I'm still around and checking up when I can.

I'm around.

... Hold on. Oh, wait, that was the PREVIOUS soldier. Ah, got it. XD

Since this is the first chapter, I am entirely willing on throwing away player characters whose players disappear unless people want them to remain. ... Though, Lexa was kind of part of the current battle-plan, so guess I'll have to move her for it. Haha.

So, posted.

Here's the map with squares.

I am aware few are actually properly standing on a square. Haha.

Here's a link to the squares used if you want to make something prettier. XD http://i.imgur.com/WkVC2Ce.png

Any mistakes or problems, report to me. Your turns.

You can ignore the seeming cluttering of people, remember that in Fire Emblem you can move through your own units, just think of it as doing that~

Ret will be moving alongside his allies in fRont, the first enemy that tries to attack them will recieve lightning or, If he's close enough, a big fat kick to the face.

This is what happens when you let the pikachu Mage do as he likes behind a tank, wait, no ...counts, three tanks!

Say goodbye to your childhood ...

Here's a link to the squares used if you want to make something prettier. XD http://i.imgur.com/WkVC2Ce.png

(Looks around)
Sigh...I'll get on it.

@Harbringer Don't bother yourself over it. I'll knock one out.

EDIT: Here we go, here's my take on the map. I've done my best to fit all the characters into the Fire Emblem style and grid system. Some thing's you'll obviously notice:
1. The blacked-out "defeated" units are gone.
2. Key Units, like Rioga and Sion, use different sprites to make them stand out. Nero and Garric are now Key Units as well.
3. I've done a bit of shifting in the party to best represent where some individuals logically should've been, based on the posts.
4. I'm assuming Ret and Arch have, at this point, joined the party, however unofficially.
5. I tried to re-sprite Ret to make the spite more uniform. I don't think it turned out terribly...

@Penultimate_Pi
Oh cool. Cheers. Looks great!

@71342 I'm not sure the handle of the Iron Axe is made out of anything which leads electricity... XD ... In any case. Thanks for breaking that silence. XD

@Harbringer Nicely posted. ... Heh. Truly shows us another side from that comedic side you were showing earlier, eh?

@Penultimate_Pi Yay, you got into combat! XD ... Quite well written. Hm. I did intend that I was to control all the enemies, because otherwise you won't be seeing as much challenge. However, this being the first screen still I'll let this one slide, but perhaps I should, like, make some enemies "cannon-fodder" while marking other enemies as " "elites" " (dual quotation-marks for emphasis that the word is not used for its proper meaning) that you all cannot control. Eh, oh, well.

That, is a beautiful rendition of the map. The darkened units to show the change from the last screen, really, to make people know where they were, wouldn't be needed in the long run. That's really nicely done. I could have given you the files I've been using had you told me you were doing something like this with them. Now I'M the one interested in what programs / files / images you've been using. XD
In any case. Great job. Thanks. Now to go feel somewhat inferior in a corner. Everything looks so... flawless, when I just let small imperfections slip through on the basis of being "good enough"... XD

... Though if Nero has a boss-thingie, then Garric should have one too! XD

@PlatinumSkink
Well, I wanted to simulate a full 'round' of battle, true to Fire Emblem style. (One round on the Player Phase, another on the Enemy Phase, etc.) If you'd rather I not, then I won't, simple as that.

As for the map, thank you! Most of what I did was collecting the proper sprites and maps from various sprite sheets on the internet. In particular, I have a big image file of all the class sprites in FE8, plus two other copies in neutral and enemy palettes. The program I used was an older version of Paint.NET; the recolor, layering and magic wand functions were very easing on the work. Funny story is, I didn't actually use a physical grid! Rather, I sort of mapped out the grid mentally when placing units; considering that the map is constructed from tiles, I used the placement of some of these tiles for reference.

I'd say the only real tricky and time-consuming part was remodeling Ret on the fly to better fit in FE8's sprite style. One other part that threw me for a loop was that you didn't use FE8's Beserker sprite - you used FE7's, so I had to go find sprites for that, too. It was hard to figure out special sprites for the swordmasters. On units like Nero and Rioga, I used their 'selected' sprites, which commonly have more detail and flair. The swordmaster's 'selected' sprite is just him pointing his sword up - which I didn't think fit well within the map's 'grid'. I had a similar problem with Sion, but went along with it anyway even though it was definitely pushing it in terms of sprite constraints on the map.

If I were to do this later on, I would probably stitch together custom sprites for Garric and Sion to label them as key units while still giving them that flair. Another feature I'm considering is using each class's movement sprites to indicate whichever direction they are are facing or moving to.

The best part, however, is that with Paint.NET's layers, I can save a file that I can easily edit later on; the only really intensive part is laying out the map for the first time. If you like, I could help serve as a mapmaker.

...Also, I just noticed that Garric did, indeed, not have a marker on him. Ah, well- next time!

@PlatinumSkink Hey noworries that's what I am here foR - Breaking silence! Ret's not trying to shock the soldier through the handle, he's charging up the axe's metal piece till it discharges on it's own to the nearest grounded object, that being the soldier himself currently. Kind ...well, exactly like a Tesla coil (not that he knows what a tesla coil is, though there is probably equivalent in caer paelyn to help the Magicians living there).

@Penultimate_Pi well done! Ret looks like he's wearing a paper bag over his head but ...that's not unlike of him to be doing.

The map looks seamless and almost brighter. I use the paintnet program too to remove eyebags sharpen my resume photos.

@PlatinumSkink why feel incompetent? My fRiend, you have been one of the much better gms I've met in a long time. It's what keeps me playing. Sure this map is fLawless but you've made 4 more maps before this and none of them shabby! Give thyself a pat on the back foR my aRm is too short to do it!

@Penultimate_Pi Ah, I see what you mean. That still leaves the problem that I don't want the players to be controlling the actions of the enemies too much, especially when it comes to hitting or not. Eh, I'll let it be for now. If something happens that I really have a problem with, I'll shout. Or make the enemy in question dodge despite being so colorfully described to be hit in the player's post. Teh-heh.

The sheet I used had all classes of all the GBA games, but seemed to have decided to use the FE7 Berserker sprite, and when I got to him I kind of just "Eh, that works too" and went with it. Teh-heh. Something I had a problem with, though, was that all the things were not the correct size in that sheet, so I had to resize them all, which resulted in that they're all kind of... ... ... They might be too big in my map. XD
The unique sprites for significant characters is... more effort than I intended to put into it, so is making them face a specific direction using movement things. But if you want to try doing that, then that is fine. Of course, you don't actually need to do that, but thank you very much for doing so. What I actually meant with what I said above was that I thought the squares I had done were a bit too thick to be pretty, not that the whole map needed... XD

@71342 Ah, I understand. Yeah, that'd work. Teh-heh.

... Teh-heh. Thanks.

@PlatinumSkink I'd just to say I LOVE how active you are. Like other RPs you scared cause GM only on every other day than vanishes, but you prob on more than all of us. Good job m8 I r8 it an 8/8

@Eklispe I'm happy you do~ ... Haha.

@Lionheart Alright, nicely posted. ... Though I'm not entirely sure that Fighter is going to need Marwood to look at him after he's been targeted by BOTH our ranged players here. Haha. Just something for @Apollosarcher to possibly keep in mind. Haha.

Hands up! Is there anyone still around?

I think MIGHTBe we could accelerate through the red shirts and get to fIghting the last part of this map? It looks like we're mowing them down and it's getting really slow in posting lately.

I'd like to know what you've installed next!

Repost.

*Hand up* Yo

sup

As always, I'm here.