrry slow, uninteractive play often ends up being the optimal strategy to conserve HP. I would suggest two design changes to address this:

1. Change the AI so that enemies who “hold position” by default will start rushing after they have been attacked. This is what mainline FEs typically do, and I think it would work here as well to at least make these enemies less cheesable.

2. Add more incentive to go quickly. Turn limits or optional time-based bonus objectives would go a long way to encouraging aggressive play, and create a real trade off in terms of what constitutes “optimal” - rather than just always picking the move which saves the most HP. As I said, I’ve only cleared the first boss so far, so maybe this already becomes the norm later on.

Bugs?

• Stone Circlet doesn’t seem to be working properly. The checkmated debuff appears on the unit’s status screen, but having the item doesn’t seem to affect a unit’s MOV or other stats at all.

• The dragon stone descriptions say they target the lower of DEF and RES, but in my experience these weapons always seem to target defense. The exception seems to be the MC’s.

I will also mention that I was playing on the Aug 14 EXE build of the game, in case some of these bugs or critiques have been addressed in the latest build.

Overall, this is super impressive, and I will definitely be playing a lot more of it. Excellent job!

[Luba]

something i forgot to mention either is i wish you vould eventually add a button to auto choose bonus units at the start of a run, because that system is fun for experimenting but it takes a bit too long to select them once you have everyone unlocked.

[Lord_Tweed]

Hi all. Been a little bit since I posted an update here.

The EXE in the link has been updated! There are too many changes to really cover in depth. Mostly tons of new characters and maps, as well as some new bosses and system upgrades. There’s plenty of new stuff to explore!

Thanks to everyone here and on the Discord for the feedback, We’ve been monitoring it and adjusting as needed. We have some new QoL, like checking your obtained Master Seals in base, auto-selecting Bonus Units on Sortie, and more balance changes. It’s a very different (and much better!) game than it was since the previous EXE release.

Also, our FEE3 presentation is tomorrow! It was recorded on a much older build, but if you’re curious to see how the game works, the presentation should give you a good general overview.

Please report any bugs. And feel free to join the Discord if you want to submit your own ideas! I hope everyone enjoys this latest release!

A note on updating: You can carry over your progress from the prior version, but there’s an extra step this time. Go into your Saves folder for the old version, and copy “Gacha_Game-persistent_records.p”. This is basically your save file. Rename this to “EotF-persistent_records.p”, and place it in the new version’s saves folder. This should carry all your progress over.

[Lord_Tweed]

A crash was reported that slipped through, it would only occur on newer save files. I’ve updated the EXE build to the October 9th build which should have a fix. Updating is the same as described in my prior post above.

Apologies for any inconvenience!

[Kliss88]

Will you be adding battle animation and palettes in the future?

[kdports]

I heard there’s gonna be a patch to guarantee three 5-stars to new players

[Rammerrush]

I heard rumors that there’s gonna be an FEE3 Event patch to award all players 1000 premium currencies lol

[Lord_Tweed]

False rumors…

I have updated the EXE build. Most crashes from the previous version should be fixed now. Additionally, there are some new characters and a new Elite fight available!

I have also updated the OP with a new section for “Other Materials”. Currently, it only contains a Tiermaker for the game’s current cast, but I plan to add more supplementary materials in the future.

Lastly, we had an FEE3 presentation like a week ago, posting it here to share. It’s a good general overview of the game and its concepts, although it was recorded on a very old version. Should still serve as a nice way to learn what the game is about.

@Kliss88

Will you be adding battle animation and palettes in the future?

The nature of this game’s cast makes this kinda unfeasible. We have a ton of weapon/class combinations that have no matching animations. I’d rather not have it so that some classes have animations while others don’t, so the plan is simply not to have animations for this project. Helps the game speed stay high, anyway.

[Kliss88]

Makes sense!

[LadyPeony]

I’ve only played a couple runs of this one and I find myself really enjoying it despite not necessarily being the biggest fan of Rogue-lite/likes in general. The biggest compliments I have are definitely how well the hub area feels to move around in and THE MUSIC especially. Great music can really help make a good game even better. Honestly the back ground music for the pick a path spots have to be the best in the game and I often find myself wishing I could replace the battle map music with the path music, not because the battle map music is bad but because the path music is just so amazing.

The only thing that makes me sad is getting a couple of cute girl units while on a run and not being able to take them home with me. (Almanac, my beloved)

[Xilirite]

Been playing this game basically exclusive for 2 weeks, bordering on obsession. This thing is good - a WIP to be sure, but a very good one. I’ve been trying to get more eyes on this project as I hop around different hack discords, and realized I should post on the thread about it as well. So, here’s all the cool things I like about EotF!

• Unit variety is fantastic. Runs feel very distinct from one another, as some units cause you to totally reevaluate certain items and stratagems. One unit might be a huge ball of stats suffering from a deadly illness that will slowly, and suddenly, kill her during your run; another might be the protagonist of a story that doesn’t exist, who has to go through a whole mechanical character arc (including dying) before reaching full potential; another might be a spider, whose poor combat stats are made up for by the rapidly spreading plague she poisons her enemies with.

• Items are interesting and fun. While you have your standard FE fare (made more interesting by way of opportunity cost and infinite use; taking a Zanbato might encourage you to take a very different path through the game’s acts), you also have a bunch of brand new stuff just for this game. Between the unique weapons, the accessories (passive items that tend to have both an upside and a downside), and the stratagems (party-wide skills that vary from broadly useful to niche but extraordinarily powerful), you have a ton of room to take the already interesting character kits in new and fun directions.

• The maps, specifically the more bespoke Elite, Trial, and Boss maps, are super cool. Legitimately, some of these maps are among the most unique and interesting maps I’ve played in an FE game, it’s honestly great. From “rescuing” fleeing enemies before loading them into a cart you have to protect, to dodging AoE from a frequently teleporting boss fight, to fighting an army of clones and trying to find the real boss among the crowd, this game’s major fights are creative, engaging, and VERY cool.

• Metaprogression is fun! I’m somewhat unique among the playerbase, to my knowledge, as I’ve actually made comparatively little progress in the metaprogression while making very raid progression within the runs themselves, but nonetheless, returning to base after a run and spending my currencies is exciting every time. Every* unit has unique dialogue you can read, and summoning new ones and looking at what they can do is always a highlight.
  *okay not everyone yet, but it’s a WIP! The intent is there

• The game’s tone is very interesting. As a game with a ton of community-submitted assets, things can be all over the place - one character might be totally played straight, the next might be Dorcas in clown makeup. However, none of that takes away from the tone of the writing in this game - at its best, it’s got a really neat sense of melancholy and mystery to it all, and the game does a good job of portraying the vibe of being lost in a haze - a Fog! - and grasping at whatever you can find. I enjoyed learning about, and piecing together, the story at the heart of the game, even if that story is admittedly a small part of a largely gameplay oriented product.

• It’s just fun. FE gameplay scratches an itch no other game franchise properly scratches, and EotF manages to also scratch that roguelike itch of going “just one more run…” Like I said earlier, I basically haven’t played anything but EotF in the past little while. I just keep coming back for another run, and then another after that, and then I look at the time and force myself to stop playing. Very, very, very fun game.

If you like roguelike / roguelite stuff, you should really try it out. It might not be for everyone - I’ve heard that most players struggle with the early game much more than I did - but it’s certainly for me, and I know a good chunk of my friends have been enjoying it as well. Super excited to see what this game looks like once it’s [COMPLETE].