My Problem With Fire Emblem: The Road To Ruin 

Thanks for the feedback, Mangs. Some folks might find your words a little on the sharp side, but I was pretty okay with it. Though I wouldn't blame folks for being upset, seeing as this is a video that straight up calls out a project. Most of the feedback I've gotten so far (which hasn't been a whole lot) has been pretty vague. "I liked it but it ended up being easy". That doesn't really help me. It's nice to get some specifics that I can actually tackle. A lot of this development, especially the earlier chapters, were done by the seat of my pants. You could say that's terrible and say I should go back and fix it. And you'd be right. But that day isn't today. Or even next month. I started working on this project all the way back in 2009. By myself. With the exception of portraits, I'm a one man crew. So, you could say I'm burnt out on it 8 years later. Whenever I do decide to take another look at it, I'll reference this video for sure. Critique is a fine line to walk. A lot of people abandon constructive commentary in favor of mud slinging, which is pretty disappointing. I'm glad you don't really want to do that. I think the only thing that rubs me the wrong way is that you made a public video calling out the project. It's kind of like you're putting it on the hobbling wheel in the town square. It just feels...uncomfortable. Especially when a simple post on the forums would have sufficed. Anyways, I'm out. Peace~

No, this was not the big project I was teasing. This is something I made quickly today when I got home from the gym. The big video is still about 60% done.

So to sum up the points here... - Each unit should have a use in the map - Secrets and items should be placed in the way of the action - Enemies should be scaled to the units you have at the beginning - Make something that stands out

From the title I thought the video would be about the evolution of Fire Emblem games LOL

THIS GUY NAME IS BORDEL? IT LITERRALY MEAN FUCK IN FRENCH

This video is a prime example of how frustrating it is to watch you try to be analytical. First, I think it’s downright stupid to call a story generic and vanilla just because the first chapter is straightforward. And especially stupid if you haven't played past the first few chapters. Either call out the chapter in a vacuum or choose your words better. The plot is centered much around the politics of its world, like the Tellius series. You must stop trying to speak for all players whenever you make any kind of analysis. "This video fails to capture the player's interest on multiple levels." You don't speak for all players. You never can speak for all players when its "just your opinion." "Something starts to feel incredibly off about the enemies you fight" Just a general criticism of how you review things. You tend to over-exaggerate your feelings. Usage of words like "incredibly off", "amazing", "fails to" aren't helpful word choices. I don't know if you think these words helps strengthen your argument, but it doesn't. Especially if your actual argument can't justify the wordage (which it doesn't in this video). It’s a novice mistake people make when they do critical analysis. So, you mention that the map is peppered with ranged enemies. And I think you exaggerate this. the top left javelin soldier is easily killable on turn one with buck/torie. There are only 2 archers in the entire map, the rightmost who is easily killable because his AI is set to pursue, and the bottom left one. And as you said, handaxers who aren't anything special. You complain that Vance is melee locked, but you *literally* tried soloing an entire lane with just him. If you balanced your team better, say, had Ava and Buck on one side and Torie and Vance on the other. You would find it much less of a problem. You made a player error by seemingly trying to have a mercenary solo a lane with a javelin user and a bow user. And yet, you blame the map for feeling "incredibly off". And I know you bring my playthrough up later in the video, but this isn't a good strategy. Vance's personal weapon still deals 14 damage and has a hit chance of 84%. Your argument suggests that somehow just because he has a weapon disadvantage means his personal weapon isn't useful. Him with literally any combination of units will defeat him. This seems like an arbitrary complaint to me. Buck: "For all intents and purposes, he is basically Wolt." Do you even know what that expression means? Wolt's bases: 18HP, 4 str, 4 skl, 5 spd, 2 lck, 4 def and 0 res. Buck's bases: 21HP, 6 str, 8 skl, 8 spd, 5 lck, 5 def and 1 res. These aren't the same. If by "by all intents and purposes" you mean "he's an early game archer" then sure, I guess? And since when do we hate archers for doing chip damage? Buck isn't weak at chipping and can double fighters in this map. I will agree that the house is too out of the way, though. But I disagree that its so far that it makes him completely useless for the rest of the map. Torie: Admittedly, Torie kind of struggles here. But to call her flying not very useful, not good against anyone and a complete liability on the field is extremely inaccurate. First, what are you doing at 4:45. Were you just purposely playing terrible to make a point or you trying here? The example you showed was a situation that would only occur if you were playing very bad. Her flying is helpful to get across the river and rescue whoever you partner her up with if you get overwhelmed (typically Vance), she can ferry Buck from the house back into action and can tank hits from the swordsmen if you choose to fly over to the right side where they typically approach. All options which you chose not to mention, possibly because you weren't strategic enough to utilize the units you had. So, no. Her flying is useful. No, she can deal with units well if you can utilize her flight and typing. No, she isn't a "complete liability." Are you starting to see how that language isn't helpful to your argument? "If I designed this map". Oh, please. If you need to develop a contingency plan against Javelin wielding soldiers, of which there are 2 in the entire map, one of whom can die on turn one, instead of a flyer who can deal with swordsmen much better than an axe fighter (of all units? seriously?), then I would argue that that's an even worse idea. Ava: yes, she's well done. "If it weren't for Ava, this map would've been a complete disaster." Wow, it’s almost as if the map was designed around these units being deployed. Who woulda thunk it? Ah, you mentioned my run-through of this chapter. Soloing that spot with Vance isn't a good idea. You can pair him with Torie, and when it gets heated, rescue him out of there. That's what I started to do upon my second attempt at this map. The encroaching enemies will still pursue, but by the time they get there, they your 4 units should be able to confront them all. With someone choking the point on the fort. "Again, this map is doing a terrible job"... "Your main character gets thrown into a situation..." No, this is outright a complete player error on both my end and anyone else who chooses to solo this portion of the map. It's not the design being flawed, it's the player not using their units in the best way possible. Stop trying to peg the map for being "absolutely terrible" when the reality is you're playing bad. This is a common criticism I, and many others have about you when you're critiquing things, Mangs. And the SoA comparison. Yes, that is a very well-done prologue. better than TRTR, better than Bloodlines and better than MS. Doesn't make TRTR's a flaming garbage dump like you're trying to argue that it is. Very close-minded of you to not play this hack because of the prologue being standard. But if this is the extent of your "helpfulness" then don't bother.

Mr.Mangs~ I do agree with you on some of your points. --Buck Yes, Buck is there for chip damage, and I agree that he is somewhat lackluster at first. His bases are decent for a level two archers, and in terms of growths he's not fast, but he's not strong either (45% and 40% respectively) and high skill growth, as expected of a typical archer (60%). I would say he is better than Wolt though, as Buck seems to have more long term potential due to better bases and technically better growths (5% more speed, more defence, res, skill, but less hp by about 10%, strength growth is the same). I would say that the vulnerary in the top right corner isn't worth getting actually since you get a healer in the next chapter. If Buck had enough speed to double all the enemies on the map (I'll get to the map later) but not enough strength to one round them, he'd be good in my book. On top of that, if his strength, skill, and speed growths were swapped around a bit then, (60, 45, 40 respectively after the fact) I'd say he'd be 4-5 star worthy as he would grow very well throughout the 20 or so chapters of RtR (Road to Ruin) --Vance Yes, its a shame Vance is kind of screwed over in being good in the "different" department, but I would rate him as a somewhat good unit. He has enough bulk and offensive stats to solo that lower part of the map, just like Ghast Station did in his video. Sure, he may be locked to swords for the most part, but considering he could solo that many units *without* help does make him stand out. The only other person on the team who could probably do that is Ava, who I will get to later. Vance's growths compared to his buddy Buck, are actually kind of worse in my opinion. He has +10% hp growth, and a +5% str and defence growth, but everything else Buck ties or is better than him, which is everything else. that is 4/7 stats. Buck also, overall has +20 overall growths than Vance does. However, Vance does have better bases for only 1 level up on Buck (+1 to skl,spd,luck, and +2 to hp). So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I believe your not giving Vance enough credit where credit is due. I respect your opinion Mr. Mangs, and I agree that it sucks that Vance is locked to swords in a map with a lot of 1-2 range weapons, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's automatically doing a bad job at being who he is supposed to be. --Torie Torie is...really lackluster for a typical Pegasus Knight. Squishy, fast, and not hard hitting... Lets compare her to Florina, and Vanessa. Vanessa, in the chapter she is used in the first time you get her, ends up in the same situation (on difficult mode). She gets two shot by all the axe users, and this is with *worse* bases for 1 single level up of difference. the only base Vanessa has on top of Torie is 1 speed. But the reason why Vanessa is instantaneously better is that she has something to do other than pick off a kill here and there. In terms of growths, Vanessa will overall have more skill speed and luck, which is basically the Pegasus Knight's bread and butter. Torie has 10% more defence (total is 30% def growth), 20% more hp(70%) and 5% more res(35% res). I can't see how the defence or res will help at all with Torie's growth. From what I remember in Ghast Station's old playthrough, she's the only flyer the player has for a long while, which is really disappointing. Now Florina (Lyn mode), in my opinion, is what Torie should have been. Florina has worse bases for only a 1 level difference, but the map she is placed in at first is absolutely perfect for her (1 village+mercenaries+archers THAT WILL NEVER GET NEAR HER and no hand axes) Florina, like Torie, gets two shot by any axe user. But Florina, like Vanessa, has better growths in the bread and butter area, with a +5% strength growth as well. She is the least bulky of the three with 15% defense. The overall problem with Torie is that she doesn't have a good limelight in the first TWO chapters. There are no important villages to rescue, nor any specific area where there are only sword users, maybe a lance user here and there, and no archers/axe users. Not only that, Torie will end up being... balanced in stats, which a Pegasus knight, in my opinion, shouldn't be. --Ava Nothing to say here, you summed it up pretty much. She has a 0% str and def growth, which I find really sad. It is expected for her to drop off of course, but she could have some growths in those areas at least (though she does have amazing growths in all other areas for a Jeigan). --The map The first map...is really big for a prologue. I feel as if Mr. PrimeFusion could've done something similar to Chapter 1 of FE8 and it would've been a lot better. Same amount of playable units, more enemies than playable units, forts, and a retaking of a captured Castle. ---the Second map I know you didn't cover this, but I feel as if it needs to be said. It's nice. I like that you have to rescue the green units to recruit them. Good Job Mr. PrimeFusion, but there are just...so many enemies. Fe8 chapter 2 had 6+2(reinforcements) , the same objective, and it did a perfect job of it, where the player had to rush to save both (by both I mean one) green units. Not only that, There is no rush to rescue the green units in RtR unless a stray mercenary attacks the cleric (as shown in Ghast Station's new playthrough). I did play through this chapter and recruited them as fast as I can, but what I did notice is that the green units were never in any actual danger, which is what the entire basis of the chapter is. I took it a bit slower just to see what would happen, and they were never really in danger still. The size of the map also could be a bit smaller by a couple tiles or so. That's really all I have.

I would say this hack tried to do the opposite of what Staff of Ages does. Where SoA used the first chapter to showcase it's unit's strengths, RtR showcases their weaknesses and forces you to fight past them. It puts you at a disadvantage, and it makes victory much sweeter in that case, I think.

This could very well be the last comment I ever post since Net Neutrality is getting repealed tomorrow. I just want to say thank you for all the laughs, memes, and memories Mangs.

Three is still one thing wrong with map 1 on Staff of Ages. The green units.

This was really informative. I’ve been interested in FE level design, and your critique on the first map really shed some light on what can make a Not-so-fun map.

You should make a video on what makes a good first chapter, since it's a little different than what makes a good map for all the other chapters since you have to ease the player into the game while teaching them most of the major mechanics. FE1 did a great job with its first chapter, by placing villages, a fort, and a shop nearby and also has a thief that has already destroyed showing that thieves can destroy villages. They also placed Caeda near a body of water so when you select her you immediately know she can fly over the water (at least in the remakes). It's not a great chapter in the sense that there are major turtle disincentives or multiple objectives, but they did a great job teaching the player without overloading them with information or insulting their intelligence.

1:10 Bland Vance 1:43 Ch 1. Map Design 2:38 Vance the Mercenary 3:23 Buck the Archer 4:26 Tory the Pegasus Knight 5:09 Ava the Swordmaster 7:37 Staff of Ages Ch 1 8:39 Nitpicking?

an interesting perspective, I can say for certain that I thought the same way about the first chapter of R2R but i'm enjoying it more since I got through the earlygame

I don’t think you’re being overly critical Mangs. This is something even the main Fire Emblem games have to do, make each starting character useful in some regard. Going back to the Binding Blade example, not only is Wolt bad since he only does chip damage, but Bors is even worse since he suffers weapon triangle disadvantage the entirety of the first map, making him effectively useless. Now in that case it’s mostly forgivable, since the first map is still perfectly bearable thanks to the likes of Marcus, Alan and Lance, so the map isn’t a complete train wreck. Then again both examples don’t give a good first impression on the main character, do they?

I played RTR a few times and I didn't feel the same way when I first played it, but it does make a lot of sense. I always felt that with Tory's high starting speed it made finishing off slower enemies a walk in the park for me. What I didn't like for the most part was the limited playable units, the S rank weapons showing up too late in the game, ONE good dark magic user that was a pain in the ass to train, and that Vance and Ava weren't able to wield second weapons. That being said I loved the story, the main antagonist was a real bastard, not only to face as final boss but just who he was, totally evil! The music was awesome, not sure how much of it was original but either way killer job to primefusion!

I agree completely with your analysis Mangs, but the beauty of the hacking community is that they can make deconstructionist FE games that do not follow the formula of the main series. As an experienced FE player, I find it interesting and realistic that your starting hero and group in Road to Ruin are not well-suited to handle their first battle. The chapter is a bit more challenging this way, and I'll be watching Ghast's playthrough to see how long this hack can successfully keep the player at a disadvantage (at least through the second map, from what's been posted so far). In the end this approach may prove tedious and impossible to sustain, but I wouldn't judge a hack too harshly because it has a non-formulaic first chapter. I think people who play FE hacks are generally more hardcore fans who have fun seeing the traditional formulas toyed with and deconstructed, and the direction R2R has taken so far is new and interesting. Hacking is a great platform for stretching the definition of what a FE game can be, I wouldn't judge R2R as a failure yet.

I had a very similar experience with RtR. The first map gave me a lot of trouble, but mostly due to the reasons you mentioned, that is your units are not equiped to handle the enemies. That usually means a turtling strategy is the best way to go, as there is no punishment for doing that. It really is a shame as RtR gets significantly better in the next few chapters. Fire Emblem Requiem has the exact same problem, the prologue is by far the worst chapter, giving the hack a bad first impression.

I am grateful for this video. I just downloaded fe builder and I still learning the very basics, but it is helpful to get some good tips about theory as well

The house that is out of the way, while certainly in the wrong place, has two issues. I agree with the issue about being away from action, but not about the suggested new location. This map has a few places where areas like ridges are used near 2:24. Moving a ridge like that to a more centralized area allows it to act similarly to the bags of supplies in Radiant Dawn's first map- you exchange distance and ability to head more directly to the end for a defensive set of terrain that capitalizes on the ability to attack from range (granted, that's not too useful when the enemies are mostly ranged, but that is a bit of a different issue. The suggested location is very similar to a light version of the houses in Chapter 10 of Conquest, where you have the option to remove the threat and backtrack or make a gamble with a" tankier" unit (which, as an archer, is pretty unlikely). Chapter 10 of Conquest is also a good comparison to demonstrate a story practicality issue with having the house in the middle of the battlefield; the location makes sense in an optimized town setting but lends all sorts of questions about getting past the soldiers in a map like this hack's first level. Tl; dr: The placement of the house is horrible, but there is much more potential to a reward house than a mere place to stop along the way.

Didn't really know about the Buck vulnerary thing. If he has to go out of his way that much ,he should definitely get a better reward for that kind of thing, especially since you get a healer anyway next chapter.

Why did I think that this was a video talking about the problem with Fire Emblem fans?

I appreciate this degree of critique - it really gets me to thinking *what* is wrong with a map, and not just "it's bad' or "It's good." This will really help me have more to say about The Last Promise as I continue to play and review it.

What hacks are good? I wanna try some for myself but I don't know where to start.

I personally didn't like this hack, I quit about halfway through. The mounted units were just way too good compared to the foot units and the enemy density was really bad later on, along with a ton of annoying green units. Like you mentioned, the first map wasn't that great and that seemed to continue for the rest of the maps of the game.

Ava is super useful though and relevant even in endgame because of an "event" halfway through.

I played about half of it, I got to a chapter where half of my guys were promoted, my group was split in two parties, and Ava, the once Jeigan, now deadweight swordmaster was not only forced, but was in the smaller group of the two. The game constantly forces you to use multiple units to kill a single enemy, which translates to "speed is top stat", which translates to "some units are garbage", since they constantly one-up each other in utility whenever they share a weapon, simply because the newer units start with better bases every single time. Overall it's an okay hack but this kind of design just irks me (Even if I have a God Braxton or whatever the name of the axe cav is, don't remember)

I think you're right with the rest of them ,but Vance deserves a bit more credit. His stats are good enough that he just solod that part of the map. Especially with the fort and vulnerary. The enemies are more pesky than an actual threat to him. Not defending the fact that so many ranged weapons are there to begin with ,but Vance is fine.

I think you made a good point on the first chapter being an opener for your game and how it needs to be polished to spark and the importance of playing the strengths of your characters to produce interest but as others said I feel its unfair to judge from this one standpoint as from a strategical standpoint the map is well set to manipulate the weaknesses of your team. However its your opinion and brings up valuable points that could be tweaked to meet the middle ground. Anyways keep up the good work!

So basically take away javelins and handaxes for now, add Torie some speed or make her switch places with an axe unit, move house closer to the action .

Vance should have a personal weapon called Berkut's Vance+ that increases his Resistance by 4 on enemy phase.

I really like Road to Ruin for many other reasons, but I do agree with your criticisms of this map. Giving the enemies 1-2 range this early seems unnecessary and awkward. I think one way to make it better would be to make the reward for Buck's event more significant - a Speedwing, so that he can double - or change it to use Torie instead (and even then, make it an elixir or a better lance or something). As an aside, I'm on chapter 10 right now and my Buck and Torie are easily in the top 4 units on my team -- not sure how much above average they are, haven't checked the growths. Vance, on the other hand, continues to be Caesar-tier trash. :-/

Did I see skills in the part you used staff of ages footage? Is there a new update for it or is it something else?

Tbh the game looks pretty interesting.

Great Video... Mangs could you possibly do some other LP's hacks in the future or possibly talk about FEE3 2017 upcoming projects.

Now if only we had javcav....

I agree with your point Mangs. That first chapter is very crucial.

You know what the real problem with the High Road is? In N Sane Trilogy, Vicarious Visions changed the hitbox on Crash' feet, from a solid square in the PS1 version to a more rounded pill shape in N Sane, causing Crash to fall down jumps he could barely make in PS1 This has nothing to do with Fire Emblem, but it's nice to see Mangs branch out into other game series

Vance should've been a bard who played like Azura from Fates. Then the hack could've been the last dance for lance Vance.

You referred to Buck as Bucks more than once. Pugi confirmed

I agree with this video, tbh. But still, for me personally, it's kinda decent and not enough to bode ill for the game's future. It does have a lot of inconvenience, but I feel like it's easily tackled with non conventional approaches.

I understand u dislike the first chapter, but the other levels I've played ( I've only played the chapters present in the earlier patch ) were well designed and original for example, the two chapters were u play as that blue haired mounted unit ( I forget his name ) were pretty unique, the first one allowed u to visit houses to recruit and use generic units so instead of being a small group of elite soldiers taking on a large army of weak fighters, it's to large groups with equally matched fighters, and since the generics don't matter in the later chapters, u can and are expected to play differently, sacrificing units to last until the time limit runs out the other chapter with the blue haired cav was similar, but the game spaces out when u do these chapters, and u don't recruit generics but are instead just granted a few to use in the beginning allowing u to devote more of ur units to combat besides, I don't mind having to use generics twice since it's never present in other fe games and fun to experiment with

yeah i played it and the first chapter was just dragging on an ooon. i thought it was just me. glad to know i'm not crazy.

When I played the rom hack, Ava always gets hit even though she has higher speed thab the other units. Also the chapters are kinda hard because you have to use the best out of the exp that you gain since each chapter has stronger units especially the escape chapter and the survive chapter with the great knight and valkyrie

Hi Mangs.

Isn't the short blade effective against infantry? Surely it's effective against more than just one cavalier

0:20 oh hey, that hack seems interesting, although incomplete! What is that?

I'm not defending TRTR here, I haven't played it, looks boring to me personally but that's just at a glance. But: Marth, Doga, Gordin / Roy, Wolt, Bors / Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo - all made their respective games unplayable right? Picking Charmander makes Pokemon Red unplayable amirite? Except they don't, because we played them. You played them. Again. And again. And again. I'd be tempted to say your problem with TRTR is that you don't like the characters... but then again... do you honestly like Roy's starter Pokemon, or are they forgiven because it's an official Fire Emblem game? Maybe we all forgive FE6 a little too much though, it's a bad example. What about FE7? I'd say FE7 is your favourite Fire Emblem (I mean, you like FE4 and Conquest, but I think FE7 is where your heart's at) - so what about the FE7 starter Pokemon? We've got Marcus, Rebecca, Lowen, Serra, Oswin, Dorcas, Bartre, Matthew... I mean, okay, Marcus, Oswin and Lowen are pretty bland, but they're good early-game units, so they're immediately forgiven. As for the rest, well... Dorcas, Bartre, Rebecca, they're just shit. Matthew is too easily strength-screwed, he exists to steal in the early-game before you get Legault (who will outclass Matthew even if you trained him). Serra is just a staff-bot. BUT... they're all memorable. They're either memeworthy (Dorcas, Bartre), annoying (Serra), waifus for some (Rebecca), or actually not bad as characters (Matthew). The point I'm making is that we all forgive the shitty units because they're not bland nobodies we don't care about. Maybe the real problem with TRTR is that it doesn't really appear to elevate GBA Fire Emblem to new heights. The map design is okay, the characters are okay, the story is okay. When you play a game with great story, great characters, great memes, *or* great map design, it automatically looks/feels better, even if it's weaker in all the other areas. It has *something* that makes it stand out and makes us want to play more. Haven't played FE1-3, probably never will. FE4 has its faults but it is redeemed by its story, its pairing/second generation, mechanics, and its characters. Its introduction of the weapon triangle is pretty significant. Some of the best villains of the franchise, particularly Arvis. FE5 is fun because of its interesting mechanics and map design. The story is not amazing, there are a couple of cool characters but it's not the majority. Both FE5 and FE6 are redeemed by their relative difficulty compared to other games in the franchise. FE6 offers you some absolute stinkers in terms of units, and the main lord is not particularly interesting as a character (despite having a huge fan following) much like his father. And yet we're talking about the inception of the GBA era. Those GBA animations already do FE6 a lot of favours, as does its excellent map design. FE7's story is completely potato, and it really isn't a challenging game at all unless you're trying to perfect a HHM ranked run, but it's probably one of the most memorable of all the Fire Emblems for its many fun (albeit easy) maps and its strong cast of characters. FE8 is ridiculously easy, has a stupid story, plenty of bad units, stupid lords that we shouldn't like (but do because Ephraim's a boss and Eirika's pretty). The game is redeemed by having more 10/10 waifus than half the franchise combined, and some good map design in general. FE8 would have been one of the best Fire Emblems in the franchise in terms of gameplay had it not been for Seth and the opportunities and incentives to grind. FE9 is sort of the odd one out here, a game that actually managed to excel in multiple areas without having any real weak spot. Strong characters, strong story, plenty of waifu material, lord you can actually like and use effectively, new mechanics like stealth missions (even if it doesn't work well). The only complaint I have about PoR is that it's certainly not a difficult game, but that's probably the lesser of all the possible problems with a Fire Emblem game. PoR has a lot of variety when it comes to map types. It's arguably one of the best games in the series. FE10 I freely admit I haven't played, never had a Wii. I've watched bits of LPs, including yours Mangs, and it looks like an interesting game. I'd say there's some good map design, and the story doesn't seem to be a let down, but I'm not sure how I feel about switching armies/lords and the new characters seem a bit... meh. Micaiah also doesn't inspire me as a lord. FE12 and 13 are both divisive games. Their art styles are pretty bad, I don't think many people honestly like the character portraits. The animations aren't bad, but the lack of unique sprites hurts them significantly. The map design and difficulty of the games makes them worth playing and for those in the community who like a challenge, one of these games (or both) will always be in their top five as a result. FE Awakening: terrible story, atrocious map design at times, horrible animations, not particularly difficult even on Lunatic+ if you know what you're doing... but the supports. The supports are among the best in the franchise. Lots of detail, some very entertaining. There are some characters who single-handedly make the game playable. There's a lot of replay value just to explore all the pairings and supports. Then there's FE Fates. Terrible, terrible story; shitty units, shitty characters too. Meh animations (especially magic). Supports aren't as good as Awakening, too many characters this time. But... the map design in Conquest? Absolutely top notch. Conquest is the route that redeems Fates as a game. Birthright and Revelations fail in the map design department, which means you end up playing for the characters alone, and a lot of them are really, really generic (over half the Hoshido roster is a total yawn fest). What about Echoes? In being a faithful remake of Gaiden, they actually lost some of the magic that weapon durability, skills, weapon triangle etc. brought to the franchise. And, by introducing voice acting, they lost some of the depth possible with text supports. But who cares? You've got two likeable main lords - Alm's a boss and Celica's gorgeous. You've got a horde of lovable characters like Gray, Mae, Saber, Delthea, Sonya, Genny, Mathilda, Lukas, Python, etc. The art design is probably the best of any Fire Emblem game. As is often the case with *masterpieces* in any field, it's better to achieve greatness in one area while making sacrifices (be they accidental or intentional) in other areas, than to achieve mediocrity or "okayness" across all areas. So, I'd hardly call TRTR out on its alleged failure to deliver units that can boss the first chapter, because then half the official franchise would be in jeopardy. FE6 doesn't exactly go out of its way to give you a team that can handle the early-game with ease. Same goes for FE10/11/12. It's more the fact that TRTR is only "okay" across the board. Maybe your expectations were too high. Just my two euro cents on this matter.

I have to disagree with you about Buck. You say that he's basically another Wolt, but this is wildly inaccurate, and you even present the evidence for this yourself. As you go on to present the two's stats, Buck's are clearly superior in every way. In fact, his speed is only one point less than Vance, a mercenary. From what I've seen in other's playthroughs, he performs far better than archers like Wolt.

What is your opinion about Miitopia?

midnight sun was abandon? that's a terrible shame. speaking of hacks, what finished hack do you say would be worth giving a shot? i've been feeling that hack urge recently and i stopped visiting fansites a few years ago.

I tried playing this myself a couple of times, I just couldn't get into it, the first chapter completely turned me off. Two out of the four units are complete trash to the point where I felt like I didn't want to use them, making me feel forced to duo the map with the two swordies. The whole map was just tedious and boring to the point of not even wanting to finish it, no matter how many times I sat down to do so.

Talk about Staff of Ages!

Good on you for making this video, I personally can't relate since I am unable to download Roms. But it is still a great job that you decided to point this out, hopefully Prime Fusion will notice this and update the game properly, as I'm interested to see a fully fledged complete fire emblem rom on your channel, as not only are you probably much better than me at fire emblem, but I also, again, can not download rooms, but again, good on you for making this, see you in the next video :D

I just came from your status update? Comment? Whatever it's called? I don't think there's anything wrong with this review, you gave fair criticism and didn't make any logical fallacies or anything like that. The people freaking out over your criticism are being way too sensitive and are clearly unable to take criticism of any kind.

Bor'del got a crit with a 0% chance to crit *I see a issue*

Huh that world map looks a good bit like the Warhammer Fantasy Old World...

Good video, I still plan on playing this hack eventually, but still interesting. I do want to mention one criticism I noticed right away that you didn't mention. Ava is a Jagen, that's not a problem on its own, but she's also the coolest character in the group. So it sucks that she's not viable to use. It's the same problem I ran into with FE Fates. Gunter is one of the coolest, most likable characters in the game, but you can't really use him.

2:20 Wait does this guy is really called Bor'del because Bordell means brothel in German (just found that to be a bit funny)

Don’t you dare hate on wolt!

Comment sections are fun.

To be honest the worst part about road to ruin is that it doesn't seem to get better. Every unit seems consistently stuck at a point where they are consistently just slightly on the weak side while also facing too many enemies that counter them.

So this was the video you were teasing?

interesante

I did the exact thing to vance

Personally, I feel that Torie's flying could easily be put to use. She is the only one that can quickly get from one side of the river to another, allowing her to act as support for Vance and Buck when they need it. Also, while the house is out of the way, to a silly degree even, it does not mean that Buck is taken out of the fight completely. Torie can ferry him, or he can move up there after the fight, though that means that the vulnerary will only be of use in the following chapters, but I think that was the point. After all, the chapter is a seize chapter, not a defeat boss or route the enemy. Seize chapters are often great because you can defeat the boss and tie up any loose ends before moving on. I feel that you were professional in this critique, which I respect. I feel though, that a few of you critiques were a touch misguided.

I like the hack but half of the units are just unusable, like some maps give you 12 deploy slots and you only end up using 7 or 8, the units all show up high level so there's no training and the starting units fall OFF aside from Torie who you really just have to baby until she levels speed enough to reliably double everything and dodge most attacks, but aside from units, I really like the CLASSES you are provided, literally a recruitable brigand in chapter 3 and a solider in like chapter 5, untraditional units that are actually pretty viable through out the whole game, I haven't quite finished it but Im really enjoying it and it's one of the few hacks that I actually read all of the text in and who's politics and geology I can remember

Why not revisit the last promise?

Honestly? I don't mind the "flavor"- but the damn difficulty- 1st chapter and I already had to do 15 resets just to get past it- how much more in the later levels-

You don't actually need to protect the castle, you just need to take back the one that was taken in the intro. There's no need to split up in this chapter, you'll just fuck yourself over. I'd say the issue with the map is that you have two paths to take for no apparent reason, along with issues with the units you have.

I cant seize the first chapter...

You used Duty from Fe awakening! That's my favorite Awakening soundtrack

Next up The ghast rant

I want to say your content is amazing

Anyway Mangs, you made some fair points in this video, but... really? The game just came out a few days ago, after years of development. Don't you think it's quite mean to drive off any potential players with a video that is basically saying "the beginning of this game is boring and flawed, don't play it"? You could have expressed the same opinions while also giving hints at what the game does right aside from Ava, or saying that it improves in the following chapters (if it really does). As it is now, it's just bad advertisement for RtR and yes, I know you said you didn't want to be mean but it seems you failed in providing feedback that could both be helpful to the developer and make people curious about his project. If I were Primefusion, I'd be pretty offended by this. Knowing you're open minded enough to accept criticism about the way you criticise, have a good day. Alfred

Personally, I don't like Staff of Ages or The Road to Ruin, I find both bad in a number of ways, but if I was forced to play one of them, I'd go with Staff of Ages, its more colorful, the characters are designed better, its first impression isn't bad (of course its second, third, and fourth are bad and it only gets worse as time goes on), and its just better But thankfully, I'm not forced to play either one, so I can have fun playing games that actually entertain me instead

I personally see a lot of the issues that you mentioned, however, I personally don't like judging hacks by their first chapter. While I don't like the design of the first chapter, I actually sent my entire party toward the east, with Vance and Ava taking some of the blows, and finishing off with Torie and Buck. I actually had more trouble with the 2nd version of the map, but that's a different story. While it is a poorly designed map, I personally liked most of the other maps, since there's a nice variety of ideas that are expressed throughout the hack. Escaping a fortress is quite exciting, Getting rid of supplies was well done, so on and so forth. While I understand that first impressions are everything, I don't see that for games, I want to give them a fair shot and play at least a handful of levels/stages/chapters. Otherwise, good stuff man!

An issue transcending one single level

The titel is so confusing.... I thought its a video about how the series went to ruin XD

I knew it

Rip xp stealing is a myth man

Chapter 4 is miserable

Hi Mangs I just wanted to say that I agree with many of your points, even your controversial points about the characters being bland and pretty questionable map design. When I first saw the thumbnail in my subbox, I just assumed it was a playthough of the hack by ghast since he was playing it, and I just felt an immense resistance clicking the link (until I saw the title that is), and that is basically because of the bland characters and stories. A lot of people are getting angry and saying don't judge a book by it's cover, but it's really bad. I'll probably not be watching any more playthroughs of it not because there's anything inherently wrong with it, but just because it's boring.

No u

If someeone setup a tool for making FF6/7/8 hacks I would make so so many of them

Hmm... About the Staff of Ages Prologue. Is it just me or was it changed since you made your LP? I remember the Merc&Soldier reinforcements being Mage&Soldier instead (played it a few months back), which messed up things quite a bit and made saving the green units near damn impossible (the mages wreck them). That also makes... Sawyer? Well, the anti-mage guy needed near the fort entrance, which makes it more difficult to defend Nikolas and the broken walls. Or i dunno, i just could be shit at Fire Emblem. Oh, and the shaky hitrates are also frustrating. They tend to be around 70-80%, which makes them unreliable as hell. The later chapters are fine by me, though. It's just the prologue that grinds my gears.

I agree with you mangs, but the story is phenomenal in my opinion. It makes up for the lack in first chapter.

I actually consider Road to Ruin first chapter to be better than the staff of ages one. In SoA there's juste so much pressure for your ridiculously low amount of units, while in RtR, it really feels like the first chapter of the game. In Staff of Ages, the first chapter is probably harder than all the chapters until Belle and the Lords meet, wich is pretty weird in my opinion..

I get what you mean but by taking more turns you can level up torrie and buck easy

Wait is the text not right? 3:08 because I am reading Strong vs INFANTRY and cavalry makeing the weapon strong vs 15 unite AKA all the unite of the map (but hey didn't played the hack I just saying the text is saying INFANTRY and infantry useally mean ppl that aren't on horse or in heavy armor or on pegasus (aka foot soldiar)) But hey again don't change the range thing you are saying just pointing that infantry part of where your saying the Short blade may is only somewhat good vs the cav may be wrong. :) (but hey if the text is wrong than you are right... Any way that all may be wrong... But yah I agreed that house it crazy far I most said.

I enjoyed the prologue. I found the chapters where Vance leaves and Ava becomes the main lord pretty shitty though

> first chapter is bad so I won't play the rest of the game well rip fe6 edit: here is how you actually play the game > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A0E2jdoBvs0.html

This is the whole game just look at the shit fest that is chapter 4

>exactly 10 minutes :eyes:

Some people need to chill, its actually embarrassing. I'm sure this hack designer is capable of taking criticism.

One thing I would like to mention: Sybaris is a country with an army that is most likely WELL-EQUIPPED, WELL-FUNDED, AND WELLORGANIZED in terms of units. It makes sense that they have that big of a diversity in the force that faced Vance's group. Vance's group is a mercenary band, which does not have the luxury of always being well-equipped, well-funded, and well-organized with a lot of diversity. (yes, 2 swords+lance+archer is pretty diverse, but that's 50% swords...). So it does make sense that Vance's group is at a disadvantage due to the *well-equipped, organized, and diverse* army they are facing.

Midnight Sun is the only half decent hack I've seen on this channel. Every other hack has been hot garbage. Unpopular opinion: Staff of Ages is trash. Horrible main character and shit tier plot. Decent maps.

going south with only Vance is a pitfall, Mangs

Jeez what's the point of fighting, even when mangs uploaded this I still played the game and I enjoyed it. It's just people from ghast server trying to attack mangs......ghast how could you do this. You don't see anyone from ft mangs attacking you as much ghast for your opinion

I feel like you make some fair points ,but I don't think comparing it with Staff of Ages is doing you much of a favor. That lp was the first thing I watched on this channel and the comments just roasted you for it.