Curse of the Emblem [Current Patch .015]

[Felover3]

Hello, potential player of CotE (50th edition)! Let's run some things real quick before I go over the patch, mk?

This hack is a solo project.
What does that mean? Well, that means that unless I somehow become a savant overnight, things like maps and sprites won't be 100% perfect the moment I make them, and overall this hack will look graphically inferior to the modern "team" project that seems to flood the market of hacks that are actually played. But don't think that means it's going to be horrible, as there are ways of fixing those things (eventually).

This is the second edition of CotE in Fire Emblem 7
What does this mean? Well, that's silly. This hack, way before many of you even starting hacking yourselves or went to forums like these, this hack was done in Fire Emblem 6. Of course, throughout the years (about 5 or so), I was never able to get very far as FE6 hacking had lagged far behind FE7 hacking until about a year back. Heck, the first released versions (which will be posted along with a grand history video eventually), was done using only a hex editor and some of the first FE6 modules. It still had a custom map and such, but was very poorly made overall (I made it around the 6th grade, for time's sake). The reason this hack is finally making the switch to FE7 for now is that certain bugs in FE6 hacking that are caused by using combinations of utilities still exist and will most likely exist forever simply due to the odd nature of FE6's makeup. The only other edition of CotE to exist as a FE7 "hack" was a recolor/text hack made when XVI32 was still the hex editor of choice, and SNES palette was the only way of changing colors. But enough about that.

50th anniversary? Huh?
Well, if you noticed above, this hack has been on and off for many years now. To date, there have been about 50 restarts of this hack, none of them progressing beyond chapter 2. The reason for this was usually advent of new techniques or tools, or simple desire to create a better product. Since this version is the 50th, I decided that this would be it's final remake. For better or for worse, this version will be the one completed (barring some super advent of technique or catastrophe). While individual chapters or sections might be redone, the greater whole of this version will be the final one before I begin on a new project.

That's the end of the boring history for now

So let's talk about the features of this hack overall that would lead people to play it. These are not patch specific, and are merely planned features at various stages of implementation:

1. Custom story spanning 28~ish chapters
2. Custom events
3. Custom maps
4. Custom* Portraits (custom meaning new here, not FC portraits inherently)

But of course, most people EXPECT those features of a hack in today's world it seems. So let's talk more about gimmicks:

1. 0 LCK for certain members of the cast. This ties into the story and brings a new advent of risk and strategy to the game. No longer are criticals only coming from your side, they are now an ever present, if slight, risk. These characters will have some adjustments done to them so that the risk is often worth the reward.
2. Imported animations over from FE6 and 8 to fill in things that FE7 does not have inherently. While the loss of the mamukute jeigan is unfortunate, other classes can be imported rather easily.
3. GrimDark plot with a touch of humor for good measure (effect may not be that, depending on how well I write a given chapter)
4. One of the oldest ongoing hacks in FEditing history (Ace's hack may superscede it if it is still around)

That's all grand and stuff, but what's in the patch right now?

The current patch is currently NOT a final product in any form of the word. But currently the version is .015 and contains the following:

• Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2
• All player characters sprited and palette'd up through chapter 2
• Limited icon changes
• Prologue map by C7K
• Mediocre Ch2 and 3 map, functional yet not pretty.
• Balance changes from version .01 (Lia and Jude have luck as well as some minor stat adjustments)

What's planned for next patch at the least? Well, it will be planned to have:

• Prologue-Chapter 5 completed
• All player characters up to that point completed
• Some boss character to have sprites
• Some maps to be finalized
• Corrections to text
• Other balance changes based on feedback

Oh, and one more thing before I give a link to the current patch.

Feedback
As you might have guessed by now, I know a lot of things in this hack are not perfect. However, stating things like "Dis hack sux" or "Your sprites/maps are horrible" does not allow me to create a better game. If you cannot be bothered to give meaningful advice (besides "looking at other sprites/maps", which is not specific enough to warrant any response) please don't bother. If you'd like to do better (as I'm sure some of you can), and you don't think I'll ever be able to fix something, feel free to donate a map/sprite to the project. Before you do so, I'd ask you PM me first in case others are doing the same, or if certain things need to stay in tact for map's sake. Additionally, if you'd like to donate, I'd also ask that you'd be willing to donate until the completion of the project, as I'd rather not have to spend a bunch of time removing donations because a person finally decides they don't want to. If it's a minor donation, such as a weapon icon, I'll be more than willing to delete it. If you decide that you'd like to remake all my maps then decide that you hate my guts, I'd rather you not contribute at all. Thanks in advance.

Feedback Part 2

I also promise to be nicer this time around with feedback as long as we can keep it civil, as the large argument in the last version of this thread absolutely destroyed my resolve to continue making hacks at that point. My rate went from about a chapter every 2 weeks to not wanting to touch the series for close to a year. Work will be slow now that I have real life things to worry about, but this part of my life is so significant I'll finish it eventually.

That said, initial progress will be slow as I get back up to speed in my hacking skills and exploring new tools that have come out. It's super important to me that I get some feedback on this balanced tweaked game. I don't promise to change everything you suggest, but I at least have better reasons this time around.

Credits (in terms of hack resources outside of the tools and guides made by the greater community):

• C7k (Better Prologue and Chapter 3 map (not yet implemented due to game balance adjustment required)
• MageKnight404 (Fighter and Knight animations that don't look derpy)
• Klok (He offered some scripting advice, don't recall how much was implemented, but was worth noting)
• Celice (He offered a package of goodies that I don't recall if I used any, but said were available for use)

Anyways, here's the current patch:

Patch 0.15

Edited July 10, 2015 by Felover3

[ghast]

Feedback Part 2

I also promise to be nicer this time around with feedback as long as we can keep it civil, as the large argument in the last version of this thread absolutely destroyed my resolve to continue making hacks at that point. My rate went from about a chapter every 2 weeks to not wanting to touch the series for close to a year. Work will be slow now that I have real life things to worry about, but this part of my life is so significant I'll finish it eventually.

I got your back homie.

*cracks knuckles*

gonna give this a whirl tonight!

[Pixelman]

Is Ralph's level cap supposed to be 2?

EDIT: Is everyone's level cap supposed to be 2?

Edited July 9, 2015 by PixelmanFE

[Felover3]

Is Ralph's level cap supposed to be 2?

EDIT: Is everyone's level cap supposed to be 2?

Having patched to fresh ROM the patch I uploaded I am not experiencing this issue. Does the level stay capped past the prologue? I will investigate the issue.

[Toa]

[spoiler=Thoughts]

Prologue: Playing on the bandits side is interesting. I wish the fact that you have to talk to Lia was a bit more clear. I killed her twice at range before trying to talk to her.

Chapter 1: This chapter is really bad... The level 2 level cap seems unnecessary and Jude is the only person who can carry his weight. Ralph dies in a couple of hits and can only deal 4 damage to enemies, and 0 to the boss. Lia has lance which puts her at a disadvantage against the vast majority of the enemies. The breakable walls appear to serve no purpose. The boss was a slog of RNG burning because the only person who could fight him was Jude, but he only did 10 damage at 50% while Batta did 17 also with 50. The healing boss was annoying and unnecessary, it just felt like I had to kill him twice. The map is also way too big, and the fact that the two south rooms don't connect means you'll have to run all the way around.

Chapter 2: Julie's smile seems out of place. This chapter kinda sucks too. It starts off wounding the best unit down to 2 HP, and since I used all my vulernaries last level fighting the boss, I was kinda screwed right from the get-go. The enemies at the start will demolish you pretty quickly so I just ran away and let the green units do their thing. In the end I had to camp behind the mountains and snipe the enemies off as they came over. Once again the boss (who is apparently a cross dresser) required some RNG rigging. The level 2 cap still makes no sense.

The level cap being level 2 seems like a weird decision, levelling is a major part of FE and in this hack everyone has the opportunity for *1* levelup.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Toa

[Pixelman]

Having patched to fresh ROM the patch I uploaded I am not experiencing this issue. Does the level stay capped past the prologue? I will investigate the issue.

For me, yes

EDIT: If you want, I could give you my save file

Edited July 9, 2015 by PixelmanFE

[Toa]

I also have the level cap problem, it happens to all playable units on all chapters.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Toa

[Felover3]

Ok, looks like the site I used to upload the patch caused this issue for some reason(?). Tested using dropbox, issue should be alleviated.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Felover3

[ghast]

played the patch.

I have some feedback for ya, do yuo want me to tell you here or PM you?

[Felover3]

played the patch.

I have some feedback for ya, do yuo want me to tell you here or PM you?

Prefer PM at the current time.

[Alusq]

I return to forums after a few weeks and Curse of the Emblem is back?!?! Now that is something that I did /not/ expect to see rise from the ashes yet again.

Good luck, dude! I have fond memories of having to restart the few chapters that I played because I got critted by generic enemies. I look forward to any progress you make.