Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

12 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

How's Origami King been for you so far?

I was cautious about it pre-release but i've honestly been enjoying it so far. I have some gripes with it but it's shaping up to be a solid title, both writing and gameplay-wise. Also i really like Olivia. For a piece of origami, she's an actually good protagonist.

Probably my biggest gripe is that the opening of the game feels very slow. Things get way better after you clear the Red Streamer.

Edit: oh yeah, music bangs too. I only called the one i posted unexpected because i didn't expect them to all out for one room. But the soundtrack overall has been fantastic.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Armagon

[Lightchao42]

3 hours ago, Caster said:

https://gustshop.com/product/risingryza/figure/

2,750,000 yen life size figure of Ryza from Atelier Ryza.

(I wonder for Hocotate's economy if 100 Pokos is a year's salary, especially since Hocotate Freight has a debt of 10,000 Pokos...)

27 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I think Toriyama's art is good and the monster designs in Dragon Quest are dope as hell but idk, the humans don't do it for me. I feel like Toriyama has drawn better human/humanoid characters in Dragon Ball more than in Dragon Quest.

Maybe it's just me, idk.

Are you disparaging the great Sylvando?

Because I hope you aren't. His fabulousness transcends even the heavens! I wish I was bestowed with even a tenth of his power.

[Armagon]

3 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Are you disparaging the great Sylvando?

Because I hope you aren't. His fabulousness transcends even the heavens! I wish I was bestowed with even a tenth of his power.

The in-game model looks better than the artwork.

I can see he is a man of great culture.

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

You aren't good with Jump'n'Runs, i take it?

Super Mario World was uneven, if it wasn't a castle/fort, I was usually good, albeit sometimes using the madness of Cape flight. And for Super Mario Bros. 3, I save stated before every boss tussle for the sake of checkpoint, and after every level- so I wouldn't have to retry the next one shorn of my power-up. 

I've alright with platformers, more a casual player of the few I do own. But I did survive Shovel Knight's four different modes (though I never played the very last stages on all for all the DLC ones- just me being lazy), and Mega Man 1-6 with some save state use for additional checkpoints. A hardcore platformer fan would've balked at my use of every health upgrade given and the pitfall rescue in King of Cards.

 

 

 

---

Yet another XCX log:

Spoiler

Did most of the missions that unlocked after Chapter 9, I need to find some more of a collectible for one, and of the others, I know one is set in Cauldros, and another is Kristy's next FrontierNav mission- Sylvalum, which means it's time to give the place a thorough exploration.

I messed up on one quest, I didn't understand that killing any enemy except the target would defy what the quest-giver wanted. And here I was trying for the best outcome on every quest. I didn't feel like reloading to correct this, but I admit to some rise in sodium levels, at least nobody died as a result, it was only an argument of "Strong Prone believe SMASH, no tactics vs. "Weak" Prone believe in Earth alien strategies Prone never conceive of in 10000 Suns, go assassinate Ganglion target!".

Another set of factoids I picked up.:

• One speech bubble had a Nopon call Cauldros "Ouchy Hot Lava Land" I think the exact phrasing was, it doesn't confirm it, but this might be the native Noponese name for the region. This leaves the Nopon names for Sylvalum and Primordia unknown, Tatsu said Oblivia is "Sandy Bum Canyon" and Noctilum is "Nightglow Woods".
• A Ma-non girl said that although she can understand the spoken language of humans, the written language is incomprehensible. Another Ma-non had to invent an auto-translator for her to understand it. This emphasizes the oddity of the Miran atmosphere and that indeed, that every different species understands each other is not natural.
  • If Mira reverted to a normal planet at X2's end, I would not be against the loss of this shared linguistic understanding, because by that point, everyone will have already come to understand each other as persons, they could get around a Babylonian divide.
• The Tree Clan makes no mention of agriculture in their traditional livelihoods. It's hunting for the men, animal husbandry for the women, although some do cross the gender boundary, one woman says she was raised as hunter because of all her brothers, and a separate Prone said they usually have large families. 
• The lifespan of a Prone seems to have a maximum of about 70 I've noticed, maybe 80. Auld Belzagus is an old man and dies at 68, albeit after having long been abused by the Ganglion, that had to cut into his lifespan. The Prone I recall on my first file reach physical maturity at age 5, so lifespans like humans, but faster to adulthood. I don't think any Prone is actually that young though, the youngest I see is 18.
  • The oldest Orphe is 66 and feels the coming of death when they run off for Senirapa Water, so maybe 70 years for a maximum with instantaneous maturity.
  • The most mature Ma-non is 55, but they don't "act old", so I can't say what the average lifespan of a Ma-non actually is. None seem to be younger than 20, and some already good mechanics, researchers, and engineers, not too unlike humanity in this anti-old people game, so age of maturity might be about the same.
  • The eldest Nopon, if we set aside the mythical ones, is the comically old-looking Nan at 99. Tatsu is 13 and is semi-cast as a fellow child with Lin. But BLADE welcomed in two Nopon members ages 17 and 15, so maturity is about that age.

And, it appears the Army Pizza wife committed suicide before Chapter 8, although I haven't found an NPC who outright says it. Another Ma-non infuriated her husband when asking for a pizza while he was forced onto the Ma-non ship during Chapter 8. I haven't checked out the Commercial District yet, but that quest sounds like it is about to happen. I do hope Monolith tones down the pizza-craze for Ma-non in X2, there is more to them than that, but its way overdone like a thin crust left in coal-fired oven for ten minutes more than it needed.

 

Because I dread looking for a job was bored, I counted how many PCs/NPCs belong to each BLADE Division. The breakdown was:

• 11 Pathfinders
• 11 Interceptors
• 10 Harriers
• 5 Reclaimers (1 Orphean)
• 14 Curators (2 Nopon)
• 9 Prospectors
• 8 Outfitters
• 14 Mediators (1 Ma-non)

Huh, the Mediators aren't "the unappreciated and understaffed" division they're made out to be, they outnumber the Harriers and Interceptors which are more in-demand and filled up as things are said to stand. The Reclaimers basically don't exist at five members, but to be fair, THE main character is a Reclaimer and the main drive of the story is a giant Reclaimer mission. Still coulda used more missions tho'. And the Prospectors don't have to exist. 

 

--

4 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Interesting how nearly everyone (except Interdimensional Observer) I've talked to about the game so far (i.e. you, Wraith, and Caster) has said that Nera is the best choice.

I picked Bianca, she had the history and chemistry and was somewhat guilt-tripped onto you. Nera could've been told by her dad she to go live in a convent and she passively would've gone with it. Nera has that bard NPC Crispin Burns who marries her if you don't too, whereas Bianca might get an okay NPC husband sometime in the unseen future.

If I ever did a second playthrough, I was actually going to pick Deborah, who didn't exist in the Super Famicom original version, she was added as a bonus in the DS one. She is cruel, but I wanted to see if, as I've seen a few people say, she has some aspect of a good character beneath it.

 

4 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

I usually tend to go for someone else in that case, just to spite the game and the devs/writers/whoever is responsible for that sort of stuff.
"Oh, you want me to go for that? Well, thanks! Now I know who NOT to pick." ~ me, whenever games do that (unless of course that option ends up being my favorite among the choices)
Yes, I'm petty like that.

Then I can envision your thoughts on this.:

I do entirely understand your above rationale. Although I will admit despite how much the video I posted shoves Mana at you, that I was a sheep and let myself be shoved off the matrimonial cliff with her, though my heart was in it not and I can name at least two females I would've rather picked.

 

 

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

OMG, YES

Beautiful...

Isn't this the second life-sized Gundam they've built? Japan's priorities, aligned towards constructing humanoid weapons that are highly impractical because the all-pervasive particle that the anime invented to justify manned machines doesn't exist IRL.

 

6 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Because I hope you aren't. His fabulousness transcends even the heavens! I wish I was bestowed with even a tenth of his power.

Sylvando is totally my favorite in the DQXI cast. Often made me laugh, yet he was written with a good serious side. Sure the resolution of his little personal problem was a bit fast, too ideal and free of the bumps you'd expect from that in reality. But for a game that doesn't go ultra-serious, it is acceptable escapism into fantastic optimism as basic as light always eventually overcoming evil.

[Armagon]

 

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Then I can envision your thoughts on this.

Why did you pick the one with the lowest resolution?

Man, if i didn't know this was Rune Factory, i would've assumed the girl was the only romantic interest.

 

[Lightchao42]

While looking for that image of Sylvando, I stumbled across this Dragon Quest VIII video and...

Thanks to Torna, I now feel the need to respond to every use of the word "simpleton" with a picture of Mythra. Curse you, Brighid! Angelo even has the same VA as Alvis, so make of that what you will.

I also feel the need to respond to the phrase "Are you okay?" with "Buster Wolf!", thank you Terry.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Why did you pick the one with the lowest resolution?

Man, if i didn't know this was Rune Factory, i would've assumed the girl was the only romantic interest.

I just grabbed the first thing I saw, checked to see if it was the real deal, and that was it. Blurriness be darned.

Dare I wish Mana was Kyle's blood sister so she couldn't marry him? -Not possible b/c amnesia protagonist of course accidental incest aside.

I was fine with the all the attention Mist gets in 1 and Frontier, but they throw Mana in your face to the point she may as well pop out of the screen and force a ring on you. My memories say they greatly turned it down with Shara thank goodness, and Raven can sorta steal some front-page shipping from her too. The option to play as Sonja instead of Aden after the story is over helped out Tides of Destiny to a degree, even if SonjaxAden themselves are the OTP. Having an actual female protagonist option from the start in RF4 must've wonderfully gotten rid of the need for an OTP so the game could have a "main heroine".

 

The other options, which they show you of five for all of two seconds in that opening trailer, are:

In order: Cecilia, Alicia, Rosalind, Dorothy, Julia, Yue.

Lastly, it looks like someone got a last minute hysterectomy:

Ray is a guy in the game (and doesn't have that mild endowment), the one who pursues Rosalind's heart. But this and his soft physical appearance overall suggests "he" may have been a "she" at some point in development. Was it late to have an unused wedding portrait as quality as the above ingame non-wedding ones?

Edited July 31, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Site works again.

Thanks to the mods and admins for their fast as good work!

[Armagon]

29 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Having an actual female protagonist option from the start in RF4 must've gotten rid of the need for an OTP so the game could have a "main heroine".

Yeah, there isn't an OTP in Rune Factory 4. Although i've seen some fans that because Noel/Luna (the player's child character) kinda resembles Amber (Luna especially), that Amber might've been intended as the "canon" marriage but anybody who marries Amber is immediately going on a watch list.

The RF4 manga does have Margarate as the OTP but that's non-canon material so i wouldn't take that into consideration.

33 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The other options, which they show you of five for all of two seconds in that opening trailer, are:

In order: Cecilia, Alicia, Rosalind, Dorothy, Julia, Yue.

Maybe it's just me but Alicia looks like an unholy fusion of Wilbell Atelier and Camilla Fire Emblem, minus the pink hair.

 

 

 

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I picked Bianca, she had the history and chemistry and was somewhat guilt-tripped onto you. Nera could've been told by her dad she to go live in a convent and she passively would've gone with it. Nera has that bard NPC Crispin Burns who marries her if you don't too, whereas Bianca might get an okay NPC husband sometime in the unseen future.

If I ever did a second playthrough, I was actually going to pick Deborah, who didn't exist in the Super Famicom original version, she was added as a bonus in the DS one. She is cruel, but I wanted to see if, as I've seen a few people say, she has some aspect of a good character beneath it.

 

I do entirely understand your above rationale. Although I will admit despite how much the video I posted shoves Mana at you, that I was a sheep and let myself be shoved off the matrimonial cliff with her, though my heart was in it not and I can name at least two females I would've rather picked.

 

Isn't this the second life-sized Gundam they've built? Japan's priorities, aligned towards constructing humanoid weapons that are highly impractical because the all-pervasive particle that the anime invented to justify manned machines doesn't exist IRL.

 

To be fair, she kinda already did. She spent six years in Heaven's Above Abbey, taking her Domestic Goddess training course.

Crispin Burns gets married even if you marry Nera yourself. So no worries there.

 

I'd say, Rune Factory as a whole I certainly don't mind the "default" choices. And dammit, no matter what they may say, Margaret was totally going to be 4's if they had stick to it. At least she has that manga where she does get with Lest.

 

That's what the eventual Guntanks and Guncannons will be for, buddy. Them suits will see action in space.

45 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ray is a guy in the game (and doesn't have that mild endowment), the one who pursues Rosalind's heart. But this and his soft physical appearance overall suggests "he" may have been a "she" at some point in development. Was it late to have an unused wedding portrait as quality as the above ingame non-wedding ones?

Always wondered that. Considering he becomes a father like the other rivals, it would have to be VERY late to be scrapped. Or the twins were made and then assigned to him after becoming a he instead of whoever they would've gone to originally. Maybe. Who knows.

8 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, there isn't an OTP in Rune Factory 4. Although i've seen some fans that because Noel/Luna (the player's child character) kinda resembles Amber (Luna especially), that Amber might've been intended as the "canon" marriage but anybody who marries Amber is immediately going on a watch list.

The RF4 manga does have Margarate as the OTP but that's non-canon material so i wouldn't take that into consideration.

I'd think Margaret was the intended designated heroine lead. You don't the effort of giving her four pre-requisite events (where the other candidates only have one or two) without thinking it had to mean something.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Caster]

1 hour ago, Lightchao42 said:

(I wonder for Hocotate's economy if 100 Pokos is a year's salary, especially since Hocotate Freight has a debt of 10,000 Pokos...)

I don't think economy is the best in general

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I picked Bianca, she had the history and chemistry and was somewhat guilt-tripped onto you. Nera could've been told by her dad she to go live in a convent and she passively would've gone with it. Nera has that bard NPC Crispin Burns who marries her if you don't too, whereas Bianca might get an okay NPC husband sometime in the unseen future.

If I ever did a second playthrough, I was actually going to pick Deborah, who didn't exist in the Super Famicom original version, she was added as a bonus in the DS one. She is cruel, but I wanted to see if, as I've seen a few people say, she has some aspect of a good character beneath it.

I just like Nera. She's sweet and the type of character I like a lot. (Reminding me of my girlfriend sometimes definitely helps.) And I believe she seems somewhat sad later in the game if you pick Bianca, so I like going for her, since she's the best choice in my eyes. And I don't think my first pick is ever the canon option.
 

[Armagon]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'd think Margaret was the intended designated heroine lead. You don't the effort of giving her four pre-requisite events (where the other candidates only have one or two) without thinking it had to mean something.

Yeah, you have a point there.

Idk much at all about RF4's development but Margaret could've been intended as the OTP before they decided on a female protagonist. 

But either way, it's not neccisarily like the game was being like "hey player, i know you have options but you should totally marry Margaret".

[Lightcosmo]

Another chapter down in Super Thracia! The chapter where you recruit Mareeta is still very easy, being 90 % axe fighting classes. Now on to 12x, which is alot harder.

Also, 11x took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete, with all the dead ends and fake doors to go through.

[Armagon]

[Interdimensional Observer]

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Although i've seen some fans that because Noel/Luna (the player's child character) kinda resembles Amber (Luna especially), that Amber might've been intended as the "canon" marriage but anybody who marries Amber is immediately going on a watch list.

*Looks up picture of her*

...I see.

Although this very short odd moment in Frontier comes to mind:

Why is Candy in her swimsuit part of the intermission for the quiz contest held in Winter? 

And I'm reminded, I forget if it's only during the summer when she is in her swimsuit or not, she'll sometimes say to you the one word "Pervert..." with a tear in one eye of her portrait, no remarks from her or Raguna before or after the statement, it's a total non sequitur. Does she think you're into her? I wish I could find a video of that so I could screenshot it for future perv-shaming use. 

Thankfully, Candy is not on the marriage list (but she is innocently cute), though I'd say the Irises look a little underaged, enough to have some hesitancy in marrying them.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Oh yeah, tomorrow is August, means the Ryza figure should be released.

Well, I don't know exactly the day and how the long ship will take, but hopefully not too long.

I paid 220 € for it, so I expect something good.

 

Also I will look up for a better Nep avatar later since former one has been messy due to the issues with this site.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Julian Teehee

[Acacia Sgt]

That looks like a goof, glitch, or bug. Or someone accidentally put the wrong model and portrait to load.

I'd lean on the former, maybe, since it seemed to have only been for that brief scene.

[Caster]

2 minutes ago, Julian Teehee said:

I paid 220 € for it, so I expect something good.

You could pay 22,000 € to get it life-size!

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Nah, I would get my real wifes for less.

 

Also I like Ryza's outfit in 1 more than in 2 since she shares of her beautiness aka skin in 1.

Normally I don't care for swimsuit designs, but if Ryza got one for a reasonable price, I would like to get it too.

 

[DragonFlames]

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

It is here where i unleash what is quite possibly my most controversial video game opinion in that these girls would look a lot cuter they weren't drawn in Toriyama's artstyle and the fanart you posted of the blue-haired girl further strengthens my belief.

Controversial take number two: The fact that the character designs were by Toriyama was one of my biggest reasons why I never touched a Dragon Quest game before now.
Because I kinda think his characters look ugly. It's also why I haven't watched much Dragonball with the exception of the Abridged stuff.

In short, I am in agreeance with you

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I picked Bianca, she had the history and chemistry and was somewhat guilt-tripped onto you. Nera could've been told by her dad she to go live in a convent and she passively would've gone with it. Nera has that bard NPC Crispin Burns who marries her if you don't too, whereas Bianca might get an okay NPC husband sometime in the unseen future.

All too true.
I picked Nera over her for stated reasons, and quite honestly, I would have probably done so regardless; also for stated reasons.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I do entirely understand your above rationale. Although I will admit despite how much the video I posted shoves Mana at you, that I was a sheep and let myself be shoved off the matrimonial cliff with her, though my heart was in it not and I can name at least two females I would've rather picked.

I mean, if she's a good character, maybe even a better one than the other options, then I don't mind at all.
It's just that being an implied canon option in games that give you a choice of what spouse to pick is a minus point against that particular character in many cases.

---

So, I woke up super early today and took that opportunity to play some Fate/Extra.
Good LORD, did they botch the history behind Sky Piercer, Lu Bu's halberd... First off, Chen Gong was no blacksmith, but a strategist who defected from Cao Cao to join Lu Bu, and Guan Yu lived in the same timeframe as Lu Bu, he was no "War God" that existed before Lu Bu's time, and thus, his Halberd was never based on any weapon of Guan Yu's. In fact, Guan Yu ended up OUTLIVING Lu Bu. And the thing was certainly not created by Chen Gong, either. Lu Bu had Sky Piercer with him long before meeting the guy.
Interestingly enough, however, the game got every other thing about Lu Bu right, as far as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel is concerned. His famous Halberd Shot as well as the saying "Among men, Lu Bu; among horses, Red Hare" are all explained as they are in the actual book.
Also, Lu Bu being in the Berserker class is all too fitting, considering his primary personality and function in the Dynasty Warriors series.

His boss fight was predictably tough. He could two shot poor Archer with his Fallible Bow skill. Luckily, he would only use half his turns for actually attacking. The other half, he'd just do nothing, so on those turns, he was easy pickings for Archer's projected weapons. Also, Rho Aias is completely broken: it can negate any one attack in a turn (one turn consists of six attacks), even Noble Phantasms, so knowing that, I just had to predict when Lu Bu would use his Fallible Bow, and that attack became a non-issue immediately.

And also, of course:
I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unknown to death
Nor known to life
Have withstood pain to create many weapons
Yet, these hands will never hold anything
So, as I pray,

Excuse my nerding out for a moment there. *cough*

But, as epic as this skill is, as awesome as the famous chant above is, and as bangin' a song as the Fate/Extra rendition of the Emiya theme is, it does little more than strengthening the damage output of Archer's other skills, which is a bit of a shame. I mean... the boost is still quite significant (for reference, non-UBW Caladbolg did 1,200 to Lu Bu, UBW-boosted Caladbolg did 2,700), but still, it's a tad disappointing. Especially since it only lasts three turns before the reality marble once more vanishes into legend. AND you can only use it once per fight.

Edited July 31, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Shrimpica]

And finished Future Connected...

Tbh, and this might be a very hot take...

Much better than the main game.

Or to explain it more clearly: It's how i expected the main game to be (but on a grander scale of course)

Fun Sidequests (some that come with even Bonus character interaction & Lore), Character interaction & focus, more Melia and most importantly...

0 Monado!

Future Connected basically removed almost everything i complained about and added what i actually needed from the main game.

Honestly, the Extra Story felt like it was basically: Shulk & Melia in a classic Ys game. All about the adventure and interacting with Characters. I mean, even the OST is Ys-y. Just compare these 2 Time stamps. XBFC and YsO. Even the little NPC we had in the Extra Story are better that the NPC of all main game combined.

I just wish we got some more 

Spoiler

Titan Lore with their ruins all around and stuff.

Would've made the game even more Ys-y XD

Honestly, i have only 2 complaints about the Extra Story

Spoiler

-Nopons being Sharla and Reyn copy paste gameplay wise. Should've given us some unique stuff or made other characters playable.

-The whole fog thing being basically unexplained, but that i can forgive for one main reason: It wasn't important for the theme of the Extra Story and what it was going for. It also felt like setting up for possible future games/Sequels? Other Xeno games as i know there is a slight connection between XB1 and 2

8/10 for extra Story 👍

Edited July 31, 2020 by Shrimperor

[DragonFlames]

The jig is up! I finally received what I was waiting for: an answer to my question what the heck Archer is doing in Fate/Extra, even though it's supposed to be a different universe:

Spoiler

Fate/Extra Archer is Shirou Emiya if he did indeed grow up to become like Kiritsugu, like he wanted to initially. They removed basically all the more blatant connections to the "main" Fateverse (the Holy Grail War is missing, for one), but his story is basically the same as it was then, down to the part where his ideals ultimately betrayed him.

Though this still does not explain the many references he makes to Fate/Stay Night. In fact, it makes those references even more confusing.
I guess we just have to chalk that one up to the other, by now almost forgotten, form of fanservice, which is including/referencing fan favorite things regardless of how much sense it makes to have those things in there.

So... yeah, I'm kind of mixed on that whole thing. On one hand, I like it, on the other, I can't help but feel that his inclusion was mostly to generate the green things by cashing in on the presence of a very popular, if not fan favorite, character.

Edited July 31, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Lightcosmo]

5 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

-Nopons being Sharla and Reyn copy paste gameplay wise. Should've given us some unique stuff or made other characters playable.

-The whole fog thing being basically unexplained, but that i can forgive for one main reason: It wasn't important for the theme of the Extra Story and what it was going for. It also felt like setting up for possible future games/Sequels? Other Xeno games as i know there is a slight connection between XB1 and 2

 

yeah, i didn't really approve on notReyn and notSharla either. It felt kinda lazy, IMO.

[null]

Fog of War in RD Ch. 2-2...yippee skippee.

Edited July 31, 2020 by twilitfalchion

[Caster]

14 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Fog of War in RD Ch. 2-2...yippee skippee.

You people complain about any fog of war even if the map isn't hard

Edited July 31, 2020 by Caster