Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

???????????????? 

@DragonFlames is it common for other Tales protags from unrelated games to show up in different games for no reason? I'd be less confused if this was DLC but it isn't, this is just one of the sidequests in the game. I'm so confused.

And yes, it's actually Jude, it's not a Logy situation where the Logy in the Atelier Dusk games and the Logy in the Atelier Mysterious games are two different people that just look the same. And appearently Milla's here too somewhere.

(I don't think this counts a spoiler since it has no bearing on the plot. This seems more like fanservice).

59 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

oh? I might pick it up after DE then because i am enjoying the gameplay quite a bit.

The general core is the same but how it actually plays is pretty different. To give a quick rundown of how Xenoblade 2's combat is different from Xenoblade 1's

• Each character only has three Arts but that's three Arts per Blade. Since each character can equip up to three Blades at a time, that's nine Arts per character. If you count the Blade Specials, that's 12 Arts per character (and if you really want to get granular, each Blade Special has 4 levels, so 3 Arts+4 levels of Specials=7 Arts, 7 Arts x 3 Blades=21 Arts per character at a time). Each Art is mapped to one of the face buttons so there's no scrolling.
• Xenoblade 2 is a lot more focused on combos compared to Xenoblade 1. You got the Driver Combos, which consist of Break -> Topple -> Launch -> Smash, and the Blade Combos, which use the Blade Specials i described above, and doing both at the same time gets you a Fusion Combo. You can also chain together auto-attacks into Arts and later Arts into other Arts (you'll see a blue circle pop up if you got it right), giving the combat a bigger combo presence.
• You can't auto-attack while moving and Art cooldowns are all auto-attack hit-based instead of time-based, and in the beginning, you have to recharge your Arts before you can use them (there's a skill you can unlock later that lets you start out with Arts fully charged). This causes a misconception that Xenoblade 2's combat is slower but between auto-attack canceling and passive items that speed up recharge rates (that you can buy on the first area), as well as Blade skills that do the same, you actually spend signficantly less time waiting for your Arts to recharge in Xenoblade 2 than you do in Xenoblade 1.
• Extending Chain Attacks is actually reliable and you don't have to pray for RNG to give you an extension (and you can also Overkill an enemy with this, which gets you bonus EXP, AP and SP). 

What i've said here also applies to Torna though Torna's tag team mechanic means there is a Switch Art that happens everytime you swap a character during combat. 

This is generally why i find Xenoblade 2 and Torna's combat to be so much more fun and while i doubt the Blades will stay, i do hope elements from these games show up in later games (mainly the hit-based cooldowns, reliable Chain Attack extensions and Torna's tag team mechanic).

59 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

especially the vision Mechanic is super good

Well this is a Xenoblade 1 exclusive mechanic. Each Xenoblade game has one or more main mechanics in it's combat that seperate it from other games in the series.

• Xenoblade 1 has Visions
• Xenoblade X has Skells (mecha) and Overdrive
• Xenoblade 2 has the Blades
• Torna has the tag team mechanic.

That being said, if you buy the Xenoblade 2 DLC (which is very much worth it), two of the six DLC Blades are Shulk and Elma (Fiora's also there but she doesn't have anything special). Shulk has a lite version of Vision where it's just a simple QTE that allows you to avoid a deadly attack for free while Elma has a lite version of Ovedrive.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Armagon

[Shrimpica]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

• Xenoblade X has Skells (mecha) and Overdrive

*PTSD*

 

Thanks for the information though. I might check the series further, but first i've a giant of a game to finish xD

Edited July 14, 2020 by Shrimperor

[Interdimensional Observer]

I wound up exploring nearly all of Noctilum as I tried to reach Dead Man's Gulch for Chapter 6, got Phog trained up in Class Rank and Gwin almost fully trained as well. Cross mastered Blast Fencer and has become a Galactic Knight.

Although I enjoyed the Knife+Raygun, I swapped over now that I had a good set of Arts unlocked to the Photon Saber + Psycho Launcher combo. For both, I've picked Ether weapons because I've equipped Core Crusher, a Skill from Psycorrupter that increases your damage output with all Ether attacks by a hefty 50% at a minimum (150% with full investment invested). Its one price is not being able to damage and break appendages, which is not a big deal if you aren't farming enemies for materials, and very few enemies resist Ether so much that the strong passive boost given by using Core Crusher is not a net positive. it reminds me of Metroid Prime 3's Nova Beam- a high frequency energy wave that bypasses the external to irradiate dead the core of the foe. I've combined it with Ether Boost, Supreme Sword for the sake of more damage via the "Starfall combo", and although Overdrive wouldn't need it, I've equipped Secondary Accelerator for the vast majority of battles where OD won't come into play.

I wish I wasn't limited to 8 Arts at once, in both my Mastermind and Galactic Knight builds, I've chosen to emphasize raw damage-dealing Arts over the support these classes offer. I want to try Brainjack + Servant Sacrifice, but this won't work on Tyrants and any event/boss enemies I assume, and I don't want to have to swap out the Arts and Skills depending on the situation, so I stick to a raw damage palette with some more reliable defensive support. I'd like to go Astral Horizon + Astral Heal too, but nobody ever wants to play the healer. Not saying every Art in XCX is a winner- hi Dispel!- but enough Arts and Skills are good that I feel a little limited for all my great options depending on my weapon load-out, which is a good thing I guess.

The Psycho Launcher Arts are cool-looking yet not as good as most Photon Saber ones I'm sad to say. My current setup is Starfall Blossom-Starfall Blade-Starfall Rondo-Starlight Duster-Lightning Cloak-Stellar Rays-Jetstream-Astral Protection. It's first half Saber and second half Launchers at the moment, but Astral Purge could soon bump off Lightning Cloak because it cools down faster and Overdrive likes that, and when Doug's 2nd AfM becomes doable, Jetstream will go for Phenomenon's Ether Resist Down effect. In the postgame I won't do, I could ditch Astral Protection for an Astrolibrium Reflect build too, it's less management than that needed for an effective Astral Protection one. Photon Sabers aren't aesthetically dull either (just not as somewhat eccentric), I love their futuristic look and the grace of the Photon Saber Arts, the Longsword by contrast feels more often like brute strength- a fencing foil versus a hefty claymore. The combination of lightweight Photon Saber and hands-free Psycho Launchers gives a sci-fi vibe I really enjoy, and I dislike it that both Yelv and Doug, the fixed Blast Fencer playables, both trade the standard Psycho Launchers for bulky Rayguns, why no orthodox Blast Fencer?

My Knife+Raygun setup BTW was Smooth Recovery-Beam Barrage-Absorber Skin-Black Butterfly-Subterfuge-Slit Edge-Ether Blast-Full Specs. Spam very fast to recharge Slit Edge, and when I got Secondary Cooldown on Beam Barrage, I used Black Butterfly for some damage and inflicting Ether Resist Down, popped Full Specs, and followup with Beam Barrage and Ether Blast for great damage that can hit multiple foes at once. Subterfuge is there just because Debuff Resist Down is in general good- but it can be used before Black Butterfly to improve my chances of landing Ether Resist Down. Absorber Skin is okay for helping keep NPCs alive in the main game, and Smooth Recovery is a very weak heal- currently about ~ 230 HP when people have 2000+, but it does target everyone and grant Evasion Up to sweeten this diluted beverage.

While I should be saving credits for Skells, I spent some time fashioning Cross, Lao, Elma, and Lin.

• For Elma, she's still wearing her signature Grenada Light Wear, but one tier up from base, which changes the color from red to a dark and bold purple; she has white-rimmed glasses on because a lady in glasses kicks asses.
• Lin I was going to upgrade to the next tier of her stuff to get rid of that bland white color, but I didn't realize the oddity of Sakuraba Light Wear- it comes in two designs for women, alternating every tier- first tier is Lin's default attire, the second is Irina's. I didn't want to dress her up as Irina, so I went for Cross's casual BLADE Wear but in a bright green and pink recolor- it feels summery and watermelonlicious.
• Lao's signature skintight Skell Wear looks cheap and feels bland sorry to say, so I ditched the skintight pants for a skin-showing chest in the form Meredith Light Wear for him (except on the head like with Lin, I used a headset for headwear you don't notice much). My other reason for Lao's attire is he is a Javelin user (although it's his Sniper Rifle sharpshooter talents that he is known for ingame), and men's Meredith Light Wear reminds me of the retiarius- the Roman gladiator type which wore only an guards on one arm and shoulder for protection and used a trident and fishing net for weapons.
• Cross was going to wear a dark brown with highlights of a dull yellow tee with shiny red pants, but I couldn't get over my doubts that they didn't go well together. After seeing no better casual wear to go with the tee, I changed course and they wore full white with orange highlights Medium Grenada Wear, including on the head, her sea-green hair was hidden away because I'd seen it plenty and Cross has no emotions, so it this wouldn't affect my feel during cutscenes. She looks like a professional astronaut-turned-warrior now, her laser sword and mind-controlled guns beside her.

Chapter 6's two battles were fairly easy, even if Elma got KO'ed right at the end of the second fight. The Tainted are made out in their brief moment of story as being too dangerous even for the Ganglion to handle, but in gameplay they reside only in Dead Man's Gulch, which is a small area and thus none of them in this confined space you must visit exceed level 30. That's weak, the postgame should've added a superboss Tainted where the Vita was. Narratively, *sigh* they aren't a bad character to me until I'm reminded of that, and Luxaar makes his first abhorrent showing, but overall, I picked up on a lot more stuff on this second seeing of events, that's good.

 

--

 

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

Time Attack is neat and all but it's essentially just a diet version of Xenoblade 2's Challenge Mode.

If it's just boss refights, that sounds like XCX Time Attack missions. Several story bosses (but not all- no Zu Pharg or final phase of the final boss battles) + the Rexoskell and the not found anywhere else twin Neilnail mechs can be fought in it. Winning gives you materials from them which can be used for various high-end Skells, Skell Superweapons, and  Augments. A level limiter is in place and Skell use is always banned, but you can otherwise bring anything.

 

9 minutes ago, Armagon said:

???????????????? 

@DragonFlames is it common for other Tales protags from unrelated games to show up in different games for no reason? I'd be less confused if this was DLC but it isn't, this is just one of the sidequests in the game. I'm so confused.

Yes. Usually it happens in the colosseum at the end of the toughest team challenge. Abyss for instance has you fight Mint from Phantasia, Philia from Destiny, Nanaly from Destiny 2, and Reid from Eternia. Nothing is said or explained, you're just thrown into a fight with these assorted characters. It's a very tough fight too.

[Armagon]

13 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I might check the series further, but first i've a giant of a game to finish xD

Haha yeah. My first playthrough of Xenoblade 1 on N3DS took me like a month and my first playthrough of XenoblaDE took me.....also about a month. I think it took me a bit longer too though that could be because of Future Connected. And that was all just for the main plot+some sidequests.

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If it's just boss refights, that sounds like XCX Time Attack missions.

I will say i haven't done all of them but as far as i know, XenoblaDE's Time Attack isn't even that. It's mainly just waves of enemies that you have to fight in a pre-determined team (unless you do free battles).

It does sound like it is a lot closer to X's Time Attack than 2's Challenge Mode though.

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Yes. Usually it happens in the colosseum at the end of the toughest team challenge. Abyss for instance has you fight Mint from Phantasia, Philia from Destiny, Nanaly from Destiny 2, and Reid from Eternia. Nothing is said or explained, you're just thrown into a fight with these assorted characters. It's a very tough fight too.

Ah i see. But then Jude showing up in Berseria seems to be an exception to the rule since it seems to be an actual sidequest story. 

[Caster]

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

???????????????? 

@DragonFlames is it common for other Tales protags from unrelated games to show up in different games for no reason? I'd be less confused if this was DLC but it isn't, this is just one of the sidequests in the game. I'm so confused.

And yes, it's actually Jude, it's not a Logy situation where the Logy in the Atelier Dusk games and the Logy in the Atelier Mysterious games are two different people that just look the same. And appearently Milla's here too somewhere.

(I don't think this counts a spoiler since it has no bearing on the plot. This seems more like fanservice).

Yes, it happens in almost every Tales game. Even the PS1 remake of Phantasia has a cameo battle.
It's mostly just for fun, for cameo purposes.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ah yes, the cameo battles in Tales games. I like that.

PSX!Phantasia was the first to do it.

[null]

some adorable Marianne art to make you smile

Edited July 14, 2020 by twilitfalchion

[Espurrhoodie]

Apparently Grant Imahara from Mythbusters died of a brain aneurysm. 2020 got even worse. Mythbusters was my fucking childhood

[Benice]

4 minutes ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Apparently Grant Imahara from Mythbusters died of a brain aneurysm. 2020 got even worse. Mythbusters was my fucking childhood

Oof. I apologize.

Uh, well, that aside, hope you're all having a great day thus far!

Does anyone else here play Betrayal at House on the hill?

[Sidereal Wraith]

1 hour ago, Benice said:Does anyone else here play Betrayal at House on the hill?

No, but one of my close friends says it’s a lot of fun.

[DragonFlames]

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Bonus points if it's an actual song. Gets you pumped up.

Exactly!
Shoutouts to Meruru's theme song!

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

Vocal songs is one of the reasons why i love the Azure Striker Gunvolt series so much. Getting 1000+ points during a mission will cause a vocal song to play and it'll keep playing so long as you don't lose those points (which you lose by either getting hit three times or getting hit once depending on the difficulty chosen, you also lose them by hitting checkpoints or using skills but in those latter cases, the points get saved into your overall score).

Awesome!

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

???????????????? 

@DragonFlames is it common for other Tales protags from unrelated games to show up in different games for no reason? I'd be less confused if this was DLC but it isn't, this is just one of the sidequests in the game. I'm so confused.

And yes, it's actually Jude, it's not a Logy situation where the Logy in the Atelier Dusk games and the Logy in the Atelier Mysterious games are two different people that just look the same. And appearently Milla's here too somewhere.

(I don't think this counts a spoiler since it has no bearing on the plot. This seems more like fanservice).

Yup, as Caster and Interdimensional Observer already said, most Tales games have a cameo battle where characters from past games show up. Berseria is to my knowledge the first that has a questline connected to the cameo. A pretty hilarious one, at that.
Also doubly funny that it's Jude doing the cameo, since prior to Berseria's release, people joked about Velvet being his and Milla's daughter (she looks like Milla with Jude's hair colour).

[null]

Well, I'm almost done Path of Radiance (finally) and I haven't had too many casualties. Lost Jill, Zihark, and just lost Mist in Ch. 26 to a killing edge. My Ike is only level 14, so no BK fight for me most likely (doesn't mean I won't try and I have quite a bit of BEXP). It's been an amazing time and will probably will beat out Blazing Blade as my favorite FE. Makes me really look forward to starting Radiant Dawn afterwards.

Tellius duology remake when?

[Benice]

6 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Makes me really look forward to starting Radiant Dawn afterwards.

RD's a lot harder. Overall I'd say it's really fun, but towards the end of the game there are a lot of really boring rout maps that take a billion years. Be prepared to lean on Sothe heavily. But yeah, RD's a really great game and is my second favorite FE.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Benice

[null]

7 minutes ago, Benice said:

RD's a lot harder. Overall I'd say it's really fun, but towards the end of the game there are a lot of really boring rout maps that take a billion years. Be prepared to lean on Sothe heavily. But yeah, RD's a really great game and is my second favorite FE.

RD easy is like PoR normal, right? Due to a translation error?

[DragonFlames]

30 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

Well, I'm almost done Path of Radiance (finally) and I haven't had too many casualties. Lost Jill, Zihark, and just lost Mist in Ch. 26 to a killing edge. My Ike is only level 14, so no BK fight for me most likely (doesn't mean I won't try and I have quite a bit of BEXP). It's been an amazing time and will probably will beat out Blazing Blade as my favorite FE. Makes me really look forward to starting Radiant Dawn afterwards.

Glad you're enjoying yourself with my entry into FE! ^^

Fair warning: The Black Knight fight is an RNG fest. He either procs Luna and kills you or you proc Aether twice and kill him. There's virtually no in-between, at least as far as I'm aware (feel free to correct me if I'm talking horseplop). I haven't found any reliable method of defeating him without having Mist there to heal Ike, either (if you do find one, let me know!).

Really the only thing that winning the fight or not changes is the dragon laguz you get afterwards. Flee from the battle, you get Ena. Win the battle, you get Nasir.

[null]

12 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Fair warning: The Black Knight fight is an RNG fest. He either procs Luna and kills you or you proc Aether twice and kill him. There's virtually no in-between, at least as far as I'm aware (feel free to correct me if I'm talking horseplop). I haven't found any reliable method of defeating him without having Mist there to heal Ike, either (if you do find one, let me know!).

That's definitely what I've heard. I'm hoping Elincia can be just as effective a healer against BK as Mist was. If not, fleeing is definitely a viable option. Beating him isn't a priority for me, but it'd be nice.

EDIT: Never mind, Ike and Mist are the only ones who can participate in the fight. My Ike does have capped speed and I could use BEXP to max him out, but I may save that BEXP for other characters to carry me into the endgame.

Edited July 14, 2020 by twilitfalchion

[Shrimpica]

Ngl the side quests are a bit too much. I think i finished so many side quests in just the 2 starting area as some full jrpgs

[DragonFlames]

4 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:

That's definitely what I've heard. I'm hoping Elincia can be just as effective a healer against BK as Mist was. If not, fleeing is definitely a viable option. Beating him isn't a priority for me, but it'd be nice.

EDIT: Never mind, Ike and Mist are the only ones who can participate in the fight. My Ike does have capped speed and I could use BEXP to max him out, but I may save that BEXP for other characters to carry me into the endgame.

There's no harm in maxing out Ike with BEXP, I think. After all (spoiler warning for endgame!)

he's one of only three characters that can damage the final boss.

[null]

Just now, DragonFlames said:

There's no harm in maxing out Ike with BEXP, I think. After all (spoiler warning for endgame!)

 

Thanks for the tip. I've heard that Ashnard can be a beast to take down. Although he doesn't move unless you're on hard IIRC.

[DragonFlames]

1 minute ago, twilitfalchion said:

Thanks for the tip. I've heard that Ashnard can be a beast to take down. Although he doesn't move unless you're on hard IIRC.

Yup. He moves on Hard, everywhere else, he's stationary.
Still a pretty tough boss. The map itself is no slouch, either.

Edited July 14, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, did next both Missions 11B and 12B in AC5. Ugh, these missions. At least they're both in the same side of the route split. 11B is about neutralizing a terrorist chemical attack. Neutralizing agents must be dropped on the clumps of gas, which is a problem when you can't lock on on them and the neutralizing agent works as an UGB. Then next it's mostly watching the police cars chase the terrorist's truck (which includes the loved by all "I brought my anti-tank rifle from home" cop lol Stay classy Osean 2nd Ammendment). The truck drops a few things you can destroy for extra points. Which includes a chair, a TV, and... fried chicken. I kid you not. Then the last third of the mission is destroying the terrorists' rescue choppers. Problem is that for this mission you have no missiles!

All in all... least favorite mission. Then to rub salt on the wound for the S rank I must finish it within ten minutes. My time? Ten minutes and one second!

AHHHHHHHHHH

Anyway... Mission 12B... Four Horsemen. The dreaded Four Horsemen. First half of the mission involves approaching a weapons production facility that has an early warning radar network. The radar dishes of each "ring" must be destroyed simultaneously. So it's a timing game. This is infamous. Thankfully, once you get past that it's just a standard "blow everything up" routine. Unfortunately, S rank required 15000 points and I only made a little over 13K. I destroyed every ground unit, so those last points would need to come from planes. The plane I brought wasn't ideal for that, so I'll guess I'll also have to try this again.

Oh yeah, this mission, like 12A and 27, has another Hangar to destroy to unlock the game's super plane. Now one more hangar to go. Although I'd need to start a new playthrough since you can't buy or sell planes outside the campaign. At least you can still rack up the money in Free Mission.

I think I'll... retry these missions not next time, that's for sure.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Also doubly funny that it's Jude doing the cameo, since prior to Berseria's release, people joked about Velvet being his and Milla's daughter (she looks like Milla with Jude's hair colour).

And yet their personalities are so far apart haha.

34 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Ngl the side quests are a bit too much. I think i finished so many side quests in just the 2 starting area as some full jrpgs

You don't have to do all of them, most sidequests in Xenoblade 1 aren't worth doing outside of the EXP benefits. There are some actually cool questlines but that's later in the game. Basically, don't overdo it.

But man, you're lucky that you're playing DE and not the original. The original had an issue where doing too many sidequests would cause you to overlevel and the quest navigation did not exist. No exaggeration when i say that the Wiki was basically mandatory for most of the sidequests in the original game.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Armagon

[Shrimpica]

I want to punch Juju

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

You don't have to do all of them, most sidequests in Xenoblade 1 aren't worth doing outside of the EXP benefits. There are some actually cool questlines but that's later in the game. Basically, don't overdo it.

I am kinda a completionist, so...

xD

[DragonFlames]

7 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And yet their personalities are so far apart haha.

That they are. XD
Though I guess pre-Everything-went-to-hell Velvet would kind of fit as their daughter. Kind of.

---

Banger

[Armagon]

6 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I want to punch Juju

 

6 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I am kinda a completionist, so...

xD

Oh dear. Good luck then.

If you're gonna go the completionist route, would you like a list of all the timed quests? Unlike Trails, Xenoblade 1's timed quests don't actually tell you when they expire, just that they will at some point. Most of the timed quests share the same expiry date though a few expire at earlier points in the story.