[FE8] [Complete] The Sun God's Wrath (Final release 5/22/2022 - 27 Chapters)

[Nintales]

Actually, in HM, Katherina's not that strong. Until her wo dao breaks, she's awesome, but most of HM enemies have good defence so she's quite balanced there. She can't really hope to ORKO without a crit, so she's basically FE10 Mia. :D

I'd say right now my strongest unit overall is a tie between Evan (highest number of contributions in the run) and Nereid.

I love the fact you get a real choice between Derek's promotion. Either you go for Duke Knight and its awesome bonuses, either you go Holy Knight for Adept and Bows. I went HK but I hesitated for a while.

I just finished 11 (promoted most of my units at 10), and I'll make my complete run-through of the units once I'm done with the game. (and maybe I might restart it in Girl-only, but not sure)

[Blademaster!]

I just finished 11 (promoted most of my units at 10), and I'll make my complete run-through of the units once I'm done with the game. (and maybe I might restart it in Girl-only, but not sure)

A male only run would be pretty tough since none of them can steal, but Nereid is the closest you get to a female tank I believe.

As things are going right now, it looks like in the middle of the week I may release version 1.1 of this hack. This may come with a growths guide of some sort, fix the bugs found so far (animations, shaver, Roa/dragoon weapon levels, and backgrounds) along with having the cut text. There will also be some edits to units support lists, but these shouldn't harm any supports you will have built so far. Part 1 is pretty much the only part that will have some major changes. As far as I can think, .sav files from the previous version will still work in 1.1 and future patches.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Blademaster!

[Nintales]

HERE IT IS

[spoiler=Special Delivery!]

The main fighters :

Despite her seeming str screwed to me, she did her job really well. Can ORKO some mobs with Rapier, and early light brand isn't that bad. She could even ORKO chapter 12's pathetic boss with the Mani Katti.

Despite being forced for the last chapters, Daedalus managed to pull his weight. His stats are okay and he could OHKO with the killer axe so yay.

Nicole's a really strong units. Her stats are really good for an archer, and bows are awesome in HM since you don't wanna get counter-attacked. Yay for her!

It seems that Derek would have been better as a Duke Knight due to better promo-gains, but he's anyways great in Holy Knight. He is quite reliable on the regal sword early on, but is really strong.

Staffbot. Really awesome to have a competent healer on the team though.

She was a really good unit throughout the whole game. She OHKOes any knight with the Reginleif, and wrecks most of living beings even without it. She took a while to grow, but oh boy was she worth it.

Mostly "that other healer", but Nell's quite okay.

Though I'd have loved her staff rank to grow so she cannot just use Heal and Restore. (is it intentional though?)

Ties with Evan for "more useful unit overall" spot.

Nereid's awesome. She can ORKO most of the things, and her durability isn't that bad.

While he took a while to be an asset, Ulysses isn't that bad. Though his early's clearly one of the worst. Thanks for giving him a Hammer, seems it will fix some of his issues.

I actually like him more as a WK. While Resolve's prolly awesome, Flier's thingy allows him to bypass walls and therefore kill enemies or even allow great LTC strats that wouldn't be possible.

His Horseslayer is just awesome, so he was an okay-ish unit.

Summoner/10. (got fed a few statboosters though)

Basically any character than can become a summoner is great. And Verrine has huge damage on top of that (and is bugged as it costs 0).

Dancer/10

Awesome/10

Thiefbot/10

Freya was actually the kind of unit I was willing to use for... weird reasons. But hey, she's okay and she's definitely not bad, being able to steal most of items in the game and supporting with Nicole and Derek.

Shaver!Evan is basically what kept me alive through some parts of the game. You don't know how +40 crit on an enemy is strong, along with MAGIC damage on a HM where defense prevails. While his non-promotion time is having a guy who gets 2HKO'd but can OHKO in return, once promoted he's quite good.

Though Druid seems to be buggy as you can't equip Wind Magic (Shaver, Wind, Alacalibur) once you've promoted to it. Therefore MK seems to be the better choice.

He basically killed that Cyclops in chapter 10. He's just THAT bro.

Now, the Benched ones :

While I tried to use her a little bit, she got outclassed by Sakura.

Also, Fliers aren't that strong in HM as bow users hit like trucks with 100 hit. Especially Bow Armors.

Oifaye/10

He's okay, but not that strong. He got quite outclassed when my main force promoted.

Her Wo Dao broke pretty soon and Nereid was getting way better. It was just a matter of "who would be benched", and Freya ended up getting over Katherin due to thieving utility.

While I could have made something out of him, he just seems like a pseudo-waste when Ulysses exists.

By the way, if he promotes into assassin... (I feel like he should)

Does he get Lethality then? Would be weird imo as he has already that as a personal skill.

While magic sword are really strong (she could deal really high damage with Thunder Sword), once her TS broke, she was on the same level as Katherin. Shame though you can't get it until chapter 12's secret shop.

Add on top of that 3 def on a 24 unit and you get the squishiest frontline unit who is also not a glass cannon.

She's a mage killer, but anyone gets good res on promo.

Though maybe she has good promotion options. Didn't push her that far.

Jenna is imo the worst unit of the hack.

Sorry, but she basically gets outclassed by Evan.

Magic deals around 10 damage. Light Magic is pathetic as Mages tend to have great res in HM, and you won't go that far without Mana Burst even with Shaver.

By the way, Nullify and Nihil aren't that worth on her right now as there's no real threat with a personal skill.

Therefore she's bad atm.

She should get a buff. Maybe a base Slayer? It would make of her definitely a YES on monster based maps like Nereid's chapter.

Right now she's just "that chipper with no durability".

Charles is also quite bad.

While Big Shield's good, it won't protect him that much from enemies that OHKO him with a bow. (looking at Derek's chapter's archers)

The fact Bow Users are just really strong (not annoyed by that) makes him quite bad.

Another possible fix for him and Jenna :

- Swap Nullify and Great Shield. Nullify would work great on Charles, with Great Shield could be useful on Jenna.

4 fillers that are probably awesome if you're willing to use them but I was not so they got benched. Sorry.

Two units who don't seem bad at all and came at the last chapter of the hack. Though Kat should get a buff imo. Seems she's inferior to promoted Kenton atm.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Nintales

[lonelyVoxel]

Huh, in my runs Charles and Jenna have been some of my best units. Of course, this is all NM that I've been doing. Jenna's Mag got pretty high for me, and she does still have access to all Anima. Mirielle wasn't very good in NM either, and I think she needs something going for her to compete with Charles.

By the way, I think the public release download link should be added to the OP so people don't have to dig through the topic for it.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Forceman

[Blademaster!]

Repsonses in bold. Good job on beating HM since I haven't even tried it yet! Hope it wasn't too unbalanced!

HERE IT IS

[spoiler=Special Delivery!]

The main fighters :

Despite her seeming str screwed to me, she did her job really well. Can ORKO some mobs with Rapier, and early light brand isn't that bad. She could even ORKO chapter 12's pathetic boss with the Mani Katti.

I have no idea why, but Astrea just gets str screwed very often.

Despite being forced for the last chapters, Daedalus managed to pull his weight. His stats are okay and he could OHKO with the killer axe so yay.

Resolve is a pretty good skill.

Nicole's a really strong units. Her stats are really good for an archer, and bows are awesome in HM since you don't wanna get counter-attacked. Yay for her!

I'm glad so many people used her. Since she was an archer, I was worried most people wouldn't.

It seems that Derek would have been better as a Duke Knight due to better promo-gains, but he's anyways great in Holy Knight. He is quite reliable on the regal sword early on, but is really strong.

Since Duke Knight's don't have Adept they have better stats to balance them out.

Staffbot. Really awesome to have a competent healer on the team though.

She's the best healer until you can promote some magic units.

She was a really good unit throughout the whole game. She OHKOes any knight with the Reginleif, and wrecks most of living beings even without it. She took a while to grow, but oh boy was she worth it.

Why is her def always so low...

Mostly "that other healer", but Nell's quite okay.

Though I'd have loved her staff rank to grow so she cannot just use Heal and Restore. (is it intentional though?)

Staff rank is set based on class. She's a pretty strong unit once you promote her.

Ties with Evan for "more useful unit overall" spot.

Nereid's awesome. She can ORKO most of the things, and her durability isn't that bad.

Great!

While he took a while to be an asset, Ulysses isn't that bad. Though his early's clearly one of the worst. Thanks for giving him a Hammer, seems it will fix some of his issues.

I'm hoping it makes him better as well.

I actually like him more as a WK. While Resolve's prolly awesome, Flier's thingy allows him to bypass walls and therefore kill enemies or even allow great LTC strats that wouldn't be possible.

His Horseslayer is just awesome, so he was an okay-ish unit.

Horseslayer and dark arts is really useful.

Summoner/10. (got fed a few statboosters though)

Basically any character than can become a summoner is great. And Verrine has huge damage on top of that (and is bugged as it costs 0).

Prices of late game items are still being worked on, but I'll fix that for 1.1.

Dancer/10

Awesome/10

Great!

Thiefbot/10

Freya was actually the kind of unit I was willing to use for... weird reasons. But hey, she's okay and she's definitely not bad, being able to steal most of items in the game and supporting with Nicole and Derek.

I don't remember her str growth, but 6 would mean it either never grew... well she does have luna.

Shaver!Evan is basically what kept me alive through some parts of the game. You don't know how +40 crit on an enemy is strong, along with MAGIC damage on a HM where defense prevails. While his non-promotion time is having a guy who gets 2HKO'd but can OHKO in return, once promoted he's quite good.

Though Druid seems to be buggy as you can't equip Wind Magic (Shaver, Wind, Alacalibur) once you've promoted to it. Therefore MK seems to be the better choice.

He basically killed that Cyclops in chapter 10. He's just THAT bro.

I'll fix the shaver weapon level bug. It happened as a last minute addition like with the mages not being able to use magic in some chapters.

Now, the Benched ones :

While I tried to use her a little bit, she got outclassed by Sakura.

Also, Fliers aren't that strong in HM as bow users hit like trucks with 100 hit. Especially Bow Armors.

Bow armors are pretty scary.

Oifaye/10

He's okay, but not that strong. He got quite outclassed when my main force promoted.

He wasn't really designed around early promoting, but I think he's still strong enough as is for now.

Her Wo Dao broke pretty soon and Nereid was getting way better. It was just a matter of "who would be benched", and Freya ended up getting over Katherin due to thieving utility.

If she isn't getting used in HM I'm really curious how she plays out.

While I could have made something out of him, he just seems like a pseudo-waste when Ulysses exists.

By the way, if he promotes into assassin... (I feel like he should)

Does he get Lethality then? Would be weird imo as he has already that as a personal skill.

He can become an assassin so he does get stacked lethality. Berserker is probably his best class. Maybe I should just give him Lvl. 1 thief instead.

While magic sword are really strong (she could deal really high damage with Thunder Sword), once her TS broke, she was on the same level as Katherin. Shame though you can't get it until chapter 12's secret shop.

Add on top of that 3 def on a 24 unit and you get the squishiest frontline unit who is also not a glass cannon.

She's a mage killer, but anyone gets good res on promo.

Magic swords are really useful.

Though maybe she has good promotion options. Didn't push her that far.

Jenna is imo the worst unit of the hack.

Sorry, but she basically gets outclassed by Evan.

Magic deals around 10 damage. Light Magic is pathetic as Mages tend to have great res in HM, and you won't go that far without Mana Burst even with Shaver.

By the way, Nullify and Nihil aren't that worth on her right now as there's no real threat with a personal skill.

Therefore she's bad atm.

She should get a buff. Maybe a base Slayer? It would make of her definitely a YES on monster based maps like Nereid's chapter.

Right now she's just "that chipper with no durability".

Slayer is no longer a skill for plot reasons. I don't really think she needs a buff right now though. She's got high growths.

Charles is also quite bad.

While Big Shield's good, it won't protect him that much from enemies that OHKO him with a bow. (looking at Derek's chapter's archers)

The fact Bow Users are just really strong (not annoyed by that) makes him quite bad.

I'll have to see how strong enemy bow users really are if fliers are this bad.

Another possible fix for him and Jenna :

- Swap Nullify and Great Shield. Nullify would work great on Charles, with Great Shield could be useful on Jenna.

I think nullify on a WK this early would be OP.

4 fillers that are probably awesome if you're willing to use them but I was not so they got benched. Sorry.

Chrysler and Germano are really good IMO.

Two units who don't seem bad at all and came at the last chapter of the hack. Though Kat should get a buff imo. Seems she's inferior to promoted Kenton atm.

Kat joins later now so we'll see how she turns out then.

Thanks again for the hard mode feedback!

By the way, I think the public release download link should be added to the OP so people don't have to dig through the topic for it.

It's in the OP in the first spoiler.

[Baldrick]

I've been playing Hard Mode as well, and I've found Charles to be very good. You need to make use of the weapon triangle as much as you can so his weapon selection is clutch early on, and he can do flier things like back up Nereid in chapter 5 and recruit Ricky quickly in chapter 8 without his bow weakness crippling him. I noted that Nin's Charles didn't gain any speed, which is a very important stat for him; the difference between doubling armours and not doubling them is immense.

[Blademaster!]

I've been playing Hard Mode as well, and I've found Charles to be very good. You need to make use of the weapon triangle as much as you can so his weapon selection is clutch early on, and he can do flier things like back up Nereid in chapter 5 and recruit Ricky quickly in chapter 8 without his bow weakness crippling him. I noted that Nin's Charles didn't gain any speed, which is a very important stat for him; the difference between doubling armours and not doubling them is immense.

Charles does have a 45% speed growth so he should be gaining some speed.

Real life stuff seems to be getting in the way of giving me more free time at the moment, so I'm going to push releasing v1.1 to this weekend. If I can get it out faster I'll be sure to do so.

[Blademaster!]

V1.1 will be released Saturday. I'm just doing some final bug testing.

V1.1 is primarily designed to fix bugs, cut text, and be the more proper version of the hack from this point forward, as chapter 13 has had some major event changes (Kat is no longer recruitable this early on in exchange for Clint, who was called Coly in V1.0). If you wish for your .sav file to be compatible with future versions, you'll need to replay chapter 13 as a result. A full detailed list of changes will be included in this version as well as version 1.0 of the growth guide.

Also, as far as I could tell, the Shaver bug seems to be caused when the player (not sure about enemy) is attacked on enemy phase. Not really sure why, but it doesn't seem game breaking, so I'll probably just leave it as is, since such is the limit of the CSA and it still works on player phase. This also means I can keep more weapons in the hack as well.

Some preview images of some new changes.

Edited September 11, 2015 by Blademaster!

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i could've sworn Oreades had a different skill, but i never used him

this makes him look better then last time i think tho, i can't even remember what it was.

Edited September 11, 2015 by HF Makalov Fanboy Kai

[lonelyVoxel]

Looking good! I think Oreades having Lv. 1 Thief over Lethality is good {I think that was his skill} since Lethality that early on probably wasn't good from a balance standpoint. Personally I think the old versions of Kirin and Nicole are better, though they look less like recolors/splices from vanilla now.

[Pixelman]

i could've sworn Oreades had a different skill, but i never used him

this makes him look better then last time i think tho, i can't even remember what it was.

Looking good! I think Oreades having Lv. 1 Thief over Lethality is good {I think that was his skill}

I can confirm that, yes, Lethality was his original skill

Personally I think the old versions of Kirin and Nicole are better

I agree with this from a personal standpoint as well, but holy shit the new portraits look really good

And is that another Manakete I see in Katherin's support screen?

Edited September 11, 2015 by Pixelman

[Nintales]

I kinda liked Nicole's old version.

But Kirin's amazing.

I'm on my "gurl-only" PT right now, so I'll give you what I think about Jenna when I finish this.

[Blademaster!]

Huh, I though Nicole's mug would be one of the ones people would want changed. I could always change it back if people want, I just figured that it, like Kirin, were ones that needed work/should be replaced.

And is that another Manakete I see in Katherin's support screen?

Yep!

I kinda liked Nicole's old version.

But Kirin's amazing.

I'm on my "gurl-only" PT right now, so I'll give you what I think about Jenna when I finish this.

Cool! I'm looking forward to the feedback.

[Ansem]

who was kirin again?

also yeah i liked nicoles old mug too

[Baldrick]

I think Nicole's old mug suited her personality better. Though the new mug does seem less out of place.

[Blademaster!]

who was kirin again?

The cleric girl.

I'll switch Nicole's mug back then.

In 1.1 news, all the bug testing is done, so it's just a matter of the final touch ups. It'll be released tomorrow as planned.

[Ansem]

you think nell could get a portrait change? i get the small frame and all but i think she could get represented better

[Blademaster!]

you think nell could get a portrait change? i get the small frame and all but i think she could get represented better

She's meant to be a troubadour like character from a desert country with a touch of royalty to her, so I find her mug works just fine as is and as such had no plans to change it. I don't really know how I would change her mug at all and can't really think of anything that'd be done differently. I haven't really started fleshing out her character yet, so I wouldn't even know what to change if I did change anything. If you could go into more detail on what could be better represented, feel free to do so, but I can't think of anything different with her from a creative standpoint at this moment. You don't think she should be like a second Relina or something right?

And if there are any other mugs you think should be looked into, feel free to mention so. For reference, Lila(shows up in chapter 9 cutscene and later on), Germano(playable soldier), Chunji(chapter 1 sub boss), Albert(chapter 3 boss), Colt(chapter 12 boss, chapter 13 sub boss and now recruitable in 1.1), Joanne(playable dancer), and Georgio(shows up in chapter 6 cutscene? May be chapter 7 cutscene and also later in the game) also got new mugs.

[Pixelman]

And if there are any other mugs you think should be looked into, feel free to mention so. For reference, Lila(shows up in chapter 9 cutscene and later on), Germano(playable soldier), Chunji(chapter 1 sub boss), Albert(chapter 3 boss), Colt(chapter 12 boss, chapter 13 sub boss and now recruitable in 1.1), Joanne(playable dancer), and Georgio(shows up in chapter 6 cutscene? May be chapter 7 cutscene and also later in the game) also got new mugs.

Do you mind showing them off?

Or are we just gonna have to wait xD

[Nintales]

Yep!

Playable Rody. Make the dream come true!

[Blademaster!]

Do you mind showing them off?

Or are we just gonna have to wait xD

I hope waiting for me to wake up wasn't too long lol

Left is new. Right is old. Doesn't include characters like Evan, Nicole, or Kirin since their in other posts.

Playable Rody. Make the dream come true!

;)

[CorruptDruid]

Holy Fuck Monkeys, the new are leagues beyond the old. These actually make the characters more like individuals than obvious splices or recolors from the other games. Now, did you do them or someone else and how long did it take to revamp from the old to new? Because, I prefer this method over putting in a hell of a time into a swanky full custom portrait in sacrifice to development time for other aspects of the game such as maps and eventing. AT the same time I can really appreciate the effort it takes to put out so much material, even if aesthetically it seems sub par, only for it to be polished later on while hammering out the core part of the game such as balancing and introducing any other new mechanics you might want.

[~The Venator~]

Love the new mugs and oh man, that Joanne mug is so much better than the old one. I'm really enjoying the hack so far, however I tend to miss the fast rewards because I'm too cautious, but that's just my playstyle. Difficulty wise I'm near the end of chatper 12 and am having a hard time with those two generals guarding Discol. In my opinion they seem way too strong, with my beeffest tank Ulysses almost dying several times to the steel bow if Kirin didn't intervene. Also I unknowningly killed Colt yesterday, which might be a problem since I recently found out that he was going to be recruitable later on in the next update...

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i think everyone looks better new, except for colt, if only because i'm a fan of his hair style, but if he's going to be playable he should look more like a playable unit instead of a boss, so the new portrait works in this case.

[Blademaster!]

Version 1.1 released at the bottom of this post and updated on front page!

Holy Fuck Monkeys, the new are leagues beyond the old. These actually make the characters more like individuals than obvious splices or recolors from the other games. Now, did you do them or someone else and how long did it take to revamp from the old to new? Because, I prefer this method over putting in a hell of a time into a swanky full custom portrait in sacrifice to development time for other aspects of the game such as maps and eventing. AT the same time I can really appreciate the effort it takes to put out so much material, even if aesthetically it seems sub par, only for it to be polished later on while hammering out the core part of the game such as balancing and introducing any other new mechanics you might want.

All the new mugs are open source mugs of Nickt with the exception of Joanne's new mug which is a mug of Nayr's, so the time it took to change them went by very fast. All the graphics being used in this hack are either things I made really fast four years ago to release the first version of Sun God's Challenge (like the old mugs) or public mugs I got permission to use. As of right now, there isn't really any kind of art director on the team.

In regards to development time, the first 14 chapters took a few months to do, though all the mugs at that point were "done". I myself haven't sprited a single mug since I started working on this hack again, focusing on other things. Even most of the maps were just made using FEmapcreator's randomize feature. I really started up again with this hack in late January, but I spent a lot of time working on gameplay changes, story planning, and general grunt work. I have less free time now to make good progress, but I'm hoping I can work at a pace of 1 chapter per week when I'm not having to go back and redo things.

Love the new mugs and oh man, that Joanne mug is so much better than the old one. I'm really enjoying the hack so far, however I tend to miss the fast rewards because I'm too cautious, but that's just my playstyle. Difficulty wise I'm near the end of chatper 12 and am having a hard time with those two generals guarding Discol. In my opinion they seem way too strong, with my beeffest tank Ulysses almost dying several times to the steel bow if Kirin didn't intervene. Also I unknowningly killed Colt yesterday, which might be a problem since I recently found out that he was going to be recruitable later on in the next update...

The fast reward is designed to be doable without RNG manipulation, and the later in the chapter you get, ambush spawns stop appearing. The fast clear is pretty easy to get on a second play through.

The two generals can be hard to deal with if you don't have an armor slayer or hammer, but there are more armor killing weapons now.

If you have a save with chapter 11 not completed you can just redo that again, but the conditions to recruit Colt(well, Clint now) is that he survives chapter 11 and you speak to him with Astrea in chapter 13. Since he only joins in the last chapter of the patch I wouldn't stress over it, especially since as of right now he's probably not a very good unit other than having a leadership star and a high weapon level.

i think everyone looks better new, except for colt, if only because i'm a fan of his hair style, but if he's going to be playable he should look more like a playable unit instead of a boss, so the new portrait works in this case.

Colt's old mug was actually meant to be a different playable character entirely, but I that character was removed and just thrown in at random for the sake of it. Now he gets to actually be playable!

Also version 1.1 is now done. It comes with the first version of the character growth guide, glossary, change list, and an updated patch fixing all the bugs reported so far (hopefully). Something I forgot to fix up before release was Clint's description as he isn't part of the Green Army any more.

So, here is version 1.1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5baeaih1fm4g039/SGWv1_1.zip?dl=0