Thank you for downloading Gensouden and consulting this file! I hope you will have an okay time playing my rom hack.

File edited 2025/03/18.

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##~ The important bits.
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Hack Name: Mountain of Fatih -Gensouden- ~ Ersatz Grinds for the Fog of War.
Shorthand: Gensouden / Ersatz Grinds
Based on: Fire Emblem 8 (Sacred Stones)
Start Date: Start of 2020?
Build Date: 2021/05/27
Public Release: 2025/03/18
For Game Boy Advance emulators.

This is a full-length hack with 15 chapters and a few minor ones that may take you around 12 hours or so to beat,
with a lot of original or remixed content but with similar flow as the vanilla FE game.
It has a story if you wish to read it, with a very high word count.
Quality, however, may vary greatly in some places.

>>> I have distributed the game, not as a patch, but as a .gba ROM file. You should have gotten it from the /dl/ directory
>>> from the site you got this game from, same as this README.
>>> You do not require any other setup than to use an emulator to play the game. These days, you should use mGBA.
Please enjoy! My contact is down below.

Alongside that, this hack, as it is right now, "incomplete". I believe it is playable from start to finish without issue.
You can also complete the credits and all just fine. However, it was left on hiatus and eventually abandoned.
The only difference is that if I would resume work on this, it'd be a "v3" with a generous rewrite and many changes.
As such, I'm releasing the hack as-is due to it being shrouded all this time.
I will only update it if there are critical issues, and will likely not add quality-of-life changes.

I will be writing a little guide if required - I have not written a Q&A all this time for the hack as I have
utilized the in-game Guide for whenever I deemed it important. I recall everything being easy enough to find for
a player if they're attentive.

Spoiler information at the bottom of the file.

Changelog:
2025/03/18 - Updated title screen. I don't know where my higher-quality "clean" version went after searching through my files...
So this one will have to do.



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##~ Known Bugs
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This, along with the other files you may have gotten for this hack, have had their details taken from what txt files
I had laying around. Here's an excerpt for the bugs I knew of - these will very likely not to be fixed.
The only ones I would update for are roadblocks to progression or hard crashes.

Draco's mouth never moves.

exile's attacks may not have proper sound. (Actually, a lot of sounds may be loud or bad. I didn't do good mixing.)

Tambo's thing is not a bug. It is a feature. (Since someone asked)

UI sound effects may cut out when in succession.

Most signs of letters cutting out are known to exist.

Status screen has various display issues.

In some very rare, extreme cases, selecting a chapter on the world map will cause a freeze. Fix: Simply reset the game and continue.

Player units dying on 7x won't die permanently, even on difficulties other than Casual.

In chapter 9, after the one event, the sprite in question may bug out. Unknown cause as it was a sudden change.

At the Plains of Solace WM event may not show proper walking.

If Reinhardt uses a weapon not made for his promoted class, the palette will be ugly.

Final turn count records will not be accurate. Unknown fix.

Funny credit scroll.

Post-game may have strange quirks but works just fine.

It is possible to sequence break dialogue within certain chapters if using massive optimization routes. There will likely not be anything that can break said chapters themselves, but simply tend to map objectives and you will be fine.



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##~ Contact information
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If you really need to contact me for some reason, first check out

https://mof.x10.bz/

for an overview of where to find me.

I can also be reached via:

ai@mof.x10.bz
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Fatih120/

A Discord exists, but not for this hack in particular.



#######################
##~ Backstory
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It might have been around 2018 or something when I first got into the world of FE rom hacking.
Eventually, I started releasing dumb, bad, conceptual hacks which I did on request for a person who was somewhat infamous.
I then later ended up making a hack that was a continuation of these bad hacks called "Cancer Emblem".
Mildly offensive name to some, but I was purposefully putting together a "kusoge" that was taking a few ideas I had,
such as the key mechanic of fighting through an endless fog of war that's one-tile away, and being full of ballistae.
I changed some things one at a time for what should have been a simple edit for me to post, however, I kept going
and going and eventually started writing a script instead of leaving things intact.

It was a very foolish thing to do, but I kept going regardless, replacing characters and items and doing minor script
changes and stuff here and there. I genuinely say I had a full hack on my hands in progress before I knew it.
And eventually, when I got what I got, I wasn't satisfied with the way I wrote things or did it. I think I had a big
perfectionist problem, because I went back and re-did every single stage, either to make them no longer vanilla maps or
re-do segments. So, technically, this hack is at a proper v2 state.

Even worse though, as mentioned, is how I would do a v3 if I could. The script and contents of this hack, especially with
the mix of meme characters with serious ones, makes me want to go back and completely do things from the start. Even if it
leads into a ridiculous v3. I even think there's a few things I was working on that are part of this "v3" process at the
very start of the game. I'm sure I would cringe now if I went through the whole game and saw the things I've added.

~

Conceptually, people are turned off by the premise of this hack's gameplay, and fair enough. It also falls into the trap
about this hack being full of inside jokes, some bad writing, and self-inserts with references that may not be easily accessible.
However, I had done my best to balance the game and give plenty of fun additions to make characters buildable and
interactive. This isn't a kaizo hack - actually, it should be on the easier side of things, lest I have added a horrible,
horrible difficulty curve. But the character has the freedom to act when bumping into an enemy, and there are a few other
tips and tricks that come with the hack due to this change in gameplay. 

I've had people playtest this hack, especially those who were friends of friends that were very elitist/good at FE games.
They all actually ended up playing through the whole thing even if one of them was fond of skipping text all the time
and missed out on stuff. Still, that was a win for me, because I don't think they'd do that even if they just wanted to be
nice to me, so I really do believe I have a hack that may bring people enjoyment. So I continue to hope, because most, if not
all of the actual playtesting and development, was by me.

I did this hack practically solo with not much outside meddling aside from me using publicly-available assets (as, obviously,
I didn't do all the graphical elements at all). But I had to convert and tinker with music to make it fit in the game, write, edit
script, the whole thing all by myself. It was very daunting at times, and I wish I had people who were interested in the project,
but I feel like it's not something people would want to work on. I did have fun, though.

Eventually, though, with the perfectionism I mentioned, I got tired of working on the hack. I took one break, even to try out
some other hack ideas I had (they're included on the site if you want), went back, and tried again, but I think my drive
and desire was effectively over. I'm sure I wasted tons upon tons of hours that I don't ever want to count working on the hack.
But a lot of things changed, and by now I'd actually have to remove half the cast due to other reasons. Oh, maybe it was included
at the top, but there are some things that may bother some, like some of the casual language. There are also a few characters that
are "controversial", but it's been years since I worked on this hack. I'm sure we're all forgotten by now, and honestly, you might
be spending too much time on the internet if any of it does. Needless to say, all the characters in this hack are characters, and
are almost my flanderized depictions that aren't meant to slander or make libel even if they're self-inserts.
It's crazy how nearly five years have gone by... Not fast, not slow either.

I'm not sure what else to put in here, as I tend to start overthinking about the past and ramble on. I'm not sure this even
belongs in a readme, haha. Anyway, I finally decided to put the hack in public as-is as I don't want it to be sitting forever
to eventually get some data rot.
I'm sure the credits file is not fully complete, so please contact me if there's anything that needs to be updated.
As I have explained also, I don't plan to pick up and do that v3 of this hack. But I am also not changing anything after posting
this hack live on the site. I'm also not going to be a fan of redistribution unless there's a really good reason.
I'm a relaxed person, so you can talk to me about it, but please link all instances of this hack directly from

https://mof.x10.bz/projects/gensouden/

when in public.

Thank you again for playing.




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##~ SPOILERS
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This following section contains a spoiler for the end game! Scroll down to reveal it.




















































You may have beaten the game, but gotten a sad and almost strange ending.

Well, congrats! But you may be wondering, is that it?

No, actually. You have gotten the "normal" ending, but the proper midly-longer ending can be unlocked if you take notice to the
message given to you at the end of the credits.

Don't save if you don't want a New Game Plus - on the map, the tower will be unlocked. You can go through a gauntlet
of stages and beat the boss at the end to get a cutscene and a new character. This single requirement lets you tackle
the final stage with, presumably, the entire cast.

Unfortunately, yes, things end off with a cliffhanger. Again, if I was going for a v3, I'd have a lot more going for the story,
including this extended ending looping around back to having a cathartic, good ending, but for now, you'll just have to
wonder what on earth happened... Don't worry, this little silly spinoff game would end with a good ending :D
Perhaps I'll write about it someday, but for now, I don't think anyone is really interested...


















































End of file.