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| Creator | squidaccus |
| Engine | FE8 |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 42/80 |
| Rank | 13th |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 5/10
The map is a prison break. However, most of the enemies are attack-in-range, as explicitly stated in the readme. This resulted in significant portions of the map being completely ignorable. The late reinforcements never caught up with me – perhaps making all the attack-in-range enemies move at that point would put some more pressure on. Other things to note include the usage of the Skill System without actually using any features except the strength/magic split, which didn’t matter, and the lack of indication in-game on non-moving enemies. Points in the submission’s favour include the fast pace: there’s no getting bogged down in high enemy density.
Presentation: 2/5
The portraits aren’t of exceptional quality, but I do respect the entrant making all of them. The music used is largely appropriate, though the boss theme especially sounded crunched compared to its original form. The gameplay guide is unchanged from vanilla and hasn’t been disabled. Finally, there is a CG inserted at the very end.
Story: 2/5
The story is set in Akaneia during the War of Darkness – more specifically before FE1 Chapter 8. Some of the generic replacement soldiers found in Shadow Dragon are attempting a prison break. The story itself was basic: prisoners want to escape. It handled this reasonably. I admit I do hold bias for Kaga-era Fire Emblem, so I do appreciate it being set in Akaneia, but you could change the names and nothing much would really change.
Total Score: 9/20
Judge 2: MCProductions
Gameplay: 5/10
This is an extremely straight forward kill boss map where you just go up. Not offensive, decently challenging, but not very fun either.
Presentation: 3/5
It’s GBAFE alright.
Story: 3/5
Three FE11 generics fight a battle that takes place during FE11. That’s about it.
Total Score: 11/20
Judge 3: 2WB
Gameplay: 5/10
My major concern with the opening is how luck-dependent it can be – against 60 and 80 hit rates. While I didn’t run afoul of it, I had come up with a plan that depended on a 60 missing or a 90 hitting, which is incredibly nitpicky of me.
It’s depressing to know that “all enemies are attack in range” because it means I see a trivial option and a very empty map that won’t really have a chance to surprise me and cause some distress. But, on the other hand, I really like not stressing.
Vladek having only Steel and no Iron gives me a bit of worry – unreliability – but managing that risk is the only real thing being asked.
GOD BLESS YOU FOR HAVING REINFORCEMENT WARNINGS BEFORE THE REINFORCEMENTS SHOW UP.
GOD
I CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW NICE THAT WAS
I do sort of wish that the enemy-from-behind caused the enemies in the bottom section if still alive to attack you — communication is a possible thing, after all. But an endless stream of silver sword mercenaries is far more in SD like behavior.
The natural flow of the chapter is really good. I don’t like the way the archers in the top “restrict” your movement, but hey, you *can* just kill them!
I kind of don’t personally see the point of the inner chamber though: The Lancereaver and Light Brand both let Hendexa fight the boss, as does Xestu’s natural Bishopliness and Vladek’s imperviousness.
Presentation: 3/5
It passes the Cement Block Test.
This makes me very happy for esoteric reasons.
The player phase music chosen is obviously in-theme but it’s not… great sounding? Maybe I’m spoiled because I know what the song actually is.
The map being a straight vertical corridor makes it far, far easier to keep track of things, which I greatly appreciate, but I wish it didn’t ask me to use the edges.
The attack song is.. a decision. It sounds nice and frenetic, but it highlights a contrast that’s pretty high!
The defense theme is very loud compared to the other music. But it sounds alright.
The battle palettes are quite okay. Xestu’s lacks contrast and is too overall close to white, but Vladek’s over-saturated armor and Hendexa’s dark-dark-dark tones complement their flavor texts. The boss’s is too black black black, it’s basically a void of light instead of having any armorlike sheen.
Story: 3/5
It’s Shadow Dragon! Except it has no relevance to the original story of the Fire Emblem but that’s fine.
I didn’t… laugh, but I smiled. It was simple, but didn’t have anything painful in it and just worked out nicely.
The reinforcement cutscene, however, did make me giggle. A generic squabbling with his his immediate superior who is doing a bad job is great.
The ending was nice. Clean and quick but explains what’s going on. Not bad by any stretches.
Total Score: 11/20
Other Notes
The knights and Gort will not move, but they will initiate combat against enemies within 2 range.
Any enemy that doesn’t move immediately will only move when you’re in their range.
This chapter is designed to be played somewhat fast, but turtling in a chokepoint is an option even though it is dangerous.
You gave me a readme, that mentions specific things you’re aware of that need to be said.
My level of thankfulness is incredibly high. Telling me to “play fast”, though, is a bit fraught. Is “fast” blitzing all movement each turn or is it “not sitting in the chokepoint”?
Judge 4: theghostcreator
Gameplay: 5/10
It’s fine, it’s just very boring. You just walk in a straight line on one side, grab the armorslayer, then kill the boss.
Presentation: 3/5
Pretty good although the map leaves much to be desired.
Story: 3/5
Neat but there isn’t much there at all.
Total Score: 11/20
Results
| Category | Darr | MC | 2WB | Ghost | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| Presentation | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| Story | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| Total | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 42 |