This review contains spoilers
This hack is very weird, but in a good way. Its weird in the sense that it shares a lot in common with the blazing blade, with both games having morphs, hector (or at least a guy who looks and acts like him), a tactician (but an actual unit this time) and more. Despite this, the story feels original, and actually its quite compelling. I think the story is kind of carried on the back of one of its protagonists, Freesia. Despite being the maiden of light alluded to in the title, shes a very morally dubious character, but her motivations make it understandable. She tends to be extreme in her thoughts and values, and is quick to take action, and the way her actions and words directly affect the other protagonists gives them interesting opportunities to develop and characterize themselves. Outside of the group of protagonists, the roster that makes up your army is pretty solid. A lot of them have ties to the world around them and other units, while some are kind of gag characters. I think the gag characters are definitely weaker, but the ones who are more involved with the world are some of my favorites. Jenna is a personal favorite. One point against the story is that the antagonists vary in quality. The most interesting antagonists end up joining you near the end of the game, and the ones who arent so interesting are the ones you slaughter. The main antagonist Maximillian would be underwhelming if not for how he is interacted with in gameplay.
The gameplay itself is solid. The map design compels you to play fast, without being too punishing or frustrating. There are many maps id say are standouts, like the map where you are being chased by Durga through an entire enemy fort, or the gaiden chapter where you need to pick a unit to undergo an onslaught of arena battles. The final maps of the game are its weakest I believe. The final maps bring out same turn reinforcements, and the enemy quality and density is very high compared to your units. The units you get in DLATMOL are pretty weak all things considered. I know that there have been updates that buff units, but I believe i played an earlier update, where these buffs were not present. The base stats of the earlygame units you receive are very poor, and their growths vary. Shermie is a unit you get on the first map, and her growths are excellent, however the tactician you play as hits like a wet noodle and is actually fairly inaccurate. With poor luck they wont ever begin to become reliable. Many other units will have good speed growth but poor strength or magic growth, and not deal significant damage to enemies as they increase in strength. Units like Horton, Shermie, Orion are exceptions, but a majority of your earlygame units will not preform fantastic long term without significant investment or good luck. A particularly rough example of this is Emma, one of the few cavs you get in the game. Her growths are coin flips, and she is very liable to getting screwed over. The prepromotes you get in turn vastly outperform units you have been training. Jenna has a 10% speed growth, but it hardly matters because her base speed is enough to double a majority of enemies in the game, and with one speedwing she doubles even more. She vastly outperforms Aislin, the earlygame anima mage you get, to such a degree where any investment into Aislin is better placed into another unit because you will get a better unit in Jenna anyways. The same principle applies to most other prepromotes. The enemies lategame begin to outpace the prepromotes you get, so only the few growth units in the game get to excel here. Maximillian is a unit that is present in many maps, though despite him not dying each time you defeat him, his presence in the maps as a formidable boss does help in making him feel like a more present threat to the group. The final boss is particularly rough, most units either getting one hit or dealing 5 or so damage. Only one unit (Horton) can reliably deal considerable damage to him.
Overall, despite what I may write, I think any fan of fire emblem should check out this hack. Its not a masterclass, but its very competently made, and a pretty enjoyable experience.
The gameplay itself is solid. The map design compels you to play fast, without being too punishing or frustrating. There are many maps id say are standouts, like the map where you are being chased by Durga through an entire enemy fort, or the gaiden chapter where you need to pick a unit to undergo an onslaught of arena battles. The final maps of the game are its weakest I believe. The final maps bring out same turn reinforcements, and the enemy quality and density is very high compared to your units. The units you get in DLATMOL are pretty weak all things considered. I know that there have been updates that buff units, but I believe i played an earlier update, where these buffs were not present. The base stats of the earlygame units you receive are very poor, and their growths vary. Shermie is a unit you get on the first map, and her growths are excellent, however the tactician you play as hits like a wet noodle and is actually fairly inaccurate. With poor luck they wont ever begin to become reliable. Many other units will have good speed growth but poor strength or magic growth, and not deal significant damage to enemies as they increase in strength. Units like Horton, Shermie, Orion are exceptions, but a majority of your earlygame units will not preform fantastic long term without significant investment or good luck. A particularly rough example of this is Emma, one of the few cavs you get in the game. Her growths are coin flips, and she is very liable to getting screwed over. The prepromotes you get in turn vastly outperform units you have been training. Jenna has a 10% speed growth, but it hardly matters because her base speed is enough to double a majority of enemies in the game, and with one speedwing she doubles even more. She vastly outperforms Aislin, the earlygame anima mage you get, to such a degree where any investment into Aislin is better placed into another unit because you will get a better unit in Jenna anyways. The same principle applies to most other prepromotes. The enemies lategame begin to outpace the prepromotes you get, so only the few growth units in the game get to excel here. Maximillian is a unit that is present in many maps, though despite him not dying each time you defeat him, his presence in the maps as a formidable boss does help in making him feel like a more present threat to the group. The final boss is particularly rough, most units either getting one hit or dealing 5 or so damage. Only one unit (Horton) can reliably deal considerable damage to him.
Overall, despite what I may write, I think any fan of fire emblem should check out this hack. Its not a masterclass, but its very competently made, and a pretty enjoyable experience.