Thanks for playing! Hope you enjoyed. There is also a postgame, with 7 trial maps showcasing side characters in different story scenarios. These play much more like self-contained puzzles, but I get not wanting to record them. There is also a prequel, Deposition, focusing on Daltry before the events of the main game.
This hack is the #1 example of why I think it’s important to know what you want out of the hack experience before choosing a hack to try. It knows exactly what it wants to be and succeeds stellarly at being that, even if it means sacrificing some other aspects of the hack, so a person’s enjoyment of it generally depends on how well that vision meshes with the individual player’s preferences. The route split, for example, seems pretty clearly designed to goad the player into familiarizing themselves with every unit. Understanding what everyone does gameplaywise is key to getting past the unforgiving midgame, and then come lategame you already know what everyone does because you wouldn't have passed the midgame otherwise, so it’s easy to pick your favorites and approach the rest of the game your own way. It's a very effective setup, and it creates a vibe that few hacks can replicate. But this also comes at the cost of feeling “forced” to use units you don’t like to a much greater extent than most hacks (I felt like Cielo was basically a requirement for some sections of the game, which made certain parts really unfun when I hated him), or some confusing story decisions like Daltry never getting to interact with Walter, which makes little sense when Walter embodies all of Daltry’s issues with the royalty’s mismanagement of Askia. Many of the hack’s decisions felt like this for me, where they were tuned around maintaining a clear identity at the cost of other things, and as a result I have just as many issues with the hack as I do points of praise. I think most hacks are distinct in the areas that they succeed and fail, and it’s especially drastic with Four Kings in a way that few hacks match. I’m really not the target audience of this one, but there are definitely some things it gets uniquely right, and some things it fumbles or sacrifices on its way to achieving its vision.
Hmm, that's kind of a tough question. LISA and its fangames are the first thing that comes to mind for me, in part because they were a big influence on how I perceive games today. Two of the prominent fangames (Pointless and Hopeful) are just as good if not better than the original, but I think they all have different writing strengths, with the OG being the best at creating a FE-like storygen vibe thanks to its big cast. There's stuff like Rimworld and Death Road to Canada but that's more or less pure storygen rather than having a structured story to follow. I haven't tried them myself but I've heard XCOM, Dwarf Fortress, and Etrian Odyssey be described similarly
congrats on the clear! for a potential future hack to play, I’ve been having a good time with The Morrow’s Golden Country myself unit design is generally nice and the fixed growths mode is fun
For Shaun's 2nd prf there was a conversation with Gideon during the army reunion. The 2nd prf is a brave magic sword which is good considering Shaun magic growth
This looks like a pretty solid hack. I like the core idea behind it, and I like it's approach of letting players basically use whoever they want via the route split before really forcing you to bench people. Story wise... NGL, the story here feels like a bit of an afterthought. It's not terrible, but the characters aren't really anything special or anything we haven't seen before, the arcs are predictable, and the ending is... weird. Teodros comes back from the dead, and then we restore his sanity, and everything works out because of that, when the villain's main motivation is being unable to let go of the past? But then we have a famous figure from the past come back to make everything work out? Dumb, that. Overall, this is a hack I would try, even if I'm not terribly impressed with the writing.
Ahh, another wonderful playthrough finished. For your next hack, I'd recommend Code of the Burger King (meme-based hack with surprisingly good gameplay) or Darius the Conqueror (dark, but well-written story and characters).
57:55 They were also granted inmortality. 59:50 Nicole being Nicole. 1:00:17 Teodros still become the strongest country in the continent. 4 kings beaten! It was really fun
Honestly, I too completely forgot that they got those waystones and kinda didn't give them back. Hooray for magic cell phones/instant delivery devices :D Nice of them to have a new legendary tome animation instead of just Forblaze/Giga Excalibur/Ivaldi for the 34,420th time in a row. Variety is nice ^^ Theodros was sane for like, 3 minutes and then just immediately zeroed in on his descendent's boyf. And neither of them sputtered or anything, they just got husband-ed/wifed on the spot and took it in stride. They were waiting for the perfect moment and took it, it seems A persistent question of mine is how much older Terril is compared to his brothers. Lionel is somewhere around early twenties, at least, but it doesn't really say anything about Terril or Walter. Like come on, the former looks old enough to be their father... Huh. Interesting 👀
“Why are all of these guys helping the man, he’s gone- oh, they’re constructs.” “WHY WOULD THOSE TWO GREEN UNITS OPEN THE GATE, DO THEY NOT SEE THAT INSANE MAN COMING THEIR WAY?!” Sidenote, methinks why the final boss is weak like that is either A. He can’t control his new powers, hence why he’s weak, and B. Since he starts so far way and blocked off, and he’s mobile too, might as well make him weak in some way. Its not like someone will 1 turn him right…Right?
The whole concept here was "final map where the challenge is in catching the boss." He's not super hard to kill, but you have to move fast before he escapes. Thought it would be a cool idea, and I'm happy with it.
@@krashboombang1898 Yeah honestly, same here. I actually dont like how most hacks go for the “defeat final boss within X turns” cause it’s been overused, but here it works so well that I have to give the devs kudos for it. Edit: realizing this right when I pressed send: you’re the dev aren’t you? Now I feel silly typing all that like I was responding to any netizen. -Also, I managed to forget that there wasn’t a turn limit. el oh el- Well, my point still stands: kudos for making this final battle actually interesting. Sidenote too, playing Berwick, I have a soft spot for final bosses that are easy to beat but hard to reach, and I saw what you were going for, and hey, if you’re happy with it, I’m not one to judge in the end. -Admittedly my headcanon still is that he’s weak on purpose because the power’s too much for him-
Silly final chapter, didn't feel like one at all tbh. Gameplay was fine, though the units felt more like walking prfs than whatever their respective class was. Story was meh, felt like it was just there as an excuse to have some gameplay. At least it kept dialogue to a minimum instead of going on and on about how deep the power of friendship is. Main Characters were honestly pretty cringe. Ava was a mary sue, Walter was a simp, Lionel was a crybaby... at least Zachary was alright I guess. I liked the secondary characters more, the mage quartet was fun and Zoe and Vin were cringe in a funny way. Despite Vin's prf being broken af he was still my favorite thing in this hack. Watching him dodge everything was just so funny, he became a FE romhack icon to me.
My recommendation still stands, andaron saga What I said about it in my previous comment if you didn’t see it: In the game, supports actually give you useful stuff (for example a mage named shom gives a archer named runa a fire tome and runa learns anima magic when they reach b support Each chapter has 1 in 50 chance for a "secret event" to happen, for example in ch. 13 (which is a prison break chapter) the secret event is a character named crixus will show up in a cell and can be recruited If you want to play through all chapters, choose lunatic mode, as the last chapter (23x) requires a secret objective to completed in every chapter (they're called secret lunatic objectives if i remember) the secret lunatic objective for chapter 1 is to visit every house, for chapter 2, a swordmaster named Cassandra appears in the top left corner of the map, the secret lunatic objective is to talk to her Along with 23x you need certain requirements for chapter 23, but to avoid some spoilers I'll say them if you actually play andaron saga And the boss of chapter 1 is recruitable in chapter 10, in chapter 1, there's a mymidon named thea and a thief named Colter you get on turn 2 engage both of them in combat with the boss and keep all 3 of them alive, if you did it right a small converasation between colter and the boss will appear, thats how you know you will get him I’m looking forward for the next hack you play
Thanks for playing! Hope you enjoyed. There is also a postgame, with 7 trial maps showcasing side characters in different story scenarios. These play much more like self-contained puzzles, but I get not wanting to record them. There is also a prequel, Deposition, focusing on Daltry before the events of the main game.
This hack is the #1 example of why I think it’s important to know what you want out of the hack experience before choosing a hack to try. It knows exactly what it wants to be and succeeds stellarly at being that, even if it means sacrificing some other aspects of the hack, so a person’s enjoyment of it generally depends on how well that vision meshes with the individual player’s preferences.
The route split, for example, seems pretty clearly designed to goad the player into familiarizing themselves with every unit. Understanding what everyone does gameplaywise is key to getting past the unforgiving midgame, and then come lategame you already know what everyone does because you wouldn't have passed the midgame otherwise, so it’s easy to pick your favorites and approach the rest of the game your own way. It's a very effective setup, and it creates a vibe that few hacks can replicate.
But this also comes at the cost of feeling “forced” to use units you don’t like to a much greater extent than most hacks (I felt like Cielo was basically a requirement for some sections of the game, which made certain parts really unfun when I hated him), or some confusing story decisions like Daltry never getting to interact with Walter, which makes little sense when Walter embodies all of Daltry’s issues with the royalty’s mismanagement of Askia.
Many of the hack’s decisions felt like this for me, where they were tuned around maintaining a clear identity at the cost of other things, and as a result I have just as many issues with the hack as I do points of praise. I think most hacks are distinct in the areas that they succeed and fail, and it’s especially drastic with Four Kings in a way that few hacks match. I’m really not the target audience of this one, but there are definitely some things it gets uniquely right, and some things it fumbles or sacrifices on its way to achieving its vision.
Hmm, that's kind of a tough question. LISA and its fangames are the first thing that comes to mind for me, in part because they were a big influence on how I perceive games today. Two of the prominent fangames (Pointless and Hopeful) are just as good if not better than the original, but I think they all have different writing strengths, with the OG being the best at creating a FE-like storygen vibe thanks to its big cast.
There's stuff like Rimworld and Death Road to Canada but that's more or less pure storygen rather than having a structured story to follow. I haven't tried them myself but I've heard XCOM, Dwarf Fortress, and Etrian Odyssey be described similarly
congrats on the clear! for a potential future hack to play, I’ve been having a good time with The Morrow’s Golden Country myself
unit design is generally nice and the fixed growths mode is fun
I suggest this one too
For Shaun's 2nd prf there was a conversation with Gideon during the army reunion. The 2nd prf is a brave magic sword which is good considering Shaun magic growth
This looks like a pretty solid hack. I like the core idea behind it, and I like it's approach of letting players basically use whoever they want via the route split before really forcing you to bench people. Story wise... NGL, the story here feels like a bit of an afterthought. It's not terrible, but the characters aren't really anything special or anything we haven't seen before, the arcs are predictable, and the ending is... weird. Teodros comes back from the dead, and then we restore his sanity, and everything works out because of that, when the villain's main motivation is being unable to let go of the past? But then we have a famous figure from the past come back to make everything work out? Dumb, that.
Overall, this is a hack I would try, even if I'm not terribly impressed with the writing.
Ahh, another wonderful playthrough finished. For your next hack, I'd recommend Code of the Burger King (meme-based hack with surprisingly good gameplay) or Darius the Conqueror (dark, but well-written story and characters).
Congratulations on beating Four King! Here's to the next LP!
So much soundtrack from Sonic Advance 3, especially the staff roll at the end. Good times, good times.
“What’s the great quote from your final boss four kings?”
“Rrgh… Hngh… Grrah”
Grats on another finished hackrom! Let's see what's next~
Well, can't believe the final boss is a boss that also runs away from your units. Huh.
57:55 They were also granted inmortality.
59:50 Nicole being Nicole.
1:00:17 Teodros still become the strongest country in the continent.
4 kings beaten! It was really fun
Timestamps
00:00 of course
01:19 Chapter preparations
13:50 Chapter starts
14:44 Chapter actually starts
53:09 Final Boss Fight
56:29 Ending
The ending was not surprising considering how close Walter and Ava have been.
Player phase: Open your heart from Sonic Adventure DX.
When Emily got promoted, her hair grew.
Dream of Five up next?
I'm hoping for Drums of War next :)
Ok I was wrong. It's not the extra zone music from Sonic Advance 3 but Sonic advance 2. But other than that, great ROM.
Honestly, I too completely forgot that they got those waystones and kinda didn't give them back. Hooray for magic cell phones/instant delivery devices :D
Nice of them to have a new legendary tome animation instead of just Forblaze/Giga Excalibur/Ivaldi for the 34,420th time in a row. Variety is nice ^^
Theodros was sane for like, 3 minutes and then just immediately zeroed in on his descendent's boyf. And neither of them sputtered or anything, they just got husband-ed/wifed on the spot and took it in stride. They were waiting for the perfect moment and took it, it seems
A persistent question of mine is how much older Terril is compared to his brothers. Lionel is somewhere around early twenties, at least, but it doesn't really say anything about Terril or Walter. Like come on, the former looks old enough to be their father... Huh. Interesting 👀
Endgame time! Lets go!
“Why are all of these guys helping the man, he’s gone- oh, they’re constructs.”
“WHY WOULD THOSE TWO GREEN UNITS OPEN THE GATE, DO THEY NOT SEE THAT INSANE MAN COMING THEIR WAY?!”
Sidenote, methinks why the final boss is weak like that is either A. He can’t control his new powers, hence why he’s weak, and B. Since he starts so far way and blocked off, and he’s mobile too, might as well make him weak in some way. Its not like someone will 1 turn him right…Right?
The whole concept here was "final map where the challenge is in catching the boss." He's not super hard to kill, but you have to move fast before he escapes. Thought it would be a cool idea, and I'm happy with it.
@@krashboombang1898 Yeah honestly, same here. I actually dont like how most hacks go for the “defeat final boss within X turns” cause it’s been overused, but here it works so well that I have to give the devs kudos for it.
Edit: realizing this right when I pressed send: you’re the dev aren’t you? Now I feel silly typing all that like I was responding to any netizen. -Also, I managed to forget that there wasn’t a turn limit. el oh el-
Well, my point still stands: kudos for making this final battle actually interesting. Sidenote too, playing Berwick, I have a soft spot for final bosses that are easy to beat but hard to reach, and I saw what you were going for, and hey, if you’re happy with it, I’m not one to judge in the end. -Admittedly my headcanon still is that he’s weak on purpose because the power’s too much for him-
1 turn is possible if you have 100% growths on regis and jeremy.
Hey mate do u want to try Fire Emblem: Darius the Conqueror hack next?
Congrats! Try TMGC next
Omg you didn't say siscon but yeah same. I don't like the same ending with Zoe and Vin.
Silly final chapter, didn't feel like one at all tbh.
Gameplay was fine, though the units felt more like walking prfs than whatever their respective class was.
Story was meh, felt like it was just there as an excuse to have some gameplay. At least it kept dialogue to a minimum instead of going on and on about how deep the power of friendship is.
Main Characters were honestly pretty cringe. Ava was a mary sue, Walter was a simp, Lionel was a crybaby... at least Zachary was alright I guess. I liked the secondary characters more, the mage quartet was fun and Zoe and Vin were cringe in a funny way.
Despite Vin's prf being broken af he was still my favorite thing in this hack. Watching him dodge everything was just so funny, he became a FE romhack icon to me.
My recommendation still stands, andaron saga
What I said about it in my previous comment if you didn’t see it:
In the game, supports actually give you useful stuff (for example a mage named shom gives a archer named runa a fire tome and runa learns anima magic when they reach b support
Each chapter has 1 in 50 chance for a "secret event" to happen, for example in ch. 13 (which is a prison break chapter) the secret event is a character named crixus will show up in a cell and can be recruited
If you want to play through all chapters, choose lunatic mode, as the last chapter (23x) requires a secret objective to completed in every chapter (they're called secret lunatic objectives if i remember) the secret lunatic objective for chapter 1 is to visit every house, for chapter 2, a swordmaster named Cassandra appears in the top left corner of the map, the secret lunatic objective is to talk to her
Along with 23x you need certain requirements for chapter 23, but to avoid some spoilers I'll say them if you actually play andaron saga
And the boss of chapter 1 is recruitable in chapter 10, in chapter 1, there's a mymidon named thea and a thief named Colter you get on turn 2 engage both of them in combat with the boss and keep all 3 of them alive, if you did it right a small converasation between colter and the boss will appear, thats how you know you will get him
I’m looking forward for the next hack you play