Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Armagon]

15 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Right. Guess I've just not played many games with postgames.

Tbf, in my experience,  a lot of games don't have proper postgames either. In my experience, if it's a platformer, it has one. If it's anything else, it's a toss up.

[Punished Dayni]

Hidden Bravery.

Or, how to make your gimmick too much of a problem for your player to enjoy.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, as it turns out, the final boss of Exit Fate is very difficult. I'm going to have to go back and buy more stuff, I'm a bit underprepared for this. That, and I've discovered that the game just ends after the final boss, no postgame. Instead, the "postgame" content is meant to be done right before the final boss. You just leave the final area right before the end. A bit clunky, but okay.

Hmmm, so do you not get returned to right before the final boss and can do the postgame then?

Surprisingly clunky.

[Saint Rubenio]

4 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Hmmm, so do you not get returned to right before the final boss and can do the postgame then?

Surprisingly clunky.

It's actually worse than that. There's a save point right before the final boss, which is handy... Except, it's a point of no return. If you overwrite your save, you cannot go back to do anything you've missed - and, more problematically, if you've not prepared properly for the final fight, you might have more trouble than you might prefer and there's nothing you can do about it.

Yeeeeah, I cannot defend that. It's annoying. I mean, in fairness, this is RPGMaker. You have infinite saves, pretty much. I kept a separate save in the immediately previous save point, so it wasn't an issue for me. But the game still should've warned the player to be careful with this save. Just in case they don't realize.

[Saint Rubenio]

The Youtube Algorithm's sense of humor never ceases to amaze me. How exactly it knew that I just happened to revive my impatience for VS2 a few days ago is beyond me. But I guess I appreciate the video essay that I won't watch.

Also, I really fucking hate the word algorithm. I am never sure how to spell it.

[Armagon]

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's actually worse than that. There's a save point right before the final boss, which is handy... Except, it's a point of no return. If you overwrite your save, you cannot go back to do anything you've missed - and, more problematically, if you've not prepared properly for the final fight, you might have more trouble than you might prefer and there's nothing you can do about it.

Yeeeeah, I cannot defend that. It's annoying. I mean, in fairness, this is RPGMaker. You have infinite saves, pretty much. I kept a separate save in the immediately previous save point, so it wasn't an issue for me. But the game still should've warned the player to be careful with this save. Just in case they don't realize.

Oh. That is pretty bad.

[Lightcosmo]

36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's actually worse than that. There's a save point right before the final boss, which is handy... Except, it's a point of no return. If you overwrite your save, you cannot go back to do anything you've missed

This reminds me of FFT: If you save in Riovanes castle and cant beat the two fights after, well you might as well restart your file, or pray you made a extra save before hand, not that they tell you this is coming up. (Tactics Ogre for example warns you to make an extra save in case you get stuck at a point)

And fight number 3 is very luck based if you don't have a fast class, well... you aren't going to win more than likely. XD

[Lightcosmo]

 

A BGM changing sword? Now that's a first!

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 hours ago, Dayni said:

As the 1920's were a carefree time for the rich, the 2020's seem to be a time of instability.

Good specificity here, since I know American farmers in the western plains were already experiencing the cycle of debt amassed from agricultural modernization and overproduction that the arrival of the Dust Bowl would later bring to a crisis point. 

The 1920s were also when the totalitarian tides began to rise, which sure is happening in this contemporary age of democratic decline. It's not until the 1930s that it peaked, but it seems we're a little ahead of schedule this time.

6 hours ago, Dayni said:

And does Rune Factory have voice work?

Just limited Awakening & Fates styled random quips. The franchise probably can't afford voicing every line.

 

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That, and I've discovered that the game just ends after the final boss, no postgame. Instead, the "postgame" content is meant to be done right before the final boss. You just leave the final area right before the end. A bit clunky, but okay.

I would say the issue with always setting the postgame after the story's conclusion, is that sometimes concluding the story makes the idea of further fighting difficult. 

For Pokemon, having a postgame is fine, because all the story ends with is the player becoming champion, it's nothing out of the ordinary, nothing world-changing. Etrian Odyssey also always has a postgame b/c all you've done is kill a big evil, no reason you can't go on and explore a sixth portion of the labyrinth.

To pick something like Shin Megami Tensei instead, SMTIII: Nocturne has four of its six endings end with you recreating the world in the image that you desire for it. Since it's a world you want, what is there to fight in it? Technically, two of those four endings could feature fighting, but then we get into another issue- the Vortex World which the game takes place in ceases to exist once the world has been reborn. The developers would have to invest a good bit of resources working around this to make a postgame work, more than they would possibly want. Final Fantasy VI on a different note would have the problem of magic fading away with the game's ending, there goes a huge portion of everyone's arsenal of attacks.

 

1 hour ago, lightcosmo said:

 

A BGM changing sword? Now that's a first!

*Remembers TBS*

...Fire Emblem already did BGM-altering special weapons with Shadow Dragon Starlight, and I think the divine weapons in FE7 too.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

What have I done.

Not play Another Eden, that's what.

[Lightcosmo]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Fire Emblem already did BGM-altering special weapons with Shadow Dragon Starlight, and I think the divine weapons in FE7 too.

Oh yeah! Its been... Quite some time since i've played a vanilla FE game tbh. After playing mods, its almost impossible to readjust, haha.

[Acacia Sgt]

There must be one which overrides even the final boss BGM.

Trombe will gallop free!

Unless it's GONG... and On the Beautiful Blue Danube. Because even Trombe falters against the might of Fire Bomber... and Leonardo Medicci Bundle.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Benice]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Uh, yeah, I would imagine not.

I would just like to clarify that I did mean "thing" and not "thong".

This game does have Nanomachines, son, so maybe it'd have stood a slight chance.

 

'Morning!

[Saint Rubenio]

So I just made the mistake of taking a nap.

Went on for too long. I feel like death warmed over. Legit don't remember having ever felt this horrible after a nap. I always feel terrible after naps, but this is too much. I was fine before the nap. Now I could barely drink a glass of water without dropping the glass. It's way too horrible. I don't understand why I'm feeling this bad.

...And to make matters worse, Youtube goes and tells me "new Three Hopes video!"

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Oh. That is pretty bad.

Yeah, I got to admit, it's not great. But, eh. The rest of the game has been awesome. I'm willing to forgive it for this goof, especially given the existence of infinite save slots.

3 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

This reminds me of FFT: If you save in Riovanes castle and cant beat the two fights after, well you might as well restart your file, or pray you made a extra save before hand, not that they tell you this is coming up. (Tactics Ogre for example warns you to make an extra save in case you get stuck at a point)

And fight number 3 is very luck based if you don't have a fast class, well... you aren't going to win more than likely. XD

Jeez, it's not nearly as bad as this, though...

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Not play Another Eden, that's what.

How can you do this.

5 minutes ago, Benice said:

I would just like to clarify that I did mean "thing" and not "thong".

You know, putting "thong" right after talking about how it's lewd really doesn't seem so out of place, man.

5 minutes ago, Benice said:

This game does have Nanomachines, son, so maybe it'd have stood a slight chance.

Oh.

You know, I don't even know what game we're talking about here, I just saw my name being brought up in a different discussion.

[Benice]

...I stayed up how late finishing this game? Ah well, better write a review of it, 'cause I really would love to shill it to y'all!

 

*Note: I forgot to post this last night but I did write it at, like, two in the morning. Please excuse my writing quality at that hour*

AI: The Somnium Files

This game caught my attention when a streamer I like mentioned that he'd started it, followed by me noticing that it was on gamepass, then, months later, me having a craving for a story-based game after starting Lost Judgment. @indigoasis mentioned to me that this game was like Ace Attorney- I hadn't the foggiest idea that Somnium was a VN before this, but I decided to download it and give it a go upon him informing of that.

(As an aside, I feel like this counts as the first anime I've watched. It's extremely anime, and you're mostly just readin', it being a VN and all.)

As for the game itself... I really, really enjoyed my first impression of it. The puzzles were neat, the story was unnerving but not too heavy thanks to Date and his interactions with the cast, the cast itself was really enjoyable (At the very least, they had me screaming at them whenever they were being dumb, so I was invested into 'em), and were provided additional depth from one of the big gimmicks this game has: The Somnium worlds. I really, really liked these. The puzzles were trippy and weird, but somehow still felt logical? Their designs were really good at conveying messages as well. Come to think of it, it is here that I would like to praise the art direction in general: This game looks bloody fantastic. The characters are super expressive, the environments all stood out from one another, and the mouth animations actually did a good job of psynching (heh) with speech. The absolutely superb voice work this game boasts adds to this as well.

And I cannot mention the art without mentioning how gruesome this game is. Zoinks. It appears that an "M" rating is extremely broad. Nothing I've seen in Yakuza compares to a lot of the stuff in this game, and this one features cute anime girls in it. That very much caught me off guard-This game gets very red at times.

Anyhoo, as I was revelling in this game's wonderful presentation and loudly laughing at the many witty quips and gags, I cleared several Somnium worlds, not noticing that a few of them had multiple ways to clear them. I followed the story, eagerly awaiting to see how it would conclude. I got a really touching event with a character I decidedly didn't like that much, and then... Well, the game just ends. There were tons of loose ends, and I... I didn't get it. I thought for a moment that it'd be completed in the upcoming Somnium Files 2, but then I noticed the routes.

I think routes are normal in VNs, but I have a bit of a bone to pick with these routes. They work as follows:

Three of the Somnium puzzles in this game have two ways to clear them; depending on how you cleared it, it changes your route. It sounds like it could be a good idea on paper, but there was just one problem I had with it at the time: The route divisions are completely arbitrary. For example, in one somnium, the route is decided based on whether you twist a dial or hit something at the start of that puzzle; the two options lead to different puzzles with different solutions, and then lead you down different routes. The thing is, there isn't really anything linking the way you clear a puzzle to where the story goes, or who the main supporting character was going to end up being, which was kinda frustrating-I'd accidentally ended up on my least favorite character's route, although the puzzle had nothing to do with him. Still, I wanted to see the whole story and started working backwards along the route splits. After going back and doing another one of the routes, I thought that it must be that each one branches of to see one of the principal characters more intimately, which would then open up a golden ending or final chapter.

The next route split made me realize that indeed, each route is, in fact, radically different. I nearly skipped through a rather... Erm, red cutscene after I thought it'd have been the same as it was before (as nothing in the somnium's split should have changed the result), but... Nope! The story took a completely different direction, though it still fit with the game's narrative. Still, though I had some concerns with where the overarching story was going and with how the route split was working, but I persisted. I still was really enjoying the game, and I wanted to see how it was going to end. One of the routes eventually told me to piss off 'til I finished the other routes, so off I pissed to enjoy more of the game's cast, story and ultimately, see what happened.

I then reached what I thought was the last route split, one that occurs near the start of the game. It's also probably the most arbitrary, and leads in the most divergent direction of all. I was following a character who had a lot of things unanswered from the other routes, and... Wow. This route is the longest in the game. Unlike the other routes, however, this one was genuinely terrible. The game's interesting narrative, diverse cast, grim, tense and mysterious atmosphere... All of that was gone, and this is where the game's arbitrary handling of routes could have hurt it real bad: Anyone starting with this route would see the absolute worst this game has to offer, and it's not even close. I don't know how this route happened. While focusing primarily on one character for their route is understandable, this route additionally made the bold decision also not to follow the plot. In the route that is as about as long as every other route combined. Indeed, this route has nothing to do with the story or the conflict at all. This is further hampered by the main character's IQ being 3 for the duration of this route. I understood why this was (to an extent) and thought it may have been a stylistic decision, but then towards the end of the route, everyone else shows up. They also all had an IQ of 3 for this route specifically. And then the route's ending happened. It only reaffirmed my thoughts: What on Earth happened to the writers during this route? Indigoasis was right when he said that this game's like Ace Attorney: This route was our very own Turnabout Big Top.

After how much I'd enjoyed the rest of the game, I was genuinely shocked that it'd come out swinging with such a terrible route capped off by a worse ending. I was really worried to keep going, but I noticed that there was one more route split that I'd missed. There weren't three route splits-There was a fourth hidden down this forsaken route. This route split was the only one in the game that really made sense in terms of plot divergence. It was also the only one that I had to use a guide for, 'cause it requires thinking to actually unlock the last route, and I share my IQ with the cast in the aforementioned bad route. I eventually unlocked the new route, and I was relieved to see that the good writing had returned; thus, I entered what is essentially the grand finale of the story.

I can't really say much more about it because spoilers, plus I know nobody will read such a massive wall of text, but this game's finale is good. It is really damn good, in fact. It really managed to completely surprise me even though I thought I'd had the whole thing figured out, and the true final finale brought it all together. I really have no clue how it did it, but it managed to mostly wash away the taste from the really bad route-The only problem I had was that my favorite character wasn't really featured all that much in that part of the story, and the disconnect between the events of different routes being confusing. And then the ending sequence happened, and all my criticisms vanished into the wind.

I don't know how it took such a weird, trippy experience of a plot and managed to tie it all together into a neat and really unique package, but by god, it did. After going through a game that was shockingly gruesome and dark, weird, and at times, hopeless... Man, that ending. It managed to make everything click about what the story was all about, and it made me smile. And my god, it was just too adorable. I am in love with that ending sequence- Probably my favorite happy ending in any game.

As for my ranking of the routes, (spoilers within):

Spoiler

Mizuki>Golden>Ota>Annihilation>>>>Iris

Overall, I really loved my time with The Somnium Files. It scratched that itch I've had for a while now, and in spite of the bumps, I absolutely intend to play its sequel. The cast is overall quite strong, darn near every twist is quite strong, the game appeals to my degenerate sense of humour but is overall uproarious at many parts, the puzzles are interesting, the voice work's fantastic, and the whole sci-fi/noir setting is quite unique. But man... What on earth happened with that one route... Again, the route splits are completely arbitrary aside from one, and if I'd ended up losing the coin flip and going to the bad route first, I am not sure if I would have finished the game.

Ultimately, I think that AI: The Somnium Files is a very solid 8.5/10, if not higher. This VN is a real page-turner and kept me up late multiple nights in a row, and far surpassed a great deal of paper books I've read. That being said, aside from my complaints at the really bad route, I do think the golden ending could have integrated most of the cast a little better, and the individual non-golden routes do often end really abruptly or just leave a ton of loose ends. Still, if you don't mind some anime, a horny main character and have a decently tough stomach, I can very, very soundly recommend this game! It's on gamepass, and it's definitely one of the better story-based games I've played on there though still not even in the same league as "Race with Ryan". This game also has Mizuki, who is now second best girl overall. Why is it always blue-haired characters? No idea. Maybe it's why I like FE too.

Hold on... No...

After completing the golden ending, you unlock a dancing minigame? THAT HAS THE "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT 'SO MUCH MORE'" SONG IN IT?!

0/10 game, too much Yakuza 5.

-------

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I don't even know what game we're talking about here

Oh.

Well, I guess you know what I was talking about now, given the above!

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, putting "thong" right after talking about how it's lewd really doesn't seem so out of place, man.

I really need to play Mario Teaches Typing 2 so that I can fix my errors...

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I don't understand why I'm feeling this bad.

Oof... Hope it passes soon.

[Lightcosmo]

30 unit requirement and i have 29 ( i did society a favor and killed Lifis off)

[Punished Dayni]

Someone thought this was an acceptable thing to do with a fringe. That hairdo's just bad.

4 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

A BGM changing sword? Now that's a first!

So does it not work if an ally has it and the enemy has music set for them?

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Good specificity here, since I know American farmers in the western plains were already experiencing the cycle of debt amassed from agricultural modernization and overproduction that the arrival of the Dust Bowl would later bring to a crisis point. 

The 1920s were also when the totalitarian tides began to rise, which sure is happening in this contemporary age of democratic decline. It's not until the 1930s that it peaked, but it seems we're a little ahead of schedule this time.

I recently heard about the attempt to squeeze out farmers in California to set up the aquaduct and the San Fernando? reservoir there in the 20's. They then proceeded to work on sabotaging the works until their bank was bankrupt in 1929. I'd have to look for the details again

Totalitarians has been plotting patiently sadly enough, just look at how education has been shifted in the Philippines to make the Marcos dynasty look good for the last while, it's a big factor in Ferdinand Jr. winning a few weeks ago.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Just limited Awakening & Fates styled random quips. The franchise probably can't afford voicing every line.

That's workable for the modders then.

38 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

So I just made the mistake of taking a nap.

Went on for too long. I feel like death warmed over. Legit don't remember having ever felt this horrible after a nap. I always feel terrible after naps, but this is too much. I was fine before the nap. Now I could barely drink a glass of water without dropping the glass. It's way too horrible. I don't understand why I'm feeling this bad.

...And to make matters worse, Youtube goes and tells me "new Three Hopes video!"

The fun of long naps doesn't feel adaquete for the amount you're on about.

Maybe your body knew the video was coming and prepared you for it.

36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Jeez, it's not nearly as bad as this, though...

I mean, Riovanes is awful in the base game, never mind 1.3.

Just now, lightcosmo said:

30 unit requirement and i have 29 ( i did society a favor and killed Lifis off)

What.

30 required?

[Lightcosmo]

2 minutes ago, Dayni said:

So does it not work if an ally has it and the enemy has music set for them?

This is what I read, yeah.

2 minutes ago, Dayni said:

What.

30 required?

Yeah, 30 required. The map is a mess to navigate (minus Lifis ofc) 

Keep in mind the unit deployment average is around 28.

[Lightcosmo]

4 minutes ago, Dayni said:

mean, Riovanes is awful in the base game, never mind 1.3

Missed this, but are you a fellow 1.3 player?

[Saint Rubenio]

4 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Someone thought this was an acceptable thing to do with a fringe. That hairdo's just bad.

At least she doesn't look as awful as Caspar. Caspar looks like he tried to copy the cabbage hair from Fates and somehow failed miserably.

4 minutes ago, Dayni said:

The fun of long naps doesn't feel adaquete for the amount you're on about.

I should just learn my lesson already and never in my life take another nap. I lost an hour of my lifetime, and for what? To spend more hours of my lifetime wanting to be dead. Jesus fucking Christ, I still feel terrible.

Quote

Maybe your body knew the video was coming and prepared you for it.

Hah!

Edited May 20, 2022 by Saint Rubenio

[Punished Dayni]

1 minute ago, lightcosmo said:

Missed this, but are you a fellow 1.3 player?

No, I was put off when I first tried the base game. I've seen a let's play though past that point.

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

At least she doesn't look as awful as Caspar. Caspar looks like he tried to copy the cabbage hair from Fates and somehow failed miserably.

I might not be as annoyed by the hair, but the scar is drawn so wrong it's over his hair.

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I might not be as annoyed by the hair, but the scar is drawn so wrong it's over his hair.

Ahahahahaha... Oh, God, I hadn't even noticed.

This artist, man...

[Lightcosmo]

35 minutes ago, Dayni said:

No, I was put off when I first tried the base game. I've seen a let's play though past that point.

Ah, so you know my pain, then.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And to make matters worse, Youtube goes and tells me "new Three Hopes video!"

Speaking of, these really are some of the laziest designs ever. They are straight-up fan edits. Bernadetta has fallen to the yee-yee ass haircut.

Petra is the only one who actually looks neat.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Speaking of, these really are some of the laziest designs ever.

I am so glad I'm not the only one who sees it.

Like, Dorothea is straight up the same lol. Her head and hair are identical and you have to look hard to spot the differences in her dress.

Calling it now, if Hanneman returns, they're just going to remove the coat lol. And he'd still be the best design in the game by far.

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Petra is the only one who actually looks neat.

She's still way similar, but... Yeah, at least her hairdo is cool and she has that... thingy, on her head. It's something.

[GuardianSing]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The Youtube Algorithm's sense of humor never ceases to amaze me. How exactly it knew that I just happened to revive my impatience for VS2 a few days ago is beyond me. But I guess I appreciate the video essay that I won't watch.

 

Be like me and play nothing but old games and only play new games when they become old.

Seriously, I don't even remember the last time I bought and played a game that came out that same year.

Edited May 20, 2022 by GuardianSing