Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Shrimpica]

Spoiler

To be back there....where it all started

Spoiler

With a mix of old and new cast

Kids of the older peeps

changed circumstances

Hey this is kinda what i wanted Trails to be

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Armagon]

Oh boy, the final boss fight of Future Redeemed was designed by Falcom (it sucks)

[Acacia Sgt]

YES, got the Sky Fish soul on the first try! Now on to The Arena...

... Skull Millione? It's Scarmiglione, game!

Edited April 28, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

Final boss mechanically sucked but story wise it went hard. Ending is good but please, for the love of God, do not play this without having played the entire trilogy. 

Ending song made me shed a tear. Not only did they get Joanne Hogg back but they wove in together bits of Small Two of Pieces! If you haven't played Xenogears, that's not as significant but maaaaaaaan .

[Armagon]

God. I wish i could gush in full detail with you guys but i'm the first one here's that's beaten Future Redeemed.

This week, i'll go back and do sidequests i missed. Then i'll do as much as i can with Atelier Ryza 3 before Tears of the Kingdom comes out.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE XENO!

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, Balore defeated. Ah, been a while since I last saw Julius. We never got to have a game depicting the 1999 battle... shame.

Well, stopping for now. Will tackle the trial rooms... next time.

I got reminded. In official canon, Julius is the last of the (main?) Belmont line, since it's never stated he ever sired a child. To the point that in the novel sequel to the Sorrow games he's training a successor to use Vampire Killer, who is definitely not related to him. Short of him deciding being in his 50's isn't too late to be a father, the only way it could've continued would've been if they canonized his half-sister, Kokoro, and she had started a family of her own. At the very least, that's a detail I definitely kept in mind for my possible fanfic ideas...

Edited April 28, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Sidereal Wraith]

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Lindon time, Wraith

No Rubenio, it’s Elric time for you my friend:

 

[Venger_06]

Guys, I still can't move on. I think I'm in the 5 stages. Worst of all, there are basically no fanarts for me to share...

And my bleeding heart is sinking in the lake inside my chest

So I grab what I can cling to and I leave behind the rest

[Saint Rubenio]

8 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

How should i tell him?

(someone i know started XBC1)

Make a Fiora Luigi edit and send it to him.

8 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Ü

Yes, I'll bet you find that very entertaining.

I am going to throw Madeline at mages.

8 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

tbf the game makes it quite easy to do it

 

True. He's just standing there in the corner giggling lol

Very in-character though. Dude's just baiting Zelkov into rubbing his hands all over him.

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

 

Okay I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to put clothes on Shulk because I cannot take this game seriously with him naked.

Can't you, now?

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I'm already fearing the horrors of *AI teammates not doing the thing I want them to do*

This is why Dragon Age was cool. It had AI teammates but you could adjust their AI, give them direct orders or even control them directly at any time.

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

So for a moment I thought since Shulk didn't have any parents that there would be no parental death scene or at least if there was it was going to be Dunban.

How naive I was to not immediately realize that they were going to throw their token female love interest into the lions the minute Shulk needed some motivation.

Shulk be like "my name is Sulk now"

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Virgin "man up and don't cry" scenes versus chad "force your characters through traumatic experiences and show them feeling every single painful twist and turn of them"

Oftentimes it feels like they do it so they don't have to change the characters' appearance or generic lines.

...I do kinda like how Dunban goes about it, though. Usually these characters have more tact, say things like "I cannot mourn them until this is over" or "they would want us to focus and finish this". Then there's Dumber overthere who's all like "nah man it's not sad."

You know, this all reminds me of how Covenant of the Plume explored this "it's not sad because they died with honor" mindset quite thoroughly

Still, props for not killing him instead. From what I've seen, I 100% would've had him pegged for the obligatory earlygame motivational death too.

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Dammit it all! I thought I was free of revenge plots!

This loses its impact a little when the name of the villain is just "lock of hair" in Spanish.

...then again, the sequel's villain is called Bads, so...

Edited April 28, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Eltosian Kadath]

11 hours ago, ping said:

 

Pokemon status: Just beat Sabrina; Blaine and Giovanni are the only gym leaders left. Yoomtah beat her Alakazam, without any sleep cheese or healing items. I think it's safe to say that a Normal monotype is not all that difficult once you get past Brock's Onix, and even it gives you plenty of free turns with Bide.

Sounds about right. Also I am a bit surprised you faced Sabrina before Blaine, but I guess it worked out just fine.

 

9 hours ago, ping said:

 

Lorelei got soloed by Pepper (mostly w/ Thunderbolt)

Ah spam Thunderbolt, the classic Lorelei strat.

 

9 hours ago, ping said:

 

Agatha's Gengar are faster than Sagan, so she was quite annoying (especially with Dig having two chances to fail due to confusion). Still managed to get past her, even without anyone getting KO'ed.

So close to being trivial, but alas Sagan misses the speed threshold

 

9 hours ago, ping said:

 

[Body Slam | Fire Blast | Blizzard | Sing]

Probably the weakest of the four. It's kinda sad that even his attack is a little lower than Pepper's, and I didn't really make much use of his sleep ability, so he didn't really do a whole lot that the others couldn't have done better.

Wigglytuff tends to be worse Clefable, unfortunately...

 

6 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

 

How naive I was to not immediately realize that they were going to throw their token female love interest into the lions the minute Shulk needed some motivation.

It was kinda obvious option...

 

It is time for me to finish my monotype run. Before I start my first attempt on the Elite Four, I give my Magmar Mimic, give Ninetales Toxic, and use my Rare Canides to get everyone other than Moltres to 43, which is also gets Magmar Fire Punch from levelup. Now onto the Lorelei fight, and it doesn't go great. I loss a pokemon taking down each of hers, losing Charizard taking down Dewgong, and Magmar taking down her Cloyster, until

I manage to Fire Spin my way past Slowbro...only for Lorelei to make a reversal against Jynx, with Sleipnir missing, and being finished off

And then a super-effective critical hit Ice punch kills my Pheonix without him getting a hit, and thing aren't looking great against the tanky Lapras

But I go for the lucky play with Firefox going for Confuse Ray, Toxic, and even manage another hit before I am left with

Just Hell Hound, but Firefox got lucky enough

That Hell Hound could limp us past the Lorelei fight with Quick Attack.

Muspelheim sweeps past Bruno thanks to having Psychic.

I manage to get past the Agatha fight with just Smaug, but I do play the fight poorly. I did learn one important thing that will make the fight easier in the future, that with a Swords Dance Smaug one shots all of her Pokemon with Dig...except Golbat, whom can both confuse him (which is particularly dangerous after a Swords Dance), or remove his stat buffs with Haze.

That gets us to the real stumbling block of the run

And it starts with a Gyardos, who will spam Hydro Pump, which One Shots all my Pokes, except Pheonix, who doesn't exactly take the hit well, and is roughly three shotting here, but he manages to get two Flys off, which is enough that

we can finish the beast off

Smaug can Swords Dance and Dig past the two Dragonair, and even manages to reach the level where he learns Flamethrower, but

Aerodactyl is a real brick wall for us. He is fast, hits hard, is immune to Dig, resists Fire and normal type moves, so Muspelheim is literally the only one with a move that hits him normally effectively. I suppose I could teach Smaug Submission for a normally effective move, but I don't know what I would replace for it...

Alright I reset (as I used some Ether, which can not be replaced, and Rare Candies work better when used as late as possible), so I clear out a couple of routes of trainers that I skipped before, and try again after having everyone start at level 45.

Now I must admit, in the last attempt I messed up on Lorelei fight. I was hoping that Muspelheim would get past Closyter, and be in position to

Mimic Slowbro's Amnesia, so that the rest of the fight is more reliable. Now I did lose a few Pokemon getting here, but that is a lot more reliable than being dropped to the last 'mon.

Bruno fight goes about the same, and while I play the Agatha fight better, the Golbat is still a real issue at this level. I still clear it with just Smaug, but cut and Ember aren't exactly great options.

But then Gyarados gets a crit to one shot Pheonix, and we don't see a Hydropump miss, so we wipe to the Gyrados this time.

I decide to grind up again (if a few more Pokemon outsped the Gyrados we might have gotten past it anyway...), and I clear out all the trainers on land routes, and start out with all of them at level 47, and even grabbed an extra Rare Candy on Cycling Road, so I let Phoenix start at level 51 as well. At this level, some of the earlier fights are made even easier, as we manage to get past Lorelei with only one loss thanks to better stats, and at that level Smaug has Flamethrower, which can two shot Agatha's Golbat, making that fight much more reliable as well

And we even get lucky enough that Gyrados has a Hydropump miss against Pheonix, and he even hits the ranges to kill that beast all on his own, and with Smaug Swords Dance and Digging past the Dragoniars, that means I get to Aerodactyl with all my Pokemon alive, so I have enough warm bodies to brute force my way

Past the Lance fight. Now for my first attempt at the Rival fight. I open with Fire Fox getting me past the Pigeot, and after losing her to the Alakazam

I get a very lucky break with Hell Hound getting the Body Slam Paralysis on the first hit, so I only lose one pokemon to Alakazam, and Muspelheim is able to finish off the Rhydon after Hell Hound falls, and I use the Arcanine as an opportunity to have Smaug buff up with Swords Dance, and Dig past the rest of his Pokemon

And I am fairly certain the three Special Badge Boost Glitches helped Smaug live a super effective Blizzard to get us the win.

Credit it where it is due, I didn't have to face all the trainers in the game, and the only wild Pokemon I took down were incidental encounters before I got access to repels.

I am tempted to try the Bug run next, and see how they compare...

Also, figured I would show how the team looked in the end:

[Shrimpica]

[Shrimpica]

ffs

the 40 work hours feel 10x as long as the other 128 hours in the week together

[Saint Rubenio]

30 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

ffs

the 40 work hours feel 10x as long as the other 128 hours in the week together

I mean, a big portion of those 128 hours is spent sleeping, eating or hygening. And the rest go by in a flash because you're actually enjoying yourself lol

I get that too though. Weekday free hours feel so much shorter than the convenient 8 hour split some love so much.

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 hours ago, Armagon said:

God. I wish i could gush in full detail with you guys but i'm the first one here's that's beaten Future Redeemed.

The feeling of exuberant joy you wish to shout and spread through the world, yet you have to duct tape your mouth or alternatively others don't understand you. I feel like I've known this before.😆

 

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I am tempted to try the Bug run next, and see how they compare...

Just wanting to say that although I haven't commented much on them, I do appreciate your and @ping Pokemon runs.😀

 

42 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, a big portion of those 128 hours is spent sleeping, eating or hygening. And the rest go by in a flash because you're actually enjoying yourself lol

The subjectivity of time! Reminds me why I don't love exercising, never before were 30 minutes so dang long.

[Saint Rubenio]

So I'm waiting at work for the clock to run out and in boredom, fired up ChatGPT and asked it who is the coolest, Vander or Lindon.

It told me there are no characters named "Vander" or "Lindon" in the Fire Emblem series. Later it also said there is no Fire Emblem game called "Engage."

ChatGPT Three Houses baby confirmed.

28 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The subjectivity of time! Reminds me why I don't love exercising, never before were 30 minutes so dang long.

The human mind. Such a fascinating, limitless thing.

...and the hand is the extension of

Edited April 28, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Armagon]

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Okay I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to put clothes on Shulk because I cannot take this game seriously with him naked.

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I'm already fearing the horrors of *AI teammates not doing the thing I want them to do*

>Battle commands

But yeah it kinda happens. It's not too bad bad though, it works pretty well mostly.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It had AI teammates but you could adjust their AI, give them direct orders or even control them directly at any time.

>Battle commands

 

[Shrimpica]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

sleeping

I wish

This week on average i slept like 2-3 hours

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

So I'm waiting at work for the clock to run out and in boredom

And this is why work culture is fucked up, inefficient and drives me up the wall

If i finish my stuff on 11 let me leave on 11

[Acacia Sgt]

Yeah, thought so. Looks like they won't do the voting for this session, so it might be until September for them to start. Guess those 40 hour workweeks will still take a while to come. If they do, since you already have those bringing up that it's a bad idea and stuff.

[Shrimpica]

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/04/ys-x-nordics-gameplay-opening-event-scene-mana-actions-naval-action-and-boss-battle

Hmmm

[Armagon]

Takahashi Cooked (Future Redeemed review)

It's kinda hard to talk about this one without giving too much away so i'll make it quick. Future Redeemed is so good. For the love of God, do not play this without at least having watched the cutscenes of the previous games (cause these are like 80-100 RPGs, i get it you know). You will miss out on a lot.

What makes Future Redeemed so good is that despite the large amount of series fanservice, it doesn't let it get in the way of the story and themes being told. I've seen some people say this is what Xenoblade 3 should've been, i disagree fundamentally, this is more like the cherry on top of an already fantastic masterpiece. The character moments are all absolutely fantastic. Matthew is full-on meathead shounen energy at a glance but he means well. A is cool as hell. Seeing a matured Shulk and Rex was fantastic. I'd say the weakest links were Nikol and Glimmer but that's only in comparison. It's kind of a side effect of this being an expansion but tbf, there are sidequests that do explore their characters a bit more (like Xenoblade 3 and also X, there's more to the story if you do the sidequests).

Like the other expansions, Future Redeemed's combat is streamlined from the base game. No Ouroboros forms, no Heroes and Class Changes, Daze status is just gone. Instead, you get your Union Strikes and the ability to customize characters' Chain Attack effects. I really like that they streamlined it while not taking away the customization aspect. I feel that's one aspect that was lost in Torna when that game streamlined Xenoblade 2's combat. However, the tools aren't always readily available, you need to find expansion kits, either through exploring or doing sidequests, so that's another incentive to do those. You only explore the center of Aionios in this game but it's still a big area, one that has no loading screens at that. The new music also goes hard. The area themes in the main game were more atmospheric in a way but here comes Future Redeemed with Aurora Shelf, that song goes hard.

By the time i wrapped up the final boss (mechanically the only part of the game that sucks, even if story wise it's good), i was ready to give it the easy 9/10. Then the fucking credits rolled. Hearing Future Awaits, the ending theme sung by Joanne Hogg, who also sung Xenogears' ending theme Small Two of Pieces felt like a neat callback. It wasn't just a callback man, they took the flutes from Xenogears and put it into this song man. If you haven't played Xenogears that's not as significant but when i heard those flutes, i honestly teared up a bit. Takahashi did it. He finally told his story without executive meddling getting in the way. He can finally rest as the sun rises on a grateful universe. Honestly just for that, i'm giving this a 10. Xeno truly is something special.

__________________________________________________

And so it is time to update the list
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Armagon/list/ranking-every-game-i-played-in-2023-/

(I was supposed to do that after BotW but i didn't realize that was the fifth game i had beaten in the set)

3 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/04/ys-x-nordics-gameplay-opening-event-scene-mana-actions-naval-action-and-boss-battle

Hmmm

Kondo looking at Aounuma's homework (it's literally just Wind Waker)

[Shrimpica]

14 minutes ago, Armagon said:

. I've seen some people say this is what Xenoblade 3 should've been, i disagree fundamentally, this is more like the cherry on top of an already fantastic masterpiece.

I am still going through FR so can't comment much, but it's weakest link so far is the same weak link XBC3 had - Moebius. 

It also does the whole sequel thing XBC3 was advertized as so much much better - Probably why many think this is what XBC3 should've been. Not to mention unlike XBC3 ending people seem quite happy with FR ending.

[Saint Rubenio]

War crimes and beard appreciation.

There are a lot of things I don't expect, but Lash Advance Wars being me used to be among the last, I'd say.

57 minutes ago, Armagon said:

>Battle commands

Well, I couldn't know that, could I.

58 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

I wish

This week on average i slept like 2-3 hours

Big F

58 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

And this is why work culture is fucked up, inefficient and drives me up the wall

If i finish my stuff on 11 let me leave on 11

Well, in all honesty, that wouldn't work in my case. We're the people that fix problems when they arise, our role is to be there and be ready when the time comes. That means there are times when we just don't have much to do, especially us contracted cannon fodder that don't even have admin passwords. We go where we're sent and the rest of the time we lie in boredom at the office lol

We need to be available for the entirety of everyone else's schedule, in theory. Of course, whether that general schedule is necessary for everyone else is another matter.

...Also, I do get to leave early if I want. Everyone's presence is required from 9 to 2, but otherwise, you can just leave and if you make up the time another day it's all good. Administration perks.

[Armagon]

16 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

am still going through FR so can't comment much, but it's weakest link so far is the same weak link XBC3 had - Moebius. 

Moebius doesn't really matter too much in this one tbf. Apart from N, he gets more fleshing out.

16 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

also does the whole sequel thing XBC3 was advertized as so much much better - Probably why many think this is what XBC3 should've been.

Takahashi did say way back that it was a thematic sequel. People just let their theories run wild.

Ultimately tho, this couldn't exist without Xenoblade 3. And I don't even mean the whole "yeah cause it's an expansion duh" part, I mean fundamentally you would have to rewrite everything to make Future Redeemed the "real Xenoblade 3". It's not like Torna where you can play it before Xenoblade 2 no problem.

[Shrimpica]

10 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And I don't even mean the whole "yeah cause it's an expansion duh" part, I mean fundamentally you would have to rewrite everything to make Future Redeemed the "real Xenoblade 3".

i mean ofc

The same way people say FE4/5 remakes could be combined - as they are now impossible, but with heavy changes, it could work.

10 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Moebius doesn't really matter too much in this one tbf.

They are still a blight on the series XD

Especially with how they work counter to the game's themes...but we talkes about this before multiple times

11 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Administration perks.

yh doesn't sound bad

Edited April 28, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Venger_06]

The ending of the current Spidey run

I really hope its all a dream, haha...