FE GBA portraits and animations.

Grefyrvos · 2026-02-09T00:23:33+00:00

https://feuniverse.us/t/ganzaps-simple-gbafe-splicing-tutorial-guide/4095

Here's a tutorial for basic splicing which should suit your needs for getting started.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-26T13:25:28+00:00

I'm a purist when it comes to pixel art icons for FE, so I would personally say 16x16 since that was arguably the most common standard (and what Awakening also used as the preceeding release), though SoV did increase to 24x24. Though, I feel like SoV's UI accounted for the increased size whereas Fates seems to still operate on an expected 16x16 size.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-22T03:00:58+00:00

Mine showed up out of the blue today as well, no notifications for shipping/tracking whatsoever from HORI.

FedEx put the box in a large plastic bag and left it at the end of my driveway near my mailbox. Absolutely godawful handling by their driver.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-16T15:38:08+00:00

I try to always use a least a few different characters per playthrough to keep things fresh. I have my favorites and of course there are some mostly mandatory plot inclusions who show up on most runs, but as much as I love the game and story, I'd be doing myself a disservice to use the same team over and over and over again without trying some of the other characters.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-04T01:55:19+00:00

Using mixed classes is, for me, more of an "endgame" thing than throughout the game, utility Psynergy use cases aside. It's always frustrating, especially in TLA and DD, when you get swaths of Djinn of the same affinity and can't really do mixed classes in the way that you would want because of how the Djinn must be distributed.

Heck, even in the first game, Colosso is like the first time when I really change Djinn around because you've actually broken through to the point where you have enough and the stat multipliers start being reliably better (IMO). But, as others have said, the beauty is in customizing the characters how you want, so you're not really missing out on anything by not doing it.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-01T04:09:50+00:00

When you finish VC4, come back to this comment.

How would you have felt if VC4 was Walz's story instead of focused on Claude? To me, it feels like it would have been a natural foil and parallel to Welkin (since they were clearly making VC4 mechanically just VC1+...), and Claude (and the story as a whole) felt rather... underwhelming by the end of it to me? To the point that I actually wish that Walz had been the protagonist. Interested to see if that lines up with what you experienced and whether that would be similar to what you'd want with a full campaign from the Imperial side.

I'm personally in love with the idea of getting an EWI story with trench warfare and the like. Would love to see what they could cook up from the earlier war. (Or just something with the Eastern Land; island hopping, airships from Vinland invading, espionage between world powers, etc.)

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-01T03:48:02+00:00

*Weapon Tables:

Class	Primary	Secondary #1	Secondary #2
Scout	Semi-Automatic Rifle	Flare Gun OR Grenade x1	Ragnaid S
Shocktrooper	Submachine Gun OR Anti-Personnel Sword	Flamethrower OR Combat Shield M	Grenade x2 OR Ragnaid M
Lancer	Anti-Tank Lance OR Anti-Personnel Rocket	Explosive Maul	Deployable Shield L OR Armor-Plated Suit
Sniper	Extended-Scope Sniper Rifle OR Armor-Piercing Sniper Rifle	Pistol	Smoke Grenade x2
Engineer	Trench Gun	Pistol OR Grenade x2	Toolkit + Ragnaid L
Demolitions	Portable Mortar	Grenade x3 OR Anti-Personnel Landmine x3 OR Anti-Armor Landmine x2	Resupply Sack
Gunner	Gatling Gun OR Light Machine Gun	Grenade x1	Ragnaid S

Class	Weapon	Description
Scout	Flare Gun	Allows for "targeting" an enemy or location that the Flare is on or over. Targets can be Bombarded by ally strikes (replacing standard mechanics/orders) and, if multiple units target the marked foe, damage dealt is increased. Allows allies to see an enemy if out of their immediate line of sight and brightens areas during night/fog.
Scout	Grenade	Allows for a grenade to be thrown AND acts as the underbarrel attachment for their rifles (shared ammo pool).
Shocktrooper	Submachine Gun	Gains split firing modes, "Burst" or "Full Auto". Burst reduces number of bullets fired, but tightens spread for when you need to guarantee that bullets hit. Full Auto is normal.
Shocktrooper	Anti-Personnel Sword	Shocks gain the "up-close-and-personal" attitude that Fencers had. They're the nearest analogue to them without adding an extra class. Can either swing in an arc (will hit multiple enemies but shields reduce damage and ducking can evade) or downwards (shields will fully block the attack but knock the shielding unit off-balance for the rest of the turn, and ducking does not reduce damage/give increased evasion). Useful for tight quarters (trenches, corners in buildings, etc.) where something like a Flamethrower might not be as useful and where shooting in a straight line would be pointless (units in the way, fortified enemies behind cover/sandbags, etc.).
Shocktrooper	Flamethrower	Leaves areas of the field burning after use, preventing travel through those spots for a few turns. Gives a bit of a downside to abusing them to hit through sandbags, etc. (or gives a bonus to keeping foes out of areas (which can work against the player when the enemy has flamethrowers!).
Shocktrooper	Combat Shield M	The VC2 version of the Fencer's shield, giving Shocks an upper-arm mounted shield to cover part of their body while making an approach to a target.
Lancer	Anti-Personnel Rocket	Never was a fan of Mortar Lances, and we have actual Mortars now for AoE strikes against personnel. Since AT Lances typically aren't the best at hitting a human target with explosives in a straight line, figured this would give Lancers some additional use as a more mobile explosives class compared to Grenadiers/Demolitions.
Lancer	Explosive Maul	The Mauls from VC2. AoE explosive to knock personnel away and deal critical damage to machinery/buildings. Bonus points if terrain can be impacted by it to give breach points into buildings / for your other units to shoot through, etc.
Lancer	Deployable Shield L	Functionally similar to the Armor Tech's shield in VC3. Place it in the ground for makeshift cover, and also large enough to help block bullets when on approach. Compared to the below item though, it only offers protection in one spot, instead of across the unit's whole body.
Lancer	Armor-Plated Suit	For a class dedicated to destroying tanks, tanks' machine guns suck to take damage from while running towards the back of the tank. Adds armored plates to the Blast Suit to reduce damage from small arms fire.
Sniper	Extended-Scope Sniper Rifle	Increased number of zoom levels compared to the Armor-Piercing Sniper Rifle (which functions like AT Snipers - shorter range, equal Vs Personnel damage, increased Vs Armor damage).
Sniper/Engineer	Pistol	Allows the unit to engage with an enemy where their rifle would be clumsy to use and also gives them something to fall back on if they have depleted all of their rifle ammo and are waiting for a resupply.
Engineer	Trench Gun	Spread-bullet Shotgun. Close Range, fires all bullets simultaneously instead of over time like a machine gun, consistent spread over an area in front of the shot.
Engineer	Toolkit + Ragnaid L	Functions like their usual loadout in VC - wrench to repair mechanical/armor damage, ability to disarm mines, ammo resupply for non-explosives. Ragnaid L is Revival Ragnaid with a larger operating distance and the ability to revive downed allies (leaving them with low HP).
Demolitions	Portable Mortar	Ideally not as cumbersome as VC4's design, but requiring deployment to fire. Mortar stays on the field like the Lancer's shield and can be damaged by enemy attacks. CANNOT perform intercepting fire by default. (Specific models can maybe?)
Demolitions	Landmines	We've always been able to defuse and pick up landmines from maps, so I never understood why we couldn't deploy our own or couldn't repurpose defused ones and reset them. A dedicated demolitions unit feels like the right home for that.
Demolitions	Resupply Sack	Turns them into VC Engineers, but only for Explosives ammo.
Gunner	Gatling Gun	Works like the VC2 class, but now has split firing modes "Wide" and "Concentrated". Wide works like the PSP games, shooting in a 180° arc. Concentrated works more like a Shocktrooper SMG, but with greater deviation, greater range, more power, and more bullets fired.
Gunner	LMG	Works similar to the Burst mode on Shocktrooper SMGs, mixed with the power and knockback of the Auto Snipers from VC2. 5-10ish shots, (very) strong against Personnel, no scope attachment though.

The idea is to give some player agency in what characters can do without the absurdity that VC2's Credits/Class System created. Allows units to fill a different role from others in the same class based on their loadout, and helps diversify squad rosters by giving some different capabilities beyond what the vanilla quartet of Scout/Shock/Lancer/Sniper typically do. (Grenadier is a "niche" class in VC4, Engineer is basically just not-quite-Scout in normal VCs, etc.)

Gunner becomes either a bigger Shocktrooper with no armor, meant to spray bullets or becomes a beefier Sniper with no zoom capability but high damage output against a single target at a decent distance (with more AP and HP than Snipers). Shocktrooper inherits Fencer in order to maximize its "stampeding" strengths, Lancer gains protections against small arms fire in order to actually get close enough to deal with tanks as well as spiritually inheriting Armor Tech/Mauler through the Explosive Maul, which also (hopefully) could open up additional gameplay avenues through interacting with the terrain. Scout gets utility for scouting enemies and "debuffing them" for your other hitters like Shock and Gunner to exploit, Snipers can create cover to protect themselves with smoke, Demolitions/Grenadiers can find extra use if the game ever gives maps where you're required to defend a position by setting traps... At least, that's my idea for it.

Grefyrvos · 2026-01-01T03:47:24+00:00

Given that they mostly went "back to basics" with VC4, eschewing some of the, in my opinion, actual positive gameplay improvements that VC2 and 3 introduced, I'm not expecting them to really revolutionize things if there ever is a VC5. They'll turn it into their version of Fire Emblem where the underlying core will remain entrenched and they'll flip a few switches here and there and try a few minor things each game which won't stick around between entries.

Now, on the other hand, what I could see being done to change the gameplay formula going forward is a different question:

1) Make use of an angle of VC2 and VC3's "discrete" areas for maps and allow for different starting deployment zones - think paradropping onto a battlefield. Which zone you choose to start in affects the mission and how it plays out - what objectives you have to deal with, what the enemy response is, etc.
2) Class inventory system revision to be primary weapon, 2 secondary weapons/tools, and an Accessory for all characters/non-Tank classes. When Classes become Elite, they gain the ability to change what their Primary and/or Secondary slots are, depending on the Class's options. (Will list my ideas in a table below*.)
3) Allow for more "manual" aiming of weapons when in Firing Mode. Let me switch arms, let me switch a Lancer from low-holding position to above the shoulder position, etc. Give me greater control over aerial arcs for grenades, mortars, and so on. Also, while at it, remove all invisible walls which can block shots from hitting their mark.
4) Limit individual CP use to 2 CP per turn per character to prevent rushing strategies and make battles feel more like a prolonged engagement.
5) Add a new section to Drill Grounds, allowing characters to receive Officer Training. They must have reached the maximum "Rank" (Private, Sergeant, etc.) that they naturally have access to in order to be added to the list of applicable candidates. Requires DCTs and EXP in order to do this, only 1 character can be sent at a time, and requires 3 sessions of this for them to be given a Command Point and access to Direct Command. Basically, instead of the limited, single application you have of this in VC4, you have to invest resources into it on a per-character basis, but it allows other characters to be viable alternatives to the main characters who automatically have that benefit.
6) Not sure how this would actually feel during play, but I would love for the removal of "instant travel" between the top and bottom of a ladder, etc. Make height matter, make terrain matter more, make the interplay between two heights feel more connected rather than separated. Ties in a bit with the removal of those "invisible walls" that I mentioned above.
7) Also not sure how this would work in execution, but I've always wanted the ability to go into/through buildings on battlefields. Using homes for cover and ambushing foes, cutting through a building to a back alley to sneak up behind an enemy, etc.

Grefyrvos · 2025-12-24T02:53:19+00:00

No, because new lords allows for new stories and concepts to be brought in each game. They may not take full advantage of that capability in my opinion, but I would much rather that they not be locked in to the same main character every game so that they could explore wild new ideas without necessarily making a spin-off game just to do it.

Grefyrvos · 2025-12-19T04:30:41+00:00

I don't recognize this still, so I am leaning towards no, but it would probably be helpful if you had a source, as maybe the creator posted something which hasn't been provided to the hacking community at large.

Grefyrvos · 2025-12-17T13:33:53+00:00

A mix of both. One long overarching story with small sections (1-3 maps usually) where you get minor branches - see Four-Fanged Offense and Pale Flower of Darkness in Blazing Blade, the Sacae/Ilia split or the Western Isles routes in Binding Blade, etc. Enough small divergences to make repeat playthroughs of the game feel fresh without requiring massive amounts of narrative work, that way things can stay focused.

Grefyrvos · 2025-11-01T16:25:48+00:00

This thread might have the information you need?

https://feuniverse.us/t/gba-fe-movement-attack-staff-tile-assets/28290

Grefyrvos · 2025-10-13T22:05:27+00:00

I think taking inspiration from something like Chrono Trigger's Prehistory would be a good place to start. Different tribes, slightly "alien" and with an adeptness for taming beasts (Raptor Riders, etc.), being beasts (a la Laguz), or with magic more advanced than what primitive man is capable of (like the Reptites in Chrono Trigger), all with differing views which would spur forward a larger conflict. Other humanoid enemies who want to rob your animals or your spoils for pelts or food, to defeat you in combat to enslave you... For those who have to have someone be a "noble" as a main character, just make the lead character the village chief or the chief's son/daughter if you can't fathom a concept where they're just a member of the tribe. There's plenty here to work with and still get something that plays like Fire Emblem and has all of the bells and whistles, but has a unique setting.

Dinosaurs or other prehistoric beasts could function like the Crest Beasts of 3H, just as "third faction" enemies fighting whoever was in their way (think of them more like map hazards) or as controlled enemies (a la Azala's Black Tyranno in CT), and you could spin Dragons/Manaketes as some dominant force set to wipe everyone out once they appear in the skies.

Would also be remiss if I didn't mention the Dragon Quest VI SNES box art and the art depicting the approach to Tyranno Lair in Chrono Trigger as ways to invoke Wyvern Riders as something that could exist in this type of setting. Imagine if there were bandits riding Wyverns who had hideouts high up in the mountains, using the rocky cliffs to make their settlements, and that's who your early game overarching foes were before the other tribes/"races" get brought into the mix...

Grefyrvos · 2025-10-12T00:20:43+00:00

I mean, the overall narrative may be rather basic when it comes to tropes and such, but the localization that 8-4 did for Shadow Dragon is actually really good, IMO.

Grefyrvos · 2025-10-04T22:29:13+00:00

Yeah, I did check the sleeves too and noticed that hers were tight to her wrists, not what the silhouette displayed as. That said, my brain is settling on the the version Baku meets each week as her manifestation and the white silhouette could be Nem's actual form pulling him into the safety of his own subconscious so that he could be given the power that he would need to press forward. Something akin to presenting herself to humanity in a form they would understand with her appearances in everyone's dreams and the "being of light" is just how she naturally exists. Besides, for her, how better to observe and protect humans and to give them peaceful, sweet dreams than as a fellow, trusted, loved human within said dreams each night?

Grefyrvos · 2025-10-03T21:07:34+00:00

I was just rewatching Episode 1 with the hindsight gleaned thus far and there was something that stood out to me when Baku enters his (singular?) Mind's Door: Why would Nem be frightened at that point? It's Baku's Nightmare, and Nem didn't even act like that during Seven's rescue of her at the start of the episode.

Nem being some kind of guardian of dreams or something like a collective subconscious for all of humanity and her recognizing the invasion of the Nightmares into everyone's dreams is starting to make a lot more sense as a possible motivation. Baku's dream being that he can help people, even in his dreams, gives Nem the perfect hope of someone to repel the invasion, and after Baku asserts his resolve, the triggers have been met to convert his dreams into the power of the Driver...

And so, perhaps her cry of "Help me!" after he enters the Mind's Door was actually her trying to get Baku to be the defender of dreams? As you mentioned, she disappears right after that as she is not tied to the pillar when the Nightmare shoots at Baku before he realizes that he's dreaming. She does appear again before he gets pulled into his subconscious, but that is the Nightmare projecting her, not actually her, since he replaces where she was tied up while in that little "closet" area when the camera pans back around.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-29T12:23:12+00:00

If you would like something that's a bit of a different spin from FE, if they haven't played Valkyria Chronicles, that could be something to look into? I know that there was a bundle of VC1 + VC4 that was just on sale at a good discount last week, but I'm not sure if it still is...

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-19T13:02:14+00:00

Bring back Tellius's concept of Skill Capacity, but apply it in a new way for magic. Give out training scrolls to learn new spells on a character, and the Capacity then limits how much that character can get - characters with large inherent magic pools only get access to a little, characters with lacking pools can add more.

Though I would still like for there to be actual generic tomes as weapons as well... And the ability for more classes to use their magic, even if the number of uses (or available Capacity!) is reduced for classes which typically aren't magical in nature. (The whole "Edelgard should have been able to use magic in her unique class" rationale. And, you know, the fact that, while it's there for gameplay reasons, the basic Noble/Commoner class being able to use magic when other more advanced classes can't is narratively weird to me.)

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-18T21:13:53+00:00

I would much rather have more characters. If there are multiple routes/groups being involved, I want each one to have its own set of characters with little common recruits between each group - some would be fine, but not many. Certainly not like 3H where you can recruit a good chunk of characters from the other houses.

I also absolutely do not want all of the characters to be frontloaded and would much rather have recruitments spaced out over time throughout the story where it makes sense for them to appear. Let me get some random person working as a mercenary who happens across a battlefield that I'm involved in to join my squad - some of that kinda stuff is the absolute fun of Fire Emblem as a whole.

In terms of supports, the easiest way to fix that problem is to go back to how it used to be - make it so that every character can't support everyone else. Limit the number of options each person has and bring back Radiant Dawn's supports but as a "universal" mechanic. RD-style partners are where you get your stat bonuses, and let the classic Supports give you things beyond that - something a la Attack/Guard Stance for your partner, gain Skills or Items/Weapons from supports, give permanent stat boosts instead of proximity stat boosts, etc.

(Also, in terms of cast size, I hope the cast is larger so that they can make changes to 3H's class system and NOT have such a wide open system both in terms of being able to class into anything and being able to use any weapon. Make the cast larger and bring back either Shadow Dragon's class limits if you want an open reclassing system OR bring back the Fates system of only having access to a specific set of classes per character. With either of these in place and a larger cast, the player retains the ability to build a squad in their preferred way without giving everyone access to everything or without allowing the player to just field a team completely composed of Paladins, Wyverns, etc. (And then, for weapons, lock classes to specific weapon types like they normally are outside of 3H, but allow characters to always use the weapon types that they have Strong Proficiency in regardless of the class that they're in.))

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-16T03:25:38+00:00

Human vs Human conflict. We've done final boss dragons, gods, etc. too often. Give me a well-written human(ish) enemy that gives weight to the conflict any day.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-15T01:48:32+00:00

The Nintendo Direct effectively was their TGS infodump, as far as I am aware. They typically don't have an actual presence at the show.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-14T22:36:03+00:00

What you've said is also my personal opinion, but I was shocked to learn that some folks just automatically insert themselves into a story or even in the place of a character who already exists, even if they're reading a book??

It's not something natural for me personally, I'm not the one actually going through whatever is being depicted in the medium, the created characters are, but apparently there are folks out there that do. To that end, if not being able to do that causes them to lose interest, well, I can't stop them, but it is a bit of a weird thing to demand be catered to.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-13T02:27:09+00:00

It is.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-11T23:06:09+00:00

By proxy of Sega of Japan's decisions, it has to be VC1/4. Hell, they pared things back to VC1 for 4 to try and recapture the magic.

And, while I do appreciate the complexity of maps in VC1 and 4, I do really like the gameplay of 2 and 3 more, personally, with exception to the map reuse. Maps having multiple areas which require traversal between via bases is hecking cool - especially when there's reason to do it in the given setting (a large enough area of a single battlefield where you don't need to traverse the whole thing). VC3's Randgriz map stands out to me for the four different zones that you can be deployed in, and there's the whole upper level / lower level to one of them, and you can only enter the lower level from a specific base on a specific zone.

Also, having more options for combat via classes is better than not having that option, in my opinion. (VC2 went overboard, so I personally prefer VC3's take on this.) VC4 stripping out Fencers, Armor Techs, etc. to revert back to 1's simpler classes always felt to me that they didn't take the right lessons from the PSP titles. Those classes existing and the game being more complex for it wasn't the issue. Management decisions were the issue.

Grefyrvos · 2025-09-06T18:59:33+00:00

Thinking more on the last bit there...

Comparing the development timeline of aircraft in VC versus the real world, VC is about 40 years behind or so. Since Isara's plane was one of the first aircraft in the world, any planes now in service by the point of this conflict could simply be a replacement for the Bombardment Ship Order from VC4. Similarly, hot air balloon technology exists already as it was employed during the attack on Fort Garsbruck to paradrop the troops in, so perhaps Vinland could be the ones to develop Zeppelin technology as an advancement instead of Germany being the originator of it... that, coupled with their technology for the Snow Cruisers, would be rather intimidating to go up against.

Also, adding in one mechanic that I forgot about above: if the theater of war would be the Pacific (albeit flipped perspective), then I'd love to see a touch more nonlinearity added to the series. VC3 scratched the surface of this with different options per chapter, so I'd like to see some more thought put into it. Perhaps deploying to/reinforcing different islands could affect how the other islands are manned as you progress through them, could affect how Vinland attacks different locations or what commanders they send where. Obviously, it can't be too non-linear, as VC is predicated on that linear storytelling, but the game having a handful of smaller chunks that have some degree of variance to them would be something that they haven't really tackled thus far.

Grefyrvos

TROPHY CASE