Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Uh...what happens if I choose to stay?

You just don't get the cutscene... and I'm pretty sure you need to see it a part of the requirements to unlock Crimson Flower. So choosing not to go defaults you to Silver Snow.

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Is choosing against Edelgard what starts the Silver Snow route?

Yes, and it's by default if you didn't:

* Get at least C Support with Edelgard
* Chose her at the Goddess Tower
* Go with her for the Coronation
* Choose to side with her

So, basically, you need to unlock Crimson Flower. Otherwise Silver Snow is the default route of the Black Eagles. Sounds weird, but it is what it is. Or not, when you consider CF is the only route with a friendly Edelgard. SS was made before CF, from what I recall.

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I know, I can't wait to see my students dance around and say superhero one liners after murdering hundreds in it.

Edelgard von Robespierre is ready.

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Wait...what is AS again?

Attack Speed

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Huh.

Wait...but if you're going to pose as family members anyway, then what's the point of-

I guess due to how they look? More plausible to be believed that way.

2 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Hey! Only I'm allowed to enlist child units!

Fire Emblem!

[Eltosian Kadath]

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

You know what would've been cool? If the passing of seasons was visibly shown while exploring.

At least the season changing artwork is rather cool, with that distinctive style to it.

 

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

The characters huge shock to Byleth's change even though it's literally just a pallet swap of eyes and hair is so funny to me.

Though I guess what they're trying to show is that those features are visibly glowing.

To be fair, if one of your teachers suddenly changed eye and hair color for the very first time, it would be kinda noteworthy.

 

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Uh...what happens if I choose to stay?

You get forced onto the Church route.

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Is choosing against Edelgard what starts the Silver Snow route?

Although this is technically where you are making the choice.

 

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

I'm so used to the Monastery that this feels like I'm breaking the ties of reality.

I kinda wish they used the war camp a bit more than they do, as you will be back at the conquered monastery soon enough...

 

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Wait...what is AS again?

Attack Speed, it is the number that is checked for determining which (if any) units double attack in a combat.

 

21 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Requiescat in Pace.

Beautiful work. *Feather drenched in blood*

[Saint Rubenio]

9 hours ago, Spara said:

Hey y'all! Just poppin back in again for a bit. How's everyone likin' Engage so far for those who got it?

I've just finished Ch16, gonna throw some impressions in a spoiler box.

  Hide contents

So far I've really liked the game, been playing on HM. Story's still aggressively there, some characters are pretty decent and some are "oh god please get away" for me right now. Framme in particular was an instabench after that C support. 

In terms of gameplay, generally been very positive, though honestly, I feel like the map design fell off a cliff starting with Ch12. There were tight missions with different objectives and some mini-objectives thrown in there for a bit, but suddenly there's a crappy rout map, then some awful FoW, a palace that's good when you're doing stuff and not spending 5 turns walking through the halls, the fort with all the miasma that would be fun to play around if I didn't have to use my dancer for it, etc.

Hopefully Ch17 picks up a bit.

 

Yo there, Spar!

Spoiler

I cannot blame you for Framme. Girl is still on my team, for... some reason, but she is fucking terrifying.

Anyway, glad the gameplay's been enjoyable for you. I did feel Solm felt a little worse than the rest, but I didn't think it was that bad, and it definitely picks up again in 17.

 

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

They've never gotten boat maps right in this series, have they?

To be honest, I enjoyed it. It was a fun defense that made me use my emblems to full effect, and the recruitable spiced things up.

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

Ch.18

  Hide contents

I am this close to lodging an axe into Lindon's skull because this map has zero cover, you are just being swarmed by all sides and Lindon doesn't want to cooperate.

 

 

Spoiler

I mean, your loss, you miss out on magical berserker.

 

3 hours ago, Green06 said:

That's because I don't hide that I am a degenerate, unlike you

We are nothing alike, 06.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Setting aside that our teams are different, @Saint Rubenio what did you do to beat Ch.19?

In spoilers, I guess.

Spoiler

I kept my distance, stayed in the area where Saphir starts and dealt with the oncoming waves of warped forces while keeping my units as healthy as possible until Mauvier ran out of pals to warp. The three royal knights waste their turns a lot healing if you keep them low. Then after rescue was used, I employed ice and flame dragon veins to keep the oncoming forces at bay while Mauvier stupidly threw fireballs at Etie from behind the obstacles and got summarily stepped on by her. The squad I had sent north also drew some enemies their way, which was nice. Afterwards, I performed a full charge (primarily with Sigurd, Alfred eliminated the boss and two other royal knights with his help) and killed everyone other than Marni. Isolated, that one was easy enough once I stopped being impatient.

It's not easy, and it can be a bit too unpredictable for comfort - and I did miss the villages - but I didn't feel it was THAT bad. The dual boss charge of 17 gave me a lot more trouble until I tricked the AI into separating them.

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

I didn't think Monica would be outsimp'd but here we are.

I mean, you did see that C support, right? That ship sailed right then and there.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Interdimensional Observer]

Feel like want to come up for a breather from Iris. However, I keep pushing on under the notion that the game can't possibly be that much longer and I be able to continue rushing through it before the fatigue becomes intolerable.

So far, it's feeling like 6.5~7.0 material. A technically competent JRPG, but nothing above average. The possible .5 deduction is because the game feels a bit... budget. The world feels small, yet not developed to compensate, dungeons are usually short and all but one of the handful of towns consist of a single screen (minus the interiors of a few houses). A lot of the game has been meandering back and forth, with a few less warp points than would be ideal. The characters aren't bad, and it should be admitted that even AAA JRPGs of the time period had character issues *Cough*FFXKimahri*Cough*, yet it feels they could've used a couple more personal scenes each. The combat has a few little flaws- the lack of a non-Mana Item revival consumable (so if Klein falls, I'm seriously screwed), letting units get multiple turns before everyone else has had one turn has proven frustrating with a number of bosses, and my damage dealt seems somewhat too low against bosses as well. Turns out that trying to use Weapon Synthesis isn't even that great of an idea ignoring the fact that it requires a semi-rare resource, as only an arbitrary handful of weapons and accessories can equip the resulting crystals. Shop Synthesis feels underutilized too.

There is some lighthearted charm in the dialogue, and the visuals have held up. It's not without some positives. Yet I can't see myself seriously recommending Eternal Mana to anyone. Life is too short, the ocean of video games too vast and ever-growing. JRPGs that average out to pure averageness, in a genre known for being time-consuming and prolific too, are a hard sell. Maybe Iris 1 hurt its long-term novelty by leaning more into being a JRPG, whereas finding something closer to traditional Atelier isn't so stupendously easy.

...And I type this late at night when I should've held off for morning, because though my eyelids be heavy and ache for sleep, I did shock myself awake with laying-awake-in-bed "What the *uck are you doing with your life?!" moment. The Internet distracts, until the desire to sleep grows greater than the mind's dreadful's realizations.

[Shrimpica]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

I didn't think Monica would be outsimp'd but here we are.

People really be getting triggered over "I wish that was me"

Hilarious stuff

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

People really be getting triggered over "I wish that was me"

Hilarious stuff

Writers be like "you know what character trait this character needs?

A vore fetish"

Seriously though she's terrifying, I'd be afraid to find myself locked im a room with her if I was Alear. Especially since she would probably be the one to lock it in the first place.

[Armagon]

6 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Okay, reached my first A support, with Ivy.

Have I already mentioned she's becoming one of my most favorite characters? Flying magic nuke, and her story and character are quite fascinating too. She's also quite pretty, not gonna lie.

Her B-Support with Panette is real good too.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

To be honest, I enjoyed it. It was a fun defense that made me use my emblems to full effect, and the recruitable spiced things up.

I had to Dancer chain so that Alear and someone on the cannon could block terrain movement. But unlike Ch.17, it didn't feel satisfying to beat.

Oh and for the record, the old man survived.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

did miss the villages

About that....ch.19

Spoiler

The villages spawn Corrupted. You can get some items out of it but it ain't worth it.

 

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The combat has a few little flaws- the lack of a non-Mana Item revival consumable (so if Klein falls, I'm seriously screwed)

This is also a problem in Arland. Only revival items are made through alchemy and in those games, only alchemists can use items. It admittedly gets better in Totori and onwards, both because you get multiple alchemists and because combat does not matter at all in Rorona.

There is also eventually revival skills, usually in the form of specials.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The possible .5 deduction is because the game feels a bit... budget

Yep, I'd imagine so. Consider that it wasn't until Shallie that Atelier got a free-moving camera. That's A16, ten whole games after Iris. Not that it needed a free-moving camera for the previous games but still...

 

[Lightcosmo]

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I had to Dancer chain so that Alear and someone on the cannon could block terrain movement. But unlike Ch.17, it didn't feel satisfying to beat.

This sounds like a rough time (haven't experienced that myself) XD

[Armagon]

12 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

This sounds like a rough time (haven't experienced that myself) XD

I do want to make it clear, and this is a testament to Engage's gameplay, that this game's worst maps are still not as bad as some of the absolute dogshit maps in the rest of the series. Ch.18 is the first actually bad map in the game but I'd still put it over shit like Binding Blade Ch.21, Ninja Hell, Fox Hell, Reunion at Dawn, Sacred Stones ghost ship etc.

[Saint Rubenio]

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Her B-Support with Panette is real good too.

Honestly, I am enjoying the cast in general a lot more than I ever expected.Hang me. A good chunk of the supports I've seen show more sides and development to them than they first appeared to have.

Old people best characters tho

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I had to Dancer chain so that Alear and someone on the cannon could block terrain movement. But unlike Ch.17, it didn't feel satisfying to beat.

Right... Well, fair enough. I enjoyed it, but I see where you're coming from.

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oh and for the record, the old man survived.

Good Armagon. Good Armagon.

Now use him. No seriously. Man is a fucking magical berserker thanks to his personal and his bases are really good, he's really fun to use.

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

About that....ch.19

  Hide contents

The villages spawn Corrupted. You can get some items out of it but it ain't worth it.

 

Oh believe me. I know.

Spoiler

I tried to get the dracoshield right before sniping Marni, but the guy spawned on miasma, so I couldn't hurt him enough. Oh well. The only one I really needed was the boat speedwing for Vandad anyway, and Etie took care of that with a barrage of arrows.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Armagon]

Ok I've been thinking about it but yeah, Great Aether really is the first Smash Bros move to be canonized, huh?

Well I mean in a game. I know the Falcon Punch made it into the F-Zero anime.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now use him. No seriously. Man is a fucking magical berserker thanks to his personal and his bases are really good, he's really fun to use.

But where's the room?

I mean I may have to bench Celine, she had a good run. We'll see.

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Honestly, I am enjoying the cast in general a lot more than I ever expected.Hang me. A good chunk of the supports I've seen show more sides and development to them than they first appeared to have.

I think the main thing that stands in the way is the typical C-Support first impressions+the fact that Support Gains are iffy.

The good news is that this game doesn't just end after beating it like most games in the series so you can skirmish and whatnot for extra Supports. 

[Lightcosmo]

23 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I do want to make it clear, and this is a testament to Engage's gameplay, that this game's worst maps are still not as bad as some of the absolute dogshit maps in the rest of the series. Ch.18 is the first actually bad map in the game but I'd still put it over shit like Binding Blade Ch.21, Ninja Hell, Fox Hell, Reunion at Dawn, Sacred Stones ghost ship etc.

Every game will have some hiccup that you wont like, that's just unavoidable.

[Lightchao42]

I only have the time and motivation to play one chapter of Engage a day, so currently I just finished Chapter 8. It wasn't too bad... aside from Anna being killed by a 3% crit one time.

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ok I've been thinking about it but yeah, Great Aether really is the first Smash Bros move to be canonized, huh?

Well I mean in a game. I know the Falcon Punch made it into the F-Zero anime.

Corrin also got her Final Smash in Engage. And technically Smash was introduced as an ability in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror...

[Armagon]

 

1 minute ago, Lightchao42 said:

Corrin also got her Final Smash in Engage

It completely slipped my mind that Torrential Roar is Corrin's Final Smash.

 

[Sooks]

8 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Wait...what is AS again?

Attack Speed, which lets you double.

And that’s one of the best skills in the game, which you should pretty much always have equipped on any units who have it unless you’re going for a highly specific build. If, uh, you care about that sort of thing.

[Sooks]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

LMAO RIP

Hope that dude got everything sorted out with his card(s)… but also lmao rip

[joevar]

49 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Honestly, I am enjoying the cast in general a lot more than I ever expected.Hang me. A good chunk of the supports I've seen show more sides and development to them than they first appeared to have.

Old people best characters tho

yeah. i agree with this. it also helps that i lower expectation, but it really has its fun moment too.

what i dont expect was citrinne and yunaka support tho.

[Saint Rubenio]

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

But where's the room?

Sacrifices must be made. Just ask Rosado and Merrin.

...honestly kinda sad, I liked both. Next run, next run.

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I mean I may have to bench Celine, she had a good run. We'll see.

Alfred's still hanging in there for me. He actually has slightly better defense than Jade, though he lacks her nearly-Etie level strength.

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I think the main thing that stands in the way is the typical C-Support first impressions+the fact that Support Gains are iffy.

Yeah, most likely. I did feel a good few C supports were rather 

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

The good news is that this game doesn't just end after beating it like most games in the series so you can skirmish and whatnot for extra Supports. 

I was under the impression it did, but then, I suppose you can just keep a save at the start of endgame, where you have the full cast anyway.

...wait-- skirmishes, though? Have you actually TRIED the skirmishes? They are fucking hell on earth. You don't grind supports in them, you fend for dear life.

1 minute ago, joevar said:

yeah. i agree with this. it also helps that i lower expectation, but it really has its fun moment too.

People need to stop doing the Houses comparison.

1 minute ago, joevar said:

what i dont expect was citrinne and yunaka support tho.

Too bad about Yunaka, honestly. She interested me enough, with her obvious dark past, but her being OP on top of the horrible design made it hard for me to have her onboard. Perhaps on maddening.

[Lightcosmo]

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Have you actually TRIED the skirmishes? They are fucking hell on earth. You don't grind supports in them, you fend for dear life.

I felt this way early on, but as you unlock better options, they become much more managable.

[Lightcosmo]

I have Awakening engraved weapon for Alear along with Lucina's inheret dodge tankiness for 0% hit rates pretty much all the time! XD

[Armagon]

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Sacrifices must be made. Just ask Rosado and Merrin.

Rosado was benched immediately but Merrin stays because Hobble is a good skill. It was absolutely vital in fending off one of the Ch.17 bosses.

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

wait-- skirmishes, though? Have you actually TRIED the skirmishes? They are fucking hell on earth. You don't grind supports in them, you fend for dear life.

That is true. There's also TT but I'm hearing conflicting reports on that.

[Armagon]

You know who else has stars on them?

Yunaka really is a Joestar, it all makes sense now.

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, there's a "post-game" after all? I guess I might not need to start a second playthrough to play through the rest of the DLC stuff then...

... though, I still might, so I can play with them when there's still game left to play.

I'd find it hilarious if the mini-campaign of Wave 4 is like an actual epilogue sequence that actually ends the game. Because it'd mean they did what SRW 30 pulled off with their Expansion Pack. lol

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Seriously though she's terrifying, I'd be afraid to find myself locked im a room with her if I was Alear. Especially since she would probably be the one to lock it in the first place.

I mean, best case scenario is like being a Heron and she's Oliver.

29 minutes ago, Armagon said:

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, seriously?

[Acacia Sgt]

... yeah, I need to continue Omori, huh. Once I'm done with Engage.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Ok I've been thinking about it but yeah, Great Aether really is the first Smash Bros move to be canonized, huh?

To continue with what Lightchao said, Kirby has had the Smash Copy Ability since 2004 with Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. (No normal enemy can provide it, only Master Hand can, or the Copy Essence in the post-final boss ability room.) The weird thing about it is that the Copy Ability is comprised mostly attacks Kirby already had, yet it does have one hitherto Smash-only move, Kirby's neutral air attack. It's nothing flashy, but it counts.

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

There is also eventually revival skills, usually in the form of specials.

No such thing here. Only the late-joining sixth character has any form of healing among their seven not-basic attack skills, and it's single-target.

I'm pretty sure the last boss fight I got frustrated with had one enemy who IIRC got two consecutive turns in a row and used them both to kill Klein.

If a boss proves to be too much BS, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of dropping the game prematurely and watch the rest. Inputting cheats into PCSX2 isn't easy, and the only thing I could possibly do to get stronger is grind levels, the most tedious of tasks. I don't want to, but... my triple-drop of Metroids very late into them, the Xenosaga Ep. I drop, Zestiria's final boss somehow crushing me on Easy... I feel like I've become more of an easy-quitter of late.

Still, I don't exactly regret doing this spur-of-the-moment curiosity dive, regardless of whether or not I finish it. I wanted to, you just nudged me into it. And I've derived some pathetic sense of "worth" being a Megillot doing recon on an old game for someone else.