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| Creator | CT075 |
| Engine | FE8 |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 42/80 |
| Rank | 14th |
| FEU Link | Here |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 6/10
Diversions has thrown out Circles and company’s skill system and now everyone has different skills. These include forcing both sides to hit or raising crit for everyone in battle. The chapter itself is fairly simple: in theory Eirika needs to reach the gate, but ideally Ephidel needs to die. Ephidel gains power from red units, which incentivises killing the enemies. These enemies are fairly easy to kill, though the strong promoted ones usually need a crit or multiple attacks. The promoted enemies also have skills, though in most cases these aren’t too much of a factor. Several different endings can be earned depending on actions taken. I did everything I could see and ultimately earned a grade of “alright”; I couldn’t find a member card and a random off-screen enemy prevented me from routing. I also couldn’t find the way to beat Ephidel to the end: a sniper exactly one- shots Vanessa with 100% accuracy, preventing flyer skips. Overall, I did enjoy having L’Arachel sling high-crit Boltings at problems, but the chapter was fairly simplistic overall.
Presentation: 3/5
Most assets are vanilla GBA: the only exceptions are the item icons and the FE1 version of Under the Flag is used as the player phase theme. A nice touch is Matthew using the FE7 battle theme when everyone else used the FE4 battle theme. Aside from that, it’s worth noting I must press A, not Start, to begin the game.
Story: 2/5
The story is a pure excuse plot: Eirika is on her way home when she gets attacked by bandits. Then Ephidel shows up and has made his way to Magvel after he was left for dead at the Dragon’s Gate in FE7. We never do find out why he wants to take over the world. I will say: follow the instructions given. Eirika doesn’t need to seize her own castle, and I did laugh at the consequences for ignoring that. At least the Demon King is dead.
Total Score: 11/20
Judge 2: Rivian
Gameplay: 6/10
The hack tells you to just make it to the castle. Simple enough. Several enemy reinforcement waves later including a surprise appearance by Ephidel, the castle is quickly forgotten. The positioning of enemy reinforcements can be a little frustrating as they can sandwich your units but just be out of attack range depending on where your units were. Ephidel’s AI is a little odd as he appears to not move but will attack if your units get a little closer. A few turns later, Ephidel goes down and the hack reminds you that this was all a “Diversion” and you’ve failed the initial objective of making it to the castle. It’s a pretty amusing gimmick, but there’s some sacrifice made in map flow. There is also the bonus challenge to clear the map in 2 turns which is a neat. Took me a while to figure out but ended up rigging a silver lance crit with Vanessa carrying Eirika to exactly make it.
Presentation: 3/5
Uses mostly vanilla assets, looks solid. Don’t have any more comments.
Story: 2/5
It’s pretty much an excuse plot, opening with a throwback line to Void’s Blitzarre Adventure and reinforcing the gimmick of the hack.
Total Score: 11/20
Judge 3: Legend of Loog
Gameplay: 5/10
The map has a simple objective, Reach Castle, where you just need to Wait on the castle with Eirika. However, it starts complicating this objective with Ephidel showing up to attack you, along with many, many reinforcements and some secret objectives that can make the chapter’s ending slightly different. It’s pretty easy to get dragged into the map’s pace, given the large quantity of enemies, and then find the map ends on defeating Ephidel if you forget to Reach Castle that same turn. It’s a pretty short map, which I found served it well and added to its light tone. On the negative side, some of the enemy placement can be a bit awkward, with your new units on Turn 4 being slightly out of range to attack the enemies that show up nearby. Also, various skills exist, but most of them are exceedingly vague, so you can’t plan around their impact all that much without testing them out yourself. That said, the map is short, so it mostly doesn’t matter. There’s an achievement for beating the map within 3 turns, but I couldn’t find any reliable way to do this, so I gave up after a couple of attempts. Overall, the gameplay was perfectly average.
Presentation: 3/5
Diversions keeps vanilla assets for the most part. Notable differences are the map music not being Distant Roads and the “Sacred Stones” text on the title screen scroll being removed, which makes it look awkward. There does seem to be a unique statscreen layout for skills, which is cool. Otherwise, there isn’t much to talk about here.
Story: 1/5
Pretty basic excuse plot with a FE8 backdrop, featuring a Void’s Blitzarre Adventure reference and a dash of FE7. It’s pretty brief, but what’s there is fine and does its job.
Total Score: 9/20
Judge 4: Levin64
Gameplay: 6/10
I guess it’s just a simple “Reach Point” for this hack. But why is Ephidel here? Why are there lots of enemies? Time to rout them, I guess. The reinforcements do spawn erratically, coming out on almost every single side of the map. Thankfully, the player has enough manpower to handle these enemies. The gimmick of routing the enemies to weaken Ephidel is a nice touch by itself. But the objective of this map is to reach the castle, right? If somehow you defeat Ephidel, you only have that exact turn to do the “true objective” or else the hack will force the chapter to be completed. Gilliam being on the gate makes it slightly annoying since I have to rescue him in order for Eirika to get there, but I see the funny.
The bonus challenge to clear the map in 2 turns is… challenging but neat. I have to rig a crit with Vanessa using Seth’s Silver Lance and then drop Eirika right on the gate. It is neat but kinda tricky to find the solution.
Presentation: 3/5
Nothing to brag about, most characters are vanilla FE8 characters. Statscreen is slightly altered, mimicking how JPFE hacks show their skills (below the main stats); it is a nice change. Some music are also changed, which is also a nice touch. Uh, why is Matthew here and why does he have different battle music…
Story: 2/5
Eirika, you’re not Void! The plot starts with a throwback line from Void’s Blitzarre Adventure, and ends up branching into its own story. Then Ephidel shows up to Magvel and tries to conquer Magvel. But we still need to reach the castle! Oh well, at least the Demon King is dead.
It’s an excuse plot, but it still has the funny. Nice.
Total Score: 11/20
Results
| Category | Darr | Rivian | Loog | Levin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 23 |
| Presentation | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Story | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Total | 11 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 42 |