Search the Community

What the title says. Done anything super fun in fire emblem that you could recommend? Literally anything works. Just not bullshit.

Many broken promises and unfinished playthroughs later... It's finally here! Complete YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPtcK2f-aIoT9WbxLMRByDhQjGVLxqz9e I won't cover everything that Mekkah and I talked about in the video, but here are some nuggets that the average user may not know. FE6 mechanics in-depth GBA FE random number generator (RNG) So first of all, the RNG isnt truly random. But you probably know that already. Thats a limitation of computing. The GBA FE games generate their random numbers (RNs) using a linear feedback shift register. How exactly that works is not a terribly important detail, and I dont have sufficient knowledge of RNGs to be able to provide a good explanation, anyway. The key point here is that the GBA FE RNG uses the 3 most recently generated numbers to generate subsequent RNs. How are those 3 numbers seeded? Its always the same 3 numbers. Whenever you start up the GBA, the game uses a seed that corresponds to the decimal sequence 8, 56, 21. The RNG in this game is deterministic and entirely predictable. If you always reset the game prior to starting a chapter, you will always get the same results given the same sequence of inputs. rngdisplay.lua in action after a hard reset. The upcoming RNs are on the right, with 8, 56, 21 as the seed. I use a tool called a Lua script to view the RNG while playing the game on VisualBoyAdvance. The script itself is called rngdisplay.lua and was written by user amaurea of TASVideos. This is an immensely helpful script that allows me to route more efficiently. Hard mode differences FE6 is the first installment in the series to give the player an option to play on an increased difficulty. This difficulty has classically been referred to as hard mode (HM), with the default difficulty retaining the designation of normal mode (NM). This run will be played on HM. In FE6, there are 2 key differences between HM and NM. The first is that HM enemies get a stat bonus compared to their NM counterparts. The second is that some maps have more starting enemies and/or more enemy reinforcement units on HM. These are the exact same enemy from chapter 22. The stats on the left are from NM. The stats on the right are from HM. HM bonuses are generated by applying extra hidden level ups to all enemy units. I wont get into the details here. HM bonuses in FE6 increase in magnitude as the game progresses. Enemies can have as few as 5 extra level ups near the beginning of the game to as many as 16 extra level ups at the end of the game. For comparison, in FE7, all HM enemies get only 5 extra level ups, and in FE8, all HM enemies get between 1 and 4 extra level ups. Speedrunning techniques In order to cut down on video time and make the cleanest possible strategies, I employ a handful of speedrunning techniques. Not all of them need explaining. Note that this is not an actual speedrun, and so not every decision is optimized. Fast cursor movement In the GBA FE games, holding down the B button while moving the cursor allows the cursor to move at double the normal speed. Unfortunately, this makes the cursor difficult to control, especially when moving units. One way to deal with this is to always move the cursor at right angles when moving units. With practice, it is possible to fairly consistently move exactly 1, 2, 3, etc. spaces while holding B. Another way to deal with this is to take advantage of natural barriers. When moving a unit, the cursor stops if it would move out of the units movement range. Essentially, if at any time during the movement path I run the cursor into a wall, an enemy unit, or simply the edge of the units movement range, the cursor stops immediately. This helps to ensure accuracy of unit movements. Its easier to move Roy if he keeps running into walls. L-switching The L button serves a convenient purpose in the GBA FE games: it switches the cursor from one player unit to another. The sequence of cursor switching is determined by the order in which units are deployed in the chapter. Example: here is the deployment order for chapter 24. Suppose that the cursor is on Roy. One L input switches the cursor to Fae. Subsequent L inputs switch the cursor to Lalum, then to Milady, and so on. If the cursor is not on a player unit, pressing L will move the cursor to the first unit in the deployment order. This is usually Roy. RNG abuse via path retracing Sometimes, youll see me do this funny thing where I appear to move a unit somewhere, wobble the cursor a little bit, and then I end up doing something else. This is a speedrunning trick used to advance the RNG. Occasionally I come across a sequence of RNs that I cant use effectively, so I simply burn them with some path retracing. I first draw Zeisss (the selected units) movement path on the left. Then, I wobble the cursor to another tile on the edge of his movement range. The game has to retrace the movement path. rngdisplay.lua indicates that the new path took 7 RNs to draw. The game uses RNs to generate a new path if it cant adapt the old path. The longer a path is, the more RNs on average will be used for a path retrace. This technique features prominently in TASes (where they do it super fast), but I usually reserve it for when I have no other option, not only because its somewhat time-consuming, but it also compromises the integrity of the run. About this playthrough This playthrough operates under the following conditions: Player units have 0% growths in all stats. It recruits all possible units and keeps them alive (there are 51 player units in any given playthrough). It primarily aims for the lowest possible turncount. It secondarily aims for a low play time on the game clock. Videos of each chapter will be uploaded, with audio commentary from Mekkah and me. An explanatory write-up will accompany chapters for viewers who are unfamiliar with this game or have trouble with the Japanese. Chapter list Turncounts: