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[From hack to indie] Path of the Midnight Sun


Alfred Kamon
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Howdy there! I made (read: decided to actually use) this account recently, so I just wanted to drop by and say that I've really enjoyed this project so far! It's quite impressive how much you've put into this game in terms of characters, map design and balance, and it's not even finished yet. Just wanted to let you know you've got another fan. Good work so far and hang in there! I'll be here rootin' for ya.

Thank you very much, MegaTheGamer! :)

So I promoted Sae'rah to soldier, and I noticed that she had significantly reduced exp gain for defeating enemies than the other trainees. Is this a glitch?

https://vid.me/x2uv (Proof, sorry for the bad quality)

I'll look into it, thanks for reporting!

Hey, I played this quite some time ago and just never posted anything ( I know I'm a POS =P )

BUT I've been lurking around here checking for updates and etc. I finally made an account and just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your mod!!

Thanks and keep up the good work, looking forward to the next update!!

*edit* Also I am looking forward to playing Shiori's route more, because of the added difficulty. Not sure if I will want to play an easier route second so will probably play Fara's first.

Faratrass' route won't be easier than Shiori's, it will simply have more traditional goals. Most of the difficulty on Shiori's route will come from overpowered enemies, while on Fa's route you'll have to deal with status conditions and other kinds of threats.

Currently, we're working on some awesome animations for new and old classes, so stay tuned for more!

V.2.0 should come out in late 2017, as expected.

Edited by Alfred Kamon
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I created an account JUST to follow this topic. So with that being said, let me begin.

This feedback follows the Version 1.1 I previously downloaded two years ago. That is very important to keep in mind as you read my feedback.

I downloaded this and The Last Promise hack because I needed something to keep me occupied for the long wait before Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire was released. The Last Promise failed to do that, and I wasn't feeling really faithful Midnight Sun so I left it alone and just followed other things to do that in place of what I originally had planned.

Two years later, after my WIFI was disrupted for five days, I was waiting for Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice to arrive on the eshop at the time. I knew I was going to get bored playing my old games again and I just got done marathoning my Pokémon Yellow version until I lost to my rival at the champion's battle. Then, suddenly, in the corner of my mind, I realized that I could still play my VBA, even though I hadn't touched it in a while. And THEN, I remembered that I had patched my Sacred Stones with the Midnight Sun hack.

Knowing that my WIFI wasn't going to come until a few more days and with nothing better to play at the time, I decided to just wing it and see how far it takes me.

That's when a new love was born and where the review formally begins.

I wasn't really expecting much out of the hack. When introducing the map of Magvel, I was under the impression that it was like a fan-made sequel to the previous game. It did and it didn't, as was clearly stated. I had a purist attitude when it came to Rom hacks and a big part of my gripe with it was modernized dialogue, but we'll get to that in a bit. When I saw the fourth wall break, I didn't really mind. It was kind of what I expected out of a Rom hack creator's mind.

The game starts out simple. I saw swears and thought it was going to be a stereotypical edgy protagonist I'm going to be playing as. I was a bit interested that I found out I'd be playing as a girl since I have a guilty pleasure of playing as the opposite gender. Not the kind of pleasure you perverts are thinking, I'm sure. Anyway, the prologue was simple enough but it made me nod. I nodded in a fashion that's supposed to say that it was an interesting start. So I persevered into the first chapter and that's when things started to come alive for me with this hack.

More characters got introduced and they already share a funny dynamic. Also, the innovative idea of an Archer that can shoot magical arrows was very astounding as well as a magic user that can take physical hits well but not magical ones. Furthermore, there's the added challenge of facing enemy fliers VERY early in the game, too. This was enough to keep me invested, and I already guessed it would take a route almost like Sacred Stone's story, so I decided to roll along with it.

And I'm glad I did because as more characters got introduced, as I faced the added elemental challenges with the gameplay, as well as heard the music, it soon began to really win me over! All the characters, and I do mean all of them, have serious potential that can really have a lasting impact once it's fully executed. I was sorely disappointed that constantly ending turns next to each other didn't yield any supports, aww. But I really wanted to know more about them. These look like well thought out characters to know.

The gameplay was nice and had a nice added element of challenge in it. I thought it was really clever to introduce something like Holy Fire to not make your protagonist such an overpowered being that has the powerful dark magic. I also remember things like the Short Axe from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. I also like entirely unique weapons such as the Hook Blade that is super effective on Knights and Skeleton enemies. Giving overall added health to the enemies was nice, too. Normally, Monks are too easy to fight in the real Sacred Stones. But with Midnight Sun, they are actually a threat because of their rather high critical hit rate and them being a bane to Faratrass's magic, and coupled that with her rather low resistance and the fact they come in bunches really doesn't make Faratrass an answer to everything, which is very good. I liked that a lot.

There is one mission that acts as a stealth mission and I thought it was beautifully crafted. It isn't just your run-of-the-mill sneak-by mission. The stealth mission actually requires you to create distractions so that you can pass. But also going to the wrong place to create a distraction may cause you to get caught. The work you had to put in to get past all the guards told me that this stealth mission was very thought through.

I like the twisted sense of humor some of these characters have. I have a penchant for humor and I really like it when something sticks out to me as funny.

I haven't said much about the story yet but I'll talk about that now. I mostly like it! It was one of the most interesting stories I've seen in a Rom hack in a while and few of them manage to hold my interest! I'm happy to say that this is an exception. It looked as if the story has been well planned! There were a lot of things in the story and character interactions that reminded me of things from other games.

Shiori for instance reminded me of Rachel Alucard from Blazblue but much more lighthearted and white. Ha, ha.

Rya and Cristoph reminded me of Kevin Ryman and Alyssa Ashcroft from Resident Evil: Outbreak.

Now, that's not that it's perfect or anything.

For what I noticed what was wrong or felt wrong...

Some of the dialogue felt modernized, which took away the immersion that it felt like a Fire Emblem game for me. I don't know if some of this dialogue is in Awakening of Fates since I never played those. But, thankfully the dialogue wasn't TOO modernized for me to feel like it's annoying. I mean, they're living in Medieval times-I'm sure people don't really speak the way we do today. Swears like "Damn" are understandable since damn meant something was condemned by God or something like that. But for some like "Shit" and "Fuck", it made me giggle but rolled my eyes. Again, I'm a purist when it comes to writing Fanfiction and stuff and part of my attitude is that I try to judge how well a rom hack stays true to the original source material.

I could clearly see that in the gameplay very much but with the story, it was a bit hit-and-miss for me. However, these swears were very scarce and weren't said too often. In fact, I believe "Fuck" was only said once throughout the entire story. Plus, the story was very engaging for me, personally so I kept going.

Character development felt very natural. I've seen the main Protagonist handle her burdens, cared for her as a character, and felt like someone I could understand throughout her journey. Nothing felt out of place, forced, or just completely unnatural.

For the music, I was able to recognize the Pokémon music right away. Especially the Preparation's music. I felt very happy that was a great choice of music to have. I almost didn't want to start a chapter a few times because I just wanted to listen to it all day! Several other tracks, I didn't recognize at all, which leads me to believe they're originals. If they are, they are some of the best original tracks I've heard in a while.

I was a bit unhappy when I couldn't go any further after Chapter 8. I really wanted to know what happened next! And it's been a while since a Rom hack was able to keep me engaged successfully.

So today, I got the new version, 1.6, and I'm already noticing big differences. It's looking very good but I have yet to play through the whole thing over again, but I will because I want to notice as many changes as possible no matter how small.

Anyway, so far, from what I've seen, I'd give this game an 8/10. The modernized dialogue took it away from me but swears were actually less prevalent than I thought. Also, the story felt very strong that it overshadowed the gripes I had with the story. Gameplay was great and the challenge element was outstanding as well. Soundtrack was absolutely amazing and hearing some of the Pokémon music really added a charm to it for me.

This looks extremely promising. That's it for my feedback for now.

I am seriously excited to know what happens next in the story once Version 2.0 comes out.

Edited by Kimmo Pronger
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  • 1 month later...

2.0 should come out in late 2017, as expected.

2017? Wow. You must be overhauling alot!

Well, you know, games DO take a lot of time to make. More often than not there just are like 50 people working on them (if not hundreds), or at least more than ten.

I don't think that there's that much overhauling involved anymore?
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Nah probably not too much overhauling, but he did say they are working on new animations for both characters and bosses, plus quite a few new chapters coming out in the next patch.

9A/9B, 10A/10B, 11A/11B, 12A/12B, 13A/13B, 14A/14B, 15 and 16.

so I mean with the split route, thats 14 chapters coming out.

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If I recall correctly, this game is following the exact route that Sacred Stones took. So that means 15 will be the part they converge and then 16 is the chapter where they reclaim Hoikade. That's at least what I'm anticipating.

I believe these chapters are going to be worth the wait!

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Well, as of the latest plan, Alfred is looking to end the main story in Ch. 16... but if you go and finish the ruins first (and no, I don't know how he'll unlock them without unlocking Rausten/Pylum), you'll get a different and probably better ending.

Having seen what Alfred's been brainstorming so far, they will be worth the wait. He's getting quite creative!

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Well, as of the latest plan, Alfred is looking to end the main story in Ch. 16... but if you go and finish the ruins first (and no, I don't know how he'll unlock them without unlocking Rausten/Pylum), you'll get a different and probably better ending.

Having seen what Alfred's been brainstorming so far, they will be worth the wait. He's getting quite creative!

You seen what he's brainstorming? May I ask where you've seen it?

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Proofreader/plot hole spotter to be precise. I haven't seen much farther than the public patch goes so far (he releases updates to me on a chapter by chapter basis), but Alfred likes to tease future stuff and bounce ideas off me (and sometimes, I bounce implementation ideas back).

If you flick back through this thread (yeah I know, that's a lot of pages) you can see quite a few screenshots/concepts he's teased to the fanbase.

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Proofreader/plot hole spotter to be precise. I haven't seen much farther than the public patch goes so far (he releases updates to me on a chapter by chapter basis), but Alfred likes to tease future stuff and bounce ideas off me (and sometimes, I bounce implementation ideas back).

If you flick back through this thread (yeah I know, that's a lot of pages) you can see quite a few screenshots/concepts he's teased to the fanbase.

Thanks for the answer! Eh...well, maybe I won't do that. But it's certainly nice to see what was new in the latest version of this game. It has great polish to it than the 1.2 Version I played a few weeks ago.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OMFG i love this game, as soon as i started playing i got sucked into the story. Its definitely a change of pace from FE. I love it and i support you and this game 120% cant wait to see the finished game :D

I love this game, too! It was the best ROM hack story I've seen in a while!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Love this game.. Just starting it in Hard Mode and is great so far..... Story is interesting and stages are difficult but they keep getting better cause everytime is something different.... Warp Swordwas an amazing idea... I seen some new class names I hope that new things are seen too(specially in fights cause I love critical hits with great moves).. Till now is my second best gba Fire Emblem hack ??

Edited by XetroX
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  • 4 weeks later...

Lol its already almost 2017 when will the possibility v2.0 even come out ughhhh waited years now :(.

Emphasis mine:

V.2.0 should come out in late 2017, as expected.

Edited by InvdrZim13
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