The Sacred-er Stones? Let's Play Fire Emblem: Sacred War [abandoned]

[Moonside]

Well, it's been a while since I gave LPing a go, but I think it's finally time to get back to it. I enjoyed playing through the Sacred Stones self-randomizer about a year back, but now it's time to move on to--

Huh? What do you mean, it's Sacred Stones again? Oh, all right...



Welcome to Fire Emblem: Sacred War! This is a ROM hack of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, created by Fire Emblem Universe user Seal. It's a complete overhaul of the game, tweaking things from character base/maximum stats, to items, to maps, to skills. It even overhauls the postgame, adding a third dungeon to Creature Campaign that has some additional story content! If this sounds like something you'd want to try out, you can download it here.

The only thing that hasn't changed about this hack is the plot, so feel free to talk about the story or share memes about it or what have you. If on the off-chance you've seen the aforementioned story content, though, please spoiler tag it.

Quick disclaimer: I'll be going into this hack mostly blind. I've played each lord's route through to Chapter 11 or so, but anything past that is uncharted territory. What could possibly go wrong? :v I also don't have a formal update schedule right now, but I should hopefully get through the first chapters fairly quickly.

Table of Contents:
01 - Not exactly starting off with a bang...
02 - Heeere's Gilliam!
03 - A Bone to Pick
04 - BAZBA IS DEFEAT
05 - Get Out Of Here, Stalker
06 - Arena? More Like Are-Nah

[Moonside]

Okay, let's get started. I'm playing this on-



-Standard? If you say so. (You can't actually pick "Select" or "Difficulty".)



The first thing you'll notice is that the start screen of each chapter has changed - the illustration in the background is new. It's a nice touch.



Nothing about this intro sequence is too out of the ordinary, but you'll notice Seth has a new sprite. Eirika, Seth and Franz make their escape, and then...



Valter shows up to let me show off Seth's new animations, as well as a look at this hack's battle UI!



After that, we're into the actual game, where we can see that even the prologue map has been changed up, with more variety than the bland mountain pass it used to be. Also, units below full health have life bars that appear under their sprite, like the games from Path of Radiance onward. But now, let's look at some of the more interesting changes; the stats.




Stat changes: +1 Str
Growth changes: -5% HP, +5% Str, -10% Skl, -5% Spd, -5% Lck, -5% Def, +5% Res

Each time we get a new character, I'll highlight whatever changes were made to their stats and growths (and items, where applicable), like so. Eirika hasn't changed too much statistically (though the slight bump to Strength is handy), but she did also have her affinity changed from Light to Thunder. Not pictured is that her Sword rank has been brought up to C; one of the bigger changes in Sacred War is that characters cannot gain weapon EXP, and weapon ranks are dictated by class just like in FE4. In other words, she's staying where she is until she promotes.



Eirika's been given a Slim Sword in addition to her Rapier (now called the Noble Rapier). Vulneraries have been buffed to 5 uses AND they now heal 20 HP instead of 10, which is very nice. The Star Seal is what's giving Eirika all the +1s on her stat screen, and has no other effect outside of that; this hack is big on items that give passive boosts to whoever holds it, and the Star Seal is a nice introduction to that. As for the weapons:
Slim Sword: 5->15 Crit, 30->50 uses
Noble Rapier: 7->8 Might, 95->100 Hit, 10->20 Crit

Overall, this is a very nice set of changes! The Slim Sword has become something of a pseudo-Killing Edge, which is very useful for characters like Eirika. However, another very significant change is that critical hits only deal double damage now instead of triple, so the crit boosts aren't quite as overkill as they seem.




Stat changes: -4 Str, -1 Skl, +2 Spd, -1 Lck, -1 Def, +4 Res
Growth changes: Hoo boy. +110% HP, +50% Str, +60% Skl, +55% Spd, +75% Lck, +60% Def, +70% Res

Seth, meanwhile, is one of three characters to receive a major facelift in Sacred War. (Can you guess the other two?) He got a boost to Speed and Resistance at the expense of all of his other stats, his level has been brought up to 10, and he now has absolutely batshit growths. However, he gets all of 1 EXP per battle and kill this early in the game, so you have to really try to level him up. You're really only meant to use him for emergencies, because relying on him is a better way to waste experience for other units than it is in the original Sacred Stones. He's also able to use axes in his class, in addition to swords and lances; he has B ranks in all three.



Speaking of which, his class, Grand Knight, has two skills: Crusade and Sentinel.Every promoted class has at least one skill that serves several different purposes, and Seth gets the ones from both Paladin and Great Knight. What do they do? A lot, it turns out - Crusade doubles weapon might against all magic users and monsters, doubles the resistance boost from terrain effects, and also gives him a bonus +5% crit rate. Sentinel allows him to rescue units without incurring a penalty to Skill and Speed, doubles weapon might against archers, and reduces all incoming damage by 1. These skills also enable certain weapons to be equipped, but we'll get to that whenever we get said weapons.

If this seems like a lot to take in... I can't say I blame you. Fortunately, the Guide menu has entries on all the skills, so you don't have to go digging through the game's documentation to find out what all the skills do... you just have to dig through in-game menus instead. :v



His inventory is the same as it was in the original game, but his weapons have also received stat tweaks.
Steel Sword: 10->9 Weight, 8->7 Might, 75->85 Hit, 30->50 uses
Silver Lance: Rank reduced from A to C, 14->12 Might, 75->70 Hit, 20->50 uses

The Silver weapons all got nerfed in this hack, though there's a new group of generic B-rank weapons to make up for this that we'll get eventually.



Okay, that's enough ogling stat changes, let's get into the actual gameplay. Eirika starts us off with a bang by handily taking out this Fighter.



And... I guess she pierced this guy's wallet in the fight, because he drops a whole 5 gold. Actually, many enemies in this hack drop gold, which is nice - though I'm going to skim over it unless it's a particularly high amount because I imagine seeing this screenshot repeated ad nauseum will get old fast.

Nothing of interest happens for the next few turns, beyond Eirika taking out the Soldier and other Fighter on her own, both of whom drop another 5 gold.



This causes an... unusually pale-looking O'Neill to start coming after us.



Ah, I guess Seal didn't respect O'Neill enough to let him keep his name, as he's now just a generic Commander. Anyway, he's actually received some rather substantial buffs, particularly to Strength and Skill. This makes him dangerous to fight with just Eirika without utilizing the terrain - parking her in the fort makes him much easier to deal with. I could let Seth at him, but... letting him fight anything is a waste of perfectly good experience, especially this early in the game.



And so the epic(?) battle begins. The boost to speed that O'Neill got means Eirika can't double him, but that's fine; the fort makes it so that she pretty much won't get hit.



On turn 2 of the battle, Eirika levels up, and... oh, I see. It's going to be one of these LPs, I can tell already.




Two turns later, he falls, and 400 gold is at least enough to make up for the terrible level he gave Eirika. And that's the chapter! Not a terribly interesting start, but it's a good introduction of what's been changed and what's to come. Join me next time as I romp through a hopefully more interesting Chapter 1.

[AradoBalanga]

FE8 really does draw in the romhackers, doesn't it? This sounds interesting. That said, the images for Seth's stats are all broken.

[Moonside]

That said, the images for Seth's stats are all broken.

Whoops, good catch - still getting used to BPix. Should be fixed now.

[CmdrKing]

Honestly mostly dropping a post to get the thread flowing. I keep forgetting that FE8 developed much more robust hacking tools over time, I feel like last time I checked in on the community it was still doing work with FE7.

[Moonside]

I've always found that really interesting, to be honest - I've never made an FE hack (though I've wanted to for years), but it's been fascinating seeing the hacking tools for the series evolve over time, especially for Sacred Stones. People have made some very authentic-looking fangames using FE8 as a base, and I'm always excited to see what the future will hold for FE hacking.

[The Flying Twybil]

I think it helps that Sacred Stones re-implements mechanics from older games and implements a lot of mechanics that would carry forward to the future. Random map battles/easy grinding, two class promotion choices, two routes, and the most refined GBA graphics (and brightest palette) of the three all in one game. Not to mention that the code has to be a lot better on the inside of this thing. They'd probably fixed a lot of engine bugs and spaghetti code over 3 iterations.

Also, woo, another FE LP! The games really do lend themselves to an SSLP format, so I can understand why. I guess it's the second coming of The Year of FE LPs or something.

I'm liking the look of this so far- I'd actually considered taking a look at Sacred War myself, but got busy with other things and forgot about it. The early chapters of FE8 were a bit mild as they usually are in most games, so I'm interested to see what they've all changed.

[Explopyro]

This hack is looking really interesting; I haven't paid attention to FE romhacking for the last couple of years so I'm not familiar with any more recent ones. This is completely new for me and I'm here for it, I've played quite a few FE8 rebalances years ago and it's always interesting seeing what people try to do with it.

Might have to play this myself when I have some time, too, but for now I'll keep an eye on this LP. Looks good so far.

[ClyncyeRudje]

Man, this is a relatively minor thing in the face of things but I hope you can change menu colors in the hack because that menu background is real hard to read the white inventory text on. I'd be interested in trying the hack myself but not if that menu background is forced.

[Moonside]

No dice there, sadly. The most that can be done is using one of the default window colors to make the stat box and your equipped item pop a bit more.

[Nanimani]

Oh damn, those are some impressive changes. Guess I've got to go try this out for myself.

[biosterous]

always love to see more fe sslps!

[Moonside]

Welcome back. This time: Something with a little more substance. Also, a slightly clearer look at the new start screen CG.



We watch Breguet crit this poor mercenary to death...



...and then we're into the map. There's more forts here than before, but all of them have enemies parked on them. Having one directly in front of the boss is pretty handy, though.



Turn 1 is spent just turtling and letting all of these Fighters come to us.



Contestant number 1 gives Eirika a very Eirika level. Hopefully that +5% bump to her strength growth manifests soon...



And here's the crit nerf rearing its head. Even though she crits this guy, Eirika has to waste another use of her sword to finish him off.



Anyway, turn 2 comes, and our party size doubles.




Stat changes: +2 Lck
Growth changes: -20% HP, +15% Str, +5% Spd, +10% Lck, +5% Def, +15% Res

Franz doesn't seem too different at first glance, but he's been given a big boon to his growths... most of them, anyway. The Strength growth in particular is very nice.



Iron Sword: 5->4 Might, 46->50 uses
Iron Lance: 7->6 Weight, 7->6 Might
I... do have to say I find the nerfs to the Iron weapons questionable. Most unpromoted classes cap out at a C rank in whatever they can use, so nerfing the base weapons seems like a weird choice. (Unless I point out otherwise, assume that every unpromoted character has a C rank in whatever they can use.) I guess it's to encourage the player to use a wider variety of weapons? At least the weight on the lance dropped. Also, Franz only has 1 Vulnerary now instead of 2.




Stat changes: +2 Spd, +1 Def, -2 Con
Growth changes: -10% HP, +10% Str, +10% Skl, -5% Spd, -5% Def, +5% Res

Gilliam's also been buffed overall (peep that 5 move!), but the Con drop hurts. It won't be noticeable this early in the game, but once we get some heavier weapons it definitely will be.



Also, Knights in this hack can use axes!
Iron Axe: 10->8 Weight, 8->7 Might



Seth sees some action in the interest of speeding this initial part of the fight up. Eirika can't have all the fun, after all, but she does take out the guy she wounded in the last turn.



Gilliam then goes forth to demonstrate his axe skills, with Franz finishing this guy off.



...Doing that proves to be a bad idea, as both of the other fighters go for Franz on the enemy phase, with him unable to double either of them. Thank god for that Vulnerary buff.



Eirika steps in to help out, with Gilliam taking out the other guy.



The rest of the enemies chilling on the forts are programmed to not move, so everyone moves up. This prompts the reinforcements, and twice the usual amount of them.



There's something beautiful about seeing Gilliam already being able to double people.




Franz isn't able to put up good numbers against the Myrmidon, so Eirika takes him out with a crit and Franz picks on the Fighter instead.



Fighter opts to go out on Eirika instead and... Strength. Please. I beg of you.




On the next turn, Gilliam sets Franz up to take out this Myrmidon and lift his Iron Sword. Of note is that he could double both of them - he had 11 speed, and it's only Chapter 1.



While we wait for the other set of reinforcements to sidle up to us, Gilliam gets to work on dismantling Breguet's wall of Soldiers. The group catches up on the enemy phase, and...



...What?



Oh, Franz, please don't let Eirika rub off on you...



Gah. Something else to note about this hack - if you miss all your attacks, you don't get the pity 1 EXP you normally would. This Fighter then dies to Eirika, because he evidently thought he'd be able to hit the 17% chance his buddy did (he didn't).



After dealing with the reinforcements, Gilliam and Franz get back to work on Breguet's meatshields.




On the next turn, Gilliam moves up to fight the last one and also take a hit from Breguet. Yay, someone finally got Strength!



He takes that hit, and dishes out much more in response, as he's able to double Breguet.



Not that he's exactly outclassing Gilliam in anything except Resistance and HP...



At any rate, Gilliam was able to do just enough damage for Eirika to step in and finish him off with one hit. While critical hits were nerfed, effective damage thankfully wasn't.



That's more like it! He drops another 400 Gold, and we seize. Before we wrap it up, we can take a look at what changes Moulder and Vanessa have received.




Stat changes: +1 Mag, -2 Skl, +1 Def
Growth changes: -5% HP, +10% Mag, -5% Skl, -5% Spd, +10% Lck, +10% Def, +25% Res

At the risk of alluding to an outdated meme, Moulder has become much more tanky, with rock-solid defensive growths. I imagine his Skill nerf will come around to bite me eventually, but it's fine for right now.



Heal: 30->50 uses, 11->15 EXP on use, healing formula changed from 10+Mag to 10+(Mag/2)

Unfortunately, not even the healing staves have escaped the nerfs to basic equipment. It'll do for now, but Heal gets outdated really fast, especially given that Moulder can already use up to C-rank staves! That said, the small boost to EXP it gives does add up.




Stat changes: +3 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Lck
Growth changes: +5% Spd, +5% Lck, +10% Res

There's not much to say about Vanessa, really; she hasn't received any nerfs, but she gets one level less of growth room, as she's been bumped up to level 2. The bonus HP is nice, though.



Slim Lance: 85->90 Hit, 5->15 Crit, 30->50 uses
Javelin: Rank raised from E to D, 11->10 Weight, 6->5 Might, 20->50 uses

While the Javelin got a slight nerf in terms of power, it having its durability more than doubled is very nice. And that'll do it for now! Next time: Some of the more unique aspects of this hack begin to surface.

[Nanimani]

Hum. I don't really like the iron weapon nerfs, but eh. It does maybe do something to keep you from just using iron the entire game.

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

I played some of this hack (something up to like chapter 7 IIRC) and while I didn't think it was bad nothing about it really grabbed me but I could've written it off too early.

That said since it looks like some of the insensibly heavy weapons might be lighter in general I wouldn't stress out over Gilliam's nerfed CON? For all I know it's just so mounted characters can actually rescue him once he promotes.

[AradoBalanga]

The extra uses of javelins probably has to do with ranged lance options being very limited in the GBA games, even in FE8. The Short Spear is droppable by...one or two enemies IIRC, and the Spear is also in a similar situation (or is stuck in a chest in the late game). Or, you can farm those weapons from the Tower of Valni's higher levels or the ruins at the end of the game, which is a massive time sink. So, any units that are predominately lance focused are stuck with this dinky D rank weapon for a long, long time. Having 50 uses is a welcome change given the circumstances.

[LPFinale]

I remember playing a decent chunk of this on a server. Streamed portions of it, even. We were mostly just kind of baffled at most of the changes, particularly Genealogy weapon ranks and reducing Silver to C Rank. Making everything 50 uses also makes a decent chunk of things obscenely expensive. And that 5 Gold? It never leaves. I've played to about where you got to so far. You will endure it forever, I assume. There's like one chapter so far where it doesn't happen. Enjoy your Turbo button.

It might've just been a bit of a bandwagon effect where we were all just kinda laughing at changes we found weird, so hopefully seeing differing opinions in here will get things in a more objective light. Not sure if my opinions will change, but I'll enjoy reading about others' takes on it.

[Junpei]

The comparison I wanna make is FE4: Binary, which is on the LP Archive, but FE4 is a much different beast. Consider me intrigued... and watching.

[Moonside]

That said since it looks like some of the insensibly heavy weapons might be lighter in general I wouldn't stress out over Gilliam's nerfed CON? For all I know it's just so mounted characters can actually rescue him once he promotes.

This is a good point! It's not like he'd be totally incapable of wielding stuff even once we do get to said heavier weapons.

I remember playing a decent chunk of this on a server. Streamed portions of it, even. We were mostly just kind of baffled at most of the changes, particularly Genealogy weapon ranks and reducing Silver to C Rank. Making everything 50 uses also makes a decent chunk of things obscenely expensive. And that 5 Gold? It never leaves. I've played to about where you got to so far. You will endure it forever, I assume. There's like one chapter so far where it doesn't happen. Enjoy your Turbo button.

Well, it's a good thing they give out gold like candy, then. Like... those crappy little hard candies, but candy nonetheless.

The comparison I wanna make is FE4: Binary, which is on the LP Archive, but FE4 is a much different beast. Consider me intrigued... and watching.

That's actually a pretty good comparison, but I unfortunately can't think of anything SW has that matches some of Binary's little quirks, like the random pirate showing up to give Lex the Devil Axe or the Archanea-era characters making cameos in the arena.

I have to say, I'm surprised at how many people so far have been interested in this LP - I hope I can do this hack justice.

[Moonside]

(Disclaimer: When I said a few of the more unique aspects of this hack surface in this chapter, that was based on something I was misremembering - you'll see what I mean)



Is it trainee time? I think it's trainee time.



The map for this chapter is actually completely unchanged from the base game with the overall strategy being roughly the same, but there's a bit more to it than meets the eye.



Eirika visits the first village for a Red Ruby Gem. Though the name and sprite are new, it still sells for 2500 Gold.



Moulder visits the second village, and gets Pure Water instead of an Elixir. That's normally what the bottom village gives you, so what will that have this time?



Vanessa grabs Ross so we can get him in the party next turn, again just like the original chapter. The little "!" by the archer is new, though - this hack has an indicator for when enemies can do effective damage for your selected unit.



Garcia takes out the Brigand that was in the village effortlessly - he'll be joining us soon enough. But for now, let's look at the person who actually joined, after Vanessa dropped him off and Moulder patched him up.




Stat changes: +2 Skl, +2 Spd
Growth changes: -5% HP, -5% Str, +15% Skl, +15% Spd, +10% Lck, +5% Def, +5% Res
Damn. It wasn't enough for him to have 9 extra levels to grow to begin with, he gets all these growth boosts too? Ross usually struggled with speed in vanilla FE8 (at least in my experience), so this is a huge help for him.



The Slim Axe is our first brand-new weapon, as the Hatchet has been done away with. It's a pretty solid weapon, with 5 Weight and Might, 85 Hit, and 15 Crit. It's close-range only, but to make up for that, Ross has also been given a Hand Axe!
Hand Axe: Rank raised from E to D, 12->11 Weight, 30->50 uses
The rank on the ranged weapons being raised is another change that makes no sense to me, given that literally anyone capable of using axes can use a hand axe even if it's D (or even C!) rank, but whatever.



Franz hits up the armory to find its inventory has completely changed and we're getting Steel weapons much earlier than normal. There's a reason why enemies give gold, and it's because 50 uses on everything means prices go up accordingly. Also, ain't it funny how I was talking about Heal getting outdated really quickly, and then you're able to buy Mend the same chapter you get Moulder? That said, it's not worth picking up here - Natasha's coming in three chapters, and it's really unlikely that you'll burn through Heal that quickly or need the extra 10 HP from Mend in that time. As for what's new here:
Steel Lance: 13->10 Weight, 10->9 Might, 70->75 Hit, 30->50 uses
Steel Axe: 15->11 Weight, 11->10 Might, 65->70 Hit, 30->50 uses
Steel Bow: 9->8 Might, 70->85 Hit, 30->50 uses
Mend: Rank dropped from D to E, 20->25 uses, 12->20 EXP on use, healing formula changed from 20+Mag to 20+(Mag/2)
For now, Franz grabs two lances, and then I manage to fuck up menu navigation hard enough that I leave the store entirely - on the next turn, I pawn off the Ruby Gem for two axes plus a sword for Eirika.



Franz went shopping with his lance equipped instead of his sword, but it's fine - he's able to dodge this.



Hey, since when are you able to double?



The following turn is pretty uneventful, but this Brigand that Franz fought with actually had the sense to pull back and use his Vulnerary.



Also, reinforcements! More of them, and more variety. There's a Myrmidon chilling by the bottom village, too.



The Steel Sword proves to be a fine investment. This guy drops the Vulnerary, and it's nice to have that to break up the monotony of everyone and their mother giving a nickel's worth of gold.



Franz makes a break for the bottom village, because I don't want to miss out on villages if I can help it.



The axe was a good buy too!



That Brigand decides fighting Eirika is a better idea than fighting Gilliam because ??????? Meanwhile, Ross gets Garcia in the party!




Stat changes: +1 Str, +1 Skl, -2 Con
Growth changes: -10% HP, -5% Str, +10% Spd, +15% Def, +5% Res
Overall, a pretty solid set of changes for Garcia. The readme for SW claims that the adjustments to bases are done to make everyone (trainees notwithstanding) usable out of the gate, and Garcia getting a bump to strength and skill definitely helps with that, as well as the boost to his Speed growth. That said, both he and Ross aren't really seeing much combat in this chapter, but they'll both have plenty of time to shine.
His inventory is the same as it was in the base game; Iron Axe, Hand Axe, Vulnerary.



While the father-son duo make their way to the battlefield, Gilliam helps Franz break through this blockade.



Well... he tries, anyway.



Oh, come ON!



In less depressing news, Vanessa makes her combat debut with these soldiers.



Oh, hi, Bone.



Franz finally takes out that Myrmidon for a fantastic level.



Bone is a slightly tougher nut to crack (or should I say a tougher bone to break?) than normal. His speed is almost double what it was in the original game, and him having a nonzero luck stat doesn't help anything.



Franz is almost to his destination, but there's one last myrm in his way.



Meanwhile, this Brigand doesn't get lucky a second time.



Eirika finishes off the reinforcements from the peaks and gets a pretty good level!



Garcia tries to take a shot at Bone from the woods, but no dice.



Uh-oh. Bone went for Ross instead, and is even able to double him... Fortunately, he misses the second attack.



Franz gets to the village, and gets... an Elixir. I made a break for this village because I misremembered and thought you get something else from here, but no, they just switch the rewards of two villages around.



The rest of the soldiers decided to pick on Moulder, so Vanessa (and Eirika) works on putting them in their place.



Meanwhile, things are looking bad for Ross, so he ducks into a forest to heal while Garcia and Gilliam give chase.



Bone goes out fighting Garcia on the enemy phase, giving us another 400 gold and leaving just a single soldier to deal with...



...whom Vanessa finishes for a bad level. And we're done here!

NEXT TIME:



Actually significant map changes??

[Nanimani]

There were also some pretty significant map changes in the introductory chapter, but yeah, wow. Gotta say, I'm loving all of this.
Especially those new steel weapons, yes! Never considered steel worth really using with its weight and accuracy. Not the case anymore, it seems!

[Aithon]

Those new animations look pretty great and fit well with the rest of the game. I'm surprised. Some of the balance changes seem small enough to be pointless, but maybe they'll make sense once we see more of them?

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

100g/use mend staff is more than a little ridiculous but at the same time GBA FE staff exp is really dumb for tying it to that.

[Moonside]

Those new animations look pretty great and fit well with the rest of the game. I'm surprised. Some of the balance changes seem small enough to be pointless, but maybe they'll make sense once we see more of them?

Some of them, probably, but definitely not all. As far as I know, nobody has a maximum weapon rank below C in anything, so the rank changes (other than the Silver stuff being bumped down to make way for a new tier of weapon) feel completely superfluous to me.

100g/use mend staff is more than a little ridiculous but at the same time GBA FE staff exp is really dumb for tying it to that.

Yeah... Like I said, Mend really isn't worth getting this early. The steel stuff definitely is and I regret not picking up a bow while I was at it, but it's another little design choice I don't quite understand.

[Greener223224]

Yeesh, turning Seth into a Level 10 uber-unit with 9 move and guaranteed stat boosts? Either he's going to die, or the hacker wasn't aware that "Seth Emblem" is supposed to be a criticism.

[Moonside]

It's most likely the latter. That said, Seal at least had the presence of mind to make relying on him difficult, partially due to how his stats were adjusted and partially because of how slowly he gains EXP; like I said, you have to really try to get him leveled up, and even if you do, he ends up well below his normal average strength even with his ridiculous growths (even if he ends up at or ahead of an average, vanilla L20 Seth in everything else).

[Shei-kun]

This is definitely full of interesting changes. Can't wait to see what has happened to some of my favorite characters!

[Greener223224]

It's most likely the latter. That said, Seal at least had the presence of mind to make relying on him difficult, partially due to how his stats were adjusted and partially because of how slowly he gains EXP; like I said, you have to really try to get him leveled up, and even if you do, he ends up well below his normal average strength even with his ridiculous growths (even if he ends up at or ahead of an average, vanilla L20 Seth in everything else).

So, there's still no reason to not just solo the entire game with Seth. Congratulations, Seal, you went through all that rebalance effort for nothing.

[Junpei]

Since we're sort of skipping over some plot here and there, I figured it wouldn't be remiss to share a few FE8 memes I know about.

[Moonside]

Yeah, I guess I should have specified that this LP is going to be pretty light on story, as that's about the one thing that didn't change - some of the dialogue is different and there's the postgame content that I mentioned, but other than that the story is the exact same. Go hog wild on story talk/memes.

[Rabbi Raccoon]

I'm a little ahead of you, but I just saw that you're not supposed to use VBA since it apparently crashes during postgame stuff.

But I hate no$gba

Really liking it so far. The surprises for people who have beaten the original a million times is a breath of fresh air. Are there any dialogue changes or am I free to keep skipping the scenes?

[Moonside]

Have you tried mGBA? That's what I'm using for this thread. As far as I know, the only dialogue changes prior to the postgame are in villages, so you should be free to keep skipping through.

[Junpei]

Man, I wonder what'll happen to Amelia and Ewan, considering what Ross got.

[DelilahFlowers]

Ooh, I'll read this as I play. Haven't done FE8 and there is a plethora of hacks. Which gba emulator are you using for it?

[Moonside]

Ooh, I'll read this as I play. Haven't done FE8 and there is a plethora of hacks. Which gba emulator are you using for it?

mGBA! I started off using VBA, but switched once I realized I'd need something that can capture GIFs of the new animations.

[Moonside]

Welcome back! It's time for some thievery.



As I said at the end of the last update, this is where the changes to the maps become pretty noticeable, the prologue notwithstanding - the layout of chapter 3 has been completely changed. We still start in the bottom left, but the path through is different, with Bazba's throne in the top-center of the map as opposed to the top right. As usual, there's more enemy variety too - there definitely weren't Mages among the bandits before.




Before we get started, here's something more interesting than the map layout - Neimi!
Stat changes: +3 HP, +1 Str, +1 Lck
Growth changes: -5% HP, +5% Lck, +5% Def, +5% Res

Neimi's changes are pretty subtle, but they do help her out.



Iron Bow: 6->5 Might, 85->90 Hit, 45->50 uses
The Slim Bow is actually an altered Short Bow, but it's been changed so much that it might as well be its own thing. E rank, 3 Weight, 3 Might, 100 Hit, 15 Crit, and it no longer costs like 1600 gold for 22 uses.



Franz starts off by taking Seth's Steel Sword and mowing down a Fighter, who drops a Pure Water.




Garcia then softens up this archer to let Ross get his first kill.



Neimi gets her start fighting this Mage, and I'm now really wishing I had picked up a steel bow for her last chapter.



Vanessa tries to take out this guy after Gilliam weakens him, but to no avail.



I also give Ross the Star Seal. Despite ostensibly looking like an important, protag-only thing from its sprite, anyone can hold it!



The Fighter that Vanessa tried to finish off goes for Franz instead, and... At least he drops an Antitoxin...?



Ross is off to a more auspicious start after finishing the Mage that Neimi was dealing with.



The following enemy phase is uneventful. Then Colm shows up, and... there's a weird camera thing going on because it's not focusing on where Colm should be.



See, there he is.



While we make our way over to Colm, here's the Knight's ranged axe animation.



Garcia takes the axe back from him to wipe out a Soldier and get a pretty good level. Like son like father, huh?



My tactical genius ends up requiring me to use Seth to kill this Brigand to let Neimi and Ross move up.



In doing so, he lets me show off his new crit animation! We also get a Door Key from this, which we could use to pop open the door that's right there but... that's not a great idea, really.



At the start of the next turn, we get Colm.




Stat changes: +2 HP
Growth changes: -15% HP, -5% Spd, +10% Lck

Colm was... not treated with the same kindness as most other characters were, it seems, especially given the nerf to basic weapons. But I'm sure that 10% boost to Luck will come in handy!



Colm doesn't have anything we haven't already seen before, besides the Lockpick. Still 15 uses, but for some reason its cost has gone way up to 2250 gold. If I had to look for a positive here, it makes selling lockpicks you steal from other thieves more profitable I guess??



Oh, here's an annoying thing that this hack does. Normally, you can have two units talk or Support without it ending their turn. Not the case here; normally, you're able to get Neimi and Colm's C support immediately after you get Colm, but if you want to do that here you have to end both of their turns.



Everyone moves up, and... nothing happens on the enemy phase, so I guess I'm pushing on.



You can steal Gold from enemies, and fortunately it goes straight into your total as opposed to being an item in your inventory (if it was an item you would have to sell it for half of its value). Not that I can think of a scenario in which stealing gold is ever worth doing over just... getting it from killing them, but there you have it.



Colm just roughs up this soldier instead of taking his precious 5 gold, with him and Franz finishing both of them off during the enemy phase.



Moulder patches up Colm for his first level. Not bad, but Magic is really important for healers, here more than ever.



Another turn of the enemies not moving, so Colm charges in to start working on these clowns with Neimi finishing this one off.



Gilliam takes out the myrmidon and... well, it's better than Franz's level at least.



Guess who somehow managed to miss the Archer in the corner of the room? Fortunately, the mercenary doesn't move even though he totally could have capitalized on this. Colm and Vanessa deal with this guy...



...with Franz weakening the merc for him to die fighting Vanessa.



As we close in on Bazba, we can mess with this myrmidon through the wall. Why not?




Ross takes a bit of a gamble to deal with this myrmidon, but it wasn't worth the risk.



The rest of this turn is uneventful as the enemies continue to not move, so the next one opens with Neimi finishing this guy off.



Sure, I'll take it.



I had intended for Vanessa to finish this archer off for fun, but Garcia had to miss both of his shots.




Franz gets into a thrilling duel with this mercenary, and the result is just as thrilling.



However, in doing that the brigand moved and put a dent in him, and the archer got a hit in too.



It's times like this when the reduced healing from Heal and Mend is really noticeable...



I tried this again in the hopes that Garcia would land exactly one hit, and he landed both instead. Oh well!



Colm takes a crack at the Brigand, but his inability to really kill things lets Ross finish him off.



Since all that's left is Bazba, the treasure, and a few enemies guarding it, Vanessa pops this door open for Colm to come in and loot the place.



One of the enemies is even kind enough to come out and greet him!



See? His buff is helping already!



Vanessa finishes him off for fun and profit. Well, not really profit, since he left her with 99 EXP.



Seth pops this door open because sitting around waiting for Colm to come back feels like a waste.



Colm, my child, you're breaking my heart.



Please break this man's instead.




Ross gets into a fight with Bazba's throne room lackey and the heartbreak continues.



Here's something less heartbreaking: Treasure! Colm opens the first chest for... this. What is it?



Why, it's Metis's Tome, but buffed to boost all growths by 10%! If this seems like a weirdly early point to get a growth booster: 1) I agree, and 2) Sacred War gives these out like candy for reasons I don't quite understand. However, you can only use one per character, so no boosting Seth's HP growth to 300%.



Vanessa takes a potshot at the throne room lackey just to get a level, and Gilliam then rescues her so she doesn't end up on the receiving end of two different axes.



Eirika hasn't seen any action at all this chapter, so she rectifies that by finishing this guy off.



Chest #2 contains an Elixir. While everyone else waits for Colm to rejoin the group and get the last chest, we can at least take a crack at Bazba.



Bazba hasn't changed too much other than having more HP and (completely meaningless) more Res. He's easy to beat, it just takes a little more time.



Franz gets started, then Eirika follows up and--



--um.



Moulder patches her up for another good level! Vanessa then grabs Eirika because Bazba can still kill her in one hit.



On the next turn, Gilliam gets a hit in, and...



Franz comes in for the kill.



Colm pops the last chest, and we're done here! Next time: the magic begins (or rather, the magic units).

[Explopyro]

Seth's new animations are very slick but I find myself wondering (again) why he got so much attention. Or are these universal to all paladins?

Do thieves still get EXP for stealing? If so, presumably that's one reason to steal gold; it's free experience that doesn't damage the enemy, so the rest of your army can still get the full amount for killing them.

Many of these changes seem like difference for difference's sake, honestly, but this is still interesting.

[Greener223224]

Are there any specific patches or emulators I need to use for all these mods that are on display in this romhack?

[DelilahFlowers]

Finished this level two days ago. My colm has got +1 str, +1 HP, same speed, and - 1 luck of yours.

My Ross has gotten the same HP, +2 str, +1 speed, same luck, and minus -1 Def.

And your Franz needs some love. Mine has got +1 HP, +1 str, +1 skill, - 1 speed, - 1 luck, +2 Def, and +1 red of yours. Maybe he'll talk the dragon tear? I'm thinking of boost to eirika since I'm gon a have her along for her route.

Also, how do you get those nice growth menu in thr game?

[Moonside]

Seth's new animations are very slick but I find myself wondering (again) why he got so much attention. Or are these universal to all paladins?

Do thieves still get EXP for stealing? If so, presumably that's one reason to steal gold; it's free experience that doesn't damage the enemy, so the rest of your army can still get the full amount for killing them.

1. I wish this was universal to Paladins, but no, it's the new class that Seth's in. I think Orson gets it too, but I may be misremembering - we'll find out in a few updates anyway. :v

2. Yes, they do, and that's a good point I hadn't considered.

Are there any specific patches or emulators I need to use for all these mods that are on display in this romhack?

Nope, it's worked fine for me in both VBA and mGBA without any outside patching (except the hack itself, of course).

Also, how do you get those nice growth menu in thr game?

I guess I never mentioned it in the LP... If you press Select when looking at an allied unit's stats, the growth menu pops up.