I can’t begin to describe how devastated I am that Road to Ruin did exactly what I devised for my still-hypothetical hack’s Jagen; A swordmaster who comes with a no-crits-allowed sword so that the innate crit boost doesn’t tank her ability to set up kills. Like I guess it’s reassuring to know that my design ideas have precedent in respected projects, but it stings a bit to discover that my ideas weren’t as unique as I thought they were. But like the act of rom hacking is basically fanfiction already so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much over being a bit less original than I expected.
Haha I have the same thoughts when researching rom hacks. It also bugs me when a popular romhack has a character that shares the same name with one of my]ine (I have a thief named Ava lol) even though names aren’t usually unique enough for people to equate them to one specific story and I don’t think people actually disregard romhack characters for that reason
@@GeorgeMonet Hey so here’s the cool thing: You don’t need to use that weapon if you don’t want to. You can give it to someone else, or sell it/chuck it into storage if it offends you that much. I want my hack’s Jagen to be a Swordmaster for a few reasons. Swordmasters are cool, the name makes them feel like an appropriate mentor for a sword-locked lord, and their status as sword infantry holds them back somewhat from dominating the game the way Paladin Jagens often do. The no-crits sword serves the same purpose as a more typical Jagen having an iron sword in addition to their silver lance; to let them toggle between “leave them within an inch of their lives” mode and “instant death” mode.
What's absolutely hilarious about TLP's level design is that while I had a reputation at the time as "the map guy," I had never actually made any of my maps with gameplay in mind. I made maps the same way that spriters at the time made portraits and battle sprites: for fun and to look nice. Hacking was so young and so undeveloped that actually implementing any of our work back then was the furthest thing from our minds. The "chest key," so to speak to understanding the level design is that all the chokepoints and spiraling paths in TLP was from the desire to draw the viewers' eyes around a jpeg of the map, not with any enemy placement in mind.
@@DaniDoyle Go for it! If there is anything you'd like to know regarding the production history or level design, I'd be happy to fill you in as best I can.
just wanted to leave a comment that TLP was one of the first fire emblems I fully played through and I have such nostalgia for it even though i experienced it only since 2018ish. I ADORE this hack and it gives me the same warm feeling of first getting to enjoy the fe series that I had on my first playthrough of echoes. I experienced it waaaay after its era but its close to my heart and I just wanted to say thank you for it!
YOOO Road to Ruined mentioned! It was the first Hack that I played and I had a really fun time with it. Vance's character arc of getting out of his parents shadow was pretty epic to me. Maybe now that I'm better at Fire Emblem I'd be able to see more cracks in the game. Other thing I like is that Ava as a Jagen has a 0% str growth but when she eventually classes up she gets a HUGE bonus to let her then catch back up to everyone else. Ava really cool game design.
Omg Ava Jagen being mentioned. Tbh her character made my gameplay experience fun and memorable. She is a very very fun character. It might be my bias but Ava is the best girl and her training sword is the best sword ever. Edit : Chest key.
I'm sorry, but the Sword and Heaven and Earth is incredibly condescending and mean-spirited, thoroughly refusing to engage in the text (For as horribly translated as it might be) and instead demeaning it to "Le Epic So Bad That It's Good" while ignoring any possible positive that the game could garner because "FE7 is bad XD" and acknowledging that the text presented is somewhat mistranslated and should be at least be given the grace of context from the time and translation to read through the lines, and I say this as someone who DISLIKES FE7. If you are aware that the text is being negatively presented because of a faulty translation, shouldn't it at least be fair to try and see what it's trying to say through context clues? It feels less like a review and more mean-spirited jeering. It has none of the grace given that you gave to Road to Ruin. As someone who usually likes your hack rom reviews, Sword and Heaven and Earth's review is just immensely disappointing. Like, the disdain of "Some fanfiction story" is palpable and obvious. It reads as someone who just sped through the game because they came in with their already existing negative biases (The brainwashing comment just felt so thrown in, as if the rom-hacker in the 2000s shares the guilt of the FE tropes that STILL GO ON TO THIS DAY with Babygard from hopes and evil Veyle in Engage) without the careful consideration that is usually present in your other rom hack reviews. Also, chest key.
I feel like you're projecting quite a bit. I called it fan fiction because by definition it is. Its a story written by a fan that takes place within the world of FE7. "Fan fiction" is not an insult, in fact there is plenty of very good fan fiction out there (its just that for internet toxicty reasons people focus on the negatives). I'm not entirely sure what you wanted from me tbh. I enjoyed my time with SOHE and recommended it on that basis, pointing out that even as an FE7 Hater I enjoyed the fun refferences, but I'm not going to pretend that "surprise this morph inherited powers and intelligence from nergal and is making new morphs in order to brainwash Lyn with a magic sword because he views Lyn as nergal's true rival" as high cinema. As for the request that I look at the story as if it had been translated better, I feel like thats a very unreasonable take. The review is based on the version of SOHE that is publicly available. I do not speak Chinese, and thus can only review the english version. The english version has plenty of goofy lines that IMO add to the experience. Not only can I not review a product I didn't play, but the theoretical "well translated" version would be less enjoyable to me. Enemy Spam with little terain accompanied by a shallow story doesn't appeal to me (hence why R2R got a lesser recomendation than SOHE, since its lacking that element of fun). As for the brainwashing point, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The sexist trope is bad in Modern FE (Ala Veyle, Monica, Etc), bad in old FE (Ala Julia, Delthea, etc), and bad in Fan Games (Ala TRS, SOHE, etc). One existing doesn't justify the others existing.
I think my favorite thing about SoHaE is the atmosphere. It's so similar to things I've seen before, but slightly warped. It gives me a very unnerving feeling like im playing an official game from an alternate dimension. Every chapter feels like Fe7 19xx. It's like that alzheimers simulation image, but for fire emblem
My relationship with Road to Ruin is kinda like what you’d have with your favorite childhood book. It was my first ever hack I played and fell it love with it, which is why I’m so deep in the FE hacking community now. I went back and played it recently and everything I remembered was there, but I could critically analyze it after having a frame of reference. Mostly I came to the tough realization that even though I still love it, R2R would indeed be considered pretty mid compared to what we have today. Historically being one of the first big hacks in the English community though, I think it’s a really solid classic that paved a way (see what I did there) for some really ambitious hacks today. I also can’t forget the ultra ball palettes of the enemies lol. And chest key lol
I like that despite your clear dislikes for SoHaE/FE7 you still highlight all the reasons people might want to play it; you don't equate "I don't like it" with "It's trash and not worth anyone's time." The kind of review that we need more of. Ava sounds cool but Eyvel is still my favourite Jagen because in FE5 Elite Mode it's possible to level up Nanna enough to get her Con the point she can rescue Eyvel (pray you don't level up Eyvel's Con), which is the CHEST KEY to a glitch where you retain control of the petrified Eyvel, allowing you to get her captured the normal way. Getting her back in 21x already makes this fun enough, but since her hidden Miracle+ skill is only removed if you hit 24x, ditching the Kia Staff in 24 after you unpetrify her and dumping as many stat boosters as possible/grinding a few levels with stacked Crusader Scrolls means you end up with a decently-statted, INVINCIBLE UNIT. P.S. TLP has its flaws but I KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CRIED OVER HOWARD. We need more Howards in Fire Emblem.
@DaniDoyle He's The Last Promise's equivalent of Archanean Lorenz in terms of being a slightly less ennobled Camus you can actually recruit; a former bodyguard to the Emperor who's been functionally exiled from the inner circle (never got far enough to learn exactly why but probably the evil machinators trying to isolate the Emperor), and is now the guy leading the stronger forces you have to keep staying ahead of. He's the one who causes the transition to Anakin Mode by defeating Sieg at the end of his part. In Anakin Mode Howard helps Cia, one of the Sieg Mode units, return to your army in Chapter 14--and then there's a few more chapters before you face Howard as the boss defending the dukedom of Aegis in Chapter 18. If you talk to him with Cia before defeating him there then he joins your army in Chapter 20's pre-battle scenes, rather than rotting in prison. For all TLP's cheesiness this part really got me square in the feels. Cia's conversation with Howard in 18, Howard's exposition in 19 when you finally catch up to his wounded self, and the conversation with Sieg where Howards vows himself to fighting alongside your army are all very well-written especially given the game's overall middling script, with the music perfectly setting the atmosphere for all of them. He's as much of a trope as Kelik but his comparatively subdued personality means he doesn't stick out so much. His last line in the Chapter 20 recruitment scene is "I will surrender this life to peace and redemption." When combined with his personality that line is a perfect critical hit 😭 He apparently even has a paired ending with Cia and that throbs my romantic heartstrings, she becomes the subject of his loyalty 😍 Sorry for rambling on so long but Howard is far and away my favourite part of The Last Promise.
You said these hacks would be bad at the beginning of the video, like how you can buy chest keys but not door keys in FE8; but I just see hacks that were impressive for their time but are merely competent by today’s standards.
Ahh, so this is the elusive FE7 sequel you mentioned. Finally, a game for the mutton pilled like me, Dorcas being the best unit in the game, what a beauty. Other than that...yeah I was expecting it to not be great, it's an FE7 hack, what did we all expect, especially the loser growth units. (Also man I hate Vance in Road to Ruin, for the sole reason of that he got strength screwed...just like Smelliwood and Lyn)
I’ve always enjoyed Road to Ruin too because your main squad are a bunch of ragtag mercenaries who get caught up in the geopolitics of the region. They shouldn’t be stupid broken lord units, but they keep pace for the whole game (the archer being arguably the game’s best unit is wild to me). Ava’s story promotion is super fascinating as well. Aaron as your “third main character” has a very interesting story arc over the span of the game (RIP Captain), although it’s still kind of odd to have him be important when he’s optional to deploy. I do like using him though. I don’t recall how many chest keys are around in Road to Ruin, but I do appreciate it, especially for the time it came out. Primefusion was always a great map designer, and the maps feel unique and interesting enough that the game’s worth a run. I’d be curious what Road to Ruin with a modern romhacking lens would look like.
I recall when Void’s Blitzarre Adventure released that the FEU page specifically mentioned it as being the first good complete romhack after TLP and Requiem, no mention of Road to Ruin, SoHaE (and I didn’t even know about SoHaE’s existence until this year), or anything else. It’s a night-and-day difference to see how far FE hacking and how we’re finally giving these old hacks their flowers. Also chestkey
I'd say the best of the best romhacks being released one after the other has created a better environment for sharing and talking about romhacking, compared to simple forum posts in a Facebook era like 2012-2016. Road to Ruin is cool as a thief carrying a chest key: cool in a vanilla sense, but maybe a bit redundant by today's standards. I hope Sword of Heaven gets an actual translation, it deserves at least that bit of context.
What do you mean "Vander stealing experience". You probably dont know about bases over growths and he is the strongest unit in the game since he has way better stats than any other unit at his join time. The optimal way to play engage is to only use Vander and use your other units as chest keys to get the loot to help him solo (he doesnt need the help but he would feel bad if they had nothing to do). Though he gets some slight competition by another cav in chapter 12.
Thanks for your recommendation of Sword of Heaven and Earth. Also you should finish Road to Ruin you will grow to love Vance and Ava if you do. Chest Key
I actually picked up Sword of Heaven and Earth a few days ago. Haven't spent too much time with it yet, but the gameplay and map design has been alright so far. It lacks the quality of life additives of newer hacks, as you said. It's not something I'll sit down and play for long periods, but it will definitely pass a train journey or two.
As someone who hasn't engaged much with romhacking, but has engaged a lot with fe at large, im very interested in hearing what you have to say about the last promise.
Chest Key As a fan of Sword of Heaven and Earth (SOHAE), I was disappointed by the review as I was expecting it to be a positive gameplay and story review. For me, this hack comes in just above Vision Quest in terms of favorite hacks. But I do respect that you are entitled to your own opinion and that different ppl have different tastes. Compared to the mainline series, I found the SOHAE map objectives to be very creative vs the standard Kill Boss, Seize, and Rout maps. Many maps had a dynamic nature where they had a structural evolution mid-map that required the player to make a significant strategic adjustment on the fly, which was reminiscent of Fates CQ for me and that was appreciated. It’s more impressive to me since SOHAE came out way before Fates. I did largely agree with your assessment of the story and how Elibe fans would enjoy it. Since you mentioned TMGC is now the pinnacle for modern FE, I decided to check out your review as I have never played it. I became interested in TMGC because of your review and plan to play it to gain a contrasting experience and see what is considered high quality FE design these days. Perhaps I will enjoy it and perhaps my view on FE design may be changed. I’m remaining open minded to all possibilities.
Yes! I love maps that are designed around reactive play. I enjoy escaping bad situations more than preventing them, but I understand if someone prefers otherwise
I played this hack a couple years ago while I did not have any knowledge of the Japanese language. And Google Translated patch was not available back then. I agree that its map designs are mediocre. And I am not attached to any of the characters. And the story is kind of cringe. And character portraits feel too Japanese and otakuish. But I remember I did have a good time. I would by no means categorize it into the bad rom hacks group. I might one day in the future replay it, the OG Jap version, in that now that it would not be that hard for me to understand the language.
Hey, just wanted to say I love how your channel brings highlights to so many good fan projects! Actually, all your videos are awesome :D God bless ya and Jesus loves ya :)
Ah, Road to Ruin was a game I liked at first, but I don't even remember if I finished it. Something just stopped clicking the further through it I got. It's mostly a blur in my memory now, though I still remember really liking Ava. Alright, gotta go buy a chest key since my thief is still off on some errand.
Have to admit, I’ve not actually played very many FE7 hacks just because I usually end up having technical issues (broken chest keys for instance). FE8 hacks were always more consistent in my eyes
Ive been playing fire emblem forever and never seem rom hacks before! Going to use a chest key and unlock the pandoras box. Any recommendations outside of these? Im open to easy and chill ones and more complex harder ones
i finished road to ruin a bit ago, the final map of it is actually one of the most fun final maps ive played in a rom hack, though ive only played a limited assortment of rom hacks. one of them i have played is dark lord and the maiden of light, which i enjoyed a lot, if you have played it id love to hear your thoughts on it
@@toade336 The dark lord and maiden of light has an opposite effect on me. Without any of power breaking weapon like Luna, the boss is almost impossible to kill. Not to mention that he can move.
@@IAARPOTI its been a while so i dont exactly remember how i beat him but im pretty sure one of the swordmasters can reliably (edit i double checked its not super reliable) double crit with the with support bonuses and 1 round the boss with the legendary sword i do agree the final boss for dlatmol isnt well designed but its built up very well and its climactic so im satisfied
Sword of Heaven and Earth is a case of a game I REALLY wish had an actual good translation made by actual human translators, collaborating with the original creator if possible. Yeah, it’s “just a ROM hack” with, from the sound of it, pretty Okay gameplay, but it still feels unfair to the creator to judge the story based on a poor approximation of their writing spat out by machine translation. As for Road to Ruin, I’ll be honest, the early-game unit distribution put me off in the first couple chapters, haha… I don’t really care for the whole “Oops! (Almost) all sword-users” setup they went with to start out. I’d imagine it does get better later, but that design choice made me really appreciate the more balanced starting posse official FE titles generally start you off with. As an aside, it’s kinda weird that the GBA Fire Emblem games have two Chest Key items with separate durability values, right? It’d be cool if they at least gave them separate names and icons, y’know?
>Sees review labeled as "FE7 Sequel Hack" >It's not the masterpiece known as Different Dimensions Ostian Princess 😢 (Jokes aside, good review; Chest Key 🗝️)
@@DaniDoyleIt’s an old hack from like 2016 that followed Lilina’s daughter and was infamous for broken difficulty and comically bad writing. It’s infamous to the point that someone made a remake of it called Reborn Dimensions Olethian Princess that was meant to fix most of its problems.
@@DaniDoylePeak Fiction 🙏 /j (It's a weird sequel hack built out of Lyn Mode that has so many plot holes and bugs it wraps around into unintentional comedy, with design choices like giving you a Brave Sword wielding faux-Swordmaster with 0 Con & Def as a Jagen, an Archer you get for one chapter only, replacing Nils with a Knight with awful offensive stats, etc. Unironically would recommend just to see how wild it gets)
@voltron77 Lyn's daughter would be Sue with Rath probably the father though it isn't canon, Lilina's parents are canonically Eliwood and Ninian. FE6 isn't a sequel to FE7 since it came out first, so FE7 is a prequel
@@domdude64dd Lilina is hector's daughter. Also, while it isn't explicitly canon, the lyn x hector is the most likely ship and is heavily hinted at in game. Also, wile it is true that fe7 is a prequel to fe6, it doesn't change the fact tha chronologically, there was another story in the timeline after it.
@voltron77 sorry I meant Roy's parents are Eliwood and Ninian. Lilina's mom is most like Farina though otherwise Lyn gets left out and her being with Rath makes more sense than Hector.
Will not accept these slights towards SPM...! yeah it may not have *chest keys*, or the perfect level design, but the story and characters (especially minor antagonists) are compelling And of course, Mr. L makes his appearance but never comes back in future Paper Mario games... such a shame.
banished to the super paper mario demension! (I will eventually make a video about why i dislike SPM if youre curious about the reasons, but of course you are entitled to disagee)
And I agree, not every game is a masterpiece that should be universally liked, sometimes seeing the bad things would just enhance the experience to those who already like it despite the flaws Yeah it’s deviated from what established the series and might’ve been too “unique”, but that in of itself is what makes SPM my favourite of the series, they went in knowing that this won’t be the norm, so they could throw as many wacky ideas in it, like you wouldn’t expect an otaku in your Mario game, or even the cast just straight up dying and being sent to the under world, or the main plot line being pretty dark, so dark that the summer kingdom was engulfed in the void. But despite all the tragedy that occurs, it ends eventually in a bitter sweet ending, the world may be saved, but both sides lose something valuable to them, but they also know that what they lost are happy wherever it is. Tldr; It being too unique is it’s biggest boon and major flaw and I personally like it for it. Sometimes wonder what it would be like if SPM was the 4th or even 5th instalment in the series where the ones after it came before instead, would people dislike it more or would they just have been the same
I don't like any of what this rom hack does. From the TERRIBLE decision to claim that Lyndis was brain washed to the terrible decision to make a weapon that doesn't crit to switching to a different group of characters for some missions. That is a VIOLATION OF PERSPECTIVE.
Correction: SOHAE was made by a Japanese ROMhacker, not a Chinese one.
Close enough, welcome back Genealogy of The Holy War
*The Last Holy War begins playing
I can’t begin to describe how devastated I am that Road to Ruin did exactly what I devised for my still-hypothetical hack’s Jagen; A swordmaster who comes with a no-crits-allowed sword so that the innate crit boost doesn’t tank her ability to set up kills. Like I guess it’s reassuring to know that my design ideas have precedent in respected projects, but it stings a bit to discover that my ideas weren’t as unique as I thought they were.
But like the act of rom hacking is basically fanfiction already so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much over being a bit less original than I expected.
Haha I have the same thoughts when researching rom hacks. It also bugs me when a popular romhack has a character that shares the same name with one of my]ine (I have a thief named Ava lol) even though names aren’t usually unique enough for people to equate them to one specific story and I don’t think people actually disregard romhack characters for that reason
That is a TERRIBLE WEAPON. Swordmasters are ALL ABOUT CRITS. If you want a unit to set up crits then use a NON CRIT FOCUSED CLASS.
@@GeorgeMonet Hey so here’s the cool thing: You don’t need to use that weapon if you don’t want to. You can give it to someone else, or sell it/chuck it into storage if it offends you that much.
I want my hack’s Jagen to be a Swordmaster for a few reasons. Swordmasters are cool, the name makes them feel like an appropriate mentor for a sword-locked lord, and their status as sword infantry holds them back somewhat from dominating the game the way Paladin Jagens often do.
The no-crits sword serves the same purpose as a more typical Jagen having an iron sword in addition to their silver lance; to let them toggle between “leave them within an inch of their lives” mode and “instant death” mode.
@@GeorgeMonet They are, but having a weapon like that on your strongest unit at the start of the game is pretty nice.
What's absolutely hilarious about TLP's level design is that while I had a reputation at the time as "the map guy," I had never actually made any of my maps with gameplay in mind. I made maps the same way that spriters at the time made portraits and battle sprites: for fun and to look nice. Hacking was so young and so undeveloped that actually implementing any of our work back then was the furthest thing from our minds. The "chest key," so to speak to understanding the level design is that all the chokepoints and spiraling paths in TLP was from the desire to draw the viewers' eyes around a jpeg of the map, not with any enemy placement in mind.
That's actually really I'm interesting, do you mind if I reference this when I eventually do a TLP video?
@@DaniDoyle Go for it! If there is anything you'd like to know regarding the production history or level design, I'd be happy to fill you in as best I can.
just wanted to leave a comment that TLP was one of the first fire emblems I fully played through and I have such nostalgia for it even though i experienced it only since 2018ish. I ADORE this hack and it gives me the same warm feeling of first getting to enjoy the fe series that I had on my first playthrough of echoes. I experienced it waaaay after its era but its close to my heart and I just wanted to say thank you for it!
YOOO Road to Ruined mentioned! It was the first Hack that I played and I had a really fun time with it. Vance's character arc of getting out of his parents shadow was pretty epic to me. Maybe now that I'm better at Fire Emblem I'd be able to see more cracks in the game. Other thing I like is that Ava as a Jagen has a 0% str growth but when she eventually classes up she gets a HUGE bonus to let her then catch back up to everyone else.
Ava really cool game design.
Omg Ava Jagen being mentioned. Tbh her character made my gameplay experience fun and memorable. She is a very very fun character. It might be my bias but Ava is the best girl and her training sword is the best sword ever.
Edit : Chest key.
She seems cool!
I'm sorry, but the Sword and Heaven and Earth is incredibly condescending and mean-spirited, thoroughly refusing to engage in the text (For as horribly translated as it might be) and instead demeaning it to "Le Epic So Bad That It's Good" while ignoring any possible positive that the game could garner because "FE7 is bad XD" and acknowledging that the text presented is somewhat mistranslated and should be at least be given the grace of context from the time and translation to read through the lines, and I say this as someone who DISLIKES FE7. If you are aware that the text is being negatively presented because of a faulty translation, shouldn't it at least be fair to try and see what it's trying to say through context clues? It feels less like a review and more mean-spirited jeering.
It has none of the grace given that you gave to Road to Ruin. As someone who usually likes your hack rom reviews, Sword and Heaven and Earth's review is just immensely disappointing. Like, the disdain of "Some fanfiction story" is palpable and obvious.
It reads as someone who just sped through the game because they came in with their already existing negative biases (The brainwashing comment just felt so thrown in, as if the rom-hacker in the 2000s shares the guilt of the FE tropes that STILL GO ON TO THIS DAY with Babygard from hopes and evil Veyle in Engage) without the careful consideration that is usually present in your other rom hack reviews.
Also, chest key.
i agree!!!
I feel like you're projecting quite a bit. I called it fan fiction because by definition it is. Its a story written by a fan that takes place within the world of FE7. "Fan fiction" is not an insult, in fact there is plenty of very good fan fiction out there (its just that for internet toxicty reasons people focus on the negatives). I'm not entirely sure what you wanted from me tbh. I enjoyed my time with SOHE and recommended it on that basis, pointing out that even as an FE7 Hater I enjoyed the fun refferences, but I'm not going to pretend that "surprise this morph inherited powers and intelligence from nergal and is making new morphs in order to brainwash Lyn with a magic sword because he views Lyn as nergal's true rival" as high cinema.
As for the request that I look at the story as if it had been translated better, I feel like thats a very unreasonable take. The review is based on the version of SOHE that is publicly available. I do not speak Chinese, and thus can only review the english version. The english version has plenty of goofy lines that IMO add to the experience. Not only can I not review a product I didn't play, but the theoretical "well translated" version would be less enjoyable to me. Enemy Spam with little terain accompanied by a shallow story doesn't appeal to me (hence why R2R got a lesser recomendation than SOHE, since its lacking that element of fun).
As for the brainwashing point, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The sexist trope is bad in Modern FE (Ala Veyle, Monica, Etc), bad in old FE (Ala Julia, Delthea, etc), and bad in Fan Games (Ala TRS, SOHE, etc). One existing doesn't justify the others existing.
Sorry I don't feel like the review is mean spirited. I wanna stand on Dani side about it.
I think my favorite thing about SoHaE is the atmosphere.
It's so similar to things I've seen before, but slightly warped. It gives me a very unnerving feeling like im playing an official game from an alternate dimension. Every chapter feels like Fe7 19xx. It's like that alzheimers simulation image, but for fire emblem
My relationship with Road to Ruin is kinda like what you’d have with your favorite childhood book.
It was my first ever hack I played and fell it love with it, which is why I’m so deep in the FE hacking community now. I went back and played it recently and everything I remembered was there, but I could critically analyze it after having a frame of reference. Mostly I came to the tough realization that even though I still love it, R2R would indeed be considered pretty mid compared to what we have today.
Historically being one of the first big hacks in the English community though, I think it’s a really solid classic that paved a way (see what I did there) for some really ambitious hacks today. I also can’t forget the ultra ball palettes of the enemies lol.
And chest key lol
I like that despite your clear dislikes for SoHaE/FE7 you still highlight all the reasons people might want to play it; you don't equate "I don't like it" with "It's trash and not worth anyone's time." The kind of review that we need more of.
Ava sounds cool but Eyvel is still my favourite Jagen because in FE5 Elite Mode it's possible to level up Nanna enough to get her Con the point she can rescue Eyvel (pray you don't level up Eyvel's Con), which is the CHEST KEY to a glitch where you retain control of the petrified Eyvel, allowing you to get her captured the normal way.
Getting her back in 21x already makes this fun enough, but since her hidden Miracle+ skill is only removed if you hit 24x, ditching the Kia Staff in 24 after you unpetrify her and dumping as many stat boosters as possible/grinding a few levels with stacked Crusader Scrolls means you end up with a decently-statted, INVINCIBLE UNIT.
P.S. TLP has its flaws but I KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CRIED OVER HOWARD. We need more Howards in Fire Emblem.
Who is Howard
@DaniDoyle He's The Last Promise's equivalent of Archanean Lorenz in terms of being a slightly less ennobled Camus you can actually recruit; a former bodyguard to the Emperor who's been functionally exiled from the inner circle (never got far enough to learn exactly why but probably the evil machinators trying to isolate the Emperor), and is now the guy leading the stronger forces you have to keep staying ahead of. He's the one who causes the transition to Anakin Mode by defeating Sieg at the end of his part.
In Anakin Mode Howard helps Cia, one of the Sieg Mode units, return to your army in Chapter 14--and then there's a few more chapters before you face Howard as the boss defending the dukedom of Aegis in Chapter 18. If you talk to him with Cia before defeating him there then he joins your army in Chapter 20's pre-battle scenes, rather than rotting in prison.
For all TLP's cheesiness this part really got me square in the feels. Cia's conversation with Howard in 18, Howard's exposition in 19 when you finally catch up to his wounded self, and the conversation with Sieg where Howards vows himself to fighting alongside your army are all very well-written especially given the game's overall middling script, with the music perfectly setting the atmosphere for all of them. He's as much of a trope as Kelik but his comparatively subdued personality means he doesn't stick out so much.
His last line in the Chapter 20 recruitment scene is "I will surrender this life to peace and redemption." When combined with his personality that line is a perfect critical hit 😭
He apparently even has a paired ending with Cia and that throbs my romantic heartstrings, she becomes the subject of his loyalty 😍
Sorry for rambling on so long but Howard is far and away my favourite part of The Last Promise.
These videos are the key to my heart. Which is in my chest.
I want a sequel of radiant dawn in which the father a rafiel be the vilain and the sibling of Meg being the only characters 🤣
You said these hacks would be bad at the beginning of the video, like how you can buy chest keys but not door keys in FE8; but I just see hacks that were impressive for their time but are merely competent by today’s standards.
Ahh, so this is the elusive FE7 sequel you mentioned. Finally, a game for the mutton pilled like me, Dorcas being the best unit in the game, what a beauty. Other than that...yeah I was expecting it to not be great, it's an FE7 hack, what did we all expect, especially the loser growth units. (Also man I hate Vance in Road to Ruin, for the sole reason of that he got strength screwed...just like Smelliwood and Lyn)
I’ve always enjoyed Road to Ruin too because your main squad are a bunch of ragtag mercenaries who get caught up in the geopolitics of the region. They shouldn’t be stupid broken lord units, but they keep pace for the whole game (the archer being arguably the game’s best unit is wild to me). Ava’s story promotion is super fascinating as well.
Aaron as your “third main character” has a very interesting story arc over the span of the game (RIP Captain), although it’s still kind of odd to have him be important when he’s optional to deploy. I do like using him though.
I don’t recall how many chest keys are around in Road to Ruin, but I do appreciate it, especially for the time it came out. Primefusion was always a great map designer, and the maps feel unique and interesting enough that the game’s worth a run. I’d be curious what Road to Ruin with a modern romhacking lens would look like.
I recall when Void’s Blitzarre Adventure released that the FEU page specifically mentioned it as being the first good complete romhack after TLP and Requiem, no mention of Road to Ruin, SoHaE (and I didn’t even know about SoHaE’s existence until this year), or anything else. It’s a night-and-day difference to see how far FE hacking and how we’re finally giving these old hacks their flowers.
Also chestkey
I'd say the best of the best romhacks being released one after the other has created a better environment for sharing and talking about romhacking, compared to simple forum posts in a Facebook era like 2012-2016. Road to Ruin is cool as a thief carrying a chest key: cool in a vanilla sense, but maybe a bit redundant by today's standards.
I hope Sword of Heaven gets an actual translation, it deserves at least that bit of context.
What do you mean "Vander stealing experience". You probably dont know about bases over growths and he is the strongest unit in the game since he has way better stats than any other unit at his join time. The optimal way to play engage is to only use Vander and use your other units as chest keys to get the loot to help him solo (he doesnt need the help but he would feel bad if they had nothing to do). Though he gets some slight competition by another cav in chapter 12.
Bridge Key XD
awesome video
Some interesting pieces of romhack history for sure! something something chest key
Thanks for your recommendation of Sword of Heaven and Earth. Also you should finish Road to Ruin you will grow to love Vance and Ava if you do.
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0:54 I'm gonna assume you meant Troll 2.
WTF no Lydia mention???
chest key
Lydia Epic
I actually picked up Sword of Heaven and Earth a few days ago. Haven't spent too much time with it yet, but the gameplay and map design has been alright so far. It lacks the quality of life additives of newer hacks, as you said. It's not something I'll sit down and play for long periods, but it will definitely pass a train journey or two.
Its a fun "turn your brain off" experience IMO
As someone who hasn't engaged much with romhacking, but has engaged a lot with fe at large, im very interested in hearing what you have to say about the last promise.
The rom of all time. On that note, will you eventually cover shackled power?
I do not plan on covering it.
Does this hack make that saga girl roy's sister or lilina's sister or sue's sister?
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As a fan of Sword of Heaven and Earth (SOHAE), I was disappointed by the review as I was expecting it to be a positive gameplay and story review. For me, this hack comes in just above Vision Quest in terms of favorite hacks.
But I do respect that you are entitled to your own opinion and that different ppl have different tastes.
Compared to the mainline series, I found the SOHAE map objectives to be very creative vs the standard Kill Boss, Seize, and Rout maps. Many maps had a dynamic nature where they had a structural evolution mid-map that required the player to make a significant strategic adjustment on the fly, which was reminiscent of Fates CQ for me and that was appreciated. It’s more impressive to me since SOHAE came out way before Fates.
I did largely agree with your assessment of the story and how Elibe fans would enjoy it.
Since you mentioned TMGC is now the pinnacle for modern FE, I decided to check out your review as I have never played it. I became interested in TMGC because of your review and plan to play it to gain a contrasting experience and see what is considered high quality FE design these days. Perhaps I will enjoy it and perhaps my view on FE design may be changed. I’m remaining open minded to all possibilities.
Yes! I love maps that are designed around reactive play. I enjoy escaping bad situations more than preventing them, but I understand if someone prefers otherwise
I played this hack a couple years ago while I did not have any knowledge of the Japanese language. And Google Translated patch was not available back then. I agree that its map designs are mediocre. And I am not attached to any of the characters. And the story is kind of cringe. And character portraits feel too Japanese and otakuish. But I remember I did have a good time. I would by no means categorize it into the bad rom hacks group. I might one day in the future replay it, the OG Jap version, in that now that it would not be that hard for me to understand the language.
So based of Sohae to have Ilia cavs as primaries and have nomads immediately. Chest Key. the unit descriptions are kino
Hey, just wanted to say I love how your channel brings highlights to so many good fan projects! Actually, all your videos are awesome :D God bless ya and Jesus loves ya :)
Ah, Road to Ruin was a game I liked at first, but I don't even remember if I finished it. Something just stopped clicking the further through it I got. It's mostly a blur in my memory now, though I still remember really liking Ava.
Alright, gotta go buy a chest key since my thief is still off on some errand.
Have to admit, I’ve not actually played very many FE7 hacks just because I usually end up having technical issues (broken chest keys for instance). FE8 hacks were always more consistent in my eyes
Ive been playing fire emblem forever and never seem rom hacks before! Going to use a chest key and unlock the pandoras box. Any recommendations outside of these? Im open to easy and chill ones and more complex harder ones
I actually have a whole playlist/series of romhacks i recommend, if you wanna check that out it lists quite a few
There are more Chest Keys in this comment section than Uneccessary Chests in PoR
I really need to finish what I start. I can't (chest) keyp doing this.
Hello, id like to get into FE rom hacks. Is there a discord or something anyone can recommend?
i finished road to ruin a bit ago, the final map of it is actually one of the most fun final maps ive played in a rom hack, though ive only played a limited assortment of rom hacks. one of them i have played is dark lord and the maiden of light, which i enjoyed a lot, if you have played it id love to hear your thoughts on it
Although you can cheese the final boss with vance long bow or luna magic.
@@IAARPOTIthats true, i dont think i thought to use those tools but playing without them made the map a tense climb to the boss that i had fun with
@@toade336 The dark lord and maiden of light has an opposite effect on me. Without any of power breaking weapon like Luna, the boss is almost impossible to kill. Not to mention that he can move.
@@IAARPOTI its been a while so i dont exactly remember how i beat him but im pretty sure one of the swordmasters can reliably (edit i double checked its not super reliable) double crit with the with support bonuses and 1 round the boss with the legendary sword
i do agree the final boss for dlatmol isnt well designed but its built up very well and its climactic so im satisfied
I loved DL&tMoL. Eli is literally just bow Rutger, and the light magic changes were so good that I think they should be in every hack.
My best hack personally is the last promise
Serious question, does anyone actually deploy chest keys? I've only ever used the ones i pick up mid map.
I do sometimes
Sword of Heaven and Earth is a case of a game I REALLY wish had an actual good translation made by actual human translators, collaborating with the original creator if possible. Yeah, it’s “just a ROM hack” with, from the sound of it, pretty Okay gameplay, but it still feels unfair to the creator to judge the story based on a poor approximation of their writing spat out by machine translation.
As for Road to Ruin, I’ll be honest, the early-game unit distribution put me off in the first couple chapters, haha… I don’t really care for the whole “Oops! (Almost) all sword-users” setup they went with to start out. I’d imagine it does get better later, but that design choice made me really appreciate the more balanced starting posse official FE titles generally start you off with.
As an aside, it’s kinda weird that the GBA Fire Emblem games have two Chest Key items with separate durability values, right? It’d be cool if they at least gave them separate names and icons, y’know?
Chest keys? Don’t really use ‘em, at least in more recent games.
Have you played duty calls yet? It's a 25 chapter hack
I haven't. I saw someone talk about it on a discord thjough so i downloaded it, just didnt have time to try yet.
>Sees review labeled as "FE7 Sequel Hack"
>It's not the masterpiece known as Different Dimensions Ostian Princess 😢
(Jokes aside, good review; Chest Key 🗝️)
I feel like I've heard of Different Dimensions Ostian Princess before...what is it? I cant Remember
@@DaniDoyleIt’s an old hack from like 2016 that followed Lilina’s daughter and was infamous for broken difficulty and comically bad writing.
It’s infamous to the point that someone made a remake of it called Reborn Dimensions Olethian Princess that was meant to fix most of its problems.
@@DaniDoylePeak Fiction 🙏 /j
(It's a weird sequel hack built out of Lyn Mode that has so many plot holes and bugs it wraps around into unintentional comedy, with design choices like giving you a Brave Sword wielding faux-Swordmaster with 0 Con & Def as a Jagen, an Archer you get for one chapter only, replacing Nils with a Knight with awful offensive stats, etc. Unironically would recommend just to see how wild it gets)
damn i dropped my chest key
I hope you find it 💞
1:12 DID YA' JUST CALL SPM BAD?
TREASON!
Oh I remember this hack, I wish I knew the growth rates a the time and I don't like how it forces Hard mode on you
Doesn’t fe7 already have a sequel though? Also, Lyn’s daughter would be lilina’s sister right?
@voltron77 Lyn's daughter would be Sue with Rath probably the father though it isn't canon, Lilina's parents are canonically Eliwood and Ninian. FE6 isn't a sequel to FE7 since it came out first, so FE7 is a prequel
@@domdude64dd Lilina is hector's daughter. Also, while it isn't explicitly canon, the lyn x hector is the most likely ship and is heavily hinted at in game. Also, wile it is true that fe7 is a prequel to fe6, it doesn't change the fact tha chronologically, there was another story in the timeline after it.
@voltron77 sorry I meant Roy's parents are Eliwood and Ninian. Lilina's mom is most like Farina though otherwise Lyn gets left out and her being with Rath makes more sense than Hector.
@@domdude64dd No it makes more sens with hector.
@voltron77 nuh uh
This supposed to be Lilina's sister?
No. Lyns daughter.
@DaniDoyle As far as I'm concerned, that's the same thing.
Wait, did you just shit on Donkey Kong 64? It's a tough game but I didn't think it was considered bad lol
Dani what if I’m super funny and say like
Door key
oh my gosh.
Lyn's daughter is Sue idc what anybody says
Getting Sued? Call Saul Goodman!
Super paper Mario is great.
Will not accept these slights towards SPM...!
yeah it may not have *chest keys*, or the perfect level design, but the story and characters (especially minor antagonists) are compelling
And of course, Mr. L makes his appearance but never comes back in future Paper Mario games... such a shame.
banished to the super paper mario demension! (I will eventually make a video about why i dislike SPM if youre curious about the reasons, but of course you are entitled to disagee)
And I agree, not every game is a masterpiece that should be universally liked, sometimes seeing the bad things would just enhance the experience to those who already like it despite the flaws
Yeah it’s deviated from what established the series and might’ve been too “unique”, but that in of itself is what makes SPM my favourite of the series, they went in knowing that this won’t be the norm, so they could throw as many wacky ideas in it, like you wouldn’t expect an otaku in your Mario game, or even the cast just straight up dying and being sent to the under world, or the main plot line being pretty dark, so dark that the summer kingdom was engulfed in the void.
But despite all the tragedy that occurs, it ends eventually in a bitter sweet ending, the world may be saved, but both sides lose something valuable to them, but they also know that what they lost are happy wherever it is.
Tldr; It being too unique is it’s biggest boon and major flaw and I personally like it for it.
Sometimes wonder what it would be like if SPM was the 4th or even 5th instalment in the series where the ones after it came before instead, would people dislike it more or would they just have been the same
I don't like any of what this rom hack does.
From the TERRIBLE decision to claim that Lyndis was brain washed to the terrible decision to make a weapon that doesn't crit to switching to a different group of characters for some missions. That is a VIOLATION OF PERSPECTIVE.
What?
This to hack is better than tmgc ngl.
Chess key so true
Lyn had a child!? I thought she married Florina! 🤯
Oh... Sorry... Mistook a fanfiction for canon.
its because Florina is trans
@DaniDoyle don't give me ammunition! My fanfiction is already too unhinged!
@@Stachelbeeerchen 👀👀👀👀👀💕💕💕💕
Knowing that it's machine translated is such a turn off for me
fair enough. I love it because it adds to the sillyness.
Chest key
I want to eat chest keys mmm chest key omnomnomnom mhmgmhmhmg chest key 🤤
what...
@DaniDoyle sorry I was really hungry 14 hours ago.
omg ok, here, eat this secret book instead.
@@DaniDoyle this tastes like smart. Thank you .
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